Before He Fathered a Star Athlete . . .

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 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
tedtee307@yahoo.com.

Thanks,
Ted

This story is about Tony Russo, a second team coaches'
All-Catholic quarterback for Bishop Egan in 1980. He then
played briefly at West Chester. Tony's son, Anthony, is now
a junior QB at Wood and last week he tied for the city mark
for passing TDs in one game with seven! Continued success
to Anthony. And lots of great viewing for Tony.

EGAN RALLIES PAST NORTH

BY TED SILARY

Coach Bill Travers had a sneaky suspicion that life still existed on the

other side of the 50-yard line, mainly since the grass was painted by lime and

off in the distance, way off in the distance, there stood a goalpost.

The problem for most of the night was getting there.

Beforehand, the referees did not hand down a mandate that Bishop Egan would

be forced to play the Catholic League Northern Division battle with North

Catholic in nothing more glamorous than its own territory. It only seemed

that way.

" Man, we spent almost the whole darn game in our end," Travers said. " We

could not get it going. The few times we did get something going, we got

slapped with a penalty or else we fumbled the ball. "

Until the fourth quarter, that is, after the Falcons forged a 6-0 advantage

on a 29-yard pass from junior Dom Damico to soph Billy Jenkins.

With 6:26 remaining, following a fumble recovery by Gerry Kenney, Egan got

the pull-even touchdown on a 15-yard fling from Tony Russo to soph Rick Burns.

With 4:03 remaining, following a 15-yard punt, Egan scored the clincher as

Russo hit Billy Kramer from 30.

YOU CAN CALL it ugly, but 12-6 is better than 6-12.

" It wasn't so much that North showed a weakness," said Russo, who was 6-

for-10 for 93 yards. " We finally showed one of our strengths, that's all.

At the right times, our receivers ran concise patterns and our line gave me

more time.

" That second touchdown was a broken play. It was one of the few times when

our line did break down. One kid rushed in and Keith (Armstrong) made a nice

block. It was a scramble from there and Billy was open.

" Billy played the slot as a freshman and he's proved he has hands. Most

times, teams shade the tight end and split end. That left Billy open. "

Yet, it did not leave the Falcons so far down in the dumps that they could

not muster a rally.

With help from a 12-yard punt and an offsides penalty, North had possession

on the Eagles' 35 with less than a minute remaining. Next thing everyone knew,

the visitors were 15 yards away as John Kilian caught a 20-yard pass.

However, as Damico dropped back to pass, he was sacked by Mike Parrillo to

end the game.

" Good teams have a way of pulling out games," said Travers, " when perhaps

they don't play too well. Some people might be saying, ' Egan didn't deserve

it. ' But this is the kind of game when all that off-season and in-season

dedication pays off.

" WE WERE NOT about to lay down just because North had scored. You know the

old phrase, 'Suck it up. ' Well, that's what our fellas did. Of course, it

helped to finally get some decent field position. North had us penned in all

night.

" Tex Flannery (coach at La Salle) says almost every good team is going to

have maybe two games when they will walk off the field saying, 'Maybe we

didn't play well, but we won and we'll take it. ' Tonight, I guess, was one of

ours. "

Solid or not, Egan has retained its No. 1 ranking in the Daily News among

City football powers.

" When you're sitting in that top spot," said Russo, " everyone is primed

for an upset. But we deserve some recognition. We have a super club and a

super coach. If you want to be the best, you have to be ready to deal with

pressures. That's half the challenge. "

For North, which boasted three consecutive wins and still must be considered

a factor in the City Section, linebacker Jim Gunn registered 17 tackles before

he was forced to leave with an injury.

" Their defense was as good as any we've seen all season," said Travers,

former head coach at North and still a teacher there. " They have four losses,

but none were to shabby teams. Damn, we can't expect to win by 28 or 30 to

nothing every time out and we sure didn't expect to tonight."