Before They Fathered Star Athletes . . .

As you can imagine, some of the players now starring for city leagues' teams are the sons of
guys who also starred. Since I'm ancient (smile), I wrote stories about them during their high
school careers.
We hope you enjoy this new feature (a takeoff of Before They Drew X's and O's).
Would you like to see a story about someone who starred in the Public, Catholic or Inter-Ac
leagues and now has a son doing likewise (assuming I did one on him)? Send me a note at
silaryt@phillynews.com.
Thanks,
Ted

This story, written in 1984, is not completely about McDevitt star
Eric Young, but he played a role in helping the Lancers' athletic
program avoid a second all-time embarrassment. Eric's son, Eerin,
is Imhotep's star rusher. Eric's brother, Keith, also starred for the
Lancers and HIS son, also Keith, is McDevitt's current top rusher.

McDEVITT THANKFUL HISTORY DOESNT REPEAT

By TED SILARY, Daily News Sports Writer

One way to look at things is that Bishop McDevitt 's varsities have upped their lifetime record against JV teams to 1-1.

In the first round of the 1968 Catholic League basketball playoffs, McDevitt drew national, in-the-wrong-manner attention by losing, 77-60, to North's JV, which was filling in for the suspended varsity.

Yesterday, the Lancers played what amounted to Cardinal Dougherty's JV team in regular season football and came away 25-0 winners at Cheltenham High.

Because of the suspension of 35 players, who broke training, only one- fourth of Dougherty's team was comprised of the usual varsity players. Also, only three regular starters were present.

"We told our kids, 'You're not playing a varsity, you're not playing a JV, you're playing something in between,' " said coach Pat Manzi. "But it really didn't make any difference. There was a rock, and a hard place, and there we were - right between them.

"At 1-3, we had to approach this like a playoff game. We lose, we have to buy tickets for the playoffs. "

If Manzi had any fears that his team would play more to avoid losing than to win, they were dispelled early.

Junior Kevin Greene (17 carries, 51 yards) scored on a 3-yard run with 5:33 left in the first quarter, just five plays after Kevin Reddish blocked a punt and Bob Loughney flopped on the ball at Dougherty's 13.

Later, the show belonged mostly to junior receiver Eric Young - make that receiver-tailback Eric Young .

Young spent the first half collecting 83 yards on two receptions, one of which netted a 38-yard touchdown. In the second half, he prevented the onslaught of boredom by rushing for 69 yards and another score on 15 carries.

"Our fullback, Pete Montague, couldn't play and we've been running Eric at tailback a little, so we decided to try it," Manzi said. "He has good feet, nice perception. And Kevin's (Greene) a good blocker at fullback. You may see more of that. If nothing else, it gives us depth, which we're going to need if we're going to be around for a while. "

"I don't live too far from a lot of the Dougherty guys who didn't play today," said Young. "When I first heard about (the suspensions), I didn't think it was true. We usually talk a lot, but me and the guys I know tried to stay away from each other this week. Now, we can go back to being friends. "

Meanwhile, Manzi, who teaches at North Catholic and took constant ribbing all week about McDevitt 's basketball loss to North's JV, can go back to normalcy. Hopefully.

"I was pressing; I don't doubt that for a moment. So, I'm sure the kids had to be," he said. "That was only because I didn't want something to happen that could have snowballed into something disastrous, something that could have wrecked our season.

"This is just the kind of game you want to be over. If we had walked out of here with a 2-0 win, that would have been fine. "

ELSEWHERE: Wood, which had lost 15 straight, played La Salle to a scoreless tie . . . Mark Ewing (20-219, 80-yard TD) led West over St. James, 12-0 . . . Jamie Viggiano's 80-yard return of the opening kickoff sparked Carroll past Roman, 28-6 . . . Art Condodina's rushing (14-183, four TDs) and receiving (6-64) helped O'Hara numb Neumann, 41-6.