Huck's Corner Football 2010 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.

DEC. 11
CLASS AA SEMIFINAL
West Catholic 21, Lewisburg 7
  The Burrs’ offense has been high octane as of late, and on the game’s first play today it appeared that trend would continue. Sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon took a handoff 56 yards through the left side of the line to the Green Dragons’ 20-yard line. But ah, another trend would soon develop afterwards, as in penalties against the Burrs. Last week, the Burrs committed NO such infractions in their impressive dismantling of a Northern Lehigh team, 55-14. Today, it was the polar opposite of a week ago, as the Burrs would be whistled for ELEVEN flags worth 97 frustrating yards. More on this later, though. After Hollomon’s opening gallop the Burrs were hit with two penalties, but they were able to overcome both in producing the game’s first touchdown. West actually needed ten more plays to get the final twenty yards (Actually 37 yards with penalties added in) of that opening drive. Twice, impressive/emerging sophomore RB Dave Williams converted fourth-and-ones. The latter of these runs accounted for the touchdown. Lewisburg’s first series lasted just three plays and ended with a deep pick by Hollomon along the Green Dragons’ sidelines. The Burrs executed two nice underneath passing plays to begin the next series, but both were neutralized by laundry and this drive lost steam rather quickly. As the Burrs' offense continued to be plagued by miscues, the defense sparkled by limiting Lewisburg very little. Sr. DE/TE Jim Lynch dismantled one drive with back-to-back sacks worth 15 yards. Then, later in the half, West sr. QB Anthony Reid fumbled on a designed keeper that gave the GD’s the rock at the West 25-yard line with 1:27 left in the half. But once again the Burrs’ defense dug in and two plays into the drive sr. DB Dave Sherman nicely came over to pick-off a pass at the West 13-yard line. Moving to the second half, the Green Dragons took first possession and picked up a pair of first downs on some hard running and 15-yard WC face mask, thus placing the ball at the Burrs’ 30-yard line. On third-and-three, jr. DB’s Kevin Malone and Blaise Schieler combined to produce a two-yard loss. Then, on fourth down, Lewisburg went to a spread, one-back look. Trying to catch the Burrs napping they went with an inside handoff that Lynch perfectly sniffed out for no gain. Ultimately, the Burrs offense wouldn’t get in gear until the final minutes of the third quarter. At this time Head Coach Brian Fluck inserted jr. QB Jaleel Reed for a series in hopes that a spark would be created. Reed has displayed capable running ability at times this season. What made the move even more interesting is that the Burrs were beginning the drive deep in the territory at the 16-yard line. Not exactly a comfortable situation for a still greenish QB, right? Well, early on it was the running of Williams that got the Burrs some breathing room, as he rushed for 15, 11, and 4 yards to start things. Reed’s number would be called next and he went for ten yards to GD’s 44-yard line on the last play of the third quarter. To start the fourth quarter, Williams ripped off a 29-yard burst to the GD’s 15-yard line. The next three plays would only produce five yards. On fourth down, Reed took the snap in the shotgun and briefly started to his left. Sensing that Lewisburg had this play covered, he quickly shot back to the right, and raced around the right side for a 9-yard pick-up to the one-yard line. Clutch! On the next play he scored on a keeper with 8:53 left in the game. The Burrs’ defense allowed a first down on Lewisburg’s first play of their next series, but yielded nothing after that, as jr. DT Devante "Butterball" Ford notched a sack to slow this momentum. Ok, with time now on their side, you had the sense that West just needed a couple of first downs to cement this victory. And on first down Williams rumbled for just that with an 11-yard run. Soon after, Reed converted a third-and-three with a four-yard keeper. But wait! Yep, more laundry, and West was now faced with a third-and-thirteen. Disaster struck next! With Reed in the shotgun and the backfield empty, the snap from center whizzed over his head. While in pursuit Reed had a chance to possibly fall on the ball around the fifteen, but it didn’t happen and the GD’s jr. RB/LB Merle Moscarello ended up scooping the ball up and returning it ten yards for the touchdown. Ohh boy! This Lewisburg team has had a little magic in a recent run, so would it continue? With 4:53 left the Green Dragons opted to chip a kick over the head of the Burrs’ hands team. However, the ball rolled out of bounds at the twenty-two, thus allowing the Burrs to start the drive at the 35-yard line. On first and second down runs by Hollomon netted zero, as the Lewisburg defense bottled up the middle of the line where West was trying to create. So, what would the call be on third-and-ten? Would they attempt a pass? No, they wouldn’t, but they called a toss left to the wide side of the field to Hollomon, who after getting an early block from sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin turned on the jets, and went untouched down the left sideline for a 65-yard score. Nice! The Burrs had restored some order with 3:51 left. Lewisburg’s last chance with the ball ended with three misfires on passes. West would seal the game with a 13-yard run by sr. RB Joshua Mathis (6-38) to the GD’s 10-yard line. This was followed by three kneel downs to end it. This will be the second time in three seasons that the Burrs will play in the Class 2A final in Hershey. Two years ago the Burrs fell to Wilmington Area H.S., 35-34, in double-OT, agonizing setback. Next week, they will take on South Fayette (15-0) from District-7. The Lions are led by sr. QB Christian Brumbaugh (William & Mary) who has set the WPIAL record for most passing yards in a career (7.051) and season (3,615). In his team’s semifinal win (49-12) over Forest Hills (District-6) he merely tossed for 362 yards and 6 TD’s. Alright, enough of that for now, and let’s look at some more numbers from today’s game. West actually had more penalty yards (93) than yards allowed on defense (91 yards). It was a great team effort on that side of the ball. West has always been known for their offensive exploits, and rightfully so, but the defense has been the backbone of their team all year in my opinion. This unit still hasn’t given up more than two offensive touchdowns in a game this season and even that has only happened four times in fourteen games. And in two of those four games it came against reserves. So, this unit has been extremely steady and reliable to say the least. The Lewisburg backfield of Moscarello (13-45) and sr. Nathaniel Brown (11-31) were both 1,300-yard rushers this year, but the Burrs were able to limit them to 76 yards on 24 carries. Lynch spearheaded things today with 9 tackles (2 sacks, TFL). Malone was next with seven stops, while jr. LB T-J Waters added six. Jr. LB Marquise Gordon added an important sack and did so on his first taste of action after sr. LB Anthony McDonnaugh left briefly with cramps. Schieler added four stops, including two for losses. Offensively, the Burrs were able to churn out 360 yards of offense, as all but 14 of them came on the ground. Hollomon rushed for 208 yards on 18 carries. This total helped him eclipse the 3,000-yard marker (3,151) for a career. His brother’s, Rob ’08, career total sits at (3,159). Williams added 85 yards on 11 carries. Reed contributed an important 25 yards on 4 totes. Lewisburg had a great defensive effort from soph. LB Brandon Smith who notched 15 total tackles, including 13 solo stops in the game. Big disparity in fan support, but we knew that would happen. I’d venture to say that the Burrs had somewhere around 200 cheering them on. Lewisburg probably had anywhere from 1,400-1,600 on their side. One last comment about all the penalties called on West in this game. I typically don’t touch on this aspect of the game, but I have to question today’s performance by the guys in stripes. Hey, some penalties like offsides or a delay of game are right in front of you and have to be called. West was guilty of four such calls today and deserved them all. However, at the high school level you could pretty much call holding or illegal blocks on every other play if you’re looking for it. The fact that West was called for six such penalties and their opponent not a single one is inexcusable in my opinion. It’s a state semifinal playoff game for crying out loud, and there is no reason why the kids shouldn’t settle things on the field. I have no doubt that West probably did hold or make an illegal block on most of those calls, but you mean to tell me that the other team was perfect in that regard? I highly doubt it….

NOV. 26
THANKSGIVING RIVALRY
Malvern 14, SJ Prep 13
  Snow! Ahh man, not exactly a stat man’s dream, especially one without a protective cover for his clipboard. Yes, about a half-an-hour before kickoff the snow began to fall and it did so in big, wet flake manner. This continued pretty much throughout the first half. In the second half it diminished and turned to a light sleet, cold rain. Still not fun! Man, it was raw by game’s end, but we got through it and even though this one wasn’t filled with excitement galore, it did end with a little drama. Let’s set the stage a little. In the second quarter, the Friars ignited the scoreboard first on an 8-yard run by jr. RB PJ Finley (6-43). This capped an 8-play, 47-yard drive. The Hawks would deadlock things on a 16-yard quarterback-draw by headliner Skyler Mornhinweg with 5:18 left in the opening half. The drive was set up by sr. DE Frank Fanto’s blocked punt at the MP 20-yard line. Immediately after this score, the Hawks had a golden opportunity to take the lead. Sr. LB Jeff Heath hit Friar jr. QB Tommy Rumer in the backfield to force a fumble that was recovered by soph. DT Paul Johnson at the MP 17-yard line. Soon after, the Hawks had a third-and-goal from the one-yard line, but squandered a chance when Mornhinweg fumbled the snap for no gain. The Hawks actually hustled to the line to get that play off and in rushing never seem to have everyone on the same page. Not sure that was needed. Then, MP’s jr. LB’s Joe Nilan and Ed Morris tossed Heath for a one-yard loss on the fourth down run. Also, credit needs to go to the Friars’ jr. LB Sam Schmucker who was the first one to converge on Heath after he got the ball. No tackle on the play, but his instant presence in the Hawks’ backfield led to the stop. In the third quarter the Hawks once again used a blocked punt to score. This time jr. WR/DB Jim Hurley blocked and recovered the ball before returning it 16 yards for the touchdown. Malvern’s jr. DT Connor Mahoney busted through the line to engulf the subsequent PAT. As it turns out this was huge. The Friars wouldn’t trail for long, though. The started their next drive at SJP’s 35-yard line and needed just six plays to find the end zone. An 11-yard run by Finley on 3rd-and-8 helped their cause at the outset of the drive. Rumer followed this with a 12-yard scramble. Then, bruising sr. FB Bob Scaramuzza rumbled 40 yards to the Hawks’ 15-yard line. He would score from here on the next play. Sr. K Rob Dollfus PAT with 3:44 left in the third quarter proved to be the difference. As the game moved into the fourth quarter the Friars had a golden chance to increase their lead, but a fumble (Recovery by Fanto) on a fourth down play from the one prevented this. The Hawks would have four fourth quarter possessions to try and re-take the lead. Three of these drives advanced into Malvern territory, but the Friars had an answer every time. First, the Hawks were denied at the 15-yard line on a fourth-and-two play. Morris and Schmucker provided a combination stop for no gain on a Mornhinweg keeper to end to this opportunity. The next drive reached as far as the Malvern 33-yard line, but jr. DT Shannon Green sacked Mornhinweg on a fourth-and-ten chance to thwart this possession. The Hawks last chance started at their 33-yard line with 53.5 seconds left. Mornhinweg connected for 18 yards to sr. WR Adrian Johnson to move it to the MP 49-yard line. However, the Hawks would only gain five more yards and a fourth down pass was batted down by Morris and sr. DB Sean Gordan at the twenty-five with 13 seconds left. When this series started up four years ago the Hawks won the first game, but the Friars have taken the last three. Truth be told, but Malvern was the better team today and deserved to win the game. Scaramuzza paced the offense with 105 yards on 18 tough carries. Leading rusher jr. Shawn Wilson injured his leg and didn’t play in the second half. He did manage 65 yards on 9 carries beforehand and this total was good enough to see that he eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the season. Defensively, the Friars held the Hawks to just 137 yards on 54 plays, including just 40 yards on 32 carries. Morris paced the defense with 10 stops (.5 of sack). Sr. DE Carl Nassib, whose older brother and former MP star Ryan is now playing QB for Syracuse, ended with 2.5 sacks worth 35 yards in losses. Sr. DE Sean Mooney also notched a sack. Nilan hustled for 9 tackles, including three for losses. Gordan made an interception and made three other pass defends in the game. Soph. DB Joe Carlini recovered a muffed punt. For the Hawks, Mornhinweg passed 10-for-22, for 97 yards, but only managed minus-13 yards on 14 carries thanks to the sacks. Defensively, Mornhinweg made ten tackles (9 solos) and had an interception. Heath (7 solo tackles; forced fumble), Fanto, soph. LB Todd Jones and jr. LB Pete Siki all registered sacks. Sr. DB Mike DeFeo recovered a fumble. At halftime of the game the respective rugby teams of SJP and MP competed in an exhibition game. Pretty cool! The Friars also came out on top of this contest by a 15-5 score. The Friars 58-man roster (football -- ha ha) only included 9 seniors, so expect some good things from them next season.

NOV. 21
D-1/12 SUBREGIONAL FINAL
West Catholic 34, Bok 6
  Sure the final score suggests that the Burrs pretty much had their way with the Wildcats, but for over 31 minutes of action that was hardly the case. Bok came out determined and with a plan, and for a while there was much consternation on the faces of all those associated with the West program. Bok Head Coach Tom DeFelice, a West grad in ’64, had already announced that this would be his last season as not only the football coach, but as a teacher at the school for the last 42 years. Guess what? His kids played like they didn’t want this part of his journey to end just yet. Coming into the game pretty much everyone understood that Bok couldn’t run up and down the field with West’s potent skill guys, but if they could force a couple of turnovers and just smack West back a little, then possibly success could be had. They did just that! Bok stymied the Burrs the first four times they had the ball, forcing two punts and causing a pair of fumbles. After West’s second possession ended in a punt, the Wildcats started a drive at the Burr 45-yard line. In methodical fashion, Bok bulled their way down the field for the game’s first score with 1:34 left on the first quarter clock. Jr. RB/DB Shaquil Sammons somehow bounced away from a mass of humanity towards the left-side, and then easily scooted in from 17 yards. Bok used nine consecutive runs to find the end zone on the drive. The next time the Burrs had the ball the Wildcats had a chance to further their lead when frosh DB Michael Riley (2 fumble recoveries) beautifully read a short hitch pattern. Situated underneath and in the slot, the unseen Riley stepped in and had the ball carom off his hands. Trust me, folks, but he could have probably run as far as the sports complex without being touched. With Bok holding all of the momentum the Burrs finally got the break they were looking for. And this break came on something that they don’t usually do. Punt! Sr. Albert Campbell solidly struck a good kick, but when the Bok return men allowed the ball to bounce, the Burrs and Campbell got much more. All total, the punt traveled 62 yards and eventually settled at the Bok 11-yard line. Three plays later, sr. DE/TE Jim Lynch hit sr. FB/LB Khalil Nealas he slightly bobbled a handoff, causing a fumble that was recovered by sr. LB Kevin Burns at the fifteen. West sr. QB Anthony Reid zipped 13 yards to the two on first down, and then two plays afterwards, soph. RB Dave Williams slipped in to tie the game at, 6-6. The Burrs would threaten on their next possession, as they showed signs of breaking out before the half. Sr. RB Brandon Hollomon nearly broke a long TD run, but had to settle for 26 yards when he slipped cutting back at the Bok 16-yard line. However, just 1.5 seconds remained and the Burrs never got another play off. To begin the second half, the Wildcats didn’t let the Burrs’ recent success affect them much. Bok held the ball for the first 7:23 of the third quarter. With Sammons and Neal pretty much alternating between runs the Wildcats moved from their forty to the West 20-yard line on 13 straight runs plays. Sammons provided a 9-yard run in this sequence, but no other play went for more than 5 yards. Still, you just knew that a pass play would be coming eventually. And with the Wildcats facing a third-and-six from the 20-yard line it happened. Jr. TE Wayne Fioravanti leaked behind the Burrs’ secondary, but the pass was overthrown by a couple yards in the end zone from jr. QB Marquise Brown. Golden opportunity slips away! Next, and with the Burrs much more ready for a pass on fourth down, Brown forced a jump ball to jr. WR/DE Jihad Ward near the goal line, but he was double-covered and jr. S Jaleel Reed made the pick. Reed sped up the far sidelines 98 yards for a touchdown. But wait, laundry littered the carpet. An illegal block brought the ball back to the twelve. Sensing new life the Burrs did not waste their chance with the ball, as five plays into this series Hollomon went untouched through the left-side 63 yards for the go-ahead score. The Burrs would not look back! After a Bok three-and-out, Reid connected for 40 yards to sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin (3-64) to start the next drive. This was followed by a 24-yard scoring jaunt by the impressive Williams, who also added the conversion run for a 20-6 West lead. Another three-and-out by Bok resulted in yet another punt. Afterwards, sr. RB Joshua Mathis (5-71) zipped 60 yards to the Bok 9-yard line. Two plays later he made the score 27-6 with a 6-yard TD run. With 9:01 left on the clock the game was pretty much settled. The Burrs’ defense would once again rise to the occasion and forced their third straight three-and-out and punt. However, this time the snap from center sailed over sr. K/P Walravens Daniels head. By the time he scooped up the ball Lynch and jr. DT Dominic DiGalbo were hauling him down for a 27-yard loss. This gave the Burrs the ball at the 6-yard line and Williams bulled in from the one two plays later to close out the scoring. How lethal and quick can the West offense strike? Well, they ran just 13 offensive plays in the second half and scored on four of them. These 13 plays accounted for 229 yards of offense (369 total yards for game). Furthermore, their four scores were separated by only 8:09 of game action. Bok actually mustered up one last drive after the last West score. Eventually they had a first-and-goal from the five, but were denied on four straight runs. Jr. DB Kevin Malone brought Neal down for a one-yard loss on fourth down with just 13 seconds left. A knee by Reid ended it. Offensively, the West offense was paced by Hollomon (15-162), who eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season. This is the 11th straight season the Burrs have had a 1,000-yard rusher and at this time no other city team can say that. SJ Prep also has had ten straight years with such a feat, but leading rusher sr. Mark Casale (814) has some work to do on Turkey Day if the Hawks hope to keep that string alive as well. Reid finished 5-for-9, with 71 yards. The Burrs rushed for 298 yards on 33 carries. The O-line consisted of DiGalbo at center, jr Gs T-J Waters and Mike Makor, Ts jr. Eric Wyant and sr. Rodney Linder, Lynch at TE, and sr. FB Dion Givens. Defensively, there were a lot of tackles to be had for the Burrs, as the Wildcats ran 61 offensive plays. Of these 61 plays only three times did a play exceed ten yards. In turn, the Burrs had 12 of 42 plays eclipse the ten-yard mark. The Burrs’ defense only allowed 134 yards on Bok’s 61 plays. Sr. LB Anthony McDonnaugh led with 13 tackles (8 solos), Lynch was next with 12 (8 solos), while Waters also added ten stops. The following players registered six tackles apiece in the game; Burns, sr. DE Kris Padgett (sack), DiGalbo, and jr. LB Tristin Freeman (2 TFL’s). For Bok, both Sammons (25-50) and Neal (21-79) got their share of work, as they combined for 46 carries in the game. They provided a lot of tough running, but there wasn’t a whole lot of room to work with for the most part. Defensively, Neal led with six solo tackles (forced fumble). Soph. DE Vittorio Goggins forced a fumble with a sack.  Jr. DB Omar Bashir was next with five stops. In closing, I just want to say thank you to Coach DeFelice for being such a tremendous asset to the Bok community. Thank you for serving and dedicating your life to the young people that graced the hallways of Bok. Your contributions and work will never be forgotten, nor should they, as Bok was most certainly a better place with you there. Again, thank you for all your efforts and hard work! I know I speak for the many, many, many people that your work has touched. You made a difference!

NOV. 13
D-1/12 AA SUBREGIONAL
West Catholic 56, Delaware Valley 8
  For football watching purposes it was just a gorgeous mid-November afternoon with the temperature settling somewhere in the 60’s, with little-to-no wind. Really, could you have asked for a better day for this time of year? Probably not! But all in attendance more than likely could have asked for the two games taking place at the South Philly Super Site to be a little more competitive. And that’s putting it mildly. The winning teams in today’s District 1/12 AA sub-regional doubleheader won by a combined 88 points. Double ouch! In the opener, Bok crunched Communications Tech, 46-7, avenging a 12-0 defeat to the Phoenix earlier in the season. In the daycap, the Burrs impressively rolled over the Warriors, as they scored all eight times they had the ball. The Burrs’ offense rolled to 478 yards of offense and 22 first downs in the game. Del Val’s miseries started almost immediately. A sack of sr. QB Keith Page by West jr. LB Tristin Freeman went for a loss of 11 yards and forced a punting situation on DV’s first series. West sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin returned the punt 12 yards to the Warriors 33-yard line to put the Burrs in business. Sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon would carry six straight times to bring the ball to the one-yard line, and from here sr. QB Anthony Reid easily took a keeper around the left-side for the game’s first score. There would be no looking back from here, folks. The Burrs concluded their next possession with a 1-yard bull by soph. RB Dave Williams. The big play on this drive was a Reid to sr. WR Quran Kent 43-yard completion. Kent also supplied the conversion run after Williams’ score. Next, Reid connected with Strong-Rankin (2-71) for 51 yards for the Burrs’ third score of the day. On the play, Reid avoided pressure by scrambling to his left. Once in the clear, he planted, and heaved a deep ball slightly back to his right, where Strong-Rankin went over a smaller DV defensive back, and easily waltzed into the end zone after making the catch. Some quick math shows me thatStrong-Rankin’s eight scoring grabs this season have averaged 51.4 yards in distance. Not bad! After this the Warriors showed a little life when sr. TE/DE Heleaince Gates returned the ensuing kickoff 52 yards to the West 32-yard line. Two plays later, Page zipped down to the West 4-yard line on a keeper. Sr. RB/LB Markeese Walker scored from here on a bull up the middle. He also added the conversion run in a similar manner to make the score, 22-8. However, the Burrs would answer a short time later on an ultra-quick 44-yard sprint by Hollomon. The Burrs really showed their firepower prowess when they marched 82 yards on six plays in the final couple minutes of the half. Actually, the ball moved back to their 15-yard line after a holding call, but quality runs by sr. FB Albert Campbell (3-34) for 8 and 13 yards were sandwiched around a 25-yard run by Williams to give the Burrs the necessary breathing room. Then, Kent (2-82) showed some fancy footwork along the far sidelines for a 39-yard score off a pass from Reid. This entended the score to 36-8 with 1:22 left in the half. The Warriors actually threatened after this, as they reached the 8-yard line with 5 seconds left, but Page was sacked by jr. LB Marquise Gordan to squelch the threat. DV had some success in this opening half, as they had eight plays that went for at least 16 yards. Still, a penalty here, and a poor play there, really hurt them in terms of sustaining drives. Meanwhile, the Burrs roared to 352 yards on 27 offensive plays in that opening half. In the second half, three different West rushers found the end zone to cap each of their second half possessions. First, Hollomon scored from 3 yards, then sr. Joshua Mathis (6-43) scored from 19 yards out, and this was followed by Williams (6-63) on a 13-yard steamroll. Umm, this kid is going to be a GOOD one down the line. Very impressive! With the clock running Del Val held the ball for the final 11:10. They ran 19 plays, but the game ended on an incomplete pass from the 8-yard line. The Burr ground attack was led by Hollomon (15-145), who has found his extra gear as of late. He also added a 55-yard punt return. Reid did all of his passing in the first half and finished 5-for-6, for 164 yards. He has been extremely sharp in recent weeks. In his last two games, he is 13-for-15, for 391 and 5 TDs. I would think one could live with those numbers. The O-line for the Burrs consisted of jr. C Dominic DiGalbo, jr. G’s T-J Waters and Mike Makor, T’s sr. Rodney Linder and jr. Eric Wyant, and Freeman at TE. Defensively, the Burrs played without three starters, who were serving a one-game suspension due to last week's melee versus McDevitt. Freeman, who is beginning to blossom into quite the force, had a game-high 11 solo tackles (1 sack). Waters (sack) was next with seven stops. Sr. DE Kris Padgett registered a sack and another TFL. Sr. LB Kevin Burns hustled for five tackles, while Gordon added five as well. For Del Val, Page was busy and passed 13-for-29, for 142 yards. Sr. WR/DB Brad Wilson, the all-time city leader for receiving touchdowns, made three catches for 50 yards. He also added a 47-yard rush on a wide receiver reverse and tossed a 22-yard pass to Gates off a fake punt. Sr. WR Rashaan Walker made 6 grabs for 53 yards. Defensively, sr. DB Ishmael Bernard had a team-high 8 solo tackles. Sr. DB Aaron Williams was next with 7 stops. The impressive Gates was next with five tackles. He also added 96 yards on 4 kickoff returns. Next week’s sub-regional final will be played Friday night at 6 o’clock, in South Philly. This will be the third straight season the Burrs and Wildcats have clashed in a sub-regional contest. West has won both, convincingly in ’08, but just 21-7 a year ago.

NOV. 6
CATHOLIC AA FINAL
West Catholic 47, McDevitt 7
  Even though the Burrs came into the game as solid favorites, there was a thought by some that this game could be competitive and entertaining throughout. Well, it was entertaining all right, but only if you were a fan, coach, or player of the team that resides at 45th & Chestnut St. McDevitt is not a bad team, but the speedy Burrs were just on another level in this one. What an offensive display they put forth on this night. With the win the Burrs have now won five straight Catholic League titles. The first two came as part of the now defunct Blue Division and the last three as members of the PCL AA league. This was their second consecutive win over McDevitt in a title game and their 13th straight victory over the Lancers overall since 2002. Also, West has now won 33 straight games versus league opponents dating back to the middle of 2006 season. The breakdown for this streak is 23 regular season wins, 9 playoff/finals wins, and one sub-regional win. Conwell-Egan is the last league opponent to knock off the Burrs. Tonight’s onslaught began midway through the first quarter on West’s first possession and third play from scrimmage. Sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin, who can be borderline dominant when focused, took a simple, short pass near the sidelines from sr. QB Anthony Reid, and thanks to a couple of decent blocks by fellow receivers got around the corner and raced untouched 64 yards for the game’s first score. Explosive! There was no looking back from here. West would go onto score on their next four possessions to build an insurmountable 34-0 halftime lead. Sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon capped the Burrs’ next series with a 3-yard run. This score was set-up by a 51-yard pass and catch between Reid and sr. WR/DB Quran Kent. Reid capped their third possession with a 12-yard scoring run. Earlier in the drive Reid ripped-off a 30-yard run. Sr. FB Leroy Wesley galloped for 32 yards on the drive, too. The Burrs actually overcame 32 yards of penalties on this series. Crazy! The fourth touchdown proved to be the dagger, as back-up QB jr. Jaleel Reed took a turn on a series, and connected with Strong-Rankin for a 39-yard score on a fourth-and-twelve play to make the score, 26-0. The Lancers showed a little life after this and marched to the West 19-yard line, but sr. QB Martin Henry lost yards on three straight plays to turn the ball over on downs. Sr. LB Kevin Burns, jr. DT Dominic DiGalbo, and jr. LB Tristin Freeman did the honors on those stops. Afterwards, it didn’t take the Burrs long to find end zone once again. Four plays into the drive, Kent was easily running under a beautiful pass from Reid for a 47-yard scoring strike. Hollomon provided the conversion run to make the score, 34-0 West, with 56 seconds left in the half. McDevitt’sjr. RB/DB Kieth Young returned the ensuing kick 56 yards to the West 33-yard line. Then, a pass interference call on West and 11 more yards on two plays put the ball at the West 7-yard line. However, on the next play, Henry’s pass was tipped to Kent who made the pick at the one-yard line. What followed was nearly one of the most exciting scores one could hope to see. As Kent turned up field he was cutoff at first, so he reversed fields and on his way in that direction pitched the ball to Hollomon who was moving towards him. Hollomon eventually got out in the open, but had to bob-and-weave many early on, which allowed a hustling jr. WR Nicholas Perez to bring him down at the McDevitt 30-yard line. The play covered 69 yards, but was all-so-close to being a 99-yard return. This closed a half that witnessed the Burrs outgain the Lancers 385-to-76. Whoa! Not much drama in the second half, as West got touchdowns from sr. TE/DE Jim Lynch (15-yard pass from Reid) and Hollomon (22-yard run) sandwiched around a scoring run by McDevitt star sr. RB/DB Gary Postell (20 yards) to complete the scoring. In actuality, the biggest moment of consequence came on the kickoff following Postell’s score. The kick was pooched short and taken by Strong-Rankin for a small return, but it appeared that he was hit slightly late and was possibly kicked as he sat awkwardly on the ground. This led to some pushing and shoving almost immediately and before you knew it a melee started between the teams. It didn’t last long, as the coaches for both teams and officials did a good job of restoring order, but it did come close to getting extremely out of control. Once things calmed down the referees had a five-to-ten minute discussion to work out the infractions. And things did not work out well for the Burrs. Six players in all were thrown out of the game, with four of them being from West. In my opinion, that may have been a little harsh. But again, everything happened so fast, and I couldn’t tell you who did what. The game had been slightly chippy throughout. The teams combined for 17 penalties worth 167 yards. Anyhow, it’s quite possible that West may be without four significant-to-somewhat significant contributors for their 1st Round sub-regional game versus Del-Val this coming Saturday. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed for the rest of the game. Ok, let’s wrap up with some more game details. The Burrs OL was flawless throughout. This group consisted of DiGalbo at center, sr. T Rodney Linder, jr. T Eric Wyant, and jr G’s T-J Waters and Mike Makor. All total, the Burrs went off for 481 yards of offense. Hollomon paced the ground attack with 88 yards. Reid, who earlier in the week was excluded from any All-Catholic mention, was sensational and took out his revenge on McDevitt’s secondary throughout. He accounted for 278 yards of offense on 13 opportunities. He passed 8-for-9 for 227 yards and rushed for 51 yards on 4 carries. Both Strong-Rankin (3-113) and Kent (3-105) eclipsed the 100-yard marker. I’m drawing a blank on when the last time two Burr receivers did that, but I know it wasn’t during the TS.com era after checking the team pages back to 2000. Defensively, the Burrs were once again paced by the reliable Burns who led with ten tackles (8 solos, .5 sack, 3 TFLs). Lynch (sack) was next with 8 stops. Freeman (1.5 sacks) hustled for 7 tackles, while Waters notched five. For McDevitt, Postell ended with good numbers (16-104), but 78 of those yards came after the score was 40-0. He finishes what was an excellent campaign with 1,461 yards and 23 Td’s (Career: 2,686 yards, 34 TD’s). Jr. WR Nick Newman made 5 catches for 30 yards. Henry finished 6-for-12 for 38 yards. On defense, jr. LB Darren Wright (6’2”, 230 lbs) was solid with 8 tackles, including 4 that went for losses. This kid has some potential. Other leaders were the steady sr. DB Matt Conroy (7 stops), sr. DE Domonique Robinson (five), and Young with five.

OCT. 29
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 45, Lansdale Catholic 13
  In the regular season finale for both clubs we knew a couple of things concerning the postseason involving each coming in. First, West was pretty much assured a spot in next week’s PCL AA final, which will be their ninth consecutive year of playing in such a game. Secondly, LC still had a shot, but they would have to beat West by at least 11 points for starters. Of course, this is assuming that McDevitt takes care of Neumann-Goretti today, which is expected to happen. So, with that in mind, it wasn’t’ surprising to see the pesky Crusaders begin things with a purpose. In the first quarter of this game, the Crusaders ran 19 of the first 23 plays of the game. They also amassed an 8-to-2 first down advantage. With numbers such as these one would think a decent-sized lead had been established, right? Well, a lead was had, but it was at the smallest of margins, 13-12. Twice, the Burrs scored in ultra-quick fashion when they had the rock. Needing just two plays each time. First, sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon, who was jet-like all night, took a handoff 46 yards for a score just 25 seconds into the game. Then, the next time the Burrs got their hands on the rock sr. QB Anthony Reid unleashed a beautiful bomb to sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin that went for a relatively easy 69-yard score. Meanwhile, the Crusaders weren’t gliding up and down the field in that manner, but they were effective nonetheless, and really had the Burrs’ defense on their heels. On their first series they needed just five plays to march 59 yards. Sr. RB Mike Bradley zipped 43 yards on his only carry of the game to the Burr 5-yard line. On the next play, bruising sr. FB/LB Devon Barrett blasted across. Later, and with West leading, 12-7, LC capped their second possession with another score. Again, Bradley spearheaded the drive with a 28-yard catch and run, on a well-designed throwback pass. Five plays later, Barrett was once again bullying his way into the end zone. This timehis scoring run covered 4 yards. Feeling a little ghoulish during the Halloween season, the Crusaders used a little trickery on the ensuing kickoff when sr. WR/DB/K Matt Pinzka barely pushed the ball forward and then recovered as it hit the necessary ten-yard mark. Afterwards, and as the game turned to the second quarter, LC advanced to the West 16-yard line with a reasonable third-and-two chance. However, sr. QB Andrew Mandato bobbled a snap that lost two yards and this was followed by a delay-of-game penalty. On fourth down, and under a heavy rush, Mandato lofted a ball high into the middle of the field that was intercepted by jr. DB Kevin Malone. Well, how does a team improve upon scoring on the second play of each of their first two possessions in a game? Simple! Score on the first play on your next turn with the ball. On a wonderfully designed counter run, Hollomon sped 94 yards down the right sideline to give the Burrs the lead for good. Kudos to linemen jr.T-J Waters and sr. Rodney Linder who perfectly executed blocks early in the run to pave the way. At this point Hollomon had amasses 140 yards rushing on just two carries. The teams would trade a possession each without scoring before LC showed a little more resiliency in putting together another noteworthy drive, as they drove from their 22-yard line to the West 24-yard line on nine plays. However, starring at a third-and-seven on play ten, West jr. LB Tristin Freeman made a tremendous interception near the far hash. The ball appeared to be past him before he reached back and secured it. After this it was dagger time! With just a 1:22 left in the half, the Burrs were situated at their 9-yard line. Runs of 3 and 15 yards by Hollomon gave them a little breathing room to the twenty-seven. Next, Reid nicely hit sr. WR Quran Kent (57-yard punt return later) for 27 yards to the LC forty-six. This was followed by a 45-yard draw to Hollomon that ended at the one-yard line. Two plays later, Hollomon went up-and-over (WC camera guru Matt “Cauls” McCauley may dub this -Hollomon Leap Part 2) to give West some breathing room at, 27-13. Just 18.7 seconds remained in the half. It was easy to sense the wind leaving the sails of LC at this point. As the second half proceeded the Burrs would eventually secure a tight stranglehold on the game. Defensively, some adjustments were made and LC would only manage 49 yards and three more first downs over the final twenty-four minutes. On the other side of the ball, the offense would score thrice on runs by Hollomon (47 yards), soph. RB Dave Williams (6 yards), and sr. RB Joshua Mathis (27 yards) in the second half. West ended up scoring the final 33 points in the game. All total, the Burrs rolled-up 475 yards in the contest on just 37 plays. Good for a 12.8 yard average. The first half was even more impressive, where they accumulated 319 yards of offense on just 16 plays (19.9 average). Hollomon was lethal and more than likely could have approached even gaudier numbers had the Burrs’ brass decided to. He finished with 254 yards on just 8 totes. Mathis added 76 yards on his 8 carries. Reid passed 3-for-7 for 105 yards. The offensive line needs props, too. This group consisted of jr. C Dominic DiGalbo, T’s jr.Eric Wyant and Linder, G’s Waters and jr.Mike Makor, and sr. TE Jim Lynch. Rotating fullbacks sr. Leroy Wesley, sr. Dion Givens, and sr. Albert Campbell all played a part. Defensively, the Burrs had some problems early, but eventually settled in. LC actually ran 59 plays in the game, so tackling opportunities were a plentiful. Lynch (9 tackles, sack) and Freeman both executed strip-the-ball and do the recovering plays in the fourth quarter. Sr. OLB Chris Coe notched a pair of late-game sacks worthy of 16 yards in losses. He had another TFL and it was good to see him experience success after last season ended with a serious knee injury. Other tackling headliners were steady sr. LB Kevin Burns (eight), sr. DE Kris Padgett (eight), Waters (seven), sr. DT Ike Ugwu (six), and DT DiGalbo (five). Back to Burns, but I just love the effort he brings week in and week out. Not the biggest kid or most athletic on the Burr defense, but you just get sound play from him on a weekly basis. Sr. FB/LB Anthony McDonnaugh (ankle) missed his second straight game. I appreciated LC’s nothing-to-lose mindset to begin the game, but as the proceedings wore on West’s superior physical skills took over. Barrett did all of his rushing (13-41) in the opening half then left the game with a rib injury. Hope all goes well with that. His replacement, soph. FB/LB Tyler Smith ran hard in going for 57 yards on 12 carries. Bradley added 93 yards on just 4 offensive touches.  I may not have mind seeing this kid get a few more chances. Mandato ended 7-for-17 for 93 yards through the air. Defensively, jr. LB Evan Coughlin and Pinzka evenly split 12 tackles. LC’s 59 plays netted 235 yards.

OCT. 23
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 41, Neumann-Goretti 12
  To be honest here, this game’s competitiveness evaporated rather quickly. When you're heavy underdogs and you know that moving the ball and stopping your opponent are going to be major uphill chores, then you just can’t afford to have major breakdowns on special teams. Unfortunately, the Saints had two such occurrences before the game was three minutes old, which spearheaded the Burrs to a quick 14-0 lead. First, sr. DE Kris Padgett stormed through the line and got a considerable piece of an N-G punt. Eventually, West sr. DE/TE Jim Lynch scooped up the loose rock, broke a couple of tackles, then scored on a 26-yard return. Immediately afterwards, sr. LB Kevin Burns forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by sr. DB Tyree Hughes at the N-G 28-yard line. Two plays later, sr. RB Brandon Hollomon was scampering into the end zone from 26 yards out. Sr. RB Joshua Mathis provided the conversion run. This would be the first of five straight touchdowns by the Burr offense, as they scored on every one of their first half possessions. Next in the scoring barrage was Lynch on a 22-yard pass from sr. QB Anthony Reid (5-for-5, 55 yards) down the middle of the field. There wasn’t a Saint in the same zip code on the play. Hollomon would score his second touchdown of the game to make it, 26-0. This run covered 22 yards. Reid would find paydirt next with a 15-yard run midway through the second quarter. West would increase their lead to, 41-0, on a 64-yard touchdown run by soph. RB Dave Williams (3-80). The Burrs accumulated 283 yards on the first half on just 18 offensive plays. The trio of Williams, Hollomon (4-72), and Mathis (4-68) combined for 220 yards on just 11 carries between them. The offensive line for the Burrs did a good job of providing ample holes for these guys to run through. This unit consisted of jr. C Dominic DiGalbo, jr G’s T-J Waters and Mike Makor, and T’s sr. Rodney Linder and jr. Eric Wyant. The Saints would actually get on the board in the waning moments of the first half. Two West pass interference calls brought the ball to the Burr 30-yard line. Then, on a third-and-one play, the Saints nicely executed on a play-action pass in which sr. QB Mark Stinsman flipped a pass to sr. TE Chad McPherson for 19 yards down to the one-yard line. Two plays later, sr. RB Justin Rey burrowed in from there with 13 ticks left on the clock. The PAT was missed and with the margin at 35 points we were ensured that the clock would be running in the second half. Or were we? The Saints kickoff after the touchdown landed, and then bounced back in the direction of where it came from, which allowed sr. DB John Snyder to make an easy recovery at the Burr 30-yard line. Stinsman hit impressive frosh. WR/DE Jamal Custis for six yards. Next, they had time for one more play and again the ball went in Custis’ direction in the end zone, but West sr. DB Dave Sherman made the pick. The second half breezed by quickly, but before the game ended the Saints ignited the scoreboard one more time. With 30 seconds left in the game, soph. QB John Mastrando converted a fourth down with a 2-yard scoring pass to soph. TE Eric Holt. Defensively, West held N-G to 98 yards in offense. Burns led with 7 tackles. Lynch added six, including a sack. Sherman and jr. LB Tristin Freeman evenly split eight stops. For the Saints, soph. DE Sharif Custis notched a sack and recovered a fumble. Soph. DB Eric Neill led the Saints with 7 tackles.

OCT. 22
CATHOLIC AAAA
SJ Prep 31, Roman 15
  It has been well chronicled in these parts that the 2010 version of the SJ Prep football team isn’t quite what we’ve been used to seeing over the past decade. The reasons for this have been discussed at length, so I’ll pass on that re-hashing. I think it might be time to move on and focus in on what is going on presently with the improving Hawks. Will they have enough to sustain a deep run into the latter part of November? Not sure about that yet, but it definitely appears that a corner has been turned for this club. Knocking off a good Roman team gives first-year Head Coach Gabe Infante a signature win and allows his club to carry a modest three-game winning streak into next week’s season finale with heated rival LaSalle. Like in most games, there are specific moments that take place which really have a lasting effect on the outcome. For me, there were five of these moments that favored the Hawks tonight. First, with the Hawks already leading, 7-0, they had just been thrown for a seven-yard loss back to the Roman 39-yard line. Afterwards, they would have been faced with a third-and-eleven chance, but a Roman defender was hit with a personal foul call after the play, and this gave the Hawks a first down at the 24. Four plays later, sr. QB/DB SkylerMornhinweg calmly hit sr. WR Adrian Johnson with a quick, left-to-right slant for a 13-yard TD, and 13-0 advantage. The next critical moment came a short time later. Roman’s exciting soph WR William Fuller returned the ensuing kick 44 yards to the SJP 35-yard line. The Cahillites’ next three plays netted 19 yards and put the ball at the Hawks’ 16-yard line. It appeared that a momentum-snatching score might be in the offering, but Hawks’ sr. LB/RB Jeff Heath made a quick read and secured an interception over the middle at the 8-yard line to thwart the drive. Let’s move on to big play number three. To start the second half the Hawks were faced with a third-and-eleven at their 31-yard line. Once again it would be the Mornhinweg-to-Johnson combination that would deliver a huge punch to the gut of the Cahillites. This time Mornhinweg hit Johnson on a right-to-left slant, and even though it looked like Roman had defenders in the area, he was able to cut upfield and secure an angle all the way to paydirt. The play covered 69 yards and the silence on Roman’s sidelines was deafening to say the least. Man, what a jolt! The Hawks even made matters worse for Roman when they beautifully converted a two-point conversion pass after the score. Mornhinweg nicely sold the play that started to right side of the field, but ended to the left when he threw back to a wide open jr. TE/LB Eric Medes in the far corner of the end zone. Soon after, a 32-yard field goal by Pat Kardish made the score, 24-0. Getting back to big moments, but let’s look at #4 in my book, which would come on the first play of the fourth quarter, and after the Cahillites drew within 24-8 on a 5-yard run by sr. RB/DB Dennis Regan. Faced with a third down and in shotgun formation, the snap from center bounced and eluded Mornhinweg, but somehow he was able to corral the loose pigskin, all the while avoiding a heavy rush. The play resulted in an incomplete pass, but Mornhinweg did wonders in securing the ball, and getting off a pass in the direction of a Hawks’ receiver. If the Cahillites would have made a play here, then we may have been in line for an exciting ending. Not to be! Finally, that brings us to fifth of my big-play five-pack. After Mornhiweg’s Houdini act the Hawks punted and Roman took over at their 40-yard line. It was still a two score game and most of the fourth quarter remained. So, hope was still there for Roman. However, on the second play of the drive, Roman’s soph. QB Michael Keir tried a short pass in the middle field, but the ball never got there, as jr. OL/DL Luke Hutkin (6’2”, 260 lbs) batted the ball forward out of the air and then secured his own batted ball for a pick. Tremendous play! From here, the Hawks would cement things, as Mornhinweg bulled home from a yard out on a sneak. Roman would get a feel-good score later on in the quarter when Keir found Fuller for a 25-yard scoring reception. Regan provided a great block to allow Fuller to score. I haven’t mentioned SJP’s first scoring drive, but it was very impressive, and it came on their first possession. They needed 12 plays to cover 65 yards for the score. Heath did the honors with a 3-yard run around the right end, where he just barely, but accurately from my vantage point, got inside the cone. The huge play on this drive was a 15-yard Mornhinweg to sr. WR/DB Paul McGann completion on a fourth-and-nine play. The Hawks defense was excellent in the first half, as they allowed just 40 yards and one first down in that opening 24 minutes. Roman’s five first half possessions ended with pick and four punts. Heath was a headliner on defense, but he had plenty of help, as the Hawks played a complete team game on that side of the ball. Heath (1.5 sacks; 2 other TFLs for 17 total yards) led with 6 stops. Sr. DE Frank Fanto (sack) and jr. LB Dan Mancini evenly split eight tackles. McGann hustled for five stops. Offensively, the Hawks weren’t spectacular, but they made plays when they needed too. Mornhinweg finished 6-for-15 for 141 yards. Sr. RB Mark Casale paced the backfield with 56 yards on 18 carries. Heath accomplished the usual feat of having a rush (9-25), catching a pass (1-9), completing a pass (5 yards), making an interception, and notching a sack all in one game. I would have to think that this hasn’t been done too many times in the past. The grunts for the Hawks did a nice job and consisted of: sr. C Pat Kueny, sr. G’s Guy Cook and Hutkin, T’s jr.Pete Kelly and soph. David Tracz, and Medes at tight end. For Roman, Keir was making his return after injuring a knee three weeks ago against LaSalle. You could definitely notice some rust in his game. He’ll be fine time, though. He finished 11-for-24, with 125 yards. Fuller (7-110) was his chief target and finished with 184 all-purpose yards (3-74 on KO’s). For some reason leading rusher jr.Marcus Kelly only carried twice in the game for no yards. Jr. RB/DB Taishan Tucker led the ground game with 50 yards on 9 totes. The Cahillites defense was on the field for a lot of the game, especially early on (SJP 30-to-16 play advantage in 1st half). This led to many guys racking up the tackle totals. Sr. LB Abdul Basil, just back from a concussion, had a game-high 11 stops. I left impressed with jr. DT Tyrone Brown who made 7 tackles (6 solos). Sr. LB Dan Pellicciotti hustled for 7 tackles. Sr. DE Jack Gallagher made six tackles and split a sack with sr. DT Corey Bronson. Fuller (7 stops) and Regan (five) also made their mark. One of Roman’s defensive leaders, sr. LB Jack Foley (ACL tear) has been lost for the season. Speed recovery, Jack! Nothing is set in the PCL 4A playoffs as of now, but you had to wonder if the Hawks’ coaching staff knew that they were in favorable position near the end of the game. Roman turned the ball over on downs at their 9-yard line with under two minutes to play. The Hawks did run once for no gain, but then followed this up with a few kneel downs. A reasonable thought would have SJ Prep, Roman, and Judge all ending the season at (2-2), with the mighty Explorers of La Salle on top at (4-0). So, one could think that the fourth spot would not be all that desirable. Well, if the tiebreakers are what they have been in the past, then the Hawks should be in good position. A three-way tie is typically settled by defensive yield between the three teams tied. Then, once second place is settled it would go back to head-to-head for third place. So, with that in mind, the defensive yield with all games completed by the three aforementioned teams look like this: SJP 43, RC 45, and FJ 55. Hawks would get second place and Roman third based on their head-to-head defeat of Judge. Ok, maybe, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. There are still three games left in the PCL 4A regular season (AR/LS tomorrow and SJP/LS-AR/FJ next weekend), so we don’t want to assume anything. But what else is there to do at one in the morning? Smile!

OCT. 16
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 49, Conwell-Egan 0
  Not much to say about this one, as the Burrs just had way too much for the scrappy, but seriously outgunned Eagles. Still, early on it was the scrappiness of C-E, mixed in with some lack of focus by the Burrs, that kept this one close. And even entering the fourth quarter the score was still at a semi-respectable margin with West up, 28-0. I liked C-E’s head coach Kevin Kelly’s approach early on, specifically, to the fact that he had his team play with a nothing-to-lose attitude. With a stiff wind in their faces they went for it on fourth down at their 34-yard line twice on consecutive possessions to start the game. I’m thinking he sensed that a punt probably wouldn’t have traveled all that far anyway. So why not go for it and possibly make something happen, right? Well, both tries were unsuccessful, but after the first one, sr. QB/DB John Clark made a nice interception to thwart a West opportunity. After the second one, the Eagles wouldn’t be as fortunate, as speedy sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon zipped 34 yards for the game’s first score. West actually had two more possessions in the first quarter that began inside C-E’s 36-yard line, but neither amounted to anything. The latter of these two ended with a nice strip by jr. DB Mike McLaughlin and recovery by sr. RB/LB Rich Brown. The score actually remained 6-0 until the middle part of the second quarter. Eventually, the Burrs would add to their lead. They did so by marching 71 yards on five rushing plays.The lowest output on these rushes was 11 yards. Hollomon did the bulk of the damage with runs of 16, 11, 18, and 15 (TD) yards. The finale was a thing of beauty and was capped by leap over a C-E defender into the end zone along the far sidelines. Check pics by Matt “Cauls” McCauley because I’m pretty sure he captured this one nicely. Sandwiched in between Hollomon’s damage was an 11-yard rumble by sr. FB/LB Anthony McDonnaugh, who dinged an ankle on the play and would sit the rest of this one out. A safety after a faulty center snap while in punt formation gave the Burrs a 16-0 advantage. West would add to their lead the next time they got the ball. But it seemed like they were trying their hardest to not increase the lead. West committed three consecutive penalties that produced 35 yards and left them with a first-and-29 chance. No need to fret! Sr. RB Joshua Mathis took a handoff right through the middle and zoomed easily for a 77-yard touchdown. In the second half, West continued to roll and received touchdown runs from sr. QB Anthony Reid (7-79) on a 2-yard run, sr. FB Leroy Wesley (4 yards), jr. RB Keith Davis (11 yards), and soph. RB Najee Goode (33 yards). For Davis and Goode these were their first varsity carries of the season. It’s all downhill from here, fellas. Smile! For the game the Burrs accumulated 422 yards, including 416 on the ground. As it turns out they scored touchdowns on their final six possessions. Hollomon (7-115) and Mathis (9-114) were major contributors via the rush. The O-line consisted of jr. C Dominic DiGalbo, G’s jr.Mike Makor and jr.T-J Waters, T’s sr. Rodney Linder and jr.Eric Wyant, and sr. TE Jim Lynch. Defensively, the Burrs held C-E to just 5 yards of offense, as thirteen plays went for losses. Sr. LB Kevin Burns (3 TFL’s, 27 yards) had a game-high 9 tackles. Fumble recoveries went to McDonnaugh and Lynch (3 TFLs, .5 sack). Sr. DE Kris Padgett (1.5 sacks) forced a fumble. Waters notched a sack amongst his five total stops. Sr. DT Ike Ugwu hustled for four stops and Goode made all four of his tackles on kickoff coverage. For the Eagles, they really had a tough time doing much with the ball. Part of the reason was West’s sizeable advantage in the athleticism area, but also causing problems was their inability to get a play started properly. I counted eight fumbles on the day. Only two of them were recovered by West. Clark played a tough game. Good chance he got a good night’s rest after this one. He made seven solo tackles and many of them were as the last line of defense for the Eagles. On his tackles West gained 101 yards, so his average tackle occurred over 14 yards downfield. Brown also added 7 stops. M. McLaughlin and D. McLaughlin evenly split ten tackles. C-E played without sr. OL/LB Austin Oscovitch. West committed nine penalties for 74 yards. The Burrs recently found out that they have lost sr. DB Dar-ray Jubilee (knee) for the season. He was injured in the Haverford School game.

OCT. 8
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 35, McDevitt 14
  After a sluggish and disinterested first half, the Burrs strolled into their locker room facing a one-point deficit at the hands of the upset-minded Lancers. Such an effort had to have one wonder if they knew that their head coach was on the brink of reaching an impressive milestone. West Head Coach Brian Fluck entered the game needing just one more win to reach the century mark. And for a half nothing was guaranteed in that regard. Still, football is a game that requires two halves to complete and the Burrs that emerged out of the locker room for that final twenty-four minutes did not resemble the ones that entered it. West impressively rolled-up the first 29 points of the second half to grab a commanding 35-7 lead and ultimately won the game in comfortable fashion. Still, early on it did not appear this way. West took an early lead on a 6-yard run by emerging soph. RB Dave Williams. The drive only needed to cover 21 yards after a nifty 28-yard punt return by sr. WR/DB Quran Kent. The score would remain this way until the latter stages of the second quarter. On a third down play, sr. QB/LB Martin Henry lofted a deep pass down the left sidelines that found jr. WR/DB Leroy Chambers. Showing good concentration, Chambers accepted the pass, and then used his speed to outrun all Burr pursuers. The play covered 57 yards and after sr. K Brian Maguire’s PAT, the Lancers had the lead, 7-6. I’m sure all involved with McDevitt were happy with the lead at that point, but they still had to be kicking themselves after letting a golden opportunity to score even more points slipped away. On the possession prior to this one,McDevitt was set-up nicely after a poor center snap by West in punt formation gave them the rock at the Burrs’ 22-yard line. Eventually, they had a fourth-and-goal chance from the one-yard line. On this play, Henry briefly fumbled the snap from center while in shotgun formation. The slight bobble was enough to throw the play off and sr. RB/DB Gary Postell was thrown for a two-yard loss by jr. LB Tristin Freeman. Undoubtedly punching one in there would have gone a long way in their upset bid. Ok, let’s fast forward to the second half, where the Burrs would score on four of their five possessions. First, they started the half at their twenty-yard line, but still proceeded to march 80 yards on 10 plays for the go-ahead score. All ten plays were runs, as Fluck inserted jr. QB Jaleel Reed into the game for starter sr. Anthony Reid (5-for-15, 48 yards). Reed is a dangerous runner and the Burrs have been using him as of late during games. The change wasn’t permanent, as both players saw action in the second half. Four different Burr rushers had turns on this drive, but the diminutive and shifty sr. RB Joshua Mathis did the bulk of the carrying. Mathis carried five times for 46 yards on the drive, including an 11-yard run to paydirt. On this play, Mathis squirted outside, and then received a nice block from sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin to ensure he would reach the end zone. Also, contributing on this drive were sr. FB/LB Anthony McDonnaugh (2-15), Reed (2-14), and Williams, who picked up a first down on a strong 5-yard, third downrun. The next time the Burrs had the ball it was sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon (5-44) handling the rushing chores. Hollomon zipped down to the nine-yard line on a 28-yard sprint, and then scored from here on the next play. Earlier in the drive Reed (3-31; also negated 82-yard TD on kickoff return) ripped-off a 17-yard run. Things spiraled out of control even more for the Lancers at the end of their next possession. While in punt formation the snap sailed well over sr. WR/DB/P Matt Conroy’s head and eventually rolled out of the end zone. The safety gave the Burrs a 22-7 lead with 11:05 remaining in the game. Two plays after the free quick, Williams cemented things by blasting through the left side and outrunning all in pursuit for a 61-yard jaunt. Later in the quarter, Mathis unfurled a magnificent 37-yard scamper for the Burrs’ final touchdown. On the play, he did so much bobbing and weaving, that I felt dizzy afterwards. Smile! McDevitt would get a feel-good score with 22 second left in the game. The score was set-up by a 48-yard catch and run by jr. WR Nick Newman along the far sidelines. The touchdown itself was a 1-yard run by Postell, but it didn’t start out that way. Initially, Henry had tried a QB sneak up the middle, but when it was obvious he was going to be stopped, he spun and tossed to a by-his-lonesome Postell, who won the race around the right end. It’s probably a good thing Henry did what he did, too. McDevitt was out of timeouts and it may have been hard to get another play off. West accumulated 282 of their 320 yards after the intermission. Of these yards 267 of them came on 19 second half carries. Mathis led the way with 103 yards on 11 lugs, while Williams was next with 95 yards on just 8 totes. Good effort put in by the boys in the trenches in the second half. This group consisted of jr. C Dominic DiGalbo, jr G’s T-J Waters and Eric Wyant, T’s sr. Rodney Linder and jr.Mike Makor, and sr. TE Jim Lynch. Defensively, the Burrs were paced by McDonnaugh who led with 8 tackles, including a sack. Sr. LB Kevin Burns (7 total stops) and Freeman each had 1.5 sacks. Meanwhile, Waters hustled for five stops. Sr. DB Dave Sherman made an interception. For McDevitt, Postell impressed and was solid throughout in gaining 134 yards on 30 grueling runs. The kid displayed a lot of toughness. Henry had a tough time finding space on the ground and six of seven carries went for negative yardage. On defense, Conroy was a force and hustled throughout. He made 13 tackles on the night. I’m pretty sure he put in a good night’s sleep. The next best Lancer in that department was sr. DE Domonique Robinson with four stops. Jr. DB Keith Young made an interception. Fluck’s 100th win came in his 149th game. He is in the midst of his twelfth season. What makes this total even more impressive is that in the seven seasons prior to Fluck taking over, the Burrs went just 10-56. Furthermore, it took the program parts of 27 seasons to win the previous 100 games prior to the beginning of Fluck’s reign.

OCT. 2
NON-LEAGUE
O’Hara 35, Chester 0
  There was a lot of chatter around Delco this week that the Clippers were ready to take that next step and give traditional power Cardinal O’Hara all they needed and more. And before the game the DJ was blaring beats for all of Chester to hear in preparation for one of the bigger games for the Clippers in some time. Included in his mixing arsenal was the tune Candy by Cameo. Well, speaking of candy, but that’s exactly what he had here in this one, as in it was like taking candy from a baby for the Lions. Ok, it wasn’t that bad, as the Clippers did put up fight for a half, and only trailed 7-0 heading into the intermission. But the score was a little misleading, as the Lions prevented an extension of the lead with multiple red zone turnovers. O’Hara held a 233-to-71 yards and 15-to-5 first down advantage after the opening twenty-four minutes of play. When the second half came rolling around the Lions made sure there would be no doubt that they would leave the field with a victory. O’Hara produced four touchdowns in in just over ten minutes of game action. And with 10:12 left in the fourth quarter we had ourselves a mercy rule situation. It was the defense setting the tone at the outset of the third quarter. A third down sack by sr. OLB/TE Shawn Driggins put the ball at the one-yard on Chester’s first possession of the second half. A short 15-yard punt followed and from here it would take the Lions four plays to make it 14-0. Sr. FB/LB Brendan McLaughlin bulled in from the one to cap the drive. On Chester’s next possession, Driggins was once again causing havoc on a third down situation. This time he beautifully stepped in front of pass and easily rumbled in from 15 yards. The next time O’Hara’s offense got their hands on the ball they produced a nice, methodical drive, which ended with a 2-yard run by sr. WR/DB Adam Dempsey on the first play of the fourth quarter. The run capped an 11-play, 66-yard drive. Smelling blood in the water, Head Coach Dan Algeo called for an onside kick and soph. DB Shacor Hamilton emerged from the pile with the loose rock. Five plays later, McLaughlin accepted a pass from sr. QB Ryan Laughlin out in the right flat and blasted his way in from 12 yards out. Statement made! There would be no feel-good story for the upstarts today. The Clippers were game and didn’t rollover, but the Lions pretty much controlled throughout, and that’s what showed not only on the final scoreboard, but in the final stats as well. The Lions finished with a 359-to-53 yards and 22-to-5 first downs advantage. In fact, Chester would lose 18 yards on 17 second half plays. Also, but Chester’s lone first down of the second half came courtesy of an O’Hara penalty. O’Hara’s first score capped the first series of the game when they traveled 68 yards on 7 plays. Dempsey’s 14-yard run produced the touchdown. O’Hara had many guys lend a hand in the victory on offense. Laughlin looked poised and confident for the most part. He would probably like a couple of throws back, but for the most part I thought he did a very good job directing things. He ended 15-for-25, for 169 yards. Jr. WR Jay Watkins (5-51) was his main target. Watkins also added 58 yards on 4 returns. The backfield duo of Dempsey and McLaughlin were effective all morning, early afternoon long. Dempsey rushed for 75 yards on 13 lugs and added 27 yards on 3 catches. Meanwhile, McLaughlin added 99 yards on 15 totes and another 41 yards on 3 grabs. This kid really runs with authority and almost always looks to provide the hit once defenders close in. He did his share of trucking in this one. When multiple skill guys have productive days, then you just know the boys up front were doing their part. O’Hara’s starters were sr. C Sean McFadden, G’s sr. Kyle Hilsey and sr. Rob Hladish, and T’s sr. Casey Strus and jr.Hunter Tierney. In the second half subs sr. John Barnes and sr. Paul Mintzer contributed to the cause. Defensively, the Lions recorded their fourth shutout in five games. Today, they held Chester to just 53 yards of total offense. Sr. LB Drew Formica had a team-high 8 tackles. Driggins had two other TFL’s to go along with his other exploits. Sr. DE John Catania recorded a sack. Sr. DB/WR Tyler Gallen made an early pick. Two negatives for the Lions today were that they committed 10 penalties and turned the ball over four times. If not for these things, then the damage would have been much worse. I’d have to imagine that last time I set foot in this stadium was back in the St. James days. We had a peculiar clock on hand today. When counting down it often counted by two seconds. Then, sometimes three seconds. And I also think I saw it count down by seven seconds and another time 15 seconds. It appeared that the proper time was coming off, but it definitely was something odd. Good to see former Daily Times H.S. football chief John Lohn in attendance today. John was/is always one of the good guys in this business. Not to mention always being efficient, prepared, and organized with all of his stuff. John has moved on to other things in his life, but is still making time to cover at least one game a weekend for the DT. I know the Delco area still appreciates his involvement.

OCT. 1
PCL 4A
La Salle 43, Roman 17
  One just had to know that this wasn’t going to be Roman’s night when on the game’s first play from scrimmage, emerging soph. QB Michael Keir went down with an injury. While rolling to his right he was hit as he threw by sr. DE/OL Joseph Naji towards back of his left knee. There was nothing dirty about the play, as it was just one of those bang-bang type plays. Initially, it appeared that Keir was seriously injured, as he bellowed out a yell or two right afterwards, then remained down for a little while as trainers worked on him. Eventually, he was helped to the sidelines, where he was looked at on the trainer’s table behind Roman’s bench. Fortunately, he looked a lot better in the second half as he moved around the sidelines. It is everyone’s hope that it is just a bad bruise and not much time will be lost. The kid has a bright future and the Cahillites are a much better team with him at the helm. After the setback the Cahillites didn’t fold right away, but over time the Explorers were just too much for them. Trust me folks, but LaSalle was VERY good on this night. After a scoreless opening quarter the team’s combined for thirty-seven points in the second stanza. Getting things started was LaSalle’s star sr. RB/DB Jamal Abdur-Rahman, as he took a handoff 53 yards through the right side of the line for the game’s first touchdown. Let’s just say that Abdur-Rahman was just getting started. However, Roman was show some fight when they got the ball back. With jr. QB/RB/DB Anthony Johnson under center, the Cahillites embarked on a 5-play, 79-yard game-tying drive. And it was Johnson doing much of the damage. First, he found sr. WR/DB Dennis Regan for 24 yards. Then, while in the wildcat formation he sped 25 and 32 yards on runs. The latter found paydirt and tied the game. The euphoria of the tying score would be short-lived, though. On the ensuing kickoff, Abdur-Rahman was at it again. This time he took the kickoff and blazed 96 yards to untie the game. The Explorers would never look back. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the offense was back at it again. This time they used the arm of jr. QB Matt Magarity, who was back after nursing a sore groin last week. Magarity connected on three passes for 52 yards on the drive, including back-to-back tosses to jr. WR Colin Buckley for 11 and 24 yards, that put the ball at the two. From here it was Abdur-Rahman with his third score in roughly a seven-minute span. Roman’s next series back-peddled thanks to Naji (10-yard loss) and a sack by sr. DT/C Ryan Geiger worth another eight yards.  With Roman punting from the back of their end zone the LaSalle special teams struck again. This time sr. WR/DB handyman Kevin Forster fielded the punt at Roman’s 38-yard line. Relying on patience early he sucked the Cahillites’ coverage team into the middle the field, before slyly breaking to the outside on the right side. Once he was on the corner finding the end zone became a piece of cake and La Salle notched their fourth touchdown of the second quarter. As the first half wound down the Cahillites showed a glimmer of hope after sr. K/P Kyle Haber belted a 29-yard field goal as time expired. This made the score 27-10. But any idea that the Cahillites had of drawing closer went right out the window on La Salle’s first offensive play of the second half. On a carbon copy of his earlier 53-yard run, Abdur-Rahman was once again off to the races through the right side of the line. This jaunt covered 67 yards and from here the Explorers coasted. La Salle went onto raise their lead to 41-10 later in the quarter on a nifty 11-yard run by jr. RB John Palermo. Late in the fourth quarter the Cahillites would get a boost on an exhilarating 94-yard punt return by Johnson. What made this return even more interesting was that LaSalle soph. P/K Ryan Winslow was out on an island for the second time in the game during a return. Earlier, he put the La Salle sidelines in an uproar when he cut down Roman soph. WR William Fuller (71-yard return; 138 yards on kickoffs) during a long kickoff return to prevent a possible score. Could he do it again? Not even close! Smile. The electric Johnson had his way and scored rather easily. The Explorers would add a safety later on when soph. QB/DB Chris Cruz tripped and fell into the end zone. For La Salle, Abdur-Rahman was sensational. The kid appears to be playing on another level right now. His running is very fluid, with little wasted energy, as he appears to be just gliding up and down the field. He finished with 272 all-purpose yards on just 12 touches, including 159 yards on the ground on 10 carries. Not a bad day’s work, right? Magarity did a very good job of managing the game and combined for 164 yards of rushing and passing. He was 7-for-12, with 121 yards through the air. The Explorer’s O-line was tremendous all night. Leading the charge here were Geiger at center, G’s sr. Shamus McGowan and jr. Connor Kerrigan, and T’s Naji and sr. Daniel Ezzo. Defensively, the Explorers yielded 140 yards on 4 Roman plays, but just a measly three yards on the other 36 tries. Forster (107 return yards) made an interception and recovered a fumble (Forced by Abdur-Rahman). Sr. DB Mike Smith added a late-game pick. Sr. DT Ted Marino had a sack. Sr. LB Connor Daly and sr. LB Mark DiFrangia (6 total tackles; 3 TFLs) split a sack. Naji was active with five stops and was fixture in the Roman backfield. For Roman, they had a couple of moments on offense, but really couldn’t do much with Keir going down. And let’s face it, but I doubt that either Cruz or Johnson got much work in at the quarterback position this week. It was definitely a difficult spot for both of these kids. Johnson has possibilities and could very well figure into Roman’s plans more as the season moves along. Would they consider putting him in the backfield? Time will tell. On defense, sr. DE Jack Gallagher was active with 8 tackles (7 solos, forced fumble). Sr. LB Abdul Basil also notched 8 stops. Sr. LB Jack Foley added six tackles, while Johnson contributed five. Jr. DE Jack Schanz made a fumble recovery. Counting total offense and all returns the teams combined for 1,013 all-purpose yards. One sour spot for the Explorers in the game was that they committed ten penalties. Believe it or not, but two of them were procedure calls on kickoffs. Hmmm, very un-Explorer-like!

SEPT. 25
NON-LEAGUE
Wood 21, SJ Prep 20
  Well, this was one of two primetime Catholic League games taking place on this night (Also, Roman vs. O’Hara) and early on it appeared that all in attendance had gotten the dud of the two. It’s hard to imagine that a team’s first three possessions could end any rougher than that of Hawks on this night. Big-time miscues led to three Wood scores and we had a laugher in progress. But not so fast, for over time the Hawks slowly grabbed their bearings and by the fourth quarter this laugher had now turned into an instant classic. A dramatic ending once seemed improbable, but as the fourth quarter wound down that’s exactly what everyone was treated to. First, let’s rewind back to the first quarter to set the stage a little. SJ Prep’s first possession ended with an interception by jr. FB/DB Brandon Peoples, who returned the pick 33 yards to the Hawks’ 30-yard line. Five plays later, jr. RB Desmon Peoples zipped in from 17 yards out for the game’s first touchdown. Just in case of some of you have been asleep for some time now, but D. Peoples was a headliner for the Hawks last season before transferring to Wood late in the summer. Just a little bit of a subplot in this one, right? If you blinked you may have missed Wood’s second score. On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, SJ Prep star jr. QB/DB Skyler Mornhinweg was again picked-off. This time it was sr. WR/DB Michael Downs doing the honors. Downs had no problem covering the 26 yards for a 14-0 lead. On Prep’s next possession, a three-and-out forced a punting situation, but the snap sailed over soph. P/WR/DB Dan Sherry’s head. When the dust had settled, the Vikes were taking over at the Hawks’ 25-yard line. A short time later D. Peoples was eluding multiple defenders once again. This scoring run covered 21 yards and gave the Vikes a commanding 21-0 lead, with 2:44 left in the opening quarter. Not much went on in the second stanza, but as the intermission approached Wood let a golden opportunity to increase their lead fade away. D. Peoples scored his third touchdown of the half (14 yards), but this one was called back on a holding call. Afterwards, a sack by sr. LB Jeff Heath, who was magnificent all night, pushed Wood out of field goal range. A fourth down pass from the 35-yard line was incomplete right before the intermission. As the second half begun it appeared that Wood still had control of things. They held the ball for nine plays and advanced to the Prep 15-yard line. However, they stalled and a 32-yard field goal attempt by soph. Nick Visco was wide right. Was this the spark the Hawks needed? Not sure, but this is when the comeback started. The Prep needed 8 plays to march 80 yards for their first touchdown of the game. A Mornhinweg completion to jr. TE Eric Medes (18 yards) started things. Sr. RB/DB Mark Casale ripped off a 32-yard run a short time later, and then capped the drive with a 13-yard scoring run. This score came with 2:55 left in the third quarter. Next, the Hawks defense made a statement when Heath sacked Wood jr. QB/DB Joe Monaghan and forced a fumble. Sr. DE Frank Fanto recovered and the Hawks were in business at the Wood 12-yard line. However, the Hawks could not take advantage, as two Mornhinweg passes misfired to end the threat. Still, the field position was at least tilted in SJ Prep’s favor as the fourth quarter began. Before long the Vikings were forced with a punting situation. Not sure what happened, but Downs sprinted to his right after receiving the snap and was brought down at his 14-yard line. I doubt this was a designed fake, as I have seen Wood have the punter sprint to the sidelines before kicking in the past. I would have to think this was the plan here, but things must have transpired so quickly, that Downs didn’t have time to get the kick off. Anyhow, the Hawks were in primo position to draw even closer. And despite a sack by Wood’s jr. DT Frank Taylor that pushed the ball back to the 25-yard line on their first play, the Hawks did breakthrough on the next one. This time Mornhinweg beautifully hit jr. WR Jim Hurley on the right side of the end zone. People, we have a ballgame! You just had the sense that the Hawks were going to keep coming and coming, while the Vikes were definitely on their heels. The clock still showed 11:01 after Hurley’s touchdown, so there was plenty of time left. The next two times SJ Prep had the ball they traveled into Wood territory. The first drive ended at the thirty-nine, but the Hawks punted. The next possession ended at the 12-yard line on an interception by sr. DB/WR Sam McCain on fourth down. Wood would take over there with 3:12 left on the clock and with the Hawks only having one timeout left. But the Vikings could not move the ball. In fact, Wood’s last five possessions of the second half featured no first downs and just six yards of offense on sixteen plays. After a 10-yard punt return of by sr. RB/DB Mike DeFeo, the Hawks took over at the Wood 43-yard line with 1:37 left. The Hawks appeared to score when Mornhinweg once again hooked-up with Hurley on a 26-yard pass, but the Hawks were called for holding. Now, the ball was pushed back to the 41-yard line with 38 seconds remaining. After an incomplete pass, the Hawks were faced a fourth-and-19 opportunity. No need to worry, though, as the magic continued when Mornhinweg perfectly hit sr. WR Paul McGann down the middle of the field for 33 gigantic yards. Great throw! Even better catch! The play ended at the 8-yard line with 24 seconds left. From here Wood was called for a pair of penalties (Too many men & pass interference) to aid in SJP’s cause. This gave the Hawks a first-and-goal at the two-yard line with 16 seconds left. A trio of incomplete passes gave the Hawks one last chance with 2 seconds left. The call was a quarterback-keeper with Mornhinweg in the shotgun formation. After accepting the snap he started towards the middle, and then slid to his left some, before diving across for the score. Whoa! Ok, we’re headed to overtime to conclude this dandy. Well, the Vikes had other ideas, as McCain broke through the line and got a couple of fingertips on the kick, sending the ball to float harmlessly to the left-side of the end zone. I guess you can say some felt a little cheated without the chance for this one to be settled in overtime, but that didn’t stop the Vikings from celebrating wildly. And they very well should have, as this was a terrific high school football game. I wouldn’t say it was crispest, most highly executed game ever played, but there was no denying the passion and spirit that both teams exhibited. Thanks for the experience! Ok, let’s give out some numbers. For Wood, McCain were simply terrific all night. He finished with 9 tackles (3 TFL’s) on defense, while making 4 grabs worth 40 yards on the other side. He definitely displayed heart and soul moments during the Hawks’ comeback bid. Sr. LB James Messina (sack) made four stops, as did sr. DB Sean Cain. Jr. DE Colin Thompson notched a sack. Offensively, D. Peoples was very hot early, but suffered through cramping for a good part of the second half. He never got back on track and finished with 64 yards on 17 totes. Early on he displayed big-time shiftiness and quick feet. Monaghan was a modest 6-for-11, for 55 yards. For the Hawks, Heath was a man possessed on defense. He finished with 13 total tackles (2 sacks) with four of them picking up 31 yards in losses. Ten of his tackles were solos. Sr. DL Guy Cook recovered a fumble. Jr. LB Pete Siki was active with 6 stops. Also, demonstrating hustle were McGann, Medes, Mornhinweg, soph. DL Paul Johnson, and sr. DB Phil Riehl who each made four tackles. Offensively, Mornhinweg had an uneven night. He ended 12-for-35, for 181 yards. Despite the shoddy completion percentage you just have to love the way this kid competes from play to play. Casale impressed me with his ability to run fearlessly into traffic. He earned a tough 70 yards on 20 carries. McGann (5-74) was Mornhinweg’s main target and looks to have really accepted this position change. He played quarterback for three years entering this season. The Hawks are still trying to find themselves after all of the changes the program has gone through recently, but I think on this night they made strides. After losing big last week they very well could have rolled over after that poor beginning. It’s was good to see them fight back and make a game of it. Moving forward I expect them to be a tough out for the rest of the teams on their schedule. As for the Vikings they probably weren’t at their best in this one. There is no reason why they can’t make considerable noise at the 3A level. But would that be anything new?

SEPT. 25
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 27, Haverford School 7
  Two critical mistakes late in the first quarter by the Fords really opened the door for the Burrs to jump on top. First, a faulty snap while in punt formation led to a block by sr. LB Anthony McDonnaugh. Well, it really wasn’t a conventional block by any means, as sr. Hup Hupfeldt did his best to pick the ball up and avoid some rushers before unleashing a desperation kick that lined into McDonnaugh’s lower leg, then caromed out of bounds at the three-yard line. Soph. RB Dave Williams stormed in on the next play for the game’s first score. After this, West’s jr. LB T-J Waters stripped a Fords’ rusher on their next offensive play, and sr. LB Kevin Burns recovered at the Haverford 37-yard line. Three plays later, sr. RB Joshua Mathis sped across for a 33-yard touchdown with just 21 seconds left in the opening quarter. Things would remain this way until the third quarter. HS’s defense had just stopped the Burrs on a fourth down play at their own 38-yard line. Two plays later sr. FB/LB Joe McCallion rumbled 43 yards to the West 20-yard line. On the next play, sr. QB/RB Carl Walrath scored from here to make the score, 13-7. Yes, Walrath does have QB next to his name, as he spent good part of the game taking direct snaps from a wildcat formation. The Fords would grab even more momentum on West’s next series when soph. LB Matt Galambos forced a fumble andjr. DB James Chakey recovered at their 42-yard line. However, the Burrs’ defense would hold and HS ended up punting from midfield. The Burrs would grab some much needed breathing room a short time later. On a third-and-three chance, Williams took a pitch to the left, broke an early tackle attempt, and then sped down the left sidelines. The play covered 75 yards and made the score, 19-7. The Fords would follow this with a decent drive, but had to settle for a 45-yard FG attempt by soph. Aron Morgan. The kick had enough leg, but it was pushed slightly to the right. West would cement the game with their second long touchdown in as many possessions. This time sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin (3-84) beautifully hauled in a pass from sr. QB Anthony Reid over his outside shoulder, shook off a defender, and raced in for a 76-yard score. Very impressive! Strong-Rankin has unlimited potential. Even though he is a senior, he won’t turn 17 until January. However, he needs to keep his emotions in check. Earlier in the game he took good field position away from his team with an unsportsmanlike penalty after pushing a HS player. Not needed, kid! After this final dagger, the Fords would get the ball three more times, but would never cross midfield. Any win is a good win, but overall the Burrs can’t be happy with the way they played, especially offensively. They lost three fumbles in the second half. Also, but FAR too many times did the West skill kids line-up in the wrong formation. And this led to the coaches repeatedly yelling out where they should be. Thus, really disturbing the flow of the play. It’s hard to play offense when this is happening and it is something that they will want to clean up in the coming weeks. Even still, the Burrs were able to accumulate 340 yards of offense. So, it just goes to show you how much more than could do if the little things get straightened out. Williams was filling in for star sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon, who was sidelined with an infection in his knee. He hopes to be back next week. Still, Williams gave a glimpse of the future, as he went for 117 yards on 14 carries. This kid reminds me of former Burr star Raymond Maples (Army), who actually scored his first college touchdown today in a game versus Duke. Way to go, Mapes! Mathis was solid and added 78 yards on 15 carries. Reid was an efficient 6-for-9 for 136 yards. The OL included jr. C Dominic DiGalbo, G’s Waters and sr. Acie Frames, and T’s sr. Rodney Linder and jr.Mike Makor. Defensively, the Burrs were led by sr. DE Jim Lynch who had 8 total stops, including two sacks. Two other tackles went for losses for Lynch. McDonnaugh, sr. DE Kris Padgett, and jr. DT Devante Ford each made five tackles. For HS, Walrath managed 69 yards on 23 hard totes. McCallion (8-66) ran hard when given the rock. Sr. QB Vince Garman finished 7-for-17 with 66 yards. On defense, McCallion (Fumb Rec.) and Galambos each made seven tackles. Jr. DE Zach Trauger recovered a fumble. Meanwhile, jr. LB Rashaan Hollman hustled for five stops and jr. DT Grant Jamgochian added four. The Fords have now dropped four straight games against quality competition. Despite the setbacks I think they can still make a little noise once the Inter-Ac RS comes along. This was a milestone win for the Burrs, as in the 500th career win for the program. Nice! West’s first football victory came in 1920.

SEPT. 24
NON-LEAGUE
Father Judge 27, Penn Charter 10
   Will someone please turn down the oven? Man, was it steamy today! Way too hot for the last week of September, and of course, for my liking. Speaking of hot, but that’s exactly how the Quakers and strong-armed sr. QB John Loughery started the game. In just 2:40 of play, the Quakers marched 55 yards on 7 plays. Fifty of those yards came on a trio of hook-ups between Loughery and emerging soph. WR/DB Daryl Worley. The last of the three went for 29 yards and placed the ball at the one. Loughery would do the honors himself two plays later to give his team the early advantage. Judge would counter with a solid drive of their own, mostly behind the running of jr. RB/LB Raul Quinones (8 rushes for 64 yards just on this series), but they would eventually stall at PC’s 12-yard line. Strong-legged freshman Connor Foley belted 29-yard FG to salvage something from the drive and make it, 7-3. For my money the critical play of the game came on PC’s next possession. They appeared well on their way to answering Judge’s FG with another touchdown drive. This drive began at their 15-yard line, but after a 35-yard rumble by soph. RB Eric Neefe they were sitting pretty at the Judge five. A procedure penalty pushed the ball back to the ten. Then, on the next play, Loughery tried to hit Worley once again as he raced across the middle the field near the end zone, but Judge’s sr. LB Andrew Tuscano stepped in front to make the pick. The Crusaders were just getting started in the interception department, too. They would go onto snag four more as the game wore on, but first things first. Following this pick Judge unleashed an 88-yard scoring drive that would give them the lead for good. On the seventh play of the drive, sr. RB/DB Nick Myers scooted in from 34 yards out. Myers got a great block downfield by sr. T Ken Milano, who sealed-off about three Quaker pursuers as Myers cutback around the 20-yard line. With under a minute to play in the half, jr. DB Connor Donohoe made the second Crusader pick of the game deep in his team’s territory. He returned it 26 yards to the thirty-seven. Following this, Quinones ripped-off a 43-yard run to the PC 20-yard line. This helped set-up Foley’s second FG (33 yards) of the game with 16.7 seconds left before halftime. In the third quarter, the Quakers would draw a bit closer after jr. K Shane Carr’s 27-yard FG. This made the score 13-10 with 3:24 left in the third quarter. However, Judge would create some separation the next time they got the ball. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Myers sprinted around the right-side for a 2-yard score on a fourth-and-goal play. Moments earlier Myers got free for a 28-yard run that helped set-up this score. This kid really had a strong all-around game and ultimately was well-deserving of some ink by Teddy S. Penn Charter’s comeback bid would be dashed as their final three possessions all ended with Judge interceptions. Myers had two picks and they sandwiched one by jr. DB Tim Mills, who returned his 60 yards for coffin-sealing touchdown. Kudos to jr. DL Stan Jones (Sack; fumble recovery) and jr. DE Anthony Walker (Sack) for bringing the heat on Loughery that for sure led to this errant toss. Offensively, the Crusaders rushed for 289 yards (348 total output) on 44 totes. Quinones showed toughness and hard running for 176 yards on 25 lugs. This kid definitely got his monies worth today.  Myers added a nice 79 yards on 7 carries. Impressively, the Crusaders did this damage with two important linemen on the shelf with knee miseries; in jr.Eric Condron and sr. Idris Harmon. Today’s seven-man rotation in the trenches consisted of: jr.Kyle Abbott, sr. Ryan Bernard, jr.Ian McGinnis, Milano, jr.Evan Wildsmith, soph. Stephan Hamilton, and jr. Alex Jurr. Defensively, Judge had many guys contribute. In the end, Loughery finished with solid yardage numbers, but after the early-going success, the Crusaders definitely made him uncomfortable. Aside from the two picks, Myers did a great job on Worley after his early production. He also made four pass defends. Tackling leaders were; sr. DB Connor Thompson and sr. LB Steve Owens who evenly split fourteen stops between them. Quinones (five), Mills (four), jr, LB Matt Myers (four), and Tuscano (four) were also active. For Penn Charter it just seemed like they had way too many guys going both ways for such a hot day. Loughery looked strong early, but before long the Crusaders had figured things out a little better, and it was tough sledding throughout the second half. For the game, Loughery finished 16-for-37, for 252 yards. Worley (5-80) and sr. WR Joey Sankey (6-91) were his cheif go-to-guys. Neefe (16-75) had some room early, but wasn’t used much once the Quakers fell behind. PC had a couple of impressive and big lineman on both sides of the ball in jr.Tyler Mercer (6’1”, 285-lbs) and soph. Mike McGlinchey (6’7”, 255-lbs) should bear watching. They evenly split twelve tackles. Another youngster, soph. OL/LB Demetrius Harriott played well and had 8 stops. Jr. LB Tom Monzo was strong in the middle with 8 tackles. Sr. DB DeShawn Hollis-Baker (5 tackles) had a pick, while jr. DB John Moderski hustled for seven tackles.  The Crusaders are now (4-0) as they head into the meat of their schedule. They will tangle with SJ Prep, Roman, and LaSalle in the next three weeks. No shortage of action in this one, as the teams combined for 114 plays.

SEPT. 17
NON-LEAGUE
La Salle 14, West Catholic 7
  As the season approached there were whispers that La Salle star sr. RB/DB Jamal Abdur-Rahman was not completely healed from last season’s knee injury that was suffered in the Explorers’ state championship victory. Maybe, during camp those thoughts had some validity to it, but make no mistake now, the Villanova bound rusher is back, and in this game looked top notch. On the very first play from scrimmage, they speedy Rahman took a handoff out of the pistol formation and zoomed 65 yards for an ultra-quick score. I’m sure this sudden jolt had the Burr faithful scratching their heads in wonder of what would take shape as the game progressed, but to their credit they kept their cool and the game was competitive throughout. Each of these clubs is highly regarded at their respective levels. A case could be made that La Salle (4A) and West (2A) sit right near the top of their classes across the state. Time will tell if that thought holds true. Even though both of these teams are known for explosive offenses, it was their defenses that stole the show for a good part of the contest. The score would remain, 7-0, La Salle until the first minute of the fourth quarter. Then, on a fourth-and-8 play from the Explorers’ 11-yard line, West sr. QB Anthony Reid found sr. WR/DB Quran Kent on the left-side of the end zone. With decent coverage being applied, Kent made a nice catch and showed great concentration in making sure he came down in bounds. The subsequent PAT tied the game with 11:08 left. The touchdown capped a 14-play, 64-yard drive for the Burrs. The Explorers wouldn’t waste any time answering, though. Behind the running of Rahman, they marched 67 yards on just six plays. Rahman carried on five of these plays for 50 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown with 8:11 left. On the play prior to Rahman’s score, soph. QB Chris Kane quickly hit soph. WR/DB Sean Coleman for a 17-yard gain. Kane had replaced starter sr. Matt Magarity at the intermission; he left the game after suffering an achy groin near the end of the first half. Prior to this scoring drive the Explorers had gone six straight possessions without reaching paydirt. When the Burrs got the ball back they immediately tried to regain the momentum. On their first play, Reid used a play-action fake and tried to hit sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin (3-35) on a deep post pass. Initially, it appeared that Strong-Rankin had Coleman beat downthe middle of the field, but Reid’s pass was underthrown, allowing Coleman to re-establish position and make an athletic pick. He returned the interception 35 yards to the Burrs’ 25-yard line. You got the sense that La Salle would put the final nail in the coffin at this point with this prime real estate, but a gritty Burrs’ defense dug in and didn’t allow a first down. A pair of La Salle penalties aided the stand. This marked the fourth time that La Salle traveled as far as the West 25-yard line, but were denied points. West’s last possession started at the La Salle 29-yard line with 6:13 left. Runs by Kent (4th-and-4) for ten yards and sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon for 11 yards had the Burrs sitting at the La Salle 31-yard line around the three-minute mark. However, a procedure penalty on the West OL pushed them back some after the Hollomon run. Later, on third-and-11, Reid hit Kent (4-40) in the left flat for ten yards, setting up a fourth-and-one. On the play, the Burrs opted for a run to the right by sr. RB Joshua Mathis (15-37), but the Explorers easily bottled it up and threw him for a two-yard loss. Sr. S Mark DiFrangia was the primary pursuer on this play, but the La Salle DL was instrumental in causing much congestion. It was my thought that maybe a timeout could have been used here to better organize things. I just never had the sense that the Burrs were ready to execute that play. Ultimately, the Explorers took over with 1:34 left and iced the game when Rahman converted a third-and-one with 51 seconds left. As noted, Rahman was brilliant and ended the game with 219 yards on 22 carries. How important was he? Well, La Salle as a team only managed 246 yards. Talented jr. FB/LB Tim Wade was used sparingly in the first half and was saddled after halftime with a sore ankle that was originally injured versus Bergen Catholic a week ago. A lot of credit for Rahman’ exploits has to go to the boys in the trenches, who did a wonderful job of zone blocking throughout. These members include: sr. C Ryan Geiger, G’s sr. Cameron Cappo and sr. Shamus McGowan, and T’s sr. Daniel Ezzo and sr. Joseph Naji. While in there Magarity had a tough time of it and ended the half just 2-for-13, for 13 yards. Defensively, the Explorers were sound and fundamental throughout. West had moments, but LaSalle did a good job of not ever allowing them to get into a rhythm. I really admired the play of sr. LB Connor Daly, who severely injured his knee in game versus the Burrs a year ago. He put forth an inspiring performance and spearheaded the La Salle defense. He finished with seven tackles (six solos), including a sack. Two other stops went for losses. Sr. DB Kevin Forster led La Salle with 8 tackles (7 solos). On the DL Cappo (seven) and Naji (five, sack) were solid. Jr. LB Sean Burke played a good game with six tackles, while DiFrangia and sr. S Conor Murphy each made four stops apiece. For the Burrs, they’ll probably look back on this game as one of missed opportunities. A play here or there and the outcome very well could have been different. West had a 63-to-45 play advantage in the game, including a 36-to-17 edge in the second half. Still, there is no shame in dropping a one-score game to a team of La Salle’s caliber. West’s early-season tests should do nothing but strengthen their cause of what they hope will be a deep Class AA run. Offensively, Hollomon led with 83 yards on 14 carries. Reid misfired on a few passes that could have been completed, but he also was victimized by a handful of drops. He finished 11-for-25, for 83 yards. On defense, sr. LB Anthony McDonnaugh played a strong game with 7 tackles, including a sack. Sr. DB Dar-ray Jubilee and Kent made picks. Sr. LB Kevin Burns (five) and jr. LB TJ Waters (four) were next in the tackling department.

SEPT. 11
NON-LEAGUE
O’Hara 35, Dobbins 0
  This was an interesting early-season match-up between catholic and public league 3A hopefuls. Both of these squads have to be considered contenders to come out of their respective leagues and possibly meet again in the 3A City Final. So, maybe, this was preview of sorts. And just like the past two seasons in actual city finals, the Catholic League representative controlled throughout. Over the past two years Archbishop Wood has frolicked over Dobbins (2008) and Gratz (2009) by a combined margin of 85 points in capturing 3A city honors. As for this one, I have little doubt that O’Hara is far ahead on the learning curve compared to the Mustangs, so what we see now might not be the same come November. Still, it appears that once again the PCL rep may have their way again later in the season. As for this game, but Dobbins best offensive moments came right at the get-go. On the first play from scrimmage, sr. RB/DB Kevin Gransby sprinted around the end for a 16 yard pick-up. Three plays later, sr. QB Kevin Butler found rock-solid sr. FB Aaron Walker in the flat for another first down on a 15-yard gain. However, there would not be many more offensive fireworks for Mustangs after this. All total, they would only garner four more first downs in the game. And two of those wouldn’t occur to the game’s final minute on a pair of rushes by subs. Still, Dobbins did show a little resistance in the early-going. Sr. RB/DB Terrance Stafford picked-off sr. QB Ryan Laughlin in the end zone to thwart O’Hara’s first drive of the game. But after this it would be all Lions, as they would score on four of their next five possessions. Prime restate was the most contributing factor towards O’Hara’s onslaught. Four of their next five series began in Mustangs’ territory, with three of them starting inside the thirty. Near the end of the first quarter, sr. RB/DB Adam Dempsey bobbed and weaved for a nifty 12-yard run. In the second quarter, another neat Dempsey scoring run (13 yards) would be sandwiched around a pair of Laughlin to jr. WR/RB/DB Damiere Shaw scoring strikes. The first covered 20 yards and the second occurred in the flat for five yards. O’Hara basically cemented the game with these last two touchdowns in the final 2:08 of the half. The last score was set-up by a fumble recovery by sr. LB Drew Formica on a botched Dobbins’ punt. Dobbins avoided further damage in that second quarter when Stafford made his second pick of the game inside his team’s five-yard line. Pressure on Laughlin by sr. DE David Shaw helped force the turnover. O’Hara eased into the intermission with a comfortable 28-0 lead. Thanks in large part to a 211-to-minus 1 advantage in yards. In the second half, Dobbins showed some grit by keeping O’Hara off the board on their first two possessions. The first of these stands came at the O’Hara thirty-nine and this would be the only time Dobbins would reside in O’Hara’s territory. However, after one first down moved the ball down to the twenty-eight, the series would end on a fumble recovery by the Lions’ sr. DE John Cantania. The game would reach mercy rule status with 1:18 left in the third quarter, when sr. FB/LB Brendan McLaughlin (6-63) rumbled in from 21 yards out. As in most cases when the clock begins running the fourth quarter flew by, as 13 different rushers had a tote between the two teams. O’Hara finished with 298 yards. Dempsey led all rushers with 76 yards on 9 carries. He showed strength and some shiftiness. The Lions’ passing game was very prevalent in the first half, where Laughlin went 10-for-14 (Finished 10-for-17) for 152 yards. His main target was sr. WR Tyler Gallen (6-76) who demonstrated excellent hands and true possession receiver qualities. Shaw added 36 yards on a trio of snags. Doing a good job in the trenches were sr. C Sean McFadden, G’s sr. Rob Hladish and sr. Kyle Hilsey, and T’s sr. Pat Mintzer and jr. Hunter Tierney. Jr. WR Jay Watkins and soph. RB Shacor Hamilton, a pair of reserves, each had 36-yard punt returns. Defensively, O’Hara held Dobbins to 48 yards on 45 plays from scrimmage. Sacks were had by soph. LB Brandon Chatmon, Formica (7 tackles), Catania, and McLaughlin. I was very impressed with the play of sr. LB Shawn Driggins (6’2”, 215 lbs), who was in on a team-high eight stops. Sr. LB Greg Marcum (2 TFLs) and sr. DB Tom Familetti (2 pass defends) were also active with five tackles each. Dobbins most productive offensive player was Gransby who managed 24 yards on 5 totes. Defensively, sr. LB Ernest White (5’10”, 225-lbs) was forceful throughout with 8 tackles, including a sack and two other TFL’s. Gransby and sr. DE Justin Smallwood evenly split eight stops. Soph. RB Daquan Brown collected 88 yards on four kickoff returns. Dobbins has enough size and athleticism to do well in their league. And who knows, but maybe with a little more seasoning, they’ll be able to contend more competitively against a team of this caliber as the season moves along.

SEPT. 10
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 27, Bonner 6
  It is only week two in the high school football season, but this game was important to both teams, as each was looking to establish some kind of identity. West was coming off a tough, mistake-prone loss to Roman, while Bonner had knocked-off neighborhood rival Upper Darby, but is still in the process of figuring out how good they can be. Behind a strong defensive effort, the Burrs gradually seized control of the game and ultimately were three touchdowns better in the end. The pivotal sequence took place in the third quarter. After a short West punt, the Friars took over at the Burrs’ 25-yard line, trailing by only 13-6. Three runs produced a fourth-and-two at the seventeen, but Bonner sr. QB Sean Quarterman was flushed from the pocket and, while rolling to his left, tried a short pass that was broken up nicely by West sr. DB Dave Sherman. A short time later West moved out near midfield and at this moment it was time for Head Coach Brian Fluck to go into his bag of tricks. On the play, sr. QB Anthony Reid threw a quick lateral to sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin, who was split out to the far right. He immediately wheeled and heaved a lovely, high pass to sr. WR Quran Kent, who was streaking all by his lonesome down the right sideline. Believe me when I tell you, but this pass was up there. At first it appeared that Kent wouldn’t be able to make up the necessary ground to bring it in, but the extra height allowed him run under it beautifully, then pull it in with his finger tips on a dead run. This gave the Burrs a 20-6 lead with 1:33 left in the third quarter. The pass happened right near the Bonner sidelines and some of their staff contended that the initial pass from Reid may have been moving forward. It was close, but from my vantage point it was hard to tell, as I was situated about ten yards or so downfield when the play started. Nonetheless, the referees deemed it legal and the Burrs had some breathing room. From this point the West defense put a stranglehold on the game. Meanwhile, the offense reached as far as the Bonner 2-yard line on all three of their remaining possessions, but would only cash in one more time. First, soph. RB Dave Williams was stopped at the two on a fourth down run. However, on Bonner’s first play after this, Sherman made a very nice play in stepping in on a post pass for an interception. He returned the ball 19 yards to Bonner’s 5-yard line. Again, Bonner’s defense stiffened, but on fourth down Reid easily found sr. FB/LB Anthony McDonnaugh in the flat for a 2-yard score, making it 27-6 with 6:46 left. Bonner’s next possession ended at their 28-yard line with four straight passing misfires, but the Burrs would fumble at the one a short time later. Bonner’s jr. DL Thomas Murtha made the recovery. West’s defense was instrumental throughout, as they held Bonner to just 117 yards on 49 plays. In fact, the Friars didn’t eclipse the century mark until their final possession, where they were in run-the-clock-out mode. Sparked by a very fine effort by the secondary, the Burrs held Quarterman to just 4-for-21 and 56 yards. For the second straight week, the strong-armed Quarterman failed to connect on a pass after the intermission. Last week, he misfired on seven attempts versus Upper Darby in the second half. Tonight, he had nine off-the-marks. Still, it wasn’t all on his shoulders, as he was continually forced to maneuver in the pocket just to avoid being sacked. Also, a few plays were left out on the field with drops. Sr. RB/DB Brandon Hollomon made a sparkling interception earlier in the game. Sr. LB Kevin Burns led with 8 tackles. Sr. DE Jim Lynch was next with six stops. McDonnaugh (Blocked PAT) and jr. LB Tristin Freeman evenly split ten tackles. Sr. DE Kris Padgett registered a sack and one other TFL. Other secondary members, jr. DB Kevin Malone (2 pass defends) and sr. Dar-ray Jubilee played well in coverage, while Sherman added three pass defends to go along with his timely pick. Offensively, the Burrs were good at times, but also sputtered with shoddy O-line play. Penalties didn’t help matters either. The Burrs ended with 322 yards of offense. Reid was an accurate and efficient 9-for-11, for 98 yards. Sr. RB Joshua Mathis was the leading rusher with 98 yards on 12 carries. His 26-yard second quarter touchdown run broke a 6-6 tie. Earlier, Mathis unleashed a 32-yard run to the Bonner 1-yard line. Williams (6-25) bulled in from there. Back-up jr. QB Jaleel Reed produced runs of 16 and 10 yards on West’s first two scoring drives to aid the cause. Kent finished with 90 yards receiving on three catches. For Bonner, their score came in the second quarter on a 9-yard run by jr. RB/WR/DB John McGilligan. The Friars needed to cover just twenty-five yards on the drive after a short Burr punt. Before the touchdown, sr. WR James Okike made a tremendous leaping catch on a fourth-and-14 play to keep the drive alive. Bonner’s defense played hard throughout and made the Burrs work for everything. Leading tacklers were: Sr. LB Marcus Collins (nine), sr. DB Dan Dougherty (seven), and sr. LB James Murphy (seven). Meanwhile, sr. LB Vince Dalterio and sr. DT Tyler Ramirez each made five stops. Sr. DB Anthony Jackson blocked a PAT.

SEPT. 4
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 23, West Catholic 14
  This was the tenth consecutive season the Burrs and Cahillites opened up their seasons at the shore. The Burrs had won the last two, but overall this was Roman’s sixth win over the last decade. Today’s recipe for success for the Cahillites was a dynamite defensive effort and multiple, crushing mistakes by West at inopportune times. I have been hearing for some time now that Roman could boast a quality defensive unit this year. After all, they returned quite a few from last year’s team, but also received significant help via transfers from an assortment of schools. Well, it’s only one game, but the defense was as advertised – Very good! Undoubtedly West will be kicking themselves for the rest of the week. No, moving the ball on Roman was not going to be an easy chore, so scoring points was still a task, but costly miscues led to every single one of Roman’s scores. If punting the ball was a headache today, then the Burrs would have gone through three jars of aspirin. Whoa there! Three times West had major breakdowns in trying to punt the ball. Amazingly, they avoided damage twice after a dropped snapped by the punter and a blocked punt. However, after a scoreless first quarter, West sr. FB/P Albert Campbell accepted a snap with a knee on the ground. This is a no-no and the lack of concentration allowed Roman to set up shop at the West 15-yard line. Three plays later soph. QB Michael Keir (6’2”, 216 lbs) bulled his way in from the six-yard line. This was the beginning of a forgettable second quarter for West. Roman would tack on two more scores and both of them came courtesy of the defense. First, jr. DE Jack Schanz, who played at North a year ago, easily scooped-up a backwards pass by West sr. QB Anthony Reid and returned it two yards for a touchdown. Reid was under pressure at the time, but really needed to eat this ball and take the sack on the play. Later, West avoided another score when sr. DB Dar-ray Jubilee fell on a fumble in the end zone with just 15 seconds left in the half. With the score still 14-0 and West getting the ball first in the second half things weren’t all that bad. However, disaster struck a few moments later when the unthinkable happened. After a 14-yard run by sr. RB Joshua Mathis placed the ball at the Roman 34-yard line, the Burrs called for a timeout with just eight ticks left. In my opinion and based on what had taken place to this point, I thought it was a reach that something good could happen in this situation. After all, Mathis’ run was West’s initial first down of the game. Anyhow, Reid went back to pass with a quartet of Burr receivers running vertical routes, but the pass misfired, and found sr. RB/WR/DB Dennis Regan, who promptly scooted down his team’s sideline before cutting back at roughly the twenty, and ultimately reaching paydirt for a backbreaking and demoralizing touchdown for the Burrs. To West’s credit they didn’t roll over in the second half and eventually made a game of it. Midway through the third quarter, sr. FB/LB Anthony McDonnaugh pounced on a fumble at the Roman 24. On the very next play, Reid went on top to sr. WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin in the right corner of the end zone. In the fourth quarter, the Cahillites had a chance to cement the game after sr. DT Corey Bronson blocked a punt and sr. DE Jack Gallagher recovered at the West 13-yard line. However, four runs by Regan couldn’t garner a first down and West took over at the five-yard line. With sr. RB Brandon Hollomon doing much of the damage, the Burrs closed to within 21-14, with 5:40 left in the game. On the drive Hollomon (10-107) ripped-off runs of 22, 26, and 38 yards. The latter producing the touchdown. West’s defense did their part next and held Roman to a three-and-out. Sr. WR Quran Kent returned the subsequent punt 14 yards to the Burr 34-yard line. However, things did not go well for West right from the get-go on this drive. Roman’s sr. LB/TE Dan Pellicciotti, who was game-long force, stuffed Mathis for a three-yard loss on first down. West committed a pair of procedure penalties on the next two plays and the second one nullified a quality play that brought the ball near the first down marker. Following the penalties, the Burrs lost 15 yards on a faulty center snap. With just under a minute remaining West opted to go for it from their nine-yard line. Does anyone have any good plays for a fourth-and-35 situation? Didn’t think so! West tried a hook-and-lateral that resulted in the ball rolling out of the side of the end zone for a safety and the game’s final score. Roman held West to just 129 yards of offense (Six first downs), including a mere 59 yards rushing on 24 attempts. Yes, I know I mentioned earlier that Hollomon managed 107 yards rushing, but West lost a total of 47 yards on what we’ll call odd plays. Roman’s defensive headliners were Pellicciotti (9 stops; 5 for losses) and sr. LB Jack Foley (6 tackles; 3 for losses). Soph. DB Chris Cruz was strong with 6 stops. The down lineman didn’t register a ton of tackles, but they did their part in causing congestion. These members included Gallagher, Schanz, Bronson, and jr.Tyrone Brown. Regan and jr. Darryl Mintz were effective in the secondary. Offensively, the Cahillites were merely pedestrian, as six rushers had at least three carries. Leading the way here were jr. Abdul Mejeed (8-31) and Regan (11-30). The strong-armed Keir wasn’t asked to throw much and finished 2-for-8, for 33 yards. For West, Reid ended 9-for-18, 70 yards. Strong-Rankin led the way with 5 catches for 64 yards. On defense,  the Burrs were mostly solid. Roman only managed 158 yards on 46 plays. Sr. DT Ike Ugwu played a strong game with ten stops (6 solos). Other tackling leaders were sr. LB Kevin Burns (eight), sr. DE Jim Lynch (seven), and jr. LB T-J Waters (six). Jubilee made a nice interception along the West sideline. Very strong crowd on hand for this one, as the stands were full and people were littered around the perimeter of the fence. The game clock went awry at the beginning of the third quarter. Is there anything more annoying than the game clock being kept on the field. Somehow the clock went from 5:40 to 2:49 on just five plays. Of these plays three of them were to produce stoppages. The other two were short running plays. Should have been impossible to take 2:49 off the clock, right? Oh well….

SEPT. 3
NON-LEAGUE
Bonner 20, Upper Darby 9
  In the annual Upper Darby Bowl to start the season the Friars came away victorious for a second straight season. The Friars have moved down to the 3A classification after the PIAA’s most recent re-configuration and with that comes high hopes for this season. The PCL 3A division will be difficult, with the likes of Wood and O’Hara vying for top honors, as well as an improved Carroll team moving up from 2A. Still, the Friars like their chances at this point with a bevy of players returning. Much has been talked about Bonner’s improved offense early on with the emergence of sr. QB Sean Quarterman, but it was the play on the defensive side of the ball that really paved the way to victory in this one. Bonner forced six turnovers and held the Royals to just 88 yards of offense. Bonner’s first score was directly set-up by a key special teams’ play. Sr. DE Brendon Garrison was close by to help jar the ball loose on a muffed punt and sr. LB Marcus Collins recovered at the Upper Darby 25-yard line. Six plays later, Quarterman side-stepped home on a fourth down play for the game’s first score. Late in the second quarter, the Friars would advance their lead to, 14-0, as again Quarterman scored on a 1-yard plunge. The touchdown came with just 19 seconds left in the half and capped what turned out to be Bonner’s most impressive drive of the game. Neatly directed by Quarterman, the Friars marched 85 yards on 9 plays. Key passing plays by Quarterman to sr. WR James Okike (23 yards) and jr. WR/DB John McGilligan (18 & 28 yards) fueled the drive. To begin the second half the Friars looked to really seize control after they caught the Royals napping and recovered a planned onside kick. McGilligan did the recovering. However, Quarterman was intercepted on a screen pass a short time later and the Royals’ comeback bid was underway. Upper Darby went onto capitalize on this opportunity after sr. QB Mike McGee found sr. TE David Lerro for a 9-yard touchdown to make the score 14-7. It was at this point that the defense for the Friars really started to establish itself. Four of the final UD possessions ended with a turnover, while the other resulted in a punt. First, Collins knocked the ball free with the Royals threatening. Sr. DB Dan Dougherty recovered at the Bonner 8-yard line to squelch the threat late in the third quarter. Afterwards, the Friars had a golden opportunity to put the game away when Quarterman found sr. WR/DB Jamie Juisti as free as a bird down the middle of the field, but the ball narrowly fell off of Juisti’s fingertips on what was sure to be an 89-yard score. To make matters worse, the snap on Bonner’s subsequent punt flung over the head of sr. Matt Hudash and through the back of the end zone for a safety. This made the score 14-9 with 11:49 remaining. Over the final 5:25 of the game a couple of hat tricks were notched by the Friars. On defense they made a trio of interceptions to stymie any thought of a Royal comeback. Also, but for some breathing roomQuarterman added his third 1-yard touchdown run of the game to cement the outcome. The picks were had by; sr. LB James Murphy, Dougherty, and sr. LB Vince Dalterio. The finale came 1:37 left and at the UD 6-yard line. Bonner took three knees to end it from here. After a solid first half the Friars’ offense sputtered some in the second half, as they managed just three first downs. Fatigue seemed to be an issue at times. The Friars have a good corps of players, but many of them go both ways. Quarterman finished 7-for-20, with 128 yards, but he misfired on all seven attempts after the intermission. Not all was on his shoulders, though, as there were a few drops sprinkled in. McGilligan ended with 61 yards on 3 snags. Top rusher for the Friars was jr. John Pontarelli who finished with 53 yards on 12 carries. His top jaunt of 27 yards came moments before Quarterman’s final end zone blast. Defensively, the Friars were led by Collins (8 tackles) and Murphy (6 stops). Jr. DL James Murtha (6’3”, 270 lbs) notched a pair of sacks worth 25 yards in losses. Garrison also added a sack. Bonner features a duo of strong-looking players in the middle of their lines in jrs Tyler Ramirez (6’0”, 298 lbs) and Ty Nguyen (5’11”, 265 lbs). Sr. OL/DL Derrick Ferguson (6’4”, 280 lbs) is another biggie in the mix for the Friars. The Friars are going to want to clean it up a little as they were penalized 9 times for 63 yards. This Bonner team could have real possibilities if they can avoid any major dings. They have a quartet of capable receiving options for the strong-armed Quarterman. In time, the rushing attack should be able to compliment that part of the offense. Grit should be part of the recipe on defense. Furthermore, there is a mindset that good things can happen for them and a lot of the time that is half the battle. In closing, but I was really impressed with the play of a couple of Royals defenders in sr. LB’s Amara Kamara and Ivan Thomas. I’d take these two on my team any day of the week.

SEPT. 3
NON-LEAGUE
Penn Wood 46, Conwell-Egan 0
  Well, I knew heading into this one that it could potentially be a long day for the Eagles. I watched Penn Wood play last week against O’Hara in a scrimmage and they looked fairly competitive, if not impressive. They have enough size and mucho speed in the offensive backfield to possibly be a threat in the Del-Val league this season. Meanwhile, I knew C-E’s numbers were down and Head Coach Kevin Kelly was working with a rather inexperienced bunch. Just ten of the thirty-nine players listed on the roster are seniors. To make matters worse, but sr. QB/DB John Clark is nursing a tender ankle, and was unable to go today. I was told that his back-up was also unavailable. Kelly hopes to have Clark back next week. Still, it’s not exactly the way anyone wants to start the season, right? At the outset, I thought that the young Eagles might dodge a bullet on PW’s first drive. Twice, the Pats scored touchdowns only to see them get called back on penalties. Finally, they were faced with a fourth-and-goal from the seven-yard line. But on the thirteenth play of the drive, the Pats found paydirt on a counter play to the left-side. There was no looking back from this point. Penn Wood held a huge advantage in the team speed department. Combine this; with at times shoddy tackling by the Eagles, and typically you’ll find yourself in mercy rule land soon enough. PW would lead 20-0 after one quarter. The scored moved to 26-0 before C-E put forth their one true threat of the game. Late in the second quarter, the Eagles held the ball for 11 plays and reached as far as the Patriot 7-yard line. However, a procedure penalty pushed them back to the twelve, and on fourth down sr. QB/RB/DE Vince Benedetti was picked-off at the goal line to squash the threat. C-E had four players attempt passes in the game. Also, getting behind center were; soph. Tim Bolton, sr. Kyle Bonner, and soph. Nick Singlar. Over the years Kelly and the Eagles have never been bashful when producing a trick play or two. Today, their best two offensive moments came off such plays. First, Bolton found Bonner on a 29-yard hook-up off a play that saw Bolton come in motion from his wide receiver position. The next moment of niftiness came when Bonner hit sr. TE/DE Jack McGurrin on a five-yard hitch, who then shoveled to Benedetti for a hook-and-lateral. The play netted 23 yards, but nearly resulted in a touchdown, as Benedetti was narrowly nudged out at the Penn Wood 24-yard line. Other than these two plays not a whole lot happened for the Eagles. They were outgained by the Patriots in the game 409-to-52. All but five yards for PW came on the ground. Benedetti was C-E’s most productive rusher with 27 yards on 9 totes. Defensively, sr. LB Austin Oscovitich and sr. DB Matt O’Hara (2 pass defends) evenly split ten stops. Soph. LB Dan McLaughlin made two tackles for losses. Soph. DL Nick Pirri recovered a late-game fumble. Soph. RB/DB Chaz Cason managed 61 yards on three kickoff returns. We don’t usually get too much into the teams that aren’t in our covering area, but Penn Wood played well and their kids deserve a little love. And it’s not like anyone will complain anyway. The Pats are led by sr. TE/DE Shawn Oakman, who goes about 6’8”, 250 lbs and is a Penn State recruit. The kid oozes athleticism and the sky is the limit once he arrives at Happy Valley. He still has some work to do in order to be successful at that level, but you don’t teach what he has. Three of his four tackles went for losses. A couple of times he ended corralling C-E rushers a little high. I don’t think he was trying to be dirty, but when you’re that tall, and the kids you’re tackling are small in stature, then it can be hard to get down to a normal tackling position. Oakman’s presence wasn’t overly felt in this one, but his partner on the other defensive end, sr. Tyler Glover, was very much a focal point. He notched a pair of sacks amongst his nine total stops. He also booted 4-of-6 PATs and punted once. Oh yea, he played guard on the offensive side of the ball and was instrumental for allowing the Patriot backs to frolic throughout. Sr. Kali Smith (7-130) scored twice on runs of 7 and 66 yards. Sr. FB Kavonne Nottingham (9-99) also scored a pair TD’s on rushes of 12 & 37 yards. Sr. RB/DB Wah'Fe Granger produced an electric 217 all-purpose yards (5 punt returns for 147 yards) and scored on a 45-yard punt return and 50-yard rush. Sr. Darryle Neville (5-52) contributed a 36-yard rushing TD and a pair of interceptions. Sr. DT Darell Hill recovered a fumble, while sr. Cortez Covington made a sack and forced a fumble. Ok, my first game of the season wasn’t an all-timer, but sure does feel good to get this thing rolling. Here’s to another terrific H.S. football season in the Philadelphia area.