Huck's Corner
Football 2011

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  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. Twitter . . . @HuckPalmer. 

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DEC. 10 
PIAA CLASS AA SEMIFINAL
Lancaster Catholic 23, West Catholic 20
(At Coatesville)
     For starters, allow me to apologize for my delay in submitting this report. Sure, a busy weekend was part of the reason, but in all honesty, I wasn't really eager to relive what happened in Saturday's game through this report. I mentioned to assorted people over the weekend that this loss in many ways was more painful than the state championship loss in '08. In that game, West fell, 35-34, in double-OT when star sr. QB Curtis Drake (Penn St.) was cut down just short of the goal line on a potential game-winning two-point conversion run. Hey, the ball was in arguably the state's best player's hands and the opposition made a great play. However, this one was different because for all intents and purposes Lancaster Catholic was given a freebie to win the game in the waning moments. On top of that, and as many of you already know, but this COULD have been West Catholic's last football game. Come January 6th the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will release it's elaborate plan in moving forward with their system. Schools are going to close at both the high school and grade school levels. West has long been rumored to possibly be one of these schools. People associated with the school are optimistic, but no one really knows what the archdiocese has planned. So, add that element to this game and it's easy to understand the hurt involved. Of course, no one felt the pain as much as the kids, who played a wonderful and competitive game against a quality opponent. To say many tears flowed at the conclusion is putting it mildly. It was tough to witness the anguish these youngsters were feeling. For setting-the-stage purposes I'll head right to end of the fourth quarter, then go back to give some earlier details. The Burrs held a 20-16 lead with 2:22 to play in the game, but LC was knocking on the door with a first-and-goal at the seven. LC's jr. RB Roman Clay (21-153) powered through the line and fought fiercely for yards down to the one, but on his way to the ground sr. DL Devante Ford stripped the ball free and West's jr. RB/DB Dave Williams secured it in the end zone for a touchback with 2:15 to play. With LC only having two timeouts remaining all the Burrs would need would be one first down to secure their third trip to Hershey in four years. On first and second down, Williams (19-59) had little room and lost a yard and then was stopped for no gain. After each of these runs LC exhausted their final two timeouts. On third down, sr. QB Jaleel Reed, who was terrific all afternoon, took a keeper around the left-side. Only a great tackle by a pair of Crusaders prevented a game-clinching first down, as Reed was brought down roughly six inches short of the 30-yard line. Stopped in-bounds the clock continued to run, so with one second remaining on the play clock (1:14 in game) West called timeout to discuss things. Head Coach Brian Fluck's initial thought was to go for it and the kids seemed to be on board. A quarterback sneak with Reed would be the play. However, when the offense lined up, Reed hesitated and appeared to not like what the defense was showing him. He backed away from center and looked to the sidelines. A second timeout was eventually called. Again, a discussion between Fluck, players, and assistants took place. This time the punt team was sent onto the field. The thought being that the Burrs' defense had played well in the second half and held LC scoreless over that time. However, the snap from center whizzed high and toward sr. LB/FB/P Tristin Freeman's left. He somehow was able to get one paw on the ball to knock it down, but very quickly a Crusader pounced on the loose rock at the West 16-yard line with 1:09 left. This was the first time all season that West had experienced the misfortune of a bad snap (35+ punt attempts) from center. On first down, a right-corner fade was batted away by Williams. On the second down, the Burrs would not be as lucky. LC sr. QB Andrew Dzurik found jr. WR/DB Sean Titus on a crossing route, in which two Burr D-backs got crossed up, and a wide open Titus caught the ball in the front part of the left-side of the end zone. The score and subsequent PAT made it, 23-20, with 53 seconds left. The Burrs didn't quit and showed some life with their last chance. Sr. RB Jalil Shoatz was able to return a squib kick 13 yards to the WC 47-yard line at 47 seconds. A backwards pass from Reed to Williams produced five yards and stopped the clock as he got out of bounds. Reed then scrambled for 7 yards to the LC-41 at 34 seconds. He also got out of bounds. Next, Reed scrambled for 7 more yards, but a very good ankle-tackle by a LC defender prevented further yardage. Plus, kept Reed inbounds and the Burrs had to use their final timeout at 23 seconds. From here, Reed hit sr. WR Bruce Mapp for 8 yards along the right sidelines to the 26-yard line, and again stopping the clock at 16 seconds. However, there would be no last-minute glory, as Reed's next pass was picked-off by Titus at the 9-yard line with 9 seconds left. Just one final kneel down by LC was needed. Man, a tough way to lose, but you can't say the kids from West didn't go out with a fight. Earlier in the game, the Burrs fell behind 13-0 midway through the second quarter. Still, they would claw their way back. Two huge catches by Mapp (4-142) for 43 yards to convert a 3rd-and-15 and 34 yards to convert a 4th-and-13 put the ball at the LC one-yard line. Reed scored on a sneak from here to make it 13-6 with 3:54 left in the half. West would lose some of that momentum as LC went down to end the half with an 18-yard field goal on the half's final play. As the second half came around the Burrs wasted little time grabbing the momentum back, though. Three plays into the half, Reed found Mapp along the left sidelined and the sleek receiver did the rest on a 57-yard scoring play. This made the score, 16-12, with 10:16 left in the third quarter. West would take the lead early in the fourth quarter after an 11-play, 84-yard drive. Williams did the honors with a 3-yard run to the right corner of the end zone on a 4th-and-goal play. Shoatz followed this up with a conversion run with 9:53 left. From here the teams traded punts before our late-in-the-game drama. For the game, Reed accounted for 291 yards of rushing/receiving (Rush: 15-87). He had his best passing day as a Burr, going 7-for-15, for 204 yards. Defensively, Freeman (sack), sr. DB Blaise Schieler, jr. DB Shaquille James, and sr. LB Marquise Gordon each made 7 tackles. Meanwhile, sr. LB T-J Waters, jr. DL Jaryd Smith-Jones, and Ford evenly split 12 stops. Williams ended the season with 1,938 rushing yards, which was good for 3rd best in school history. Reed accounted for over 1,500 yards of rushing/passing and a total of 27 touchdowns. Mapp had a solid season with 32 catches for 632 yards and 9 TDs. In closing, hopefully this won't be my final West Catholic report. West is undoubtedly a unique and special place. For decades now, this school has been helping young people prepare for life and doing a wonderful job in this endeavor. I understand times are changing and the landscape of the archdiocese isn't what it used to be. Probably a far cry from the glory days, but still the West Catholic mission is an important one, and one that I believe needs to continue. Hopefully, there are a few more people more powerful and influential than myself that feel the same. If not, then it's been a blast! And don't ever forget --- West is Best!!!

DEC. 3
CLASS AA STATE QUARTERFINAL
West Catholic 32, Pen Argyl 7
  Don’t let the final score fool you: The defending Class 2A state champions had their hands full with a solid Green Knights’ team from District 11. In a game played at the South Philly Super Site, on a wonderful early-December afternoon, the Burrs were on their heels for the game’s first quarter and a half. Then, even with a 12-0 lead in the third quarter, true comfort didn’t set in until star jr. RB Dave Williams scored on a 21-yard dash with 25.6 seconds left in that stanza. But let’s travel back to the early stages to set a tone. During the game’s first five possessions (3 by PA) the Green Knights ran 30 of the game’s first 39 plays, and notched 10 of the game’s first 11 first downs. However, displaying a bend-don’t-break approach, the Burrs avoided any scoreboard igniting by PA. There were three HUGE plays that occurred in this game at the one-yard line, and two of them came during this early PA dominance. First, PA’s sr. RB/S Dylan Evans (4,400+ rushing yards career; 2,000+ in ’11) returned the opening kickoff 38 yards to the WC 47-yard line. From here the Green Knights methodically marched down the field. On the tenth play of the drive from the two, Evans lost the ball on an extra effort in hopes of finding the end zone. Sr. LB Marquise Gordon knocked the ball away from Evans, while jr. DB Shaquille James narrowly secured it before another PA player could. Bullet #1 dodged! West managed one first down on their first drive, but would eventually punt. Again, PA methodically moved down the field, but after a 11 plays the drive would stall at the West 32-yard line when sr. DB Blaise Schieler broke up a pass. West’s next possession would produce another punt without a first down. Following this PA would again march into Burr territory, and on a 3rd-and-9 play from the 31-yard line appeared to connect on a pass down to the one-yard line. The official closest to the play initially signaled a catch, but was quickly over-ruled by another referee situated a little further away in the end zone. The play happened along the sideline and near the end zone cone, and from my vantage point couldn’t tell if the correct call had been made. Nonetheless, bullet #2 was dodged! On 4th down a pass was completed, but came up a yard-and-half short of a first down. From here, the Burrs started to get their legs underneath them. On a third-and-5 play at the outset of the drive, sr. QB Jaleel Reed nicely rolled to right and found sr. WR Bruce Mapp for 19 yards along the West sidelines. This play seemed to relax the Burrs. Williams later converted a 4th-and-1 with a 10-yard run to the PA 34-yard line. He followed this with a 17-yard run to the seventeen. Next, on a 3rd-and-7 from the fourteen, Reed took a keeper in for a 14-yard score. But wait! Laundry on the field, and trust me folks, but the guys in stripes were just getting started. The hold occurred downfield on a wide receiver, so the ball was placed back at the fourteen for yet another third down try. This time Williams took the rock to the left for 13 yards and just missed getting in. Reed squirted in from the one on the next play to give West a 6-0 lead with 1:29 left in the half. When PA got the ball back they used some trickery to grab 35 yards on a flea-flicker to the WC 24-yard line. There were six players in the area for what appeared to be a jump ball. Somehow sr. WR Tom Young managed to secure the rock off of multiple bobbles between multiple players. Just in case the guy in stripes had thrown his flag to call pass interference. Amazing! It was a jump ball in the middle of the field. Still, the Burrs would overcome this because two plays later, jr. DL Jaryd Jones-Smith, who goes 6’7”, 286-lbs, plucked a pass out of the air for an interception. He returned it 28 yards to the PA 42-yard line with 56 seconds left. From here, Reed found jr. WR Ron Womack for 14 yards to the twenty-eight. Then, Reed twice rushed for 10 & 13 yards to the five. After a WC timeout, Reed easily found Mapp in the left-side the end zone with 14 ticks left in the half. Afterwards, Mapp was flagged for taunting, so the Burrs’ conversion attempt came from the 17-yard line. Suffice to say that this failed, smile! To begin the second half Reed exploded after accepting the bouncing kickoff and it even appeared that he may score, but he had the ball knocked out from behind as he cutback after a 50-yard return. Given new life, PA would hold onto the rock for fifteen plays. They benefited tremendously from an unsportsmanlike penalty after a Burr defender taunted a Green Knight after nicely breaking up a fourth down pass play. The play would have given the ball back to the Burrs. Eventually, the Green Knights would have a 4th-and-6 chance from the WC 7-yard line. On the play, PA QB Conor Gum hit sr. WR Kyle Muller near the end zone from my vantage point. I don’t think he scored, but he appeared to be over the one-yard line, which was needed to grab a first down. Schieler, who was on the coverage, did a great job of hitting Muller as the ball got there, so maybe that made it more difficult for the referee to see. Whatever the case, the measurement showed the ball to be short, and bullet #3 at the one-yard was dodged. Two plays later, Williams darted 62 yards to PA’s 35-yard line. From here, Reed nicely found sr. FB/DE Alex Murray for a 6-yard pick-up on fourth down to maintain the drive. Then, three plays after this Williams raced in from 21 yards for an 18-0 lead. The Burrs once again experienced the misfortune of a penalty on the conversion. Reed passed to James for two points, but the Burrs were called for offensive pass interference on the play. The interference supposedly occurred away from the actual play. Loss of down, no further attempt. Still, the Burrs had secured things with an 18-0 lead with 25 seconds left in the third quarter. PA’s next possession reached the Burr 20-yard line thanks to a couple of shaky pass interference calls, one on a 4th-and-19 play, but sr. DB Tyler Gallashaw ended the threat with a pick at the two-yard line, then returned it 25 yards to set-up the offense. From here, four different Burrs rushed for at least 10 yards on a given play; sr. FB/LB Tristin Freeman (11 yards), Williams (14 yards), Murray (13 yards), and then Williams’ back-up sr. RB Jalil Shoatz capped it with a 33-yard burst for a score. The next time West had the ball Shoatz again found end zone on a 27-yard sprint. PA would avoid the shutout when Evans scored from three yards out with just 37.2 left in the game. Offensively, the Burrs only ran 44 plays to PA’s 72, but they still accumulated 387 yards. Williams finished with 162 yards on 18 lugs. Shaotz added 69 yards on 4 totes. Reed managed 52 yards on 8 lugs, while passing an efficient 6-for-7, for 57 yards. Freeman (6-29) and Murray were key has lead blockers. The offensive line of sr. C Tim Burns, G’s sr. T-J Waters and sr, Mike Makor, and T’s sr. Eric Wyant and Jones-Smith all played well after those first two possession. Sr. blocking TE Brandon Calhoun was effective as well. Defensively, the Burrs played tough all day. Even though PA made some plays (297 yards of offense), a Burr defender always stepped-up at the right time to make a play at the right time. Gordon (6 total stops) notched 3 sacks (19 yards in losses) in the game. Sr. DL Devante Ford was beastly as the game wore on and led all Burrs with 11 tackles. Sr. DB Kevin Malone came up from his safety position and filled holes repeatedly with 10 tackles (8 solos). Schieler added 9 stops and 3 pass defends. James was next with 8 stops and a pair of pass defends, while Gallashaw also notched 8 tackles. Waters and Jones-Smith each made 7 tackles, respectively. I don’t usually do this, nor do I like to do it because I don’t feel it is an easy job. But in my opinion, the officiating in terms of penalties was extremely one-sided in this game. Yes, West was the beneficiary of some calls at the one-yard line, but they were bang-bang plays. I just find it remarkable that one team can be called for 12 serious/judgement penalties (2 were declined) and the other team not a single one. Granted, some of these calls were indeed correct. No doubt about that. A few of them were a little questionable, though. And let’s face it, but at the high school level you can call holding on just about every other play. You mean to tell me that PA runs 72 total plays, 51 which are runs, and they played a perfect game in that respect? I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe that. For the season, West Catholic has been called for 67 penalties that I classify as the serious/judgment type (Holds, illegal blocks, personal fouls, pass interference, etc), while their opponents have been called for 18. One example, West has been called for 24 offensive holds this year, while their opponents have been called for TWO. This is not a one-year thing, either. It happens year after year. And if this was bad football team, then I would get it, but this is a program that is 60-11 in it’s last 5 seasons. Hey, maybe the Burrs are a little more undisciplined than the average team. I think I could live with that, but not at the type of margin the penalties show. Why? I have my theories, but I’ll you guys do the math. Ok, moving on, but the Burrs will play in the Eastern 2A Final for the fourth straight year next week against Lancaster Catholic (14-0). This is the third time the Burrs and Crusaders have met in the round over the last four seasons. West won 37-14 in ’08, while LC won 23-21 in ’09 before going on to win the state title. The game will be played Saturday, noon, at Coatesville.

NOV. 24
THANKSGIVING RIVALRY
SJ Prep 30, Malvern 14
  When examining the Hawks' and Friars' annual holiday clash (MP now leads 3-to-2) one thing seems to be true. Jumping out to an early lead, even by multiple scores, is not a good thing. In ’07, an undefeated MP team lead 6-0 before allowing 33 unanswered in a Hawks’ romp. Then, in ’08, the Hawks roared to an 21-0 lead before falling, 34-27, in a classic. The following year in ’09, again the Hawks jumped-out to a 14-0 lead, but saw the Friars nip them, 17-16, in the end. Last year, MP scored first, but needed a late third quarter touchdown to squeak by the Hawks, 14-13. Which brings us to this year, and on just a pristine morning for football, the Friars grabbed a 14-0 lead one play into the second quarter, and at this point things appeared ominous for the Hawks and their supporters. However, behind the gritty and clutch play of their sr. QB/DB Skyler Mornhinweg, the Hawks impressively reeled-off the next thirty points to win going away. Did any of us expect anything else from this kid? Before we get into his performance, as well as his team’s, let’s explain how Malvern gained control early. The Hawks’ first possession witnessed them hold the ball for ten plays, but they only moved from their ten to their 49-yard line before getting stuffed on a fourth-and-one try. The Friars wasted little time taking advantage of the good field position, and three plays later sr. FB/LB Joe Nilan (4-59) took a guard-trap untouched 39 yards and the game's first score. The Hawk’s next possession ended with an interception by sr. LB Eddie Morris at the Hawks’ 26-yard line, but the Friars could not capitalize, as freshman RB/DB John Reid picked off jr. QB Bill Ford at the three-yard line on the very next play. However, the Friars would eventually extend their lead on the first play of the second quarter and it was the defense doing the honors. Jr. DB/WR Joe Carlini, who ended up with three picks in the game, made his first, and with rather ease navigated his way into the end zone with a 39-yard return and 14-0 lead. Ok, for my money the tide started to swing the next time the Friars had the ball. Runs by sr. RB Shawn Wilson (22 yards) and jr. RB Eric Purnell (6 & 12 yards) placed the ball at the SJP 27-yard line. A personal foul penalty on MP after Purnell’s second run put the ball back at the forty-two, then Ford lost the ball while attempting to hand it off. Hawks’ jr. DE Tim Rafter made the recovery at the forty-six. From this point it was all Hawks! It took them just five plays to cover the necessary yardage, which was capped when Mornhinweg subtly stepped-up in the pocket and calmly flicked a pass down the right sidelines to a wide open soph. RB Vince Moffett for a 26-yard score. The next time the Hawks got their hands on the ball they unleashed a 10-play, 81-yard drive to make the score, 14-13. The series was finished off on a 33-yard Mornwinheg to sr. WR/DB Jim Hurley completion, on which Hurley nicely went up between two Malvern defenders in the middle of the field to secure the pass. OK, with the score still the same we’ll move to the midway point of the third quarter. Facing a fourth-and-one from the MP 38-yard line, sr. FB/TE/LB Eric Medes blasted for three yards to continue the drive. Two plays later, Moffett ripped-off a  25-yard run to the ten-yard line, then added five more to the five. This was followed by Mornhinweg’s third TD toss of the game, and his second to Hurley, for a 19-14 lead. On the conversion the Hawks brilliantly executed a trick play that saw Medes come in looping motion from the left wing. He neatly accepted a the toss from Mornhinweg and without too much of sweat raced around the right-side and into the end zone for the two-points. With 3:05 left in the third quarter the Hawks had a 21-14 lead. Early in the fourth the Hawks seemed to be heading to increase their lead deep in MP territory, but Mornhinweg was picked-off by Carlini at the 4-yard line. Would the Friars have a long game-tying drive in them? Well, we would never know, as Hawks’ jr. DE Todd Jones blasted Ford about five yards deep in the end zone for a safety and 23-14 lead with 8:33 left. After the free kick the Hawks would only need 41 yards to cover, and on the sixth play of the drive, Mornhinweg took a direct snap, snuffed-out an early tackle attempt, then raced 25 yards for the clinching score. It was vintage! To boot, Malvern’s next possession ended when Mornhinweg perfectly timed a center blitz and sacked Ford for a 5-yard loss to force a punt. Excluding an intentional spike and one kneel down the Hawks ran an astonishing 82 plays in the game. Folks, trust me on this, but you rarely see this kind of number in a high school game. Also interesting was that they had 226 yards (49 rushes) on the ground and 225 yards via the pass for 451 all total. Talk about balance! Of course, leading the way was Mornhinweg, who accumulated 291 yards in the game. He passed 19-for-32, for 225 yards and rushed 14 times for 66 yards. All the while having a hand in all four SJP touchdowns. Today, wrapped up a sensational career for the Penn St. bound signal caller, who was a four-year starter in the Hawks’ secondary and directed the offense over the last three campaigns. How about some final numbers? He passed 352-for-709 and 4,859 yards (5th all-time in city history). He also posted  respectable rushing numbers for a QB with 1,243 yards. All total, he accounted for 6,102 passing/rushing yards and a total of 69 touchdowns (52 passing). His intangibles can’t be measured. The kid was a tremendous high school football player. It’s that simple! Other Hawks that performed well on the offensive side of the ball included Hurley (8-109) and Medes (6-67) via the pass. Moffett supplied 68 yards on 11 carries and another 96 yards on 6 returns. He did a great job of fielding punts. Jr. RB Joe Lavalle (12-54) complimented the Hawks’ ground attack. The offensive line was excellent throughout. This unit included: jr. C Franny Grey, G’s sr. Peter Kelly and sr. James Udovich, and rotating T’s sr. Luke Hutkin, jr. Billy Dykan, and jr. David Tracz. Defensively, the Hawks held Malvern to just 56 second half yards. Jr. DB Dan Sherry led with 7 solo tackles. Sr. Dan Mancini was next with six, while Medes added five. Jones notched two sacks in the game. Sr. LB Pete Siki made a late-game interception. For Malvern, Wilson (11-82) and Purnell (7-45) ran well at times, but just didn’t get enough opportunities.  Defensively, many posted good tackling numbers. Schmucker (fumble recovery) led with 12 stops (8 solos). Nilan (8 solos) and Morris were next with nine apiece. Carlini added eight stops, and also posted a 56-yard return off of a pick to go along with the 39-yard score. Sr. DB Blake Gunther and sr. DL Shannan Green (sack) each notched 7 tackles each. Sr. DB Bradley Elkin hustled for six stops. SR. DE Connor Mahoney (Forced) and sr. DL John Bradford (Recovery) teamed-up on a fumble. The teams combined for 913 all-purpose yards. The Hawks amassed 24 first downs in the game. How often do we see the winning team survive despite six turnovers? Very good crowd on hand for this game, and for the second straight year they were treated to some lively action between each school’s rugby teams. Not sure who won this baby. It took me just about the entire intermission to tabulate all of the first half stats.

NOV. 12
D-12/1 SUBREGIONAL RD 1 (2A CITY TITLE GAME)
West Catholic 30, Bok 23
  For the fourth straight year the Burrs and the Wildcats were playing each other for Class 2A District-12 Title, as part of the D-12/1 Subregional playoff, and for the fourth consecutive year the Burrs left the South Philly Super Site complex with a victory. In ’08, the Burrs won in convincing fashion (55-0), but since that time the games have become much more competitive, even if the final scores in ’09 (21-7) and ’10 (34-6) suggest otherwise. Today, was the tightest game of them all, and witnessed the Wildcats with a 23-22 lead with just 2:44 remaining. We’ll set the stage from here. With Bok holding possession, and facing a 3rd-and-6 from the West 44-yard line, sr. RB Shaquil Sammons was stopped for a loss of one by WC sr. DT Devante Ford. A delay  penalty followed and that put the ball back at midfield. Punting into a decent wind sr. P Marquise Smith’s kick only traveled 15 yards and settled at the West 35-yard line. Let the drama begin! Sr. QB Jaleel Reed, who left the game with a bum right ankle in the second quarter, hobbled back into the Burrs’ huddle to once again direct things. Instant success! On first down, Reed calmly stepped-up in the pocket and found jr. WR/DB Shaquille James streaking across the middle about fifteen yards downfield. After making the catch, James was able to get the corner and eventually was tackled out of bounds by sr. DB John Richardson at the Bok 15-yard line. The play gained 50 yards. A pair of runs by workhorse jr. RB Dave Williams netted five yards, and set West up with a 3rd-and-5 from the ten. Still displaying a noticeable limp, Reed dropped back to pass, but with no one breaking free he took off, twice side-stepping Bok pursuers before eventually being brought down inside the one-yard line. Clutch! On the next play, Reed snuck in from here with 1:31 left on the clock. James provided the conversion run on a jet-sweep to the left. Afterwards, a pair of lineman carried Reed to the sidelines. Bok’s next possession started at their 40-yard line, but it didn’t last long. On first down, Bok sr. QB/DB Marquise Brown dropped back to pass, but coming from his blindside, West sr. LB Tristin Freeman belted him for a sack and forced a fumble that was recovered by sr. LB Marquise Gordon to give the ball back to West at Bok’s 35-yard line. From here, a pair of runs by Williams gained 7 yards, and Bok used its last two timeouts. However, a hard count by Reed drew the Wildcats offside and gave the Burrs a first down to ensure a victory. A collective sigh of relief by the Burrs’ faithful was probably heard from nearby Broad Street. If West would have lost this game they would have been kicking themselves for quite awhile. Not taking anything away from Bok who played hard, gritty, and were opportunistic throughout, but the Burrs repeatedly shot themselves in the foot during the game. At game’s end, the Burrs had run 23 more offensive plays (62-to-39) than the Wildcats, and out-gained them a staggering 412-to-108. How about some earlier highlights? Bok capped the first possession of the game with a 14-yard pass from Brown to sr. WR/DE Jihad Ward on a left-side fade. This capped a 12-play (6:50 of clock), 63-yard drive, that was aided by four West penalties, including three defensive procedure calls. To boot, the Burrs also roughed-the-kicker on a failed PAT attempt. Allowing Bok another chance that was successful for a 7-0 lead.  West would strike back on their first possession with a 8-play, 57-yard drive. Reed started things with a 28-yard keeper and Williams finished it with a 6-yard run. Sr. RB Jalil Shoatz added the conversion run for a 8-7 lead with 1:44 left in the opening quarter. The lead would be short-lived, though, as Sammons after a bobble on the kickoff stormed up the middle, then broke free to the left for a 92-yard kickoff return. Brown found sr. RB/DB Omar Bashir for the conversion and a 15-8 lead. Once again, the Burrs would answer, this time with a 13-play, 68-yard drive. Again, Williams did the honors with a 2-yard plunge. Reed added the conversion run following this and the Burrs had the lead (16-15) with 6:56 left in the half. Following Reed’s injury on West’s next possession, Bok had a golden opportunity for some more points. A punt into the wind by West only netted 17 yards and settled at the their 28-yard line. Sammons ran 16 yards from here to the twelve on first down. Then, on 4th-and-4 from the six, the Wildcats went offsides, pushing the ball back to the eleven. After a timeout, Brown rolled out to pass, but Freeman sacked him back at the 23-yard line to end the threat. With sr. QB/DB Kevin Malone now directing things, the Burrs received a huge jolt from Williams on a 55-yard run. Soph. DB Michael Riley made a great touchdown-saving tackle with a last-ditch diving effort to bring Williams down at Bok’s 18-yard line. With less than a minute to play in the half, Williams added a 9-yard run to the nine. Next, Malone nicely threw a fade pass to the left-corner of the end zone that sr. WR Bruce Mapp somehow came down with in-bounds for the score. Just 10.6 seconds showed on the first half clock. West entered the intermission with a 22-15 lead. To start the second half the Burrs held the ball for nine plays and reached the Bok 24-yard line, but Williams fumbled here. Riley scooped up the ball and raced 56 yards to the West 22-yard line. With an old CB West look the Wildcats used six straight runs by Sammons to cover this and retake the lead on a 3-yard burst. Then, Sammons added the conversion run for a 23-22 Bok lead with 5:00 left in the third quarter. Once again, the Burrs would take off on another long, time-consuming drive. This time holding the ball for 11 plays and reaching Bok’s 17-yard line. However, Williams again coughed-up the rock and soph. DT Mark Webb returned it 31 yards to midfield.. West would overcome this when Malone made an interception on a fourth down pass from the West 19-yard line. He returned it 23 yards to the forty-two. A short time later would bring us to where I started this report. Concerning numbers - For West, Williams carried the ball 42 times for 228 yards. Those amount of lugs is good for the second most all-time for the Burrs, as former star Curtis Brinkley ’03 carried the ball 45 times against Carroll in a game. Amazingly, this total could have been even more if he hadn’t tweaked an ankle in the third quarter. During his absence, Shoatz (6-36) ran well and hard. Reed was extremely gutsy in this one. He finished with 56 yards on 6 carries and completed both of his passes for another 55 yards. Malone displayed all kinds of leadership when having to fill in for Reed. West accumulated 348 yards on 54 carries in the game. Leading the way up front were: sr. C Tim Burns, G’s sr. T-J Waters and sr. Mike Makor, T’s sr. Eric Wyant and jr. Jaryd Jones-Smith, and sr. TE Brandon Calhoun. Defensively, Freeman ended with 2.5 sacks for 20 yards in losses. Both of his solo sacks were huge. Jones-Smith (6’7”, 286 lbs) and sr. DB Blaise Schieler evenly split 12 stops to lead the Burrs. Ford and sr. LB Waters each made four stops. For Bok, Sammons toughed-out 77 yards on 27 carries. Defensively, sr. LB Robert Kralle (All solos) and Bashir each made 8 tackles, respectively. Brown (seven), Ward (seven), jr. DE Marquez Walker (seven), sr. DB Christen Lilly (six), and soph. LB Terrell Miles (five) were all active. Bok racked up 243 yards in returns. Next week, the Burrs will compete for the D-1/12 2A Subregional championship against Springfield-Montco.

NOV. 10
NON-LEAGUE
Bartram 36, University City 30 (OT)
  Anymore these days it’s not too often that I find myself covering a game in the Pub, but occasionally an opportunity does present itself, and like in years past I’m always glad to get on this trail from time to time. Today, I had the privilege to take in a game between the Braves and the Jaguars at West Philly’s home field at 48th & Spruce. Guess what? This baby was highly enjoyable and eventually turned into a crazy barnburner by the end of the fourth quarter. In fact, let’s not waste any more time and head right to the final two minutes of play, where we had a game’s worth of action. With 2:12 left, the Jags had just broken a 16-16 tie with a 6-play, 72-yard drive that was capped with a 13-yard scoring pass from sr. QB Joshua Fenwick to soph. WR Raymond Jefferson. Fenwick added the conversion run and the Jags went up, 24-16. On that drive, the Fenwick-to-Jefferson combination struck three times, including connections of 11 & 15 yards earlier in the possession. Twenty-nine yards in penalties on Bartram also aided the drive. Moving on, but a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on UC allowed Bartram to start with reasonably good field position at their 43-yard line after the go-ahead score. Bruising jr. RB/LB Elijah Clark rumbled 12 yards to the Jag’s 45-yard line. Then, two plays later sr. QB/DB Michael Pritchette zoomed in from here on a quarterback draw. Talk about kicking it into an extra gear. With 1:02 left, the Braves needed a two-point conversion to tie things up, but Clark was stuffed in his tracks by soph. DL Gary Bates and soph. LB Robert Hall to prevent the deadlock. I know, just over a minute left, so not much is going to happen, right? Nah, we still had time for all hell to break loose. An onside kick in the middle of the field was cleanly recovered by the Jags at their 43-yard line, but they were hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty and that pushed the ball back to the twenty-eight. With three timeouts at their disposal, the Braves knew they could get the ball back if they didn’t allow a first down. Well, they got more and then some from this defensive stand. A first down run produced two yards and was followed up by Bartram’s first TO. Then, a bad snap from center avoided Fenwick, who was in the shotgun formation. This lost 15 yards back to the fifteen. Again, Bartram called a timeout. Though, UC spent the entire game in the shotgun, don’t you need to go under center in this situation? Third down was a deep pass from Fenwick to star sr. WR/DB Marcus Lyles, but jr. DB Rondell Calloway nicely broke up the play. Next, and with Fenwick back to punt, the snap from center went array and bounced into the end zone. Fenwick did a commendable job of gathering the ball about five yards deep and avoiding multiple rushers, but was ultimately brought down at the 7-yard line with 27 seconds left. I guess in hindsight taking a safety might have been his best option, but at that point the kid is relying on his instincts and like I said, he did a good job to prevent a touchdown. From here the Braves wasted little time, and Clark took a stretch play to the left basically untouched for the score at 19 seconds. Pritchette added the conversion run for a 30-24 lead.  What more can happen at this point? Umm, a lot! Opting to sort of pooch kick the ball between the first line and UC’s deep man, the ball was accepted by sr. RB/S John Casey, who proceeded to sprint hard in a straight line to his right, somehow turn the corner, then race down the sideline for a 63-yard kickoff return. Yep, I know what you’re thinking. Huck (That’s me, Pub fans) never made it to a game today and is just making this report up because he’s goofy. Nope, it happened! After the return we were tied, 30-30, with 8 seconds left. We remained tied when Fenwick was stopped on a run to his left by Pritichette and sr. LB William Berry. Ok, with 8 ticks still left, and with the way things were going, someone is going to break this tie in regulation, right? Didn’t happen, as Pritchette was only able to gain nine yards to his 47-yard line as time ran out. As we moved onto overtime UC took possession first and things unraveled quickly. On first down, Fenwick was sacked by jr. DE Thomas Powell for a 10-yard sack. Then, jr. LB Totey Boley easily made a pick in the end zone to end any kind of threat. When Bartram took over the game plan was obvious. Give the ball to Clark! They did, and he went 0, 7, 2, and then the necessary one-yard on fourth down for the win. On the play, Casey put a decent shot on him around the one, but Clark was just to big to be denied and ultimately crashed over the goal line with room to spare. A rumor had it that Bartram celebrated wildly, but by that time daylight was pretty much non-existent, so I didn’t see much of it. Smile! Ok, how about some earlier highlights and numbers. Clark ended up with 3 rushing touchdowns (Also, 3-yard run in 2nd QT) and 117 yards on 21 lugs. He also had a pair of conversion runs. He was just inserted as the #1 running back a week ago (17-164 vs Furness), but  the Bartram brass has to like what they see here. In the mold of a Craig “Ironhead” Heyward this kid takes no prisoners with his running style. Talk about delivering a blow. Also, he shows the ability to be light on his feet. He bears watching next season. Pritchette scored on a 55-yard punt return (Key block from DB Brian Siv) and combined for 184 all-purpose yards (Including 3-for-12, 68 yards passing). WR Michael Washington (2-40) made a tremendous, 37-yard diving catch to set-up a score. Defensively, Bartram forced five turnovers. Picks were had by Pritchette, Siv (5 tackles), and Boley. Powell (fumble recovery) had 1.5 sacks and 8 total tackles, including four for losses totaling 23 yards. Sr. LB Darrien Imes (fumble recovery) split a sack with Berry. Boley made 6 solo tackles, while sr. DT Fred Waters spilt a sack. For UC, Fenwick finished 12-for-21, for 150 yards and 3 scores. His first two TD passes (18 & 48 yards) went to the diminutive, but gutsy Lyles (7-75) who goes just 5’7”, 127-lbs according to the UC roster. The second of these scoring passes came out of a punt formation that saw Fenwick just step-up and heave a deep, high pass, that Lyles beautifully hauled in with a soft pair of paws.  Very nice! Lyles broke UC’s school record for yardage in a season today and now owns 778 yards this year. Khayri Young ’06 (776 yards) owned the previous record. Also, Lyles is in striking distance for the Pub season yardage record and needs just 84 yards (West Philly’s Eric Leslie ’10, 861 yards) in his team’s Thanksgiving Day game against Mastbaum. Also, contributing offensively for the Jags were Jefferson (5-75) through the air and Casey (12-46) on the ground. Defensively, Hall was stout throughout and ended with 11 stops, including two sacks and three other TFLs that accumulated a total of 34 yards in losses. Jefferson was active with 9 tackles and forced a fumble. Casey notched two sacks and five other solo tackles. Jr. DL Davon Wise recovered a fumble. Former SJ Prep player and assistant coach (Under Gil Brooks) David Hand is running the offense for Bartram these days. It was good to see him and I know his experience is helping this program. Also, had a good chat with Philly’s Top Cop (Smile), Tim “Scan the Man” Scanlan at halftime. Some of you will remember Tim as the security guard that has patrolled Bartram Field for at least two decades, maybe three. Also, ran into former West Catholic basketball player Nelson Davis ’87, who now works at Bartram.

Tim "Scan the Man" Scanlan

NOV. 4
PCL 3A FIRST ROUND
Bonner 20, O’Hara 14
  For three quarters the teams were partaking in a good, but not overly action-packed contest. However, when the final stanza finally came around boy did things pick-up. What was probably a 6 or 7 out of ten scale type game, quickly skyrocketed to a 10+++. Man, but what an enjoyable and exciting fourth quarter these two clubs put forth at Widener’s Quick Stadium. Talk about twists and turns galore. This baby had it all and the teams kept everyone on the edge of their seats right down to the final play. Ok, let’s set the stage. Do you have an hour? Smile! With the score still, 14-7 Bonner, the Lions were in punt formation two plays into the final quarter. Bonner’s soph. LB Kyle Dawson broke through the line and got a considerable chunk of soph K/P Steve Weyler’s kick, but the ball still had enough momentum to travel about 20 yards downfield. At this point, a Friar tried to catch the bouncing ball, but immediately lost control, thus causing a mad scrum for the loose pigskin. When the dust had settled, Lions’ sr. LB Pat Funchion secured the rock at his own 38-yard line. To this point, O’Hara had manage just three total first downs, but looking to capitalize on the newly found momentum, a deep pass was called, and soph. QB Dashawn Darden hit a wide open sr. RB/DB Jay Watkins in stride down the middle of the field. This 62-yard touchdown tied the game up at 14-14 with 10:51 to play. Showing little signs of feeling sorry for themselves, the Friars started their subsequent drive at their twenty after a Weyler touchback. They proceeded to march 80 yards on 11 plays for the go-ahead score with 5:27 left in the game. Five different Friars handled the ball during the drive. Sr. RB Abraham Jaward made a 14-yard reception and a 14-yard run on the series. Jr. QB/DB Jim Haley had first down producing runs of 6 and 20 yards. Sr. RB Ismir Gibson, who returned to action for the first time since week one, scored on a 9-yard toss to the left, but a hold nullified the run. However, on the very next play, Haley improvised in the pocket, as first he traveled to the right, then came back to the left, before calmly flicking a pass to sr. WR/DB John McGilligan for a 12-yard score. Many of the O’Hara coaches were screaming for an illegal forward pass call, saying that Haley had crossed the line of scrimmage. I didn’t notice it, so I can’t say for sure if their beef had legs. Anyway, this gave the Friars the 20-14 lead after the point-after attempt failed. The Lions looked to be dead when Darden fumbled the snap from center on their first play following Bonner’s go-ahead score. The Friars’ jr. DL Joe Smith recovered the fumble at O’Hara’s 21-yard line with 5:15 left. To O’Hara’s credit they stiffened and held Bonner without a first down, which allowed them to take over with 3:02 left. Back-to-back pass plays to Watkins (2-83) and soph. WR/DB Thaddius Smith netted 21 & 20 yards, respectively. Thus, bringing the ball down to Bonner’s 37-yard line. However, Darden’s next throw slipped through the hands of Watkins at the twenty-five and right into Bonner’s sr. WR/DB Eric Womack’s paws, who returned the ball 48 yards to the O’Hara thirty with 1:49 left. Ballgame, right? Not even close, folks. The Lions still had three timeouts left and they exhausted one after a 3-yard run by Jim Haley. Then, Jaward stormed 12 yards for a first down to the fifteen, so the Lions used timeout #2. O’Hara’s third and final timeout came after a 1-yard keeper by Jim Haley to the 14-yard line. Just 1:32 showed on the clock at this point. I thought to myself should Bonner just take two knees and exhaust most of the clock, but give the ball back to O’Hara deep it their own territory with probably 15-25 seconds left? Hmmm, what to do? Well, the Friars decided to run it again, this time with Jaward, who appeared to be roaring in for a touchdown when out of nowhere, O’Hara sr. DB/WR/RB Damiere Shaw took the ball right out of his hands at roughly the three-yard line. Initially, I thought, he’s going to score, but Bonner fortunately had a couple of players along the sidelines who were able to bring him down after only a 12-yard return to the fifteen. Unbelievable! Ok, the Lions had no timeouts and still needed to go 85 yards with 1:22 left. To start the series Darden misfired twice, then on third down found soph. WR Chris Colvin for 8 yards to the 23-yard line. However, Colvin was tackled in-bounds, so the clock continued to run, until Bonner called timeout with 52 seconds left. Head-scratcher of epic proportions????? Not sure what happened here, as I was on the O’Hara sideline. Anyway, not only did it give the Lions a chance to stop the clock, but also a chance to breathe a little, and obviously set-up a play. Naturally, Darden connected with Shaw for 13 yards to the 36-yard line, and to boot he got out of bounds with 45 seconds left. We have a pulse! Until, Darden is sacked by Bonner’s sr. DE Cody Sutton for a loss of six on the next play. Ballgame, right? Try again, my friends! The Lions quickly regrouped and Darden found Shaw (2-48) over the middle and heading down the Bonner sidelines for a gain of 35 yards to the Bonner 35-yard line. To complicate matters for the Friars a late hit on Shaw occurred and another fifteen was tacked on. Now, O’Hara is at the 20-yard line with 17.5 seconds left. Following this, Darden hit Smith (3-37) for 4 yards to the sixteen with 13.2 left. An incomplete pass was next at 8.8 seconds. O’Hara lined-up offsides and the ball moved back to the twenty-one following this. Form here, Darden hit Smith for 13 yards to the 8-yard line with 3.5 seconds left. On O’Hara’s last ditch effort they overloaded the left-side of the field and rolled Darden to that side. His throw went into heavy traffic, but somehow hit Smith’s hands and bounced upwards. As Smith hit the ground first, the ball headed towards him soon after, but he just couldn’t secure it before it hit the ground and the game ended. Wow! Let me be clear, this was not a clean drop, and would have been a terrific catch if the youngster could have held on. Shaw and Watkins were also in the area, as were Womack and sr. LB/TE Joe Haley for Bonner. Let’s recap just the fourth quarter in terms of some numbers. The teams combined for 365 all-purpose yards over the final twelve minutes and ran 35 plays from scrimmage. For Bonner, the offense accumulated 340 yards of offense, including 241 yards on the ground. They ran 66 plays! Jim Haley (8-for-18, 99 yards) combined for 147 yards of rushing (15-48) and passing. He added a nice 23-yard scoring pass to sr. WR Paul Pfeffinger. Jaward, who often lined up as fullback in front of Gibson, rushed for 90 yards on 13 carries and made 3 catches for another 26 yards. He scored Bonner’s first TD on a 11-yard run. Gibson showed shiftiness and slashing ability for his 82 yards on 17 totes. The offensive line consisted of sr. C Domenic DiGalbo, sr. G’s Ronnie Scull and Tyler Ramirez, and T’s jr. Angelo Masorli and sr. Thomas Murtha. Defensively Scull made an interception. Sutton (6 tackles) and jr. DE Dominic Tony each registered sacks. Joe Haley hustled for 6 solo tackles. For O’Hara, I really liked how Darden hung in there after an uneventful first half. He displayed poise and didn’t seem the least bit overwhelmed during his team’s comeback bid. All total, he ended 9-for-20, for 188 yards. All of these yards came in the second half and 174 of them came in the final quarter. Watkins added a 1-yard TD early, as this followed his 64-yard romp to the one-yard line. He combined for 151 yards rushing/receiving, while Shaw netted 85 yards in the same manner. O’Hara gained 173 of their 291 yards in the fourth quarter. Defensively, jr. DB Joe DeMaio was everywhere with 13 total tackles. Other leaders here were: jr. LB Brandon Chatmon (nine), Funchion (eight), sr. LB Vic McWilliams (seven solos), and sr. LB John Pontarelli (six). Sr. DE Shane Johnson and jr. DL Nick Moriconi each notched sacks. For Bonner, this was their first taste of a playoff victory since ’04, when they knocked off Roman, 16-12. Good crowd on hand for this, as I’d venture to say somewhere in the 2,000 area.

OCT. 28
CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 28, SJ Prep 17
  There were still nearly fifteen minutes left on the pre-game clock and this one started with a -- BANG! How so? Well, a fairly sizable Hawks’ student section had already formed on the visitor’s side of the field at Plymouth-Whitemarsh H.S. And when a local TV camera headed their way, the Prep rowdies naturally entered Berserk-ville. But it didn’t last for long, as the railing gave way and rows upon rows of students fell on top of each other. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Quite the site, folks, as I caught it all from the opposite sidelines. Moving onto the game itself, but man, was this a goody! In front of a huge, overflow crowd. I’d venture to say 6,000+, the Explorers scored 28 unanswered points to overcome a 17-0 Hawks lead. Thus, allowing them to secure the top seed in the PCL 4A playoffs that will begin next week. Early on, the Hawks really had La Salle on their heels, and for a while it didn’t seem like the Explorers would ever get comfortable. On the game’s first play, sr. QB Matt Magarity, who played a strong game, fumbled on a 12-yard run, but jr. two-way lineman Tom Spiteri secured the lose rock and advanced it another nine yards. However, LaSalle wouldn’t be as fortunate on their next play. After connecting with sr. WR Colin Buckley (5-73) on a quick, short slant, the ball was jarred loose by Hawks’ franchise sr. QB/DB Skyler Mornhinweg. Jr. Pat McCabe recovered at the 49-yard line. On second down. Mornhinweg found a WIDE open sr. WR Jim Hurley for 40 yards to the four. From here, jr. RB Joe Lavalle (16-63) stormed in for the touchdown just 1:24 into the game. The Hawks momentum continued as we entered the second quarter when they capped a 9-play, 61-yard drive with a nice 34-yard hook-up between Mornhinweg and soph. WR Jawan McAllister (4-48). With 11:06 left in the second quarter the Hawks had built a 14-0 lead. Interestingly, La Salle was hit with not one, but two 15-yard penalties during this sequence. First, there was pass interference on the touchdown play, so the Hawks opted to enforce this on the kickoff. Then, on the extra-point the Explorers roughed the kicker. Afterwards, the Hawks were kicking off from the La Salle 30-yard line. So, naturally, they tried an onside kick and a recovery was made by soph. RB/DB Vince Moffett at LaSalle’s 21-yard line. Ohh baby!! From here, the Hawks would tack on a field goal on jr. K Kyle Battin’s 27-yarder. A promising La Salle drive took place next, as they held the ball for 11 plays, but it ended with an interception by sr. FB/LB Eric Medes about a half-yard into the end zone. Not really knowing where he was he started a return, but was brought down at the two. Three plays later, the Explorers regain some life when jr. WR/DB Sean Coleman intercepted a Mornhinweg pass over the middle and returned it 10 yards to the Hawks’ 36-yard line. Two plays following this, Magarity nicely found Coleman streaking down the right sidelines for a 34-yard touchdown. A bobbled snap led to sr. TE/LB Mike Piscopo somehow finding jr. FB Chris Kane for a two-point conversion. Just 2:14 remained on the first half clock and the score would remain, 17-8, as the teams entered the locker rooms. To start the second half the teams traded punts. Then, the turning point hit us. Moffett, on his only carry, raced 35 yards to the La Salle 36-yard line. On the very next play, Hurley brilliantly went over a LaSalle defender to pull down a pass from Mornhinweg for a touchdown. But wait! We had laundry along the Hawks’ sidelines, as they were called for an illegal formation penalty. I was standing right there, but I can’t comment if it was a deserving flag or not. It was one of those defenders-lined-up-over-the tight-end jobs. For what it’s worth, I didn’t hear too much bickering from the Hawks’ staff. Anyhow, the drive continued and the Hawks even advanced far enough to attempt a 33-yard field goal, but Battin pulled his kick slightly to the left. One has to wonder how the game would have transpired if that TD had counted, or even if the FG had been good. Oh well, door left open, Explorers looking to do what they do best - Get it done! It only took La Salle two plays to cover 80 yards and make it a 17-15 game. Magarity started the drive with a 50-yard QB-keeper on an option to the left, that saw him cut it back to the right and head down his team’s sidelines. This was followed by a 30-yard scoring run by sr. RB Tim Wade (11-45), who first took advantage of a gaping hole on the left side of the line and then a good downfield block by Coleman. The Hawks’ next possession ended with a sack by jr. DL David Losier on Mornhinweg. This would spearhead La Salle’s go-ahead series. Three plays into the fourth quarter, the Explorers were faced with a fourth-and-9 from the Hawks’ 32-yard line. With a blitz coming, Magarity held onto the ball, slightly advanced up in the pocket, and flicked an on-the-money pass to sr. WR Casey Eidenshink on a deep right-to-left slant pass for the touchdown. Clutch! This was only Eidenshink’s second catch of the season. Always great to see a kid who might not play as much make such a huge contribution in a meaningful game. He’ll have this story to tell for decades to come. The Hawks would have two more possessions with the score, 21-17, but failed to muster any kind of threat, as twice they went three-and-out and settled for punts. La Salle would put one of the final nails in the coffin with a 6-play, 42-yard drive, that was capped by a Wade 3-yard scoring run with 1:40 left. Big play on the series was a 22-yard pass play on a fade from Magarity to Buckley to the SJP’s three. The Hawk’s final threat ended with 40.7 seconds left on an interception by sr. DB Ryan Otis. For my money, Magarity was the star for the Explorers in this one. And he needed to be with Wade still nursing a tender ankle. Magarity collected 274 yards of offense in the game. He ran for 86 yards on 11 lugs, and passed 12-for-23, and 188 yards. All total, the Explorers managed 380 yards of offense. The O-line got better as the game wore on and included; sr. C Connor Kerrigan (6’4”, 260), G’s jr. Patrick Hoffman (6’4”, 265) and Spiteri (6’2”, 250), and T’s sr. Matt Maginnis and sr. Dan Wasylenko. Coleman managed 126 all-purpose yards. Also, jr. RB Jared Herrmann (7-33) did some effective and needed rushing late in the game. Defensively, sr. LB John Palermo was everywhere, as witnessed by his game-high 13 tackles (9 solos). Other solid contributors in the tackling area were; Piscopo (six), jr. DB Dad Poquie (six), and jr. DB Chris Rocco (five). Sr. DL Tyler Kern notched a sack. For the Hawks, Mornhinweg accumulated 234 yards of passing/rushing. He passed 16-for-29, for 155 yards, while carrying the ball 17 times for 79 yards. To be honest with you, but I would have let him carry it 30 times tonight. On designed QB running plays he really never got stopped, and always seemed to get at least 4, 5, 6 or more yards. His main target was Medes (6-49). Defensively, I left impressed with jr. DE Todd Jones for the second straight week. He finished with 9 total stops, including four for losses (.5 sack). Sr. DB Dan Sherry and sr. LB Dan Mancini evenly split twelve stops. Sr. DL Pete DellaPorta notched a half-of-sack. The Hawks finished with 327 yards of offense.  Next week’s PCL 4A semifinal will feature #1 La Salle vs. #4 Father Judge and #2 SJ Prep vs. #3 Roman. No reason why we shouldn’t have a couple of terrific weeks of action settling this division.

OCT. 23
CATHOLIC AAA
O’Hara 60, Carroll 24
  And on the seventh day God said --- Let there be no competitive high school football games in the Catholic League. Phew! Throughout the years the Philadelphia Catholic League always featured a game or two on Sundays to satisfy those who weren’t interested in watching the Eagles, raking leaves off the lawn, making a pit stop at the local Home Depot, or doing whatever else people do on Sundays. However, in recent years this tradition has occurred less and less. Today, there were not one, but two PCL games across the area, but after seeing the results, then maybe it’s time to keep all such games on the more frequent Friday nights or at some point on Saturday. Smile! The Lions in this one, and Wood up in Warminster, rolled by the collective score of 109-to-30. As for this baby, but the Lions roared by scoring an amazing 37 points in the opening quarter, and doing so in a 6:41 stretch. Wow! This is how the carnage went: Sr. WR/RB/DB Damiere Shaw capped O’Hara’s opening possession with a 4-yard run with 8:42 left. The drive covered 61 yards on 8 plays. For the conversion, Shaw flipped to sr. LB Vic McWilliams after a bad snap to make it 8-0. Carroll’s first possession ended when sr. LB John Pontarelli sacked (His 2nd sack of the drive) Carroll jr. QB Sal Bello and forced a fumble. Jr. LB Brandon Chatmon recovered at the Carroll 27-yard line. Three plays later, sr. RB/DB Jay Watkins took a toss around the left-side for a 24-yard score. The Lions lit up the scoreboard again when sr. DE Shane Johnson blocked, recovered, and returned a punt 1-yard for a touchdown. On the second play of Carroll’s next series, Johnson did something that I have never seen in all my years of covering HS football. After taking the snap from center, Bello went to his right on what appeared to be some kind of stretch running play. Johnson broke through the line and just took the ball off of Bello as he held it out, and easily trotted in from 28 yards for another score. Following this, McWilliams again snatched a two-point conversion throw (This time from soph. K/P Steve Weyler) after a faulty snap. Moving on, but things continued to get downright ugly for the Pats, as a backwards pass was mishandled, allowing Chatmon to recover his second fumble of the quarter at the Carroll 37-yard line. Wasting little time, the Lions struck on their first play, as Shaw neatly accepted a perfectly thrown left-to-right slant pass from soph. QB Dashawn Darden for a 37-yard touchdown. This capped a sequence that witnessed the Lions score four touchdowns on four consecutive opportunities to handle the ball. With 2:01 left in the opening quarter we were already in mercy rule land (37-0), though that wouldn’t begin until after halftime. Carroll ran 14 offensive plays in the first quarter that netted minus-26 yards. Ouch! It literally seemed like once the ball was snapped that an O’Hara defender, or two, or three, were in Bello’s grill. In the second quarter, the lead would expand to 47-0 after Darden connected with Watkins for a 79-yard touchdown pass and Weyler belted a 39-yard field goal. Carroll finally punched one in with 1:27 left before the intermission. Jr. LB Sage Stevenson (Forcing) and jr. DB Ben Lerario (Recovering) teamed up on a fumble at the O’Hara 5-yard line. From here, Bello flipped to jr. RB Mark Collins for the touchdown, making the score 47-6. As we moved to the second half, the Lions lost some of their edge, and to Carroll’s credit they continued to play, even experienced some elation, and one of their players entered the record books. Nice! The Patriots went onto score three third quarter touchdowns. Two plays into the quarter, Bello beautifully hooked-up with sr. WR/DB/KR Teron Dobbs on a 63-yard post pattern. Then, O’Hara fumbled on their first play, with jr. DL Evan Harvey recovering at the Lions’ 29-yard line. Two plays later, jr. RB/DB Dan Bier took a counter in from seven yards out, making the score 47-18. In the final minute of the quarter, O’Hara eclipsed the half-of-century mark on a 2-yard run by Watkins (12-56). However, Carroll answered in kind when Collins somehow found Dobbs on a 60-yard halfback pass for another score. I say somehow because even though Dobbs was open by a lot the ball was underthrown and headed right to Shaw, but it slipped through his hands and right into Dobbs’, who easily did the rest. The lone scoring in the final quarter came on the game’s last play and I’m not sure how it sits with the Carroll people. After a Shaw interception and 24-yard return to his 25-yard line ended Carroll’s last gasp of a threat, the ball was placed down and the play whistled in. O’Hara, with backups in the game, sort of rushed onto the field. There was clearly only time for one more play and on this chance they handed the ball off to jr. FB/LB Tarron Dunbar, who broke through the line and went 75 yards for a touchdown. As he crossed the goal line only four seconds remained and the clock continued to run, expiring without an extra-point attempt. I don’t think O’Hara’s intentions were to score, nor do I think they even expected to score with the play they ran. In my opinion, I just think they wanted to get a few backups the taste of some action. It was just one of those things. I got out of there rather quickly, but I didn’t notice any nasty stares or comments coming from Carroll’s sidelines. As for some numbers, but O’Hara received a strong outing from their young quarterback (Darden). He finished 8-for-13 (At least two drops that I recall) for 180 yards (2 TDs). He also chipped in with 46 yards on 4 carries, with all of these chances coming off scrambles. Maybe, a designed keeper with him could be in the offering moving forward, he displays good feet and decent instincts. Shaw was his favorite target (5-80), while Watkins combined for 138 yards of rushing/receiving. O’Hara’s grunts included: soph. C Kevin Campbell, G’s sr. Joe Kelley and jr Tyler Dinnella, and T’s jr. Carmen Cervella (6’1”, 305) and soph. J. Kraiza. The Lions accumulated 351 yards in offense. Defensively, O’Hara forced SEVEN Patriot turnovers. Interceptions went to Shaw, sr. LB Pat Funchion, Dunbar, and Chatmon. Ponarelli made five totals stops (2 sacks; TFL, 17 yards total). Meanwhile, McWilliams, Chatmon, Johnson, Dunbar, and jr. DB Joe DeMaio each made four tackles. Jr. DL Nick Moriconi added a sack. Chatmon got his bell rung late in the game on a vicious, but clean crackback block that saw his helmet come flying off. He was down for a moment or two, but seemed to be ok once getting to the bench. For Carroll, the gifted Dobbs, who has been the Patriots’ headliner all year, made five catches for 178 yards (2 TDs). Thus, breaking the 37-year school record of 176 yards by Mike Saksa in ’74. Congrats on this! He also added another 129 yards on five returns and a single yard on a rush. All total, he managed 308 all-purpose yards in the game. Bello ended with respectable numbers, completing 11-of-18, for 188 yards. Collins (4-40) was his next best receiver. Bier (4-30) was Carroll’s most productive rusher. He also added 72 yards on three returns. Defensively, I thought Stevenson played a strong game, as he hustled for a game-high 10 tackles (7 solos). Sr. LB Jake Peabody had a sack, while sr. DL Bill Ghaul made two TFLs. Is it me or are there more turnovers in games these days? In the last six of seven games (Excluding last week’s MB/OH clash) that I have covered, the losing teams have combined to give the ball away 38 times. Whoa!! Or, maybe, it’s just the level of competition between the teams in these games. In those six games the winning team has won by an average margin of 38.2 points.

OCT. 22
CATHOLIC AAAA
SJ Prep 42, Roman 20
  OK, so who saw this one coming? Not so much that the Hawks couldn’t win this game, but it was the manner in which they did so that impressed yours truly. Man, did they play well, especially from the latter part of the second quarter on. Sure, they benefited from SEVEN Cahillite turnovers, but even so, I still detected that the Hawks were the team playing at a higher level for most of the game. For my money, the game swung in the Hawks' favor late in the second quarter, and Roman holding a 14-7 lead. The Hawks were faced with a 3rd-and-five from their thirty-six yard line. On the play, star sr. QB/DB Sklyer Mornhinweg lofted a deep pass in the direction of jr. TE/DB Dan Sherry, who made just a splendid, diving, over-the-shoulder catch for 36 yards to the Roman 28-yard line. It was just a clutch play by Sherry, who already had two interceptions in the game, with his second going for a 25-yard touchdown that provided the Hawks their first points of the game. On the very next play, Mornhinweg took a keeper 24 yards to the four. A holding call on Roman moved the ball up to the two, then sr. FB/LB Eric Medes bulled in for the touchdown from there. On the point-after attempt the Cahillites went offsides, and this prompted the Hawks to send their offense back onto the field. As he does so often, Mornhinweg made something out of nothing while being chased, and he neatly flipped a pass to soph. RB Vince Moffett in the back part of the end zone to give the Hawks 15-14 lead with 1.27 left in the opening half. The final minute of the half was a wild one, as the teams combined for three interceptions. First, Keir was picked-off as star jr. WR/DB Will Fuller tapped a pass on a rocket screen right into the hands of sr. LB Pete Siki. The Hawks couldn’t capitalize, though, as Roman sr. DB Darryl Mintz made a nice pick in the end zone with 33 seconds left. Then, on the very next play, Keir was picked-off for the fourth time in the opening half by frosh. RB/DB John Reid, who returned the ball 22 yards to the Roman 3-yard line. Two plays later, Mornhinweg hit a wide open Moffett on the right-side for an easy touchdown with 14.6 seconds left. Building off the momentum they developed late in the first half, the Hawks wasted little time putting their foot on the throats of Roman to start the second half. They needed just four plays to march 66 yards and their third touchdown in the last 2:49 of game action. Reid (3-23) started things with a 9-yard run. Moffett (12-46) followed with runs up the middle for 4 & 13 yards. The capper was 40-yard keeper by Mornhinweg around the left-side where he went untouched down his team’s sidelines. Following this, Roman managed one first down on their subsequent possession, but soon after were punting. Again, the Hawks started a drive at their 34-yard line and once again they flexed some major muscle. No, they didn’t zip right down the field as they did on their last drive, as this series needed 13 plays to find paydirt. Still, their point was made. Three times Mornhinweg was involved in third down conversions. First, he swung a pass to Moffett for 13 yards. Then, he scrambled for 9 yards to the Roman 7-yard line. Lastly, he fired a pass to jr. TE Shane Williams for a 7-yard touchdown and a commanding 36-14 lead with 2:40 left in the third quarter. From here, things just continue to spiral out of control for Roman. Fuller supplied a 39-yard kickoff return to the Hawks’ 40-yard line to provide a little life, but three plays into the series sr. LB Dan Mancini forced a fumble and jr. DL Tim Rafter recovered. Roman’s next possession would also end with a fumble on a faulty snap from center. This time jr. Todd Jones, who was impressive all night, made the recovery. Bad things happen in threes, right? Well, Roman’s next possession ended with Keir’s fifth pick of the game. The Hawks’ recipient this time with Medes who returned it 35 yards to the the Roman 27-yard line. Four plays later, Medes trotted in from the ten-yard line to give his team a resounding 42-14 advantage. Alright, how about some individual numbers? First, I need to be clear, but this was complete team effort by the Hawks. They pretty much received a contribution from everyone that saw time. Of course, it all begins and ends with Mornhinweg, who simply put, is just a TERRIFIC high school football player. The kid just gets it done. Tonight, he passed for 11-20, for 106 yards and 2 scores and rushed for 108 yards on 14 carries and another score. On defense he added 5 solo tackles. In many cases it’s not the overall numbers that impresses you about him, but the manner and timely fashion in which he does things during games. The Hawks don’t overwhelm you with gifted athletes all over the field, but what they lack in pure skill, they more than make-up for with grit and savvy. The boys on the O-line need to be mentioned, especially for their performance on those first two back-breaking drives of the second half. This unit included: sr. C James Udovich (6’3”, 270 lbs), sr. G Peter Kelly, jr. G Chris Koilor, sr. T Luke Hutkin (6’2”, 255 lbs), and jr. T David Tracz. Williams (TE) and Medes (FB) were also instrumental in allowing the Hawks to accumulate 314 yards of offense. Defensively, tackling leaders consisted of; Mancini (eight), Jones (seven, 3 TFLs), Medes (five, sack), Siki (four), and Sherry (four). For most of the night the freshman Reid was matched-up with the gifted Fuller, and the youngster was pivotal in holding Roman’s top receiving threat without a single reception. The Hawks had five interceptions in eight games heading into this one. They matched that number tonight. Also, their picks didn’t end at the point of the interception. All five of them had a return attached to it and all together the returns added up to 97 yards. For Roman, the talented Keir had a night he mostly likely will want to forget as soon as possible. This team is just too talented to turn the ball over seven times in a single game. Keir’s final numbers were 9-for-22, for 98 yards. He added a late 5-yard touchdown and earlier in the game made a really nice play to avoid a Hawk rusher before flipping to sr. RB/DB Marcus Kelly (3-31) for a 24-yard touchdown. Kelly finished with 149 yards on 15 carries, including a 93-yard jaunt on a 3rd-and-17 play. This actually gave the Cahillites a 14-7 lead at the time. Marcus’ young brother, Demitri Kelly (4-44) showed some explosion and speed on a late 34-yard run that set-up Keir’s scoring run. Keep an eye on this kid down the line. Actually, probably as soon as next year. Roman’s HC Joe McCourt spoke about him to me before the season started. Just on that one run you can sense that special might go next to his name down the line. Defensively, Mintz (TFL, pass defend) had some good moments out on the corner. Sr. LB Kenneth English was VERY active and battled for 13 tackles (7 solos). Sr. LB Brett Pellicciotti was next with eight stops, then sr. DB Taishan Tucker (4-47 receiving) made seven tackles. Sr. OL/DL Tyrone Brown notched a sack and had two other TFLs. Fuller and soph. DE Hez Trahan evenly split 10 tackles. A year ago The Hawks put a similar pasting on Roman in the regular season, but two weeks later were beaten by the Cahillites in the playoffs. It’s reasonably conceivable that these two teams could lock horns with one another again in two weeks. However, the Hawks can still capture the top spot in the division if they can knock-off arch-rival La Salle next weekend to end the regular season.

OCT. 21
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 39, Neumann-Goretti 0
  For the third straight week against a league opponent the Burrs wasted little time establishing control. And for the third straight week, they entered the locker room at halftime with a commanding lead. Tonight, the Burrs built an insurmountable 33-0 lead over the Saints by the intermission, and so far they have outscored their three league opponents to the tone of 103-0 in opening halves. A short 4-yard punt by the Saints after their opening possession gave the ball to the Burrs at N-G’s 29-yard line. On the very next play, jr. RB Dave Williams pin-balled his way in for the game’s first score. N-G’s next series ended with a three-and-out. This time the Saints managed a better punt, but sr. QB Jaleel Reed fielded the bouncing ball, shifted fields, and broke a few tackles for a 72-yard touchdown. The Saints next try would end with an West interception by sr. DB Blaise Schieler at the Burrs’ 42-yard line. A short time later, sr. RB Jalil Shoatz sped in from 20 yards to give West a 21-0 lead with 2:41 still left in the opening quarter. The Burrs would score twice more in the second quarter. First, Reed took a keeper around the left-side for a 14-yard score. Then, sr. DB Dalvin Newell zipped 76 yards on a punt return with just 18 seconds left in the half. This was the second time in as many weeks that Newell has found the end zone on a punt return in the waning seconds of the opening half. Last week, he returned a punt with just 2.5 seconds left against Conwell-Egan. In the second half, the Burrs would send the game into mercy rule status when Shoatz capped the Burrs’ opening drive of the second half with a 24-yard run. West would end the game with 297 yards of offense, including 283 yards on the ground. They also managed 213 yards on four returns. Williams (8-76), Shoatz (5-62), and soph. RB/DB Rae’Quan Williams (5-55) led the way on the ground. Williams’ totals allowed him to surpass the 1,000-yard barrier (Currently at 1,030 yards). This is the 12th straight year the Burrs have produced a 1,000-yard rusher, which is the longest current streak by any city team. Defensively, the Burrs held N-G to 110 yards of total offense and notched four interceptions. After sr. DB Tyler Gallashaw’s pick, the fourth by the team in the game, I mentioned to WC Head Coach Brian Fluck that it was the team’s 11th pilfer in the last three games, after not having any in the first five. Fluck shot back with, “That’s because we didn’t cover anyone in the first five games.” Ha ha. Actually, West did have one pick versus Haverford School in week four that I forgot about, but Fluck’s comment was funny nonetheless. Sr. LB T-J Waters and jr. DB Shaquille James made the two other picks. Tackle leaders were: sr. DL Devante Ford, sr. DE Alex Murray, sr. DL Christian Hawkins, and sr. DE Moigbeh Duwana, who each made four stops. Sr. LB Tristin Freeman registered a sack. For the Saints, who played the game somewhat shorthanded, as three regulars opted to attend a senior ring dance. What? Long story, but N-G’s athletic department thought the game was scheduled for tomorrow night and didn’t realize the conflict until this past Tuesday. When West was unable to switch dates, the Saints gave their players the choice of either playing in the game or attending the dance. Also, sr. QB Shane Thomas was unavailable due to a school issue. Jr. QB John Mastrando filled in for Thomas and finished 4-for-14 for 69 yards. His best moments were deep passes to jr. TE Sharif Custis (29 yards) and jr. WR Eric Holt (25 yards). Soph. RB Danny Murray (17-46) was the only N-G running back to garner a carry. Defensively, sr. LB Benny Coppola had some decent moments early and finished with 6 tackles (5 solos), while frosh. DB Jack Taylor hustled for six stops late.

OCT. 15
CATHOLIC AAA
Bonner 20, O’Hara 13
  This Delaware County rivalry between PCL schools is one of the better ones that we have in the area. But recently, as in the last decade, all bragging rights have gone to the Lions, who had bested Bonner 11 straight times (Including 2 playoff wins) since last losing to them in 2001. To make matters worse, but a lot of the games during this time frame haven’t been all that competitive, with an average score of 31-to-9. This kind of dominance can leave a bad taste in the mouths of all those associated with the school on the wrong end. Last year, Bonner showed that they were closing the gap some, despite a pair of reasonably close losses. This year? Well, it was finally time for the Friars to enjoy the spoils of victory. And at game’s end, even though I was on my way to my car as kneeldowns were taking place (Had a benefit to attend), the Bonner faithful in form of a strong and boisterous student turnout, rushed the field in celebration. Well-deserved! As for the game, but Bonner pretty much set the tone early. Even though O’Hara took the opening drive from their thirty-five to Bonner’s 25-yard line (10 plays), they couldn’t convert a 4th-and-ten chance to sustain the drive. When the Friars took over they wasted little time. First, jr. QB/DB Jim Haley hit sr. RB Abraham Jaward for seven yards. Jaward followed this with an 11-yard run. Then, Haley took a keeper 31 yards to to the O’Hara 26-yard line. Another first down put the ball at the 14-yard line, but back-to-back penalties left Bonner facing a 2nd-and-23. No sweat! Haley nicely connected with sr. WR/DB Eric Womack for 21 yards to the 6-yard line. On third down, and the last play of a rapidly-played first quarter, Haley kept the ball for two yards and a first down. On the second quarter’s first play, Haley took a snap from center and bulled his way in from the four. With no placekicker available, Haley neatly tossed to a wide open sr. FB/LB Sean Ferry in the right flat for a successful conversion and 8-0 lead. Bonner’s next chance came after O’Hara’s soph. K/P Steve Weyler lost a yard after trying to make something out of a poor snap while in punt formation. I thought after securing the ball, that he had a moment to get a kick off. Anyway, this gave Bonner the ball at their 41-yard line. An iffy pass interference call immediately followed this, putting the ball at the O’Hara 43-yard line. Five plays later, Haley beautifully lofted a pass down the right sideline that Womack reeled in for a 25-yard touchdown. Just 1:05 was left on the first half clock. With the score 14-0, the Friars had a nice drive to begin the second half, but they stalled at the O’Hara thirty-three. From here the Lions attempted to get back in the game. On second down, sr. RB/DB Jay Watkins ripped-off a 25-yard run to the Bonner forty-two. Next, soph. RB/WR/DB Thaddius Smith converted a third down with a 5-yard run to the thirty-one. A short time later, and faced with a 4th-and-four, soph. QB Deshawn Darden found Watkins right at the marker while he was being hit, but he shook-off this attempt, then another, before easily waltzing in for a 25-yard touchdown. The PAT was kicked into the line and with 2:42 left in the third quarter we had ourselves a one-score game at, 14-6. The Lions would have a golden opportunity to draw closer early in the fourth quarter. While in punt formation, the snap was sent over sr. P/DB Brian Dempsey’s head. Dempsey did a great job to chase down the ball and even get a kick off as Lion pursuers drew near, but the ball went out of bounds at Bonner’s 30-yard line. The original line of scrimmage was the Bonner 49-yard line. Great hustle by Dempsey, but his efforts only got him a minus-19 yard punt. Where’s the justice here? However. O’Hara’s drive went nowhere. Watkins was stopped for no gain by sr. LB/TE Joe Haley and sr. LB Cody Sutton on first down. Then, Darden misfired on three straight pass plays. Under a decent rush it appeared that Darden overshot receivers on two of these attempts. After this Bonner produced a 6-play 70 yard scoring drive with all runs. In fact, Ferry, Jaward, and Jim Haley each carried twice. Jaward produced runs of 12 & 14 yards, while Haley stormed across from 33 yards out for the throat-snatching score. On the TD run, just like his earlier run, he went under center, accepted the snap and just ran right up the middle. This made the score 20-6 with 6:57 left. O’Hara received some life when jr. WR/DB Joe DeMaio took the ensuing kickoff 64 yards to the Bonner 15-yard line. But once again, O’Hara would go no further. Tackles by jr. DB Nate Hall and jr. LB Joshua LaMarra on run plays were good for no gain, while Jim Haley and Hall added pass defends on a couple of tosses by Darden. Bonner’s next possession yielded one first down then a punt. With the clock under two minutes the Lions went on the attack. Darden connected with Watkins for 36 yards, then with soph. WR Chris Colvin for another 22 yards to the Bonner 5-yard line. An intentional spike and incompletion followed, but then Darden found sr. RB/WR/DB Damiere Shaw for a 5-yard score with 1:25 left. Bonner was also hit with a personal foul penalty after the play, so the Lions were afforded the opportunity to try their onside kick from the Bonner forty-five. Weyler’s kick was nicely struck, but sr. WR Paul Pfeffinger, who goes 6’3”, calmly secured the ball above the pack. With no timeouts left for O’Hara that was the ballgame. Bonner gained 311 yards in the game. I was most impressed with the 141 yards on 21 tough carries that they churned out in the second half. Jim Haley accounted for 196 total yards (12 for 91, rushing), including 7-for-15, for 105 yards passing. Jaward, who has filled in admirably for sr. RB Ismir Gibson (hamstring), toughed-out 72 yards on 17 totes. Ferry rushed for an important 43 yards on 7 carries. Six of his totes came in the second half. Great job by the Bonner O-line! Members include: sr. C Dom DiGalbo, sr. G Tyler Ramirez, sr. G Ronnie Scull, sr. T Thomas Murtha, and jr. T Angelo Masorti. Defensively, the Friars used a team approach to keep O’Hara at bay for most of the afternoon. Joe Haley led with 7 tackles (6 solos). Sutton (2 TFLs) was next with 6 stops. Jim Haley added five stops. This kid has a nice combination of toughness and savvy. I really like the way he plays.  For O’Hara, Watkins led rushers with 56 yards on 9 totes, while adding 66 yards on a trio of catches. Shaw (Temple) really never got in the flow and didn’t have his number called all that much. He managed just 7 yards on 3 carries and 12 yards on a pair of receptions. For my money, he probably needs a few more touches. Darden was uneven at times and finished 9-for-21for 113 yards. On defense, DeMaio and sr. LB John Pontarelli each hustled for 9 tackles. Jr. LB Brandon Chapman added seven stops, while sr. LB Pat Funchion aided with six. Jr. DL Nick Moriconi registered a sack. At halftime, Bonner honored their 1961 Catholic League championship team.

OCT. 14
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 50, Conwell-Egan 0
  No need to sugarcoat this one, folks. But this baby was not pretty on the eyes. The undersized and out-manned Eagles struggled mightily, and any sense of competitive juices dissipated early. C-E would have 12 possessions in the game. In these possessions they ended up punting twice, they turned it over on downs twice (One of these came on a dropped snap while in punt formation), and they turned it over EIGHT times. Wait! They also muffed a punt, so that was NINE miscues that gave the ball over to the Burrs. And usually after taking possession the Burrs were in prime real estate to do a little damage. The Burrs’ longest scoring drive covered just 49 yards. Their other drives covered just 14, 26, 14, and 16 yards, respectively. Their last two scores came via returns. Sr. DB Dalvin Newell returned a punt 53 yards with just 2.5 seconds left in the opening half. This made the score 43-0. In the fourth quarter, sr. LB Nacir Carter returned an interception 41 yards. Offensively, the Burrs received three touchdown runs from jr. RB Dave Williams (9-60). Sr. QB Jaleel Reed rushed for a score and tossed a 36-yard touchdown to jr. WR/DB Shaquille James. Defensively, James, sr. DB Rashee Davis, sr. DB Kevin Malone, and Carter all notched picks. Fumble recoveries were had by sr. LB/OL T-J Waters (6th of the season), sr. DB Blaise Schieler, James (52-yard TD return on play negated by penalty), soph. LB Sholam Thornton, while soph. RB/DB Rae’Quan Williams recovered the muffed punt. In the tackles department, Malone (2 TFLs) and sr. DL Devante Ford evenly split ten. Waters and sr. LB Tristin Freeman (sack) hustled for four apiece. West’s defense held the Eagles to 40 yards of offense and just 4 first downs. Because of the short fields all night, the Burrs’ offense managed only 218 yards, but they did account for 206 yards on returns. For C-E, the had just one play of 10+ yards in the game; a 13-yard run by soph. RB/WR/DB Tim Bolton. On defense, jr. FB/LB Dan McLaughlin led with 7 tackles and a fumble recovery. Meanwhile,  soph. DB Dustin Mascione, sr. DB Mike McLaughlin, jr. LB Joe Jallah, and sr. DL Zach May all made four tackles apiece. With roughly two minutes left in the game, West soph. FB Kenny Nguyen, a deep sub, nearly bulled his way in while traveling backwards on a 10-yard run to the one. West HC Brian Fluck ordered a pair of kneel downs from there. Once again the Burrs won the penalty battle, as they outflagged the Eagles 12-to-1. Imagine that!

OCT. 8
CATHOLIC AAAA
SJ Prep 31, Ryan 3
  In just 5:50 of game action spanning over the last minute of the first half and the beginning of the third quarter, the Hawks turned a tight 7-3 lead into a comfortable, we-have-a-firm-grip 31-3 pasting. Up until the Hawks seized control the game was stagnant, with very little rhythm, as the teams combined for three lost fumbles and five punts. However, with 4:45 left in the first half the Hawks put forth a solid drive, but with the game clock approaching a minute it appeared that Ryan would hold, as the Hawks went back to punt from Ryan’s 37-yard line. This is when jr. P/TE/DB Dan Sherry lofted a high pass towards the SJP sideline that somehow found soph. WR Jawan McAllister for a first down at the 14-yard line. This baby was up there! Eventually, the Hawks would settle for a 24-yard field goal by jr. K Kyle Battin, giving them a 10-3 lead with 57 seconds left in the half. Looking to respond the Raiders made a critical mistake, that quite frankly, they would never recover from. On the first play from scrimmage following the FG, sr. QB Mike Anusky was picked off by frosh. RB/WR/DB John Reid at the Hawks’ 39-yard line. From here sr. QB/DB Skyler Mornhinweg (Penn St.) was brilliant in orchestrating a 61-yard touchdown drive. Excluding two intentional spikes, Mornhinweg went 4-for-4 passing. The first three completions of the series went to soph. RB/DB Vince Moffett for 21, 12, and 18 yards, respectively. Then, he calmly found sr. RB/TE/LB Eric Medes on an easy 10-yard slant with just 16 seconds left. As we moved to the second half, SJ Prep continued to build on this momentum, and unleashed a 10-play, 65-yard drive that was capped on a lovely pump-fake by Mornhinweg to sr. WR Jim Hurley, who easily beat two Ryan defenders on a stop-and-go for an easy-as-pie 22-yard touchdown. Mornhinweg then found jr. TE Shane Williams for a two-point conversion and a 24-3 lead. Two plays into Ryan’s next drive Mornhinweg showed his prowess on defense when he forced a fumble. Sr. LB Dan Mancini recovered at the Ryan 26-yard line. A Hawks’ penalty pushed the ball back to the thirty-one, then Mornhinweg wasted little time and nicely found a wide open McAllister down the middle of the field for another Hawks’ touchdown with 7:07 left in the third quarter. This would close out the scoring, as the Hawks allowed Ryan to do very little from their first possession of the game on. Ryan actually took a 3-0 lead on a strong 33-yard field goal by sr. Matt Martinez. Ryan moved from their 22-yard line to the Hawks’ sixteen on the drive before stalling. The big play was a 41-yard pass play from Anusky to sr. WR/DB Mike Palmer. Ryan managed a pair of first downs, but over their next ten possession they notched just one chain-mover. They did add two others on their next to last series, but the Hawks were on cruise control by this juncture. SJ Prep’s defense forced five turnovers in the game. Aside from Reid’s pick and Mancini’s fumble recovery, jr. RB/DB Joe Lavalle had an interception, while soph. DB Rob Disanto and jr. DL Paul Johnson recovered fumbles. Soph. LB Grant Williams and Medes forced fumbles. Mancini had a team-high 8 solo tackles. Sherry added five stops before succumbing to a shoulder injury late in the second quarter. Medes hustled for five stops. The Hawks held Ryan to just 21 yards rushing on 20 carries. Offensively, Mornhinweg really got good as the game wore on. Twice he fumbled early in the game, but he did more than make-up for these miscues. He successfully completed his last eight pass attempts and finished 11-for-18 for 147 yards overall, while also mixing in 119 yards on 15 carries. Not a bad day’s work, right? Moffett totaled 99 yards of rushing/receiving. Medes scored the Hawks’ first touchdown on a 2-yard run. The Hawks’ received great play up front on their way to 439 yards of total offense. This group includes: Sr. C James Udovich (6’3”, 270 lbs), G’s jr. Chris Koiler and sr. Pete Kelly, T’s jr. David Tracz and jr. Bill Dykan (6’7”, 245 lbs), and Williams at TE. For Ryan, Anusky battled for 132 yards on 12-for-21 passing. Palmer caught two for 63 yards. Defensively, the Raiders were on the field for loooonnnggg spurts and because of this racked up a lot of tackles. Sr. DL Chris McMonagle was strong and impressive throughout, finishing with a game-high 11 stops (8 solos). Soph LB Jesse Wireman and soph. DB Mark Ostaszewski evenly spilt 20 tackles. Others who posted good tackling numbers were; jr. DB Sam Dumond (nine), sr. LB Kevin Newell (seven), soph. LB Connor Golden (six), and sr. LB Lamar Richardson (five). Fumble recoveries went to Newell, Richardson, and Golden. Dumond and soph. DE Joe Hansbury forced fumbles. It wasn’t exactly the cleanest of games, either. The teams combined for eight turnovers and 19 penalties worth 163 yards. Also, there were at least two occasions when we had offsetting personal foul calls. All total, there were 110 plays run in this game (SJP with 69). Definitely got our money's worth today!

OCT. 7
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 45, McDevitt 7
  As myself and burrsfootball.com sidekick Matt “Cauls” McCauley were entering Widener’s Quick Stadium I noticed West’s Assistant AD Mary DeMasi just outside the stadium talking on the phone. I quipped to Cauls that something was up. Bingo! As in the Lancers were nowhere to be found. It was 7:10 and the game was slated to start at 7:30. Ugghhh!! I was already slightly annoyed that I was going to miss a chunk of the Phillies’ Game 5 against the Cardinals. Now this unneeded aggravation. The Lancers eventually arrived about five minutes later at 7:15, and the proceedings would begin at 7:40. Oh, yeah, I actually want to take the time to thank McDevitt for their tardiness because as it turns out the Phillies went on to lose 1-0, and to be honest I’m glad I wasn’t home to watch too much of that nonsense go down. OK, let’s move on before I punch a hole in my basement wall thinking about this 102-win team bowing out so early. Again, ugghhh! This baby lost its competitiveness early. Then again, maybe, it lost it somewhere on the Turnpike/Blue Route when McDevitt was stuck in gridlock traffic since 5 o’clock. Whatever the case, it was not a pretty night for the gold and black. For starters, jr. QB Christian Connor is currently hobbled on crutches with either an ankle/knee injury. With this the Lancers have a tough time throwing the ball and have to pretty much solely rely on the running of sr. RB Keith Young. On the game’s first possession Young managed a 9-yard run on third down to set-up a fourth-and-1 at the Burrs’ 35-yard line. In showing a nothing-to-lose mentality early, the Lancers went for it, but Young was thrown for a one-yard loss, as jr. DL Jarryd Jones-Smith (6’7”, 286 lbs) and sr. DB Blaise Schieler combined for the stop. After taking over it took the Burrs a while (10 plays), but they finally found the end zone when sr. QB Jaleel Reed found sr. WR Bruce Mapp near the goal line on a fourth down play. The Lancer defensive back had good position and actually got a hand on the ball, but Mapp was able to secure the floating pigskin and step over the line for an 11-yard score. West’s next possession would once again end with this combination. This time the Reed-to-Mapp duo would convert a 3rd-and-20 with a deep pass down the right sidelines. Reed hit Mapp in stride and the sleek receiver did rest on his way to a 72-yard score. The Burrs would make it three scores on three possession when jr. RB Dave Williams broke loose for a 37-yard touchdown run. After their next drive stalled, the Burrs would convert their fifth series with their fourth touchdown. Again, it was the Reed-to-Mapp formula. This time Mapp took in a nice toss from Reed on a 33-yard post pattern. While the Burrs’ offense was flying up and down the field, the defense was suffocating an immobile McDevitt offense. During BM’s first five possession they managed just 12 yards of offense and zero first downs. Things turned wild during the latter part of the second second. At one juncture, the Burrs were saddled with four personal foul calls. three of them came after a 77-yard run by Williams to the McDevitt 12-yard line. After the forty-five yards was marked-off, the Burrs were back at their 43-yard line. Phew! I’m not really one to knock the refereeing in games, and for proof of that feel free to check the hundreds of reports that I have written on this site, but it was a little one-sided in the opening half in my opinion. There was chippiness and the Burrs were guilty of some of it, but the McDevitt players were involved as well. Especially, on the sequence that saw West grab three personal foul penalties on that one play. Actually, Head Coach Brian Fluck received one of the three, as he argued at the disproportionate amount of hankies thrown in his team’s direction. At halftime, West had 10 penalties for 111 yards and McDevitt had 1-for-5 yards. West also had a 318-to-19 yards advantage at the intermission. Eventually, the Burrs would take the game into mercy rule land when they scored the first two times they had the ball in the second half. First, Reed scored on a 1-yard sneak, then soph. RB Greg White (3-83, 141 all-purpose yards on 4 touches) scored on a 14-yard run to make it 39-0 with 5:18 left in the third quarter. White who started the half with a 58-yard kickoff return, would later close out the scoring with an impressive 64-yard sprint. Williams finished with 201 yards on 20 carries. He played just one series in the second half and grabbed 178 of his yards before halftime. All total, West churned out 433 total yards, with 317 of them coming on the ground. The offensive line included: sr. C Tim Burns, G’s sr. T-J Waters and sr. Mike Makor, T’s Jones-Smith and sr. Eric Wyant, and sr. TE Brandon Calhoun. Defensively, the Burrs smothered McDevitt all night and forced five turnovers. Waters (5 tackles) recovered two fumbles (His 4th and 5th of the season already). Interceptions were had by sr. DB Rashee Davis (4 tackles), Schieler, and soph. DB Rae’Quan Williams. Sr. LB Tristin Freeman had a sack and two other tackles for losses. Sr. DE Alex Murray recorded three TFLs. Sr. LB Avery Davis (4 stops) added two TFLs. Sr. DB Dalvin Newell notched three pass defends. For McDevitt, Young did manage 113 yards on 20 carries. However, he accumulated 4-71 on BM’s lone scoring drive against West subs. The touchdown covered 16 yards. His first 15 carries produced just 20 yards. He did demonstrate some quickness and a burst on his latter runs. He entered the game as SE PA’s #2 rusher and surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Ironically, Young spent his first two years at West. Defensively, sr. DL Curtis Brooks led with 6 stops (sack). Sr. DE Brandon Parker (five), sr. LB Darren Wright (four), and jr. DB Gerald Fuller all chipped in with four stops apiece.

OCT. 1
NON-LEAGUE
O’Hara 44, Penn Wood 0
  At halftime, Penn Wood held a 32-to-13 play advantage, while O’Hara led in yards 82-73. Hmmm, sounds like we have a competitive game at the intermission, right? Umm, not exactly. The Lions led 42-0! Hard to imagine considering the aforementioned numbers. Good offense was merely a rumor in this one. However, the Lions excelled in two different areas. One, the punt return game. Secondly, in the forcing of fumbles, recovering of them, and subsequently returning of them. On the game’s second play, sr. DE Shane Johnson, who was a man possessed throughout, forced a fumble that saw the ball float right into the waiting hands of sr. RB/DB Damiere Shaw, who easily trotted in for the game’s first touchdown just 43 seconds into the game. The play covered 26 yards. PW’s next possession was a three-and-out and Shaw returned the punt 28 yards to the PW 13-yard line. Three plays later, sr. RB/DB Jay Watkins slid home on a 3-yard run. Early in the second quarter, Watkins returned a punt 37 yards to the PW 47-yard line. O’Hara’s one true drive started from here. Soph. QB Dashawn Darden passed 3-for-3 on the series, connecting with Watkins for 18 yards, then Shaw for 24 yards, and finally back to Watkins for a 4-yard score. The carnage was not nearly over, people. On PW’s next possession Johnson once again forced a fumble on a sack of the Patriots’ quarterback. Sr. LB Pat Funchion scooped-up the loose rock and rumbled 37 yards to the PW 15-yard line where he was horse-collared down. The penalty brought the ball to the 8-yard line and Darden wasted little time finding Shaw for the score on the next play. Moments later, Shaw was bobbing-and-weaving his way to his third touchdown with a 69-yard score on a punt return. He received a tremendous block from jr. DL Nick Moriconi on the return. If you’re scoring at home Shaw had three scores on three different manners (Fumble, pass, & punt). The end of the second quarter was mind-boggling. With the clock running towards a minute left, Penn Wood runs a play on second down. Before they get their next play off they are called for an offside penalty. With the clock still running and getting under ten seconds, they get called for a delay penalty. When the referee sets the ball, the time-keeper mistakenly starts the clock and it expires. But a delay penalty stops the clock and five seconds have to be put back up on the scoreboard. Damn! Penn Wood did their best to get into half without having to a run a play, but it just wasn’t meant to be. A QB run up the middle resulted in a fumble (forced by sr. LB Vic McWilliams) and Johnson easily picked the lonesome ball off the turf and scampered in from the 16-yard line with no time left on the first half clock. Good mercy! The second half scoring consisted of just a safety when an O’Hara lineman sacked the PW QB in the fourth quarter. I’d love to mention this kid’s name, but no #76 is listed on the roster. If someone wants to send me a note, then we’ll be happy to add this player’s name to the report. Very little happened in the second half, as 32 combined plays by the teams netted just 11 total yards. Ouch! No doubt Head Coach Dan Algeo and his staff are happy with the resounding win, but I’m pretty sure they are not pleased with the offensive execution in this one. However, Darden did show solid poise and nice accuracy by going 5-for-5 for 59 yards (All in 1st half). O’Hara’s ground game only produced 44 yards on 29 carries. The Lions did manage 155 yards on 4 punt returns, as Shaw amassed 118 of them on 3 returns. Defensively, Johnson was a like a pig in you know what. He forced two fumbles (one for score), recovered another for a score, registered a sack, batted a ball down at the line of scrimmage, and made 5 other tackles (1 TFL) in the game. Moriconi added five stops, with two going for losses. Jr. LB Brandon Chatmon (seven), Funchion (six) and McWilliams (five) were also active during their time in the game. The Lions’ defense limited the Patriots to just 64 yards of offense on 43 plays. Soph. K/P Steve Weyler had a good all-around game for the Lions. He successfully booted all six of his PAT attempts. He had two kickoffs go for touchbacks and two others that landed right at the goal line. His two punts went for 53 and 52 yards. Also, he accounted for O’Hara’ lone first down of the second half when he snagged a bad snap while in punt formation, and then raced for six yards. The Lions played without sr. OL Hunter Tierney (jaw) and soph. WR/DB Thaddius Smith (shoulder).

SEPT. 30
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 38, Ryan 13
 The Burrs' offensive woes in the early part of the season have been well documented to date, as they have totaled just 25 points in their first four games. Tonight, in a game played at Charlie Martin Stadium at Northeast HS, the Burrs slapped twenty on an upstart Ryan team in the first 6:23 of game action. These three scores, which came in three different phases of the game, helped propel West to a comfortable non-league victory. A Ryan three-and-out started the game and on the subsequent punt, West sr. QB Jaleel Reed fielded the bouncing ball in a little bit of traffic. He was able to make the first few guys miss, then broke a leg tackle around midfield before flying towards the West sidelines. The play covered 59 yards. Interestingly, Reed lost one of his cleats early in the run, but was still able to find the end zone despite being down the one shoe. Folks, he was just getting started in this one. Ryan’s next possession also produced another three-and-out, as sr. FB/TE/LB Tristin Freeman supplied a sack worth 11 yards. A short punt set up the Burrs at Ryan’s 33-yard line. Five plays later, Reed took a designed keeper around the left-end for a 19-yard score. A nifty 52-yard kickoff return by sr. WR Nick Le Van started Ryan’s next possession. Sr. QB Mike Anusky fielded the kick inside the five-yard line, where he quickly huddled with four other Ryan players. After a brief moment the huddle broke with Ryan players headed in all directions. Le Van went untouched towards the West sidelines and before he was brought down he had reached the West 44-yard line. However, two plays later disaster struck when West sr. DE Alex Murray stripped jr. RB Dylan Rowan. Freeman scooped up the loose pigskin and rumbled 63 yards after a last ditch tackle attempt by Anusky failed near midfield for the third West score of the opening quarter. The Burrs would increase their lead to 26-0 when jr. RB Dave Williams raced 46 yards for a score with 4:41 left in the opening half. Meanwhile, Ryan’s first six possessions produced just a single first down. They even failed on not one, but two fake punt tries. However, the Raiders would finally put together a quality drive, as they held the ball for 12 plays and marched 68 yards for their first score of the game. On fourth down from the ten-yard line, Anusky flipped the rock to Rowan on a nicely executed screen pass and touchdown. With just 47.4 seconds left in the half it appeared that Ryan had captured some momentum, but the Burrs weren’t finished. Williams ripped-off a long run to start the drive, but a holding penalty only allowed him to pick-up 16 yards. So, with the ball now resting at the West 27-yard line and the clock ticking towards zero, West was able to get one more play off, as Reed took a keeper towards the left, then eventually found himself side-stepping, skipping over, and racing away from all Ryan pursuers down the sideline. The play covered 73 yards and gave the Burrs a commanding 32-7 lead, as the first half clock expired. What a back-breaker! A key man-amongst-boys block was provided by sr. G Mike Makor. To begin the second half Reed would add another 47-yard touchdown run to make it, 38-7. His four carries in the game netted three scores and 146 yards. His two punt returns netted 62 yards and a score. All total, 6 touches 208 all-purpose yards and 4 TDs. Later in the quarter he would ding an ankle on another long run that got wiped out by a holding call. He left very gingerly and did not return. For the game, West amassed 375 yards of offense and every single yard came on the ground. Reed went 0-for-5 passing in the open half and no Burr QB attempted a pass during the final twenty-four minutes of action. Williams, also hurt his foot and left early in third quarter, but when he was in there he accounted for 145 yards on 17 totes. Soph. RB Greg White managed 70 yards late with 65 of them coming on one play. A tremendous diving tackle by sr. WR/DB Mike Palmer saved what appeared to be a 90-yard touchdown run. Great effort on the part of Palmer. West received solid play from the guys in the trenches. This unit includes: sr. C Tim Burns, sr. G’s Makor and T-J Waters, T’s sr. Eric Wyant and jr. Jarryd Jones-Smith, and sr. TE Brandon Calhoun. Making his first start at fullback Freeman did a solid job as well. Defensively, the Burrs were led by Waters with 9 solo tackles, including three for losses. Sr. LB Marquise Gordon (2 TFLs) and sr. DB Blaise Schieler evenly split ten stops. Freeman and sr. LB Avery Davis evenly split eight tackles. For Ryan, you can definitely see the improvement in their club compared to recent years. They already have the same amount of wins this year as they have had over the last three seasons combined. A tough road lies ahead, though, as PCL 4A league play begins next week. Their second score came on a wonderful diving catch by Palmer that covered 34 yards. This was the third time this kid really laid out for a ball. His first was also good for a 34-yard touchdown, but a penalty wiped that out. Still, on the next play he made a great diving catch that was good for 27 yards and ultimately set up Ryan’s first touchdown. Palmer finished with 3 snags for 70 yards. Anusky has a strong arm and some quick feet, but his prowess on the ground was neutralized by the Burrs in this one. He finished 10-for-22, for 107 yards. Rowan isn’t the biggest of backs, but he runs fearlessly and always hard. He churned out 71 tough yards on on 21 totes. On defense, jr. DB Sam Dumond led with 8 tackles (6 solos). Soph. LB Jesse Wireman was next with 6 stops. Also, soph. LB Connor Golden, sr. LB Kevin Newell, and sr. DL Chris McMonagle each made four tackles apiece. West has now won ten straight games at Charlie Martin Stadium dating back to 2006.

SEPT. 23
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 33, O’Hara 14
  A week ago Roman’s stars jr QB Michael Keir and jr. WR William Fuller had loads of fun in a 32-7 win over Chestnut Hill. Both players set school records in the game for passing and receiving, repsectively. Fuller actually set the city record for receiving in a game. Today, it was sr. RB/DB Marcus Kelly’s turn to frolic in the record-setting neighborhood. Kelly zipped, slashed, and sprinted his way to an ultra-impressive 324 yards on 29 carries, including three scores of 30, 12, and 57 yards. So, is that all-time Cahillite mark? Nah it wasn’t, as he fell just short of Rocco Trivarelli’s 329-yard outing in ’96. Hey, it was a spectacular performance nonetheless, so we won’t hold it against him. Smile! You just knew that things were going to go well for Kelly when his first three rushes (19, 23, 30-TD) produced 72 yards. This sequence actually tied the game up at 7-7, as O’Hara scored on their opening possession on a 40-yard burst by sr. DB/WR Damiere Shaw. I thought we had a shootout on our hands, but as time moved along it was clear who the superior team was in this game. In fact, I don’t hesitate to say that the final score, though a comfortable 19-point margin, doesn’t do true justice to how much Roman dominated. Check this out! O’Hara amassed 61 yards of offense on their opening drive. They managed just ONE total yard (On 21 total plays) the rest of the game and ZERO first downs. Meanwhile, Roman ripped-off 461 yards of offense, with Kelly doing the bulk of the damage. Still, late in the second quarter we had ourselves a 14-14 ballgame. How so? Well, with Roman up 14-7 they appeared prime to increase their lead. Faced with a 3rd-and-goal from the five a slant pass with some gas on it from Keir deflected off sr. WR William Howell’s hands and found O’Hara jr. LB Tarron Dunbar at the one-yard line. With nothing but open real estate ahead of him Dunbar raced down the near sideline and barely outlasted both Keir and Kelly, who were on hot pursuit to knot the game at 14 apiece. To Roman’s credit they bounced back nicely. A 25-yard kickoff return by sr. WR/DB Taishan Tucker put the ball at their 43-yard line with exactly two- minutes left in the half. Keir was dinged at the end of his chase with Dunbar and missed the first two plays of the series, but he immediately made a contribution when he returned. Ironically, it was not with arm, but his legs, as he rumbled 19 yards on a right-side option play to bring the ball to the O’Hara 32-yard line. He later added an 11-yard run on an identical play to the 9-yard line. Next, Kelly rushed eight yards to the one. With 5.6 seconds left, the Cahillites exhausted their final timeout. After the timeout, the call was a sneak by Keir, who was successful after a slight delay by the officials near the goal line. It appeared to me that he did find the end zone. In the second half, the Cahillites found some breathing room courtesy of a 12-yard run by Kelly. The drive covered just 20 yards and was set-up when sr. DE Jon Upchurch tackled O’Hara soph. QB Dashawn Darden deep in the Lions’ backfield and forced a fumble. Sr. LB Kenneth English made the recovery. Kelly scored the final touchdown of the game midway through the fourth quarter on a brilliant 57-yard run that saw him bounce away from three Lion defenders near the sidelines. Super run! This run put him at 302 yards in the game. He would carry two more times on Roman’s last possession for another 22 yards. Immediately after the game Roman Head Coach Joe McCourt asked me what he finished with and when I told him he seemed surprised that it was actually that much. Maybe, a little disappointed, too. As in, if he knew that he had a shot at the record, then maybe he would have received an additional carry or two. Oh well, like I said, spectacular nonetheless. The Roman passing game has been strong this season, but today Keir was a little uneven, as he finished 7-for-18, for 68 yards. A couple of times he overshot Fuller (2-13) on deep passes. They did connect once of consequence, though, and it was a beauty. Fuller had nice one-on-one battle with Shaw (Temple) throughout the game. Shaw was very good in matching the Cahillite’s talented receiver, but Fuller did notch a touchdown on an 11-yard fade pass. Great throw, great coverage, and even better catch! Tucker led all Roman wideouts with 4 catches for 47 yards. Defensively, it was pretty much a super team effort by the Cahillites. Some of the headliners were: sr. DE Jack Schanz (1.5 sacks), sr. LB Brett Pellicciotti (.5 sack, 5 stops), Tucker (5 tackles), and Kelly (5 tackles). English and Upchurch evenly split 8 tackles. Sr. DB Darryl Mintz added 3 pass defends.  Paging Mr. Silary -- I think I have viable unit for Offensive Line of the Week. Phew! Terrific! The group included: soph. C Michael Joyce, G’s jr. Collin Shields and sr. Roberto Harris-Barron, and T’s Steven Noel and sr. Tyrone Brown. Also, credit to Upchruch and soph. Hez Trahan at TE, as well as Pelliccitti and soph Patrick McCourt at FB. Not much to say about the Lions’ offense as 19 of their 35 plays went for zero or negative yards. This is rare, folks. O’Hara typically isn’t an easy team to contain, let alone suffocate like this. Defensively, they had multiple guys with good tackling numbers. Leaders here were; soph DB Thaddius Smith (8 solos) with ten, sr. LB Pat Funchion with nine, sr. DE Shane Johnson with 8, jr. LB Brandon Chatmon (fumble recovery) added seven, and Dunbar had five stops. Sr. RB/DB Jay Watkins (4 tackles) forced a fumble.

SEPT. 23
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 18, Haverford School 14
  The Burrs entered this game with just seven total points scored in their first three games, including back-to-back shutouts at the hands of area powers Wood and La Salle. After twenty-four minutes of play they again found themselves staring at a donut on the scoreboard. In fact, they trailed 14-0 to the Fords at intermission, and that marked the third straight game in which they stared at a 14-0 halftime deficit. In week one, the trailed Roman, 19-0. So, in four games the Burrs have been outscored 61-0 in first halves of games. How much longer will this continue? For a while it just didn’t look like anything good would happen for the defending Class 2A state champions. Let’s rewind back to the first quarter to explain. On HS’s second drive they reached the West 30-yard line, but were faced with a 4th-and-6. A pass by Fords’ sr. QB James Chakey was off the mark and the Burrs had held, right? Correct, as in the defensive secondary. Thus, giving HS new life on the drive. They wasted little time capitalizing, as Chakey nicely lofted a fade to jr. WR/DB Chris Morgan to the left-side of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown. On the ensuing kick, West sr. QB/DB Jaleel Reed, who didn’t start the game as the Burrs’ signal caller, took the kick 95 yards for a touchdown. Hold up! No, not a hold, or a clip, or even a block in the back, but a personal foul call on a West player a mere 40 yards behind the play, but during the return. Touchdown denied! Thereafter, and with the rain falling, the Burrs offense sputtered. Freshman QB Antwain McCollum got the nod as Reed’s replacement, but the Burrs suffered a trio of three-and-outs under his direction. Hey,  he’s a young kid, who has ability and potential, but tonight was not the night for a kid this green to takeover the most important position on the field. Especially, with the heaviest of rain that we saw falling early in the game. Meanwhile, the Fords capped their third possession with their second score of the game. The drive covered 64 yards and featured 10 runs. The first play of the drive went for 32 yards on a run by sr. RB/DB Zachary Rego (Georgetown for lacrosse), who somehow broke free of an early tackle attempt and zipped down the far sidelines. The drive was capped on a 1-yard sneak by Chakey on a fourth down play. How would the Burrs respond in the second half? Not bad right off the bat, but disaster once again struck. West marched from their twenty-yard line to HS’s twenty, but were faced with a 4th-and-5. On the play, Reed, who was now back at QB, found sr. WR Bruce Mapp inside the ten-yard line. Mapp fought multiple HS defenders towards the goal line, but at the one was stripped by C. Morgan. The roll rolled into the end zone and HS’s sr. LB Zach Trauger jumped on the loose pigskin. Yet, another kick to gut for the Burrs. To their credit, though, they stuck with it. Sparked by a big defensive play, a fumble forced by sr. LB Tristin Freeman and recovered by sr. OL/LB T-J Waters, gave the Burrs the ball at the HS 37-yard line. On the first play following the turnover Reed went on top to Mapp once again. In the same general area of the field where the previous fumble occurred, Mapp once again fought a defender for yardage, but this time wiggled his way into the end zone. The play covered 37 yards and gave the Burrs their first points in 140+ minutes of game action. With the score now, 14-6, West actually got a golden opportunity to draw closer when HS fumbled for the second time on as many plays. This time jr. WR/DB Shaquille James did the forcing and again Waters was there to recover. However, the drive stalled at the Fords’ 15-yard line when Reed failed to convert a 4th-and-4 chance. As the game moved into the fourth quarter the Burrs had another chance deep in HS territory, but again couldn’t conclude the drive when they stalled at the HS 21-yard line. When the Fords took over it appeared they were going to cement the game via hard running by sr. FB-LB Ethan Brown (15-73). Brown carried five straight times on this drive for 26 yards and a pair of first downs. Then, with the clock ticking under the four-minute mark the Fords had a fourth-and-five from the Burrs’ 49-yard line. The punt team was summoned to the field, which appeared to be the safe call at this point. However, a fake to Brown was called, but West’s sr. LB Avery Davis tripped him up two yards short of the mark. On the very next play an option to the left was issued and Reed beautifully flipped to jr. RB Dave Williams who raced down the HS sideline, before cutting back around the 25-yard line, and ultimately scoring on a 54-yard run with 3:13 left in the game. With the score 14-12, the Burrs naturally went for two, a pass to Mapp that was incomplete. However, a pass interference call gave the Burrs got another chance. This time they ran Williams up the middle, but room was scarce, as multiple HS defenders were in the area to deny the tie. West opted to kick deep and did a good job holding the Fords’ return team to just the 21-yard line, but a personal foul call on a late hit was called on West and that moved the ball to the  36-yard line. HS’s first two plays netted 5 yards and West spent two timeouts to stop the clock. On third down, a pass was called, but sr. DB Kevin Malone had good coverage and broke the pass up. After a HS punt, the Burrs took over at their 30-yard line with 2:36 left. Right-off the bat they were faced with a 3rd-and-9, but Reed connected with Mapp yet again, this time for 36 yards bringing the ball to the HS 33-yard line with 1:39 left. The Burrs next sequence went like this: Reed 5-yard run, Reed-to-Mapp 4-yard pass, and Reed run for two yards and a first down to the HS twenty-two with 55 ticks left. After an incomplete pass, the Burrs used a direct snap to Williams to get 19 yards to the HS three. Another incomplete pass followed, but on second down Reed got outside the pocket and scrambled in for the touchdown. Just 26.5 seconds remained. HS’s last-ditch effort started at their 35-yard line. Play one netted just two yards and was followed by a incomplete pass down the middle of the field. The Fords’ last play was deflected by West’s Freeman and then intercepted by James. Very good win for the Burrs and I’m sure a tough one to swallow for the Fords. HS uses a hurry-up, no-huddle attack throughout the game, but one has to think was it necessary to be so committed to that philosophy when having the lead for all but 26 seconds of the second half? Just something to think about. For three-and-half games the Burrs completed just 8 passes. Reed (47 rushing yards; 222 all-purpose) completed that many in the second half, as he finished 8-for-15, for 131 yards. Mapp (132 yards) was the recipient of 7 of those catches. With many being clutch! Williams accumulated 150 of his 180 yards, on 32 touches, in the second half. The Burrs’ offense had 363 yards of offense, with 306 of these yards coming in the final twenty-four minutes. Playing well up front were: sr. C Tim Burns, G’s Waters and sr. Mike Makor (6’3”, 310), and T’s sr. Eric Wyant and jr. Jarryd Jones-Smith (6’7”, 286). Defensively, Freeman managed 9 tackles (8 solos). Other leaders were; Malone (six; 3 pass defends), sr. DB Blaise Schieler (five), and Davis (five). Haverford School was led offensively by the running of Brown and Rego (18-94). Defensively, Trauger (sack) led with 10 total stops. C. Morgan was next with 9 tackles (8 solos). Sr/ LB Colm Cummins added 7 stops. With heavy rain prsent at the game’s outstart I decided to track this one from the spacious press box at Widener. If my memory serves correct this is just the second time ever that I watched an entire high school football game from a press box. Gotta love the field action, right?

SEPT. 17
NON-LEAGUE
O’Hara 39, Neumann-Goretti 0    
  Coming into this game I thought the Saints would have trouble keeping up with the Lions, but there was a slight thought that they could make the game somewhat respectable for a while. However, that was hardly the case, as O’Hara made the Saints pay for two critical mistakes in the first four minutes of the game and never looked back. First, with the Saints in punt formation, their punter accepted a low snap with his knee on the ground. This early-game misery gave the Lions the ball at N-G’s 11-yard line. A pair runs of by sr. RB/DB Jay Watkins accounted for the game’s first score, with his second carry covering five yards and a touchdown. Next, the Saints would fumble on their first play after the ensuing kickoff. O’Hara’s soph. DL Nick Lucchetta would recover at the N-G 24-yard line. Three plays after this, sr. RB/DB Damiere Shaw (Temple) was scurrying in from 9-yards out. The Lions would get the ball three more times in the opening half and all three times they would find their way into the end zone. Their third scoring drive would last for 12 plays and cover 78 yards. Again, Shaw did the honors with a 1-yard scoring run. A 26-yard punt return for Watkins would ignite O’Hara’s next possession. Six plays later promising soph. RB/DB Thadduis Smith was sprinting into the end zone from nine yards out. Sr. OL Hunter Tierney provided a nice block to help Smith turn the corner. O’Hara’s final score came from Shaw, his third of the half, as he sliced and diced the Saints defense for a 57-yard burst. With the score 32-0 O’Hara at the half, the final 24-minutes were rather anti-climatic to say the least. Still, a glimmer of mercy rule prevention presented itself when the Lions fumbled on their first offensive play of the second half. N-G’s sr. DL Theodore Furia recovered at the O’Hara 32-yard line. Then, on a fourth down play from the 26-yard line sr. QB Shane Thomas’ pass was deflected by Smith into the arms of Watkins, who proceeded to zip 86 yards for a touchdown. With 10:39 left in the third quarter we had a running clock. Not much happened from here, but Smith also returned a pick for a touchdown covering 65 yards only to have it negated by a roughing-the-quarterback penalty. I really like the threesome of Shaw (7-94), Watkins (9-76), and Smith (4-34), who mirror one another in many ways. Shaw and Watkins get most of the touches right now as seniors, but Smith will no doubt get his turn to feast as his career develops over the next 2+ seasons. Watkins finished with 199 all-purpose yards on 12 touches. Soph. QB Deshawn Darden was only asked to throw once; a completion to Watkins for 11 yards. The Lions finished with 260 rushing yards on 36 carries. Defensively, sr. DE Shane Johnson led with 5 tackles. Sr. LB Alex Ward (sack) and soph. LB Kevin Colgan (fumble recovery) added late-in-the-game moments. Smith made four pass defends in the game. Jr. LB Brandon Chatman was next with four stops, while jr. DL Nick Moriconi made two tackles-for-losses. Overall, O’Hara’s defense held the Saints to just minus-1 rushing yards and 37 yards all total. For the Saints, their best moments came late in the first quarter when they held the ball ten plays and reached O’Hara’s 22-yard line. However, the drive eventually stalled at the Lions’ 22-yard line.  A 14-yard run by jr. RB/DB Eric Neill and a 25-yard pass from Thomas to jr. TE Eric Holt highlighted the drive. The Saints managed six first downs, but four of them came on O’Hara penalties. Defensively, soph. DB Nydair Rouse (86 yards on 4 kickoff returns) played an active game with 8 tackles (7 solos). Jr. DE Shariff Custis made four stops, including a sack. He also nicely blocked two PATs. Jr. LB Blaise Natale (son of Bok coach Frank "Roscoe" Natale) registered six tackles in the game. The Saints' three quarterbacks were just 4-for-19 throwing the ball. Leading rusher sr. RB Antwoine Powers sat out the game with an achy knee. O’Hara had 9 penalties for 95 yards in the game.

SEPT. 16
NON-LEAGUE
La Salle 24, West Catholic 0
  I’ve been following the news lately, so I’m well aware that the Catholic school teachers have been on strike, but did I miss that the West Catholic offense is also on strike? Phew! Last week, the Burrs were whitewashed by Wood, 28-0, It was the first time since the last game of the 2004 season that West had been shut out. Now, the Explorers lay a goose egg on them, and for the first time since 2001, they have been blanked in back-to-back games. Actually, that year they ended the season with three straight donuts. Ok, I know the Burr faithful is probably somewhat spoiled, myself included. They have had some extremely gifted offensive teams over the last half-a-decade, but things are a BIG-TIME struggle right now. Granted, the competition has been very good, maybe elite, so we’ll have to see what transpires from this point on. In many ways this contest mirrored last week’s game with Wood. The Burrs had an early double-digit play drive that reached the opponent’s side of the field, but like last week, the drive stalled. Also, the game moved into the second quarter scoreless, as did last week’s tilt. And like last week, La Salle would find the end zone twice in the second quarter to build a 14-0 halftime lead. Following an interception by sr. DB Ryan Otis on the first play of the second quarter, the Explorers found themselves deep in their own territory at the seven. However, soon after, sr. QB Matt Magarity connected with jr. WR/DB Sean Coleman for 31 yards and some much needed breathing room. Three plays later, Magarity once again dialed-up a 31-yard gain, this time to sr. TE/LB Mike Piscopo that placed the ball at the West 23-yard line on a 3rd-and-7 chance. By this time, a theme was developing in the game and that was La Salle’s ability to convert third downs. After Piscopo’s play, sr. RB Tim Wade converted another third down with a 5-yard run. Then, with the ball at the ten-yard line, Magarity launched a beautifully thrown fade to the right-side of the end zone to sr. WR Colin Buckley, converting yet another, for the game’s first score. The scoring drive covered 93 yards on 11 plays.  West’s next series ended quickly with a three-and-out and soon enough the Explorers were at it again. Piscopo would convert a third-and-9 with a 20-yard pass from Magarity, then on the next play, Magarity nicely hit Coleman on a right-to-left slant for a 24-yard touchdown. Just 2:01 remained in the half. To start the second half the Burrs produced one of their better drives, as they advanced the ball from their twenty, down to the La Salle 24-yard line. However, LaSalle’s sr. LB Sean Burke made back-to-back tackles on West’s sr. QB Jaleel Reed to stall the drive. The Explorers piggybacked on the momentum the defense provided by holding the ball for 13 plays while going 74 yards for a nail-in-the-coffin score. Wade did the honors with a tough 13-yard run. West actually stopped the drive right before this, but were whistled for a roughing-the-passer call after a fourth down pass was batted down to the ground. Jr. K/P/WR Ryan Winslow capped the scoring with a 22-yard chip shot field goal midway through the fourth quarter. Wade was a workhorse throughout. What he might lack in size and top-level speed, he more than makes up for with toughness and grit. He carried 24 times for 130 yards. Magarity shook off a slow start to produce solid numbers, throwing 11-for-22, for 160 yards. Coleman was his featured target with 92 yards on 5 receptions. Sr. FB John Palermo added 39 yards on 5 carries. The offensive line did a great job helping La Salle total 356 yards of offense. Included here; sr. C Connor Kerrigan (6’4”, 260 lbs), G’s jr’s Patrick Hoffman (6’4”, 265 lbs) and jr. Tom Spiteri (6’2”, 250 lbs), T’s sr’s Matt Maginnis and Dan Wasylenko (6’2”, 245 lbs). This group was a prominent reason on why La Salle converted 10 of 14 3rd-down conversions, including eight in a row at one point. Defensively, the Explorers held West to just 134 yards of offense. Headliners here were: jr. DL Andrew Carlone (sack, 5 tackles), Piscopo (5 tackles, 2 TFL’s), DL Spiteri (5 stops), Burke (four), and jr. DL Andrew Eidenshink with a fumble recovery. For West, nothing really talk about offensively. Star jr. RB Dave Williams was held in check with just 38 yards on 13 carries. Reed completed his first pass for 4 yards to sr. Bruce Mapp, but misfired on his next seven attempts. Finally, on the game’s last play, the Burrs experienced some joy through the air when freshman QB Antwain McCollum completed a pass for 25 yards to soph. WR William Mahoney. Defensively, sr. LB’s Avery Davis (8 tackles; 6 solos) and T-J Waters (six solo tackles; fumble recovery) held their own throughout. Sr. LB Marquise Gordon notched a sack. Sr. LB Tristin Freeman made six tackles, as did sr. DB Blaise Schieler. Not the cleanest of games played, as the teams combined for 22 total penalties worth 210 combined yards. During one sequence in the first quarter, where only one play from scrimmage was run, the teams combined for five penalties worth 61 yards.

SEPT. 3
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 19, West Catholic 7
  On just a wonderful shore day the Burrs and Cahillites hooked up for the 11th consecutive year to begin their seasons. Each of these squads has high hopes entering the season and both figure to be two of the city’s elite throughout the year. The Cahillites seized control early behind the quarterback play of impressive jr. Mike Keir. Talk about a flawless half of football from the strong-armed signal caller. Right from the get-go he established control. On the game’s first play from scrimmage he lofted a pass down the left sidelines that sr. WR William Howell reeled in for a 47-yard pick-up. Great play by Howell to leap over the Burr defender who initially appeared to have good positioning. Two plays later, Keir split a couple of defensive backs when he found sr. WR/DB Taishan Tucker for 34 more yards. Picking up 81 yards on your first two tosses isn’t to bad. right? Two plays after this, Keir plowed in from the 2-yard line for the game’s first score. After a West three-and-out, the Cahillites were at it again, but failed to complete a 13-play drive that ended on the one-yard line. Still, momentum had been established and at the beginning of their third possession, Keir connected with jr. WR/DB Will Fuller for 39 yards to put his team in business at the West 23-yard line. Three plays after this, Keir flipped the ball to sr. RB/DB Marcus Kelly on a screen play. Kelly had little problem slashing his way to paydirt. The Cahillites would find the end zone for a third time in the opening half and this was a back-breaker for the Burrs. With less than a minute to play, Roman started at the West 41-yard line. Keir hit Tucker for 19 yards to the 22-yard line. He followed this up with a short completion of three yards to sr. WR Michael Boccelli. Then, he beautifully lofted a pass down the middle of the field to Kelly, who while being tightly covered by a Burr defender reached over to snag the pass and fall into the end zone. Just 11 seconds remained on the second quarter clock. Keir finished the half 11-for-14, for 220 yards. Wow! Meanwhile, the Burrs could only manage 38 yards of offense in that opening half.  Star, jr. RB/DB Dave Williams was limited to 24 yards on 7 carries in that first half, and 18 of them came on the half’s final play. Keir really displayed solid grasp of the offense, showed poise, and made excellent reads on where to deliver the ball. Also, I don’t think a Burr defender got within six feet of him in that first 24 minutes. Yes, most of the throws were out quickly, but the offensive line made sure their QB had ample time to throw. This unit consisted of: soph. C Michael Joyce, G’s jr. Collin Shields, sr. Roberto Harris-Barron, and T’s Steven Noel and Nicholas Presel, who replaced 6’4”, 305-lb jr. James Logan after an early leg injury. In the second half, things settled down a bit for Keir and company and the Burrs leveled the playing field somewhat. West actually started the half off with a promising drive that saw them with a first down at the Roman 44-yard line. However, back-to-back procedure penalties (Second time in the game this happened) stymied the drive and they never recovered. When you’re playing a good team it is just so difficult to overcome penalties. The Burrs would finally illuminate the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter when Williams bulled in from three yards out. The drive covered 90 yards on 8 plays (All runs). Williams had runs of 27 and 37 yards on the drive. A Roman three-and-out gave the ball back to West at midfield with 9:50 left, but they were denied a first down by the Cahillite defense. West would only get the ball back one more time, but with it deep in their own end failed to make any hay. This Cahillite team is an intriguing one. Keir is emerging and he has a plethora of athletes to get the ball to. I think the line play will be good and should improve as the year goes on. Defensively, they have plenty of athletic parts to be disruptive and playmakers. I fully expect them to be in the hunt in a competitive PCL 4A league. Keir finished the game 13-for-22, for 232 yards. Fuller (4-65), Howell (3-64), M. Kelly (3-47), and Tucker (2-53) were the featured receivers. M. Kelly rushed 18 for a modest 56 yards, but displayed some hard running at needed times. His young brother, RB/DB Dimetri, is a prized freshman and is already seeing spot duty on both sides of the ball. Defensively, Tucker was strong with 8 tackles (6 solos). Sr. LB Brett Pellicciotti and soph. DL Ricky Rivera notched sacks. Jr. LB Chris Cruz hustled for 6 tackles. Harris-Barron (5 tackles) and sr. DT Tyrone Brown were disruptive in the middle of the line throughout. For West, Williams finished with a respectable 124 yards on 19 carries, but in all honesty probably only showed glimpses of what he’s capable of. But hey, give Roman’s defense credit for making things difficult. Sr. QB Jaleel Reed never got comfortable throwing the ball and completed just 2-of-9, for 7 yards. He did add 31 yards on 9 carries. Defensively, sr. Alex Murray played a strong second half and made five tackles (sack). Sr. OL/DE/LB T-J Waters led the Burrs’ defense with 7 stops. DL sr. Devante Ford and jr. 6’7”, 286-lb Jarryd Jones-Smith evenly split eight tackles. The Burrs are the defending state 2A champs and have the potential to get back to Hershey once again, but they’ll have to stay together with what promises to be a difficult beginning part of the schedule. West travels to play Wood next week, and then travels to play La Salle the week after. It doesn’t get any easier!

SEPT. 2
NON-LEAGUE
BONNER 33, UPPER DARBY 13
  Once again these neighborhood rivals squared-off to begin another season and the Friars faithful had to be pleased with what they saw. Bonner jumped on the Royals early and for the most part coasted to the victory. Spearheaded by the rushing of sr. RB Ismir Gibson, Bonner scored on three of their first four possessions. Gibson capped all three of them with scoring runs. Just three plays into the game, the smallish, but quick back, got outside and sprinted for an rather easy 57-yard touchdown down the left sidelines. The next time Bonner had the ball he produced a 21-yard run early. This was followed with a 33-yard hook-up between jr. QB/DB Jim Haley and sr. WR/DB John McGilligan. Two plays later, Gibson dashed in from five yards out. Two possessions after this, Gibson used runs of 24, 17, and finally 17 yards for the score to put the Friars up 20-0. The little man was rolling at this point! A 73-yard touchdown run by UD’s jr. RB Soncarly Winpea (16-140) gave the Royals some life midway through the second quarter. Bonner would nearly increase their lead right before halftime when they marched 68 yards on 14 plays, but failed to convert from the nine-yard line on fourth down. All total, Bonner accumulated 265 yards in that opening half, with Gibson torching the UD defense for 160 yards on 13 totes. However, a hamstring (Has been nagging him throughout camp) injury would shelf Gibson in the second half. No sweat for the Friars, though. After a scoreless third stanza, the Friars would place two more scores on the board to push the game out of reach. Jim Haley would score on a sneak to make it 27-6 early in the fourth. The score was set-up by a 44-yard run by the aforementioned Haley moments earlier to convert a third down. Later on, soph. RB Malik Jones (5-34) scored on a 23-yard run. UD would add a late score on a 45-yard scoring strike from jr. QB Nii Kotei NiKoi to sr. WR/DB Fred Thorpe. The Friars’ offense managed 354 yards in the game. Haley combined for 157 yards of rushing/passing (9-52; 8-for-17-105). McGilligan caught four balls for 66 yards. The offensive line consisted of: sr. C Dom DiGalbo (6’4, 272), G’s jr Joshua LaMarra and sr. Tyler Ramirez (6’0”, 298), and T’s sr. Thomas Murtha (6’3”, 270) and jr. Angelo Masorli (6’6”, 235). This group pretty much had their way with UD for long stretches. Sr. FB’s Ronnie Scull and Sean Ferry did an admirable job as lead blockers. Jim Haley is a very good athlete (Also, headliner on baseball team at SS), who can make plays. He wasn’t overly crisp and accurate tonight, but you can just tell that the kid is a winner and oozes talent. I expect good things from him moving forward. Defensively, I left extremely impressed with sr. DE Cody Sutton, who made 9 tackles (sack; 8 solos). Ferry was rock solid at linebacker with 7 stops (sack), including three for losses. Interceptions were had by sr. LB Joe Haley (Jim’s older bro) and McGilligan. Sr. DB Eric Womack had some good moments in the Friars’s secondary with 5 tackles. Sr. LB Andre Hinmon recovered a loose ball on a squib kick. As for Bonner’s prognosis for the season I think they can do some good things. Do they have enough to overtake Archbishop Wood? Probably not. Still, they solid nucleus that consists of some size on the line and a handful of more than solid skill kids. However, it’s imperative that they don’t get hit with the injury bug for any length of time. I don’t sense a ton of depth. So, if they stay healthy, then they could battle O’Hara for that second spot in the PCL 3A final.

SEPT. 2
NON-LEAGUE
UNIVERSITY CITY 50, FUTURE 0
  The Jaguars of University City are hardly known as a Pub heavyweight, and have often struggled in recent years. So, today’s outcome was a little surprising from that standpoint. I thought coming in that they would be the better team, but not by these proportions. Not sure if the fifty points scored is a school record, but I’d have to think it’s in the neighborhood. Since Mr. Ted Silary established this wonderful site we have covered 11 football seasons coming into this year. During that time the Jaguars had scored exactly 40 three times. They were also shut out 40 times during this stretch. Today’s season-opener for both clubs was over early, as UC scored three defensive touchdowns during a 26-0 first quarter. The Firebirds were SEVERELY outmanned. I counted just 20 players in uniform. A few others had game jerseys on, but not in pads. It’s not often that a team holds a 14-to-3 plays-from-scrimmage advantage in a quarter, but exits that quarter trailing by four scores. Well, that’s what we had today. Phew! Three plays into the game, sr. LB Taysean Proctor scooped up a loose ball off a faulty snap and easily raced 50 yards for the game’s first score. A short time later, soph. QB Karim Karamoko neatly flicked a pass to sr. WR/DB Marcus Lyles for a 31-yard touchdown. Misery continued for the Firebirds in the near future, when sr. DB Joshua Fenwick intercepted a pass and easily scooted in for a 21-yard score. Soon after, another Jaguar defensive player was frolicking. Capping the scoring in the opening quarter was soph. LB Robert Hall with a 35-yard fumble return. UC’s next points didn’t come until the latter part of the second quarter and came in form of a safety, when jr. 6’2”, 220-lb DL Javon White made a tackle in the end zone. We reached mercy rule status with just six ticks left in the half. On fourth-and-goal, Fenwick made a juggling catch just inside the pylon for a 13-yard score. The Jaguars' last two touchdowns came on big plays. First, Karamoko launched a bomb to Lyles that went for a 90-yard touchdown. Was it needed? Probably not. I’m not sure Head Coach Lorrel McCook even knew that a pass was going to happen because he demanded afterwards that no more passes be thrown in the game. McCook even started the second half with a nice gesture by allowing Future to receive the kick, even though they already took the opening kickoff. The final touchdown was scored by jr. WR Marquis Howard, who showed some burners on a 68-yard punt return in the final minute of the game. For UC, Karamoko passed 5-for-8, for 192 yards. Lyles (3-146) was his main target. Defensively, the Jaguars held the Firebirds to minus-24 yards on 30 plays. Ouch! There were quite few headliners on this unit. I was impressed by sr. DB John Casey (3 conversion runs) who finished with 8 solo tackles, with five of the accounting for 25 yards in losses. Hall (Forced fumble) had a total of five stops, including two sacks. Lyles added a pick. White forced a fumble. Aside from his fumble return for a touchdown, Proctor recovered another fumble. University City appears to be headed in a good direction. They had solid numbers with 47 players on their roster. Interestingly, one of these plays was a female in sr. OL Jamesse McBeth, who saw action and was out there at least for Lyles' long touchdown.  For Future, their first play from scrimmage netted 15 yards on a run by jr. Khalir Blount-Hart. It was all downhill from here. Blount-Hart showed some quickness on a couple of early tosses (Another 15-yard gain was wiped out by a penalty), but in time his 5’6”, 125-lb frame was taking a beating. Still, you had to respect the courage that this kid played with. Defensively, the Firebirds had a few moments. Sr. DB Trystan Walker made an interception. Soph. LB Richard Smith recovered a fumble. Jr. LB Tyree Neal notched a sack, while jr. LB Qaadir James (5 tackles) and soph. DL Muhammed Anderson spilt a sack. Jr. RB Tawaun Vickers made five kickoff returns for 104 yards.