NOV. 25
THANKSGIVING RIVALRY
Southern 30, Neumann-Goretti 26
   When two teams from South Philly get together there's plenty of ACTION going
on. Not only on the field, but on the side, if you know what I mean! Southern
entered the game with a 5-5 record, and Neumann-Goretti came in with just 2
wins, but in spite of all of this the Saints were still the favorite according
to the experts downtown. The early line when I arrived around 9:30 AM for the
10:30 AM start was Southern +14. The reason being that the game the last couple
of years had been totally dominated by Neumann-Goretti, with the Saints
scoring in the 60s a few times (actually the St. John Neumann Pirates at the time),
and the fact that the Public League is looked at as being inferior to the
Catholic League. By game time the line had dropped to 11 1/2 because the real
experts knew that the Rams had some talented players and the Saints lost several
good players who had transferred to West Catholic. After the opening kickoff,
Southern had the ball on their own 25 and were forced to call a time out with
11:51 on the clock, because Center Anthony Bouie was still on the sidelines
getting his shoulder pads adjusted. When Bouie finally did enter the game it
took just 4 minutes and six seconds for the Rams to score. Southern surprised
everyone with the games' first play being a Flanker Reverse to Sr WR/DB Michael
McClain, who gained 14 yards on the play. McClain was "THE MAN" of the day. In
addition to his run, McClain caught three balls for 101 yards, caught a 2
point conversion from Sr QB/DB Jalil Harris (6-11-0-127 yds - 1TD) intercepted a
pass on his own one yard line, and returned it 14 yards setting up Southern's
second TD in the second quarter. He also made 11 tackles, 3 solo, 2 for losses,
3 passes defended and forced a fumble. However, he did bite on a beautiful
play action pass by N.G.'s Sr QB/DB Kenny Brown (2-5-2-84 TD) leaving Jr Hiram
Bowman wide open for a 77 yard scoring strike, making the halftime score 14-6
South Phila. Oh, by the way, he averaged 33 yards on his two punts. The Rams Jr
RB/LB Lamone Fox scored the game's first TD carrying the ball six consecutive
plays following McClain's run. His longest was 42 yards and he eventually
went in from the 3 and ran for the conversion putting the Rams ahead 8-0. It
appeared that the Saints would quickly match their opponets score as they drove
the ball down to Southern's 4 yard line. Looking at a fourth and one Jr RB/LB
Dan Chavis (10-112 2 TD) just dropped the handoff without being hit and the ball
was recoverd by Sr DL Harry Walker at the Ram 6. Three plays later the Saints
Jr OL/DL Paul Bryson recovered a Southern fumble on the Ram 17, but were
penalized two times ending up back on the 28 before Brown threw the pick to McClain.
The Rams scored six plays later with Harris connecting to Fr TE/DB Preandre
Watson on an 11 yard TD pass play. The play was set up by a 61 yard bomb to
McClain on the drives' second play. N.G. finally scored on the long pass to
Bowman right before the half. Chavis made things exciting by going 65 yards on the
fourth play of the third quarter, thanks to several missed Ram tackles and
cutting the lead to 14-12 with his jaunt. N.G. failed on the 2 point conversion
as Ram So DB Eric Whitaker read a pitch play from Brown to Bowman nicely and
stopped Bowman at the 7. After a 3 and out by South Phila the Saints took the
lead after a beautiful punt return by Jr WR/DB Chris Webb for 24 yards.
Following the return Chavis carried the ball three times (25 yards), the last being a
6 yard TD, giving the Catholic School its first and only lead at 18-14 after
McClain knocked the conversion pass in the end zone.
Early in the fourth quarter the game took a strange twist. Faced with a third
and four at the Saints 24, Fox scooted 9 yards for the first down, but was
hit by Sr LB Chris Baldwin, forcing Fox to lose the ball and giving N.G. the
ball on their own 15. On the very next play Sr RB/DB Bruce Holloman (15-80) gave
it right back to Southern after being hit by Jr DL Derrick Williams. The ball
came loose and was recovered by Jr LB Nick Moody at the 6. On the next play
Fox waltzed in and McClain caught the conversion giving the Rams a 22-18
advantage with 10:47 remaining. The play of the day came when Fr Preandre Watson
anticipated a swing pass to Holloman, timed it perfectly and had a  free 67 yard
ride to the end zone. Harris's pass to So TE Jamil Bashir made the score
30-18. The Saints made it interesting as N.G.'s good guy coach Steve Smith changed
QB's and ran the hurry up offense with Sr Tim Kopicko at the controls. Kopicko
completed just one of five passes for four yards, but ran 3 times for 50.
Bowman scored from 12 yards out and Kopicko ran for the conversion closing out
the score with 1:23 remaining. The Saints onside kick attempt was unsuccessful
and the Rams just ran out the clock for their first victory in 15 years over
their archrivals.
  Specials props should go to the offensive line of Southern for the great job
blocking and protecting Harris all morning from being sacked. The unit
consists of Fr LT Marquise James, Fr LG Dante Okimey, Jr C Anthony Bouie, Sr RG
Brandon Johnson, Jr RT Demetrius Tillman, Fr TE Preandre Watson and So TE Jahmel
Bashir.
  It was really nice to see the smiling faces of Southern AD Ed Williams and
the entire Ram's coaching staff led by Head Coach Bill Edger and his assistants
Franny Mackin, Greg Harris and Stosh Tunney after the game. I'm sure the
turkey tasted better after finishing over 500 with a 6-5 record. Great Job!
One Final Thought
   While looking at all the highlights on the 11 o'clock news of all the games,
just about all the fields appeared to be sloppy and muddy. That was not the
case at 12th and Bigler. The field was in great shape thanks to the work of
Field Maintenance Man Mark McConnell.

NOV. 13
PIAA CLASS AAA DISTRICT 1-12 SUBREGIONAL SEMIFINAL
Great Valley 35, Bok 0
   Great Valley's Ryan Godec took the opening kick-off on the 25 and returned it
to his own 49. After FB/LB Drew Smith ran 13 yards for a quick first down,
the Bok defense stepped up as NG Chris Cotton and DT Gregory Thomas sacked
Patriot QB Anthony Parker-Boyd for a 6 yard loss. Faced with a fourth and twelve
at the Wildcat 40, the Patriots lined up in punt formation. Punter Parker-Boyd
took the long snap, then took off around the right side and made the first
down by inches after a measurement. Now on the 28, GV ran the ball eight
straight times, topped off by Godec's (17-159-3 TD) 5 yard run with 5:29 remaining
in the opening quarter. The conversion failed and Great Valley led 6-0. On the
ensuing kickoff GV's Dan Ward picked up an untouched ball at the Bok 27. On
the next play the Pats tried for a quick strike, but Parker-Boyd's pass was
intercepted by DB/WR Nafis Edwards on his own 12 yard line. The Cats would
advance the ball just 15 yards on their first series, with RB/DB Cory Moultrie
gaining 12 yards on three carries. Moultrie ran the ball 9 times for 35 yards on
the day. A reverse to wideout Edwards was snuffed out by LB/RB Drew Smith
(16-67-TD) for a 3 yard loss forcing the Cats to punt. Following a 5 yard Bok
penalty Moultrie's punt traveled just 19 yards, giving GV good field position
at the Bok 41. The Pats moved the ball quite easily with Godec going 17 on one
rush and Parker-Boyd 11 yards on another. Godec ran it in from the seven and
caught the 2 point conversion from Parker-Boyd, giving the Chester County
squad a 14-0 advantage with 1:03 left in the quarter. It looked like the Cats
would get on the board when return man Nafis Edwards grabbed the kickoff on his
own 21 before he was brought down from behind by special teamer and LB Pete
Johnson (5 tackles - 2 solo) at the Pats 37 yard line. Bok RB Amir Nuriddin (7-25)
then ran the ball 4 consecutive times for 18 yards. On third and nine at the
GV 19, QB Joe DeSalis' (2-6-1-4 yds) pass to Edwards was broken up in the
end zone by DB Godec (4 tackles - 2 solo). On fourth down DeSalis did complete a
pass to Edwards in the end zone, but the ball was caught out of bounds. Even
if the reception was good, a flag was thrown against the Cats for an illegal
man downfield. Early in the second quarter and midway through the quarter, Bok
was unable to capitalize on two fumble recovery's and were hurt by two 5 yard
penalties and a 12 yard sack by DE William Sargent. Forced to punt from the
Patriot 43 Moultrie punted the ball 30 yards, giving Great Valley possession on
their own 15, with 2:47 left in the half. Using a no-huddle offense, and one
time out left, the Pats broke the Cats back with an 87 yard drive. The big
plays were runs by Parker-Boyd of 14, 45 and 15 yards (12-98-TD) and two passes of
8 and 3 yards to Drew Smith and Stan Kelly respectively. Smith (16-67-TD)
capped the drive with a 2 yard TD run with no time left on the clock. The PAT
gave G.V. a 21-0 halftime lead. Bok could only accumulate 26 yards of offense and
2 first downs in the first half, while the Valley Boys would rack up 236
yards and 12 first downs.
   The PIAA Mercy Rule took effect near the end of the third quarter when
Godec raced in from the 12 and Parker-Boyd sneaked in from the one, giving the
Pats a 35-0 lead with 2:05 remaining. The Wildcats would never threaten the
rest of the way. In fact, on 4 series, Bok would never enter Great Valley's
territory in the second half. For Bok Jr NG/LB/FB Nick "Popeye" Perrone, the Cats
leading tackler, broke his ankle last week against Roxborough and was greatly
missed by the Wildcats. Although a tranfer student from Neumann-Goretti,
Perrone is highly respected by his teamates with his vocal input, either positive or
negative. He postponed his surgery until later in the week so he could be
with his teamates. For Bok Sr LB Gregory Thomas made 12 tackles - 5 solo - 1
loss, Jr DT Shon Thompkins (11-2-2), Soph Maurice Goodwin DB (9-7-Fumble Rec), Sr
Cory Moultrie (8-2-1-Fum Rec), Sr LB Cortez McLaughlin (7-3), Jr DL Dahson
Exum (6-3-1), Sr DB Maurice Brockington (6-1) and Sr NG Chris Cotton (5-2-1
sack). For Great Vally, Sr DE Brendan Ward (7-4), Jr LB Pete Johnson (5-2), Kyle
Holden, Drew Smith (Fumble rec), Ryan Godec (Interception) and Matt Ewing all
had 4 tackles. Dan Ward and Brian Bartoldson recovered fumbles.
   Bok Head Coach Tom DeFelice said after the game, to several members of the
media, that he was extremely upset with the negativity directed at the
Philadelphia Public League and particularly the District 12 AAA representative (Bok)
for gaining an automatic berth in the sub-regionals. It was mentioned in several
newspapers, including those in Chester and Delaware Counties, that Bok would
not be a worthy opponent because they play in a so called weak Southern
Division. DeFelice, who has been teaching and coaching at Bok for well over 30
years, said he feels bad for those associated with Bok, including his players,
coaches, students, teachers and alumni, along with all others who support the
program. Obviously, anyone who has ever coached young student athletes would never
embarass them by stating or writing that one team could beat another by 100
points. I guess anyone who would write something like that must have coached
bowling, because you can win by 100. 100 PINS, THAT IS!!!!