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SEPT. 30 (Afternoon)
TEDBITS
A bench-clearing brawl halted Saturday's Del-Val/Roxborough game
roughly midway through the second quarter. Here's the fallout, as provided
by Pub czar Robert Coleman and/or Del-Val athletic director Will
Cambria, as well as Roxborough coach Mike Stanley: D-V will
forfeit its next two games (Imhotep, then Future), and principal Ernest
Holiday, to send a strong message to the players that poor behavior will
not be tolerated, has relinquished any possible playoff berth for this
season . . . Shelton Farmer is no longer D-V's coach; it's expected
that a new coach will be named tomorrow . . . Roxborough will forfeit this
week's game vs. Mastbaum . . . D-V is being hit with two forfeits because of
an incident earlier this season during the Prep Charter game; some players
went into the stands to participate in a fight . . . The final outcome of
Del-Val/Roxborough has not yet been announced. Coleman is checking with the
National Federation.
SEPT. 30 (Morning)
TEDBITS
Here are some
facts/figures on Imhotep's 83-point avalanche vs. Future on Saturday and
Carroll's 77-0 outburst vs. Wood in 2000:
The games were played two days apart (Imhotep's on Sept. 28;
Carroll's on Sept. 30) . . . Carroll won in total yardage, 466-461, but ran
53 plays to Imhotep's 31 so the averages were 8.8 to 14.9 . . . Imhotep's
leading rusher was starter Nasir Bonner with 139 yards and three TDs
on five carries; Carroll's was sub Tony Moon with 72 and one on 13 .
. . Both games featured the mercy rule in the second half. Imhotep was up at
intermission, 55-6, and Carroll led, 56-0 . . . Imhotep's QB starter,
Andre Dreuitt, notched two TD passes; Carroll's Derek Zambino
(his dad, Lou, was Dobbins' coach from 2006-10) had one. One was also
thrown by Dreuitt's backup, Nyeem Bonner, Nasir's brother . . .
Nasir Bonner led in scoring
with 20 points, thanks to a two-point run. Carroll's Mike Larkin
netted 18 points thanks to two rushing TDs and one through the air . . .
Carroll's Marty Higgins went 11-for-11 on PAT, breaking the city
record of nine PAT by Frankford's Dave DeNofa in '81 vs. Roxborough
(63-7). Imhotep's Deandre Scott (three) and Denniston "DJ" Moore
(two) combined for five PAT . . . Carroll led in return TDs, 2-1, thanks to
pick sixes by Charlie Hurley and Mike Malandra. Scott scored
on a kickoff return for Imhotep . . . Carroll allowed just 52 yards to Wood
while Future picked up 101; its score came on Robert Hall's run . . .
Wood committed eight turnovers to Future's three . . . By the way, prior to
Carroll's explosion the one-game record for points and victory margin had
belonged to Lincoln, thanks to a 74-0 mashing of Mastbaum in 1958.
Imhotep's
scoring: rushing TDs for Nasir Bonner (three), Mike Waters
(two), Tyliek Raynor, Mukhtar Larke and Xavier Cornish;
receiving TDs for Denniston "DJ" Moore, Kalihf Clemons (from Andre
Dreuitt) and Nate Sutton (from Nyeem Bonner); kickoff
return TD for Deandre Scott; PAT for Scott (three) and Moore (two);
conversion runs for Nasir Bonner, Eddie Lynch and Moore.
Carroll's scoring:
rushing TDs for Brian Mattaway (two), Mike Larkin (two),
Derek Zambino, Tony Moon, Jim Gillin and Mike Cutone; receiving
TDs for Larkin (from Zambino), interception TDs for Charlie Hurley
and Mike Malandra; 11 PAT for Marty Higgins.
SEPT. 29
TEDBITS
After only Week Five, senior wideout Curan Simmons (5-9,
150) already owns Prep Charter's record for receiving yards in a season. A
5-72 outing against Valley Forge MA upped his totals to 23-499. Charles
Barber posted 487 yards in 2010 . . . Ryan Whayland is bearing
down, hard, on Episcopal's mark for passing yards in a season. He already
boasts 892 with six games remaining. Taylor Wright managed 1,144 in
'10 . . . As Roman prepared to take the field vs. SJ Prep, two-way lineman
Ricky Rivera bellowed, "I wanna eat! I'm hungry than a mug!" . . .
Thanks to 109 PAT and 17 field goals, Connor Foley, Judge's four-year
kicker, owns 160 career points . . . Ryan QB Mark Ostaszewski goes
5-8, 160. His cousin, lineman Nick Ostaszewski, is just a weeeeee bit
larger at 6-4, 250.
SEPT. 28
CATHOLIC AAAA
SJ Prep 42, Roman 7
Wonder how much trouble it takes to officially change your name?
Prep frosh RB De'Andre Swift might want to consider it. By itself,
Swift is a tremendous fit because this kid is very fast and is already known
on the national track circuit for his sprinting skills. But it says here his
altered name should be Jukes-Swift so he can REALLY have things covered.
With 45.8 seconds left in the second quarter, Swift, whose dad, Darren,
was the productive fullback on Frankford's 12-0 squad in 1987, uncorked some
of the best jukes you could ever hope to see shortly after taking a handoff
from sr. QB Chris Martin. Then, suddenly, there he was, jetting into
the end zone 70 yards away with TD No. 3 in what would become an easy
victory. Oh, and his second TD was also a memory-maker, seeing as how he
gathered in a screen tight to the right sideline, then scored in the LEFT
side of the end zone 51 yards away. Man, how much fun will everyone have
watching this guy over the next three-plus seasons? The Hawks' first score
was a 50-yard connection from Martin to jr. WR John Reid, who shed a
would-be tackler at roughly the 10. Those two pulled off an almost-replay
shortly into the second quarter, but the gain was "only" 48 yards and placed
the ball at the 1. With the help of a weird procedure penalty (it appeared
Prep snapped the ball prior to the referee's ready whistle), Roman was able
to hold until fourth down, when jr. RB Olamide Zaccheaus accepted a
left-side, on-the-move handoff and dashed to the left corner for a 1-yard
score. Other TDs were posted by Martin on a 44-yard keeper and jr. sub
James Bell on a late 16-yarder. The grunts, as mentored by John
Connors and Tom Sugden: soph C Ed Mooney, jr. G Shane
Davis, soph G Dermot O'Callaghan, jr. T Jon Daniel Runyan
and sr. T Steve Robinson (with help from sr. TE Rob Finegan).
The defense, officially, gave up no scores because Roman's TD came on an
87-yard kickoff return by jr. DB John Chaney, the grandson of
(hopefully) you-know-who. The Hawks are taking an interesting approach on
defense. Though there are several true big-'uns on offense, there are NONE
on defense. Not by today's definition, anyway. The ends are sr. David
DellaPorta and jr. Armen Ware while the tackles are soph Joe
DuMond and jr. Jake Strain. All four are quick and active, not to
mention sturdy, and Roman's grunts had major trouble clearing paths. Roman's
coaches, the suspicion is, knew some problems might be in the offing because
three of the first four touches for star jr. RB Dimetri Kelly came on
short receptions. As in, let's try to give him some space. Those passes came
after Kelly was stopped for a 2-yard loss on his first touch, a run. Kelly,
on 21 carries, had to settle for 57 yards and not one came easily. Sr. QB
Brendan Regan finished 11-for-23 for 89 yards, and was victimized for
one interception (by sr. LB Ryan McNulty). The other members of
Prep's defense that so far have gone unmentioned: soph LB Nick Vandevere,
soph LB Shawn Harris, sr. CB Rob DiSanto, jr. CB John Reid,
sr. S Vince Moffett and sr. S Dillon DeIuliis (hopefully,
those names/positions are correct; if not, email is a great invention --
smile). This was my first look at the 2013 Hawks and it was great to see
that John Constantino is back on the scene. He was an assistant
during the Gil Brooks Era, then followed Gil to Camden Catholic. Gil
has stepped away from coaching, so John has returned to the Prep and is
guiding the running backs. Wonder if he taught De'Andre how to juke?
(smile). Great news: Long-time umpire Gene Otto, who also supervises
those guys for the CL and Inter-Ac, will be inducted into the Pa. Sports
Hall of Fame's City All-Star chapter. Also had a nice pregame chat with
Paul Smyth, star lineman for Judge in '82. He worked with the chain crew
and his son, Brian, a soph, is a backup lineman for Prep. It turns
out that Paul, by marriage, is an uncle to former Prep stars Bill and Tim
Edger. Paul and the Edger brothers' dad, Bill, a former head
coach at Judge and Southern, are married to sisters.
SEPT. 28
CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 28, Ryan 14
As the Raiders learned today, before a large, involved crowd at
Washington, proving you're good is not quite as easy as believing it. Ryan
hoped to become 5-0 for the first time since 1988, but a slow start went a
long way to keeping that from happening. How slow? Ryan's first three
offensive series resulted in three-and-outs. Meanwhile, La Salle reached
paydust on its second and third drives and major air was released from all
spectators' balloons. Heck, I'm thinking even La Salle's fans wanted to see
a goodie, to at least witness how well their still-developing squad would
react to semi-adversity. Remember, we're still in September. Lots of plots
to still unfold. Anyway, La Salle's first two scoring drives required 15
plays and were capped with short runs -- a 4-yarder for sr. Jared Meachum
and a 1-yarder for soph Nick Rinella. Neither score came
gift-wrapped, as in something resulting from a turnover. The Explorers had
to drive, and that they did. Four guys ran the ball and jr. QB Kyle
Shurmur targeted three different receivers. Early in the second quarter,
the Raiders' fans got a chance to stir as sr. DB Jason Dones picked
off a pass and sr. WR-DB Connor Golden, who would slap together an
outSTANDing performance, posted a reception worth 17 yards. But again La
Salle's defense stiffened and Ryan headed for the locker room still owning a
zero. La Salle, meanwhile, boasted 21 points and the sole reason, pretty
much, was jr. WR-wildcat QB Jimmy Herron. On an 83-yard drive, he ran
for 40 out of the wildcat and caught a flip from Shurmur for 23 and a TD.
Third quarter? Here come the Raiders! Jr. RB Samir Bullock returned
the kickoff 58 yards and Golden (5-141) soon was catching, in stride
straight down the middle, a 46-yard score from sr. QB Mark Ostaszewski.
Next came a you-get-six, we'll-get-six sequence. Herron faked a slant, then
peeled back into the left corner for a 20-yard score from Shurmur. On Ryan's
series, Ostaszewski tried to give it a go (he'd hurt an ankle a few minutes
earlier while playing defense), but had to depart. On came frosh Matt
Romano, brother of sr. Bobby. His first toss produced a 14-yard
gain to Golden. After an incompletion, he turned into a keeper into 15
yards. Coach Frank McArdle turned to the players on the sideline and
noted, with gusto, "Our freshman is playing his (butt) off! Maybe the rest
of you could do the same!" Those guys took it the right way, showing even
more emotion. Romano then sent one to the right corner and a leaping Golden
made a tremendous, heavily-challenged snag for a 25-yard TD. Late fireworks
were not to come. Ryan managed only two more first downs as La Salle,
mostly, played the control-the-ball, ride-things-out card to the hilt. The
one downer was an interception by -- hey, guess who! -- Connor Golden.
Counting Shurmur, seven guys ran the ball for La Salle and the stalwart
turned out to be Rinella (17-82). Shumur finished 15-for-25 for 167 yards
and the two scores to Herron (6-85). Bullock, so impressive this season,
found numerous dudes in his world all afternoon. He thus had to settle for
57 yards on 18 rushes. Bullock and Ostaszewski lost yardage a combined seven
times as sr. LB Zaire Franklin (Syracuse), sr. DE Ryan "Even More
the Pride of Oreland" Coonahan and soph DT-DE Anthony Piscopo
were highly active. There was also a batted pass that was caught for a loss.
Pretty sure Coonahan was the batter. The grunts were sr. C Bill Frusco,
jr. G Aidan Kerrigan, sr. G Amir Furman, Franklin and Piscopo
at the Ts. La Salle truly lost yardage on only one of its plays. Golden also
was The Man on that play. (There was one other loss, but that came when
Shurmur dropped the ball while retreating. Nobody made it happen.) This
report is being crafted (ha ha) in the McDonald's right down Bustleton
Avenue from Washington. A bunch of people are speaking a foreign language I
suspect is Russian. No clue what they're saying. But they sure as heck know
how to talk LOUDLY! And there's a lady out in the play area who must have
had 56 botox facial injections just this month. Her face is so puffed out,
it arrives three minutes before she does (smile).
SEPT. 28
TEDBITS
Last night, host Northeast used a late, all-time outburst to reverse
a 19-0 deficit and stun Fels, 27-19. What degree of late and all-time? The
Vikings scored all 27 of their points in the final 3 minutes, 15 seconds!
Buckle up for details, as provided by Amauro Austin. Here we go . . .
3:15: Hakim Coles 1 run (pass failed)
1:36: Natwan Curtis 8 pass from Coles (Gladimir Paul pass
from Coles) -- the defense posted a three-and-out and coach Phil Gormley
used all three of his timeouts; this scoring drive covered 53 yards in four
plays, including a spike.
0:33.8: Curtis 25 pass from Coles (Tyler Gormley kick) --
Conner Copeland recovered Gormley's onside kick; this scoring drive
covered 48 yards in three plays.
0:00: Brian Green 61 interception return (no attempt) -- this
final play began with 8 seconds remaining.
(The TD passes were Northeast's only completions of the game.)
---
We're only in Week Five, but a pair of Pub receiving marks for one-season
yardage are already in danger. At King, Delane Hart has turned 25
catches into 489 yards (and five TDs). Ron Bryant had 575 in '85. At
Fels, Jylil Reeder boasts 22 catches for 519 yards (and eight TDs;
and he spent most of Game One playing QB). Jared Hines had 754
in '10, so Reeder's task will be a shade more difficult. The Pub record is
861 by West Philly's Eric "T.O." Leslie in '10 . . . At least for now
(smile).
SEPT. 27
CATHOLIC AA
Carroll 48, Conwell-Egan 26
Aaron Carter was in the house!! Carter, who'll start his stint as the
Daily News' new high school sports reporter on Monday, doesn't live too far
from Conshohocken, so he showed up to hang out with yours truly and get the
feel of how things go on the local scene. One of his early tidbits concerned
a game he covered last weekend in the Penn State area, where he'd been
working for the Centre Daily Times. Aaron said that Curwensville, in a 25-7
win over St. Joseph's Catholic Academy, ran 58 plays and 56 were rushes. The
yardage totals were 334 on the ground and 11 through the air. I mentioned
how you'd never see that down this way, in this era, because so many team
are inclined to pass early and often. So what happened? Carroll made me look
like an idiot! (smile) As we reached intermission, the passing attempts by
Carroll jr. QB Sean McMorran numbered one! It had produced a TD,
though, on a 60-yard connection with sr. handyman Anthony Hill with
0:53 showing in the second quarter. By game's end, McMorran's stats showed
four completions in seven attempts for 134 yards and two TDs; the other came
on a 28-yarder to jr. RB Shawn Springs, whose speed and moves are
very similar to Hill's. However, the major headliner for the Patriots was
sr. manchild, er, RB Austin Tilghman, a transfer from St. Andrew's,
in Delaware, who also will be a star point guard in basketball. Dude is a
physical specimen (think Maureece "The Scorelord" Rice, the
ex-Strawberry Mansion all-timer who broke Wilt Chamberlain's career
scoring mark) and his night included 16 carries for 150 yards and TDs of 15
and 30 yards. On the 30-yarder, Tilghman trucked about 67 defenders (slight
exaggeration), causing Aaron to quip, "I wouldn't want to tackle him,
either." Though Carroll's roster lists Tilghman's defensive position as
linebacker, in this game he appeared to be more of an end. He also made some
stand-out-in-bold-relief plays on that side of the ball. Granted, C-E is
young and its QB starter, soph Mike Alley, is still out with an
injury (even his backup, soph Jarrett Patman, had to depart with a
ding), but it was hard to process Carroll's dominance, especially since the
Patriots entered this one 1-3 with a scoring disadvantage in the losses at
85-40. One would have to guess that the play of the O-linemen left something
(much?) to be desired in those games, but that assuredly was NOT the case
tonight. Carroll ch-chinged its way to 450 yards thanks to soph C Matt
Della Donna, sr. G Matt DeSipio, soph G Brian Steinmetz,
jr. T Joey DeSanto and sr. T Robert Toland. The Eagles
actually jumped onto the scoreboard first as sr. RB Dustin Mascione
tallied from the 2. Carroll's next play was a 48-yard gain by Tilghman, who
scored from the 15 on a pitch right five plays later. Carroll won the
second-quarter TD battle, 3-1, thanks to Springs (67-yard INT return),
Springs again (46-yard run; barely touched) and Hill on the aforementioned
60-yard pass. C-E's one response was a 10-yard run by jr. RB Joe Ruggiero
(13-93, two TDs). Though he didn't score, jr. RB Andrew Linder
also enjoyed some nice rushing moments (17-105) while jr. WR Jordan
Burney posted an oh-so-special, 42-yard score on a pass from frosh QB
Justin Ward. The play was a simple hitch, and Burney beat everybody down
the right sideline while making sure to stay inbounds. For Carroll's
defense, sr. LB Andrew Tansey and jr. DB Joey Rodden were
among the stars aside from Tilghman and the No. 1 special teams player, by
far, was jr. Kevin Bier. He delivered at least two bone-crushers
after flying downfield, and he recovered an onsides kick midway through the
fourth quarter. Also, down the stretch, sr. DB Joey DiWilliams made a
pick by outbattling Burney on a jump-ball fling just inside the end zone.
The aforementioned TD by Burney had drawn C-E within 42-26. Immediately
after Bier's recovery, Hill zipped for a 53-yard score with lots of help
from a blocking Tilghman; he'd done that shuffle-sideways thing while going
in motion. Frosh lineman Keenan Baines, who's listed at 5-11, 280,
but appears taller, impressed on both sides of the ball for C-E. On one
play, he even bearhugged Tilghman for a loss. Another frosh lineman starter
is Blake Morgan (6-4, 220). Both before the game and at halftime, C-E
sr. K Devon Flynn was drilling 50-yard field goals. The grass surface
at the A Field is tremendous. The lighting? Ugh. A double ugh, in fact.
SEPT. 27
TEDBIT
Kevin Caldwell was at it again yesterday. In a 32-8 win over Dobbins,
he broke Franklin's school record for passing yards for the second
consecutive game. Crushed it, even. After notching 205 yards vs. Bartram
last week, this time he racked up 255. His top receiver was Javier
Buffalo, whose 150 yards left him three short of the school mark (153)
set in 2010 by Willie Battle . . . And how strange is this? In
yesterday's West Philly-Boys' Latin game, there were 85 scrimmage plays.
Though West won the game, 14-0, it got crushed in plays, 61-24, and in
yardage, 258-95. The Speedboys benefited greatly from four interceptions.
Tyquaan Bardlavens, Eric Davis, Barry Williams and Stephen Pressley
had 'em and Bardlavens returned his for a score. Also nutty: West had NO
picks in its first four games . . . Oh, and Edison picked off no passes in
its first three games (idle in Week Four), then managed four in yesterday's
historic shutout of Olney. They went to Luis Graciani (two), Bryan
McDonald and Gregory Leach. Northeast is now the lone Pub school
that remains INTless in 2013.
SEPT. 26 (Evening)
TEDBIT
This afternoon, with the help of four interceptions (two by Luis
Graciani, one apiece by Bryan McDonald and Gregory Leach),
the Edison Owls of first-year coach Paul Kabara stunned Olney, 14-0,
to post the school's first shutout since 2006. That score was 28-0 and the
victim was Fels, which was a first-year Pub member after being converted
from a junior high. There had also been a blanking in 2005 (36-0 over
Southern), but before that a search for shutouts went back to 1999, when the
Owls registered TWO IN A ROW! (6-0 over Franklin and 2-0 over Overbrook in
Games Nos. 5 and 6.) All of this got me to thinking: How many shutouts has
Edison registered since its one great season in 1967, which produced an
appearance in a three-team championship game? Over these last 46 seasons,
the answer is only 14. That list appears below. It does NOT count 2-0
forfeit "wins" over William Penn in '85, '86 and '87, when that school did
not even have a team. (See below). Vintage example of Only in the Pub. Of
course, so is the three-team title game of 1967 (also see below).
Edison's Shutouts, 1968 through Week 5 of 2013
(Overall Record During That Time Frame: 73-348-9)
2013: 14-0 over Olney
2006: 26-0 over Fels
2005: 36-0 over Southern
1999: 6-0 over Franklin
20-0 over Overbrook
(back-to-back weeks) -- compiled 7-3 record and made the playoffs in one of
two winning seasons over
these 46 seasons
1998: 8-0 over University City
1997: 34-0 over Overbrook
1995: 8-0 over Franklin
1993: 36-0 over Southern -- compiled 5-4-1 overall record; other winning
season over these 46 seasons
1991: 0-0 tie with West Phila.
1984: 28-0 over Penn
6-0 over University City
(back-to-back weeks)
1977: 18-0 over Gratz
1975: 6-0 over University City
Here's the entry from the Only in the Pub page that explains the Penn
situation from '85 to '87:
SEPT. 26 (Morning)
TEDBIT
With his first completion (OK, maybe his second -- smile) in
Saturday's game vs. Ryan, La Salle junior QB Kyle Shurmur will
surpass 1,000 passing yards for the season. And that will extend the
Explorers' streak of having a 1,000-yard passer to 11 seasons. Of course,
1,000 passing yards for a La Salle QB is pretty much a pittance. Here are
career totals, and number of starting seasons, for the first five guys who
contributed to the streak:
Mike Lynch 3,069
('03 and '04)
John Harrison 5,810 ('05, '06 and '07)
Drew Loughery 5,355 ('08 and '09)
Matt Magarity 3,180 ('10 and '11)
Chris Kane
2,664 ('12)
Total
20,078
Interestingly, the last La Salle QB not to throw for 1,000 yards in a
season was Joe Winning (715 in '02), and he's now an assistant to
coach Drew Gordon. During his La Salle days, Joe was known as "Joe F.
Winning" because the squad also featured his cousin, Joe W. Winning.
Drew's son, Brett, is the offensive coordinator. While at La Salle
(class of '98), with dad as the offensive coordinator under Joe Colistra,
all Brett did was set the still-standing city record for career yardage
(6,837).
SEPT. 25
TEDBIT
It's still reasonably early in the season, and who knows what the
weather folks (or maybe a nostalgic playoff schedule-maker) have in store
for us. But, for the moment, only one Sunday game is scheduled for 2013 and
it'll be played four days from now, 1 p.m., at William Tennent High, in
Warminster, with Wood hosting O'Hara. As oldheads remember, Sunday
football was forever a Catholic League staple. But there was only one Sunday
tilt last year (as Wood hosted Carroll) and there were NONE in 2010. (In
case you're wondering, there were five in 2011 and one of those was the CL's
Class AA final, in which West Catholic thumped McDevitt, 47-8.) Oddly,
blowouts on Sundays have been semi-common in recent years. Check out these
results:
2012 (only game) --
Wood 62, Carroll 7
2011 (of 5 total games) -- O'Hara 60, Carroll 24
Wood 49, Bonner 6
W. Catholic 47, McDevitt 8
2009 (of 7 total games) -- O'Hara 56, Ryan 0
Bonner 49, Judge 17
SEPT. 24
TEDBIT
Here's an entry from the ever-popular (and often goofy)
City Records
page . . .
Fewest yards gained by a guy who ran for three TDs -- 7,
Will Parks, Germantown, 2011
Parks, normally a wideout, moved to tailback in the Bears' goal-line
package in a 24-12 win over Northeast. He carried five
times for seven yards and TDs of 1, 1 and 3 yards.
But now an alteration is necessary because QB Cedric Wright, who
formerly played for now-closed Germantown and handed the ball to Parks on
his TD runs, smithereened that record in Washington's win over Furness. Here
it is:
Fewest yards gained by a guy who ran for three TDs -- 3, Cedric Wright,
Washington vs. Furness, 9/21
With the ball at the 1 three
different times, Washington's coaches opted for sneaks and Wright powered
the ball into
the end zone. He had no other
carries. In 2011, Wright, then a sophomore, was Germantown's season-long QB
starter. It was
Wright who handed the ball to
Will Parks, the previous owner of this record (7 yards on three TDs,
vs. Northeast).
SEPT. 23
TEDBITS
If you've checked out the 2013 additions at the bottom of the
City Records
page, you've already seen the name Robert Hall. He plays for Future
and, well, he again enjoyed special moments Friday afternoon in a game at
Gratz. As the Firebirds bested Boys' Latin, 34-20, Hall scored four TDs. In
as many ways! From scrimmage, he tallied on a rush and reception. He also
added return TDs with an interception and kickoff . . . Also on Friday, in
the 6 o'clock game at that same stadium, in the first quarter of a 32-28 win
over Mastery North, Gratz posted interception TDs on consecutive scrimmage
plays! The first guy was linebacker Jaylem Sanders and the distance
was 21 yards. Next up was end Skylar Wilkerson, and he covered 29
yards. Stat man Amauro Austin witnessed both games.
SEPT. 22
TEDBITS
So, where were you 21 years ago? Many of you answered, "Not even
born yet." Correct? Well, prior to this season, 1992 was the last time Judge
posted as many as three consecutive shutouts. That streak of blankings
actually totaled four, but the first one was a scoreless tie with Ryan. Then
came these results: 23-0 over Wood, 7-0 over La Salle and 33-0 over North
Catholic . . . Wood's 54 points are the most scored against West Catholic
since Carroll dropped a 74-point bomb in 2000 . . . So much for what I
thought might be a lengthy search. The last 2-0 score in city football
(aside from forfeits, of course) was posted just two seasons ago, when Boys'
Latin triumphed over Gratz. Last night, Overbrook edged West Philly, 2-0,
thanks to Hector Feliciano's blocked punt midway through the third
quarter. The situation: third down from the half-yard line. . . QB Ray
Lenhart (277, up from 244) and WR Jamal Custis (185, up from 169)
broke their own school records for passing/receiving yards in Neumann-Goretti's
35-6 win over Chester . . . Michael Beck is the first N-G kicker to
post as many as five PATs in one game since Dan Juliano hit that same
number on Thanksgiving morning vs. Southern in 2005.
SEPT. 21
NON-LEAGUE
La Salle 23, Malvern 17
As things turned out, La Salle needed clutch plays on two "last"
defensive stands. And the identities of the guys who made them was not a
surprise. Not even remotely. What was a surprise? That they were playing.
Through the first two weeks, star jr. WR/DB Jimmy Herron was sluggish
due to what was feared to be mono or some other similar ailment. He even sat
out the Week Three win over O'Hara and there was great concern among the
coaches over how his situation would evolve. Ah, but there he was at
Plymouth-Whitemarsh, posting a strong overall performance and making an
interception with 2:44 remaining to preserve a 21-17 lead. Alas, the
Explorers failed to add more points and Malvern would have had one last
chance at a game-winning drive, albeit a 94-yarder. Franchise sr. LB
Zaire Franklin (Syracuse), who's now wearing No. 52 (instead of No. 4)
because OL duties have been added to his grid life, wasn't interested in
letting the spectators see drama unfold. On third and 10, he powered into
the end zone, bear-hugged jr. QB Alex Hornibrook and forced him into
an intentional-grounding scenario. That play, correctly, was ruled a safety
with 1:12 left and once soph RB Nick Rinella recovered the onsides
version of sr. Jon Dollfus' free kick, La Salle ran out the clock
with kneeldowns. Wait, Zaire Franklin saw action? Hadn't he been telling
people all along that a broken finger on his right hand would keep him
sidelined until next week's game vs. Ryan? Indeed. Luckily for coach Drew
Gordon, Franklin's get-back-out-there timetable was moved up slightly. It's
impossible to say, of course, whether La Salle would have won this contest
had Herron and Franklin still been unavailable, but a strong guess is "no."
Aside from that late pick, Herron added three catches for 121 yards and the
last was a 73-yard score -- the play: just run your butt off and jr. QB
Kyle Shurmur will get it to you in stride -- that gave La Salle a 21-17
lead with 3 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter . . . RIGHT after Malvern
had seized the lead on a 28-yard, perfectly-executed, middle-screen flip
from Hornibrook to sr. handyman Troy Gallen (Delaware). Until right
near the end of the first half, when he notched his first sack, Franklin
wasn't much of a factor. But, man, did he ever regain the touch beyond
intermission. He made a number of stops at or behind the line and his
10-yard sack helped to assure Malvern faced third-and-20 on the play that
produced Herron's pick . . . Meanwhile, did we mention the weather yet?!
Holy Soaked to the Skin! This was an all-timer. The rain, just a hint of a
drizzle, began shortly into the proceedings. For a while, strangely, the
rain wasn't much of a factor, even as it seemed to intensify. You'd look up
into the lights and say, "We should be soaked. How come we're not?" But
later, buckets time! Millions and millions and millions of raindrops came
cascading down and if P-W's field still featured grass and dirt instead of
turf, bodies would have been lost forever in the mud. To the teams' credit,
the weather didn't affect the outcome TOO much. Sure, there were some drops
and lost handles, but overall things weren't bad. Consider this: Despite the
conditions, the QBs combined to pass from 527 yards and five TDs. Shurmur
went 13-for-27 for 276 and three (the other two went to jr. RB Jordan
Meachum) while Hornibrook, a lefty with height and a pocket presence
similar to Shurmur's, went 16-for-36 for 251 and two (the other went to sr.
WR Andy Pancoast). Meachum's TD started the scoring and came on a
30-yard toss straight down the field. Shurmer showed perfect touch on that
one, lofting the ball over a linebacker right into Meachum's arms. Dollfus
responded with a 27-yard field goal 9:06 before halftime and Malvern claimed
a 10-7 lead at 3:27 on the 12-yard connection to Pancoast, who made his
catch at about the 4 and then used fancy footwork to spin away from the
middle of the field and get to the right corner. La Salle then mounted the
night's most impressive drive as Shurmur clicked again and again, in quick
order, with assorted pass-catchers; he finally got the six-points with a
4-yard flip to Meachum. The aforementioned back-and-forth sequence in the
third quarter made it 17-14 Malvern, then 21-17 La Salle. Meachum finished
with 109 yards of rushing/receiving before dinging an ankle (nothing
serious). Rinella thus wound up with 12 carries and toughed out 39 yards.
Sr. WR Levi Hardy turned three snags into 59 yards. Gallen produced
230 scrimmage yards, thanks to 18-108 rushing and 5-122 receiving. Pancoast
(5-45) and sr. handyman Matt Brown (4-66) helped in the pass-catching
department . . . There was an interesting and lengthy pregame moment
involving Malvern sr. TE-DE John Nassib (he would post a pick) and La
Salle sr. lineman Dave Geppert. During warmups, both guys were in
groups of players who wound up standing maybe 10 yards apart in the midfield
area. And gradually, we had a staredown!! Ha, ha. Nassib (his brother,
Ryan, is the former star QB for Malvern/Syracuse who's now with the NY
Giants) and Geppert stared daggers through each other. It was a classic.
Thanks to assistant Joe Redican, I was able to meet Malvern's new
basketball boss, John Harmatuk, who enjoyed great success in Texas.
Good luck, sir! Also had some pregame fun with ex-McDevitt basketball player
Tom Casey, who's the uncle of La Salle sr. DE Ryan "The Pride of
Oreland" Coonahan. "Case" decided that the nickname should remain in
use, even if it drives Ryan crazy (smile). After all, as Case pointed out,
my first "Pride of Oreland" guy was La Salle player John Butler, and
all he did was become Penn State's current defensive coordinator. Not bad,
eh? (For the uninformed, Oreland is a small town in Springfield, Montgomery
County, not far from La Salle. It's where I spent Part II of childhood.)
Finally, sorry for the incomplete photo set. The rain just became too brutal
to keep stats and take pics (shame on me for neglecting to show up with this
new invention called . . . an umbrella!)
SEPT. 21
NON-LEAGUE
Judge 35, SCH Academy 0
. . . And the dominance continues. At the start of the 2014 season,
more than a few city coaches might be saying to themselves before their
openers, "I hope we get squashed in the first half." Why would someone
possibly wish for that fate? For Judge, a 30-3 halftime deficit against
Episcopal back on Friday of Labor Day Weekend has come to resemble a lucky
charm. The Crusaders held Episcopal scoreless over the final 24 minutes,
dropped 19 points of their own and have since done nothing but frolic. They
have now scored 122 points while holding their opponents to zilch, as in
none, as in zero, as in total-blankness. Admittedly, their opponents have
not been mistaken for world-beaters, but coach Mike McKay and his
assistants have to be thrilled with the 180 the 'Saders have pulled off. In
retrospect, this one was over after the game's first touch as sr. Marquis
Seamon returned the kickoff 88 yards for a score. He caught the ball on
the right-side hash mark and scored in the left corner after evading a
couple would-be tacklers within the final five yards, or so. Thanks to great
pressure by sr. DE Matt Cunningham, Seamon was able to make a
tumbling interception two plays later and Judge needed to cover only 27
yards to make it 14-0. Nope. Soph RB Yeedee Thaenrat lost a fumble
two plays hence. No sweat. A three-and-out followed and the punt traveled
just 12 yards. On second down from the 19, jr. QB Zach Carroll
targeted sr. TE Jim Galasso for a 19-yard TD. Judge added two more
scores before the session ended: a way-too-easy, 32-yard run by Thaenrat and
a 35-yard fumble return by Seamon (strip by Thaenrat). Not sure why, but SCH
wound up kicking off into the wind and that really became a factor as sr.
Connor Foley hammered three of his kickoffs into the end zone; the other
carried to the 1 and was returned to the 20 (same difference). SCH regrouped
enough to keep Judge off the scoreboard until late in the third quarter,
when Thaenrat rolled 6 yards right after Seamon scampered for 31. Thaenrat
(13-114) and Seamon (12-77) led the rushers while Carroll passed 4-for-9 for
47. The grunts were sr. C Jeff Mills, sr. G Tom Bayer, jr. G
Dan Sipps, jr. T Tim Breslin and sr. T Eric Drains, and
they were dominant. Honestly, it's hard to highlight many SCH guys. One of
THOSE days. With his team already down, 28-0, sr. William Logue did
burst through to block a FG attempt and jr. Dylan Parsons did keep
sacrificing his body on full-out diving attempts to block PAT. The Blue
Devils were held to 79 yards and jr. QB Paul Dooley was able to
complete just four of 18 passes. In fairness, it must be mentioned that the
top rusher, sr. Kyle Lawlor, was limited to four carries due to a
possible concussion. He was havin' that talk, though. "They think I have a
concussion, but I don't," he said. Let's hope he doesn't. Also, Dooley
incurred a ripped fingernail at the very beginning, so his touch was no
doubt affected. Defensively, jr.
LB Sean McCann caused excitement by intercepting a pass after his own
tip caused the ball to pop a shade upward. The day's highlight, by far, was
getting to spend some time with an all-time Catholic League coaching legend,
John "Whitey" Sullivan. Whitey, who still teaches at Judge (he's in
his 49th year), was the Crusaders' boss in 1975 and his QB was none other
than . . . McKay. That squad captured the CL and City titles. I'm writing
this report in -- what a surprise -- a McDonald's. This one's on Germantown
Avenue at the foot of Chestnut Hill. Great tunes getting pumped through the
sound system! The best ones, of course, are back-in-the-day soul jawns. The
first one I heard was "Express Yourself" by Charles Wright. One of
its key lyrics: Whatever you do, do it good. Judge's coaches must
have played that one in the locker room at halftime of the Episcopal game.
Loudly! They've been doing so ever since (smile).
SEPT. 21
TEDBITS
In last night's game vs. Roman, Bonner-Prendie's Christian
DiGalbo completed 60 passes to his brother, Collin, the
quarterback. Say what?! OK, so "passes" is a stretch, but here's the deal:
The DiGalbo guys are twins and Christian is the center. Collin passed 41
times and 19 more plays resulted in runs. Eight of those were by Collin, so
he passed or ran on 81.7 percent of the snaps. But wait. There's more. He
passed or ran on 40 of the Friars' final 43 plays (93 percent), counting
their final three of the first half. The exceptions were one run for Joe
DePhillipo and two for Rickey Wilson.
SEPT. 20
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 41, Bonner-Prendie 14
Through three weeks, as tabulated by Huck, Roman's offense ranked
next to last among Catholic League teams with only 229 yards per game.
Whatever was wrong certainly got fixed tonight! And the defense was
similarly productive. The Cahillites rolled to 363 "regular" yards -- we
won't count the 21 yards on a shaky snap against them (smile) -- and jr. TB
Dimetri Kelly enjoyed a performance to remember. Like pretty much
always, he was given major responsibilities by coach Joe McCourt and,
wow, did he answer the many calls. Kelly carried 30 times for 264 yards and
TDs of 1, 21 and 30 yards. He also mixed in a late gain of 57 yards and,
just to make things very cool, he also scored on a 22-yard interception
return. The O-line brigade included sr. C Frank Remolde, sr. Gs
Phil Forrence and Ian Ewing, jr. T Gavin Wiggins and sr.
Ricky Rivera. Sr. Hez Trahan (at TE) and sr. Patrick
"Call Me 'Bus'" McCourt, Joe's brother (at FB), also thrived at their
path-clearing duties. It took the Cahillites a while to get going and even
the first TD wasn't a given, at first. After Kelly's 14-yard burst placed
the ball at B-P's 9 on the second play of the second quarter, Roman needed
four downs to reach paydirt. (Yes, paydirt. Upper Darby's field is still
grass and dirt.) On fourth down from the 1, Kelly powered in over the right
side. Three plays later, a hit by sr. DE Christian Greene and
recovery by sr. LB James LeBold stationed Roman at B-P's 25. Kelly
reeled off a 21-yard TD on the second play. The second half turned into
Frolic Time, pretty much. Roman added rushing TDs by Kelly and McCourt and
pick sixes by Kelly and jr. CB John Chaney, the grandson of
you-know-who (if you know anything about local college basketball). Chaney's
score, an 80-yarder, came on the final play of the game, and capped a
strange coincidence. Roman's INTs, in order, were by No. 1 (jr. DB AJ
Frazier), No. 2 (Kelly) and No. 3 (Chaney). Wonder if that's a city
record: three straight picks by numerical-order guys? Here's another strange
development: Five guys ran the ball tonight for B-P and each first carry
resulted in a loss. In order: minus-2 for sr. RB Joe DePhillipo,
minus-4 for jr. QB Collin DiGalbo, minus-1 for sr. RB Rickey Wilson,
minus-4 for sr. handyman Kyle Dawson and minus-4 for sr. FB Mike
Shanahan. In all, the rushers finished with 13 yards on 19 carries and
that total would have been brutal if not for some late scrambles by DiGalbo
(8-16). A scary moment occurred with 9:51 showing in the fourth quarter.
DiGalbo completed a 16-yard pass to jr. WR Joe Oquendo and Roman sr.
S James McGillian suffered a neck injury after making a late arrival
to the pile of bodies. He wound up being carted off the field on a gurney,
to a waiting ambulance, and received warm applause from the lines of players
who came out onto the field. From afar, the matter looked to be very
serious. But James did show some small hints of movement while being
attended to and the word along Roman's sideline was that, overall, he was
expected to be OK. Best of luck, James! (Late word from Huck, via B-P coach
Greg "Bubba" Bernhardt, was that James had suffered a "whiplash"
injury and was doing well.) The delay lasted 12 minutes and B-P finally got
rolling coming out of it as DiGalbo wound up hitting sr. WR Mike Ockimey
for a pair of scores. Well, kinda (smile). We say "kinda" because, on the
first one, it's highly doubtful "Ock" was in bounds on a 15-yard fade to the
left corner. The nearest official got so hung up on trying to be sure which
guy had possession, he neglected to notice that Ockimey did not come down in
bounds. The ref looked around for help, but no one signaled to him that the
play should have been ruled an incompletion. Ock's dad, Mike, was
part of the chain crew and the play happened right nearby. Dad's raised
eyebrows and whoa-we-got-away-with-one smile pretty much told the story.
DiGalbo finished 15-for-41 for 190 yards and the two TDs to Ockimey. He
threw 24 of those passes in the fourth quarter! Also, he picked up 75 yards
in 32 seconds (from the injury at 9:51 down to 9:19). Also, 146 of his
passing yards came in the last quarter. Kelly's 30-yard TD run was a classic
second-effort job. In fact, he was hit hard early and it appeared his yield
would be just four yards. But at the exact instant Joe McCourt yelled,
"That's the way to run," Kelly broke free and took it to the house. Roman
sr. K Phillip Isaac had a strong sequence after Kelly's 21-yard
score. His PAT cleared the low fence beyond the track and his subsequent
kickoff landed 2 yards deep in the end zone. And there was not even a HINT
of wind at the time. None! Roman's D-line of ends Trahan and Greene and Ts
Rivera and jr. Kabir Basil were dominant. For B-P, sr. DE
Anthony Marcus (6-5, 240) enjoyed many manchild moments. Huck had him
for 13 tackles. He also notched a sack and recovered a muffed punt.
Shanahan, at LB, added 10 stops.
SEPT. 20
TEDBITS
In last night's win over Bartram, Kevin Caldwell broke
Franklin's school record for passing yards in one game with 205. Over the
last four seasons, under Desmin Daniels (in 2010) and David Carter
(2011-present), the Electrons' offensive philosophy has done a complete 180.
In 40 games over those four seasons, Franklin has netted 3,820 passing yards
thanks mostly to Anwar "Huddy" Mathis, Mike Edwards and Caldwell. To
accumulate its previous 3,820 passing yards, the Electrons needed exactly
100 games! And that stretch goes back to the final six games of 2000. The
high-water mark for yards in one season during that span was 662 in 2006.
The low-water mark was 232 in 2002. So, yes, in last night's game, Caldwell
came within 27 yards of matching Franklin's passing yards total for all of
2002.
SEPT. 19
TEDBITS
After Week Three in city football, which league owns the best
record in non-league games? That would be the Inter-Ac at 10-5, which
computes to a .667 winning percentage. The Catholic League is next at .600
(18-12) and the Public League is waaaaaay behind at .226 (7-24). The
unbeaten teams in non-league games are Ryan (2-0), Lansdale (2-0), Wood
(3-0), Conwell-Egan (1-0), West Catholic (2-0), Episcopal (3-0), Malvern
(2-0), SCH Academy (3-0) and Imhotep (2-0). By the way, "non-league" does
NOT include games between teams in the same league but in different
divisions. It also doesn't include C-E vs. Lower Moreland. C-E is seeking a
forfeit, but the matter has not yet been resolved.
SEPT. 18
TEDBITS
On the surface, it might seem pretty strange that Conwell-Egan
has scheduled Roxborough for its Homecoming opponent Oct. 12 (a Saturday
night, 7 o'clock start) at nearby Truman High. Deep down, that matchup is
oh-so-cool! The schools have met just one other time, and that clash took
place 50 years ago. And it wasn't some semi-unimportant non-league game,
either. The Eagles (the school was then known as Bishop Egan) and Indians
banged heads for the City Title at Franklin Field. How'd it go? Well,
neither team went home happy. The game ended in a 16-16 tie, one of four
deadlocks in CT history. Here's the recap for that game:
1963
At Franklin Field
Egan 16, Roxborough 16 (tie)
After George Katzenbach made a tackle and fumble recovery at
Roxborough's 1 to keep Egan from going ahead, Egan's Paul Barczy and Joe
Frazer combined to tackle Frank Ruchalski for a game-tying safety with
1:35 remaining. With Egan going for the win after the free kick,
Katzenbach and Mike Riesberg forced a fumble and John Heiser recovered
on Roxborough's 6. Roxborough had taken a 16-14 lead on a safety of its
own (bad snap on punt). Paul McDowell (23-95, TD) and John Kerr (18-91)
led Egan in rushing. For Roxborough, the scores came on Bobby Feret's
79-yard punt return and Ron Darlington's 68-yard pass to Hal Werntz.
C-E coach Jack Techtmann said today he watched
that game from the first row of the upper deck. He also said the C-E folks
are hopeful some members of that '63 squad will turn out to watch this
rematch. I'm sure the Roxborough people would love that, too.
SEPT. 15
TEDBITS
Ryan is 3-0 for the first time since 1992. Interestingly, when
Ryan won four consecutive CL championships from 1990-93, it started 3-0 just
that one time. Its overall record during that span was 45-5-3 (hey, remember
ties?) and four of those losses came in early non-league games. The Raiders
were only 4-4-1 in games that preceded the start of Northern Division play .
. . Roman is 0-3 for the first time since '95 while the Cahillites and
O'Hara are simultaneously 0-3 for the first time since '94 . . . Hard to
believe: five of the six teams in Public AAA Gold are winless. Only Central
(2-1) is not . . . In Roman's loss to St. John's (D.C.), SJ's Omar Truitt
scored on a 98-yard interception return on the next-to-last play of the
first half. Then, to open the second half, he returned the kickoff 95 yards
for another score. (Distances are tentative; trying to cross-check video to
be sure.) . . . In three games, Olney's Kadir Chisholm has notched
seven TD passes. In 2011, the Trojans had NONE for the whole season . . . On
Opening Night, at halftime, Judge trailed Episcopal, 30-3. Since then the
Crusaders have rolled to an 87-0 edge . . . In the first three weeks, North
Penn surrendered 118 points to CL squads (34 to La Salle, 49 to Wood, 35 to
SJ Prep). I'd imagine it has been forever since the Knights yielded that
many points in a three-week period. Also, they've likely gone through
NUMEROUS seasons without giving up that many overall, or at least in league
play.
SEPT. 14
NON-LEAGUE
Wood 42, Frankford 14
Talk about a pulling guard. For my money, tonight's best
performances -- at least on two specific plays -- were turned in by jr. G
Tom Cardozo. On consecutive series in the second quarter, Wood jr. RB
Jarrett McClenton turned right-side bursts into TDs of 27 and 47 yards.
And as each play wound down, a shade inside the 5 the first time and pretty
much right at the goal line the second, there was Cardozo, making
significant blocks. Both times, I had to look twice to make sure that a guy
wearing No. 51 (Cardozo) indeed had made it that far downfield that quickly.
Indeed, he had! In the second half, I watched the proceedings from Wood's
sideline and happened to mention to McClenton, "Wait until you watch the
tape and see how far downfield No. 51 was, making blocks for you." He smiled
and said, "I know. I was following him." On the same subject, coach Steve
Devlin said, "That's what we teach our guys to do; get downfield."
Altogether, McClenton finished with three TDs. His first came with 33.3
seconds showing in the first quarter on a 32-yard interception return. No.
33, jr. Dan McDonald, then kicked the PAT. Imagine if the TD's
distance had been 33 yards. Talk about 3s being wild! The Vikings' other
three scores came on passes by soph QB Tom Garlick, who finished
6-for-8 for 64 yards. There were 6- and 7-yarders to sr. RB Josh Messina
and a 32-yarder to sr. RB Joe Dutkiewicz, who caught a left-side
swing pass and made a serious, pick-up-your-jock move at the 17 before
zipping to the end zone. The second of Messina's two scores was also
notable, as he made the catch with the help of his fingertips. The final
16:01 was played with the mercy rule in effect. Messina tabulated 107 yards
on eight rushes while McClenton managed 5-81. The main grunts aside from
Cardozo were jr. C Ryan Neher, jr. G Shawn Scroger, jr. T
Jack Kenney and jr. T Ryan Bates (6-5, 285). The defense was also
in tip-top mode. Until the mercy rule arrived, Frankford owned just 84 yards
and 83 had come on three plays. The Pioneers lost yardage on 13 plays and
the most defensive fun was had by Messina, who stationed himself at outside
LB and often was able to storm across the line untouched or barely brushed.
Sr. DE Chris Gary also did some frolicking. Down by 28-0, Frankford
finally was able to feel a hint of happiness 20.5 seconds before halftime.
On a jumpball from Wood's 33, jr. TE Shareef Miller was able to wrest
the rock away soph DB Gianni Cruel, who'd done a nice job of breaking
up a pass intended for Miller one play earlier. The QB was sr. Marquise
Poston, a lefty. Poston experienced passing struggles, but did show
excellent ballhandling skills and quick feet. Thanks to early dashes of 32
and 18 yards, his rushing totals wound up being 9-72. Poston also threw for
the game's last score, an 8-yarder toward the left corner to sr. WR Rene
Herrera. That came with 11:07 remaining against a mixture of starters
and backups. Especially early, the 6-5, 218-pound Miller, a junior who's
already creating quite the recruiting stir, made some impressive plays out
of his DE spot. As time went on, the Fkd-D spotlight was seized by sr. DT
Kadar Jones. At 6-2, 297 pounds, Jones is quite the beast and some of
his explode-across-the-line hits were truly memorable. Frankford's special
teams highlight was a 35-yard PAT by sr. Prince Cooper, who's a
left-footer. One of the Pioneers' ballboys was Anthony Wright-Downing,
who attends Sankofa and stars there in basketball. He also had some terrific
moments for Frankford's football team last year, but was advised (ordered?
smile) not to play by Sankofa coach Isaiah Thomas, who happens to be
a Frankford grad. Also on hand was June grad Tim DiGiorgio, who's now
a preferred walk-on QB at Temple. Frankford, Washington and Northeast are
all 0-3 (see the Tedbit from earlier today) and have been outscored, 297-97.
That means the average score has been 33-11. Not good. Someone has to get
better, and quick. The Despicable Me blimp, which is hanging out not far
away at the Northeast Airport, made two different appearances. On each visit
it circled the stadium a few times.
SEPT. 14 (Morning)
TEDBITS
Frankford, which will meet Wood tonight, is in danger of starting
a season 0-3 (on the field) for just the second time in (at least) the last
88 seasons. The Pioneers also dropped their first three games in 2010.
Eventually, the '07 squad also wound up with three losses to start the
season, but two were incurred much later (via forfeit) after it was
discovered an ineligible player had been used. Meanwhile, this is
Washington's 41st season and for the first time the Eagles are 0-3. Oh,
Northeast is 0-3 for the third time in eight seasons (also '07 and '06).
During the time frame in which Washington has been around, Northeast also
went 0-3 in '90, '85 and '64. Frankford, Washington and Northeast could be a
combined 0-9. Hard to believe. (I do have results for seasons prior to 1926,
but the games are not listed in chronological order) . . . On the CL side,
O'Hara is 0-3 for the first time since '94. Amazingly, the Lions also
started 0-3 in '93, '91 and '90.
SEPT. 13
NON-LEAGUE
La Salle 28, O'Hara 14
Even if you're young, we'll assume you've heard of Franco Harris
and The Immaculate Reception. (If not, that's why they invented Google --
smile.) Tonight there was an AMAZING play that we'll tag the Non-Immaculate
Interception. Buckle your seatbelts because herrrrrre we go. It's the last
play of the first half and the ball's on O'Hara's 42. La Salle jr. QB
Kyle Shurmur lofts one way downfield beyond the goal line with the hope
that HIS guy will catch it. It's one of those classic jump-ball situations
with multiple guys converging. Everyone leaps (in the area of the left hash
mark) and O'Hara sr. DB Thaddius Smith comes down with the ball. Yes,
he should have just knocked it down, but he's a competitive kid. Right after
making the pick, Smith uncorks a fancy move and no doubt starts to think, "I
could take this 100 yards the other way!" But numerous guys are in the
vicinity and the sideline isn't THAT far way. In other words, he's kind of
boxed in. Then . . . the ball is on the turf, thanks to a poke from jr. TE
Charlie Hemcher, and La Salle soph WR Charles Headen is making
the recovery . . . for . . . a . . . touchdown!!! Unbelievable!!! Hemcher,
who's listed at 6-2, 185, had not played on offense all night. On this play,
Hemcher (slot) and Headen (wide) had lined up on the left side of La Salle's
offense. The coaches were hoping Hemcher could use his height/grit to
outbattle O'Hara's d-backs. Instead, he wound up making the DEFENSIVE play
of the evening. The crazy play, which unfolded in the part of the north end
zone closest to O'Hara's sideline, lifted the Explorers into a 14-14 tie. As
you can imagine, they returned for the second half with all kinds of good
vibrations and the first possession produced a TD, a 43-yard,
straight-down-the-middle hookup from Shurmur to jr. RB Jordan Meachum,
who beat his defender by roughly five yards. O'Hara did hang tough, but
disaster struck again on the first play of the fourth quarter as possession
was lost on a rush just two yards from the goal line. Sr. DB Steve Hudak
made the recovery and La Salle added the clincher with 4:29 showing on an
11-yard scamper by soph RB Nick Rinella. Shurmur (16-yard pickup off
a flush-job) and Meachum (26-yard burst right before the TD) made large
contributions on that possession. Meachum slapped together quite a memorable
performance, accounting for 223 scrimmage yards. He rushed 27 times for 162
and one TD while adding three snags for 61. With star jr. WR Jimmy Herron
unavailable (health issue; not believed to be serious), Headen became the
prime target and turned eight catches into 66 yards. Shurmer went 13-for-23
for 143 yards and, in retrospect, did not mind throwing that one pick AT
ALL. Rinella rushed for 66 yards on nine totes. The big-'uns were sr. C
Bill Frusco, sr. G Dave Geppert, soph Gs Matt
McDermott/Anthony Piscopo, jr. T Aidan Kerrigan and sr. T
Vince Cicalese. For O'Hara, sr. QB Dashawn "Day-Day" Darden
passed 11-for-22 for 131 yards and two TDs to Smith (3-51) while adding 90
yards on 10 carries. Sixty-six came on a true thing of beauty and
excitement, a keeper that took Day-Day to the right sideline and then saw
him come close to waving bye-bye to everyone; he would have scored in the
LEFT corner. Sr. DB Mick Barrett made the TD-saving tackle at the 11
and the possession died at the 3 as Meachum made the stop on a pass to sr.
RB T.J. Blyden. Jr. SS Ryan Brady was a game-long force for La
Salle's defense. Geppert made a few big plays while sr. DE Ryan Coonahan
and Kerrigan combined for a 10-yard sack. Like last week, La Salle sr. LB
Zaire Franklin (Pitt) was unavailable due to a broken finger. O'Hara
also missed some starters with injuries; star sr. K-P Steve Weyler
('Nova) was among them. His soph brother, Jimmy, handled the punting
while jr. L Jack Horan, a left-footer, went 2-for-2 on PAT. The game,
scheduled for 7, didn't begin until 7:20. Why? Soccer! O'Hara beat Ryan,
2-1, in sudden death, on the same field and that contest didn't end until
6:12. The teams didn't appear on the field until 6:20, so the refs decided
to provide a full hour of preparation. Granted, the home and visiting stands
aren't the biggest ever, but a LARGE crowd was on hand. Lots of standees on
O'Hara's side. Among the visitors: Jim Algeo, father of O'Hara boss
Danny and an all-time great man during his coaching days at Lansdale
Catholic. O'Hara's honorary captain was mid-'80s lineman David Pacitti,
who went on to play at Villanova. Not counting David, O'Hara merely had 10
captains! At least that was how many guys came scrambling over when Danny
asked the captains to pose for the website pic. Yes, 10 captains. Legendary!
SEPT. 12
NON-LEAGUE
SCH Academy 27, Pennington School (NJ) 0
Not often does a team begins its season with a record of 2.75-0.
Of course, such a record is impossible, but we're always looking for offbeat
stuff so that's how we're going to characterize SCH's current status. Why?
Due to lightning, this one was called after three quarters. There were
mini-rumblings of thunder late in the third quarter, then the sound
increased and a bolt was visible behind SCH's bench just as the session
ended. As in Pa., Jersey rules call for a half-hour down period after the
last crackle is spotted. Radar, rumor had it, showed a major storm rolling
in and the Pennington folks did not mind halting the proceedings. By the
way, it never did rain. At least not then. While heading home on I-295, I
saw this strange sight: No rain on the south side. Wicked rain just a few
feet away on the north side. Crazy! The median strip was the storm's
dividing line! That scenario only lasted maybe 15 seconds, but it was pretty
cool to see. Anyway . . . the Blue Devils dominated this one. They had
better skill players and linemen and, if the game had been completed, we
probably would have been looking at a six-TD spread. Sr. TB Kyle Lawlor
ran 16 times for 120 yards and two TDs while jr. QB Paul Dooley
passed 4-for-8 for 82 yards and a pair of scores to jr. WR Dylan Parsons.
Dooley is an impressive player. He mixes talent and grit and boasts the
ever-popular presence that every coach loves to see in his QB. Though he's
righthanded, he made most of his best passes while scooting to the left, and
that's not always easy. If Lawlor had any doubts about how his afternoon
would go, they were squashed early. His first two runs netted 15 and 18
yards. Parsons made his scoring snags on right-to-left patterns in the back
of the end zone, and each featured solid concentration. The grunts were jr.
C Payden Howard, sr. Gs Tommie Whitehead and Andy Reid
(nooooo relation), soph T Darian Bryant (6-6, 340) and jr. T
Robbie Phillips. The latter was filling in for the injured Billy
Donahue, a 6-1, 266-pound soph. Soph Kevin O'Donnell also blocked
well out of the FB spot. The BDs scored on their first two possessions,
using a regular offensive tempo, and then coach Rick Knox opted for a
Chip Kelly imitation on possession No. 3. Things were going great
until a member of the offense drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for
excessive chirping. The ball was pushed back from the 21 to the 36 and all
momentum was lost. The series ended with a 9-yard sack. The downer didn't
last long. Jr. DT Josh Beckerman recovered an immediate fumble on the
Raiders' 13 and Lawlor ran 8 yards for a relatively easy TD three plays
later 1:07 prior to halftime. TD drive No. 4 opened the third quarter and
covered 64 yards in six plays. Lawlor capped it from the 3. Lawlor (20-yard
run) and Parsons (31-yard catch) made large contributions. Two more scores
were wiped out by holding calls. The second one was nuts. It was called at
the 1, and the supposed violation had nothing to do with the play. Ugh.
O'Donnell, at LB, set a nice defensive tone with a TFL on the game's second
play. At the start of Pennington's second possession, soph CB Jordan
Johnson came up hard on a receiver and dumped him for a 1-yard loss. Sr.
DE George Calle posted an 11-yard sack in the second quarter. The
day's highlight was seeing Rich "Birch" Maley, who's part of a great
Philly football family and recently has been an assistant at Peddie, also in
New Jersey. Birch is still teaching at Peddie, but has stepped away from
coaching for the first time in roughly a quarter century. His son, Kevin,
a soph who goes about 6-4, is Pennington's backup QB. If not for the
lightning, we likely would have seen in him in the fourth quarter. He did
see action as a guard in punt situations. It was also great to trade stories
with Jack Purdy, a former CHA baseball assistant and once a scout for
the Phillies. He's very tight with football assistant John McArdle
(speaking of great Philly football families).
SEPT. 10
TEDBITS
As you may remember, the Public League became a participating
member of the PIAA in the 2004 football season. Thus, this is Year No. 10 of
PIAA competition. During this new era, Pub members have been encouraged to
schedule non-league games against teams from outside the city. How, you
might be wondering, has that gone? I decided to figure out how the Pub has
fared exclusively against teams that belong to District One (as in the
Philly suburbs -- Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware and Chester counties). So far
in 2013, the Pub is 2-9 and has been outscored, 329-146. From 2004 to the
present, it's 27-102 and has been outscored, 3,763-1,715. There have been
two monumental wins for the Pub. In 2009, Del-Val Charter hammered
Springfield Montco, 52-14. And last year Imhotep Charter sliced and diced
Strath Haven, 68-13.
SEPT. 9
TEDBITS
Having a suspicion and time on your hands is a bad combination
(smile). And now, after plowing through years and years of results, I can
say this: La Salle and St. Joseph's Prep this past weekend allowed as many
as 40 points in games played in the same week for the first time EVER. La
Salle lost to Imhotep, 40-28, while the Prep fell to Don Bosco, of North
Jersey, 42-0. Almost never have those schools allowed 40 points in a game in
the same season. However, in 2011, La Salle did allow 41 to Bergen Catholic,
also of North Jersey, while the Prep surrendered 42 to Wood and 45 to Roman.
Check this out: La Salle went from '85 (41 to McDevitt) to '02 (49 to the
Prep) without allowing as many as 40. And the time before '85 occurred in
'70 (42 to Egan). Oddly, La Salle has now surrendered as many as 40 in two
of its last three games (42 to Coatesville to end the '12 season). The two
schools' worst defensive season was posted by the Prep in '91. While going
1-10 overall, the Hawks (then known as the Hawklets) yielded 41 to St.
James, 45 to O'Hara, 40 to Bonner and 42 to La Salle.
SEPT. 8
TEDBITS
Three school records were broken in games I covered yesterday. Fels'
Jylil Reeder posted 208 receiving yards, smashing the mark set by
Jared Hines (158) in 2010. La Salle's Kyle Shurmer finished with
384 passing yards, breaking 378 by Drew Loughery in '08. Also, that's
the No. 2 effort in city history, topped only by Mike Roche's
409-yard outburst for Central in '86. And Imhotep's Denniston "DJ" Moore
bagged 128 yards, eclipsing Devin Sanders' 123-yard effort in
'09.
SEPT. 7
NON-LEAGUE
Imhotep 40, La Salle 28
This isn't supposed to happen. The biggest reason the PIAA groups
schools by enrollment classifications is that small ones are not good enough
-- again, supposedly -- to beat big ones. But here we are, two weeks into
the season, and a Class AA school (Imhotep) owns an impressive victory over
one (La Salle) in the Class AAAA grouping. Later in the season, when these
schools are trying to win league/city/state championships, will this one
still matter? Hard to say, but there's no doubt 'Tep experienced major
euphoria before what basically amounted to a full house at Ben Johnston
Memorial Stadium, in Mt. Airy. (If those folks standing behind the fences
would have been forced to park their butts in the stands, we would have been
talkin' capacity crowd.) Meanwhile, one of the most satisfying things in
sports is watching a medium player turn into a very good player. For Exhibit
A, we give you 'Tep jr. QB Andre Dreuitt. Though he had some decent
moments last season, he never seemed completely confident. But in this one,
he delivered some PERFECT passes on long tosses off streak/fly patterns and
even a slightly misdirected rocket turned into gold. In all, Dreuitt went
7-for-12 for 212 yards and three TDs, two to jr. WR Denniston "DJ" Moore
(3-128) and one to jr. RB Nasir Bonner (3-65). Coach Albie Crosby
showed immediate brass, calling for a long pass on Imhotep's first play.
Dreuitt's long pass was RIGHT there and Moore made a terrific catch for a
61-yard gain, gathering in the ball with his right hand. Bonner then scored
on a 4-yard run. Dreuitt's other biggies were a 53-yard TD to Moore and a
35-yard score to Bonner. His oops turned out to be his only completion of
the second half and it upped the Panthers' lead to 40-28 with 8:36 left.
Under pressure for one of the few times all night, Dreuitt whipped one down
the middle to Moore. Right with DJ was La Salle's own No. 23, jr. DB
Jordan Meachum. The latter gained inside position and -- thwap! -- the
ball hit off his hands . . . right into Moore's for a 14-yard TD. The ball
did not go up or sideways much at all, so Moore showed great concentration.
In retrospect, the game's most vital sequence unfolded over the last 1:30 of
the first half and 'Tep reaped two TDs to jump in front, 26-14. Jr. QB
Kyle Shurmur lost the handle on a try for a 1-yard burrow and sr. DB
Quadeem Starks recovered one step into the end zone for a touchback. On
fourth down, Moore gathered in the 53-yard strike from Dreuitt to make it
20-14 with 32.4 seconds left on the clock. On La Salle's second play
thereafter, soph DE Jordan McCray used a hard pop to separate Shurmur
from the ball and jr. DE Qwamere Wright-Downing recovered on La
Salle's 35 with 11.7 ticks left. Dreuitt sent one to the left corner and . .
. ohhhhhh! Bonner snagged it for another TD at 4.9. Quite a turn of events.
Instead of being up by maybe 21-14, La Salle was now down by 26-14. The
Explorers did show resolve as the second half began and moved with 26-21
after 4:10 as Shurmur hit Meachum for a 33-yard TD. They even followed with
a three-and-out as sr. DB Ryan Brady notched the third-down stop. But
disaster was in the bullpen, warming up with vigor. As Shurmur tried to pass
on third and 22, the Panthers swarmed and his pass was semi-batted. The ball
settled right into the arms sr. LB Randell Hunter, who had no trouble
mad-dashing his way to a 25-yard TD. Imhotep's big'uns, as mentored by
Marcus Fulton, were sr. C Gordon Thomas, sr. G Aaron Ruff,
soph G John-Carlo Valentine, sr. T Taleem Muhammad and jr. T
Antoine Williams. The MAJOR playahs on the DL were sr. down lineman
Tyrone Barge and Wright-Downing at E. They blew things up pretty much
non-stop. Shurmur had a a crazy night. Though he lost two fumbles and threw
three picks (under relentless pressure), he broke the school record for
passing yards in one game with 384. That effort topped 378 by Drew
Loughery in 2008. He logged 20 completions in 37 attempts with most of
the yeoman work being done by sr. WR Levi Hardy (4-120, two TDs) and
Meachum (6-128, one TD). It must be noted that star jr. handyman Jimmy
Herron did not see the field for many offensive snaps; he concentrated
on DB. Dreuitt, meanwhile, went 7-for-12 for 212 yards, thanks almost
completely to Moore (3-128) and Bonner (3-65). Sr. RB Deandre Scott
added 99 yards on 10 rushes. La Salle sorely missed the presence of
franchise sr. LB Zaire Franklin, who was out with a broken finger.
Though he tried hard to rally his teammates from the sideline, nothing beats
being out there. Soph DL Anthony Piscopo was in on two sacks for La
Salle jr. DL Keith Wagner's big tackle enabled sr. DE Ryan "Pride
of Oreland" Coonahan to record a fumble recovery. On hand tonight were
DN/website stat-crew stalwarts Jon "Duck" Gray and Amauro "Amar"
Austin. The Duckster gets first billing because he has dropped 40 pounds
and again looks like a teenager. Good hus, Duck! Keep it rollin'!
SEPT. 7
NON-LEAGUE
Penn Charter 48, Fels 20
Tommy Coyle is now one game deep into the PC portion of his
head-coaching career and here's making a strong guess: He has already
witnessed two occurrences that he'll likely never see again. The first is
probably a city record. At least we'll call it one and let people challenge.
PC is the first team to score two TDs within the first 19 seconds of a game!
Wow, how did that happen?! Sr. Freddie Perri caught the kickoff on
the Quakers' 23 and dashed straight up the middle for a 77-yard TD. Sr.
Ian Regan then kicked off and Fels sr. Michael Turnage gathered
in the ball on the 20. He backtracked, found himself being swarmed and . . .
oh, the ball popped into the air. PC frosh Denarii Beard gathered in
the ball on the 10 and scrambled into the end zone for an easy score. The
scoreboard showed 11:41. We were juuuuust getting started, folks. PC
finished the first quarter with 34 points and even scored them within the
first 9:11. The other TDs: a 25-yard run by sr. RB James Biggs-Frazier
(10-107) on the Quakers' first scrimmage play; a 17-yard pass from jr. QB
Pat McCain to soph RB Jake McCain, his brother; and a 19-yard run by sr.
RB Corey Kelley (5-57). While watching this dominance unfold, it was
hard not to mutter, "Man, Fels looks like a JV team." Almost true. After the
game, coach Bill Harrigan noted he'd benched six, two-way starters
for the first quarter for missing practice. Even with the guilty parties now
part of the action, PC still had fun in the second quarter, adding 14 more
points to make it 48-0 at intermission. Shades of West Catholic's 2008
offensive powerhouse, anyone? Phew! The sixth and seventh TDs were posted on
short runs by Biggs-Frazier and jr. RB Nile Hodges, respectively.
Biggs-Frazier uncorked decent runs of 20 and 18 yards during the early part
of TD drive No. 6. With the mercy rule in full effect, Coyle went with
backups for the second half. Before we forget, the OL guys for the first
half were jr. C Frank "What an Amazing Feet" McGlinchey, jr. G
Patrick McInerney, soph G Sean Foley (6-4, 230 -- son of Ed,
PC's assistant AD), and sr. Ts Anthony Campanile and Micah
Holloway (6-6, 290).Fels received a boost out of the third-quarter gate
when soph QB Aasim Campbell hit sr. ATH Jylil Reeder for a
57-yard score. Those two proceeded to have much more fun -- remember,
against backups, but they surely didn't mind -- as they connected for two
more scores, an 8-yarder and a 29-yarder with 4.9 seconds remaining. In all,
Campbell went 12-for-20 for 235 yards and Reeder turned seven snags into
208. Extra-small jr. RB Wesley White added 54 yards on nine carries
and I loved his juice. He remained very upbeat throughout and here's hoping
more Panthers follow his lead. There were four good defensive plays on the
series that gave Fels a chance at its last score. Sr. LB Kennon Whitaker
made two while his frosh brother, Khalif, and jr. DL Alvin Johnson
contributed one apiece. Johnson's came on fourth down after the snap went to
the up man, soph Kenny Bergmann. Once the game got out of hand,
Harrigan took an interesting approach to fourth-down situations. He declined
to call for punts no matter the ball's location, and how many yards would be
necessary to earn first downs. His reasoning: the Panthers were so far down,
they might as well try to make some plays with the hope of gaining
confidence. In the early going, PC's big, behind-the-line tackles were made
by Kelley, McGlinchey and McInerney. PC grad Ed Morrone, of the
Northeast Times, was on hand and snapped numerous pics with an iPad (or
whatever those things are called -- smile). It was good to see long-time
acquaintances on both coaching staffs. Mr. Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna,
who turns 63 tomorrow, was on hand for the first half, but then he
departed to cover Mastbaum's game. So sad to see him go (ha ha). One of Fels'
mainstays was ejected late in the second quarter and he'll have to miss the
Week Three game. PC's late-game highlight was a sack by frosh DL William
Costello. He must be a popular kid because it seemed as if every PC guy
on the sidelines was yelling William's name. I'm writing this report at the
McDonald's in Upper Roxborough. Lots of little kids are running around,
making major noise, and a lady in the next booth is talking on her cell
phone about the ins and outs of C-sections. Most of the nearby adults are
drinking various versions of iced coffee in gigantic cups. The next sip of
coffee I ever take will be the first. Meanwhile . . . time for a
quarter-pounder with cheese, no onions, baby! And later, La Salle's game at
Imhotep should be a classic.
SEPT. 6
NON-LEAGUE
Lansdale Catholic 31, Germantown Academy 0
Shortly after game's end, as dryly as possible, I mentioned to LC
coach Tom Kirk that his team would be given credit for the longest
consecutive streak of rushing plays in modern-day football history. He
laughed and said, "You can tell I went to Wood." Yes, Tom is a former Viking
and during his time there the football squad relied heavily -- beyond
heavily, even -- on the wishbone attack (Google it, young bucks). LC hasn't
resurrected that offense, but it had the ball to start the game and the
first 13 plays were rushes! No. 11 would have been a pass, but jr. QB Joe
Pinzka was smothered rather quickly and his carry resulted in no gain.
Soph RB Ryan Quigley then lost a yard and on play No. 14, Pinzka
posted a 10-yard gain on a flip to jr. TE Eddie McKee. That placed
the ball at GA's 26 and Quigley scored four plays later on a nifty dash to
the left corner. At the time, it's unlikely many folks would have predicted
a blowout, but that was the end result. LC was good, sometimes great, and GA
spent the entire evening in can't-quite-click mode. This was the perfect
example of how a team playing its second game, and coming off a
confidence-building Week One triumph (over Conwell-Egan), can wind up
coasting against an opponent playing its opener after a season featuring
lots of tough moments. LC's second drive also produced a score and, man, did
it stand out in bold relief against the first one. How so? Well, at first it
was going to be a ONE-play drive -- an 85-yard burst by sr. RB Michael
Iacono. Alas, a penalty was called at GA's 19. No sweat. Sr. RB
Michael Isabella turned the next play into a 29-yard TD frolic. The
tri-cornered rushing fun never ceased. Though he didn't score, Iacono posted
121 yards on nine carries. Quigley (18-96) and Isabella (16-73) enjoyed
racking up two TDs apiece. As for Pinzka . . . Yes, he wasn't asked to pass
too often, but it wasn't as if the down time made his arm ineffective. All
he did was average 19 yards per attempt! (4-for-4, 76 yards). Now it's time
to list the names of the grunts. One problem: there wasn't a true grunt (as
in a hefty guy) among them. Not sure there's even one true fatty on LC's
whole squad. Anyway: sr. C Jack Shields, sr. Gs Max Wengyn and
Ian Bates, and sr. Ts Jude Coughlin and Nick Albanese.
Sr. Zach Talley, also a force at DE, was a TE along with McKee. GA's
QB, sr. Hayes Nolte, is a big kid with a big arm, but in this one he
had to settle for 16 yards on four completions in 12 attempts. He was
pressured throughout and pocket calm was just not available. He wound up
with 15 carries and here's guessing roughly half of those resulted from
busted plays. Sr. RB Myles Anthony did manage a few decent bursts en
route to 7-44 stats. Coughlin (DL) joined Talley in making some big
defensive plays and the student fans were loving it. They hollered "Juuuuuuuuuude!!!"
in a pretty good imitation of how Phillies fans yell "Chooooooch!!!" Sr. LB
Ryan Gianoni made a terrific stop on fourth-and-one from LC's 14
shortly into the third quarter. He exploded across the line and delivered a
nice-and-low crunch to drop jr. RB Ryan Calhoun for a 2-yard loss.
Sr. Mike Esterle hit all four of his PAT while adding a 23-yard field
goal. GA's most active defenders were sr. OLB Nelson Floyd, sr. ILB
Patrick Cawley, Calhoun (until he had to depart with an injury that
did not appear to be serious) and sr. DE Cliff David. At least two
former NFL players were on the premises at Hatboro-Horsham High. Episcopal
grad Greg Isdaner ('05) is an assistant to GA boss Matt Dence.
Judge grad Mike McCloskey ('79) is a GA parent. His son, Kyle,
a lefty frosh, is the backup QB, and he turned two late keepers into 15
yards. Also seeing some time for the Patriots was frosh Patrick
McGettigan, who returned one kickoff for 10 yards and also pounced on a
squib job. His dad, Ed, also a Judge product, earlier in the day
coached Lincoln past Overbrook, 6-2. Also on hand, covering the game for the
local paper, was Joe Fite, who formerly did yeoman work for Score
Service, which collects all high school results for the Daily News -- hey, I
used to work there (smile) -- and Inquirer. Joe will also go down in history
as now-closed Germantown High's final baseball coach. The National Anthem
was crooned in wonderful fashion by LC cheerleader Samantha "Sam"
Peterson. The PA announcer was also memorable, though the high volume
punctured my eardrums (smile). Good energy. Lots of tidbits to promote LC.
AUG. 31
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 26, Haverford School 14
OK, so he's not lefthanded. But he does wear No. 7. And in a very
small body of work, WC's Patrick Amara (Pitt commit) did a pretty nice job of
trying to be Michael Vick. Amara's normal position on offense is
receiver, but in this one he passed 2-for-2 for 93 yards and one TD. How so?
His first completion, a 45-yard score to jr. WR Ahkil Crumpton,
surfaced during a messy situation. Amara is also the punter (and kicker) and
was forced to deal with a low snap. He recovered and lobbed the ball
downfield and HS' defenders were slow to realize what was happening.
Completion No. 2 was a designed trick play. Amara lined up wide to the
right, stepped back and accepted a fired lateral from sr. QB Antoine
McCollum. He then whipped one far downfield and the result was a 48-yard
gain for Crumpton. Four plays later, McCollum scored from the 2 and that TD
edged West within 14-12. That sequence occurred semi-late in the third
quarter and West maintained the momentum. A four-yard TFL by jr. DB Neil
Satterwhite helped to limit HS to a three-play possession and the Burrs
covered 46 yards in six plays to storm ahead, at 18-14. The TD was a
12-yard, left-corner fade to -- you got it -- Amara, who stands 6-2 (but
looks taller). On HS' next play, soph LB Amir Postley and jr. DL
Greg Nathaniel combined to hold star sr. RB Phil Poquie to one
yard and that possession also resulted in a three-and-out. This time the
Burrs maneuvered their way for 75 yards, and the two big plays were passes
-- 55 yards to soph WR Craig Jones and 13 to star sr. RB Greg
White. On first down from the 7, White was dropped for a 2-yard loss.
Then, on a designed keeper, McCollum took off to the right side and scored
with ease. Huck chirped with delight, "I know what works! You know I
know what works! . . . I wanted that play on first down." Ha, ha. To prove
it would not allow any late-game heroics by the Fords, West then posted a
first-play interception thanks to Satterwhite. The play differential in this
one was rather amazing. West ran 65 to 37 for HS. The Burrs ran 14 of the
first 15, but HS didn't mind a WHOLE lot because its first play was a
wonderful 88-yard TD run by Poquie; he later added a 10-yarder en route to
18-163 stats. He also posted kickoff returns of 63 and 47 yards and made a
vicious pop at CB to separate a WC receiver from the ball. Oh, then he made
the recovery. Quite a performance! West posted 376 yards of offense as
McCollum passed 13-for-22 for 166 and White managed 101on 27. Crumpton's
five snags yielded 125. The hogs were jr. C Steve Wyant, sr. G
Khalim Hadas, soph G Charles Trabi, jr. Troy Conyers and
soph Tymir Oliver. (And an ex-hog was on the premises! Former West
star Jake Zuzek, who now plays for Navy, was home on a short break
since no game was scheduled for this weekend. Everyone was thrilled to see
him.) Haverford had a great chance to seize command early in the third
quarter. After Poquie's 10-yard TD capped the first possession, sr. K
Kyle Colburn tapped a perfect onside kick and sr. Michael Solomon
made the left-side recovery pretty much unchallenged. But West sterned it up
as TFLs by Jones and soph DE Andre Mintze were crucial. Later, Huck
will provide some specific defensive stats and those will be added. Right
before the game, Haverford, per tradition, fired its small cannon from the
end zone closest to Lancaster Avenue. Boooom!! Hearing that, West assistant
Frank "Pop" McNally quipped, "At our next game, we should shoot an
AK-47." If AAA, the auto insurance company, ever wants to slap together an
ad campaign involving high school football players, I suggest three Fords.
In alphabetical order, the first three kids on the roster are Timothy
Aikins, Dox Aitken and Connor Atkins. Legendary!
Defensive stats from Huck . . .
WC: Oliver, 7 tackles; jr. LB David Swen, 6; Postley, 6 and INT;
Satterwhite 5, sack, FF; soph LB Zi-Tear Wilson, fumble recovery.
HS: Jr. LB Brian Casey, 8 tackles, 1/2 sack, 4 TFL; Jr. LB
Derek Mountain, 7 tackles; jr. LB Noah Lejman, 1/2 sack; jr. LB
Niles Easley, 5 tackles; jr. LB Jack Doran, INT.
AUG. 30
NON-LEAGUE
Episcopal 30, Judge 22
Note to Episcopal's student rooters: Halftime scores are
sometimes less on point than they appear (smile). The Churchmen had an
energized, semi-large student section through the first 24 minutes, but then
. . . Hey, where'd everybody go? Agreed, Part I: This is a holiday weekend.
Agreed, Part II: At 30-3, we appeared headed to a Serious Pummel Job. But
Judge slapped together a strong rally over the final 24 minutes and late in
the fourth quarter, the need for overtime would not have surprised. All in
all, quite the satisfying opener! Down by eight points, Judge took over on
its 38 with 2:06 remaining and jr. QB Zach Carroll was looking to
continue a hot streak. He immediately connected with soph WR Prince Smith
for 10 yards, then added 10 of his own two plays later on a
got-flushed-out scramble. The next four plays resulted in incomplete passes,
however, and the Churchmen avoided what would have been a major kick in the
teeth, taking into consideration their wonderful first half. Not
surprisingly, one of EA's headliners was sr. TE-DE Evan Butts, who's
bound for Virginia. The roster doesn't list heights/weights, but he goes
about 6-4/225 and, dag, can he run. He made five catches for 125 yards and
the longest was a 75-yard TD on a right-side wheel route. How many tight
ends post 75-yard TD snags? Beyond that, how many create space between
themselves and the chasing d-backs in the latter stages of the mad dash?!
Very impressive. Also, a couple of his catches were leaping, all-hands jobs.
Butts' score came in the middle of an impressive three-TD trifecta in the
second quarter. It began with a 90-yard kickoff return by sr. WR-DB
Terrell Smith, who flat-out exploded up the middle the instant he
gathered in the ball, then eventually broke it to the right side. It was as
if he immediately said to himself, "I'm smellin' a take-it-to-the-house
opportunity!" TD No. 3 in the great stretch was a 52-yard pass from jr. QB
Ryan Whayland (14-for-23, 220 yards) to soph WR Christian
Feliziani. Like Butts, Feliziani caught his ball in stride (but along
the left sideline) and frolicked to the end zone. The game's first score,
with 7:04 left in the initial quarter, was a 4-yard run by sr. RB Anthony
Feliziani, Christian's bro. Moments earlier, Ant had used a mini-leap to
gather in the ball on the 16 after sr. LB Cody Russell blocked a punt
(the snap floated back in slllooowww motion and sr. K-P Connor Foley
had no chance). Judge's next series resulted in an interception for T. Smith
and a 22-yard connection between Whayland and Butts set up a 27-yard field
goal by sr. Julio Del Peon. First-year Judge coach Mike McKay
must have given a spirited halftime talk because the Crusaders came back out
with juice. Sr. RB Marquis Seamon ripped off a 24-yard gain and, two
plays later, he zipped 44 yards for a score. The fun continued about seven
minutes later as soph DB Yeedee Thaenrat picked off a tipped ball and
bobbed/weaved/sped 55 yards for a TD. Sr. LB Shawn Scornaienchi made
the play possible with a well-timed pop on a receiver. Judge drew within
eight points with 3:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. Unless my eyes
weren't working too well, sr. WR Arren Monteleone (listed at 5-6,
150) wriggled himself into a spot inside a FOUR-pack of defenders to gather
in a 14-yard TD pass from Carroll (10-for-29, 155). In the third quarter,
meanwhile, he'd made perhaps the tackle of the night, flying toward an EA
guy and whipping his body right into the thigh/knee area. Major heart, son!
Episcopal's grunts had a strange night. Though they kept Whayland from
incurring even one sack, just twice did they clear efficient paths for the
RBs -- as in, only two carries produced more than five yards. And those runs
yielded "just" seven and eight, respectively. Butts, sr. LB Mike Watkins,
Russell and A. Feliziani were among the defensive notables. Sr. DL Eric
Drains (6-3, 275) made a few big-boy plays for Judge while sr. LB Jim
Galasso was in a fly-to-the-ball mood. Congrats to Bill Koch,
who's in his 40th season as a Judge assistant (four with freshman team; 36
with varsity). Judge sr. LB Joe Nigro, a tri-captain, sat out with a
strained MCL. He's hoping to return next week. The other final score of the
evening was, roughly, Popped Off Helmets 8, Delays for Cramps 5. And here's
wishing I had a dollar for every person who greeted me with . . . "Hey, I
thought you retired!" (Or something similar.) True, my Daily News days have
come to an end, but I'll still be on the ever-popular trail in some fashion
or 'nother. Just your luck, right? (smile)