FEB. 28
CL SEMI
N-G 73, North 45
   North was knocked out of the playoffs in this Palestra playoff game. The 4th quarter was when the Falcons lost control to the Saints. This was the first time I had ever been to the Palestra, so I was star-gazing at the best court I have ever been to. Chris Edwards started out great on Rick Jackson, but it did not stay that way. Scoop Jardine had some nice drives and jump shots. Velton Jones played very well but got into early foul trouble so had to sit out for a while. Things just did not pan out for the Falcons. Thank you to Ted for letting my reports on, to the seniors Andrew Pomager, Chris Edwards, and Jason Mendez.
  Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Velton Jones, 2nd Andrew Pomager, 3rd Jason Mendez.
End of Year Awards
Best Writer: Mark Hueber
Best Manager That Does Nothing: Mark Hueber and Milt the Stilt
Best Chant: Dougherty’s “Someone Feed Him” on La Salle’s C.J. Aiken
Best Dunk: Roberto Townsend’s self-pass dunk on La Salle
Best Gyms: 1 Palestra, 2 La Salle, 3 The Pit, 4 McDevitt, 5 Dougherty, 6 Egan, 7 Judge
MVPs: 1 Kahlil Mumford, 2 Andrew Pomager, 3 Andrew Rogers
Best Shooters: 1 Clay Penecale, 2 Kahlil Mumford, 3 Bob Zanneo
Best Dunkers: 1 Roberto Towsend, 2 Chris Edwards
Best Website: www.tompuckleheadnutmanheadfakesmckenna.com

FEB. 24
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
North 53, Ryan 48
   North has won a playoff game. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!! The first time they won since 1994. But they had to overcome the home court advantage for Ryan even though North had the higher seed. Now to the game: North came out not at their best, and was behind the whole quarter. Leaving the quarter it was 21-16, Ryan. The second quarter went smoother as the Falcons let up only 4 points while scoring 17. Andrew Rogers was Ryan’s leading scorer with 17; he also had 3 assists. North’s was Velton Jones with 15, some of which came from “did he just do that” and-1 maneuvers. Andrew Pomager and Chris Edwards were rebounding machines; Chris with 7 and Andrew with 10. North had some scares in the 4 the quarter with many missed foul shots (9-for-19) and some strong drives for layups by Rogers, but they finished out on top. The Falcons of North Catholic will play the Saints of Neumann–Goretti at the historic Palestra.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager, 2nd Velton Jones, 3rd Chris Edwards.

FEB. 15
CATHOLIC NORTH
La Salle 64, North 62 (2 OTs)
   Yeah, I guess it did happen, and I still can’t really get over that. Clay Penecale and Matt Crozier both scored in the 20s, so that did not help. North’s high scorer was Chris Edwards with 18; he also had 11 rebounds. North’s weak point was in the 2nd quarter. They scored 5 while La Salle scored 14. Into the 1st OT . . . Chris Edwards comes up to the foul line for 2 shots with 00:00 showing. No pressure, apparently, for Chris Edwards because he was the smiling, typical Chris Edwards. Well, that smile didn’t help because he missed both. The 2nd OT did not go North’s way and they lost by 2.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Chris Edwards, 2nd Velton Jones, 3rd R.J. Handy.
   P.S. North beat Bishop McDevitt, as they were getting ready for the playoffs. Congratulations to Andrew Pomager, 1st team; Chris Edwards, 1st team; Lenny Young 3rd team; and Velton Jones, 2rd team, for making All-Catholic. Thanks to Coach Jack Rutter for the mention in McDevitt's yearbook.

FEB. 12
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
North 52, Judge 45
   North was looking for revenge against their arch-rivals Father Judge after the buzzer-beater from last time. But this time they would have to play at Judge. Chris Edwards made the game with 15 points and 15 rebounds. North fell behind early and didn’t get the lead back until the 2nd half, when Edwards dominated. North had some trouble shooting though; only 15 for 45. A great defensive effort by R.J. Handy, as he had 4 steals, 1 block and 3 defensive rebounds. Bob Zanneo was the leading scorer for Judge with 12.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Chris Edwards, 2nd R.J. Handy, 3rd Velton Jones.

FEB. 9
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
North 71, Wood 49
   North had control of the game the whole time. In the first quarter it was 33-7. North’s leading scorer was Chris Edwards with 20. Wood's was Dan Comas with 18. Velton Jones had a triple-double with 14 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. North just kept playing hard and it paid off with a win.
   Marks Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Velton Jones, 2nd Chris Edwards, 3rd Shahid Paulhill.
   P.S. Congratulations to Fran McGlinn for his triumphant story.

FEB. 4
NON-LEAGUE
North 82, Penn Charter 67
   A non-league game at THE PIT with a so-so crowd. North dominated the game with good team play and enthusiasm. It also did not help Penn Charter that Sammy Zeglinski shot 5 for 16 from the field and 2 for 7 from behind the arc. North’s high scorers were Andrew Pomager and Lenny Young (both 19). PC's best was frosh Travis Robinson with 18. NC's Chris Edwards played very well with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Even though Sammy Zeglinski had an off shooting day, he helped a lot with 14 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists. This was a good game that hopefully that will prepare the Falcons to take on Wood on Friday at Wood.
  Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Lenny Young, 2nd Andrew Pomager, 3rd Bill Dolan.
  P.S. -- Congratulations to Andrew Pomager, who scored his 1,000th point this game. He has been a starter for all 4 years.

JAN. 29
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
North 80, C-E 60
  This was a game where North just owned the gym with the awesome help of Chris Edwards with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. The Falcons and The Eagles never really had a close game, Egan never had the lead. But Ryan Fitch helped Egan with 19 points and 4 rebounds. Shahid Paulhill gave North a great burst off the bench with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Egan gave it all they had, but it wasn’t good enough to beat the Falcons. That was the second time North beat Egan.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Chris Edwards, 2nd Lenny Young, 3rd Shahid Paulhill.
   P.S. Over the weekend North beat Chambersburg, 3rd ranked in 3A, with the good scouting report by Puck. The coaches know what I mean.
   (Ted's note: Puck butchered the scouting report completely. He said he "did some checkin' awound" and told the coaches about Chambersburg's supposed best players. "Except I had 5-9 white guys as 6-5 black guys. It was all messed up. I don't know what happened. Tim was bustin' on me, 'Tom, where did you GET this stuff?!' Ha, ha, ha. Ah, we still won." As indicated at the top of this page, Tim is Mark's father and a North assistant.)

JAN. 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
North 46 Ryan 43
   North came out with A CLOSE GAME!!!!!!!  North was up 7 then Ryan was up 7 up and back up and back. Most people thought Ryan’s got the game. They're up 7 half of the 4th quarter. But then it's over, that’s it, let’s leave. So wrong you were. North came back with the help of Billy Dolan, who played awesome the whole game and also Lenny Young. Velton Jones also helped very well. North’s high scorers were Lenny Young and Velton Jones with 10 apiece. Andrew Pomager and Chris Edwards both were good on the boards with 9. What really killed North were turnovers with 14. North just played it out until the buzzer wrung.
  Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Billy Dolan, 2nd Chris Edwards, 3rd Lenny Young.

JAN. 21
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
North 70, McDevitt 56
  A good game by North. Lenny Young was the high scorer with 15 and Chris Edwards had 10. For McDevitt it was Aaron Walker with 16. R.P. Boyle played well with 11 points 4 assists and 3 rebounds. North's Jose Ortiz played good again with 4 points 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Just a well-played game . . .

JAN. 18
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Dougherty 81, North 74
   I can’t say much about this game; Dougherty just played better. North gave up so many offensive rebounds it was not even funny. Kahlil Mumford played great for Dougherty with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Chris Edwards played good for North with 19 points 8 rebounds and a block. Lenny Young had 17 points but fired up 7 three pointers and only made 2. Roberto Townsend was Dougherty's leading scorer with 20; he also had 7 rebounds. North just played bad and Dogherty played better even though North was only down by 2 at one point.

SOME OTHER RECENT GAMES . . .
North 60, La Salle 38
  A great comeback win for North with a lot intensity and tenacity. North got great defense from Jose Ortiz, Billy Dolan and Velton Jones. Chris Edwards was good with 22 points and 8 rebounds. North let up only 2 points in the 2nd quarter, while they scored 12 points. No one on La Salle scored more than 8 points; the people who did that were Anthony Acey-Davis and Clay Penecale. Just a nice effort by North.
Judge 56, North 53
  A shocker for everyone just because of the fourth quarter, when Judge scored 25 points and North scored only 12. But how Judge won was the shocking shot thrown in by Bob Zanneo from about halfcourt. North was not ready to play at all. Zanneo was the leading Crusader with 24 and 7 rebounds. What really killed North was letting up seven offensive rebounds. Velton Jones was the leading scorer for the Falcons with 16. Just a horrible game by North, yet a good one all around.
North 64 Wood 41
  North just had more talent than Wood. Props to Wood for hustling for the whole game and not giving up. Dan Comas was their leading scorer with 15. North received 12 from Andrew Pomager and R.J. Handy. Jose Ortiz helped out with 11 points and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes. North just was better.

JAN. 6
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
North 42, C-E 36
   A physical game it was, and you could see North was missing star point guard Velton Jones. But backup Bill Dolan did a great job keeping the Falcons in check. Andrew Pomager {I think that was the first time I spelled his name right}J did another great job helping North with 19 points 10 rebounds {8 offensive} and 4 steals. Offensive rebounds were huge for North. They had 15, just as many as they had defensively. Egan’s star was Hayk Gyokchyan, a 6’9 center who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. North as been playing great for this part of the PCL season and hopefully will continue at Dougherty on Monday. Note: Andrew Pomager, Jason Mendez and Chris Edwards will be honored on Wednesday at the Markward club with Jay Wright as the guest speaker.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager, 2nd Bill Dolan, 3rd Shahid Paulhill.

JAN. 2
CATHOLIC NORTH
North 45, Ryan 34
   The PCL season started today with a win for NC. A shaky start in the first quarter led Ryan to have a lot intensity for that quarter. The quarter ended 18-4 with Ryan on top. Then North started picking up their game with help from R.J. Handy, who guarded Ryan’s best shooter, Andrew Rogers, who lead Ryan with 9 points. After the half North’s confidence picked up when they started getting ahead. Then Velton Jones suffered a football-type injury when he leaped up for a rebound and fell straight on his back and head [I could hear the smack at the other end]. Luckily, he was OK and finished the game. North finished the game strong and won their first PCL game. Andrew Pomager led North in points with 20 points.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworker’s: 1st R.J. Handy, 2nd Chris Edwards, 3rd Andrew Pomager.

DEC. 31
NON-LEAGUE
North 51, Episcopal 36
   In a low scoring game, North’s one big lead was too big for Episcopal to overcome. I have to say Pete Sellecchia brought a lot of emotion, rebounding, and hustle to North off the bench. R.J. Handy looks very good playing shutdown defense and making nice passes and cuts on offense. Jason Mendez also worked his butt off. Episcopal was playing VERY GOOD in the first quarter. North caught up at the half but still did not have a win assured. Then North started getting hotter and hotter until its lead was very big. The Falcons kept going until the buzzer went off and won. Now North will start the PCL schedule playing Tuesday against Ryan. Hopefully it will be a good PCL season for North.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Pete Sellecchia, 2nd R.J. Handy, 3rd Jason Mendez.

DEC. 28
WILDWOOD TOURNEY CONSOLATION
North 50, Camden Catholic 47
   Another great game down the shore with Andrew Pomager being the leading scorer again with 22. Camden controlled the game, winning the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters. But when it mattered in the 4th, North scored 17 and only let up 8. Camden Catholic put up a good fight but North’s fourth quarter effort was too big of a hill to get over.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager, 2nd Lenny Young, 3rd North’s Bench
   *Special Note- My cousin Matt Hueber, a 6’7 Forward for Gonzaga Prep, was defeated by 1 ranked Neumann-Gorretti. Matt is college bound, being recruited by numerous schools.

DEC. 27
WILDWOOD TOURNEY SEMI
North 53, Cherokee 55
   The number 1 team in South Jersey handed North their 1st loss in the opener of the George Betz Memorial Bracket in the Wildwood tournament. Andrew Pomager was again the leading scorer with 14 points. Other contributors were Velton Jones with 9, Lenny Young with 9 and R.J. Handy with 8. Clarence Jackson was Cherokee's leading scorer with 23. Both teams played a well fought out game.
   Mark's Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager, 2nd Velton Jones, 3rd R.J. Handy.

DEC. 21
NON-LEAGUE
N. Catholic 62, Abington Friends 60
   The Thrilla in the PIT!! Centers were the key. Shahid Paulhill and Walters from AF both played really well, grabbing 10 rebounds apiece. For North Andrew Pomager had another 20-point game. Lenny Young and Velton Jones also played awesome. Still I have to give credit to Keffer and Cohen from AF for playing great. Abington Friends was leading almost the whole game but North put on the back burners and, woo, they were flying. An awesome game.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager, 2nd Lenny Young, 3rd Velton Jones.

NON-LEAGUE
N. Catholic 68, Chestnut Hill 48
   I’m sorry for getting this late to everyone. I’ve been sick for a couple of days. North played good defense the whole game, allowing CHA to score no more the 8 points in three of the quarters. But North did not start that good on offense. At the end of the first it was 12-8. The Falcons started out with a 3-man PG rotation with Lenny Young, Billy Dolan and Woody Redding and it was working. Another smooth-as-a-baby's-bottom quarter for North, scoring 18 and only letting up 7, making it 30- 15 at the half. North had a great 3rd quarter where defense was the key. They gave up only 5 points and still scored 23 points. Then in the 4th quarter the Falcons brought in the secret weapon, Kevin O’Neil (ha, ha). They finished the game well.
  Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Chris Edwards, 2nd Lenny Young, 3rd Shahid Paulhill.

DEC. 16
MAKE-A-WISH SHOWCASE
N. Catholic 70, Gtn. Academy 63
   (Let me first start by saying that North beat K-K in the first game of this showcase event. Andrew Pomager was the leading scorer with 18 points. Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager; 2nd Chris Edwards; 3rd Billy Dolan/Woody Redding.)
   I figured out tonight I am multitalented: tape the game for Puck and write an article. A great game by both teams, but North overcame a lot of foul trouble to win. North started out on a great run, building a 14-2 lead. Yet G.A. came back to beat the Falcons in the 1st quarter, 19-18. GA kept controlling the game and at halftime they were leading, 40-31. But Coach Mike McCarron must have given some kind of great halftime time speech because North came out flying. They cut the lead to six. Pomager, Edwards and Lenny Young played great the whole time, but in the 4 th quarter they were unbelievable and I say that with emphasis. They turned the Falcons around, hepling them outscore GA by 23-10 in the 4th, and the rest is history. I have to give major props to Jason Mendez and R.J. Handy for shutout defense. This was a great game.
   Mark’s Hardcore Hardworkers: 1st Andrew Pomager, 2nd Shahid Paulhill, 3rd North’s defense in the 4th quarter.

DEC. 12
NON-LEAGUE
N. Catholic 78, Truman 65
(Prediction: North 72, Truman 60)
   Whooooo!!!!! The Falcons entered this 2-0 with wins against Frankford and Carroll and now hopefully Truman. They look very good with Jr. PG Velton Jones, Sr. C Chris Edwards, Sr. PF/SF Andrew Pomager, and Jr. SG Lenny Young. Also part of the crew are hard-working players Jason Mendez, and Shahid Paulhill. Never heard of Velton Jones and Lenny Young? Velton is a hard-working, agile point guard while Lenny is an athletic sharpshooter. Other contributors will be Billy Dolan, Jose Ortiz and R.J. Handy. Now to the game: North had the momentum most of the first half, and led by 43-17 with about 2:30 left. Ending the half was a couple of quality fast breaks by North. Lenny Young had the most points, with 10. Another smooth quarter for the Falcons in the third, as they led by what most thought was an unbeatable pad. But then came a real test for the Falcons the 4th quarter. Truman got hot against the young Falcons making it NC 70, T 56. And then, with two minutes left, North was up by "only" 9. That was the pressure North and Coach Mike McCarron were feeling, but North held their lead and won, 78-65. 
   Mark’s Hardcore Handiworkers: 1st Velton Jones, 2nd Jason Mendez, 3rd Billy Dolan.