JAN. 25
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Frankford 57, Univ. City 48
   Pass the sunglasses, please. At one end of UC's gym, the green paint covering the row of windows at the very top has flaked off through the years and now the sun comes POURING through. Guys were squinting as they were shooting. "Only in the Pub." Phil Goldsmith, the district's new CEO, was in the house. Let's see how much power he has. Or gumption. Yo, Phil, do something about it! The game? OK. Frankford received good overall performances from 6-6 sr. WG-SF Nicholas King (one of the prettiest shots in the city) and sr. PG Kevin "Chip" Green (one of the grittiest players in the city). This teams digs in on defense and gets frontcourt bulk from srs. Michael Branch, Clayton Hunter and Donte Wood. King has worked hard to add to his skills. He fought for some tough rebounds and made a few nifty court-sense passes for assists. La Salle assistant Roland Houston was there to watch him. D-2 alert! D-2 alert! -- for UC sr. small forward Maurice Maxwell. I'm not sure he's quite 6-5, but he has good feet, a calm presence in traffic and a killer medium-range jumper, which he can hit on the move. Approachwise, he reminds me of '00 Mansion star Omar Thomas, in that he doesn't mess around with the ball. I like this guy. A lot. He shot 9-for-12. He looks like someone who will continue to improve, especially as he adds weight. UC was looking good with a 31-24 lead, but then allowed Frankford to embark on a 16-1 run. It was a shame for UC that it couldn't get a little closer down the stretch. A decent crowd was on hand, but it never became fully involved. I haven't mentioned this earlier, but I've been taking 20 soft pretzels to Pub games and awarding them to the winning team. Until this one, NO ONE had gotten a pre-game pretzel. When I told Frankford coach Bernie Handler about the pretzels, he wondered whether he could have one. He hadn't eaten all day. He looked drawn, tired, weak, about to collapse. I thought to myself, if this man lapses into a coma, it'll be all my fault. Bernie got a pretzel. (He waited until the players headed to the locker room to take it out of the bag. "If they see me with one, they'll all be over here.")

JAN. 23
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Franklin 65, Penn 61
   Well, we almost made it all the way through this one before someone acted like a fool. With 0:05 left, just after the very impressive Mustafa Shakur, Penn's 6-3 jr. CG, somehow missed a gimme from under the basket, a fan sent a paper cup filled with soda skidding across the midcourt area. At first I thought refs Bernard Orr and Phil Harding were going to end the game, even though Franklin was only up two. But after the mess was cleaned, jr. PG Murvin English calmly drained two free throws to provide the final four-point margin. My story was on 6-7 PF-C Jamal Nichols, who had 12 points, 21 rebounds and eight blocks. Umass aide Geoff Arnold was watching. Nichols is the half-brother of Friends' Central's Hakim "Skinny"  Warrick (Syracuse signee). He did exactly what a guy with a 4-inch height advantage over anyone else on the other team is supposed to do. He dominated. With one player (sr. G Rodney Warren) suspended and another (sr. G-F Malik Lloyd) forced to sit out the first quarter, some relative unknowns received opportunities and performed well. Soph G Darnell Corbitt, who sometimes played the point, hit three treys (12 points). Sr. F Derron Jones had 10 points and five boards, though he missed all six of his free throws. Once Lloyd did get in, he exploded for 16 points in 11 minutes, then didn't score again. Honestly, I forget whether he even played again. I don't think he did. If Penn had even one semi-big guy, it would be truly dangerous. The Lions hustle and appear to be fearless. Shakur, assuming he handles the academic end, will play Division I ball. He has the big step, great shooting form and body control. He left a Franklin defender jockless on one move. The other starters are srs. Robert Smith, Nasser Battle, Gary Evans and Jeffrey Jones. Jones is more of a PG. The others are WGs/SFs. All are pretty athletic. Penn jumped to a 20-6 lead in the first quarter against zone, then became a shade disoriented when Franklin went man. Judging by their personnel, the Lions should have done even better because they have no stiffs in the ballhandling department. They just couldn't find a rhythm. It was nice to see girls b-ball coach Alison Eachus and track coach Tim Hickey. They're two of my favorite people. Hickey, an Indiana native, is a gigantic hoops fan. Penn's gym has the best water fountain anywhere. The water is damn near freezing. Always tastes great. I recommend it highly. Late in the game, a guy ran across the gym to say hello to "Hockey Puck" and me. He said Robert Smith was his nephew. Puck said, "Smith his nephew." Sensing a chance for a great Puck moment, I said, "Whose nephew?" "You know." "No I don't." "Him." "Who was that, Puck?" "I know." "No you don't." "Yes I do. Um, um. YOU don't know who it was." "Puck, I assure you, I know who it was. Stop bluffing." He finally caved in. "OK, who was it?" I said it was Donald Kelly, star guard at Roman ('74) and American U. "That was Donald Kelly?!?!" Puck screeched. "That my man!"

JAN. 21
CATHOLIC NORTH
La Salle 48, Ryan 33
    I decided to let Kev do this one for his Korner.

JAN. 19
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Episcopal 68, Penn Charter 61
    The crowd was small and the stakes were low, but, man, was this a good one. Both teams played harder than hard and the game had almost no dull moments. Episcopal was fueled by 6-6 jr. F Terrence Mack (28 points, 15 rebounds), who had his way inside. He had two throw-downs and otherwise scored on assorted short bankers, layups and 10- to 12-footers. I love Mack's approach and work ethic. He has scored 1,200 on the PSAT and will receive widespread D-I looks. I still believe he'll have to careful choosing a school because he's not a classic runner and jumper. His ballhandling is indeed improving, though. He thrice scored on drives that covered at least half the court. 6-7 sr. F-C Fran Person added 20 points and 12 boards; he looked comfortable and his mind is undoubtedly unburdened since he has signed with South Carolina for football (TE or DE). Sr. backup PG Ian Wallace scored five key points in the fourth quarter and blanketed PC jr. WG Mike McGarvey in a box-and-one. The bonehead play of the game was made by soph G Ron Frazier. With the clock winding down, he cradled the ball and just started strolling in ah, it's-over fashion. The refs had no choice but to call walking. I've rarely seen coach Dan Dougherty so upset. McGarvey had 23 points, three assists, seven steals. Fresh CG John "Zack" Zeglinski, who is about 5-10 (knuckleheaded me called him 5-7 the other day), had nine points, five assists. Sr. F Billy McKinney might have played the second half with a broken rib. Soph F Matt Ryan, the FB QB, had two treys and two assists in the fourth quarter.

JAN. 19
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Fels 62, GAMP 56
    Why are you here? That's the question I always get when I attend a game involving lesser lights. Yo, I was there because I WANTED to be! It was a fun afternoon. GAMP has great school spirit (cheerleaders, support by teachers and parents; imagine if the team was decent) and Guerin RC gets very noisy. I spent part of the game surrounded by a half-dozen 6 to 8 year-olds. They were part of an after-school program. They were curious about how I keep score, and about all the dots, circles, lines, check marks, etc. It was pretty funny. At one point, all six were watching me jot stuff down and not one was looking at the game. I liked 5-7 sr. PG Shaun Snyder, of Fels. He could have had 20-plus assists if his teammates had made shots. Then again, Shaun was no sniper, either. He missed 10 from the field and eight at the line. Coach Ben Dubin, justifiably I'd say, is trying to drum up D-III looks for Snyder, who has 810 on the SAT. Snyder never left the floor. The rest kept constantly rotating. 6-4 sr. PF-C Lamar Savior had 16 points and 10 boards. 6-3 soph Tariq Chandler scored 12 points despite foul trouble. He has a great build, so the kid has possibilities. At halftime, one of Fels' players did a cartwheel and claimed that next year he would become a cheerleader. Help is available, my man. Seek it now! GAMP has a promising soph in WG Chris Feggans. He shot 6-for-11 and 8-for-9 for 20 points. He looks very young in the face. He should get a lot better. Sr. WG Jon Torriero and jr. PG Muneer Satterthwaite had two treys apiece.

JAN. 14
CATHOLIC SOUTH
Roman 73, O'Hara 59
    The one aspect that stood out most for Roman was its interior passing. Early, 6-6 sr. F Tamal Forchion and 6-5 sr. G-F Brent Welton made some nice connections for easy baskets. In the third quarter, sr. WG Steve Brodzinski netted six assists. Brodzinski came to Roman with the reputation of a shooter. I haven't seen it yet, but he is using other skills to make contributions. Sr. PG Jim Kelly confidently knocked down three head-on treys when O'Hara pretty much dared him to shoot. Sr. G John Huggins -- along with Welton, he's trying to earn a D-I scholarship -- shot 9-for-12 for 18 points. Football star Joe McCourt had two assists off the bench while being watched by a William & Mary FB assistant. I'm surprised the guy didn't kidnap Forchion and take him back to campus. I know this kid's good in basketball (he's a George Washington signee), but I can't help thinking that, long-range, he's better suited for FB. What a body. Mixed with the ability to power-jump like crazy. Put him at DE and make him a speed rusher. Scary! For O'Hara, sr. F-C Gene Willard (Sciences signee) was once again impressive. This guy is Mr. All-Out, All-the-Time. He had 25 points and 15 rebounds. (Forchion, by contrast, had eight boards). Among the spectators was O'Hara grad Jeff Randazzo, now a LHP in Minnesota's system. He was a dang good basketball player, too. (He's been in the South in the minors. That's why I used dang.)

JAN. 12
CATHOLIC NORTH
Wood 67, North Catholic 48
   I wanted to get a look at 6-3 jr. PG Mike Spadafora before too much more time went by. Well worth it. Carroll grad Martin Ingelsby is starting at the point for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are writing to Spadafora, who is three inches taller and has better long-range potential. Spadafora, a lefty, pretty much did what he wanted -- freed himself for jumpers, got into the lane, beat pressure, etc. His shot was a little off, but his misses were in-and-outs. As a bonus, he swept 14 rebounds. Strangely, Wood has no seniors. What it does have is an inordinate number of lefties -- two more starters in jr. PF-C Pat Thompson and jr. F Tim Dougherty and jr. sub G-F Blair Klumpp. Thompson is about 6-5. He has wiry strength and plays hard. I liked that he kept going forward. He got some easy field goals just because he wound up near the basket and took feeds from Spadafora or soph G Greg Arrow (seven assists). Dougherty added 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Meanwhile, what's up with North? The Falcons were listless and had no chemistry. They didn't even talk to each other. They looked like they were playing in a gym class. Sr. G Rob Rossiter and jr. G Don Welte had 15 points apiece. Welte added three assists. Granted, Wood is not a draw, but where were the students? Except for the JV players, I doubt more than 10 students were in attendance. And overall, I'd bet that Wood had more fans total than North. Sad. Truly sad. I sat with website colleague Kevin "Sparky" Cooney. He went to the concession stand at halftime and brought me back a pack of M&M's. Plain. I mean, Milk Chocolate. They hit the spot. Afterward, the gate right outside the gym was padlocked shut. I was not happy. My car was right on the other side. Like many others, I had to walk out through the Torresdale Avenue entrance/exit and then walk all the way around to the back of the school. Under my breath, I might have cursed once or twice or 47 times.
    (I erred in my Daily News story when I said Spadafora has a chance to be the first junior to win MVP honors in the North since Kenrick's Brian Leahy in 1983. Dougherty's Donnell Sutton was the MVP as a junior in '96. He did not repeat as a senior. Thanks to Dougherty assistant Dave Distel for keeping me on my toes.)

JAN. 11
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Gratz 63, Strawberry Mansion 50
    The Gratz people know how to run a neighborhood rivalry game. Police-style barricades along the baseline. Crime scene-style yellow tape running the length. The fans, almost exclusively students, were orderly and mostly quiet, probably because Gratz strangled the life from the game. What gets crowds going these days? Right, dunks and threes. There were no dunks until very late and just three treys total. Your 80-old-year grandmother could have kept the peace at this one. My story for the Daily News focused on 6-4 sr. SF Michael Cuffee, who was EXTRA impressive. He barely played for Gratz last year, but I saw him extensively last summer in an AAU tournament in Florida and thought at the time, "This kid has possibilities." He has a beautiful shot (elevation, form, rotation) and aggressively pogo-sticks for rebounds (16 of 'em). Coach Bill Ellerbee said Cuffee might deserve a big-time scholarship. I'm starting to have some concerns for jr. F Michael Blackshear. He can't avoid picking up chintzy fouls that cause him to miss large chunks of playing time. When he's out there, he's a force. He has to be out there more. Sr. CG Anthony Abrams was super. He scored 19 points and used his long arms and desire to sentence Mansion soph G Maureece Rice to 7-for-21 miseries. Rice is very talented, but he needs to lose weight and improve his conditioning. He can't get as high on his jumper as he used to, and has lost just a hint of his explosiveness. The dunk of the day went to Gratz sub Anthony Geiger, a 6-5 sr. He reached over someone else on a mid-air follow and slammed it home with authority. Now THAT got the people going. They were still buzzing a minute later. Mansion's player of the game was sr. F Sharif Jackson. He hustled throughout and got the most from his role-player skills (13 points, six rebounds). Amauro "Mar" Austin, proud member of the tedsilary.com squad, had trouble getting into the gym. I had to go into the hallway, find him, then vouch for him at the door. Percell Coles, Gratz '00 star now sitting out at Cleveland State, was in attendance. He looked great. He said he has a personal trainer out there. I have one, too. His name is Mr. Tastykake.

JAN. 9
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Dobbins 53, Central 51
    There was an early dismissal, so the crowd was small. Damn! Dobbins relied mostly on its Three Munchkinteers -- 5-8 sr. Dennis Meekins and 5-7 jrs. Ronald Davis and Hakeem Dunn. All are quick. All are feisty. All are fun to watch. Tyrell Mathis, a 6-4 F-C, is a respectable soph. He went to the boards hard (10 rebounds) and made a few good moves through the lane. 6-1 jr. Barren Grier, who could be Dobbins' QB next year (if he doesn't remain at WR), is one of those leapers who hangs in the air for a while. He had a big-time follow dunk. Coach Rich Yankowitz was in great pain due to a pinched nerve. He was sitting at crazy angles all game, but he was still yelling as loudly as ever. Every time he jumped up, he was in agony. He couldn't help it. Central's leader is jr. CG Sharif Bray. He plays with a quiet intensity and has good court sense. He's a little bow-legged, so the girls probably love him (they always dig the bow-legged guys). He was largely able to avoid being victimized by the Dobbins waterbugs. Can shoot it from deep. Another jr., swingman Khalif Leek, has some good qualities. He'll form a nice combo with Bray next season. When I first saw sr. CG Timothy Forrest, something clicked: "Oh, yeah. I remember this guy. I liked him last season. Played very hard." Guess what? I still like him. He still plays hard. He shot 8-for-13 en route to 15 points. Also had four steals. Sr. C Leon Brooks is a shade overweight, but might be able to play college ball. He got two quick fouls and never got into the flow of the game. The first time someone passed him the ball, he immediately made a down-the-lane move. Note to college coaches: Always hit at least one Central game a year. This school almost always has late-bloomers with good academics. I was going to take the Dobbins team photo downstairs before the game, but "Yank" spent about 10 minutes reaming out -- and I mean big-time -- one of his players for not arriving earlier. It was a vintage performance. Catch me at a game. I'll give you the details. Off the record.

JAN. 7
CATHOLIC NORTH
Judge 65, McDevitt 48
    I had a bad feeling when ref Kevin McKinley walked over to the scorer's table during warmups and told the timer, "Take that clock down to 10 minutes (from 15). We gotta get out of here in time for the Eagles' game." I thought no fouls would be called. That murder and mayhem would be permitted. It wasn't bad. Some touch fouls were even called. Judge gave a nice overall performance. Shot it, rebounded, was unselfish, defended. McDevitt was extremely sloppy with the ball and timid in the beginning. It surprised me because the Lancers had clocked North Friday night. Judge's early spark came from sr. F Rich Schmidt (eight points in the first quarter) and sr. G John Horcher (eight points and four steals in the first half). Sr. F Mike "Dean" McCauley was on the boards all game with nine. I was curious to see McDevitt sr. CG Mike Morak because I'd heard some good things about him. He struggled mightily through three quarters (0-for-6 floor, one point), then got rolling when the situation got desperate. He went hard to the hole and nailed two treys while pouring in 13 points. Sr. PF-C Todd Nally had nine boards. Sr. F Brandon Vaughan several times showed  quick moves close to the basket, but rarely got the ball. Jr. PG Isaiah Pinckney did a couple of nice things. At halftime, a kid maybe 9 years old went to center-court and led everyone in an E-A-G-L-E-S! cheer. Everyone except me. I'm a reporter. I have to stay neutral. When I took the photo for Judge's Team Page, the mood was festive. We had to wait maybe 30 seconds until Manager Mike arrived. "Wait 'til you see him," coach Bill Fox said. "You'll see why he has to be in the picture." Manager Mike walked in. From the set of the old "Little Rascals/Our Gang" movies. Congrats to Judge JV coach Bill Koch, who collected his 450th win in 22 seasons!                  

JAN. 6
INTER-AC TRIPLEHEADER
Chestnut Hill 51, Penn Charter 35
Gtn. Academy 78, Episcopal 34
Malvern 68, Haverford School 48
   This was a long one, folks. The games were only partially competitive and the shooting was often brutal. Take Episcopal. Franchise jr. F Terrence Mack went 7-for-16, but his teammates combined to go 3-for-34 (an ice-like 8.8 percent) . Mack scored EA's first 14 points. The most enjoying part of the day was watching GA show great teamwork and really dig in on defense. Sr. PG Mike Slattery, a Delaware signee, was outstanding. Any decent PG can make the obvious passes. This kid makes the unobvious passes, easily. He had eight assists. 6-6 jr. WG Matt Walsh went 3-for-5 on treys en route to 15 points. He, too, made some excellent feeds. 6-7 jr. F Lee Melchionni, a lefty, at times has looked too unassuming for my taste. But in this one, he ran hard from end to end and looked aggressive/interested. He had 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists. 6-6 soph Rob Kurz did some Walsh-like sniping off the bench. 5-10 sr. G Troy Holiday is a hustler's hustler. My new favorite player is 6-3 sr. F Brendan Kelly. Why? Because he wears those back-in-the-day, high-top white Chucks. My man! In the CH-PC game, the only noteworthy performance was turned in by CH's Bob Plunkett, a 6-4 sr. F. He had 10 points, 14 rebounds. This kid has a lovable mean streak. He routinely sends foes to the floor. PC sr. PG Zandy Reich had a weird shooting day: 0-for-10 from the floor, 6-for-6 at the line. The Quakers continue to play hard. They continue to have little chance against decent teams due to inexperience and having no inside force. Go to Amauro's Corner for a report on the MP-HS game. I saw the game, but told Amauro he needed some more game-reporting under his belt. He cursed me out. We almost came to blows. (Just kidding.) The worst part of the day? Sitting next to "Hockey Puck" from 1:00 until 5:43. I had to calm him down 73 times. By the way, have you ever seen this dude eat? He got one of those long soft pretzels and wolfed it down in maybe 14.5 seconds. At the end, Puck mentioned to Bro. John Kane, La Salle's facilities manager, that a basketball was still in the gym. The others had been taken away by a maintenance man. Brother John was standing maybe 4 feet from Puck. Puck said, "Yo, here you go," and made a two-hand chest pass to Brother John. One problem: BJ was momentarily distracted and wasn't looking. The ball hit him in the face. Not hard, luckily.  "Ooh, I sorry," Puck said. "Why wasn't you lookin'? You WAS lookin'. How come you stop?" Remember, stats are his strength. Stats!

JAN. 5
CATHOLIC NORTH
Ryan 51, Conwell-Egan 32
    The night got off to a good start as Ryan's players were excited about having their picture snapped. That's the idea. Have fun!! Unfortunately, come game time, C-E did not offer much opposition. Ryan mostly had its way. I was again impressed with 6-2 sr. G-F John Capella and 6-4 sr. F Chris DiStasio. Both are athletic. Both could help respectable D-III programs, and perhaps play D-II. Capella is a 4.0 student. Wonderful! DiStasio could run and jump in the Public League and never once be embarrassed. He made some strong, big-step moves on which the ball went in and out. Sr. John Pellegrino and jr. Chris Kozole showed feistiness in PG stints. I again liked soph G Mike Devine. He made his only shot and added three assists on good looks. He played calmly while still appearing to know exactly what was going on at all times. C-E's top player is 6-3 jr. F Andrew Holland. He mixed baseline jumpers and post-up moves. He worked hard to get the ball, but it didn't always happen. 6-4 sr. F-C Ryan Davison grabbed nine rebounds. Guards Kevin Mascione (sr.) and Joe Lamina (jr.) are the definition of pepperpot.

JAN. 5
CATHOLIC SOUTH
O'Hara 53, SJ Prep 50
   Refs Bob "Notre Dame Harvey" Sumner and Mike Neher let the teams play. The centers, Prep's Ryan Tyson and O'Hara's Gene Willard, mugged each other and were rarely a factor. That left the game to the guards. O'Hara received good showings from jr. WG Chris Grandieri and soph Craig Haywood, who shot 5-for-5 en route to 14 points. However, he still had too many turnovers. For Prep, 6-1 sr. WG Mike Barker was mostly impressive. Before the refs came out, he dunked easily in warmups. He had good success getting into the paint and winding past guys on the baseline. He sometimes lost track of where he was and his shots went awry. Mike has over 1,300 on the SAT and is being eyed by Penn. He loves the game and always plays hard. Also catching everyone's eye was freshman PG Chris Clark. He's about 5-6, but is VERY quick and shows NO hesitancy. He took four treys and drained three. It was his defensive tenacity that rallied Prep from a 13-2 deficit after the first quarter. As I watched Clark play, I was thinking, "Wonder where he's from? He's got a LOT of savvy." On the way out of the gym, I saw a familiar face. It was George Clark. "That explains it!" I said right away. George (Edison), Dana (Olney) and Jeffery Clark (Frankford) were excellent PGs in the 1970s. Jeffery became an all-timer at St. Joe's and is now a very good ref. Chris Clark is George's son. It'll be fun to watch Chris go against Carroll soph Kashif Payne.

JAN. 3
CATHOLIC SOUTH
Neumann 57, Roman 52 (OT)
    Pretty good game, in time. Few would have expected it after the first quarter, which finished with Neumann on top, 21-3. Roman shot 0-for-10 in the frame. Ouch! The most interesting duel featured the teams' respective big men -- Neumann's 6-8 Brandon Brigman (South Florida) vs. Roman's 6-6 Tamal Forchion (George Washington). Two years ago, I viewed Brigman as someone who had a chance to be the next Malik Rose. I still believe that, but he can't take games off and he can't play down to the competition. He was a tiger in this one, getting 19 points and 14 rebounds. Meanwhile, Forchion, who is always a warrior, had 20 points and 10 boards, but he was woeful at the foul line (6-for-14). Roman rallied in part because football stars Joe McCourt and Scott Paxson added large amounts of grit. McCourt played sr. PG Cantrell "Man-Man" Fletcher and his D helped force Neumann out of sync. Sr. WG Robert "Beattie" Taylor played well in flashes, but he was also part of the out-of-sync club. I'm not sure why, but several times jr. F Ramer Jones wound up trying to run the offense 35 to 40 feet from the basket. Strange sight. Sr. G John Huggins and sr. F Brent Welton, Roman's best players after Forchion, had in-and-out performances. Both were tentative early. As their team got rolling, so did they. Sr. PG Jim Kelly hit three treys and made some nice feeds. No doubt his play boosted his confidence.

JAN. 3
NON-LEAGUE
Friends' Central 59, Episcopal 57
   Episcopal's Terrence Mack had 30 points and 14 boards. The 6-5 jr. F has interesting possibilities. He's not a runner and jumper, but he has a good feel for inside scoring and a certain trickiness with the ball. Still, he'll have to choose his college level carefully. (Ivy/Patriot would appear to be the best fit for now). He scored so much in part because FC's Hakim "Skinny" Warrick was in early foul trouble and often was hesitant to challenge him. Mack would go right around for layups. I didn't get much of a look at 6-7 sr. F-C Fran Person, a first team All-City defensive lineman. Due to a mixup, he got his fourth foul in the second quarter. Sr. G-F Mark Kendall showed productive-hustler qualities. Coach Dan Dougherty, one of my favorite people ever, used three guys at the point -- srs. Malcolmn Pryor and Ian Wallace (he's headed for Harvard) and soph Ron Frazier. Frazier seemed to have court sense. He had some trouble finishing plays. Episcopal got three last shots. The first two were short. The third was blocked. Warrick, the Syracuse signee, was limited to 10 points and five rebounds. FC has a beautiful new fieldhouse. The Phoenix left the Inter-Ac League after the 1968 school year. Rumor has it they want back in. We'll see. They haven't had football for close to 25 years.