SEPT. 29
CATHOLIC RED
SJ Prep 19, Judge 0
   When can a loss at least remotely resemble a win? In situations such as this one. For a while now, the Crusaders have been missing sr. LB star Chris Dowling and for this one they had to go without sr. QB star Paul Volpe, who last week suffered a deep gash on the palm of his throwing hand in the fourth quarter of a win over Ryan. Despite having to go without those two headliners, and having to use its main rusher/dangerous receiver, sr. Andrew McHale, at QB, Judge had many good moments. If the teams happen to meet in a playoff game later, with Judge at full strength personnel-wise, memories of today will help immensely. I wasn’t confident about being able to make it from O’Hara to Lincoln to catch the start of this game, but O’Hara-North lasted a normal length (roughly two hours) and there were no traffic problems on 95 and, presto, I arrived in time to catch the coin flip. Puck was up on the hillside behind Judge’s bench and of course yelled non-stop, “Yo, Ted, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.” Anyone have earplugs? Anyway, the key moments occurred late in the third quarter with Prep up 13-0. Judge was going to go for it on fourth-and-4 at the Prep 35, but a wideout charged off the line of scrimmage a full count ahead of time and coach Tommy Coyle changed his mind, opting for a punt. The Hawks took over on their 20 and – see ya! – sr. RB Jamir Livingston immediately zoomed for an 80-yard score. Judge also sniffed a score in the fourth quarter. No go. A 30-yard hookup from McHale to franchise jr. WR Tom Ryan, who dinged his right shoulder, placed the ball on the 15. Prep stiffened and rode out the clock from there. Sr. QB Aaron Haas went just 2-for-7 for 20 yards and fired not once after halftime, but did post a 43-yard gain on a rollout keeper. Livingston finished with 166 yards on 22 totes. Sr. FB Mike McCarthy added 43 on seven. Judge’s best early moment was an 8-yard sack by sr. DE Dan Keenan on third-and-6 at the 10. That forced a FG attempt by sr. Tim Edger (his father, Bill, starred at Judge and was the head coach for one year, as well), and it went awry. Jr. LB Joe Swallow was impressive all day for Judge. In the second half, McHale operated out of a shotgun, but the snaps were often slow and/or misguided. One of them caused a fumble by McHale and sr. LB-DB Paul Fitzgerald not only scooped up the ball, but went roughly 25 yards for a score. Judge forced two turnovers. Sr. LB Jim DiLisio had an interception (and plenty of hard hits) while Ryan recovered a fumble (hit by jr. DB Adam Nowak). Somehow, miscommunication led to Judge’s band playing the National Anthem AFTER the opening kickoff as the Crusaders prepared to start the first series. The players all looked around and finally stood at attention, looking beyond the south end zone toward a barren flagpole. Umpire Marty Shields said he told them, “Look at the place where it’s supposed to be.”

SEPT. 29
CATHOLIC RED
O’Hara 18, North Catholic 7
   It was still beach weather and this game was pretty much played on one. It has been ridiculously dry this fall and the place that served as the site was O’Hara’s good, ol’ practice field (11 a.m. start) in all its dusty non-glory. Cough, cough, cough. Can a person get black lung disease covering a football game? Hope not. Why at O’Hara? Why at 11 a.m.? Well, way back in the spring, the Archdiocese planned something special for yesterday (don’t ask me what; don’t really care) and told all schools not to schedule afternoon/evening events so all could participate. FB coach Danny Algeo, who at that time was O’Hara’s athletic director, did as directed. Other schools did not, but were not forced to make late changes. How many truly great morning games have you ever seen? Except on Thanksgiving, maybe. This one took no cakes. Plus, the dust made things difficult for everyone. A week ago, I’d been told that North Catholic did not play THAT badly against Roman despite what the 31-0 score would have indicated. Well, after this one, I can’t imagine the Falcons’ coaches were too happy. North ran 35 plays and only three gained as many as 10 yards – an 85-yard, straight-up-the-middle TD run by sr. RB Terrell Oglesby (just 9-95 total), and passes of 38 yards (to soph WR Julian Huggins) and 14 yards (to jr. RB Yusuf Lingham) from jr. QB Dennis Logue. Those accounted for 147 of the Falcons’ 141 yards. Huh? (The rest of the plays lost six yards total.) Just as disturbing was the defensive yield: 376 yards. O’Hara achieved an almost perfect balance as jr. Tom Savage accounted for 190 (on 14-for-25; five receivers had two to five catches) and the rushers went for 186. The line included soph C Matt Williams, jr. Gs Andrew Glace and Kevin Lalor, jr. T Dennis Mushrush and sr. T Mike Pileggi (hey, finally a senior). They did a great job not only at the line of scrimmage, but into the second tier of defenders as well. Savage’s TD tosses went to sr. WR Ryan Wolski (somehow left wide open on a 31-yarder right before halftime; Savage impressively kept avoiding pressure while maintaining his poise) and soph RB Corey Brown (23-yarder to cap the first drive of the third quarter). Though O’Hara dominated the stats and time of possession, it hardly frolicked. In fact, facing only a 12-7 deficit, North only had to post a TD midway through the fourth quarter to go ahead. A shaky interference call on jr. DB Jason Johnson (earlier pick) placed the rock on the Lions’ 19. Jr. DL Chris Dolan and sr. LB Patrick Daly combined to drop T.O. for a 4-yard loss, then Logue overthrew Huggins in the right corner. A draw yielded nothing, thanks to a perfect sniffout by sr. DE Billy McMonigle and fourth down produced a 7-yard loss, courtesy of big-time prospect Mark Wedderburn (6-7, 245), a sr. DE. Five plays later, sr. RB Kevin Ward zoomed 48 yards for a score on a jet sweep to clinch the win. As he roared across the end zone in celebration, Wardie was chest-bumped by Lalor and promptly tumbled backward on his you-know-what. I later showed the pic to Lalor and he exclaimed, “Oh, I wanna see that in the paper!” Have to settle for this goofy website, buddy (smile). Speaking of the site, I spent the morning interacting with O’Hara’s legendary manager, Willie McGonigle, who covers the Lions. He had a rough day controlling the waterboys, but no trouble convincing O’Hara’s cheerleaders to pose for pics with him. What a ladies’ man!! Before the game even started, we got on the subject of detention and he mentioned that O’Hara has one on Saturday mornings. “What does it involve?” I asked. “Ask the players,” he kidded. “Half of them probably know.” For the moment, with sr. Tom DuBois (soccer injury) unavailable, O’Hara has no PAT man. At halftime, O’Hara’s band came out to perform and the xylophone player, a girl named Megan (or some first name that started with an M) was missing. No one took her place. I heard a band parent quip, “We’re just like the football team. They don’t have a backup kicker. We don’t have a backup xylophone player.”

SEPT. 28
PUBLIC RED
Northeast 27, Central 13
  Well, we’re near the end of a month and Northeast is hosting Central. Two problems: it’s not November and the occasion isn’t the Turkey Day battle. By virtue of its first place finish last year in White, Central now finds itself in Red and that means a much tougher schedule. This is a not an extra strong Lancer squad and it’s a shade short of size and speed, but it indeed put up a fight and perhaps would have made things VERY interesting by taking better care of the ball. After getting to halftime with a 14-13 deficit, Central thereafter committed three turnovers and two were flat-out drops with what appeared to be minimal contact. The guilty party was sr. QB Kyle Yeiter, who’s usually pretty darn reliable and had uncorked what was probably the game’s best run in the second quarter, resulting in a 17-yard score. The third turnover was an interception (by sr./jr. DB Je’Ron Stokes). Hey, it happens. We listed Stokes, a transfer from Penn Charter, as a sr./jr. because he repeated ninth grade upon entering PC and where he’ll be in ’08 is very much up in the air. I’d guess he’d love to stay at NE because his brother, Malik, a soph, is the QB and the two, understandably, have good Mr. Fling/Mr. Cling chemistry. If PIAA brass do not approve him for an extra year, there are MANY prep schools who would love to have him. Je’Ron (6-1, 175) finished with three catches for 43 yards and a TD while Malik went 7-for-11 for 127 and three scores; the other two went to sr. TE Tyrik Clary. It’s weird to see Northeast actually opting to pass the ball, except in desperation. This is my second 32nd season of covering Viking squads and in almost all of them, the various coaches have viewed the forward pass as some kind of dreaded disease. But now there’s a balance and that works, in part, because there are no stud rushers. Gritty kids, yes. But not franchise workhorses. Jr. James Rosseau (14-62) and sr. Nafis Muhammad (9-36) were the leaders while sr. Quinton Reid managed to go 2 yards for a TD. The line included sr. C Malcolm Newton, jr. Gs Antoine Fowler (who got the DN story) and Isaac Peterson, sr. T Christopher Peterson (his brother) and sr. T Salathiel Neely. A few times along the way, Newton dropped hints that he wanted his picture taken. OK, he was beggin’. So, late in the game, during a timeout, he bent over to tie Fowler’s shoe and – yup – snap away time it was. Newton got a kick out of that. Ha, ha, ha. Later, I threw him a real-picture bone along with another beggar, jr. DT Anthony Nieves (smile). Both were good sports. I enjoyed the banter. Central used a vintage Pub kickoff sequence to help set up its go-ahead TD. After sr. RB Ray Harris (8-33) ran 7 yards for a score, frosh K Joe Guarnieri sent his kickoff skidding down the middle. In the second wall, the ball bounced off the facemask of a leaning-over Viking and caromed all the way back to the 50, where Guarnieri recovered. Geeeeeeeeeeeez. The Lancers needed seven plays to again visit the end zone. Yeiter’s score came on a QB delay and he displayed both moves and tackle-preventing strength. NE got its go-ahead score and conversion just 5.6 before the half. A facemask penalty put the ball on the 3. Sr. DB Avery Williams (1-yard loss) and sr. DL Matt Morlock (no gain) made clutch stops and a third-down swing pass was dropped. After a motion penalty moved the ball to the 8, Malik hit Je’Ron with a right corner fade as Williams tried his best but couldn’t prevent it. In the left corner, jr. Raheem Groce made a diving snag of the conversion pass. A fumble recovery by sr. DL Clifton Pannell set up the third quarter TD, Reid’s run, while jr. LB Marcus Leslie’s fumble recovery set up the fourth quarter score. Though the visiting stands looked finished to me, all spectators were forced to sit on NE’s side. That caused game-long interaction and the NE kids dominated. Their loudest cheer, more than once, was “Central S---s! Central S---s!” As near as I could tell, no administrator suggested/ordered they knock it off. Hey, it’s the times we live in. S---s is the modern “stinks.” Bonner arrived for its night game with Roman just as this one was ending, so I seized the opportunity to take a pic of the Friars’ captains. One of the assistants is ex-player Mike Kozak, who was one of THE rocks of this site in its infancy. “Fat Koz,” as he called himself, lit up our old Random Thoughts section (and we let him get away with much more than most other kids just because of how cool he was – ha, ha.) Koz introduced centerfield barbecue sessions to Bonner’s baseball games and was one of the best rally-everyone-together guys a school could EVER hope to have. Great to see him again. Go to the bottom of this page for a 2002 pic of Koz with my daughter.

SEPT. 27
PUBLIC AAA
Franklin 38, Prep Charter 12
  Not much was expected. Not much was provided. PC is a first-year varsity squad and does not have enough talent or depth to hang with an established program such as Franklin’s, and we all knew that going in. There were some cool moments, however, and the subject of my DN story, jr. TE-OLB Jamel “Redz” Haggins (6-4, 225; 3.5 GPA, already building a rep on the camp circuit), came off as a super young man and that always makes a trip ANYWHERE worthwhile. The most interesting/funny play was the very last one. PC scored on the final scrimmage play as jr. QB Jarreau Henderson whipped a long pass to frosh WR Charles Barber (also an interception). Barber made the catch at about the 30 and ran the rest of the way. I was stunned that ref Tom McClain allowed the conversion to take place because that’s always a “no attempt” job unless it’s meaningful, but afterward I was certainly glad he did. Frosh Keith Davis rushed in and dislodged the ball and it was sitting at the 19. Sr. DT Daymel Murray, who goes 5-10, 300, picked it up and rumbled and rumbled some more all the way to the end zone! The Electrons and the spectators were going crazy and some Huskies were giving chase. One problem: in high school ball, the defense cannot score on a conversion. McClain blew his whistle throughout the something-much-less-than-a-dash, but no one paid attention. When I asked Murray whether he knew the rule, he quipped, "I wasn't thinking. My mind was in a daze." He also said,  breathing quite heavily, “I'm gettin' too old for this." Ha, ha, ha. Good stuff, Daymel! Another good sequence occurred late in the second quarter. While uncorking a pass, Franklin sr. QB Tajidin McGough threw the ball a shade too low and PC sr. DL Joe Crooks managed a deflection. Ralph Bertrand, a jr. OLB brand new to the squad, reeled in the ball and departed for a 59-yard TD. On the kickoff, sr. RB Chris Sturgis gathered in the ball on the 14, not far from the visiting sideline. He angled right, beat two waves of tacklers who appeared to have angles, broke it up the middle and went all the way for what turned out to be an easy score. That was hardly the extent of Sturgis’ heroics. Also, he ran 12 times for 120 yards and three other scores, in addition to maneuvering into the end zone on three conversion runs. A 30-point day! Not bad! Haggins notched two tackles for losses and sent all six of his kickoffs, in straight/true fashion, to at least the 14 yard line. Plus, he also returned a fumble for a 39-yard touchdown. The most dominant early force was sr. LB Duane “Bam” Burrell. He was having some trouble dealing with the heat, though, and had to sit down for a while. Burrell made tackles on four of PC’s first six plays. Jr. DT Darius Harris later notched a sack and TFL worth 21 total yards. Two LBs, sr. Michael Bariana and frosh Nick Ruiz, were PC’s most consistent hitters. (Not sure we should trust Ruiz as being the correct name, though. No. 55 appeared to be bigger than Ruiz’ listed 5-6, 166. Whoever 55 was, he could pop.) At least five Huskies (Bariana, Crooks, jr. L Josh Brydges, Henderson and newcomer Angelo DelVecchio) are also baseball players. Didn’t notice any basketball players out there. One of PC’s captains, a jr. lineman, is officially named Mihel Murati. He goes by Mike and, no, his last name is not Italian. He’s from one of those “A” countries. Albania or Armenia. I forget which one he said. I THINK he said Albania (smile). In the second half, some kid hanging against the outside fence yelled in at the Huskies, “Y’all gettin’ your ass busted! Might as well quit!” And to the Electrons, “Why y’all doin’ that to ‘em, man!? That (bleep) ain’t right!” Maybe this kid should have yelled more crap. Right after, sr. James Hines ran 11 yards for PC’s second-best gain of the day (Bariana had a 20-yard run) until the desperation, last-play TD.

SEPT. 21
PUBLIC BLUE
West Phila. 20, Lincoln 18
   Now that West is again finding ways to win important football games, it needs to learn how to close them out (smile). As time melted away in this one, which could prove to have decided the Blue title (though Southern could have something, maybe even loud, to say about that), Lincoln had no timeouts and West only needed to execute a couple of kneel-downs. Instead, the Speedboys went with regular running plays! Holy Joe Pisarcik! (Google him with Herman Edwards. Classic Eagles-Giants moment). Anyway, this was a stirring win for a program that has rarely enjoyed sustained happiness going back decades and the Speedboys felt tremendous. Though they did not dump buckets of water or ice cubes on coach John R. Lay and his assistants, they did squirt them with water from plastic bottles and then dance, chant, etc. One aide said of the mini-dousing, “As long as it’s not Gatorade.” Though the heroes were numerous, prime among them was sr. RB-LB Jabil Brown, a fourth-year varsity player. As detailed in my DN story, Brown used to routinely feel blue because of fumbling problems. He put West in the black in this one by collecting 150 yards and a TD on 15 carries. Also, after Lincoln scored first on a 4-yard run by sr. Calvin Philemond, Brown rushed up the middle and basically smothered the ball on the block before sr. William Thomas could get off his would-be PAT kick. Lincoln dominated the first quarter behind the running of sr. Kevin Chilton (23-104), but Brown pumped life into his squad by zooming 52 yards on the first play of the second stanza. For a road team still undoubtedly a mite unsure of itself, the play was huge. Brown scored from the 4 three plays later and jr. Junior Weyeah kicked the point-after. TD No. 2 for the ‘Boys came in quite quick fashion on a 60-yard drive. Jr. FB Jamar Cox (5-2, 150) rumbled 25 yards, then sr. QB Courtney Waiters threw a perfect strike to the left corner and sr. WR Khalef Sapp. Again Weyeah hit the PAT. West is in great shape now! Um, maybe not. Weyeah’s kickoff, after it glanced off another player, was picked up at the 30 by sr. Joshua Truett. Going left to right, and then down the sideline, Truett dashed for a 70-yard score! Lincoln had two chances to make the conversion as an incomplete pass was nullified by interference. The middle of West’s line stuffed sr. QB Charles Boyd on a sneak from the 1 ˝. West showed dominance as the third quarter opened, going 75 yards in 12 plays (a 25-yard run by Brown was the highlight) and notching a score on a 3-yard counter by Cox. That made it 20-12. Would there be drama? Of course. Showing gonads, Lincoln opted for a trick play on 4th-and-8 from exactly midfield early in the fourth quarter. Sr. punter Sharif Assad, usually the C, completed a 25-yard pass to jr. WR Clarence Fisher and Chilton carried on each of the next six plays to get the rock into the end zone. Did the Railsplitters go to their go-to guy on the conversion? Yes, indeedy. But with a twist. He was the target of an over-the-middle pass from Boyd, but it was slightly long and Lincoln never did get the ball back. Lincoln used its last timeout with 2:27 left and had no prayer from there, especially since there was no Pisarcik moment (have you looked it up yet? – smile). West’s linemen were soph C Charles Walton, sr. Gs Chazz Morris and Marvin Adams, soph T Robert Walton (Charles' twin) and jr. Nikoli Norman. They average 250 pounds. Lincoln had just one defender weighing more than 200, and many barely reached the 170 range. There was a striking contrast. In last week’s report, I mentioned that West had an aptly named white kid, jr. SS Michael White. As it turns out, he does not attend West but is a student at Parkway’s Center City campus. He has become an important defender. Tens were dominant on a second quarter interception. Waiters (thrower) and Thomas (interceptor) both wore No. 10 and Thomas made the catch on the 10. There was also a holding penalty during the return and that should have been a 10-yarder. However, the ball wound up on the 5 because of that half-the-distance rule. Ex-website contributor Chris Banks, a quality FB at Northeast despite his slight build and now a Temple student trying to make journalism inroads, tagged along to get the hang of stat-keeping. He might be joining our DN crew. Amauro was also on hand before heading to the 6 o’clock Northeast-Roxborough game.

SEPT. 21
STORY TO SHARE . . .
  Talk about feeling worthless (smile). This morning a guy came for our yearly termite inspection. I was out on the front lawn, getting the paper, at the time, but noticed that it was the Wall Street Journal. It happens maybe once a month and some lady up the street gets our Daily News. I mentioned the wrong-paper thing to the guy and he said, "Which paper you get?" I said, "Daily News." He said, "I used to get that, but there were too many delivery problems." (Ouch.) Pause. "Now I get the Courier Post. It has a little of the sports I want, but most of it is high school sports." He said "high school sports" like it was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe. I didn't mention that I have covered high school sports since Sept. 1971, nor that I work for the DN. Anybody know where I can find a bunch of termites to infest THIS guy's house?? (Ha, ha.)

SEPT. 20
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Southern 38, Univ. City 6
   Man, these Rams are starved for attention. Seemingly every guy wanted to have his name mentioned and/or have his picture taken and as the game wound down, I kept hearing, “How many yards I get? . . . How many tackles I get? . . . How many times you get my picture?” (smile) I saw Southern get waxed by Bok on Labor Day weekend and remember telling a few people afterward, “Well, they have four-five pretty good players, but the rest of the kids might as well wear costumes.” What a difference three weeks can make. The coaching staff, headed by first-year man Stanley “Stosh” Tunney, is doing a nice job and some other players have joined the fold since then and this squad really does appear to have a chance to make Blue noise. The inkman was sr. RB-LB-K-P Tyrell Cooper, who only received 12 chances to run but produced 101 yards and two TDs. He also recorded three tackles for losses from his linebacker spot, notched a second quarter interception (wrestling the ball in mid-air from the hands of teammate Kiaheem Simmons, a sr. LB) and drilled a pair of PATs. Interesting tidbit: Tyrell shredded his left cleat in the early going and thereafter wore 10 1/2s as provided by assistant Paul Cammarota; he spent the rest of the game striding up and down the sidelines at Germantown’s field in only white socks. Cooper is a solidly built kid (5-10, 180) with nice leadership skills. He carried just three times after intermission. Jr. QB Mike Henry (5-6, 155) is not exactly Mr. Physical Specimen, but he showed spunk and savvy always seemed to be in tune with his coaches (a quality that cannot be overemphasized). He went 3-for-3 for 69 yards and one TD apiece to jr. WR Derrick Wilson and soph TE Sean Allen. Southern’s starting linemen (the subs played much of the second half) were sr. C Bryan Lee, jr. Gs Steven Hamilton and Ryan Gonzalez, jr. T Cory Quick and soph T Richard White. White, jr. Anthony Buffalo and jr. Eric Lebron (6-3, 275) were sturdy along the DL. Simmons added a rushing TD (a late 26-yarder) and a blocked punt while soph DB Nolan Davis and Wilson also had interceptions. Buffalo recovered a fumble. Simmons and his brother, Kenyatta, a junior, said they want to be known as the Shea Butter Brothers. (I pretended I was hip and knew what that meant – smile. Here’s what it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shea_butter) UC had a long day. The Jaguars did not arrive until maybe 20 minutes before gametime and coach Lou Williams said he did not have a roster because he locked his keys in a room at school. With UC down by three TDs kinda early, I heard an assistant yell, “Y’all better find your hearts! And you need to find ‘em quick!” The most noteworthy development was the debut of freshman QB Ehramis Chism, who’s quite thin but goes maybe 6-1/6-2. When we say “debut,” we mean the UC version because two weeks back he played for Overbrook. Chism wound up firing 22 passes in this one in relief of Neville Hill-Brown, who’s probably a better fit at RB (though the blocking must improve for him to have any chance of starring). He completed 12 for 163 yards; mostly against second-liners, admittedly. Nevertheless, he threw some nice balls and one of his prime targets, WR Joseph Clayborne, was also a freshman. UC finally scored with 3:42 left on a 1-yard, left-side keeper by Chism, who did a dive into the end zone. A soph, LB Sam Bracy, was UC’s most impressive defender while DE Donte Johnson recovered two fumbles (not sure what grade he’s in). In the fourth quarter, UC committed procedure infractions on FIVE consecutive plays (five guys in the backfield; tight end running downfield for passes though he was “covered” by a wideout) and the refs called none of them. When Cammarota asked the head linesman why he wasn't throwing flags, the guy responded, “It’s 30-0.” Wonderful. Guess I should have stopped keeping stats, and stopped taking pictures. Where do they get some of these strappers?! Dawn Hoover, a UC teacher but West Philly’s hoops coach, reports that her son, Kenny Moore, a two-sport star last year for UC, is attending Paris JC in Texas to play basketball. After Southern finished its post-game meeting (Cooper was given the game ball), jr. WR-DB Dante Winn said with passion, "Tell Bok to come see us now. We didn't have all our guys then." With a laugh, I mentioned that comment to Frog, who happened to be out with the Bok coaches. He said defensive coordinator Vince Trombetta wants the Rams to show up Saturday morning for a game against Bok at Capitolo Playground. "The loser buys the cheesesteaks," Vince told Frog. He was kidding. Wasn't he? (Ha, ha.)

SEPT. 14
PUBLIC BLUE
West Phila. 38, Edison 0
   The idea is to avoid games where blowouts are possible, but the afternoon schedule was devoid of four-star attractions and Edison had looked strong on offense in a 36-30 loss to Bristol and . . . what the heck, this was the choice. Bad move, overall. Four Edison players left the game with injuries in the early going and another kid left because he didn’t feel like playing anymore. Last I saw, he was walking toward the school building. He’d just been verbally skewered for messing up, but the criticism was certainly nothing over the top. Oh, baby. We’ll have to see how West fares against other teams in the Blue, but there are definitely some strong kids with size and the necessary athleticism is present and the coaching staff under John R. Lay seems to be much more organized than in past seasons. OK, time out for one moment. Have to deliver a mini-blast. With a 38-0 lead, West still had sr. QB Courtney Waiters and many (all?) offensive starters on the field as the mercy-rule clock roared toward 0:00 late in the fourth quarter. It was bad enough that Waiters was told to throw a pass on first-and-10 from the Edison 18 with just over a minute left. It was MUCH worse when the next play featured a halfback pass from star sr. RB Jabril Brown whipped an option pass toward the back of the end zone to sr. WR Sean Ricketts. Honestly, Ricketts appeared to make the catch in front of the back line, but he was ruled beyond (maybe back judge Rich Krug cut Edison a break because he knew that play call was so outrageous) and that play wound up ending the game. I was standing on West’s sideline late in the game and I heard Lay tell offensive coordinator Larry Bledsoe to call no more passes right after Waiters’ toss. Guess he didn’t hear him. Edison coach Larry Oliver was rather amazed and peeved, but there was no major trouble afterward. Lay and Bledsoe did apologize. The ink went to Waiters, who showed good poise and skill and scored the first TD on a 16-yard keeper after he went back to pass and found folks covered. He finished with 179 total yards, passing 5-for-8 for 113 yards and a TD to sr. WR Khalef Sapp and rushing nine times for 66 and two scores. He was dumped for a loss just once (to start that last drive). Brown rushed 10 times for 83 yards and two scores of his own. The other score came on defense as jr. LB Keith West went 16 yards with a stolen ball after sr. DB Robert Shepard stood up ballcarrier Vernon Spearman. West and sr. LB Marvin Adams packed serious wallops and received help on the outside from jr. SS Michael White, who is aptly surnamed (smile). He’s the first white kid I remember seeing play for West in the 32-plus years I’ve been watching its teams. The d-line features size in jr. Darius Knight (6-2, 350), soph Jerome Evans (6-1, 250) and sr. Chazz Morris (6-1, 285). Morris also starts on offense at G. His playmates; soph C  Charles Walton, jr. G Cameron Scott, soph T Robert Walton and jr. T Nikoli Norman. The Waltons are sophomore twins, who moved to Philly last year from Alabama. Each is called “Alabama” by teammates/coaches. The game began with a true Pub moment. Jr. Junior Weyeah kicked off for West and did not exactly hit the ball squarely. It went about 17 yards downfield, pretty much straight ahead, but bounced backward to the 50 and, well, since no one else was around, Weyeah merely flopped on the ball for an easy recovery. It was not an onsides kick. Phew! Sr. RB Isaac Folly led Edison with 38 yards on 16 challenging carries. The next block he receives will be the first. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but maybe not much of one. Edison was WAY overmatched on the line. Folly also impressed by twice making solo tackles to prevent conversion runs. Linelady Christiana Morales, now a senior, is again on Edison’s squad. In the first half, I asked her whether she thought she’d see action. “Yeah, ‘cause our line’s actin’ stupid,” she said with a laugh. (I don’t think she got in.) Maybe 15 of Lincoln’s players were on hand to watch future opponents. We all gathered for a fun discussion before the game began and, of course, these guys were beggin’ for future attention (ha ha). Lincoln is 3-0 and all the wins (Mastbaum, Dobbins, Central) have come against teams in higher divisions. Not bad, guys. Not bad at all. In the picture I posted, most of the guys are holding up three fingers and/or a zero with the other hand. They make ‘em clever in that part of the city (smile). Check out No. 10, though. He’s talkative kicker William James (kneeling). His fingers are indicating a record of 0-3, reading from left to right. I’m sure his teammates will be messin’ with him over that one.

SEPT. 8
NON-LEAGUE
Chestnut Hill 42, Ryan 13
   This was a crush-job. This wasn't a crush-job. How's that for a wishy-washy opinion? A 29-point victory margin would make you think that the losing squad was never in it and had no real chance to win. And though CHA did dominate overall, that was NOT the case through the first eight minutes of the third quarter and Ryan was truly making a bid to storm from behind and maybe snatch the win. Down by 21-0 at half, Ryan received a 1-yard sneak from jr. QB Rus Slawter (only one "s" in Rus; full given name is Rusling) with 6 1/2 minutes after intermission to finally get on the board. The defense then held CHA to 1 yard on three plays and sr. QB Mike Mattei went back to punt. Splat! Sr. DB Chris Calhoun broke through for a block and sr. DB Matt Edelman caught the ball in midair at the 6. He scored easily and, just like that, Ryan was within 21-13 and feeling pretty darn good. For only an instant, folks. On the Blue Devils' first play, Mattei hit sr. TE Mike Wismer on a short left-to-right crossing pattern and Wismer wound up posting a 72-yard TD. To this point, franchise sr. RB Rashad Campbell had been uncommonly quiet (just 26 yards). By game's end, he would have 130 on 19 carries. On second down of CHA's next possession, he pulled off some GREAT bob-and-weave moves while going for a 67-yard score. Three plays thereafter, he seamlessly scooted for a 26-yard TD, his third of the brutally hot afternoon. So, how did CHA fare so well before Campbell got rolling? Credit Mattei (6-for-9, 181) and his two main receivers, Wismer (3-95) and sr. WR Mike Lonergan (3-86). Wismer had two TD catches while Lonergan added one. The Devils' grunts were sr. C Phil Thorrell, sr. Gs Tim Gramlich and Alex Scott, sr. T Juan Gaskins and jr. T Eric Herrera. CHA's best early defender was jr. LB Phil Thomas. He exploded to the ball on Ryan's first play, limiting the dangerous Nick Ferdinand, a sr. RB-WR, to a 2-yard gain and then, after a procedure call, he again showed great zest while dropping Slawter for an 8-yard loss. Campbell ripped off a 27-yard punt return to the 15, then pickups of 6 yards by Mattei and 9 by Campbell put the rock into the end zone. Coming off an impressive win over Pennsbury, Ryan appeared to be stunned. As in, "Yo, this is a little private school with a beautiful campus. They shouldn't be having a nice, rough-and-tumble football team." Guess what? CHA has an impressive mixture of talent and experience. Ryan had only three plays produce as many as 10 yards and one of those was in the waning moments. CHA particularly stifled Slawter (6-for-15, 27) and Ferdinand (2-13 on catches; defended mostly by Campbell). I'm guessing their totals out of Ryan's new spread offense will not again be as low this season. Ryan's defensive leader, as one would expect, was rock-hard sr. LB Chris Wilk (6-2, 225). He was the first man, or did a solo act, on nine tackles. Calhoun deserves props. Not only did he block the punt, but he stayed with the play on Campbell's long TD run and even got a piece of him from behind at the very end; Rashad wound up finishing with a dive into the end zone. Ex-Penn Charter star Zack Zeglinski, and his dad, John, were among the spectators. Never can have enough Ziggy pics on the site, right? (Their family HAS to be the all-time leader -- smile.) Zack now attends Temple and, due to a knee that still is prone to swelling, has switched from football to baseball. He's going through all of the Owls' fall workouts as a middle infielder, and will likely be a second baseman. It was also nice to see lots of familiar faces belonging to truly good people. I would mention names, but there's always the danger of leaving someone out (smile).

SEPT. 7
NON-LEAGUE
Bok 20, Imhotep 14
   It had THAT look right away. “This will be a crazy day.” THAT look. Just to help time pass before the game, I showed Imhotep’s roster to a few folks along the sideline and said, “Check out this list and tell me which player has the coolest name.” My guess that was that they would pick out Luco Refuse, a sr. lineman who wears No. 65. They didn’t. Oh, well. Then the game began and Imhotep lined up to receive the kickoff and in the second line of players, there was Refuse. And the ball went straight to him! (He picked up 4 yards.) Where was the Twilight Zone music when we needed it? OK, for the moment, we’ll head straight to the fourth quarter. I have no idea what the city record might be in this category: Most turnovers in a 12-play span, especially on a non-muddy field. Well, there were five. (Germantown’s field is all-weather, by the way). The sequence began with 9:58 left, when Bok sr. DL Ackeem Clarke, the subject of my DN story (comes off as a GREAT kid!), forced and recovered a fumble. Two plays later, Imhotep sr. DL Daniel Jones recovered a fumble. Three plays later, sr. DB Calvin Moultrie made an interception. Three plays later, Bok had the ball on the 1 and sr. QB Darnell Goddard tried a sneak. The middle was jammed up, so he stepped back and headed for the right corner. He did a flying leap, but lost the ball and frosh LB Jeremiah Kendrick recovered on the 1. Three plays later, sr. LB Daquon Johnson made an interception. So, that’s FIVE turnovers in 12 snaps and 5 minutes, 5 seconds!! Bok went three-and-out and punted. On Imhotep’s second play, sr. backup QB Andreas Roberts fumbled and Bok sr. DL Anthony Rivers fumbled. So, that’s SIX turnovers in 18 snaps and 7:53!! It was very hot all game and Bok coach Tommy DeFelice said afterward that his players were having trouble with breathing. So, concentration was probably an issue. Anyway, what a weird occurrence, right? By midway through the second quarter, Bok appeared to be coasting to an easy victory. The Wildcats got the game’s first two TDs on interception returns – a 35-yarder by sr. DE Terry Lee and a 57-yarder by jr. DB Brahkim Poole just 3:21 apart in the first quarter. Sr. RB Luke Lassiter (18-113) added a 45-yard scoring run 7:21 before halftime. ‘Hotep coach Marc Wilson then switched QBs, switching from 6-5, 275-pound Julius Legg, who had no success trying to evade Bok’s numerous blitzers, to the more agile Roberts. That helped and sr. RB Gerald Bowman was also able to start finding some room and the Panthers impressively made things interesting. How important was Bowman to the cause? Well, he ran 21 times for 126 yards and both scores and had his team’s only three catches for 27 yards. That’s 153 yards. The team’s yardage total was 96, counting all of the sacks and a 13-yard setback on a bad snap. Phew! At halftime, I mentioned to Bok defensive coordinator Vince Trombetta that his unit was often blitzing two guys. “If not more,” he said, laughing. “Have to against these guys.” Clarke, who took it upon himself to switch between DT and NG, finished with two sacks and two TFLs, along with the fumble recovery. Rivers joined Clarke in recovering a fumble. In all, Bok forced 17 Panther plays to lose yardage. Lee and the other end, jr. Khaleem Williams, were responsible for three behind-the-lines apiece. Sr. LB Isaiah King and jr. DB Fatin Trice delivered the best hits among Imhotep’s defenders. Also, Jones, a 6-2, 210-pound junior with nice possibilities, showed some cat-quick moves along the defensive line. As the fourth quarter began, one of Imhotep’s assistants roared, “This is where men are made.” I like that one. Many of the Panthers’ basketball players were in attendance. One of them, Will Adams, was wearing sandals with white socks while throwing around a football on the sideline. You don’t know how happy that made me. All summer, I go out to get the morning paper wearing, you got it, white socks and sandals. The Wife laughs every time and says I look like a goofball. “Socks do NOT go with sandals!” Well, I told Will I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my wife, “This must be a great fashion choice because Will Adams does it!” We both had a good laugh. Also among the spectators: ex-Prep Charter twin hoops stars Marcus and Markieff Morris. They’re going to spend their prep school year at Living Faith Christian Academy, in Cherry Hill, which partners with a training facility called APEX Academies. Lord only knows if these guys will wind up at Memphis. They seem to change their mind on whether they intend to follow through on that commitment almost on a daily basis (smile).

SEPT. 1
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 34, West Catholic 18
  There come occasions in some football games when reporters say to themselves, "OK, time to write down the numbers of the offensive linemen because I KNOW they're going to be mentioned." In this one, played at Maxwell Field, in Wildwood, N.J., a facility that looks better year by year (new addition: stands and a press box on the west side), those words rolled around inside my ample head late in the third quarter. The yardage kept being gobbled and West's defensive linemen kept being knocked over or pushed significantly away from the line of scrimmage. Maybe fatigue was a part of it. Maybe a hint of we-have-no-chance. Or maybe the talent gap was just that wide. So, here we go: jr. C John Matthews, sr. G Ed Krimmel, jr. G Bob Kalinoski, sr. T John Mazzola, jr. T Tahir Basil and sr. TE Sean Clift. The main beneficiary was sr. RB Balial Lewis Sloan-El, who now prefers that name because he has been adopted by the parents of Andre Sloan-El, the former quarterbacking star at Roman. Let's face it: Balial is fast and shifty and even shows signs of a fullback's mentality, when necessary, so he's going to get yardage even with medium path-clearning. But today his grunters were plowin' that turf, baby, and I'm sure he was highly appreciative. Lewis Sloan-El finished with 216 yards and three TDs on 30 carries. Know what, though? Two of the day's best runs were turned in by his backup, jr. Kasseim Everett, after Balial had to sit down briefly with cramping issues. He ripped off gains of 14 and 13 yards, offering two tremendous spin moves on the first and one on the second. The film session will be fun for this guy (smile). Sr. QB Chris Johnson, who's being eyed by D-I programs and wants to remain at that position, added 63 yards on nine rushes. He hardly passed at all, mostly because there was no need (plus it was VERY windy). Roman got off to the best possible start with -- you got it -- a kickoff return for a TD. Doing the honors, for 74 yards, was quite-fleet sr. Albert Desiderio. He showed hands by first catching the ball on a somewhat short hop, then threw in a move to get to the right sideline. Then, it was bye-bye, Bert, see you in the end zone. Honestly, the only truly respectable Burr was jr. QB Curtis Drake, and he mostly made his own luck because guys were always in his face. Drake the Snake, a k a Mr. Slippery, (I'm surprised that he's 6-foot, 165; my memory from '06 was of a shorter guy), posted gains of 32 and 65 yards before halftime, then added 23 and 31 thereafter. At one point I was thinking West should have had him take the snap and GO every play. His final totals showed 12-170 along with 7-for-18, 73-yard passing. He scored on a pair of 1-yard sneaks and hit sr. WR Rodney Blango with a 14-yard strike. West coach Brian Fluck truly lit into his squad at halftime for what he perceived to be lack of effort/focus in the northeast corner of the field. The deficit was only 14-12 at that point. So what happened thereafter? Well, there were only 10 Burrs on the field when Lewis scored his final two TDs, plus there were only 10 on the field on the play immediately preceding the last TD. Ouch! On a third quarter play, three Roman defenders absolutely crunched a West guy right along the sideline. Good-guy West aide Eric Rutherford looked around on the ground while saying, “Are there any teeth?!” After the game’s first TD, sr. K Chris Fioravanti sent the PAT over the fence directly into a tree. The ball got lodged therein and a young kid scrambled up to knock it free. The morning’s proceedings began with a salute to the memory of John Hoban, the Roman superfan (and All-Catholic player/coach before that) who died over the summer. West’s captains and Fluck also took part. Hoban was widely called “H” and the Cahillites are wearing H stickers on the back of their helmets. I’m told an even larger ceremony will be held at the Thanksgiving game vs. Roxborough. Roman all-timer Joe McCourt, one of H’s favorite players, is now coordinating the offense. He’d been with North Catholic (he grew up footsteps away) after having an outstanding career at Lafayette. Huck was on site, of course, as was lifelong buddy Matt “Cauls” McCauley. Together they’ve started a site for West FB and Cauls was snapping photos. My thought is, they should call it “The CyBurrSpace Home of West Catholic Football.” Copyright that baby now! (smile)

AUG. 31
PUBLIC AAA
Franklin 28, Imhotep 10
   There were rumors that star sr. RB Versean Dawkins had suffered a serious knee injury in a practice earlier this week and Franklin coach Ken Geiser confirmed them as I arrived at the field (he'll have surgery Tuesday for a torn meniscus). Hmmm. Would this swing what figured to be a tight game in Imhotep's favor? Not even remotely, folks. Sr. RB Chris Sturgis, who began playing organized football just last year, was spectacular on two of his runs and fashioned an excellent overall performance and as Geiser told Sturgis at one point, "Everybody knows No. 22. Now they know No. 27." Consistent devotion to the weight room has allowed Sturgis to make significant improvement in terms of strength. On Franklin's second play, he used a combination of speed, power and savvy to explode upfield for a 73-yard gain and his teammates of course went wild. He powered over from the 2 two plays later. In all, he posted 156 yards on 15 carries. His best run was a 35-yarder for a TD. He evaded, or bounced off, several tacklers while angling to the right sideline and backing up, and then saw daylight and hugged the chalk while dashing to the end zone for a 35-yarder. As mentioned in my DN story, no matter what happens from here to December, this run will rank as one of the season's best. Sturgis also had Franklin's lone reception, turning a screen from sr. QB Tajidin McGough (todge-uh-deen magoo) into a 36-yard pickup. At OLB, he also had an interception and two TFLs and he even recovered a late onsides kick. Pretty darn nice, right? Before coming to this game, I spent the morning taking pics at Bok-Southern and noticed that the former has some quality linemen (the cast is headed by Temple-bound Ryan Murray, along with Leland Sledge). Franklin also has some decent grunts. The lineup included sr. C Marvin Watson, soph G Aaron Edwards, sr. G Icsam Smith, jr. Ts Lydell Boanes and Dante Jackson and jr. TE Jamel "Redz" Haggins. The other TDs were scored by sr. FB Christopher Wood (3-yarder) and sr. WR Tyron Carlton (also two interceptions) on an impressive option. Franklin’s biggest rocker-socker on defense was sr. LB Duane “Bam” Burrell. Haggins also kept making big plays from his DE spot. Imhotep had difficulty connecting the dots on offense and as coach Marc Wilson noted afterward, the tackling left much to be desired. One positive: the Panthers did not wilt even after there was no longer a chance to win. Two DLs, jr. Daniel Jones (who caught a pass early in the game; trouble was, he was wearing No. 75 and that’s an infraction) and sr. James Clark combined to drop Sturgis for a safety, and sr. RB Gerald Bowman was an aggressive factor as a rusher and out of the backfield. In fact, he perfectly divided 128 yards and scored the TD on a 4-yard run. Sr. QB Julius Legg (6-5, 275) was victimized by some drops and poor protection. He took off on one occasion and powered along Franklin’s sideline, causing Franklin assistant Al Hill to exclaim, “He’s a load! I don’t know if I’d want to tackle him!” The guy working the scoreboard was a disaster. He ran it during an early conversion, routinely didn’t stop it for four-five seconds after officials waved their arms, kept putting one point up there after two-point conversions, and had 1:20 showing at the start of the fourth quarter instead of 12:00. The field crew finally gave up and kept the time on the field, but did NOT tell the scoreboard guy to switch the numbers to 0:00. Ugh. Also, they never bothered to tell the guy to up Franklin’s total from 27 to 28. Ugh again. Only in the You-Know-What is alive and well.