Mike "Ace" Laine, FB 2010

Acing It
Football 2010

Mike "Ace" Laine grew up in Oxford Circle and graduated from Frankford High in 1987. He loves Penn State, Frankford and his family. Proud father of two girls, ages 14 and 5. Married to Tracie from South Philly, and they've been together for 18 years. Oldest daughter is a freshman at Franklin Towne Charter. A good athlete, she plays soccer, volleyball and softball. Mike loves sports at all levels.
Mike may be reached at lanepsu@comcast.net.

SEPT. 16
NON-LEAGUE
Pennsbury 19, Frankford 14

This game was played in on and off rain storms, at times it poured. However it was a muggy night making the rain almost refreshing. It was very much worth it as these two teams put on a great show. Pennsbury took the opening kick off and in 4 plays reached the end zone. The drive was keyed by a 33 yd pass from SR QB Jeff Prine to SO Jerimiah Agrio. SR RB Brandon Pepper would rush 2 yds to score the first of his 3 tds on the night; and with the x pt the score would be Pennsbury 7 Frankford 0. 9:52 remaining in the 1st Q. Frankford would strike immediately; needing only 3 plays to tie the game at 7. SR RB Jeffione Thomas would take QB Mike McGroarty's handoff 46 yds and scamper for the tie. 7-7 with 8:41 left in the 1st Q. Pennsbury was the heavy favorite in this game and the quick score by Frankford had the home fans rumbling and grumbling. Pennsbury would take the FKD kick off to their own 32 yd line. The Frankford sideline was roaring for a big stop on 3rd & 3 when Brandon Pepper would silence all with a remarkable 61 yd touchdown run to put the Falcons up 13-7. 3 scores in 5 minutes and we're still in the 1Q. Fkd blocked the xpt. Pennsbury 13 Frankford 7. 6:58 left in the 1st Q. Frankford was not impressed. They would put together a 8 play 65 yd drive and QB Michael McGroarty would take a keeper 4 yds to tie the game at 13. Xpt good (wow 2 in 1 game) Frankford 14 Pennsbury 13 with 3:36 still to play in quarter #1. That would be our score entering the 2nd quarter. Adjustments were made by both teams and after Pennsbury drove deep into Frankford territory they would only stop themselves with a holding penalty on 3&10. On 3rd& 20, JR LB Malik Campbell would intercept a Jeff Prine pass and Frankford would take over deep in their territory. Both defenses would stiffen the rest of the quarter and we would go to half with Frankford leading 14-13. Unfortunately Frankford would be without their best offensive threat to start the second half. RB Jeffione Thomas appeared to injure his ankle and did not play until the very last series of the game. Frankford was looking in very good shape when they took the opening kick off of the 2nd half and ran 9:00 off the clock. SR RB Marc Price and QB Michael McGroarty were both factors in this drive. McGroarty would convert a 4th and 1 at the 50 to keep the drive alive. Price would rush 9 yds on first and 20 after a Frankford holding penalty to keep the drive alive. He would carry the ball 6 times for 21 yds on the drive and Frankford was set up on the Pennsbury 22 yd line with a 1st and 10. A tackle in the back field and a 1 yd sack would set up 3 and 16 at the 28 yd line. This is where the game would turn. Frankford tried to convert a 3rd & 16 with a pass down the middle, but it was picked off and returned all the way to the Pioneers 20 yd line. It was a dagger in the heart, and Pepper would score his 3rd TD of the game 5 plays later on a 8 yd rush and the score was 19-14 Pennsbury. Frankford would stop the 2 pt conversion and the score would be Pennsbury 19 Frankford 14 with :39 seconds left in quarter #3. Defense would rule the rest of the way and Frankford would end the game on a desperation toss across the middle which was knocked down by a Pennsbury defender. Pennsbury escaped with a 19-14 win, and the Pioneers would fall to 0-3 on the season. Besides the 2007 season in which they were forced to forfeit 2 victories in the beginning of the season due to an ineligible player, I can't remember any Frankford team starting a season 0-3. Pennsbury now leads the series 7-0. Pennsbury went to 2-1 on the season with their only loss coming to perennial power Easton. They next play the Bensalem Owls. Frankford will get back into league action against Bartram.

SEPT. 3
NON-LEAGUE
Hatboro-Horsham 29, Frankford 28

AHHH let the madness begin. Nothing like the opening week of football. The Red, The Blue, The Gold we're with you. . All the way to Hatters Field at beautiful Hatboro-Horsham High. A non-league match up pitting District 12 against District 1. This game will answer a lot of questions about where both teams are, and how good will they be this year. Both teams did not disappoint. This game was action packed back and forth scoring with 3 TDs being scored in the last 1:11 of the first half. H-H struck first with a 65-yd TD run by sr. RB Nick Dovidio. After taking an inside hand off he darted up the middle barely touched to give the Hatters a 6-0 lead. Bobby Stump pushed through the xp to make it 7-0 with 2:41 left in the first quarter. The Pioneers really hurt themselves all night with penalties and missed tackles. On the scoring play FKD committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty allowing HH to kick off from the Pioneers' 45, and the kick easily went in to the end zone for a touchback. The ensuing FKD drive ended on a 3 and out and HH took over on their own 34 after a 48-yd punt by FKD. The first quarter ended HH 7 FKD 0. Back to the penalties: Fifteen were called against the Pioneers. Ten false starts and offsides, 2 unsportsmanlike penalties, an illegal forward pass, and two offsides on kickoffs. Only 1 penalty for holding was called against HH. Hmmmmmm. Home field advantage??? Back to the game. HH began the 2nd quarter with a 10-play drive that covered 66 yds and was capped by a 2-yd rushing TD by jr RB Casey Saverio. The drive was keyed by a balanced rushing attack that feature a 1-2 punch from RB Nick Dovidio and jr RB Lee Riches. Also FKD went offsides on a 3rd and 1 and again later in the drive on a 1 & 10 at their own 11 yd line. The xp made it 14-0 with 7:02 left in the half. Now let the excitement begin. Fkd took the ensuing kick off and went 65 yds on 7 plays to make it 14-6. This drive was a mixed bag of runs and passes with the key play being a 18-yd rush by wingback Savoy Martin and a 28 yd pass completion by sr. QB Michael McGroarty to RB Kelly Johnson for 28 yds down to the HH 3 yd line. McGroarty would take a keeper 1 yd for a td to make it 14-6. Fkd missed the xp. so with 1:11 left in the half it was 14-6 HH. This is where penalties started hurting Fkd. After offside was called on the Pioneers on the kickoff, HH in their hurry up offense would go 55 yds in 46 seconds to make it 20-6. This drive was keyed by sr QB Matt Hollenback, a 24 yd pass to the Fkd 2 yd line set up a 2yd rush td for Lee Riches to make it 20-6. HH would fake the xp and throw for a 2pt conversion to make the score 22-6 with 25 seconds left in the half. The ensuing kick off was line drived right at Fkd upman Lydell Weeks who took it at his own 40 and rumbled to HH 46 yd line. 1 play later sr RB Jeffione Thomas would rush 46 yds to make the score 22-12. A missed 2 pt conversion would end the half at 22-12 HH. After a 3 and out by Fkd to start the 2nd half, jr kick returner Casey Saverio would return Fkd's punt to the 2 yrd line and Hollenback would take a keeper 2 yd for a TD to make it 28-12. xp good by Bobby Stump and the score would be 29-12 with 8:50 left in the 3rd q. Down and out? Not the Pioneers...with their fans yelling and getting them fired up they would dominate the rest of this game. jr kick returner Tommy Cuthbert would take the ensuing kickoff to the HH 14 yd line. But after 2 false start penalties the ball would be turned over on downs at the HH 5 yd line. How that would come back to haunt the Pioneers. Fkd defense came out steaming, forcing a 3 and out. HH punt would sail out of bounds on their own 28 yd line and McGroarty took over from there. With several HH defensman in his face he would throw a beautful strike down the sideline to jr rb Zaqua Parker for a 31 yd td pass and after a succesful 2pt conversion it was 29-20 with 234 left in the 3rd q. Now for some major contrversey. The fkd defense was swarming. Since HH last scored their next 2 possession would net 8 yards. On a 3 & 5 from their own 48 HH would fumble and it looked like after pouncing on the ball Fkd was ready to roll. Not so fast, a line judge seemed to think that the runner was down and overturned the call and allowed HH to resume possession. Home field advantage hmmmmmm? The 3rd qtr would end 29-20. The overturned call seemed to ignite the Hatters and they would drive to Fkd 8. Things not looking good for Fkd they just would not die. After a holding penalty was called against HH, pushing them back to the 18 yd line sr db Mark Price would pick off a Hollenback pass attempt at the goal line and race down the sideline to the pioneer 37 yd line. However the Pioneers could not move the ball past the 50 and the drive ended on a fake punt for a 1 yd loss. Another 3 and out forced the Hatters to punt and Fkd would take over on their own 14 yd line. Frankford was able to drive down to the HH 35 yd line with balanced running by Thomas and Johnson. On 3 & 8 from the HH 35 yd line McGrorrty, again facing 3 defenders in his face, hit Price with a 35-yard dart for a td and after a successful 2 pt conversion the score was 29-28 with 156 to play. fkd defense again would force a 3 and out and by using their timeouts fkd would take over at the hh 47 yd line with 40 seconds to play. however they would not be able to move it from there and the game ended on a run that killed the clock and didn't allow the Pioneers to line up for a final Hail Mary. A great hard fought game by both teams. again i really think fkd shot themselves in the foot with penalties and missed tackles. the overturned fumble also hurt the pioneers as yours truly cant imagine how a line judge saw this runner as down. however their was a lot of good I saw out of Fkd . I am very excited about our running game and McGroarty, who showed poise in the pocket and had two tremendous passing touchdowns.
My Ace Laine player of the game award goes to the whole Fkd team. I truly believe they outplayed the Hatters overall and was impressed with how they shut down the Hatters in the second half. If that defense shows up against GW this week, look for an early season upset by the Pioneers. Special shout out to Michael McGroarty. His TD passes were thrown both times under heavy pressure and on the 4th qtr TD pass he was licked after releasing the ball.