Huck's Corner Football 2007 Return to TedSilary.com Home Page   Ed "Huck" Palmer is a headliner among our trusty statmen/observers. He is not to be confused with Tom "Puck" McKenna. (Huck is normal. Puck is not even close). He will make reports on games he sees. You may contact him at TEDDYCAT10@aol.com.

NOV. 22
NON-LEAGUE (Thanksgiving)
SJ Prep 33, Malvern 6
     How about a little stage setting before we get into this one? The Friars entered the game as the only unbeaten team from the three city leagues. They are coached by Gaspare “Gamp” Pellegrini, who just happens to be the coach with the most wins (268 in 41 years of service) in city history. Gamp formerly coached at St. Joe’s Prep (1970-77, 50-38-1) and one of his former players just happens to be Prep head man Gil Brooks. All total, these two sideline generals have amassed 413 wins. For the past twenty-nine seasons the Hawks had tangled with La Salle on Turkey Day. However, because the teams are now league opponents, and match-ups are required at least once during the season, the schools decided to switch gears. In recent times, the game has been scrapped twice because of playoff clashes prior to Thanksgiving. Also, last year the Hawks and Explorers met in the CL Red Final and the title game was moved up to the Friday after Thanksgiving to take advantage of alumni being in the area over the holiday weekend. During this time the Friars have played on-and-off games with O’Hara (Once), Bonner (4), and Carroll (17). During this span they have an 18-3-1 record.  This was the first meeting by the clubs on Thanksgiving. I think it has a great chance to last. This year’s slogan – “The Tradition Begins”. What a wonderful and pleasant morning for the third week of November! And not that the crowd wouldn’t have been very good regardless, but I have to think the weather was very appealing to all of the roughly 5,000 people in attendance. As for the game, things couldn’t have started any better for the Friars, as they delivered the game’s first big play. On the game’s first possession the Hawks went back in punt formation from the Malvern 48-yard line. Seven yards was needed and a fake with sr. P/K/WR Tim Edger was called. The Friars were not fooled though, as sr. DB Mike Schaeffer and soph. DT Joe DiTrolio combined to bring Edger down for a two-yard loss at midfield. Then, the Friars quickly moved down field with the big play being a 21-yard run on a counter by jr. Neil Willis to the three. After a three-yard loss, Willis scurried into the end zone from the six, receiving a nice kick-out block from sr. RB/DB Chris Crowding in the process. Willis extra-point attempt failed. The Hawks would not dwell on things and got a 31-yard kickoff return from sr. WR/DB Greg Castillo to put the ball at the forty. Soon after, sr. RB Jamir Livingston ripped-off a 20-yard run. He actually fumbled the ball after about ten yards, but the rock proceeded forward without him. When the dust had settled another ten yards was gained and the Hawks had done the pouncing, possibly by sr. WR/DB Brett Tiagwad. Then, when faced with a third-and-fourteen, sr. QB Aaron Haas found sr. TE Matt Eveland on a crossing route that netted 23 yards and put the ball at the Malvern five. Livingston raced in from here and Edger’s PAT gave the Hawks a lead they would not giveback at 7-6. Malvern’s next two possessions would end in punts, but the Hawks offense was not quite satisfied and followed each with a score. First, Haas tossed a scoring pass to Castillo that covered 21 yards with 7:21 left in the half to make the score 14-6. This score was set-up by a 16-yard reception by Edger and then a 13-yard run by Livingston. Next, the Hawks drove 53 yards on seven plays, but the drive stalled at the ten. Edger was summoned and he responded with a 27-yard field goal to produce a 17-6 score. The Friars would have one last flurry late in the half. In the final minute, after accepting a lateral from sr. QB Ryan Nassib, Willis threw to Crowding for 46 yards to the Prep ten. I didn’t understand what happened next though. Instead of using a timeout (The scoreboard read three, but it may have only been two) or just running a play, the Friars intentionally spiked the ball to stop the clock. The clock was already stopped to set the chains and the Friars were at/near the line of scrimmage when the play whistled back in. On top of that, more than 40 seconds remained. Why waste a down? As it turns out, Nassib’s next two passes were incomplete. On fourth down, Willis was brought out to try a 28-yard field goal, but was wide right and a tad short. Willis doing the kicking and punting had me wondering too. He was not the player responsible for either duty when I saw the Friars two weeks ago. I thought to myself that maybe his playmaking ability would give the Prep something to think about. This was confirmed after the game by a Malvern assistant, who also added the kicking game had been up-and-down all season. Still, four points were lost and a short punt gave the Prep solid field position prior to one of their touchdowns. Oh well, I’m sure the Friar brass can justify their motives. As for the second half, the Friars got the ball first and had promising start that moved the ball to the forty; however they stalled and ended up punting. The Friar defense did force the Prep to punt on their first drive too, but the offense could do nothing with the ball and again punted after three plays. Ok, it’s time for the put-away stretch. A 20-yard punt return by Castillo gave the Hawks good field position, despite an illegal block penalty by the Hawks at their 45-yard line. Then, Haas moved the ball past midfield on a 12-yard run. Two plays later, Hass quickly dumped a pass to Eveland about six yards downfield. There was not a Friar in sight and the tight end had an easy time lumbering 38 yards to the house for a 23-6 Hawk lead. Boy was he open! Back-breaker #2 occurred just seconds later when sr. FB Mike McCarthy dislodged the ball from jr. QB/DB William Conners on the ensuing kickoff and jr. DB Mike Yeager recovered at the twenty-five. Wasting little time, Haas tossed his third scoring pass of the game. This time he hit Tiagwad (3-48) on a slant for 25 yards to push the score 30-6. The Hawks coasted from here and in time the second units for both squads were wrapping things up. Closing out the score was Edger on a 32-yard field goal two plays into the final stanza. I just love the way this kid kicks the ball! He also punted three times for 47.3 average. Plenty of hang time to go along with the distance too. Offensively, Haas was an extremely solid 9-for-14 for 164 yards! Livingston rushed for 110 yards (93 in 1st half) on 20 carries. Four different Hawk receivers caught at least two balls. The Hawk O-line is getting better by the week. This unit consists of: sr. C Marty O’Shaughnessy, jr. G’s Shawn Davis (6’1”, 250 lbs) and Mike Pinciotti (6’4”, 279 lbs), jr T’s Seth Betancourt (6’6”, 261 lbs) and Mark Arcidiacono (6’5”, 270 lbs), TE’s Eveland and sr. Michael Bradley (6’7”, 212 lbs), and McCarthy at fullback. The Hawks garnered 305 yards in offense. Defensively, I’ll sum the Hawks up like this: Not a weakness in the bunch, and though they may not be any superstars on that unit, there are plenty of very good high school football players, who are beyond solid. They play the game as a team, tackle exceptionally well, and always seem to be in the correct position. What else would a coach want? Sure, there may be a lapse here and there, but nothing on the level that would give their opponent a ton of hope. For the tenth straight week they held their opponent to under seven points. Nineteen different Hawks contributed a defensive statistic. The leading tackler was rugged jr. LB Mike Pereira with seven. Sr. DE’s Ryan McGinn (3 tackles) and Gary Williams (5 stops, sack) are as good as it gets. Jr. DT Andy Marshalick (4 stops) exploded on a play that resulted in a five-yard loss. The Friars concluded their season (9-1) with today’s game and the Inter-Ac champs have much to be proud of. Nassib, who possess a rocket arm, ended the game with 127 yards, on 11-for-24 passing. A few late passes that would have gone for significant yardage were either dropped or a tad long. I was impressed with how he threaded a few balls into tight coverage on slants. The Syracuse recruit has a chance to do some good things at the next level and definitely bears watching. The Friar ground-game could only muster 78 yards on 26 carries. Leading the way was Willis with 42 yards on 8 carries. Defensively, sr. LB’s Joe Coffey and Phil Congialdi each made a team-high six tackles. Sr. DE Mike McKee (5 stops) registered a sack, while sr. DB Rob Rafferty hustled for five tackles. Once the Prep student body sensed victory, and in comfortable fashion they began the, “Bring back Sallies, bring back Sallies…..” chant. Next week, the Prep will play Roman Catholic in their eighth consecutive CL Red Championship Game. Impressive! The game will be at Northeast H.S. on Dec. 1, at 2 PM. It will be televised on CN8.

NOV. 17
CL BLUE SEMIFINAL
Wood 41, Carroll 17
     Make it five! As in consecutive CL Blue championship game appearances for the Vikings.  And during this time the recipe for success has basically been the same. They’re always prepared, well-coached, limit their mistakes, and always seem to take advantage of the miscues made by their opponents. Tonight, with the latter, it was no different. The score doesn’t really indicate how competitive this game was for over three quarters. However, when you force no turnovers and commit SEVEN, as the Patriots did (well, one's not officially a turnover, but the Patriots permitted recovery of an onsides kick without getting a hand on the ball), then things are bound to catch up with you at some point. Carroll started the game with a bang and needed only 24 seconds to dent the scoreboard. After a 45-yard return on the opening kickoff by sr. RB/DB Jim Cuzzupe it took the Pats just two more plays to find paydirt. Jr. QB Luke Wischnowski hit sr. WR/DB Ellis Rogers for 29 yards and then Wischnowski’s 13-yard run covered the rest for a 7-0 lead. Carroll would get the ball back again after a defensive stop in their territory. Eventually they had a first-and-goal from the six. However, Wood’s defense stiffened and Carroll settled for a 21-yard field goal by sr. Tom Boggia to make it 10-0. Would momentum last? No! Wood marched 80 yards in just over a minute to make the score 10-7. Bruising sr. RB/LB Bob DeLucas started things with a 25-yard burst and then jr. RB/LB Sean Cunningham finished it with rumbles of 35 and 15 yards on consecutive plays. Not wasting anytime afterwards Head Coach Steve Devlin reached into his bag of tricks and called for an onside kick. It was perfectly executed, as jr. DB Sean McCartney recovered the loose pigskin at the Carroll forty-nine. From here, DeLucas rammed 21 yards, followed by a 23-yard pass from sr. QB Mike Cattolico to jr. TE/DE Anthony Narisi, and capped by DeLucas from the eight, staking the Vikes with a 14-10 lead that they would never relinquish. For the rest of the half the Pats would threaten, but could not change the score. Once they had a first-and-goal from the seven, but that chance ended with a missed 20-yard FG by Boggia. Later on, they traveled to the Wood 27-yard line, but Wischnowski was picked off by Narisi on a screen pass to squelch that opportunity. To begin the second half Carroll’s defense forced Wood into a punt. After taking over possession the Pats once again shot themselves in the foot. A missed handoff resulted in a recovery by Wood’s jr. DT/OL Matt O’Connell at the Carroll thirty-six. Five plays later DeLucas was extending his team’s lead to 20-10 on a 16-yard blast. Along the way he received quality blocks from both jr. FB Nick Devine and O’Connell. Carroll would keep at it though and a 21-yard pass from Wischnowski to sr. FB/DB Kevin Eckel completed a 73-yard, 8-play drive to make the score 20-17. Just 50 seconds remained on the third quarter clock and yours truly was bracing for a climatic ending. Not to be! On the very first play of Wood’s next possession Cunningham went through the middle of the line untouched and outran all to a 64-yard touchdown. Can you say the beginning of the end? I hope so! Because Cunningham recovered a loose ball on the ensuing kickoff and this would start a stretch that would see the Pats turn-the-ball-over on their final four possessions. The Vikings would pad the score with two additional touchdowns in the final stanza. First, DeLucas barreled in from the one and then sr. DB Charlie Wanner zoomed across on a 37-yard interception return. Offensively, it was the one-two punch of DeLucas (11-85-2) and Cunningham (14-166-2) that fueled things. With hard running this duo ripped the Carroll defense for a combined 251 yards and 5 scores. Not much was fancy about it either. Mostly straight ahead, here we come, so try and tackle us. Of course they got fantastic play from the boys in the trenches. This group included: sr. C Bob Kenney, G’s sr. Joe Makoid and sr. Michael White, T’s jr. Adam Citko (6’5”, 301 lbs) and O’Connell, TE’s jr. Narisi (Left with knee injury) and sr. Dan Devine, and N. Devine at fullback. Defensively, DeLucas (11 tackles, 9 solos) and Cunningham (8 stops, 6 solos) also propelled things. Also lending a helping hand were: sr. DB Andrew Finley with 7 tackles and 2 pass defends, McCartney with six stops and a forced fumble, and sr. LB Greg Colbridge with six tackles. Meanwhile, Wanner has a fumble recovery to go with his pick, while Makoid (Int) and O’Connell (sack) chipped in. McCartney did a good job of punting four balls for a 36-yard average, including one that was downed at the one-yard line by a hustling Colbridge. Again, Carroll wasn’t as bad as the final score displays in this game. I thought they had a good game plan and did some nice things when they had the ball. They actually out-gained the Vikings 351-to-302 and also held a 20-to-13 first down edge. They just couldn’t overcome the turnovers and actually recovered three other lost fumbles, or it could have been much worse. Wischnowski was real solid if you take away the two picks he threw near the line of scrimmage. These were back-breakers! He finished 13-for-21 for 199 yards. His main targets were Rogers (3-79) and sr. Jon Haefner (6-82). Eckel served as the Pats primary rusher and finished with 91 yards on 16 totes. On defense, four of five tackles by Eckel went for losses. The leading tackler was sr. DT Rob Sklaroff (6’4”, 260 lbs) with nine. Jr. DE Chris Kennedy (6’4”, 285) made five solo stops, while jr. DE Jack Lowney (6’4”, 260 lbs) registered a sack. There was a solid crowd on hand at P-W’s Colonial Field. Now, for the fifth straight year the Vikings will tangle with West Catholic for CL Blue supremacy. The Vikes captured the first three titles, but West was able to garner its first last season. The game is scheduled for Nov. 30th at Northeast’s Charlie Martin Stadium. I expect a goody!

NOV. 16
CL BLUE SEMIFINAL
West Catholic 48, McDevitt 14
     For the sixth consecutive year the Burrs have advanced to the Catholic League Blue Final. Their opponent will be determined tomorrow night when Carroll and Wood clash to settle the remaining spot at 7 o’clock at Plymouth-Whitemarsh. So, how did the Burrs do it? With the big play! The seven Burr touchdowns averaged nearly forty-eight yards in coverage. The Burrs' all-junior backfield; QB Curtis Drake, RB Rob Holloman, and RB Raymond Maples accounted for 579 all-purpose yards. Wow! However, early on, the Lancers did show some grit and party-crashing potential. McDevitt was able to force a punt on WC’s first possession. Then, on their very first offensive play, jr. QB Luke Sawick hit jr. WR Steve Harris for 38 yards on nicely executed post-pass. However, two plays later Sawick was intercepted by Holloman at the four-yard line. Two plays after that, Maples took a handoff through the middle before busting down the right sideline for an 87-yard jaunt to stake West to a 7-0 lead. Showing additional moxie, the Lancers answered. They covered 60 yards on 11 plays and knotted things on a one-yard sneak by Sawick. The Burrs would answer almost immediately though. First, Drake connected with sr. WR Rodney Blango for 41 yards. Then, on the first play of the second quarter, Holloman took a toss around the left end for 32 yards. He followed that with a conversion run to make it 15-7. The next time the Burrs got their hands on the ball it was Drake’s turn. The slippery signal-caller was able to avoid a rush and scamper in from 33 yards to give West a 22-7 lead. The Lancers would waste little time showing the Burrs that they weren’t going to go away quietly. On the ensuing kickoff, sr. RB/DB Jason Golderer picked up the ball after it bounced off the hands of a teammate and raced 79 yards to paydirt. With the score now 22-14, the McDevitt defense came up with a huge play. Jr. LB Ed McGowan sacked Drake and forced a fumble that was recovered by sr. DT Stephen Yuan at midfield. However, the offense sputtered and was forced to punt. Golderer’s punt went straight up in the air and when it settled, it netted a negative-ten yards. On the next play Drake would take a keeper 30 yards to the five. Then, Maples stormed home from there. West was not finished scoring in the first half and the next time they got their paws on the ball it took them just two plays find the end zone again. This time it was through the air, as sr. WR Christian Palmer nicely adjusted to accept a pass from Drake. After securing the rock Palmer found himself all alone and easily coasted in for a 72-yard strike. This made the score 35-14. The Lancers threatened before the half ended, but time ran out after Harris made a reception at the West 10-yard line. The third quarter was full of mistakes as the teams combined for three turnovers. The Burrs actually held the ball for 16 plays on their first possession, but couldn’t score when Drake fumbled the ball into the end zone from the one. In the fourth quarter Maples added scores number three and four to his mantle. He made it 42-14 with a 14-yard dash. Then, he returned an interception 90 yards to close out the scoring. On the play, he made a nice snag of an overthrown pass and then had nothing but open real estate in front him. There aren’t too many players with the necessary goods to catch him in the open field. The Burrs were wickedly efficient in the first half where their 22 offensive plays rang up an amazing 357 yards in offense. At game’s end they had accumulated 488 yards! Major props to the boys up front! The Burr offensive line entered the game with a slight chip on their shoulders. The Burr offense had oodles of success in league play, averaging 41 points per game and nearly 400 yards in offense. However, no Burr lineman garnered 1st Team All-Catholic this past Wednesday night. Three did grab a 2nd-Team nod, but I don’t think they were satisfied. This group included: sr. C Aaron Maggio, G’s sr. Brandon Terrence and soph. Jake Zuzek, and T’s sr. Earl Griffiths and jr. Victor McNair. Sr. TE Pre’Andre Watson and jr. FB Juan Rozier deserve kudos as well. If it wasn’t for these guys then the Burrs terrific trio; Maples (13-155), Holloman (12-97), and Drake (9-98, 5-for-12, 133 passing yards), wouldn’t have been able to do what they did. Defensively, the Burrs were real solid versus the run, but had some difficulty stopping McDevitt’s passing game. Amazingly, in a 48-14 game the defense was on the field for 63 plays. Leading the way was sr. LB Marquese Sanders with nine solo tackles (sack) and three pass defends. Soph. DT John Ruppert showed great hustle on some tackles downfield and finished with nine (7 solos) tackles too. Watson was in on seven (5 solos) stops and recovered a fumble, while jr. DE Artis Carroll made five solo stops (sack) as well. Holloman had a sack and three pass defends to go along with his pick. Sr. OLB Herman Hinton forced a fumble. Jr. DE Chris Williams and Blango each made four stops. The Lancers got a game all-around effort from Golderer. In the early stages he found running room hard to come by, but kept at it and did manage 77 yards on 18 carries. His best run was a zig-zagging 29-yarder that ended with a fumble, but he did show some niftiness prior to that. He also added 155 yards on six returns to give him a solid 232 all-purpose yards. On defense he recovered a fumble and notched ten tackles (8 solos). Gritty and tough kid, who plays for keeps! Sawick unleashed thirty throws in the game and completed 12 for 188 yards. Harris (6’3”, 185 lbs), who I like, made six catches for 91 yards. He also made a pick on defense. Sr. TE Joe Smart had a productive first half and made four grabs for 61 yards. Also, playing well on defense was McGowan with 9 tackles. The teams combined for 1,030 all-purpose yards! After WC’s second touchdown three penalties occurred. McDevitt was called for encroachment, followed by a West offside penalty, and then a pass interference call on McDevitt. After the third penalty one of the refs bellowed, “We’re moving the ball from the six-and-a-half to the three-and three-quarters yard line.” A little bit of testiness at the teams shook hands. A couple of McDevitt assistants voiced their displeasure with how West called their defense on the last play of the game. A blitz was called and Sawick was sacked in an attempt to pass. Anyway, a few bombs were dropped during the exchange, but in the end cooler heads prevailed.  Thankfully!

NOV. 10
CL RED – FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF
Roman 28, North Catholic 10
     Let’s be fair for second here, but the Cahillites' success in the playoffs over recent times has not been stellar. In the previous three seasons, the Cahillites lost each game they participated in. In two of those years the loss occurred in the first round as a #3 seed and in the other year it took place in the semi-finals after a bye as the #2 seed. What do you know? Tonight, the Cahillites entered as the third-seed and they were taking on a dangerous sixth seed in the Falcons. Last week, North had a huge win over neighborhood rivals Father Judge, meanwhile Roman was handed easily by St. Joe’s Prep. Hmmm, would history repeat itself?  I’m not positive these recent failures were on the minds of players and coaches alike, but early on some Roman misfortunes had to have at least some doubt crossing their minds. For starters, North recovered the opening kickoff along the Roman sideline. The short kick hit and bounced directly to a North player. However, the Cahillites would escape this setback, as sr. K Mickey Majzik's 40-yard field goal attempt fell well short. However, the next Roman miscue wouldn’t end so fortunately. At the end of the Roman’s first possession a poor center snap (How many of these will I see this year?) allowed North to take over at the ten-yard line. On the very next play, sr. RB/DB Terrell Oglesby slashed his way home to give the Falcons the early 7-0 lead. The Cahillites would answer though, as sr. RB Balial Lewis Sloan-El converted a fourth down with a one-yard plunge. The drive covered 55 yards on seven plays and was greatly influenced by a pair of Lewis Sloan-El 20-yard runs. Roman’s next possession would end with a fumble by Lewis Sloan-El. North’s jr. LB Eric Moore recovered and returned it 36 yards to the Cahillite 22-yard line. This would lead to a Majzik 27-yard field goal and give the Falcons a brief 10-7 lead. I say brief because on Roman’s first play of their next series, jr. QB/DB Chris Johnson heaved a pass towards sr. WR/RB/S Nick Moody (Florida St.), who used his height and strength advantage to maneuver around the smaller North defensive back in accepting the pass. After coming down with the ball he easily shook free and a short time later was celebrating a 72-yard touchdown with his teammates. As the first half moved along the Falcon offense continued to sputter, but their defense was doing their best to give them opportunities. Once again Moore was involved, as he nailed Johnson as he threw a pass. The ball flung into the air and was intercepted by jr. Pete Puchalski (6’3”, 349 lbs). Then, as the first half wound down the Falcons moved as far as the Cahillte 19-yard line. However, a holding call pushed them back and then Johnson ended the half when he intercepted a pass by jr. QB Dennis Logue. Though the Cahillites led 14-10 at the break, they knew that a strong beginning to the second half would go a long way in seeing that they would win and ultimately advance. Well, they did just that! The defense produced a three-and-out and punt. Then, the offense did its part. On their first offensive play of the half Lewis Sloan-El took a handoff to the left and found plenty of open space. He did a great job of patiently waiting for Moody to supply a needed block down field and then coasted into the end zone. The play covered 54 yards and gave Roman a 21-10 lead. The Falcons would threaten one more time after this, as sr. TE Matt Ibbotson rumbled 65 yards on a crossing reception. Only great hustle by speedy jr. DB Kasseim Everett prevented a touchdown.  After a pair of runs by Oglesby produced three and one-yard, Logue misfired on back-to-back passes to squelch the threat. Later in the fourth quarter Roman got a pick from sr. LB/TE Sean Clift, who returned 23 yards to the North 22-yard line. Five plays after this Moody walked in from four yards to close out the scoring. Overall, this was a solid effort by the Cahillites and now that they have secured a playoff victory they can move onto higher goals. Lewis Sloan-El was his reliable self all game long and finished with 156 yards on 23 carries. The yardage figure allowed him to set the all-time Roman rushing record previously held by offensive coordinator Joe McCourt (1,780 yards in 2000). Lewis Sloan-El totals now stands at 1,796! Also, be proud of this kid, because the player you surpassed was a GREAT one! Aside from the bomb to Moody, Johnson only completed one other pass. He did rush for 46 yards on 8 carries. During one of his rushes he received a crunching block from Moody on fellow D-1 recruit (Temple) sr. DE/OL Shahid Paulhill (6’4”, 274 lbs). Talk about shaking a stadium! Jr. FB Amir Little (5’11”, 245 lbs) would probably be right at the top of Head Coach Jim Murphy’s unsung heroes list. This kid has done a yeoman’s job serving as Lewis Sloan-El’s lead blocker all year long. Tonight, he was his usual self in that department, but he also got to carry the ball some too. One carry resulted in a 37-yard rumble and for the game he managed 63 yards on 7 carries. Kudos to the rest of the Cahillite path-clearers too! This group includes: jr. C John Matthews, G’s sr. Ed Krimmel and sr. Mike Angelo, and T’s John Mazzola (6’3”, 265 lbs) and jr. Tahir Basil (6’2”, 250 lbs). Defensively, Mazzola was a force all game long. He managed seven tackles (6 solos), including 5 TFL’s (2 sacks) worth 15 yards. Jr. LB Marty Bernard hustled for seven tackles. Everett saved two touchdowns with downfield chases and had four pass defends. Clift was next with five tackles. Jr. DB Marshall Kelly recovered a loose ball on a kickoff after Roman’s last score.  For North, the offense got an occasional burst from Oglesby, but for the most part they had difficulty sustaining drives. Oglesby only mustered 64 yards on 24 tough carries. Logue finished 9-for-23, for 101 yards. Ibbotson made four grabs for 80 yards. Defensively, rock-solid sr. LB Chris James made a game-high nine tackles (5 solos). Moore showed a nose for the ball with 7 stops. Sacks were had by sr. LB Anthony Doria (5 tackles) and Paulhill. Sr. LB Pete Sellecchia notched six stops, while jr. LB Joe Mascino added five. Soph. DB David Williams recovered a loose ball on a kickoff. The Cahilltes will advance to take on Father Judge next Saturday night at Charlie Martin Stadium. The Crusaders edged the Cahillites earlier this season 14-7. I suspect we’ll have another close on in this go-around too. In fact, the semi-final match-ups in both the Red and Blue have a chance to be very good. Aside from RC/FJ, we have O’Hara/SJ Prep, Carroll/Wood, and McDevitt/West.

NOV. 10
INTER-AC
Malvern 26, Chestnut Hill 18
     I’d be remiss if I didn’t state that I felt a little cheated after today’s game. Yes, I witnessed a quality game played by a couple of top teams in our covering area. Yes, a league championship was on the line as well. And yes, the game wasn’t decided until the final moments. So, why I do I feel cheated you might ask? Well, for coverage purposes on our fabulous website I mostly stick to the Catholic League. Still, I do catch an occasional game involving an Inter-Ac or Pub team, and if not, I do my best to keep informed by reading up on these teams as much as possible. So, with that in mind, I was well aware of the rushing prowess of Blue Devil sr. RB/DB Rashad Campbell. To date I had never seen him play and today was going to be the first. However, Campbell, who suffered an Achilles injury last week, was not at 100% and practice time was limited this week. I didn’t necessarily notice a limp or anything, but I’m presuming that much needed explosiveness was missing. He did play, but it was obvious that Head Coach Rich Knox didn’t want to overuse him under these circumstances. Oh well, despite this, I was still treated to a hard-fought game and there is plenty to cover on that front. The fact that Chestnut Hill found themselves in such a pivotal game after only their second season back in the Inter-Ac is pretty impressive. Both teams entered the contest with unblemished records and on paper the Blue Devils may have been the more impressive team. Today, they started the game on a high note too, as sr. QB Mike Mattei took a direct snap and raced 42 yards on the game’s fifth play. A designed quarterback draw, Mattei pulled away from an early tackle-attempt to get free. The Friars would answer in kind on their first possession. The big play on the drive was a 46-yard pass play from sr. QB Ryan Nassib (Syracuse) to jr. WR Joe Price that brought the ball to the Blue Devil 5-yard line. Three plays later versatile jr. RB/DB Neil Willis scored on a 4-yard run on a toss to the left. Chestnut Hill’s next possession would end disastrously when in punt formation a center snap flew over Mattei’s head. By the time the ball was recovered thirty-one yards was lost and Malvern took over at the seven. Nassib would make it 13-7 on a 1-yard sneak moments later. For the remainder of the half the Blue Devils would have the better of the play, but would only muster three more points on a 37-yard field goal by soph. K Pat Connaghan. At the end of the half Connaghan would get another opportunity, but would pull the kick to the left from 42 yards. I will add that he had plenty of distance, just not enough accuracy. Leading 13-10 the Friars received the ball to start the second half. On the first play of the third quarter, a Nassib pass was picked off by soph. DB Ibraheim Campbell (Rashad’s younger brother) to give Chestnut Hill the ball at their 47-yard line. The Blue Devils would grab one first down, but then the Friars dug in to force a punt. Afterwards, they began their next series at the twelve. The Friars have been the class of this league for the most part recently because they always seem to make the play or complete a drive at just the right time. This next drive was one of those times! Early runs by Willis for 16 and 11 yards ignited things. Then, a 31-yard completion over the middle from Nassib to jr. RB James Connelly, with a roughing the passer penalty tacked on, brought the ball to the nine-yard line. It took the Friars all four downs, but Nassib calmly found Willis just inside the end zone for a 5-yard score to make it 20-10. The Blue Devils would regroup and led by the passing of Mattei, who was very solid in defeat marched to the Malvern 15-yard line. Faced with a second-and-four, I thought they tried a pair of high percentage pass plays on the next two downs, instead of opting for a safer play to grab a first down. Both throws misfired and again Connaghan was summoned, but again, he pulled the kick to the left on a 37-ayrd attempt. The Friars took over with 11:40 left and held the ball for sixteen plays. During this sequence legendary Friar Head Coach Gaspare “Gamp” Pellegrini unveiled a few signature calls that helped continue the drive. First, the Friars perfectly organized a little trickery in punt formation that forced the Blue Devils offsides. Later, he struck twice on a couple of counter plays to Willis that converted third downs and picked-up 15 and 12 yards respectively. To Chestnut Hill’s credit they dug in and stopped the Friars at the one on fourth down. However, in the process the Friars were able to exhaust 8:30 off the clock. Three plays later, while throwing from his end zone Mattei was picked-off by Willis, who returned it fifteen yards to the one. On the next play, Connelly roared in for the score. The extra-point failed, so the door was left open just a little with 2:43 left and the score 26-10. When the Blue Devils took over the wasted little time as Mattei connected with Campbell for 25 yards, impressive soph. WR Jon McAllister (Star baseball player) for 31 yards, and sr. WR/DB Mike Lonergan for a 9-yard touchdown on consecutive throws. The series only took 48 seconds and Mattei’s conversion pass to sr. TE Mike Wismer made it 26-18. With no timeouts left, the Blue Devils tried an onside-kick. The ball appeared to squirt free for a second, but Malvern’s jr. TE/DE Charles "CJ" Mooney did a good job of securing it. Chestnut Hill’s defense stiffened for three plays, but by the time the play whistle was blown on fourth down under 20 seconds appeared on the game clock. Ballgame! Malvern accumulated 158 of their 259 yards of offense on their two long second half possessions. Lending a helping hand in this were the boys in the trenches: jr. C Matt Devlin, G’s soph. Joe DiTrolio and jr. Mike McCorkie, and T’s jr. Robert Panchisin (6’1”, 270 lbs) and sr. Nick Busillo. The Friars have now won or shared six of the last nine Inter-Ac crowns. This was Gamp’s 19th I-A title as head coach, with four of them being shared. Willis was the unquestioned star for the Friars today. This kid is quick and can do many things well on a football field. He rushed for 98 yards on 23 totes and made 2 grabs for another 22 yards. He also added 29 yards on returns. Connelly added 46 yards on 15 rushes, as well as 47 yards on a trio of receptions. Nassib finished 7-for-13 for 119 yards. Defensively, sr. Mike McKee had a sack that forced a fumble, while mammoth jr. DT Sean Ferguson (6’4”, 350 lbs) made the recovery and added two TFL’s. Mooney led the Friars with five solo tackles. Sr. LB Phil Congialdi and sr. DB Chris Crowding each made four stops. Jr. DB Billy Conners had a 72-yard kickoff return and a total of 105 yards on two such returns. For Chestnut Hill, Mattei passed for 250 yards on 12-for-25 throwing. I like his pocket presence! He also displayed a strong arm and above average mobility (3 rushes for 47 yards). All but three of his completions went for 20 yards or more. His favorite target was McAllister, who made 6 catches for 140 yards. He often displayed good instincts after the catch to grab additional yardage. Lonergan (62 yards on 3 kickoff returns) had 56 yards on 3 receptions. He made a tremendous 20-yard catch over the middle in which he had to reach back some to secure the ball. Campbell managed just 39 yards on 11 carries. Yes, the injury slowed him up, but the Friar defense was often in the backfield when he accepted hand-offs too. I’m sure all of the Blue Devil faithful wanted to see him end his brilliant career at full strength. Still, he accomplished a ton and has much to be proud of!  His lone rush of significance came on a draw late in the first half when he notched 21 yards. Defensively, Lonergan also shined and frequently packed a wallop from his safety position. He finished with 9 tackles, including 8 solos. I was very impressed with this kid! Sr. LB Sean Goldstein hustled for nine stops. Despite his injury Campbell made 8 tackles. Also active for the Blue Devils in the tackling area were: Jr. DB Alex Logue (8), jr. LB Matt Flannery (6), sr. LB Henry Gilbert (5), and sr. DT Juan Gaskins (5). Strong crowd on hand for this contest, but it was hard to get a read one exactly how many. Currently, Malvern stands as just one of two undefeated city teams (Also, Bok). Their unbeaten status will be seriously tested when they tangle with St. Joe’s Prep on Thanksgiving. Should be a whale of a game!

NOV. 9
CL RED 1st ROUND PLAYOFF
O’Hara 31, La Salle 7
   Familiarity was in the air tonight as the Lions and Explorers did battle in a CL Red 1^st round playoff contest. Not only was this the third consecutive year these two teams locked horns in the second season, but it was the second time in less than a week that they did battle. Yes, last Saturday, on this very field, the Lions prevailed with a 28-13 victory that gave them the fourth spot in the standings. However, unlike last week, both squads would have the services of their starting quarterbacks. O’Hara jr. Tom Savage and La Salle sr. John Harrison both returned to their respective line-ups and this definitely had to put smiles on the faces of their coaches. Early on, La Salle’s sr. LB Andrew Wood stymied an O’Hara drive when he picked off a Savage pass on fourth down deep in Explorer territory. The Lions wouldn’t dwell on this though, as the defense forced a three-and-out and a subsequent punt. From this point on, the Lions offense got rolling and scored on their next and final three possessions of the half. The first two scoring-drives covered 75 yards, but were done in two different fashions. First, the Lions needed ten plays and capped the drive on a two-yard run by emerging sophomore RB/DB Corey Brown up the middle. The score was set-up by a 10-yard scamper by sr. Steve Werner. Prior to this, two personal foul calls on the Explorers gave the Lions 28 more yards. Next, the Lions would again move 75 yards, but this time it would come in ultra-quick style, as Werner took a jet-sweep on the first play of the series. Heading left, he made a quick move up field, then headed slightly back right, broke a tackle or two, and finally the track star was off to the races. Not the smoothest of runners in traffic, but there is no denying his breakaway gas once in the open. After another forced punt by the defense, the Lions would take over with 4:51 left in the opening half. They went on to hold the ball for 15 plays, while moving 80 yards for their third touchdown of the game. If Werner’s jaunt got them feeling comfortable, then this score really lifted their confidence and sense of control. The touchdown occurred on fourth down and the game clock read triple zeros when it was made. Doing the honors was Savage on a 4-yard scramble. Initially, it appeared that the first option was going to be a quick dump pass to towering sr. TE/DE Mark Wedderburn, but LaSalle covered that well. Showing little effects from the foot injury that sidelined him for four weeks, Savage decisively broke to his left, cutback to avoid a tackle attempt and dove into the end zone. He received a quality block from jr. FB Evan Higgins during the run, but an Explorer defender didn’t see it that way, as he protested for a flag afterwards. It was close! This gave the Lions a 21-0 lead, as they literally headed into the locker room. All of their points occurred in the second quarter. The Explorers had some success in the opening half, as thrice they found themselves in O’Hara territory. However, they never were able to sustain a drive, nor came close to scoring. The Lions would tack on their fourth score of the game late in the third quarter, as Brown had a way-too-easy 33-yard sprint on a toss play to the right-side of the field. Talk about looking like you’re gliding when you run. The Lions final points came on a nice and deserving 33-yard field goal by sr. K/P Tom DuBois in the fourth quarter. This kid has a pretty strong leg. His extra-points get good distance and his kickoffs often have good hang time and land deep. Coincidently, I asked him early in the game how many field goals he had attempted in his two years as O’Hara’s kicker. He noted that it was only one, a short kick last year in which he kicked the block into the end zone. I could tell he was disappointed when he didn’t get the chance to kick at the end of the first half, but hey, his team did score a touchdown. It was good to see him nail this one though. And who knows, if O’Hara finds itself in a tight game later in the playoffs, then let’s not rule this kid out as a potential secret weapon. The Lions roared to 333 yards in offense, including 271 yards on the ground on 38 carries. The grunts were solid all game long, so let’s do some recognizing: Soph. C Matt Williams (6’4”, 250 lbs), G’s jr. Andrew Glace and sr. Pete Hladish, T’s Mike Pileggi and sr. Dave Stenson (6’2”, 260 lbs), and Wedderburn at TE. Brown rushed 16 times for 114 yards and made a trio of catches for another 23 yards. This kid is developing nicely and I like the fluidness in his running style. Very capable of making a play! I would have liked to see him be a little more aggressive in the return game, as he let a few punts bounce in front of him. Still, much to like about him! Werner turned his 6 carries into 91 yards. In his first game back Savage looked good. He had one stretch where he completed six straight and for the game was 8-for-14 for 62 yards. There were still some timing issues and I thought his patience was a tad rushed, but make no mistake, his presence adds much hope to the Lions’ postseason aspirations. Defensively, the Lions were steady all night. La Salle’s first seven possessions ended with a faulty center snap while in punt formation (Recovery by sr. LB Sam Jansen) and six straight punts. Not bad! Leading the way were; sr. DB Kevin Ward with seven solo tackles, Brown hustled for six stops and two pass defends, while jr. DT Anthony McCloskey had a sack amongst his six tackles. Meanwhile, sr. DB Pat Daly and jr. LB Nate Oropollo evenly split ten stops. The Explorers didn’t break the shutout until 3:06 was left on the fourth quarter clock. Finding the land of six was jr. RB/DB/P Mike Donohoe on a 2-yard plunge. Harrison could only manage 80 yards passing on 20 attempts, completing twelve. Mostly all of his throws were short and running room after the catch was scarce. Then again, the Explorers aren’t blessed with a ton of players who are going to accumulate the yards-after-the-catch. Actually, it was jr. QB Drew Lougherty who had the most success directing the Explorer offense. Granted, it was mostly a JV game when he got in there, but still, I liked what I saw. This kid is built similarly to Harrison, but appears to be a better athlete, who can make a play with his legs too. In two series of action he completed 9-of-13 for 118 yards. On the game’s last play he perfectly hit a receiver in the middle of the end zone only to have the ball dropped. It should have went for a 15-yard TD. With former LaSalle great Brett Gordan mentoring him, he’ll have possibilities over the next two seasons. Donohoe finished with 41 yards rushing on 12 carries. He also had 27 yards on 3 receptions. Eight different Explorers caught passes. Soph. WR/DB Sam Feleccia was the most active with seven snags for 60 yards. Defensively, sacks were had by soph. DE Steve Sinnott and soph. DT Matt DiGiacomo. Jr. LB John Kerrigan made a pick in the late-going. Jr. DB Kevin Farrington had a game-high 8 tackles, including 7 solos. Also active in the tackling department were; Wood (six), jr. DE Bob Seiss, sr. DB Kevin McLaughlin (Two pass defends), and sr. LB Matt Alba all contributing five apiece. Early in the game I witnessed something that I never seen before. Two different referees called pass interference penalties on the two players involved in the play. The result – Off-setting penalties, replay the down. Weird! Prior to the game there was a nice moment and a few words expressed about former La Salle coach John “Tex” Flannery. His funeral mass was earlier in the day at La Salle.

NOV. 3
CL RED
O’Hara 28, LaSalle 13
     Yes, this was the final weekend of the regular season and both teams did enter with identical (3-3) records within the league. However, the only true significance this contest held was that the winner would be able to don their home uniforms in next weekend’s First Round Playoff tilt. Yep, the Lions and the Explorers were fully aware that they would be each other’s opponent next week. So, drama and tension in a quest to lock up something important wasn’t necessarily in the air today. Still, it’s always good to end the regular season on a high note and at game’s end it was the Lions doing just that. And they did it in fairly convincing fashion too. Neither team had the services of their headlining quarterbacks, as LaSalle’s sr. John Harrison (concussion) and O’Hara’s jr. Tom Savage (foot) were unavailable. It remains to be seen if either will be ready for next week’s do-or-die game, but Harrison was in full uniform today and there have been some reports that Savage could be cleared by next week. We will see! Anyway, with top-notch signal-callers down, one had to guess that the running game would be a focal point. With that in mind, the Lions entered the game with much more firepower in that department than the Explorers. So, would they control and dictate play? You betcha! The Lions rung-up 416 yards in offense, including 292 yards on 50 carries. They did commit five turnovers and this more than likely prevented them from sending the scorekeeper to the control panel even more frequently. Twice the Lions fumbled inside the La Salle ten and one other time they were intercepted inside the five. However, they did do plenty to stake claim to a 21-7 lead at half and then built that lead to 28-7 with 4:36 left in the third stanza. They basically kept the Explorers at arm’s length from the second quarter on. Doing a lot of the damage today was impressive soph. RB/DB Corey Brown. For the game, he had 240 total yards. This included 19 rushes for 133 yards (TD runs of 8 & 5 yards), 2 catches for 54 yards, 23 yards on an interception return, and another 30 yards on three kick returns. Brown displays a nice combination of quickness and light feet, patiently waiting for room to develop. Personally, I think this kid is just scratching the surface and with more experience and development, we’ll probably end-up seeing an even more complete back. Just a hunch! Brown was far from a one-man show though, as sr. RB Kevin Ward gained 89 yards on 10 carries, mostly on speed sweeps. He scored the fourth Lion touchdown on a 6-yard run. Sr. RB Steve Werner’s running style and play calls mirror Ward’s, and he grabbed 39 yards on 8 totes. Jr. FB Evan Higgins (10-27) got the scoring rolling with a 1-yard plunge. Freshman QB Ryan Laughlin hasn’t experienced a ton of success while filling in for Savage, but today he played rather well and made some good throws. This kid has shown some promise and down the line good things could come. Today, he completed his first five passes (Finished 5-for-8) for 124 yards. His most timely completion went to imposing sr. TE/DE Mark Wedderburn (6’7”, 244 lbs) for 20 yards on a fourth-and-one play. This put the ball at the LaSalle five and Brown scooted around the right end on the next play. Earlier in the game he hooked-up with Wedderburn for 38 yards. O’Hara got terrific play from the boys in the trenches. Participating members were: soph. C Matt Williams, G’s jr. Andrew Glace and sr. Pete Hladish, rotating T’s jr. Dennis Mushrush, sr. Dave Stenson, and sr. Mike Pileggi (Late arrival do to SAT’s). On O’Hara’s first drive an O-lineman was called for illegal procedure that moved the ball from inside the one to back to the six-yard line. Afterwards the reason for the penalty was whispered about along the Lion sideline.  I don’t really know how to explain this, but let’s just say there was definitely movement in a non-traditional sense, and that I wouldn’t want be the person in charge of uniform laundry duty this week, smile! Defensively, the Lions made three interceptions. Brown ended La Salle’s first series with a pick and 23-yard return to the Explorer 9-yard line to set-up Higgins’ score. Later, Mushrush (6’1, 275 lbs) made a pick and returned it 13 yards to the glee of O’Hara’s sideline. Jr. DB Jason Johnson made a pick very late and also made six tackles in the game. Sr. LB Mike Grunde (4 stops) had a sack worth 11 yards. Sr. DB Pat Daly led the Lions with seven stops, including 6 solos. Mushrush, jr. DT Anthony McCloskey, and jr. LB Nate Oropollo each notched four stops. The Explorers played hard, but have just been besieged with injuries. Off the top of my head I counted at least six players out that began the season as starters. I’m sure the possibility of few more exists too. Filling in for Harrison was soph. QB Drew Loughery, who competed and had a few good moments in defeat. Twice he connected with soph. WR/RB/DB Sam Feleccia for scores. The touchdowns went for 17 and 6 yards, while the first one tied things up at 7-7. For the game, Loughery passed 10-for-26, for 118 yards. Later in the game he took the ball out shotgun formation and had some success on QB draws. Feleccia rushed 13 times for 43 yards and made three grabs for another 58 yards. Defensively, the Explorers battled throughout, but just didn’t have enough along the line of scrimmage to slow down the Lions consistently. Because O’Hara controlled the ball so much, tackling totals were high. Leading the way was sr. LB Matt Alba with 11 and a fumble recovery. Sr. DB Matt Day had 10 stops and a forced fumble, while sr. LB Andrew Wood made 9 tackles. Jr. DE Ryan Eidenshink contributed seven. Sr. DB Kevin McLaughlin managed a pick. Jr. DB Mike Donohoe recovered two fumbles and returned one of them 71 yards to set-up LaSalle’s first score. Jr. DB Joe Radaszewski forced one fumble and recovered another. Feleccia also had a forced fumble. Attention to all potential O’Hara ballboys/waterboys. When you hear the announcement for sign-ups do yourselves a favor and run for the exits. Currently leading this gang is O’Hara manager supreme Will “Big Willie Style” McGonigle. I would compare his governing style to that of King Longshanks, England’s most ruthless ruler! I told Willie he is now known as “Longshanks”, but not to take the name literally, for you are “Longshanks” for a much different reason. Smile! The teams combined to run 111 plays in this baby, so everyone in attendance got their monies’ worth from that standpoint. This will be the third straight year that the Lions and Explorers meet in the playoffs. Last season these teams played a dandy that went to overtime and saw the Explorers walk away with a scintillating 39-38 victory.

OCT. 28
CL BLUE
West Catholic 29, Carroll 21 (OT)
   Well, it’s been a long year in the CL Blue in terms of marquee and competitive games. In week one the Patriots locked horns with Archbishop Wood and there was hope for a dandy. Not to be, as the Vikings whipped up on Carroll 30-0. Since then, the Pats have handled the lesser lights in the league with four straight wins by a combined score of 134-to-28. Meanwhile, the Burrs have destroyed their five league opponents to date in an even more impressive fashion 236-to-19! Tonight, all in attendance got their monies' worth, as these two squads went at it hard and passionately. Hey, a goody had to come around eventually, right? Carroll, who has been surging as of late, left little doubt on the game’s first play that they were playing for keeps. Sr. RB Jim Cuzzupe took an inside-counter and zoomed 61 yard to the Burr 11-yard line. Only great hustle by speedy jr. RB/DB Rob Holloman prevented a score, as he yanked Cuzzupe down from behind. The promising start would be short-lived for the Pats though, as three plays later Holloman intercepted a pass by jr QB Luke Wischnowski at the 3-yard line. This set-off a fury of first quarter miscues, as the Burrs would lose fumbles on their first two possessions after driving into Carroll territory, and these would sandwich another fumble by Carroll. Four possessions, four turnovers! Not exactly masterpiece credentials, but trust me, things would heat-up. The Pats would ignite the scoreboard first with a 13-play drive (All runs!), that covered 69 yards. Doing the honors on the second play of the second quarter was Wischnowski on a fourth-down sneak from the one-yard line. Yes, a fourth down conversion for a score and it wouldn’t be the last, but we’ll get to that soon enough. The explosive Burrs continued to move the ball, but their next drive would stall at the Carroll thirty-seven. However, they would tie the game the next time they had the ball when Holloman took a quick pass at the line scrimmage from jr. QB Curtis Drake, got a great seal-off block from sr. TE Pre’Andre Watson, and then sped down the left sideline for a 29-yard score. This kid can really move! Just 1:16 remained on the first half clock and the game would head to the locker rooms knotted at 7-7. West seemed to grab considerable control in the third quarter. Defensively, they had forced four straight punts by Carroll. Conversely, the offense started to hold onto the ball better and this resulted in a couple of scores. Again, it was the quickness of Holloman paying off dividends, as he took a short bubble-screen from Drake, broke an initial tackle near the line of scrimmage and then motored from right-to-left for a 26-yard touchdown for a 13-7 lead. Next, the Burrs used ten plays to move 55 yards. This series was capped with a lovely bootleg run by Drake, as he easily got to the cone on the left side of the field. For the conversion, the Burrs used a little Boise St. action as Drake faked a pass and then quickly put the ball behind is back to jr. RB/DB Raymond Maples, who easily trotted in for the two points, making the score 21-7 with 9:47 left. Very nice play! The Patriots could have easily packed it in, but to their credit they kept at it and marched 62 yards on 7 plays to make it 21-14. The big play on the drive was a 34-yard pass by Wischnowski to sr. WR/DB Ellis Rogers to the Burr 15-yard line. After this, sr. WR/DB Jon Haefner took an ultra-quick end-around for seven yards for the score. This too converted a fourth down, their second such score. All game long the Pats were hitting hard, low, short kicks to make sure the ball didn’t find the hands on Holloman or Maples. This kick was of the same nature, but hit solidly off Watson, who was stationed on the first line. After hitting him the ball bounced directly back to sr. RB Charlie Thorne, who pounced on it at the Burr forty-eight. A 10-yard pass to Rogers converted a third down, two plays later Haefner raced 11 yards, and then a Wischnowski ripped-off an 18-yard run to the two. From here the Pats would go backwards and eventually be faced with a fourth-and-goal from the nine. Based on earlier information, do we have a sense of what happens next? Yep, Wischnowski, who was under decent pressure, perfectly lofted a pass to the right corner where Rogers made a nice grab over Holloman. Not terrible coverage on the play, but just a lovely throw and catch. Sr. K Tom Boggia’s PAT was good and the game was tied at 21-21 with 1:48 left. West would threaten as they started the subsequent possession at the Carroll 49-yard line. Runs by Holloman (11 yards) and Maples (13 yards) will bring the ball to the twenty-five with :59 left. However, West would gain just two more yards, and Drake’s fourth down pass was batted down at the 14-yard line by jr. RB/LB Dillon McClernon. Carroll would run one play and the clock hit zero. Overtime! Carroll won the toss and opted to play defense. Initially, Holloman went onto the field, but Head Coach Brian Fluck eventually opted for the bigger Maples. On first down he pounded for five yards and then on second down he got the other five, leaving a Carroll defender flattened at the goal line. Wicked! At full speed I don’t think I would want to tangle with this lad. Next, Fluck decided to go for two and Drake had little trouble scampering in on an option play. Carroll’s possession went as follows: 1-yard shovel pass to Cuzzupe, one-yard loss on a run by sr. FB/DB Kevin Eckel, incomplete pass by Wischnowski (sr. DB Herman Hinton applied pressure and hit him as he released), and on fourth down a desperation pass towards the right sideline was picked-off by sr. LB Marquese Sanders. The Burrs escape, while the Pats take plenty of positives from their performance. Offensively, the Burrs accumulated 380 yard of offense and 22 first downs, but were plagued by four turnovers. The ground attack was especially effective, as the two-headed monster of Holloman and Maples continually ripped-off significant runs. Holloman rushed 15 times for 128 yards and added another 55 yards on his two TD catches. Maples went for 143 yards on 18 carries. Drake wasn’t at peak level, and managed 87 yards on just 5-for-15 passing. The Burrs did most of this despite losing starting center sr. Aaron Maggio to disqualification for punching a Carroll defender. Not good! Maggio is arguably the Burrs’ most important lineman and now he’ll be lost for next week’s first-place showdown with Archbishop Wood. The young man will need to make this a learning experience and realize that he is needed much more on the field, than the sidelines. Filling in for him and doing a good job was jr. G Paul Murtagh. The other usual suspects on the line for the Burrs were: soph. G/C Jake Zuzek (Moved from G to C for Maggio), sr. G Brandon Terrence (6’3”, 270 lbs), T’s sr. Earl Griffiths and jr. Victor McNair, Watson at TE, and jr. FB Juan Rozier. Defensively, Watson had six tackles and forced a fumble, recovery made by soph. DT John Ruppert (4 stops). Sanders had seven solo tackles. Hinton added eight stops (6 solos). Holloman and Maples each had five tackles, while jr. DE Chris Williams made four of his own. Carroll wasn’t too bad on offense themselves racking up 301 yards. Wischnowski had an excellent game with 105 yards rushing on 21 carries and another 61 yards passing (6-for-15). Cuzzupe had 61 of his 64 yards on one play and carried 8 times. Eckel added 35 yards on 8 carries. Rogers made 3 grabs for 53 yards. The grunts for the Pats were: sr. C John Tull, sr. G’s Cleveland Smith and Brendan Wilcox, T’s jr. Jack Lowney (6’4”, 260 lbs) and sr. Rob Sklaroff (6’4”, 260 lbs), and jr. TE Chris Kennedy (6’4”, 285 lbs). Defensively, Temple-recruit sr. LB Geoff Prather made eight tackles, with six being solos. DT Sklaroff also had six solo tackles among his eight total stops. Eckel (fumble recovery) and sr. LB Samuel Jansen each made six tackles. Also chipping in were McClernon, Lowney, and jr. LB Steve Farley with four apiece. Rogers made a fumble recovery, while the feisty Haefner had a nice and timely interception. With the win West has guaranteed itself a first round bye and no worse than second place. They’ll play CL Blue rival Wood next week in a first place showdown, as both teams enter the game (6-0). How's this for a statistic? These teams have outscored the rest of the league 482-to-46!!!

OCT. 28
CL RED
Father Judge 33, O’Hara 0
     To tell you the truth, even though the Lions were playing without star jr. QB Tom Savage (foot), I expected a more tightly-contested battle. And for a while we did have a competitive game with a big-time defensive flavor to it. Late in the second quarter Judge led just 3-0, courtesy of a 37-yard field goal by sr. K/P Brian Rickus early in the first quarter. Like in many instances when a close game starts to unravel and moves towards blowout status, there is usually a signature play that begins things. Today, that play occurred with just over two minutes left in the first half. The Lions had just stopped the Crusaders' rushing headliner, sr. Andrew McHale, for no gain at Judge’s 38. After an O’Hara timeout, the Crusaders lined up in punt formation, but the ball was snapped directly to sr. TE Dan Keenan and he easily bolted to his right and got to the edge. When he was finally brought down twenty yards had been netted and Judge kept possession at the O’Hara 42-yard line. Great call and perfectly executed! Interestingly, prior to this play Judge had managed only 14 yards in offense and one first down. This play went on to propel the rising Crusaders with oodles of momentum, as sr. QB Paul Volpe found sr. WR/LB Jim DiLisio for 19 yards to the twenty-three on the next play. Then, McHale rumbled 22 yards to the one. After an offside call moved them back five, McHale raced in from the six for the game’s first touchdown. Yes, they had 14 yards in offense over roughly 22-minutes of action, and then unleashed 67 yards on four plays and about of minute’s worth of time. It wouldn’t stop there either, as the halftime intermission would do zilch to slow-up Judge’s momentum. Jr. DB Ryan Fenningham returned the second half kickoff forty-five yard to the O’Hara forty-eight. A short run by McHale and 15-yard facemask at the end of it would move the ball to the thirty-one. On the next play, McHale raced through the right-side and found paydirt for a 16-0 Judge lead. Meanwhile, the O’Hara offense continued to leak oil. All four of their third quarter possessions would end ominously. McHale forced a fumble, recovery by jr. WR/DB Tom Ryan, to end their first series. O’Hara’s next possession would end when jr. OL/DT/P Dennis Mushrush dropped a snap in punt formation. This would lead to another Rickus field goal, this time good from 26 yards, creating a 19-0 Crusader lead. The Lions would move into Judge’s territory on their next series, but soph. RB/DB Corey Brown was dropped for a one-yard loss by jr. DE/TE Ryan Langdon on fourth down. Shortly thereafter, Volpe connected with Ryan for a 21-yard hook-up and then McHale bolted home from 19 yards to make it 26-0. A couple of plays into O’Hara’s next possession, jr. DT Jeff Brewer recovered a fumble off an errant handoff. Two plays later and on the first play of the final quarter, McHale would sprint in from the 18 for his fourth touchdown of the game. How is this for as stretch? The Crusaders scored 30 points in 13:12 span. They ran 20 plays during this time and gained 213 of their 247 yards for the game. They also notched 11 of their 14 first downs during this sequence. Talk about grabbing the bull by the horns! McHale led the way with 136 yards on 20 carries. This kid is really developing into a good runner, as he can hurt teams in a number of ways. Today, he demonstrated a little patience, persistence, good feet, a solid base, quickness, some shiftiness, and speed. I wouldn’t say he’s a master of any of these attributes, but he certainly does them all well enough to make him a rather complete high school running back. With one week left in the regular season, this kid is right at the top of a short list for CL Red MVP. We’ll see what transpires! Volpe, playing in his second game since a hand injury, was solid. He finished 6-for-11, with 113 yards. His favorite target was Ryan, who made four catches for 69 yards. What I like about him and even DiLisio on earlier reception, is their ability to make the first guy miss and then head up field for additional yardage. All of the Judge WR’s have good size and run hard. Good moments in the trenches by: sr. C Anthony Marascio, jr. G’s John Lavelle and Matt Schule, sr. T Dave Smith and jr. T Joe Gallelli, while Langdon and Keenan served as the TE’s. Defensively, the Crusaders were stealth throughout and demonstrated a solid team effort approach. They allowed the Lions only 93 yards on 51 plays, including 27 yards rushing on 35 carries. Fenningham (5 tackles, 70 return yards) made an early pick. Sacks were had by jr. OLB Adam Nowak (7 tackles) and DiLisio (5 stops). Sr. LB Chris Dowling was back in the line-up after missing six weeks with a broken foot/ankle. He was active in shedding some rust and ended up involved in 8 tackles. Definitely an effort he’ll be able to build upon. Langdon finished with six stops, while rugged jr. LB Joe Swallow managed five. Sr. DT Josh Carfagno and D. Keenan split eight stops. As you can see the Crusaders have no problem spreading around the wealth on that side of the ball. This Judge team has the look of REAL contenders for the CL Red crown, but there is still plenty of work to be done. For O’Hara, the most effective offensive player was Brown, but even he had a tough time finding room. He finished with 42 yards on 16 totes and added another 56 yards on three kickoff returns. Freshman QB Ryan Laughlin went 7-for-16, for 66 yards. Sr. WR Ryan Wolski snagged five of those balls for 36 yards. Sr. TE Mark Wedderburn made the other two catches for 30 yards. However, the D-1 prospect, which currently holds a plethora of offers, dropped two other passes. One led directly to an interception and the other one probably prevented the chains from moving. At this level I would still like to see more on the field from this kid. He has very good athleticism and physical skills (6’7”, 244 lbs), but that hasn’t necessarily translated into a ton of success between the lines. Defensively, the Lions played hard, but there is only so much a defense can do when the offense doesn’t move the sticks consistently. Sacks were had by Wedderburn (4 tackles, batted ball), Mushrush, and sr. DB Pat Daly, who forced and recovered a fumble at the end of his sack deep in O’Hara territory. Daly also had seven total tackles. Jr. DT/LB Anthony McCloskey also had seven tackles, while sr. LB Mike Grunde aided with six. Soph. DT Louis Cocco made a late-game fumble recovery, and sr. DE Bill McMonigle contributed with four stops. It was good to listen to some of the Eagles game during halftime, as the PA announcer put the game on the loud speaker. Hey, I have now covered two games while the Eagles were on and they are (2-0). When I stay home and watch (1-4). Hmmm!!! At game’s end, I gave website (Or webline as he dubs it) nemesis Tom “Pucklehead” McKenna a ride to Upper Darby so he could catch the SJ Prep/Bonner game. I live in that area, so no, I wasn’t going above and beyond. The Puckster was rather harmless en route though, so this report will have to end without some kind of crazy story or outburst…..Damn, I hate when that happens!

OCT. 20
CL RED
SJ Prep 16, O’Hara 7
     The Cardinal O’Hara football program is no stranger to stopping long winning streaks in the Delaware Valley. In ’89, the Lions posted a memorable win over Central Bucks West that halted their streak at 55 games. Today, the Hawks entered this CL Red contest with an ultra-impressive 52-game league winning streak. Though the Hawks never did trail in the game the Lions gave them all they could handle and at the very least had the Hawks doubting themselves up until the final moments of the game. In the end though, the Hawks did just enough to secure the win and the streak stands at 53 games. Wow! When did things get interesting? Let’s start at the end of the first half with the Hawks leading 9-0. After a 2-yard run by sr. RB Jamir Livingston, the Lions used their final timeout of the half with just over a minute to play. The Hawks were faced with a third-and-16 from their eight-yard line. I figured that a safe play, like a draw or conventional handoff was in order. Instead, a pass play was called, and sr. QB Aaron Haas threw a pass to the right side of the field. There waiting was O’Hara sr. LB Mike Grunde, who made nice athletic play at the eighteen, and then out-ran everyone to the end zone to make the score 9-7 with 55 seconds left. If the Hawks did run the ball and failed to get the needed sixteen yards, then they would have had to punt the ball away. And yes, Lion soph. RB/DB Corey Brown is vary capable of making a big play, but with the way the Hawks were playing defense, I doubt the Lions would have marched the necessary yardage in such short a time and with no timeouts left. Hindsight is always 20-20, but I have to think that this left a sour taste in the Hawks mouths as they entered the locker room. Conversely, the Lions zipped off the field with oodles of momentum and could smell upset in the air. Now, let’s move ahead to early in the fourth with the score still at 9-7. O’Hara’s defense, which was stingy and tough all afternoon collected consecutive sacks by sr. DE/TE Mark Wedderburn (6’7”, 244 lbs) and sr. DE Bill McMonigle for nine and thirteen yards respectively. This put the ball at the Prep 5-yard line and had sr. WR/K/P Tim Edger punting from his own end zone and into a stiff cross-wind. The kick wasn’t bad and landed at the thirty-nine, but took an O’Hara bounce and by the time it was downed it had settled at the twenty-seven. This would be the only time the Lions had the ball in Prep territory for the entire game. Next, the Lions ran the ball three straight times, but only managed five yards, moving the ball to the 22-yard line. Things got a little chaotic at this point. O’Hara Head Coach Dan Algeo summoned in the field goal unit for what would have been a 39-yard attempt. However, the Hawks were forced to call timeout when only ten players were on the field after shuffling players in and out. When the timeout had ended, the Lions pulled a fast one and sent the offense back onto the field. Meanwhile, Head Coach Gil Brooks and his staff were going crazy to get another timeout, so they could re-insert their proper defensive unit, but the refs never granted them this opportunity. O’Hara freshman QB Ryan Laughlin, filling in for injured D-1 prospect jr. Tom Savage (foot), took the snap from center and threw a quick pass to the right-side of the field to sr. WR Ryan Wolski. At the last second, sr. DB/WR Greg Castillo reached around and swatted the pass to the ground to prevent the first down. Great play! Part of me wanted to see the field goal attempt, but a 39-yarder with the wind going from left-to-right was far from a sure thing. Thereafter, the Lions would get the ball back two more times with the game still standing at a 9-7 score, but failed to seriously threaten either time. Their last series of consequence reached their 34-yard line after a 12-yard reception by Wedderburn gave them a first down with three-minutes to play. However, after a one-yard run by Brown, the Hawks’ sr. DE Ryan McGinn (6’3”, 235 lbs) sandwich a pair sacks around an incomplete pass by Laughlin. The sacks went for five and ten yards, with the final one giving the ball back to the Hawks at the 20-yard line with 1:49 to play. After an encroachment penalty on the Lions, Livingston ran three straight times for five yards, the last one reached the end zone at 59 seconds and gave us our final score.  Victory secured and streak continues! This baby had a big-time defensive flavor to it, as both teams really got after it and had lots of success at the point of attack. For the game only 224 yards in offense could be mustered-up, with Lions only grabbing a mere 74 yards. In the second half the Hawks out-gained the Lions 27-to-22! Not exactly the kind of numbers we’re use to from these two offenses. For the Hawks, McGinn played very well, especially late. He finished with 2.5 sacks and a total of eight tackles. Impressive jr. DT Andy Marshalick (6’1”, 260 lbs) combined with McGinn on a sack and 6 stops all together. Also playing well on the defensive line was sr. DE Gary Williams (6 tackles) and jr. DT Joe Ventresca. Castillo had three pass defends and a pick (21-yard return) that set-up the Hawks first touchdown, a 4-yard run by Haas on a keeper. Earlier Edger nailed a 25-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. He later missed just barely right on a 34-yarder. Late in the game, he boomed a 47-yard punt into the wind to see that O’Hara began a drive deep in their territory. Clutch! Also, playing well on the defensive side of the ball was jr. LB Mike Pereira with six tackles, sr. LB Paul Fitzgerald (5 stops), and sr. DB Jim McGoldrick (5 stops, 2 pass defends). Sr. DB Pat Jordan and sr. LB Sean Robinson evenly split eight tackles. On offense, the Hawks saw just two of their 56 plays from scrimmage gain more than ten yards. How unusual is that? McGoldrick raced 53 yards on an inside-counter early and Livingston later had a run of 16 yards. Livingston was used frequently and ended with 34 tough carries. The Lions made him earn every one of his 109 yards though. Haas pretty much had a day he liked to forget, as he completed just one pass in 11 attempts. Three of his misfires found O’Hara defenders too. The conditions were not ideal for throwing, but confidence seemed to slip away over time too. I expect him to bounce back in time though. For O’Hara, they got a tremendous effort from McMonigle who just had a field day on defense. He finished with a game-high 11 tackles, including two sacks and another TFL that accumulated 29 yards in losses. Eight of his tackles were solos and he also got a paw on two passes at the line. Also playing well for the Lions on that side of the ball was jr. LB Nate Oropollo who finished with ten tackles, including 9 solos. Aside from Grunde’s interception, the Lions also received picks from Brown and jr. DB Jason Johnson. Both came on deep balls and in both instances the defenders demonstrated excellent athleticism in rising over the would-be receivers. Sr. DB Pat Daly registered eight tackles. Jr. DT Dennis Mushrush (6’1”, 275) was beastly on the line scrimmage in the second half. He made six tackles, with three going for losses. He also was called on to punt seven times and did well with a 35.0 average. Rugged jr. LB Anthony McCloskey managed four stops and appeared to be playing some defensive tackle at times. Offensively, the Lions just could never get anything consistent going. Would a healthy Savage have made a difference? Possibly! Asking a freshman to lead an offense versus a defense like the Prep is a little much, but I still liked how Laughlin competed. He passed just 2-for-11, for 24 yards, but did seem to get a little more bounce in his step as the game moved along. Brown had some success running up the middle and gained 49 yards on 15 carries. The rest of the running game for the Lions only gained a single yard on 19 carries. At halftime the Prep honored all their senior players and some members from their 1961 football team. The PA guy had a good line prior to introducing them when he said, “The ’61 football team had a perfect record, if you don’t count their two losses.” This got a nice chuckle out of the crowd.

OCT. 19
CL BLUE
Kennedy-Kenrick 21, Neumann-Goretti 0
     Both teams entered this pivotal CL Blue game with one league win apiece. Each knew that a victory tonight would go a long way in seeing a playoff berth come their way in a few weeks. With rain on the horizon a quick start was crucial to each team’s success. OK, with the stage now set, which team was going to make the game’s first statement? Well, it didn’t take long for the Wolverines to ring the statement bell. Sr. DT Chris Santoro (6’1”, 285 lbs), who at halftime was crowned Homecoming King, forced a fumble on N-G’s second play from scrimmage. How’s that for some royal treatment? The ball was recovered at midfield by sr. LB Jerry Ploskon. Then, after eight straight runs moved the ball to the twenty, jr. QB Ryan Sejda found jr. WR Ronell Fairel down the middle of the field. After gathering in the pass, he bounced off a couple of defenders and rolled into the end zone for the game’s first score. The Saints next possession ended after just five plays when sr. LB/FB Matt Ganley made a nice interception on a ball that was slightly behind him. He returned it six yards to the Saints 38-yard line. Eight plays later and two plays into the second quarter Sejda again found Fairell. This time it was on a 12-yard fade to the right side of the field. Fairel, who has a good size (6’1”, 190 lbs) easily out-jumped and out-positioned a pair of N-G defensive backs to make the reception. Next, Sejda barely found the end zone on a tough conversion run to make the score 14-0. The Saints would follow this up with their best drive of the game. They held the ball for nine plays and moved from their 32-yard line to the K-K 27-yard line. However, on play nine, sr. QB Kadeem Singleton mishandled the snap from center and sr. DT Mike Olczewski (6’0”, 345 lbs) made the recovery. After this, the Saints would get their hands on the ball for just four more times and would only manage 27 yards in offense and two more first downs. The second of these first downs came on the next to last play of the game on an 11-yard scramble by Singleton. The Wolverines would eventually make it 21-0 on a 2-yard run by sr. RB Chris Schodle with 1:34 left. The Wolverine defense was stingy all evening. They allowed the Saints just 88 yards on 33 plays, all which were rushing yards. Despite trailing the entire game the Saints attempted just four pass plays. Three of these passes came very late and made up three of the last five plays the Saints ran from scrimmage. I don’t like to kick a team when they’re down, but to say that the Saints’ passing attack is in dire straits would be putting it way beyond lightly. For the season, N-G has just 107 total passing yards in eight games and has only completed 14 attempts in 80 tries. Yikes! Is there an end in sight? I’m not sure! Singleton is giving it his all after being inserted, but it’s obvious that he is far from comfortable under center. With nothing close to a viable option in the passing game, opponents are just sitting in the box waiting for them to run the ball. OK, enough about this and hopefully things do get at least a little better in time. The Wolverines played good team ball on defense and were led by energetic sophomore LB Tim Young with 10 tackles (6 solos). Not the biggest of kids, but he did a good job finding space in getting to the ball-carrier. Ploskon was next with 7 stops. Ganley added five. Meanwhile, jr. DE Lou Zbyszinski notched a sack amongst his four stops. Offensively, Sejda completed 10 of his first 12 (10-of-15 for game) passes for 123 yards. I liked how he got rid of the ball quickly and how he was mostly sure of himself in the pocket. Good presence!  Fairel hauled-in seven balls for 84 yards. This kid has possibilities and it appears that he could be a physical type receiver in time. Good size! Aside from his two touchdowns he also had a nice 22-yard leaping grab along the K-K sideline. Leading rusher, sr. Greg Santangelo was back in the line-up for the Wolverines after missing the last two games. Not sure if he’s exactly a 100% though. He looked a little gimpy at times and finished with 41 yards on 15 totes. He also made a catch worth 19 yards. The most impressive Saint was sr. RB/LB Adam Malatino, who just left everything on the field tonight. On offense he was able to generate 58 yards on 15 carries. Defensively, twelve of his game-high fourteen tackles were solos. He was everywhere early! Not the biggest of kids, he really has given a solid effort each time I have seen him. I admire the way this kid competes! The Saints played without leading rusher sr. Hakeem Johnson (ankle). Only three N-G players touched the ball on offense; Malatino, sr. FB/LB Michael Russo (7-26), and Singleton (7-4 rush; 0-4 passing). The Saints did play hard on defense throughout the contest. Sr. two-way lineman Chris Palmer (6’4”, 290 lbs), who is bound for West Virginia, made 7 tackles (5 solos). Jr. two-way lineman, Kadeem Custis (6’5”, 280 lbs), who is also generating D-1 interest, had a sack and four total stops. Jr. LB James Dougherty also had a sack. Sr. DB Darrell Dulany, soph. DE Jesse Kinsey, and Russo each made four tackles. The rain never did start and I thank Mother Nature for the sparing. We did get a couple of sprits here and there, but nothing close to the – I-need-to-pull-the-plastic-cover-out moisture. That’s always a good thing because I am not the worlds’ most adept stat-keeper in wet conditions. Solid crowd on-hand for K-K’s Homecoming festivities! Oh yeah, before I go, I just have to say how happy Santoro looked as he donned the king’s crown – Not!!! Something tells me that I don’t think he thought it went well with the muddy uniform, on top of the sweaty head. Just a hunch though…

OCT. 14
CL BLUE
West Catholic 48, Neumann-Goretti 6
     Last week after N-G’s loss to Archbishop Carroll this website’s founder and our fearless leader Ted Silary suggested in his report that maybe the Saints should opt for an older, more athletic kid to take the helm at quarterback. This way soph. Anthony Mastrando could be brought along slowly and be better developed. Mastrando only stands 5’7”, 145 lbs and was having a tough go of it so far this year. Well, lo and behold, we have a prophet amongst us! The Saints did in fact head in that direction and made sr. Kadeem Singleton the quarterback for their game today versus West. He had been playing tight end on offense and defensive end on the other side of the ball to date. How did he do? Not much better in the results department, but I do have to think that his strength and decent speed allowed him to avoid a few sacks. However, you could tell that the position was far from familiar to him. How? Well, occasionally there was that sense of confusion, or a collision between him and a running back during handoffs, and the snaps from center were far from clean at times. Still, you have to admire the kid for giving it a go and if he remains at the position let’s hope he finds some success in time. Hey, he already leads the team in one category. His only completion, a 7-yarder to jr. WR/DB Ira Sample, went for a score and took the goose egg off the board with 3:24 remaining in the game. This was N-G’s first passing touchdown of the season. OK, we see the lopsided score at the top of the page, so how did we arrive there? The Burrs took the opening possession of the game and moved 70 yards in 2:15 (7 plays) to begin the scoring. Jr. RB Raymond Maples raced around the left-end for a 16-yard touchdown. Pass completions from jr. QB Curtis Drake to sr. WR Rodney Blango for 18 and 21 yards aided the drive. The Burrs next possession would end when a deep pass by Drake was intercepted by Sample at the Saints 9-yard line. Then, N-G held the ball for twelve plays as the game entered the second quarter. They marched to the West 30-yard line, but were stopped five yards short on fourth down. However, they also lost sr. RB/DB Hakeem Johnson (8-26) to either an ankle or knee injury on the last play of the first quarter. And this added more cause for concern. Johnson has been the Saints ray of hope on offense this season and his loss in this game probably didn’t make a difference, but if he’s out for some time, then Head Coach Bill Sytsma’s squad could be in serious trouble. Let’s cross our fingers it’s not that serious! WC’s second touchdown of the game came after an exhilarating 57-yard run by Drake. On a designed keeper he raced to his right, but the Saints bottled him almost instantaneously. He then reversed fields, side-stepped a couple pursuers, and outran everyone around the left end. Only good hustle by a couple of N-G defenders slowed him down and allowed Sample to make the tackle at the 13-yard line. Two plays later, Drake hit Blango from 12 yards to create a 14-0 advantage. Sr. DB Herman Hinton, who earlier had an interception (32-yard return), recovered a loose ball on the subsequent kickoff. It did appear to me, and I was right there, that Hinton’s foot was out-of-bounds while he made the recovery in-bounds. Oh well, when it rains it pours. The Burrs wouldn’t score on this possession though, as the Saints held them at the 3-yard line. Two plays later the third Saints’ miscue of the half occurred when jr. DE Artis Carroll recovered a fumble that was forced by ex-Saint sr. LB/TE Pre’Andre Watson at the seven-yard line. Maples rumbled in from there on the next play to make it 21-0. A poor center snap in punt formation on N-G’s next possession allowed jr. DE Chris Williams to pick the ball up and race to the two before being pulled-down by a Saints’ lineman. I’m sure he’ll take some harassment from teammates for failing to score. Next play, jr. RB/DB Rob Holloman slid in for the fourth Burr touchdown. Things didn’t get any better for Singleton and company, as Holloman made a lovely diving interception along the N-G sideline to the give the ball back to West once again. Six plays later Drake found Blango (4-57) once more, this time from six yards. Soph. K Tim Carroll’s (6-of-7 on PATs) extra-point clanged off the post to keep the score at 34-0. This prevented the clock from running continuously to begin the second half for the first time in league play this year for the Burrs. The Saints had five first half turnovers and allowed West to start drives at their 20, 7, 2, and 38-yard lines to end the half. Not good! West's first possession of the second half resulted in Maples’ third score of the game (6-yard run) and the final 16:51 was played with a running clock. N-G’s touchdown was set-up by a 28-yard interception return by sr. DB Darrell Dulany to the West seven-yard line. Why West was throwing the ball with four minutes left is beyond me? Yes, it was third-and-thirteen, and no, it was not a bomb, but it just didn’t make much sense to me. Anyone care to guess who made the tackle? Yep, it was Drake, with some help from Blango. I would hate to think how people would have felt if WC’s star QB was hurt on such a play. Oh well, no sense on dwelling on it, but it really should have been avoided by just running the ball. Oh, yeah, in case you blinked the last touchdown was scored by Holloman on a 72-yard run up the middle. The kid has some decent wheels! Drake finished 8-for-12, with 87 yards, and another 38 yards on 3 runs. Holloman notched 124 yards on 8 carries, while Maples gained 74 yards on 10 totes. They had five TDs between them! On defense, Holloman added a sack to go with his pick. Jr. DT Dwayne Shaw had a game-high 8 tackles. Sr. LB Marquese Sanders and Watson were next with six stops apiece. Soph. DT Jon Ruppert, jr. DB Haleem Hayward, and Hinton evenly split 15 tackles. For the Saints, Singleton had just the one completion in seven attempts. Sr. RB/LB Adam Malatino rushed for 79 yards on 10 carries. He had a long 51-yard gallop in the third quarter. On defense, sacks were had by jr. DT Kadeem Custis (6’5”, 280 lbs) and jr. DL McMillian Gould, who formerly lived in England and played rugby there. West Virginia-recruit sr. OL/DT Chris Palmer made five tackles (4 solos), while Dulany added five of his own. Coming into the game Drake had only been sacked and picked off once for entire season. Today, the Saints were able to double those totals. West has now outscored their CL Blue opponents 149-to-7 in the first half of four games. All total, its 188-to-19! Combine that with Wood’s 142-to-0 and the CL Blue frontrunners hold a whopping 330-to-19 advantage through four games. Wow! The Burrs have a date with an improving Carroll club in two weeks, but they are on a collision course with the Vikings for regular season supremacy in the first weekend of November. Let’s see how it pans out….

OCT. 13
CL BLUE
Wood 35, McDevitt 0
     As the finals seconds ticked off the clock I double-checked what day of the week it was. It indeed was a Saturday night, as when so many other high school games are typically played. Still, this baby had a weekday feel to it because of the workmanlike, business-as-usual, lunch pail approach taken by the Vikings. This was my first look at the ’07 Wood football team and I came away impressed. They’re not exactly like the last few squads from Warminster, but there is plenty to like nonetheless. Superb job so far by Head Coach Steve Devlin and his staff for not allowing the Vikings to miss a beat in the preparation, organizational, and attention-to-details areas of playing football. We’ll see if this squad finds itself in a fifth straight (Three titles – ’03, ’04, & ’05) CL Blue Final, but my hunch thinks it’s extremely possible. Tonight, they posted their fourth consecutive CL Blue shutout and have now outscored those opponents to the tune of 142-to-0! The unquestioned leader of the Vikes is rock-strong sr. RB/LB Bob DeLucas (6’1”, 225 lbs). You'd be hard-pressed to find too many tougher players in the Catholic League. Whether it be slamming through the line of scrimmage with the ball or storming past a would-be blocker in pursuit of a ball-carrier this kid is ALWAYS looking to deliver the first blow. In this game he carried the rock 13 times (12 before half) for 73 yards and two scores. Every one of his runs gained between three and nine yards. Also, not once was he brought down on first contact. The Vikes didn’t punt until the final minute of the game. Their eight other possession ended with 5 touchdowns, a missed 45-yard field goal by jr. K James McFadden, and a couple of interceptions. For the game the rang-up 338 total yards on 46 plays, with 253 of these yards coming on 34 carries. The scoring went like this; 34-yard run by jr. RB/LB Sean Cunningham (3-55), 8-yard run by DeLucas, 8-yard pass from sr. QB Mike Cattolico to jr. TE/DE Anthony Narisi, that made the score 21-0 going into halftime, a DeLucas 6-yard run, and lastly a 20-yard run by sr. RB Charlie Wanner (4-77) with 10:00 left in the fourth quarter. The game was played with a running clock from this juncture. Also, adding to the running assault was sr. FB Nick Devine with 32 yards on 8 carries. DeLucas is the main cog in the corps, but these other kids serve a role and are valuable in their own respect. Of course, they would get nowhere without some paving from the grunts in the trenches. This unit includes; sr. C Bob Kenney, G’s sr. Michael White and sr. Joe Makoid, T’s jr. Matthew O’Connell and mammoth jr. Adam Citko (6’5”, 301 lbs), and Narisi at tight end. Cattolico finished with 85 yards on an efficient 9-for-12 passing. Two of his incompletions went for picks, but overall I thought he was solid. Six different receivers made grabs for Wood. Defensively, DeLucas had a team-high 10 tackles (8 solos) and forced a fumble. Again, this kid really knows how to fill a hole! Jr. DB Shane Miller made two picks worthy of 73 yards in returns. Makoid had a sack, while Narisi and sr. DE Bill Capper split a sack. Cunningham and sr. DB Greg Colbridge each made five stops. Sr. DB Andrew Finley had a fumble recovery for the Vikes. The Lancers would only travel into Viking territory twice. They did so on their first drive and then on their next-to-last possession. The furthest they would penetrate would be the Wood 32-yard line. Jr. QB Luke Sawick passed 7-for-21, for 115 yards. His biggest gains went for 36 yards to jr. WR/DB Steve Harris early and 33 yards to jr. WR Rodney Ellis late. Sr. RB Jason Golderer had 46 yards on 12 carries. He also added 82 yards on four kickoff returns. Defensively, sr. DT Stephen Yuan (6’3”, 305) was tremendous! If not for him I’d have to think that Wood would have hit the 35-point spread barrier much sooner. He made 11 tackles, including 9 solos for the game. Many came right at the point of the attack, but he did demonstrate nice lateral movement along the line of scrimmage to pull a few runners down. Interceptions were had by Harris (6 tackles) and soph. DB Andrew Siegfried (5 tackles). Sr. DB Greg Williams (five), jr. LB Justin Schley (five), and jr. DT Anthony Gaddy (four) were active on defense too.

OCT. 13
CL RED
SJ Prep 42, North Catholic 7
     For the Falcons things couldn’t have started better in their upset bid of the mighty Hawks. Seven plays into SJ Prep’s first drive sr. QB Aaron Haas was stripped on a keeper by jr. LB Eric Moore and teammate jr. DB Mike Scott picked-up the rock and began his journey down the left-sideline. Scott received some interference from a few teammates and made a cut or two on his way to a 54-yard touchdown return. As you can imagine, the Falcon sidelines erupted into euphoria. They were even more excited after the defense forced a three-and-out and subsequent punt on the Hawks’ next possession. However, the glee would be short-lived. Two plays into the series, jr. QB Dennis Logue threw behind his intended receiver. After the ball was deflected, sr. DB Pat Jordan made the interception and returned it 18 yards to the North 32-yard line. Seven plays later star sr. RB Jamir Livingston scampered in from three yards out to knot things. North next set of downs ended after three plays and a punt. That’s when dangerous sr. DB Jim McGoldrick accepted the ball while back-peddling and on a bounce. He was initially hit, but shrugged off this feeble attempt and headed up field. Later in the return he was able to shed another tackle attempt or two and eventually found himself scooting down the right-sideline. The return covered 52 yards and gave the Hawks a 14-7 lead they would never relinquish. Good effort and quickness on the return by McGoldrick, but shoddy tackling was more than likely the main culprit in allowing him to score. As is quite often the case when things are going good for the Hawks they ended the half with a score that just deflates their opponent. With 59 seconds left in the half, sr. WR/DB Greg Castillo accepted a laser of a pass on a slant from Haas for a 23-yard touchdown. The two-touchdown intermission advantage seemed much greater than usual because of the way the Falcons were offense. Or should I say, because of the way the Hawks were flying to the ball on defense. North only managed 21 yards on 18 offensive plays and two first downs (1 on a penalty) in the first half. There would be know scoring in the third quarter, but the Hawks would dent the end zone thrice in the final stanza over a 5:39 span. After seven straight runs put the ball at the North 12-yard line Haas and sr. WR/K/P Tim Edger beautifully connected on a stop-and-go fade pattern in the right-corner of the end zone. The next time the Hawks got the ball their improving offensive line did some will-imposing in allowing them to march 70 yards on three running plays. Doing the honors were; Livingston for 34 yards, sr. FB Mike McCarthy for 6 yards, and Livingston again for the final 30 yards. Capping the scoring was Castillo when he nicely jumped a short out-pattern to make a pick of sr. QB Mike O’Donnell. Lights out! No one is catching him and he raced 40 yards to paydirt. This gave the Hawks a 35-point cushion and final 5:20 was played with a running clock. Today’s performance by the Hawks was certainly impressive, as is the case whenever you best a quality opponent by 35 points. However, I wouldn’t say they were running on all cylinders, at least offensively. For most of the tilt they pretty much relied on their power running game and nickel-and-dimed their way down field. This isn’t always the most exciting brand of football, but with persistence it can be extremely effective. Today is was! Livingston was workhorse-like carrying 26 times for 183 yards. The Falcons did make him earn them though, as 64 of those yards came on his last two carries. Aside from doing a yeoman’s job with lead-blocking, McCarthy also had time to garner 42 yards on 8 totes. Haas threw for 60 yards on 5-for-9 accuracy, but it was obvious that the potentially potent Prep passing game was not going to be a focal point. Let me show some love to the boys up front who helped the offense accumulate 306 yards on offense, including 246 yards rushing on 40 lugs. Members include; sr. C Marty O’Shaughnessy, G’s jr. Mike Pinciotti (6’3”, 280 lbs) and jr. Shawn Davis, T’s jr. Mark Arcidiacono (6’5”, 265 lbs) and Seth Betancourt (6-6, 262), and sr. TE’s Matt Eveland and Michael Bradley. Great job to all! Defensively, the Hawks held North to 73 total yards, but forty-six of those yards came on North’s last possession with subs in for both teams. Half of North’s six first downs came during that final possession too. Members on the defense registering sacks were; sr. DE Ryan McGinn, jr. LB Mike Pereira (5 tackles), and sr. LB Paul Fitzgerald, who also had a team-high six tackles. Jr. DB Michael Yeager was active with five tackles. All total, twenty-one different Hawks made stops. Edger booted five successful PATs that more than likely would have been sprinkled throughout the Frankford neighborhood if the Hawks didn’t have an army on ball-retrieval duty! He also punted twice for a 41.0 average. For North, their offense headliner, sr. RB/DB Terrell Oglesby was stymied throughout. He managed only 28 yards on 14 carries, as running room was scarce to say the least. Logue never did get on track and could only muster up 7 passing yards on 2-for-5 throwing. Scott had 82 yards on three returns, while jr. RB Yusef Lingham had 83 yards on 4 kickoff returns. Defensively, the Falcons competed and until the late-going made the Hawks earn their keep. Sr. DE Pete Sellecchia had a game-high eight tackles. He also punted well with a 38.7 average on six boots. Rugged sr. LB Chris James made seven tackles, while the active Scott added seven (5 solos) too. Jr. DT Pete Puchalski (6’3”, 349 lbs) had a sack amongst four stops. Oglesby made five stops from his secondary position. Recent Temple-recruit, sr. OL/DE Shahid Paulhill (6’4”, 274 lbs) was moved from tight end to tackle on offense. On defense, he made three solo tackles. There was a solid crowd on hand for this afternoon affair. Among the masses were more than a few opposing CL coaches. Including – O’Hara’s Dan Algeo, Judge’s Tommy Coyle, and Roman’s Jim Murphy, as well as multiple assistants from each.

OCT. 12
INTER-AC
Penn Charter 35, Haverford School 14
     Finally! Yes, it now appears that true football weather is upon us. After weeks of some unseasonably sticky temperatures I was able to get a dose of more typical fall conditions. There was a wind-swept moment or two and a hint of briskness in the air for this Inter-Ac opener for both the Fords and the visiting Quakers. The final score might show a three-touchdown victory for Penn Charter, but in actuality this game was more tightly contested. The undoing for the young Fords (just five seniors on the roster) was undoubtedly turnovers. They committed five in the game and three led to Quaker scores. In fact, two picks were returned for touchdowns in the second half. For now, let’s jump ahead to the third quarter. Penn Charter maintained the 14-7 lead they had carried into the intermission, but the Fords had just forced a punt on their opening possession. This is when Quaker headliner sr. DB/WR/RB/KR Eddie Bambino, a jack-of-all-trades, decided to take matters into his own hands. On Haverford’s first play of the drive, jr. QB Dan Judge rolled to his left and let loose with a pass across his body and into the middle of the field. Bambino was waiting and latched onto the misfire, quickly turning the pick into a 42-yard touchdown. This would make the score 21-7 in favor of the Quakers. The Fords regrouped and put together a nice drive that eventually saw them faced with a fourth-and-one from the PC 31-yard line. On a wonderful call, Judge quickly tossed to sr. TE Craig Owen. Seemingly in the open and heading for paydirt, Bambino chased him down with some help from sr. DE Colin Still. While making the tackle he was able to poke the ball free at the two-yard line, not only preventing the score, but giving the ball back to his club when soph. DB Michael Brown made the recovery. Great hustle! After a Penn Charter punt the Fords would unleash another impressive drive. This time they would find the end zone on a 3-yard bull by jr. RB Terance Fitzsimmons, making the score 21-14 with 9:01 left in the game. However, in Ruthian fashion, the Bambino would strike another dagger into the hearts of the Fords. Facing a third and eight, Bambino accepted a pass from jr. QB John Ryan on a drag route about six yards down field. After making the catch he sped towards and eventually down the right sideline basically untouched. On his way he received a great block downfield from Brown. The play covered 75 yards and more importantly provided a two-touchdown cushion for the Quakers. The Fords would not threaten again and in the late going Penn Charter converted their second pick into another score. This time, sr. DB Kelvin Johnson raced home from 29 yards. Johnson showed good hands, athleticism, and concentration while bringing in a pass that was tipped by sr. DB Blaise Fullen. Penn Charter’s first two scores were courtesy of soph. RB Dylan Moody on runs of 19 and 2 yards. Moody is the younger brother of Roman Catholic star sr. Nick Moody, who has already made a verbal commitment to Florida St. The younger Moody does not possess the size of his older bro, but is quick and runs low to the ground. Today, he amassed 86 yards on 19 carries. Ryan, who already has an older brother starring that D-1 level in Boston College QB Matt Ryan, was merely so-so today. He finished 6-for-12, for 115 yards. He severely overthrew Bambino on what would have been a long touchdown toss and just seemed to be a tad out of sync. Still, there is much to like about this kid and I expect good times for him ahead. Bambino finished with 98 yards on 3 catches, 5 yards on a trio of rushes, and another 52 yards on 3 returns. That’s 155 all-purpose yards on just nine touches. He also had the pick, forced fumble, and three total tackles. How big was his 75-yard scoring play? Well, take it away and the Fords out-gained the Quakers 133-to-17 in the second half. Defensively, Fullen (6’3”. 200 lbs) likes to bring the heat! Twice, he introduced himself to jr. RB/DB Chris Ambrogi in up-and-close fashion. First, he instantly rocked Ambrogi as he received a pitch in the backfield. Leaving the Ford’s back wobbly. Later, he jarred the helmet right off of his head after making a nine-yard reception. I think I saw some branches come off the surrounding trees as the hit was made. To Ambrogi’s credit he bounced-up immediately, displaying some late-game toughness. Fullen finished with 7 tackles (6 solos) and two pass defends. Early on sr. two-way lineman Michael McInerney (6’4”, 270 lbs) had some beastly moments. He collected a sack-and-a-half on Haverford’s first possession. All together he had 8 total stops (5 solos) and a forced fumble. Also playing well was Still (5 stops, .5 sack) with a fumble recovery, jr. LB Michael Rauchut (6 tackles, .5 sack), and sr. LB Anthony DiSalvo with five stops. Sr. DE Ryan McGarvey notched a sack and jr. DE Justin Renfrow (6’6”, 235 lbs) had a half-of-sack too. Jr. LB/C Joseph Volgraf (7 tackles, fumble recovery) managed good play on both sides of the ball before injuring his elbow. This could be a serious loss for the Quakers. For Haverford, there is much to like about Judge and his youthful teammates. I would think experienced lent a hand in today’s defeat and more of that may occur in a tough league as the season progresses. Still, you have to think that next season could bring some promise and it will start with the experience they garner this year. Judge finished with 114 passing yards, on 9-for-15 passing. Also known for good wheels he could only manage four total yards on 16 lugs versus a stout Quaker defense. Early on he beautifully executed a screen pass that went for a 32-yard touchdown to Amborgi that knotted the score at 7-7. Fitzsimmons (10-70, also 59 yards on 4 kickoff retuns) and soph FB Wyatt Benson (6-26) showed flashes. If I had a complaint, it would be that I would like to see them get up field quicker as the play begins. On occasion they appeared to be looking when room was already available. I think with more experience this should change and they could form a nice one-two punch for the Fords. Ambrogi had 50 yards on three receptions and made a pick on defense. Benson had a fumble recovery and made 5 stops (4 solos) . Jr. NG Shomari Watts had a sack amongst his five total stops. Sr. LB Andrew Hubley (6’4”, 240 lbs) made five tackles, while jr. LB Justin Schellenger and jr. LB Anthony Martino each made four stops apiece. For the game, the Fords out-gained the Quakers 244-to-232. Decent PA work by the Haverford announcer throughout the game. My personal favorite came as the second began. He stated, “Presumably, we have a lost cell phone. It is reported to have been found in the ladies’ room. We now have it up on the perch.” If I didn’t know I was at an Inter-Ac game before this announcement, I did then! I spent the first half on the HS sidelines, but journeyed on over to PC’s side after the half. It was good to spend some time with Quaker assistant and statman Gerry Sasse. I don’t get to cover too many Penn Charter games, but whenever I do Gerry is always friendly, helpful, and more than willing to converse. Always a good guy!

OCT. 6
CL BLUE
West Catholic 48, Conwell-Egan 7
     With the odds stacked against them, the young Eagles came out with a nothing-to-lose mentality against the speedy and talented Burrs. They took the first possession of the game and impressively marched 62 yards on seven plays to grab a quick 7-0 lead. Big play on the drive was a fourth down pass from jr. QB/DB Matt Della-Croce to star jr. WR Ryan Golin that covered 29 yards and put the ball at the Burr 11-yard line. Two plays later, soph. RB Roman Valponi scurried in from 5 yards. OK, now that a tone was established on offense, would the defense be able to respond on their end? Not to be! The Burrs answered in kind with a six play, 60 yard drive of their own. Jr. QB Curtis Drake hit imposing sr. TE/LB Pre’Andre Watson for an 18-yard scoring strike. Watson caught the ball inside the ten and then bulled his way home over the last few yards. A missed PAT allowed the Eagles to hold a slim lead at 7-6, but it wouldn’t last for long. The next time the Burrs got their hands on the ball they scored in ultra-quick fashion, as Drake found a streaking sr. WR Christian Palmer coming across the field. After taking in the pass about fifteen yards downfield, Palmer easily burned past the Eagles’ secondary and down the sidelines for a 69-yard touchdown. The score would sit at 12-7 as play entered the second quarter, but it wouldn’t sit there for long. West would dent the end zone four times in the second stanza to build a resounding 42-7 halftime lead and ensuring that they would start the second half with a running clock for the third straight week. Score three came on another Drake-to-Watson pass play, this time covering 24 yards. The next touchdown was provided by emerging jr. RB/DB Raymond Maples, who powered, then sped his way in from 61 yards on a run. Three plays prior to this jr. speedster RB/DB Rob Holloman had scorched the Eagles’ defense on a 84-yard run, but had it nullified by illegal block penalty. However, Holloman would reach the end zone the next time his team had the ball. This run covered 13 yards. Finally, after a faulty center snap gave the ball back to West, Drake threw his fourth touchdown of the game. This time he hit jr. WR/DB Haleem Hayward for 26 yards. What a resounding half of offense for the potent Burrs! West ran 22 offensive plays in the half and accumulated 391 yards. Fourteen of the twenty-two plays went for more than ten yards. Drake was an efficient 6-for-8, with 170 yards and 4 scores. He also notched a pair of two-point conversion passes to sr. WR Rodney Blango. His lone blemish was an interception by Anthony Singlar late in the first quarter. This was Drake’s first INT of the season and his first in 113 pass attempts dating back to the middle of last season in a game versus Neumann-Goretti. If my memory serves me correct that pick came on a Hail Mary pass at the end of regulation. Through the first three league games and basically done in six quarters of action because of blowout status, the aforementioned Drake has racked some impressive numbers. He has passed 20-of-27, with 458 yards and 10 touchdowns. For the season he already has 15 TD passes (19 total TD’s; 4 rushing). Don’t know what the school record is, but I would think that it is in jeopardy with just about half a season to go. Both Maples (135 yards) and Holloman (114 yards) eclipsed the 100-yard barrier on only eight carries each. Holloman also provided the final score of the game on an 83-yard kickoff return to begin the second half. He also added another 25 yard kickoff return, thus, giving him 222 all-purpose yards. In the mix he added a two-point conversion run too. So far this season, the versatile Holloman has illuminated the scoreboard in five different manners; rush, reception, lateral (counts as recept.), fumble return, and kickoff return. He also had a punt return called back in another game. Palmer (2-76) and Watson (2-42) each made a pair of receptions. Great job by the offensive line! Those leading the block party were; jr. FB Juan Rozier, TE Watson, sr. C Aaron Maggio, G’s sr. Brandon Terrence and soph. Jake Zuzek, and T’s sr. Earl Griffiths and jr. Victor McNair. These guys help the offense explode for 519 yards on 39 plays. Defensively, Watson was a physical force with 5 tackles (4 solos), 2 pass defends, and a forced fumble. Jr. DE Chris Williams and jr. LB Jordan Culbreath had fumble recoveries. Sr. LB Marquese Sanders had four stops, including a sack. DT’s jr. Dwayne Shaw and jr. Covisia Wilson (2 TFL’s) each had four stops, while jr. DE Artis Carroll made two TFLs. All total, twenty-one different Burrs were in on a tackle. The Eagles competed and played hard throughout, but just didn’t have enough size or speed to keep up with West. Though the lopsided loss was probably hard to swallow, the worse thing that came out of this game is the apparent loss of the talented Golin. Late in the second quarter Golin took a pitch on a reverse play and at the end of the run he was seriously injured (broke both bones in lower leg). Trainers were summoned the field immediately by referees and teammates. The talented wide receiver, who a week earlier tied a city record with 15 receptions in game, was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital. My thoughts and prayers are with him at this time. Our league is now short one of its brightest stars! Here’s to a speedy recovery and future good health. Prior to the injury Golin had just managed the one catch on the Eagles’ first possession. Della-Croce, who has posted lofty numbers to date, could only manage 21 yards passing on 3-for-10 throwing. Two of his completions went for negative yardage. Late in the third quarter Tretter ripped-off consecutive runs of 34, 10, and 19 yards. He finished with 88 yards on 12 carries. Volponi added 35 yards on 10 totes. Defensively, jr. DB Mike Fehrle made four late tackles and recovered a fumble. The Eagles listed just five seniors on their roster! The three first halves played by West in league play this season have produced a total score of 115-to-7!  How far ahead are West and Archbishop Wood compared to their CL Blue opponents? In six combined games the Burrs and Vikings have outscored the opposition, 247-to-13!! Ouch!! This was the first time I covered a game at La Salle University’s McCarthy Stadium. This place isn’t bad and has good lighting and plenty of bleacher space on both sides of the field.

SEPT. 29
CL RED
LaSalle 16, Ryan 7
     With both squads coming off Week One league losses, this became an important game for each. In the end, it was the Explorers who did enough offensively to capture the win. For the most part this game had a defensive flavor to it, but it didn’t start that way. La Salle marched 60 yards on 10 plays with the game’s first series to take an early 6-0 lead. Sr. QB John Harrison found sr. WR Joe Migliarese on a 5-yard pass to complete the drive. Migliarese had little trouble creating space against a much smaller Ryan defensive back on the left side of the field. Keys plays on the drive were first down completions from Harrison to sr. TE Ryan Warrender (12 yards) and soph. WR Connor Hoffman (13 yards). Midway through the second quarter the Red Raiders uncorked their one true drive that resulted in their only score of the game. The touchdown gave Ryan a brief 7-6 lead with 2:07 left in the half. The drive covered 67 yards on 11 plays. Finding the end zone was sr. TE/FB/LB Chris Wilk on a 4-yard pass from jr. QB Rus Slawter. Key play on the drive was a great, diving, one-handed snag by sr. WR Bill Keebler that covered 34 yards. However, Ryan’s momentum would be short-lived as Harrison cleanly orchestrated a two-minute drill that saw his team cover 80 yards on just seven plays. The Explorers were the benefactor of what I thought was a questionable pass interference call early in the drive. The pass was of the short variety and thrown widely and into traffic by Harrison. If completed it probably would have only generated six or seven yards, but the penalty gave the Explorers fifteen instead. Afterwards, Harrison completed 4-of-5 on the drive for 75 yards. First, he hit soph. RB Sam Feleccia for 19 yards. Then, after Hoffman caught a short 2-yard pass, Harrison hit Warrender down the middle of the field for 24 yards. He was hit hard and low by soph. DB Mark Golic and appeared to seriously hurt his knee. Hopefully it’s not as bad as it seemed, but he did not return. After an incomplete pass, Harrison found the lanky Feleccia in a favorable match-up down at the five-yard line. Good positioning allowed him to go over the smaller Ryan defensive back and then easily trot in for the 30-yard score. Just 17 seconds remained on the first half clock and the Explorers had that quickly snatched back the momentum in the game. On their second series of the second half the Explorers seemed to score their third touchdown of the game thrice. However, an illegal shift negated a 10-yard scoring pass to Hoffman. Then, Hoffman had the ball batted away by sr. DB Brandon Green and after that jarred from his grasp on a clean, rocking hit by Golic as the ball arrived. However, LaSalle did mange to dent the scoreboard on a solidly struck 32-yard field goal by soph. K Mike Bennett. The Explorers defense controlled from this point and only allowed Ryan’s offense to cross midfield once after the intermission. Especially effective were sr. LB Matt Alba and jr. DE Ryan Eidenshink, who combined for seven sacks in the game that generated 52 yards in losses. Alba was in the Red Raiders’ backfield repeatedly and had four sacks and eight total tackles. Eidenshink had three sacks of his own and two other TFLs among his nine totals stops. His final sack worth 14 yards ended Ryan’s last threat and gave the ball back to La Salle with just under two minutes left. Ryan had no timeouts, but La Salle decided to run the ball. The ball was fumbled and nearly scooped up by the Red Raiders, but LaSalle did eventually fall on it. After this wiser heads prevailed and two kneel downs took place. The entire LaSalle defensive line really dictated play throughout. Aside from Eidenshink, soph DT Steve Szostak (5 tackles), jr. DE Bob Seiss (6 stops, 5 solos), and soph. DT Matt DiGiacomo all exhibited good moments. Reliable sr. LB Andrew Wood added five stops, while jr. DB Kevin Farrington made six stops and three pass defends. All total the Explorers held Ryan to a total of 154 yards of offense, including just 42 yards on 33 carries. Offensively, Harrison finished 12-of-23 for 181 yards. Migliarese made 5 grabs for 78 yards. Feleccia added 57 yards on 11 carries, and another 49 yards on two catches. Jr. RB/DB/P Mike Donohoe had a very good day booting the ball. He averaged 40.2 yards on five kicks and continually got great hang times. For Ryan, Slawter pretty much was running for his life throughout. He ended the game with 112 passing yards, on 9-of-23 throwing. He also served as his team’s punter and he too had a solid outing in that area. He punted six times for 36.8 average. Once he perfectly placed a kick towards the sideline that landed inside the five. Defensively, the Red Raiders played hard and tough throughout. Wilk (6’2”, 225 lbs) led with eight total tackles (6 solos). Green played aggressively on La Salle wide receivers and made seven solo stops, including some sound stops on short hitch passes. Sacks were had by sr. LB Erik Silenok (4 tackles) and sr. DT Kevin MacDonald. Sr. DT Anthony Corso (four tackles) and jr. DE Anthony Leon (six) were active throughout. Ryan played without star sr. WR/DB Nick Ferdinand (ankle) and you have to wonder if his presence could have made a difference in a game like this. Ryan only needed a play here or there and things could have been much closer. Oh well, overcoming injuries is a part of the game.

SEPT. 28
CL BLUE
West Catholic 57, Kennedy-Kenrick 0
     So far this season the Wolverines of Kennedy-Kenrick have been one of the best feel-good stories of the young season. Head Coach Mike Santillo has had his club playing solid ball and entering tonight they sat with a 4-0 overall record. Their schedule to date hadn’t been overly difficult, but there was some hope that the Wolverines could hang with the talented Burrs for at least a little while. If this was going to be the case, what was the one thing K-K needed to avoid? Turnovers! What did they do? Commit six, with five coming in the first half! West turned the six miscues into 31 points and did some major frolicking throughout. The key turnover may just have been their first of the game. After a West touchdown gave them a 7-0 lead, the Wolverines got two first downs and moved to the West 46-yard line. Then, disaster struck, as jr. QB Ryan Sejda saw a high snap from center roll past him. He had a little bit of time to gather the ball, or at least a chance to fall on it, but after an additional bobble or two, West sr. LB Pre’Andre Watson (6’4”. 250 lbs) got his big claw on the rock and easily rolled in for a 41-yard fumble return. The Burrs would never look back! The score would surge to 20-0 on a 15-yard run by jr. RB/DB Raymond Maples on the Burrs’ following series. Next, jr. LB Jordan Culbreath forced a fumble with soph. DT Jon Ruppert recovering at the K-K 10-yard line. Three plays later, jr. RB/DB Rob Holloman raced in from six yards to make the score 26-0. The Wolverines would put together another decent drive that saw them have a first down at the West 35-yard line. However, sacks by Culbreath and jr. DE Artis Carroll netted 20 yards in losses. On third down, sr. FB/LB Matt Ganley took a pass from Sejda and was seriously whacked by Watson, forcing a fumble that was recovered by sr. LB Marquese Sanders. It didn’t look like that Ganley definitely had possession of the ball and Santillo appeared to be protesting in regards to this, but the refs allowed the call to stand giving West the ball back. Again, it took them just three plays to strike, as Maples rumbled in from 24 yards. K-K’s very first play of their next possession ended with an interception by sr. DB/OLB Herman Hinton, who returned the ball to the K-K 20-yard line. Yep, you guessed it, three plays later; Drake fired a missile into the end zone that connected with sr. WR Christian Palmer for a 20-yard scoring toss. Great grab by Palmer too, as he reached back behind him to catch a pass with a tad of steam on it. K-K’s fifth and final turnover of the half was another pick by Hinton. The Burrs led 38-0 at half and for a consecutive week the second half would be played with a running clock. It was more of the same in the second half as Maples capped their first possession with another 15-yard touchdown run. He had returned the second half kickoff 82 yards for touchdown, only to see it nullified by a flag. The Burrs would go on to score two more times in the fourth quarter, as jr. RB DeVaughn Swain scooted-in from 15 yards. Then, jr. FB Mike Henderson rumbled 95 yards for a score. It was a great individual effort early for Henderson, as he busted out of two tackle attempts before finding open real estate. Versatile and exciting jr. QB Curtis Drake wasn’t asked to do much for West and finished 5-for-8 passing, for 69 yards and 22 yards rushing on two carries. He was responsible for the first score of the game with a 16-yard touchdown throw to sr. WR Rodney Blango (2-31). The Burrs rushed with 333 yards on the ground on just 29 carries. All who ran the ball contributed in this effort. Maples ran with authority for 83 yards on 8 carries (3 TD’s). Holloman (8-52), Swain (6-42), jr. FB Juan Rozier (2-32), and Henderson (2-105) aided the cause. For the game, the Burrs accumulated 402 yards in offense. Once again paving the way were; sr. C Aaron Maggio, G’s sr. Brandon Terrence and soph. Jake Zuzek, and T’s sr. Earl Griffiths and jr. Victor McNair. Meanwhile, the defense allowed just 82 yards on 43 plays. Culbreath had a team-high six tackles to go along with his sack and forced fumble. Hinton added four stops to go with his two picks. Soph. DB Kevin Johnson displayed some hard-hitting in the late going with four tackles and made a pick prior to Henderson’s long TD run. Jr. DT Dwayne Shaw added a sack. Jr. DE Chris Williams and Zuzek evenly split eight tackles. There should be better days for the Wolverines in time. Though playing with the top teams in the league might still be a ways off, a playoff appearance is definitely attainable. Headliner sr. RB/DB Greg Santangelo could only manage 26 yards on 12 carries. He also injured an ankle in the second half and struggled to get to the sidelines. Hopefully, he’ll be able to bounce back next week. Sejda passed 6-for-13, for 47 yards all in the first half. Sr. RB Chris Schodle (8-36) had some success late. The hard-nosed Ganley led the defense with seven tackles (5 solos). Soph. LB Tim Young blocked two extra-points. Things didn’t start well for yours truly as I was stung by a bee just before kickoff. It’s the first time I can say that happened while covering a game. I had a strong suspicion that this Burrs’ offense would be dangerous this year and it is definitely shaping up that way. In my time of covering this team, this is EASILY their most complete offensive unit. They have an abundance of kids who can make plays!

SEPT. 22
CL BLUE
West Catholic 35, McDevitt 6
     The Burrs played a near perfect first half and exhibited an offensive arsenal that is more than likely going to give opposing Catholic League coaches their share of sleepless nights. Orchestrating the assault was RISING jr. QB Curtis Drake, who in one half of action scorched the McDevitt secondary to the tune of 219 yards and 4 touchdowns, on 9-of-11 accuracy. Oh, he also added 37 yards on three carries to finish the half with 256 yards of offense. Not a bad half night’s work!  With his team leading 35-0 and the clock running he spent the entire second half on the sidelines. The Lancers won the opening toss and deferred to the second half. The kickoff landed out of bounds, allowing the Burrs to begin at the thirty-five. On the game’s very first play, Drake found sr. WR Rodney Blango on a hitch pass and after catching the ball Blango quickly hit jr. RB Rob Holloman with a lateral. The speedy Holloman easily soared down the sidelines while the Lancers looked-on in disbelief. The play covered 65 yards, with Holloman doing the work on 58 of those yards. After this, the Burrs never looked back and went on to score four more times in that opening half. On their next possession, Drake hit sr. TE/LB Pre’Andre Watson on a 19-yard strike. Thereafter, Holloman added the conversion run. Their third touchdown came on a zig-zagging 23-yard run by Holloman. West would put the game out of the reach with a pair of back-breaking scores in the final 2:16 of the half. Doing the honors for the fourth score of the game was again the versatile Holloman, this time off a 25-yard swing-pass from Drake. Finally, their last score of the half may have been their most impressive as they covered 77 yards on three plays in just 49 seconds. First, Drake hit Holloman for 27 yards and then found Watson for another seven. After a timeout, Drake lofted a ball down the middle of the field that found Blango in stride for a 43-yard touchdown. Both the throw and catch were things of beauty! A mere second remained on the clock after the touchdown. Holloman finished with 138 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, but his night could have been even better. Twice, he had touchdowns called back because of penalties. Both were delightful in the entertainment department though. The first one was an 11-yard run that saw him change fields multiple times. During the run he even got a crunching block from Drake. His second lost score was a magnificent 69-yard punt return that saw him take the bouncing ball on the right side of the field and finish up down the left sideline. The reliable Blango finished with 3 catches for 69 yards. Watson also made three catches for 45 yards. Jr. RB/DB Raymond Maples led the Burr ground attack with 65 yards on 11 carries. At times I have described Maples’ running style as raw. He is a strong runner, who likes to deliver a blow, but he also possesses breakaway speed. At times I think he runs with head down and I would like to see him use his vision better once he gets downfield some. When he begins to do this those ten-yard runs should become significantly longer. The Burrs racked-up 342 of their 360 yards in the first half. The second and third units saw the bulk of the action in the second half for West. Great night for the Burr offensive line as Drake had plenty of room to operate. Those members included; sr. C Aaron Maggio, G’s sr. Brandon Terrence and soph. Jake Zuzek, T’s sr. Earl Griffiths and jr. Victor McNair, and jr. FB Juan Rozier. Defensively, the Burrs yielded only 44 yards through three quarters and 123 yards for the game. Steady sr. LB Marquese Sanders (6’1”, 220 lbs) led in tackles with seven and also made a first quarter interception. Sacks were had by Watson (6’4”, 250 lbs) and jr. DE Artis Carroll, who also had a fumble recovery. Once again interior lineman soph. Jon Ruppert (5 tackles) jr. Dwayne Shaw (4 stops) played well. If there was an area of concern for West it was with penalties, as they had 10 for 105 yards, including 5 personal fouls! Not good and this will need to be cleaned up. The Lancers had couple of decent moments on offense early, but could never sustain a drive. Their top back sr. RB/DB Jason Golderer had a rough night with just 23 yards on 15 carries. Jr. QB Luke Sawick could only complete 4-of-16, for 32 yards. Sr. RB Kyle Epps ran hard late and got the Lancers on the board with a 2-yard run with just 25 seconds left. He finished with 73 yards on 9 totes, including a 33-yard scoot to set-up his score. Defensively, sr. DB Greg Williams and jr. LB Justin Schley hustled for 7 tackles apiece.  Also, sr. DB Nathan Venit, sr. LB Joe Smart, and sr. DT Rasheed Reid each had four stops. As Ted mentioned last week, McDevitt’s Fr. Bill Chiriaco handled PA duties in entertaining fashion. Interestingly, he did it from the sidelines with a wireless mic. Cool! Some of my personal favorites were……."Epps with the steps………..West Catholic tackle made by Manual, not Charlie (Referring to soph.  DB Raymond Manuel and Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel)………..The McDevitt golf team was up to par (When giving the weekend update on BM athletics)” Good stuff!!  Through four games Drake has accounted for 933 yards in offense (635 pass, 298 rush) and 13 touchdowns (9 pass, 4 rush)…..Now multiply those numbers by three! We’ll see where they end up…..

SEPT. 22
CL BLUE
Neumann-Goretti 21, Dougherty 20 (OT)
     Don’t let the reasonable amount of total points fool you because this baby was far from an offensive masterpiece. This tussle between current CL Blue lesser-lights took just under three hours to compete and at times it felt like it would never end for this TS.com statman. I’m usually not one to harp on the inadequate performances from teams, but this one went much beyond the norm of shoddy play and had a Pubish feel and then some! Just a few examples of what I’m talking about before I get into the positives. First, it seemed like there was a whistle being tweeted every ten seconds. During the contest each team used all twelve timeouts between them, but eleven of them came before the final two-minutes of the half or end of the game and were mostly used to settle down chaos. Both teams also needed to use their only timeout of overtime to set-up the point-after attempt. They also combined for six turnovers and seven total fumbles. There were 96 total plays in the game, but only 177 total yards! Yes, a mere 1.8 yards per play! Neither squad broke the century mark in total yardage. OK, there had to be some drama, right? Yes, as evident by our overtime finish. In fact, that Neumann-Goretti even got the game to the extra session was borderline miraculous. The Saints trailed 14-0 and were just stopped on a fourth down play at Dougherty’s 6-yard line early in the fourth quarter. However, sr. RB/LB Adam Malatino sacked sr. QB Philip Baxter at the one on third down. On the next play, sr. P/TE/LB Sean Kidd took the snap in punt formation and stepped out of the back of the end zone. With the score now 14-2, sr. WR/DB Darrell Dulany took Kidd’s free kick 46 yards to Dougherty’s 16-yard line. However, a personal foul penalty on N-G pushed the ball back to the thirty-one. Two plays later sr. FB/LB Michael Russo (4-38) rumbled 34 yards to the two-yard line. On the next play jr. QB Anthony Mastrando scooted in for the touchdown, making the score 14-8 after the conversion run by Malatino was stopped. Two plays into Dougherty’s next drive disaster struck when Baxter was picked-off by soph. LB Jesse Kinsey, who returned the ball nine yards to the Cardinals’ thirty-three. It took nine plays, but the Saints knotted the game on another Mastrando run. This one came on fourth down and was of the 4-yard variety with 2:20 left on the clock. Soph. K/P Will Huff’s PAT attempt was pushed right and the score stayed tied at fourteen. With no timeouts left and starting at their twenty, the Cardinals chose to be conservative as the fourth quarter clock expired. In overtime, the Cardinals went on offense first, and on third down Baxter found Kidd in the middle of the field. After catching the ball he bounced off a hard hit by Dulany and located the end zone. Sr. K Mike Martin’s point-after attempt was smothered by a charging Malatino. The Saints wasted little time answering as Malatino raced-in off the left-side for a 10-yard score. This time Huff’s (32.5 avg. on 5 punts) extra-point was good as gold and the Saints exploded into joy. First-year Head Coach Bill Sytsma, who just took over the program in early August, was doused with what little water remained in celebration of his first career win. Amazingly, N-G generated 74 of their 97 total yards in the final 8:39 of the fourth quarter and overtime. The Saints had just 46 total yards in three games entering today. Things didn’t get any better in the first half as the Saints entered the intermission with an abysmal -24 yards. At this point the Cardinals led 14-0 and were seemingly in control. Sr. LB Quinten White, who had a tremendous first half before leaving with an injury, recovered a fumble in the second stanza at the N-G 19-yard line. A pair of five yards runs by sr. RB Michael Sutton (13-26) put the ball at the nine. Then, three plays later Baxter scored from six yards out on a bootleg. The score would jump up to 14-0 on N-G’s next offensive play, as White deflected a pass attempt by jr. QB Tom McGarrigle into the waiting arms of Kidd who easily chugged in from 38 yards. Defensively, both the Saints and Cardinals had strong moments. For the game, N-G held Dougherty to just three fist downs and 80 yards in offense, including a negative-one on 29 carries. Leading the way was Malatino with ten tackles (7 solos) and a fumble recovery. D-1 prospect, jr. DT Kadeem Custis (6’5”, 280 lbs) made two TFLs among his six stops. West Virginia-recruit Chris Palmer (6’4”, 290 lbs) forced a fumble and made two TFL’s for 14 yards. However, I think I need to see more on the offensive side of the ball from these two. They were easily the two biggest players on the field and for three quarters the Saints could do little to move the ball on the ground. Granted, because of N-G’s inability to throw, the Cardinals were routinely bringing eight and nine players at or near the line of scrimmage.  Still, I have to believe that at least a little more running room can be had with these big guys leading the way. Sr. DE Kadeem Singleton (4 stops) added a sack and sr. RB/DB Hakeem Johnson also made four tackles. Strangely, Johnson did not carry the ball in the second half and finished with just 7 yards on 5 carries. He did manage 70 yards on three returns and had an exciting 70-yard touchdown on a punt return negated by a penalty. The Saints also lost a 4-yard touchdown run by Russo to a penalty. Afterwards, they failed to score on either possession. Malatino rushed for 46 tough yards on 15 carries. Mastrando relieved McGarrigle (shoulder injury) in the second quarter. Standing only 5’6” and approximately 150 lbs, Mastrando did show some brass, especially on his scoring runs. The Saints QBs combined to only complete 3-of-15 passes for 20 yards. After taking a blow on a run Mastrando had to leave the game for a play, thus, bringing 3rd-string frosh. QB Mark Stinsman into action. The diminutive Stinsman stands only 5’4” and 105 lbs! In his only action he successfully handed the ball off to Malatino. For Dougherty, the rangy White was in the hairs of the Saints for an entire half. He left with an undisclosed injury and it’s hard not to think that his absence didn’t help lead to Dougherty’s second miseries. He finished with four tackles, a sack, a fumble recovery, and the batted ball that led to Kidd’s interception return. Baxter made a pick and finished 5-for-15, with 79 yards passing. Kidd was active with seven tackles and punted well with a 35.0 average on four kicks. Soph. DE Hovard Harrison made a fumble recovery and two TFL’s. Sr. LB Keith Dockery demonstrated athleticism with two sacks and six other tackles. His three TFLs went for 23 yards. Sr. DT Bradley Mark forced a fumble and made six tackles, while jr. LB Duece Colbert also added six stops. The Cardinals played without two-way lineman sr. Wrenton Wright (6’3”, 275 lbs). Boy, was it way too hot and sticky for the third weekend of September! Also, I like it when I can hear everything a coach is saying, especially when it’s coming from the other side of the field. To say that Dougherty’s Head Coach Chris Riley doesn’t holdback does not give his style justice. Man, does he bring it! As Huff’s game-winning PAT was in flight I had begun my sprint to the gates. No, the dinner bell wasn’t ringing, but time was beginning to run thin. See, I had to get home first before heading to Germantown to catch West Catholic tackle Bishop McDevitt at 6 o’clock. I arrived in plenty of time, smile!

SEPT. 21
CL RED
O’Hara 33, Bonner 8
     League action has begun in the Philadelphia Catholic League and tonight my travels brought me to Quick Stadium on the campus of Widener University for a game between long-time Delco rivals. The Lions and Friars are quite familiar within one another, so this tussle always brings a little extra in terms of neighborhood bragging rights. Currently, the Lions have a couple of highly recruited players in sr. TE/DE Mark Wedderburn (6’7”, 244 lbs) and jr. QB Tom Savage (6’4”, 221 lbs). One of the schools recruiting both players is Rutgers. Prior to the game there was talk that Rutgers’ Head Coach Greg Schiano would be making an appearance and that he would be doing so via a helicopter.  A never really saw/heard the bird passing above, but Daily Times reporter John Lohn did point out what sounded like some sky thunder in the distance during halftime. Quite possibly it was Schiano and crew, as the up-and-coming coach of the Scarlet Knights did make an appearance in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Savage, Wedderburn, and the rest of the Lions were finished making statements and led comfortably. Still, I’m sure the gesture of making it out to the game in-person went a long way with the kids. The Lions did most of their end zone crossing in the first half, but had to do it against a stubborn Bonner defense. Yes, O’Hara’s first two possessions led to scores and propelled them to a 12-0 led, but to get those two tallies the Lions had to convert four straight fourth downs. Two of these conversions gave them touchdowns! The first one was capped when Savage hit Wedderburn on a 13-yard slant pass that split a pair of Friar defensive backs. On their next series, Bonner appeared to have forced a punt by the Lions. However, Bonner only had ten men on the field and was made to call a timeout. After some re-thinking Head Coach Dan Algeo sent his offense back on the field for a fourth-and-five play at the Bonner 45-yard line. Again, the Savage-to-Wedderburn combination connected! This time Savage quickly hit his imposing tight-end about five yards down field and the big guy did the rest getting the ball to the seven-yard for a 38-yard gain. After three rushes placed the ball at the three-yard line, Savage hit promising soph. RB Corey Brown on a fade in the left-corner of the end zone. The Lions would push their lead to 18-0 and only needed one play and one yard to do so. Doing the honors was Savage on a sneak. The touchdown was set-up when jr. DT Chris Nolan sacked Bonner sr. QB Iggy Schmitt and forced a fumble that was recovered by jr. LB Anthony McCloskey inches away from the goal line. Not going away easily the Friars showed some life and drove 74 yards on nine plays to make the score 18-8. Sr. RB Matt McGillian (16-39) bulled-in from two yards, while Schmitt found jr. FB Kelvin Suah for the conversion. Big plays on the drive were a pair Schmitt to sr. WR Chris Hooper completions that covered 27 and 39 yards. The Friars had momentum on their side, but it didn’t last long as the Lions answered with just five seconds left before halftime. Early in the drive Savage found sr. WR Ryan Wolski for 23 yards. Then, Savage scrambled for 16 yards to convert O’Hara’s fifth consecutive fourth down. Soon after, jr. FB Evan Higgins ran 11 yards to the thirteen. On the next play, Higgins’ number was called again, this time on a middle screen. With seemingly little room the determined back scratched and clawed his way to paydirt, showing great balance early and breaking no less than three tackles to cap the play. A Savage-to-Brown conversion pass pushed the score to 26-8 and hopes of a Friar comeback faded into the night. To Bonner’s credit they didn’t quit and played with the Lions for most of the second half. O’Hara’s final score came early in the fourth quarter on an exciting 43-yard run by jr. RB/WR/DB Billy Morgan. Morgan found room early on a vicious block by Wedderburn as he made his move to the outside. Eventually, he showed some fancy footwork along the Lion sideline before cutting back towards the middle and sprinting home. For the game, the Lions accumulated 373 yards in offense! Savage was a solid 14-for-20, with 178 yards. He really zipped a handful of passes in-between defenders on slant routes. Wedderburn (4-63), Wolski (5-59), and Brown (4-43) did most of the damage. All three give the Lions something a little different. Wolski is a nice possession type receiver and isn’t afraid to find space in seems. Brown is shifty out of the backfield, while Wedderburn can be found out wide, in the slot, or on the line as the tight end. Brown is a dangerous runner from the backfield too. He didn’t found tremendous amount of room tonight, but did manage 71 yards on 14 carries. Thirty of those yards came on one run in the third quarter, where at the end of the run he fumbled while cramping up. This kid’s best days are ahead of him, especially when he gets a little more experience. Morgan ran well late and had 8 rushes for 73 yards. Meanwhile, Higgins (8-56) did some tough inside running. Paving the way up front for the Lions were; soph. C Matt Williams (6’4”, 250 lbs), G’s sr. Pete Hiadish and jr Andrew Glace, and T’s jr. Kevin Lalor and sr. Mike Pileggi. Defensively, sr. DB Pat Daly added a fumble recovery, while Brown made a pick. Nolan forced two fumbles that accumulated 29 yards in losses for Bonner. Sr. DE Billy McMonigle had a sack amongst five tackles. Jr. DB Jason Johnson made five tackles and had six pass defends. This O’Hara team should certainly be in most games, if not all of them in the tough CL Red. They have a very good signal caller and a solid collection of skill people that can probably play with anyone in the league. If they have a concern right now I would think it would lie in; are they physical enough on both sides of the line of scrimmage to handle what they’re going to see over the next six weeks? Time will tell! The Friars competed to the final whistle and played hard, but for now, they just don’t have the horses or speed to contain a team of O’Hara’s caliber. Still, I liked their effort and that tells me that Head Coach Tom Oropeza is doing good things with his club. Schmitt passed for 191 yards, on 12-for-29 accuracy. His favorite target was Hooper (7-125) and I really liked this kid’s savvy and toughness in finding open spaces. Great effort! Sr. TE Kristian Johnson (6’3”, 245 lbs) did some damage down the middle to the tone of 52 yards on 4 grabs. Defensively, sr. DE Mike O’Rourke (6’3”, 245 lbs) just had his way at times with the Lion O-line and registered 3.5 sacks and 5 total tackles for losses that came to 30 yards. Jr. LB Larry Deviscio (10 tackles) made 9 solo stops, blocked a PAT, and had a fumble recovery in a full night’s work. Jr. LB Mike McCreight had a half-of-sack among seven total stops. Jr. LB Matt Sweeney also added seven tackles, while sr. DT Matt Conboy contributed six. Soph. DB Jack Wichman, sr. LB Tom Will, and jr. DB Dave Smith each made five apiece in the tackle department. It was good to cover the game with John Lohn and O’Hara sr. manager Willie “Big Willie Style” McGonigle. Of course, Willie was there to pick up the pieces when John and I failed to pay attention. We appreciate his efforts, smile!

SEPT. 15
NON-LEAGUE
Father Judge 45, Neumann-Goretti 0
     Prior to the game I had a strong indication that from a competitive standpoint this game could be lacking. Father Judge is from the bigger enrollment CL Red and has been rather impressive during the first two weeks of the season. Meanwhile, the Saints, from the smaller CL Blue, have had their struggles thus far. Then, when I saw N-G sr. RB/LB Adam Malatino (hamstring) and jr. two-way lineman Kadeem Custis (wrist), a D-1 prospect, walk to the center of the field for the coin toss in street clothes I just knew the Saints would be in more trouble than originally expected. To make matters worse, sr. WR/DB Darrell Dulany, another Saints player with valuable experience, was also out of action. Dulany had left N-G two weeks ago and actually played in a game for Bartram. Well, he’s back and I’m assuming waiting for the proper paperwork to be processed. I doubt it would have mattered much considering how convincingly the Crusaders dominated, but for the Saints to provide even a little resistance they need every available body. Judge frolicked in a big way in this game, as they posted 43 first half points. The second half was played with a running clock and took just 29 minutes to be completed. Defensively, the Crusaders allowed a total of minus-39 yards in offense. The Saints rushed 27 times for -42 yards and jr. QB Tommy McGarrigle passed for only 3 yards on 1-for-8 throwing. Ouch! Eighteen of N-G’s 27 rushes went for negative yardage. Double-OUCH!!! All total, 17 different Crusaders made a tackle, with 11 defenders posting a TFL. Jr. DE Josh Joskowiak was the most active Crusader with six tackles, including two sacks and two other TFLs that accumulated 23 yards in losses. One of his sacks resulted in a safety. Jr. DT Jeff Brewer added 1.5 sacks, while jr. Adam Nowak had a half of sack. Sr. DT Josh Carfagno nicely sought out an N-G trick play for a 15-yard loss. Jr. WR/DB Tom Ryan returned an interception 56 yards for a touchdown that made the score 36-0. Twenty-seven seconds earlier he scored on a 55-yard reception from sr. QB Paul Volpe. Sr. DB Pat Dooley, jr. DT Anthony Webb, and sr. LB Jim DiLisio each made a pair of TFLs in the game. Soph. DB Kevin Leneghan recovered a muffed punt. Judge’s only points after the intermission came when soph. QB Anthony Mastrando whirled a pitch through the hands of sr. RB Hakeem Johnson that zoomed out of the back of the end zone. I’ll never proclaim to be a guy who knows the ins and outs of calling plays and how those plays should be run, but I had a lot of trouble understanding N-G’s backfield formations. Johnson, who is athletic and quick, a player very capable of making a play, repeatedly lined-up ten yards in the backfield. The Saints mostly ran two plays for him, but both took FOREVER to develop. On the tosses, he was receiving the ball deep and wide, while on direct handoffs the N-G quarterbacks trotted backward to hand him the ball. It just seemed to me that he had to run anywhere from ten-to-fifteen yards just to get back to the line of scrimmage. No, the blocking up front wasn’t ideal, but there just has to be a better way to get a play started. We’ll see what develops over the next few weeks when the Saints get healthier. Offensively, sr. RB/DB Andrew McHale ran with authority and gathered 104 yards on 10 carries early. He scored twice on runs of 14 yards (Great effort to get in at end of run!) and one-yard. Sr. FB/DE Dan Keenan added a 4-yard run. Jr. RB Rob Harris did most of his damage in the second quarter when he gained 68 yards on 8 totes. He had consecutive runs of 18, 12, and 16 yards prior to Keenan’s score. Both of Volpe’s (2-for-5, 89 yards) completions went for scores. He found DiLisio on an easy wheel play for a 34-yard TD in the first quarter.  Soph. RB John Staiger handled most of the rushing duties in the 2nd half and gained 35 yards on 13 carries. Jr. DB Tim Donohue (103 total yards) was impressive on returns after the intermission. He had 27 and 30 yards on two punt returns and another 46 yards on a kickoff return. In the game the Crusaders gained 325 yards in offense. The Saints had a forgettable day on offense. Their best two plays were a pair of 8 yard runs by McGarrigle and sr. FB Brandon Jackson. Johnson managed just 6 yards on 12 carries. Sr. FB/LB Michael Russo bellowed, “Yeah, that’s what I like!” after a host of Crusaders failed to bring him to the ground on a run that lost three yards. Russo was the most active Saint on defense with 7 tackles (5 solos), including a forced and recovered fumble when he ripped the ball away from a Judge ball-carrier. West Virginia-recruit, sr. OL/DT Chris Palmer (6’4”, 285 lbs) added seven solos tackles, but most of them came in the late-going. For his team to be a little more successful he’ll need to be a tone-setter earlier in games. Johnson was active with six stops. Judge sr. K/P Brian Rickus continually drew the wrath of Head Coach Tom Coyle for failing to kick the ball where he was instructed. One kickoff only went about 15 yards, hit along the sideline, bounced back, and then into the arms of Russo while the entire Judge coverage team ran past him. A slight bobble/hesitation may have cost him a TD return, as the Crusaders caught him after about 20 yards. Judge played without two-way headliner sr. FB/LB Chris Dowling, who is week-to-week with an ankle injury. It was good to patrol the sidelines with Coyle, a Keenan’s Irish Pub co-worker. We had a good time sharing a laugh or two, or three!

SEPT. 14
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 24, La Salle 14
     In hopes of possibly making a sixth straight appearance in a Catholic League Blue championship game this victory will do nothing for the Burrs in terms of standings. However, in the categories of respect and will-someone-take-notice, this game should pay considerable dividends. After all, the Explorers are the defending CL Red champs, and though they lost many key contributors from last year’s team, they’re still a solid, respected, and well-coached program. In the first half the Burrs maintained control throughout. Defensively, they were opportunistic and borderline stingy, as they forced a pair of fumbles on La Salle’s first two possessions and then three consecutive three-and-outs to end the half. Offensively, it was a ball-controlled offense that propelled the 12-0 intermission advantage. Still, West Head Coach Brian Fluck had to be feeling at least a little bit worrisome because of the opportunities his team let slip by. West ran an amazing 46 plays for 233 yards in the first half, while their counterparts managed just 17 plays for 70 yards. The Explorers began the game with a promising drive that reached the West 32-yard line, but expired when soph. RB Sam Feleccia lost the ball on a hit by soph. DT Jake Zuzek with jr. DT Dwayne Shaw making the recovery. The Burrs responded with a methodical 12-play drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by jr. RB/DB Raymond Maples. Key play on the drive was a leaping 23-yard catch by jr. WR/DB Haleem Hayward that brought the ball to La Salle's 6. The Explorers' next drive would again end with a fumble by Feleccia. Doing the forcing this time was Maples, while sr. DB Herman Hinton recovered. Again, the Burrs drove and eventually reached the five-yard line, but a procedure penalty pushed them back some and the drive ultimately ended when jr. RB/DB Rob Holloman could not find a receiver on a fourth down trick play. The Burrs would break through on their next possession though as gifted jr. QB Curtis Drake hit imposing sr. TE/LB Pre’Andre Watson (6’3”, 250 lbs) with a quick slant for a 26-yard scoring strike. Later, the Drake-to-Watson combination should have hooked up again when Drake beautifully lofted a pass in Watson’s direction only to see it bounce off Watson’s usually reliable paws. Capping the first half, a Drake 22-yard scamper saw him reach the Explorer 13-yard line, but the final ticks of the clock had wandered away before he could get out-of-bounds. Yes, the West offense was impressive, but dropped and over-thrown passes plagued them, and more than likely prevented them from having at least a three, maybe a four-touchdown advantage at the break. Then, LaSalle’s defense forced a three-and-out to begin the second half, allowing their offense to take over in Burr territory. Led by sr. QB John Harrison’s 4-for-4 performance on the drive they drew within 12-7 as he found sr. TE Ryan Warrender for a 13-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-five play. OK, critical juncture for the Burrs, right? Would they be able to regain composure and maintain control? In years past I couldn’t have confidently said they would have been able to, but this year’s version, at least in the early going, exhibits a swagger. It’s quite obvious to me that this confidence exudes right from Drake and for now his teammates are following his lead. West countered the Explorers score with one of their own and it came on a wonderful individual effort by Holloman. With Holloman lined-up out wide the play called for a fly pattern down the left sideline. Drake’s pass was slightly under thrown, but Holloman adjusted nicely and positioned himself to make a leaping catch with a defender latched on. After he came down with the ball, the Explorer defender in efforts to corral him had plenty of facemask. Holloman pulled away and then broke free again as this same defender had his jersey. After creating some space at about the 25-yard line he cut to the right and then split two additional defenders on his way to paydirt on a 56-yard play. Tremendous effort! This gave West an 18-7 lead. La Salle wasted little time answering the Burr score. It took them just four plays to march 80 yards. First, Harrison found Warrender for 26 yards putting the ball at the fifty. Then, on the next play, sr. WR Joe Migliarese got wide open behind the West secondary and strolled in for an easy 50-yard touchdown from Harrison making the score 18-14. Again, West answered with a nice, time-consuming drive, but LaSalle’s sr. LB Matt Alba poked the ball out of Maples grasped on a run that would have given the Burrs a first down. Jr. DE Bob Siess recovered the pigskin at his own 25-yard line with 8:50 left in the contest. Soon thereafter, jr. RB Tyler Houchins carried for nine yards to midfield, giving the Explorers a third-and-one. The Burrs dug-in and stopped sr. RB Eric Heisner on third down and Feleccia on fourth down on run attempts up the middle. Zuzek and soph. DT Jon Ruppert made the first stop, while Ruppert and Shaw were there for the latter. Just 7:26 remained on the clock and the Burrs took most of that time off with a 9-play, game-clinching drive. Drake took a keeper around the left-end for a 4-yard dash, easily outrunning the Explorer defense. Three plays earlier, sr. WR Rodney Blango (3-34) made a clutch 13-yard snag on third down to move the chains. Drake’s pass was a little low and thrown behind Blango, but the reliable receiver demonstrated good concentration and hands in bringing it in. LaSalle’s last efforts would end when Hayward intercepted a Harrison pass and returned it 32 yards with a 1:23 left. Drake is rapidly becoming one of the more exciting players in the ENTIRE Catholic League and has whirlwind potential on any given play. Overall, he played a whale of game, but did have some struggles from time-to-time. At one point, he misfired on eight straight passes, but ended the game with six consecutive completions. All total, he was 10-for-23, for 181 yards. He also added 86 yards on 13 carries, giving him 267 yards of passing and rushing. Holloman added 71 yards on the ground on 16 totes and also had time for 82 yards receiving on 3 grabs. Mix in the 16 yards on three returns and the elusive back contributed 169 all-purpose yards. Maples, who gives the Burrs a bigger back with speed, ran hard and effectively for 93 yards on 21 carries. On the night, West rolled to 434 yards of offense and deserving a lot of the credit are the boys up front. This group included; sr. C Aaron Maggio, rotating G’s sr. Brandon Terrence, Zuzek, and jr. Paul Murtagh, and T’s sr. Earl Griffiths and jr. Victor McNair. Jr. FB Juan Rozier and Watson at tight end played pivotal parts in the path-clearing. Defensively, sr. LB Marquese Sanders led the Burrs with 7 tackles. Zuzek and Shaw played well on the line of scrimmage and evenly split eight tackles. Watson had five stops, with two going for losses. Jr. DE Chris Williams added a sack in the late going.  For La Salle, Harrison finished with modest numbers going 11-for-18, with 154 yards. However, he never really seem to develop that comfort level. Migliarese (5-77) and Warrender (3-42) were his busiest receivers. Feleccia (10-42) and Houchins (8-31) ran well at times. Aside from his two early fumbles Feleccia lost the ball two other times, but recovered both. He’ll need to do a better job of securing the rock, but talent certainly exists. Houchins did add 62 yards on 4 kickoff returns. Because the Explorers were on the field so much they had many kids with high tackles. Leading the charge and seemingly being everywhere was sr. LB Andrew Wood, who finished with 15 tackles (8 solos). Alba also reached double-digits with 11 stops. Jr. DB Kevin Farrington was active with nine stops. Next in line was Siess with six, while soph. DT Steve Szostak, sr. DB Drew Ciammetti, and soph. DB Bill Thomas each contributed five apiece. Ciammetti was on the wrong end of a vicious collision with Maples on a kickoff return. Boy, what a lick! By game’s end, the Burrs had run 74 plays (Not counting a game-ending knee) to La Salle’s 38. Ironically, in last year’s Explorers 42-34 win over the Burrs they held a 70-to-38 play advantage. Good Friday night crowd on hand for this Christian Brothers’ affair and that was great to see! League action begins for both teams next week!

SEPT. 8
NON-LEAGUE
Bartram 18, West Philly 6
     Prior to the game I overheard a couple of West Philly fans talking about how the streak needed to stop. That Bartram has won 25 straight games over the Speedboys. I’m not positive how accurate that number is, but if it is true, then that’s quite a streak. A streak that now sits at 26 after today’s hard-earned victory by the Maroon Wave. On an extremely hot afternoon these squads battled hard and gave decent efforts for week one though. West Philly more than likely held a size advantage on the line of scrimmage, but Bartram had more players and better players at the skill positions. One of these skill position standouts was sr. RB/DB Michael Alexander, who stands only 5’6”, 150 lbs, but has plenty of quickness. He demonstrated some of this quickness when he sped 90 yards with the opening kickoff to the West Philly three-yard line. On the next play, jr. QB Laquan Williams bulled up the middle on a keeper to make it 6-0 just twenty seconds into the game. For the remainder of the first half both teams struggled to get things going, as consistent offense was few and far between. However, late in the second quarter Alexander took a counter 34 yards to the Speedboy two-yard line and two plays later he found the end zone from a yard out to make the score 12-0. Displaying some fight, the Speedboys unleashed a long, time-consuming drive that would cut the score in half to begin things after the intermission. West Philly overcame an early 15-yard holding call on the series to put that ball at their ten, but were the benefactors of two Bartram unsportsmanlike penalties that sustained the drive. All total, the Speedboys ran fourteen plays and chewed-up just under ten-minutes of clock. Igniting the scoreboard was 5’2”, 150 lb jr. FB Jamar Cox. With momentum on their side, the Speedboys ended Bartram’s next possession with a blocked punt by sr. DE Khalef Sapp, allowing his team to set-up shop at the Maroon Wave 45-yard line. However, a fourth down pass could only net one yard when three was needed to move the chains. Bartram took over and marched down the field on nine running plays for their third score of the game with just 4:43 remaining. On the drive, Alexander unleashed runs of 19 and 14 yards, while sr. RB Dominique King hit paydirt on a 4-yard run. Alexander rushed for 119 yards on 16 totes and accumulated 217 all-purpose yards. King added 40 yards on 9 rushes. Defensively, the Maroon Wave limited West Philly to just 109 yards on 46 plays. Jr. LB Tyron Cheeseboro was active early and finished with 7 stops (5 TFLs, 27 yards), including two sacks. Sr. DT Troy Griffiths had a pair of sacks as well. Alexander, jr. LB Marquis Bailey, and soph. LB Derek King each made five tackles. Alexander made the hit of the day when he rocked Cox near the West Philly sideline jarring his helmet off. Sr. DE Ishmar Malcolm was impressive at times and made four stops. In the first half Malcolm shanked two punts that went just 13 and 11 yards, but later boomed a 60-yarder to get his team out of a hole. For West Philly, sr. QB Courtney Waiters competed throughout, but his 5’7” frame had trouble seeing over the line of scrimmage. He finished 5-for-11, for 35 yards. Sr. RB Jabril Brown ran hard despite little room. He managed a modest 47 yards on 10 carries. Jr. LB Keith West led the Speedboys with six tackles (4 solos). Sr. DB Robert Shepard (sack) and sr. DB Sean Ricketts each had four stops. How about a couple of examples of how hot it was today? First, while leaving the field during a timeout a West Philly lineman bellowed, “Yo, that Gatorade is burning up hot, man!” Also, the Speedboys did come prepared as they brought a jar of pickle juice with them. One problem -- The jar was filled with pickles and left unopened throughout. Finally, it was good to see part-time colleague and long-time Daily News assistant Keith Hines in attendance. Of course, Keith kept all around him entertained and loose throughout! Special shout-out to Bartram’s Head Coach Damond “Smash” Warren for e-mailing me a copy of his team’s roster a night earlier. West Philly Head Coach John Lay also had a roster prepared and his efforts are also appreciated!

SEPT. 7
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 40, Upper Moreland 0
   Last week, the West defensive front got steamrolled by Roman in the second half that led to a 34-18 defeat. This prompted a post-game thrashing by their coach that I’m sure stuck in the crawls of every member of the defense. Well, it didn’t take this unit long to make a statement tonight and a resounding one at that. The Golden Bears of Upper Moreland were faced with a short 4th-and-one at their own 36-yard line in the game’s first series. Then, no sooner than the Upper Moreland ball-carrier received the ball he was rocked by the combination of jr. LB/DE Artis Carroll and jr. DB/RB Raymond Maples for no gain. This gave the Burrs prime real estate and they casually moved down the field in ten plays for the game’s first score. Doing the honors was gifted jr. QB Curtis Drake on a 4-yard keeper around the left end. Upper Moreland’s next possession ended when they tried a lateral to the far side. After a slight bobble by the receiver he was blasted by sr. S/LB Herman Hinton. Jr. DB/RB Rob Holloman easily scooped up the ball and scampered home untouched on a 23-yard sprint. On UM’s third possession of the first quarter the Burrs were again stingy and forced a punt from deep in Golden Bears’ territory. Holloman returned the ball 16 yards to the UM twenty-eight yard line. Two plays later, Drake lofted a perfect pass down the middle of the field to wide open sr. WR Rodney Blango for a 27-yard touchdown, giving the Burrs a commanding 20-0 lead. Later in the first half the Burrs scored another touchdown on their one true drive of significance. It covered 73 yards and capping the possession was Maples with a 6-yard rumble. On the series, Drake was a perfect 4-for-4, with 47 yards. In the second half, West wasted little time adding to their lead, as Holloman took a short swing pass from Drake on their second play and after breaking an early tackle attempt, coasted in for a 49-yard score. Holloman, who had a nice all-around effort, put the icing on the scoring with a 2-yard run on the Burrs next possession. For the game, the speedy Holloman found the end zone in three different manners (Rush, Rec., Fumble return). Though the offense did its part, it was without a doubt the play of the defense that spearheaded the romp. They continually put Drake and company in great position to do their damage. Leading the charge was sr. LB Marquese Sanders, who obviously played with a chip on his shoulders. Blessed with very good physical skills this kid can be a top-notch player when he maintains the focus that is needed. Tonight, he ended the contest with a game-high 11 tackles (7 solos), including three of losses. Even when he wasn’t the primary tackler he seemed to be in the area. Strong play along the line of scrimmage was given by soph. DT Jon Ruppert (5 tackles) and jr. DT Dwayne Shaw (4 tackles). Sr. OLB Pre’Andre Watson (6’4”, 250 lbs) chipped in with a sack and a forced fumble. Jr. DB Haleem Hayward added a pick and fumble recovery. Sr. DB Carl Beaty and jr. LB Jordan Culbreath halved eight tackles. Overall, the Burrs held the Golden Bears to just 77 rushing yards on 32 carries and 124 yards of offense. Offensively, the Burrs collected 326 yards in offense and it was nearly identical between rush (164 yards) and pass (162 yards). Drake finished 8-for-13 for 162 yards and three TD’s (1 rush). Holloman managed 161 all-purpose yards, including 43 yards on 7 carries and another 50 on a pair of recpetions. Maples added 47 yards on 11 totes and jr. RB DeVaughn Swain came in late to grab 47 yards on 4 carries. Blango accumulated 65 yards on two catches, including a neat 38-yard snag on a ball that was originally attended for Watson, but found Blango after a defender batted it in the air. A solid blocking night was put in by the O-line; sr. C Aaron Maggio, G’s sr. Brandon Terrence (6’3”, 275 lbs) and soph. Jake Zuzek (6’1”, 250 lbs), and T’s sr. Earl Griffiths (5’11”, 290 lbs) and jr. Victor McNair (6’0”, 260 lbs).  Interesting tidbit about West sr. K Frank Valverde is that he kicks PATs right-footed, but uses his left to kickoff. When asked about it he stated that he gets better control with his right, but his left leg is a little stronger. The Burrs didn’t arrive to the field until roughly 6:15 for the 7 o’clock start. Then, because the band was scheduled to perform at 6:25, they had to warm-up outside the locker room on the patches of grass that surrounded the school. Talk about tight quarters!

AUG. 31
NON-LEAGUE
LaSalle 27, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 7
     The defending CL Red Champion Explorers opened their season tonight on the brand new turf of Colonial Stadium at P-W. When the final ticks came off the game clock the Explorers had to feel great about their performance, especially since they have many new players sprinkled throughout both their offensive and defensive units. However, the victory probably lost a little of its luster because of what happened on the game’s first play. LaSalle’s deep return man soph. DB Shane Brady and his teammate soph. RB Sam Feleccia, who was stationed a little closer up-field on the kick, collided as Feleccia hauled in the ball slightly over his shoulder. Feleccia returned the ball 18 yards to the 38 yard line. Meanwhile, Brady lay sprawled in excruciating pain with a serious leg injury. All the trainers on site reacted immediately and you could just tell by the looks on their faces that the injury was serious. An ambulance was summoned and arrived within minutes. I was told that Brady had a compound fracture to one of his legs. At first look the play seemed very innocent. There was a collision between the two players, but it didn’t appear all that hard. Very strange and freakish to say the least! Aside from returning kicks Brady was to be counted on a starting safety for the Explorers. I wish this youngster nothing but the best and a speedy recovery!!! It’s a terrible thing when any player gets hurt, but to suffer an injury as devastating as this just nine seconds into the season is extremely tough to swallow. The one constant for the Explorers is sr. QB John Harrison who brings 4,000+ career passing yards into this campaign. Tonight, he was solid and pretty much gave you what one would expect for a first game performance. He finished 17-for-29, for 184 yards and two scores. He did throw a pick, but the ball was deflected at the line of scrimmage before finding a Colonial defender. The Explorers started the scoring with a 22-yard field goal by soph. K Mike Bennett. The score was set up by a fumble recovery by sr. DB Matt Day, which was forced by sr. LB Matt Alba. It was a key play because the Colonials had reached the 36-yard line on five straight runs after starting at their own one. The Explorers seemed to have good field position throughout the first half and finally took advantage midway through the second quarter. After a poor Colonial punt the Explorers set-up shop at the P-W thirty-three. Six plays later Harrison hit his favorite target sr. WR Joe Migliarese for 6-yard score. Earlier in the drive Harrison connected with soph. WR Connor Hoffman for nine yards to convert a fourth-and-six play. Seemingly in control the Explorers opened the door a little when Feleccia got caught in-between on a punt that resulted in muff, with P-W recovering at the LaSalle six-yard line. Two plays later the Colonials bulled in and cut the deficit to 10-7. At the beginning of the second half the Colonials put forth a decent drive that reached the LaSalle twenty-yard line, but the drive stalled and La Salle took over. The Explorers methodically marched 72 yards on 13 plays for another score. The highly touted Feleccia found the end zone from nine yards out. In the fourth quarter the Explorer offense added another field goal by Bennett, this time good from 29 yards and an easy-as-pie 31-yard scoring toss from Harrison to jr. FB Tyler Houchins. Somehow Houchins was alone on a seam-rout down the middle of the field. There wasn’t a Colonial defender within 10  yards. Meanwhile, the Explorer defense was zeroing in and allowed just one more first down by P-W after the opening drive of the second half. Leading the way on that unit was Day with seven stops (5 solos) and the hard-hitting Alba with seven solo tackles of his own. Jr. DB Mike Donohoe added six tackles, while jr. DE Ryan Eidenshink made five stops, including a sack. Also adding sacks were; sr. DB Drew Ciammetti and a combo sack for sr. DE Jim McNally and soph. DT Steve Szostak (Also 5 solos tackles). Donohoe punted three times for a 36.3 average, but all three of his punts resided inside the fifteen and put his defense in great position to make stops. Offensively, Feleccia managed 38 rushing yards on 11 carries and another 55 yards on 5 catches. He added 18 yards on a return and finished with a total of 111 all-purpose yards. This kid has potential! He still a little raw, especially when rushing the ball, but he’s 6’2”, 195 lbs and displays great hands out of the backfield. Houchins added 46 yards on 11 lugs and another 40 on two grabs. Migliarese caught four balls for 30 yards. In all, six different Explorers made receptions. I don’t think this LaSalle team is as good as it was last year, but they should get better with each week. They have a chance to be pretty good in the end and I don’t think anyone on their schedule should take them lightly. Next week’s game versus Malvern should tell us a little more about them. P-W’s field looks awesome with the new turf. The people there really did a nice job! One cool feature they added was a play clock in the corner of each end zone. First time I’ve scene this. Very nice!

AUG. 31
PUBLIC AAA
Communications Tech 12, Prep Charter 8
     My first assignment of the year brought me to West Philly to cover a couple of Pub squads that had a mere one year of varsity football playing experience. The Phoenix of Comm. Tech finished their first season last year, while the Huskies were playing their first contest ever! Hmm, makes for an interesting battle, right? Well, kind of, but it wasn’t exactly a statman’s haven. However, the kids played hard and clean for the most part and competed pretty much to the final whistle. Hey, it’s early and these clubs will be working out the kinks for a while, so I’ll be happy with what I got. I’m reasonable and I understand the situations at hand. Lombardi’s Packers weren’t born overnight, smile! So, how did the upstart Huskies do? Not bad defensively and it was their defense that spotted them an 8-0 lead midway through the third quarter. Yes, PC’s first touchdown in school history came courtesy of a defensive score. Freshman DB Charles Barber calmly picked up a fumble just outside of a mass of players and raced untouched 50 yards for the score. The fumble was forced by sr. DB/RB James Hines (conversion run) and literally fell at Barber’s feet. Earlier in the game Barber made an interception. So, in the end he was responsible for the Huskies’ first pick, fumble recovery, and defensive touchdown. How many freshmen can boast about those feats? The Phoenix would get back in the game on the first play of the fourth quarter when soph. DT Alphonso Richardson forced and recovered a fumble at the Huskies’ 13-yard line. On the next play, bruising jr. FB Kyle Tubbs rumbled untouched up the middle for a touchdown making the score 8-6. The conversion run failed. After a solid defensive stand the Phoenix would get the ball back at their 46-yard line with just under ten-minutes to play. How about some late-in-the-game Pub heroics? You betcha! Relying strictly on the run the Phoenix covered those 56 yards on nine plays. Doing the honors was jr. QB/RB Armon Jones (5-32) with a 9-yard scamper on a reverse. This was the third time the Phoenix ran the exact play with Jones on the drive. Earlier he raced for first downs with 11 and 19-yard jaunts. The Huskies’ next drive would end after two plays with Jones made a leaping interception along the far sideline. The Phoenix did their best to chew up the remaining minutes and when PC got the ball back for a final chance they had time for just one play. A four-yard loss! For the game, Prep Charter ran 29 offensive plays, 20 of them went for zero or negative yards. All total, they accumulated just -20 yards in offense.  Their best play was a 15-yard run by Hines early in the third quarter. Causing much of the havoc for the Phoenix was jr. LB Ackeeno Jolly, who made seven tackles (1 sack), all behind the line of scrimmage for a whopping 43 yards in losses. Any chance this kid got his hands on a PC playbook? No other Comm. Tech defensive player registered more than two tackles, but collectively they were solid. Richardson did add a sack. Offensively, Tubbs carried the load throughout and was pretty much the best player on the field. He toted the rock 24 times for 115 hard yards. He isn’t blessed with blazing speed by any stretch, but he ran hard and made the most of what was presented to him. He also had a 72-yard kickoff return, but ran out of gas when he was brought down from behind by the hustling at Hines at the four-yard line. The Phoenix never did score following this! Leading rusher from a year ago, soph. Stacey Hill (3-19) was injured early and never returned. The Huskies had decent size on the line of scrimmage and this helped on the defensive side of the ball. Soph. LB Khalil Raines registered nine tackles, including 6 solos. Hines added a forced fumble and a sack. Sr. DT Joe Crooks made a fumble recovery, while sr. LB Michael Bariana chipped in with 6 stops. I liked the potential of soph. C/DT Reginald Andrus (6’3”, 270 lbs) Hey, which team was playing in their first game ever? Prep Charter, right? Well, you wouldn’t know it by the penalty count in the game. Comm. Tech committed 16 penalties for 115 yards, while the newcomer Huskies were guilty of just three miscues. Anyone care to guess what was the most shouted word during the day? How about, “TRAINER…..” At one point I thought the girl was just running wind sprints from sideline to sideline. There was plenty of sideline maneuvering for yours truly too. Prior to the game I counted just 24 players in uniform for Prep Charter, while Communications Tech had only 20. Each team did have a handful of kids with just a jersey on. I wonder how much of this has to do with players not having their physicals? Best line of the day came before the game even started, when a passing motorist on 48th Street bellowed out of his car, “Yo, what’s this? Semi-pro?” Later in the game a Comm. Tech defender exclaimed to his teammates to, “Get these young boys off my field," referring to the PC offense. The line judge where I was standing all game was responsible for keeping the time on the field because the scoreboard was not operating. Not once did I notice him cheat the kids of any time and speed up the game. Kudos to him (Mark ?)!!! You don’t know much I have seen this go on while covering Pub games. It was good to see someone handle it with a little professionalism.