Catholic Blue Final X-Ray, 2005 . . .

  Here's a look at the CL Blue final, which was played 12/3 at Northeast's
Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium. West was coached by Brian Fluck.
Wood was coached by Joe Powel.

PROJECTED ROTATION MEMBERS . . .

STATISTICAL LEADERS . . .

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THE FIRST TIME . . .

REPORT BY HUCK PALMER . . .

NOV. 5
CL BLUE
Wood 23, West Catholic 12
     The Vikings claimed the CL Blue regular season crown in convincing fashion as they were two, three, four steps ahead of the Burrs all game long. The Burr defense entered the game with an impressive resume, but on this day they were no match for the supremely prepared and highly efficient Vikings. In the process, Vikings’ sr. QB Joe Kosich had a day that altered the Wood record book. He completed 12-of-21 passes, for 274 yards and three touchdowns. The yardage mark became a new school record, surpassing the 260 yards of Jeff Crompton in '99. To start the game, Wood jr. RB/DB Matt Little returned the opening kickoff 23 yards to their 47-yard line. Six plays later Kosich fired a missile that hit a streaking jr. WR/DB Jim Daley coming across the middle. A slight slip by a Burr defensive back was all he needed to find his way into the end zone for a 45-yard TD. The Vikings never looked back and DOMINATED the rest of the first half. Their next two possessions failed to produce points, even though they reached as far as the four-yard line and then the twenty before stalling. However, they expanded their lead at the end of their fourth and final drive of the half. Again, it was Daley, this time on a 14-yard rocket thrown by Kossich. The touchdown came on a 3rd-and 13 play and followed an injury to Wood’s star, and I mean STAR WR Chris Lorditch. More on Lorditch to come, but it had appeared that he had gotten the wind knocked out of him. Anyhow, Daley, with a Burr defender draped all over him, showed excellent concentration and eked his way just inside the pylon for the score. Even though the Burrs were seriously outplayed they still trailed only 7-0 prior to this. The touchdown came with 33 seconds left in the half and did considerable damage in the back-breaking department. How much did Wood dominate in the first half? Try these numbers on for size. The Vikings ran 36 plays to just 11 for the Burrs, they had a 12-to-1 first down margin, and 189-to-20 advantage in total yards. Can’t get more one-sided than that!! Every time West made a good defensive play, almost immediately the Vikings countered. Thrice in the half they converted 2nd-and-14 yards+ with long pass plays. All of the plays took place roughly ten yards from scrimmage and in the middle of the field. All had significant RAC’s to them too. That’s run-after-catch for those of you not familiar with the term. West jr. RB Dennis Shaw returned the second half kickoff 25 yards to give the Burrs good field position at their 40-yard line, but the drive produced a dud and they ended up punting after three plays. Two plays into Wood’s series they provided the dagger that the Burrs would never recover from. Kosich appeared to audible while under center. He glanced out at Lorditch on the far side of the field and then tapped the top of his helmet a couple of times. After a quick, two-step drop he fired a pass down the right sideline that found Lorditch. He had to pause slightly as the pass arrived, but turned on the jets after the catch and shredded a touchdown-saving attempt by West star sr. DB/WR John Maddox. The play covered 78 yards and gave Wood an insurmountable 20-0 lead. The Burrs would show a sign of life on their subsequent possession when underrated sr. WR Chris Palmer took a quick inside-slant pass from sr. QB Steven Powers and outran the Wood defense for a 75-yard touchdown, making the score 20-6. However, the Burrs complicated matters when they were called for an unsportsmanlike penalty on the conversion attempt. This forced the kickoff to come at the 20-yard line, instead of the 35. After a fair catch, the Vikings started with great field position at their 48-yard line. This drive wouldn’t result in a touchdown, but the Vikings did hold the ball for 12 plays, took a chunk of time off the clock, and actually did expand their lead when Lorditch crushed a 33-yard field goal. This gave the Vikings a three-score lead at 23-6. The Burrs managed to chalk up a late score on a 1-yard run by Shaw to give us our final. In the game, the Wood offense racked up 20 first downs and 373 yards in offense. The West defense came in only allowing 125 yards per game and just 28 total points on the season. Kosich was masterful, especially when a play was needed. He threw four passes that went for more than 30 yards (45 (TD), 50, 31, & 78 (TD)). Lorditch once again proved why he is one of the best underclassman in the entire Catholic League. He finished with 5 grabs for 164 yards. All five of his catches went for first downs. The lanky and SPEEDY receiver is just a flat-out playmaker. People have asked me in the past what level I thought he can play at. I’ve always said that I thought he could be a star at a Villanova or Delaware, but the more I see him, he displays abilities that may land him at a higher level. I’m sure the Wood people are on this, but I would be sending tapes out to an assortment of D-1 schools. This kid could be perceived as a sleeper, and eventually a steal for some school. Stay tuned! Aside from his receiving numbers and field goal, he also boomed Wood’s only punt 51 yards. If there is a more valuable player in the Blue this year you would have a tough time proving otherwise to this observer. Sr. RB Bryan McCartney (24-86) didn’t run wild, but did provide some tough yards and at the least kept the Burr defense honest. I left impressed with Little, who made four snags for 57 yards, rushed 6 times for another 22 yards, and had one return for 23 yards. He also played a quality defensive back. The Wood offensive line relies more on technique and grit, rather than overwhelming power. They showed great cohesiveness and played a sound game today. Members included; sr. C Matt McFadden, G’s sr. Chris Smith and sr. Matt Knox, T’s Mike Gallagher and Brian Holly, and sr. TE Ryan Dolan. Defensively, the Vikings barely broke a sweat in the first half as they sat back and watched their offense control the ball. However, when they were called upon they were solid. They held the Burr running game to only 30 yards on 22 carries. Leading the way was jr. LB Pat McAfee who had two sacks among his team-high 8 tackles. Dolan also added a sack and had 6 stops in total, while jr. DB Pat Devlin made a nice leaping fourth quarter interception. Gallagher and sr. DE Sean Forsyth created havoc on the line of scrimmage. Offensively, the Burrs only managed seven first downs in the game and almost immediately had to change their intended game plan. A lone bright spot on this side of the ball was the play of Powers who entered in the second half. He completed 6-of-14, for 195 yards. A few of his passes were beautifully thrown and had zip on them. His prettiest throw was a 43-yard bomb to sr. WR Parris Shannon that set up the final West score. Palmer (4-120) exhibited good hands and nice speed on his receptions. This kid has turned into a pretty good player and has had really nice year for the Burrs. Maddox (2-48) made a lovely leaping grab for 29 yards late. Shaw never got on track and only managed 40 yards on 15 totes. Defensively, the Burrs were multiple steps behind, sloppy, and undisciplined. They committed three encroachment penalties that certainly didn’t help the cause. Tackling wasn’t especially sharp and they littered the game with mental mistakes. Still, give the Wood coaching staff credit for placing their weapons in areas where they had a considerable advantage. They made the plays and the Burrs didn’t on this day. Overall, the Burr defense was on the field entirely too long. Wood ended up running 66 plays to the Burrs 39. That’s quite a disparity. Because of the amount of time they spent on the field numerous Burrs put up solid tackling numbers. Sr. LB Wayne Donahue made a total of seven stops (3 TFL’s). Included in this was a sack in which he forced a fumble. He also added an interception off a fake field goal. Other tackle leaders were, sr. DT Chris Farmer (9 stops, half of sack, & fumble recovery), soph. LB Marquese Sanders (8 stops – sack), sr. LB Danny Chavis (8 stops – 1.5 sacks), DB Palmer (8 stops), jr. DL Anthony Rhoades (7 stops), and jr. LB Marc Holloway (6 tackles). Sr. DB Matt Ambrosine and sr. DT Kirk Hinton evenly split ten stops. The Vikings have now beaten the Burrs in four of the last five games, including the last two CL Blue championships. Many believe that this won’t be the last time these teams meet, as a third straight title encounter is quite possible. However, much can happen until we get to Dec. 3. With the loss the Burrs snapped a 15 game league winning streak, while Wood expanded their league winning streak to 12 games.

Twin peaks as Wood tops West for Blue crown
By Ted Silary