Huck's Corner Football 2006 Return to TedSilary.com Home Page   Ed "Huck" Palmer is a headliner among our trusty statmen/observers. He is not to be confused with Tom "Puck" McKenna. (Huck is normal. Puck is not even close). He will make reports on games he sees. You may contact him at TEDDYCAT10@aol.com.

Earlier Reports

DEC. 2
CL BLUE FINAL
West Catholic 20, Wood 12
     I wasn’t sure I’d do a game report on this memorable win for the Burrs. It has always been custom for me to go ahead and let Ted do the report when we were both in attendance. However, after some encouragement from some of the West faithful I figured I give it a whirl. Why not? It was 41 years since the last West football championship, and who knows when another one might come along? For Head Coach Brian Fluck this had to feel good, no GREAT! This was his 100th career coaching game at West (59-41) and I doubt he’ll EVER have a hard time remembering the outcome. This was the fifth consecutive title game appearance for West; they had lost the previous four, the last three at the hands of Wood. Getting off to a positive start was of great importance for West and they went ahead and did just that. On just the fifth play of the game, soph. RB/DB Raymond Maples roared through the right side of the line and sprinted down the sidelines for a 55-yard touchdown. The Vikings would fight back though and on their second possession of the game scored on a 21-yard touchdown toss to star sr. WR/DB/K/P/KR Chris Lordtich from soph. QB Sean McCartney. The extra-point was blocked though. Both sr. LB Marc Holloway and sr. LB/DE Anthony Rhoades proclaimed to get part of the rock. This duo has been through a lot together at West, so I see no reason in not letting them both share in this. With the Burrs holding on to a slim 7-6 lead, much of the remaining time in the half was played in their territory. After their opening possession the Burrs started their next three series in the shadows of their own goal line. In order they began drives at the five, one, and three-yard lines. Consequently, Wood started drives at the West 42, 35 and own 49. However, they were only able to capitalize once. One possession ended at the three, when they went for it on fourth down from the two. WC’s Rhoades and sr. DT/DE Isiah Edmond both got in the backfield to stop sr. RB Matt Little on a running play. Later in the half, West jr. LB Marquese Sanders sniffed out a screen pass and made a pick, returning it two yards to the Wood 44-yard line. On the very next play, Soph. QB Curtis Drake, while in shotgun formation took the snap and raced to his left. Meanwhile, soph. RB/WR/DB Rob Holloman sprinted towards him like he was about to accept a reverse-toss. In the team’s first meeting Holloman scored the game-clinching touchdown on the same play. This time Drake held onto the ball and went untouched down the left sidelines for a 44-yard touchdown. It was a thing of beauty and it gave West a 14-6 lead. To Wood’s credit they came right back at West. With just over a minute left in the half they drove to the West six-yard line. On second down McCartney rolled slightly to his right and fired a ball to the front corner of the end zone. WC’s sr. RB/DB Dennis Shaw was there though and stepped in front of the Wood receiver to make the pick. With much daylight in front of him a touchdown loomed, but Shaw lost his footing almost immediately and fell at just the six. Still, the play enabled the Burrs to keep a 14-6 lead heading into the intermission. Wasting little time, the Vikings started the second half in grand fashion. McCartney, who was tough all night, hit sr. WR Brian Hall for 18 yards and sr. WR Pat Devlin for 29 yards. After a pass interference call on West put the ball at the eight, he found Lorditch for a second time making the score 14-12. The two-point conversion try was broken up by sr. LB Chris Booker and still the Burrs found themselves hanging on. On Wood’s next possession they drove again to the West 14-yard line. On third-down, Maples swatted away a pass attempt for Loridtch to force a fourth down and ultimately a field goal try. The 32-yard attempt by Lordtich narrowly missed to the right and again the Burrs avoided the prospects of falling behind. In the fourth quarter, West took over still holding a 14-12 lead and with 8:55 left on the clock. They started the drive at their own fourteen. On the first play, Shaw scampered 26 yards out to the forty. Next, Shaw would convert a third down with a seven-yard run to the Wood forty-eight. Two plays later, Drake got outside and raced down the sideline for 21 yards to the twenty-seven. Then, Maples converted another third down with a six-yard run to the fifteen. After a couple of short runs the Burrs were called for a delay penalty and this presented them with a third-and-twelve chance. The call was a fade to jr. WR Rodney Blango who lined up in the slot. He crissed-crossed with Holloman and then nicely turned back to take in the pass from Drake for the score. Wood’s sr. DB Kevin Lynn did an admirable job of closing on the play, but because the ball was slightly under thrown he overran the play, enabling Blango to make the grab. Tremendous concentration from Blango! This Burr drive covered 86 yards on 12 plays (11 runs), and chewed up 5:59 off the clock. Devlin snuffed-out the extra-point attempt to keep the score at 20-12 and a one possession game. With 2:48 remaining, the Vikings took over at their 24-yard line. McCartney connected with Devlin for six yards, sr. WR Kevin Harrigan for 12 yards, and down the middle to Devlin for a lovely 24-yard reception. This sequence placed the ball at the West 34-yard line. After an incomplete pass on first down, McCartney found Devlin for seven yards. On third down, he went for Lordtich down the middle of the field, but the ball was thrown a tad late and batted away by Shaw near the goal line. Needing just three yards for a first, McCartney was flushed to his left. His throw towards the sideline avoided a diving receiver around the fifteen. This turned the ball over on downs. The Vikings had just one timeout left and after a three-yard run by Shaw, all that was needed were a couple of kneel downs by Drake. At the final whistle the Burr faithful erupted into celebration. Would you expect anything less? Great scene, for some great kids and coaches! On offense, the Burrs used a balanced rushing attack to do most of their damage. Shaw (20-86), Maples (11-78), and Drake (6-61) all had success. Shaw ended his career with 3,444 career rushing yards, good for 12th in city history. In total, the Burrs rushed for 234 yards on 40 carries. The boys up-front were; jr. C Aaron Maggio, T’s jr. Earl Griffiths and soph. Victor McNair, G’s frosh. Jake Zuzek and sr. Ode Evans, and TE Rhoades. Drake only attempted three passes, completing two for 18 yards. On defense, West did a great job of limiting the Viking running game to the bare minimum with just 14 yards on 21 carries. Edmond finished with seven tackles, including a sack. He had two other TFLs and also batted a ball down at the line. Holloway had a big sack that netted a loss of 12 yards and total of six stops. Booker and Maples each had six tackles. Rhoades and Sanders evenly split ten. Chipping in with the third interception for West was soph. DB Haleem Hayward. For Wood, McCartney set a CL postseason record with 285 yards, on 19-for-36 passing. I like the way this kid competed, showing brass and toughness. His passing yardage was good for most in a championship game and in any postseason game by a CL player. His main target was Devlin who made 9 grabs for 133 yards. Many of his snags were of the tough variety. This kid, playing in the shadow of Lorditch, has done nothing but perform tremendously during his time at Wood. Lordtich finished with 6 catchers for 99 yards and two scores. What a career this kid had! Holds the city record for most touchdown receptions with 27 and finished with 87 total grabs for 1,586 yards. For good measure he added six returns for touchdowns, 7 picks, 5 field goals, 69 extra-points, 285 yards rushing on 32 carries, and was one of the area’s best punters. Hard to imagine one player could do more than he did over his career. It’s been a pleasure for me to watch him perform and I wish him continued success in the future. Defensively, sr. LB Pat McAfee made his presence felt as usual with 12 tackles. Lynn added 8, while sr. LB Eddie Schwartz chipped in with seven, including a sack. Sr. DT Tim Young and jr. LB Bob DeLucas were active with six and sr. DE Matt Clark hustled for five. Though it was a chilly night there was a good crowd on hand for this finale. There was a classic moment during the West celebration that has to be mentioned. The moment was supplied by a good buddy of mine; Jim “Jimmers” McShane. Jimmers comes from a long line of brothers that all attended West Catholic. His younger brother is Chris, who starred for West in hoops and was a quality performer in football too in the early '90’s. Older brother Dan is the head football coach at Bensalem. Dan also served as my little league baseball coach for four years. After rushing the field Jimmers ran to a nearby water jug, piled all the ice back into it, and then proceeded to dump it over ---- His own head!!! Classic stuff!!

NOV. 23
NON-LEAGUE
West Catholic 7, Penn Wood 0
     You’ll have to excuse the Burrs if they played with little fire or passion today. Next Saturday, they’ll bang heads with Archbishop Wood in the CL Blue final. It will be the Burrs' fifth straight appearance in the title game, and they’ll enter the game looking to hoist the plaque for the first time in these meetings. Coincidentally, the last three losses they have endured have been dealt at the hands of Wood. Today, on a cold, damp, and soggy morning, the Burrs exhibited little concentration and in the end did just enough to grab their fifth (6-1 overall) straight win in the series. However, the Patriots (6-5), who were much improved, were a game opponent throughout. West's lone touchdown came with 2:18 remaining in the second quarter and was provided by sr. RB/DB Dennis Shaw, on a 5-yard run. The drive to paydirt only covered 15 yards and was set up by soph. RB/DB Raymond Maples' 47-yard interception return. Other than this the Burrs offense sputtered all game. They did begin the game with a long (15 plays), time-consuming drive that saw them gain 71 yards. However, after reaching the six-yard line, soph. QB Curtis Drake mishandled the snap and fumbled the ball away. On defense, the Burrs saw the Patriots make it into their territory on six of eight possessions. Still, they made the plays when it counted and kept the Pats off the scoreboard. The game ended with Penn Wood completing a 31-yard tipped-ball pass, but sr. LB Chris Booker was right there to bring down the receiver at the West 12-yard line. The Burrs allowed a few big plays through the air, but were very stingy in their run defense (26 rushes for 47 yards). Leading the way was rugged sr. LB Marc Holloway, who finished with a team-high 10 tackles. Freshman DT Jon Ruppert was strong along the line of scrimmage with seven stops. Sacks were had by Booker (6 tackles) and sr. DT Isiah Edmond. Also, sr. LB Anthony Rhoades hustled for five stops and punted three times for a 35.7 average. The offense was paced by Shaw’s 88 yards on 23 carries. Drake had 68 yards on 5-for-8 passing. Jr. WR Rodney Blango made three grabs for 44 yards. The Burr offense could only manage 158 yards on 43 offensive plays, as they struggled to sludge through the shoddy conditions. Penalties killed West all game long, as they committed 11 for 89 yards. Included in these totals were three personal fouls. Unacceptable! And not a good way to tune-up for a title game that is just over a week away. West will take a six-game winning streak into the final. Yes, the weather was miserable, but it could have been much worse. The rain stayed away for the most part and it only really became a factor during the fourth quarter. The future of this game may be in doubt, as there has been talk that this was the last year for the game. I’m pretty sure West would like to add another Thanksgiving Day game. I believe the ideal matchup for them would be Monsignor Bonner. We’ll see what transpires!

NOV. 18
CL BLUE SEMIFINAL
Wood 16, Neumann-Goretti 6
     The Vikings have won three consecutive Catholic League Blue titles and after this win over a game bunch of Saints, they’ll give themselves a chance at a four-peat. Their opponent -- West Catholic, the team they bested in the three previous seasons. Getting there, however, was far from an easy task. The Saints provided much resistance and at times outplayed the Vikings. Still, like Wood has done on so many other occasions, they made the plays they needed to and found a way to win. In the deciding-this-game-instances I think it’s best to head right for the third quarter, where Wood took a 7-6 lead. The Saints came out of the locker room with all kinds of energy, even after a penalty (More on this facet of the game later!) had them start at their 9-yard line. On the first two plays of the half sr. QB Mark Hatty found impressive jr. TE/LB Preandre Watson (6’3”, 225 lbs) for gains of 19 and 10 yards. Then, sr. RB Mark McPherson took a handoff and began to race downfield. For a moment, I thought he was going to reach the end zone, but sr. DB Brain Hall was able to drag him down at the 11. The play covered 51 yards though. Next, Sr. FB Anthony Sample ran six yards to the five. On the next play, McPherson got outside and reached the one-yard line before he was tackled by sr. DB Jim Daley. On the hit he lost the ball and the recovery was made by Wood’s soph. LB Sean Cunningham at the one. Opportunity #1 goes by the board! After this N-G’s defense held and forced a punt by sr. WR/DB/K/P Chris Lorditch, who was SENSATIONAL in this department all evening. The Saints took over at the Wood 49-yard line, but on the first play McPherson, who has been a warrior all year, fumbled again. This time it was sr. DB/WR/RB Pat Devlin doing the forcing and sr. LB Pat McAfee making the recovery. Opportunity #2 dissipates in mere seconds! However, the Saints continued to battle and jr. DB Darrell Dulany made an interception and returned it 24 yards to the 40. This opportunity would eventually stall and the Saints had to punt the ball back to the Vikings. At this point soph. QB Sean McCartney entered the game for jr. QB Mike Cattolico (4-for-9, 43 yards), who had thrown three picks to this stage. A 17-yard holding call to Wood put the ball back at the sixteen, but two plays later a personal foul facemask was called on the Saints. This gave this series new life and on the very next play McCartney threw an absolute strike that found Devlin down the middle of the field. He split a pair of defenders untouched and was off to the races for a 63-yard touchdown, giving Wood a more comfortable 14-6 lead with 1:48 left in the quarter. The Saints wouldn’t fade though and on the first play of the fourth quarter McPherson took a dump pass from Hatty in the middle of the field and again was off to the races. This time I really thought he would score, but Lorditch had a little bit of angle and drug him down at the three. Next, a pair of one-yard runs set-up of a third down situation from the one. The call was a QB-sneak for Hatty, but the Vikings were ready and received good penetration from sr. DT/FB Shane Barrett and McAfee to hold him to no gain. On fourth down a pass play was called, and after a decent fake in the backfield it appeared that Hatty had jr. RB Adam Malatino briefly in the back of the end zone. However, after a slight hesitation, sr. DB Kevin Lynn was able to get a small piece of the ball and deflect it away from Malatino. Opportunity #3 slips away! Against a team like Wood you’re just not going to get too many chances, so when you do, then you need to take advantage. On the ensuing possession Wood’s sr. RB/DB Matt Little barely made it out of the end zone on first down. Then, on second down a pass play was called; McCartney just got the ball over the out-stretched arm of McPherson near the five and hit Lorditch along the sideline. The slippery playmaker made at least two defenders miss before being brought down at twenty-eight, gaining 27 yards on the play. More importantly, breathing room was had. From this point Wood ran eight consecutive (Seven by Little – 27 yards) running plays, converted two third downs, and reached the N-G 43-yard line before an incomplete pass forced a punt. Just 2:34 remained on the clock when the Saints got the ball back on their seven-yard line, after a nice, directional 36-yard punt by Lorditch. Two plays later, sr. DE Matt Clark sacked Hatty in the end zone for a safety. The Saints attempted an onside kick, but sr. OL/DE Tim Young recovered. Four more running plays allowed the clock to expire. Back in the lineup for the Vikings was Little, who suffered a serious injury to his forearm in mid-October. Just five weeks have past since the injury and in tonight’s game he wore a protective, padded cast. His first run from scrimmage, which occurred in the final minute of the first quarter covered 12 yards, and had to feel good. Amazingly, he would not post a double-digit run over his final 27 totes; though he did have a 51-yard scoot nullified by a penalty. However, he ran hard and went forward, not once was he thrown for a loss. He finished with 110 tough yards. Tremendous effort, filled with much heart! His three-yard scamper early in the second quarter gave Wood a 7-0 lead. A short time later N-G’s jr. DB Hakeem Johnson made a pick and returned it 18 yards to the Wood thirty. Then, Hatty hit sr. WR Joe Gionfriddo for 24 yards to the six. Two plays later, they connected again, this time for ten yards and TD. On both plays Gionfriddo got the best of Lordtich. The extra-point was blocked by Clark and that’s how we got to 7-6. Going back to Wood; Devlin, who has filled in tremendously for Little, got the start at halfback. He ran for 21 yards on six first quarter carries and turned his only reception into a game-clinching score. Lordtich finished with four catches for 44 yards. He more than likely unleashed the greatest punt I have ever seen at the H.S. level in the second quarter. The punt recorded 73 yards and was downed on the N-G one. Great hustle by Daley to get there. Believe it or not, but this puppy was STILL rolling. It landed a good 20 yards over the head of the N-G return man. He also had two other 41-yard boomers. His four punts averaged a whopping 47.8 yards. McCartney completed 2-of-3 passes, for 90 yards. On defense, Devlin was a force with nine solo tackles. The 5’9” 205-lb Barrett was beastly on the line of scrimmage and added six stops. McAfee, who wore #52 tonight in order to play some O-line had five stops, including a sack. Cunningham registered four stops, while Lynn had an active game in the secondary. For N-G, the sidearm slinging Hatty finished 7-for-16, with 135 yards. Gionfriddo made four snags for 60 yards. McPherson (13-78) contributed 124 all-purpose yards, but is probably kicking himself for the two lost fumbles. Tough breaks, for such a good player! He’ll bounce back though! On defense, the Saints got spirited play from a host kids. I just LOVE the way Malatino competes. He’s not the biggest of kids, but his has a nose for the ball. He finished with 14 tackles (8 solos). Watson, who has the makings of future stardom made an early pick and contributed five solo tackles. Soph DT Kadeem Custis 6’4”, 270 lbs) and jr. Chris Palmer (6’4”, 292) had five and six tackles respectively. Contributing five apiece were jr. DE Kadeem Singleton, sr. LB Vinny Burgese, and sr. DB Mike DiGiacomo. Ok, now onto the amount of penalties that was called in this game. First, let me point out, that in my opinion it wasn’t unfair for one team or the other. However, there were just way too many times when the guys in stripes were conversing, especially for such an important game. All told, there were 17 penalties for 143 yards. At least another three were declined. I’m not one who likes to mention the officiating in my reports; I challenge anyone to find such an instance where I have gone out of my way to question referees. And granted there were plenty of calls (offsides/delays) that needed to be made. Still, I just felt that SOME OF THEM (officials) in this particular game was too much of a focal point. I didn’t like it and for me it was disappointing. I hope the forthcoming championship tussles can be spared of the excessive laundry. In closing, in all my years of watching H.S. football I have always thought that the referees have done an exceptional job and have been fair a high percentage of the time. I just didn’t get that vibe tonight.

NOV. 17
CL BLUE SEMIFINAL
West Catholic 42, Conwell-Egan 7
     Back on Oct. 6, the Burrs traveled to Levittown and got thumped rather handily by the Eagles, 26-12. On that night they appeared to be listless, unmotivated, and disorganized. Granted, they’re a young team, so nights like this can be expected on occasion. However, if you still consider yourself a good team, with title aspirations, then you grow from experiences like such and move forward. And move forward they have! Since that game, the Burrs haven’t lost a single contest. In their regular season finale they nipped three-time league champion Archbishop Wood to capture first place in the CL Blue. How about their win tonight? Well, for starters it propels them into the CL Blue final for the fifth consecutive year. They’ll be searching for their first win in such settings versus either Neumann-Goretti or Wood, who will clash tonight at Northeast High in the Blue’s other semifinal match-up. If there is one glaring difference between the Burrs and the Eagles it probably lies in the overall team speed department. And when the team that isn’t as fleet afoot fails to make plays at the point of first contact, well, the quicker team then gets more space to make plays. Tonight, the Burrs began making plays primarily in the second quarter. In total, they took residence in the end zone on SEVEN occasions. Huh? Yes, seven times a Burr reached the ultimate plateau; however, three of them were called back because of penalties. Remarkably, the Burrs didn’t get all that deflated and still wound up scoring on the same drive after each of the call-backs. So, it wasn’t as if a possession was ever wasted. On the third play of their second drive slippery sr. RB/DB Dennis Shaw weaved his was to a 45-yard score, only to see it come back on an illegal block call. However, eight plays later, the first of the second quarter, he hurled his body threw the air for a 4-yard touchdown. Aerodynamics at it’s finest concluded this run! On West’s next possession, soph. RB/DB Rob Holloman took a bubble-screen 69 yards for another West score. Wait a minute! Yes, coming back, on block-in-the-back call. Not a smart play by a West lineman, as he blasted a C-E defender after Holloman was already THIRTY yards down field. The play had nothing to do with him reaching the end zone, but it occurred right in front of the official, leaving him no other choice but to throw the laundry. Still, the play netted 22 yards and converted a third down. Then, a 17-yard rumble by soph. RB/DB Raymond Maples and 25-yard jaunt by Shaw set-up another Shaw burst, this time for an easy up-the-middle 20-yard score. Conwell-Egan’s offense continued to sputter, and once again were forced to punt on their next possession. Receiving the rolling ball was Holloman near the C-E sideline. At first, it looked like room was scarce, but after receiving a key block from jr. DB Herman Hinton, Holloman wiggled himself away at first, and then tight-roped the sideline, before cutting back toward the middle of the field and into open real estate. The return covered 69 yards and gave the Burrs a 21-0 lead. On C-E’s next possession Hinton intercepted a pass by sr. QB Kevin Schafer to give the Burrs another chance to the C-E 41-yard line. Six plays later soph. QB Curtis Drake raced around the left-side for a 13-yard touchdown. Hold-up! Another flag! Then, after a pair of incomplete passes sandwiched a sack by sr. DT Joe Snydman ( 9 yards) it appeared that the Eagles might gain a little momentum heading into the locker room. Not to be! Holloman took an inside screen from Drake and capped the run with a leap into the end zone for a 24-yard score. This gave the Burrs a commanding 28-0 lead. West scored a touchdown on their first and last offensive plays of the second quarter. Their final three scores of the quarter came in a 3-minute and 24-second sequence. The Eagles would show some signs of life on their second possession after the intermission. They marched 80 yards on 12 plays, and scored on a Schafer 5-yard toss to sr. TE David Kuebler in the back of the end zone. The score was now 28-7, but the problem was that the drive took some time and only 2:04 remained on the clock in the third quarter. C-E, who started the second half with a successful onside-kick (Went 3-and-out afterwards) tried it again, but were guilty of off-sides. Then, they tried a pooch-kick along the sidelines, but Shaw was there to jump on the loose ball. Next, on the first play of the fourth quarter Drake nicely hit jr. WR Rodney Blango down the middle of the field for a 44-yard pick-up. Great play-action and toss by the youngster. Sr. FB/LB Marc Holloway followed with an 18-yard burst to the three, and then Shaw zipped in untouched for his third score of the game. The Burrs would add their sixth score of the game on their next possession. After Shaw unleashed a 27-yard run, sr. FB Jack Mason pounded for another 24 yards. Three plays later Maples raced around the left edge for a 16-yard touchdown. Overall, the Burrs posted 421 yards in total offense. They were a paltry 8-for-12 on third downs and also converted their only fourth down try. Shaw was elusive and collected 119 yards on 17 carries, while turning a pair of catches into another 37 yards. Maples, who I just think can be REALLY good, added 68 yards on 14 lugs. Holloman turned his three touches into touchdowns (only two counted). He finished with 115 total yards on those three touches. Drake continues to impress, especially in the smart decision areas. He completed 5-of-8 passes, for 127 yards. He also added 38 yards on 10 carries. The Burr fullbacks; Mason, Holloway, and soph. Juan Rozier gained 67 yards on just five combined carries. Ok, enough with the skill, let’s head on over to the grunts. This improving unit featured: jr. C Aaron Maggio, G’s sr. Isiah Edmond and frosh. Jake Zuzek (All the makings of a goody), T’s jr. Earl Griffiths (5’11”, 280 lbs) and soph. Victor McNair (6’0”, 250 lbs), another nice young player, and sr. TE Anthony Rhoades. Kudos to this group! Defensively, Rhoades (6’2”, 230 lbs) wreaked havoc all night. He led the Burrs with 8 tackles (6 solos), including a sack. Today, Anthony and family will travel to Cincinnati to watch the Bearcats tangle with Rutgers. Cincy is one of the schools that have already offered the Burr OLB. Rhoades wasn’t the only Burr defender playing with inspiration, as collectively this group was as sound as in any other game this year. The Eagles came in averaging nearly 321 ypg. Tonight, they were held to just 135. Also chipping in were; sr. LB’s Holloway and Chris Booker, who each made six stops. All of Holloway’s tackles were solos. Picks were had by Hinton (5th of season) and soph. DB Haleem Hayward. Splitting a sack were Edmond and frosh. DT Jon Ruppert. Finally, jr. LB Marquese Sanders chipped in with five tackles. Not to go unnoticed was the kicking of sr. Dennis Fox, who was successful on all six of his PAT attempts. Anyone who knows the Burr history, especially recently, knows that this has been an area of major struggles. Fox, a soccer player, joined the team a few weeks back and has done an above-average job with the basics. For C-E’s Schafer, the league MVP as voted by the coaches, had a difficult night. He appeared to be hobbled by a lower-leg injury and this reduced his mobility considerably. He finished just 8-for-22, for 78 yards. It was tough to see him end his Catholic League career (Still have Thanksgiving Day game versus Truman) this way. This kid is a gamer and possesses plenty of good qualities. I enjoyed watching him play over the past three seasons. Sr. RB Jim Domzalski (8-28) and sr. FB Ray O’Hara (8-40) never could really get into the flow once their team fell behind. Domzalski added 24 yards receiving too. Defensively, Snydman (sack) was active with six stops. Domzalski hustled for six tackles, while sr. DB Steve McLeon and sr. DT Craig Williams added five apiece. Chipping in with four each were; sr. DT Justin Bainbridge, sr. DB Jim Love, and sr. DB Shane Nolte. Nolte also added 69 yards on four kickoff returns. Despite the heavy rain from the night before the field at P-W was in pretty good condition. There was the occasional slip, but nothing too crazy. Interestingly, this was the ONLY Catholic League game over the first two weekends played on a grass field.

NOV. 10
CL RED QUARTERFINAL
La Salle 39, O’Hara 38 (OT)
   If you’re thinking the Explorers and Lions raced up and down the field all night in a frantic pace, then you would only be half right. Believe or not, but this game for an entire half had a serious defensive tone to it. The Lions led 9-7 when the teams trotted into the locker rooms. They had given themselves this lead with 2:35 remaining when jr. LB Mike Grunde tackled sr. RB Chris Ashley about two yards deep in the end zone for a safety. Jr. DB Kevin Ward did a great job of downing sr. P/LB Joe Colleluori’s punt at the two to set up the play. Earlier, the Explorers grabbed a quick 7-0 lead when jr. LB Andrew Wood scooped up a fumble by sr. RB John Dempsey and scooted in from 12 yards out to end O’Hara’s first series. He actually recovered two fumbles on the play, as he pounced on his own fumble in the end zone. The Lions would even the score after Dempsey picked off a pass by soph. QB Mike Donohoe. Five plays later, soph. QB Tom Savage fired a pass to soph. RB Billy Morgan for an 18-yard touchdown. Wait a minute; let’s back-up a sentence. Who’s quarterbacking for LaSalle? Mike Donohoe? Yep! Passing demon, jr. QB John Harrison was in uniform, but could only watch up until the latter moments of the second quarter. He didn’t make the start because of a bum throwing shoulder that kept him from practicing all week. The youngster Donohoe was a modest 4-for-5, for 22 yards prior to Harrison entering the game. However, it was very apparent that the La Salle offense was missing their field general. I would hardly blame Donohoe, though; as he only attempted one pass this season before this tilt. So, experience was certainly not on his side. Harrison ended up only trying one pass in the first half and misfired. Before the second half started if you asked me to list which possible paths this game could go down. Then, I be damned if I would have chosen the combined 61 points in the second half path. Yes, the teams exploded for an array of action that allowed all in attendance to witness one of the more exciting halves of high school football two teams could possibly produce. I guess by now you have figured it out that Harrison did return, and all he did was bring the energy and precision to his team’s offense that was missing in the early stages. After a spirited three-and-out by the Explorer defense, all the offense needed were four plays, all Harrison completions, to ignite the scoreboard. Doing the honors was sr. WR/DB Jack Forster with a tough, tackle-breaking 18-yard reception. Next, LaSalle would once again be in business. This time they were the recipients of a questionable call on the ensuing kickoff. Sr. K. Ryan Cain’s kick glanced off an O’Hara up-man and sr. DE Scott Waters recovered. However, it looked like he never had complete control and an O’Hara player pounced. Still, the referee on the far side of the field ruled that Waters held possession long enough. Lion Head Coach Dan Algeo was irate and eventually found himself on the middle of the field disputing the call. He was later joined by La Salle head man Drew Gordon. The call stood and LaSalle took over at the O’Hara 44-yard line. To be fair, the play was a good distance from my vantage point. So, on we go and on to more passing exploits by Harrison we’ll go. After an incomplete pass he neatly hit Forster for a 25-yard pick-up. On the next play, he found jr. WR Joe Migliarese wide open for a 9-yard touchdown. Just like that, the Explorers expanded their lead to 21-9 with 8:18 left in the third. The two scores came in an ultra-quick 25 seconds between one another. Considering the tough season the Lions have had, this would be as good a time as any to fold up the tent. However, to their credit the fought right back and thanks to a beautiful 57-yard heave by Savage to jr. WR/DB Chris Smith they found themselves at the LaSalle one-yard line. Two plays later, soph. FB Evan Higgins strolled in to make the score 21-16. Early in the fourth the Lions would regain the lead 24-21 on a 21-yard fade pass from Savage to 6’7” jr. TE Mark Wedderburn. This duo also connected on the two-point attempt to push the lead to three points. The Explorers and Harrison responded with a 12-play, 62 yard drive that ended with a 20-yard field goal by Cain to tie the score. All but two plays on this drive were passes, and the biggest of them all was a 30-yarder to Forster on a fourth down play. O’Hara’s next offensive possession would end miserably, in form of a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown by jr. DB Matt Day. This gave the Explorers a 31-24 lead with 7:27 remaining. Would the Lions quit now? Not for a second, as on their first play of the next series, impressive freshman RB Corey Brown unleashed a 30-yard jaunt to put the ball at the La Salle thirty.  A 15-yard Savage-to-Smith hook-up converted a third-down and put the ball at the sixteen. Then, Brown raced 9 and 7 yards respectively for the score. Jr. K Tom DuBois PAT tied the game at 31-31. The Explorers would take over with 4:36 left and held the ball for ten plays. They traveled as far as the O’Hara twenty-five, but failed to convert a fourth down play with under a minute to play. The Lions took over and ran one play before time expired and overtime was forced. In OT, O’Hara went on offense first. Savage started the series with an incomplete pass. Then, the Lions were whistled for a procedure call. The next play was a handoff to Brown who did some early weaving and then found open space around the left corner. He received a hard, touchdown-ensuring block from Smith at around the eight. Tremendous block, better run! For La Salle, their turn started ominously with a ten-yard holding penalty. Then, Harrison hit Migliarese for nine yards and Forster on two laterals for nine more and then no gain. Faced with fourth down, the Explorers burned not one, but two timeouts. The play-call, a simple curl route by Migliarese about two yards into the end zone. Harrison made an easy toss and without much resistance Migs made the grab. Initially, the Explorers brought the kicking team onto the field, but after an O’Hara timeout they had a change of heart and brought back the offense. They called a fade to Migliarese, and he somehow made a leaping grab with multiple Lions in the area. The play took place on the far side, but it looked real close to being out-of-bounds. Of course, I couldn’t tell, but I was informed after the game by an O’Hara assistant that the referee ruled that Migliarese was pushed out by a defender before he could land. Interesting! This led to a wild celebration by the Explorers, who will live to play another week. They’ll face Roman, a team they fell to in double-OT just a week ago in a game that decided second place. I’m not sure how much pain Harrison was in, but I have to assume that it was considerable considering he didn’t make an appearance until late in the second quarter. He finished 17-for-29 (All but 1 attempt in 2nd half), for 174 yards and three TDs. He now has 25 touchdown passes for the season. Again, his favorite targets were Forster (8-111-1) and Migliarese (8-54-2). Forster now has made an incredible 65 catches this year, while Migliarese has an even 50. Two receivers with 50+ snags is quite an accomplishment. Ashley (17-56) had a couple of timely runs. The Explorers accumulated 197 of their 261 yards in the second half. On defense, they were led by the bullish play of sr. DT John McBurnie (5 tackles), who forced the fumble on Wood’s touchdown and also notched two sacks amongst his stops. Other sacks were had by sr. DT Zach Gilbert and Wood. Sr. DB Sean Saverio seemed to be everywhere in the second half and ended with 8 tackles (7 solos), including three that went for losses. Sr. DB Rob Saraceni hustled for six stops, while Waters and sr. LB JB Campanella evenly split ten. O’Hara might have lost the game, but they received solid contributions from some of their younger offensive players. Savage threw a handful of beautiful balls and really demonstrated solid skills throughout. He finished the game 9-for-18, for 180 yards and two TD’s. His main target today was the fleet-footed Smith, who made four grabs for 117 yards. Brown showed a running prowess that was beyond impressive for a freshman against a good defensive club. He churned out 118 yards on 14 carries, displaying quick feet and solid vision. Dempsey (11-25) injured his shoulder just before half and didn’t play from this point on. Defensively, soph. LB Anthony McCloskey was continually around the ball and made a game-high 11 tackles. Colleluori (6 tackles) made a third quarter sack that forced a fumble. Grunde also made six tackles and recovered a fumble. Sr. DE Joe Goldschmidt played strong along the line of scrimmage and ended the game with seven stops. Ward hustled for nine total tackles, while jr. DE Billy McMonigle added five. I covered the game with Mr. Thomas “Puck” McKenna. We had planned to cross-check our stats at halftime, but once again he proved that he is far from reliable, the Puckster was a no-show. Where was he you might ask?  In the stands, yucking it up with players from North and Roman. I already informed Ted, and he’ll be docked!

NOV. 4
CL BLUE
West Catholic 13, Wood 12
   The Vikings entered this CL Blue finale with an 18-game regular season winning streak. Counting the playoffs they had been winners of 22 straight versus their league counterparts. The last team to beat them in the regular season was Archbishop Carroll, 27-14, in ’04. In last season’s regular season finale Wood stopped a 15-game CL Blue winning streak of the Burrs. The win tonight allowed the Burrs to capture first place and the top seed in the forthcoming playoffs. For a short time at least, this outcome should help ease the pain of the three consecutive title game defeats the Burrs have experienced thanks to the Vikings. Yes, they are the 2006 CL Blue regular season champs, and no one can take that from them. However, if they’re smart they won’t bask in the glory too long, because the ultimate goal of a championship is still the top prize. I’m fairly confident that we haven’t heard the last of the Vikings just yet, nor should their opponent in a semifinal match-up be overlooked. This West team is young and at times brazen, but there is a fine line between them playing well and struggling on some nights. Still, you just have love the growth they have demonstrated throughout the year. Defense was the overwhelming theme in this one as both teams were hard-nosed throughout. The Vikings basically controlled the ball for long stretches and at the half had a 28-to-13 play advantage. However, they trailed where it counted most, the scoreboard, 7-6. Wood grabbed a 6-0 lead on a 26-yard half-back pass from sr. RB/WR/DB Pat Devlin to sr. WR/DB Chris Lorditch early in the second quarter. The play occurred on a fourth-and-11 situation. On the play, Devlin took a pitch and rolled to his right hurling the ball to the back of the end zone where Lorditch out-jumped three West defenders. It was a slight hesitation by both Burr safeties that allowed Lorditch to get the necessary space to make the catch. Lorditch then pounded the extra-point wide left. West wasted little time in answering, as sr. RB Dennis Shaw scooted through the right-side and outran the Wood secondary down the right sideline for a 57-yard touchdown. Sr. K Dennis Fox’s PAT was successful and Burrs grabbed a 7-6 lead that they would take into the locker room. The Vikings hurt themselves in the first half by losing two fumbles in Burr territory. To start the second half Wood forced a three-and-out and a punt by the Burrs. They took over at their 19-yard line and proceeded to unleash an 11-play drive that concluded with a 12-yard touchdown reception by Devlin from jr. QB Mike Cattolico. This would be the Vikings only possession of the third quarter. On West ensuing series they started at the Wood 49-yard line after a 15-yard personal foul call on the Vikings. Soph. QB Curtis Drake’s only completion of the game, an 11-yarder to jr. WR Rodney Blango converted a third down and put the ball at the Wood thirty-eight. Shaw converted yet another third down with a clutch 16-yard gallop down to the twenty-four. Then, to start the fourth quarter the Burrs were the recipients of a defensive holding call on another third down, which gave them new life at the Wood 13-yard line. They would take the lead on a beautifully executed reverse that saw Drake sprint to his right and neatly toss back to soph. RB Rob Holloman who had all kinds of daylight and eventually received a solid block from sr. WR Khiry Carter inside the five. The play covered 17 yards. The Burrs went for two, but were denied as Drake was stopped by Lorditch just before the goal line. The score came with 10:55 left. The Vikings would have two more opportunities to regain the lead. Their next possession started at the 49-yard line after a 29-yard kickoff return by Lorditch. However, this possession would last just three plays and end with a pick by sr. LB Chris Booker. After a West three-and-out, the Vikings would begin their next series with 7:10 left at their 35-yard line. Cattolico connected with Devlin for a nice 27-yard pick-up, down to the Burrs’ thirty-seven. This is when the Burr defense really dug-in. On first down, Cattolico was sacked by Booker for a six-yard loss. Next, sr. FB/DT Shane Barrett was stopped for a loss of four by jr. LB Marquese Sanders. After an incomplete pass the Vikings lined up in punt formation. Instead of using Lorditch’s leg to pin the Burrs they opted to use his legs on a fake attempt. The ball was the West 46-yard line and they needed a robust 19 yards to gain a first. On the play, Lordirch raced to his right but was brought down by Sanders after only gaining two yards. Other Burrs were in the area and they seemed to be waiting for it. Still, 4:43 remained and Wood did have all three timeouts left. West Head Coach Brian Fluck chose to take out his smaller back Shaw in favor bigger back soph. RB/DB Raymond Maples (6’0”, 185 lbs). All this kid proceeded to do was provide some big-boy rumbles. He carried the ball on seven consecutive plays and gained in order; 7, 4, 4, 1, 3, 3, 8, 13. Clutch! On many of these runs he broke if not one, but two or more tackles. The big run was the fifth one in this series that converted a third down at the Wood 34-yard line. In the process, the Vikings had to burn all three timeouts. After his last run, all that was needed were two knees by Drake to seal the deal. The Burr defense has shown CONSIDERABLE improvement during the past few weeks. Tonight, they were led by sr. LB Marc Holloway, who recovered a fumble and made a game-high 10 tackles. Sanders, who is as physically gifted as any Burr defender was active with 9 stops (6 solos). Booker, who has quietly been a sound performer for the Burrs this year, had seven stops, including a sack. Sr. LB/DE Anthony Rhoades added a sack. Jr. DB Herman Hinton forced a fumble. Sr. FB Jack Mason also forced a fumble that was recovered by soph. LB Juan Rozier. Much credit has to go to the puppies on the defensive line; freshman Fred Ruff (6’5”, 305 lbs) and Jon Ruppert. Ruff probably played his best game of the year and contributed five tackles. It will be interesting to watch this kid’s progress over the next few years, as his physical attributes already exist. This kid is a mountain! Sr. DE Isiah Edmond was also a factor along the line of scrimmage. The Burrs held the Viking ground attack to just 78 yards on 32 carries. On offense, Shaw went for 93 yards on 13 carries. This total allowed him to eclipse 1,000 yards for the season. This was the seventh consecutive year the Burrs have featured a 1,000-yard rusher. Maples gained 54 yards on 8 carries. All but one carry and eleven yards came on the final drive. I really believe this kid has endless potential. He runs hard (down hill) and more than likely is the fastest Burr. Drake, who has been terrific during the last month, was neutralized by the Viking defense. It was apparent that they game-planned to stop him. Still, he didn’t force anything and didn’t turn the ball over. This was good to see from a young player. For the Vikings, much of their offensive success came through the air. Cattolico finished 8-for-15, for 101 yards. Devlin was active throughout. He caught four balls for 75 yards, added 20 yards on a punt return (ended with a fumble), threw a 26-yard TD pass, but could only manage 30 yards on 12 totes. I say only because in his two prior games he accumulated 496 yards rushing. Lorditch had some moments, but overall I would say that the Burrs contained him. He did manage 36 yards on 3 receptions. Defensively, they were rugged led by jr. LB Bob DeLucas with 8 tackles. Sr. LB Pat McAfee, who I really like, ended with five stops, including 3 TFLs. Sr. LB Eddie Schwartz hustled for six tackles, and Devlin added five. Sr. DB Kevin Lynn (hard-hitter), Barrett, and sr. DE Tim Young evenly spilt 12 tackles. I love soph. OL Adam Citko’s (6’5”, 275 lbs) possibilties and expect him to be a force over the next two years. The Vikings had a 48-to-36 play advantage. Great hustle by West assistant coach Virnest Beale in getting to the game moments before kickoff. Virn served as an official in the Dobbins/Central Pub quarterfinal match-up at Gratz.

NOV. 4
CL RED
Roman 27, La Salle 21 (2 OTs)
     Can you say déjà vu? Yes!! For the second straight year the Cahillites and Explorers needed two extra sessions to decide the outcome of a game. Yes!! For the second straight year the game was the regular season finale and had playoff positioning at stake. Yes!! The participants at hand treated all in attendance to wonderful and exciting contest. And yes!! Just like last year the Cahillites were able to walk away with a victory (Last year, 26-23). There was one small, but ultra-important difference though. The win this year by Roman earned them the second place spot and a bye in the first round of the playoffs that will begin next weekend. How about we head right to the action? Roman trailed 14-7 with roughly seven minutes to play in the game. However, after their defense pinned the Explorers, a punt was forced. A 7-yard return by sr. WR/DB Troy Richardson gave his team great field position at the 34-yard line. The Cahillites used nine consecutive runs to set-up a fourth-and-goal from the four-yard line. After a timeout, jr. QB Chris Johnson rolled right and cleanly tossed a pass to an uncovered jr. RB Balial Lewis. Jr. K/P Chris Fioravanti's PAT knotted the score with 3:06 to play. Aside from the fourth down conversion, the Cahillites converted two other third down situations on the drive. The Explorers went meekly on a three-and-out on the following possession. However, with the Cahillites trying to create some late-game magic, LaSalle’s sr. LB Sean Saverio nicely stepped in front of a Johnson pass that was intended for Richardson along the right sideline. He returned the ball 19 yards to the Roman forty. They got as far as the twenty-eight, but with hopes of drawing a bit closer for a last-second field goal jr. QB John Harrison’s pass with plucked out of the air by sr. DB John Clark at the 18-yard line to squelch the threat. Just five seconds remained and Roman took a knee to send the game to overtime. The Cahillites took the ball first and after three runs were faced with a fourth down opportunity from the half-yard line. After a LaSalle timeout, Johnson using his 6’2” 205-lb frame easily bulled his way for the score. The Explorers would need just two plays to tie the game on a Harrison to jr. WR Joe Migliarese 8-yard scoring pass. Sr. K Ryan Cain’s PAT tied the game and sent it to a second OT. By rule, LaSalle’s offense stayed on the field. On the first play of the series sr. DB Dom Joseph made an easy pick, his third of the game, in the middle of the end zone. The Cahillites needed just two plays to end the suspense, as Lewis ran for five yards and sr. RB Ricky Nau ended the game with a 5-yard run to paydirt. The touchdown led to a jubilant celebration by the Cahillites players and coaches. Early moments of the game can be characterized as missed opportunities by both teams. All three of Roman’s first quarter possessions began in LaSalle territory. Two were the result of Joseph’s first two picks. However, the Cahillites couldn’t breakthrough on the LaSalle defense. One of the drives did end in a missed 38-yard field goal by Fioravanti that fell about five yards short. The Explorers would eventually get on the scoreboard on a two-yard run by sr. RB Chris Ashley with 2:01 left in the half. The run capped an 8-play, 52-yard drive. The Harrison-to-Migliarese combination was very instrumental in setting up the score. They connected three times for 38 yards prior to Ashley’s run. Then, on the following kickoff Saverio forced Richardson to fumble. Sr. LB JB Campanella made the recovery at the Roman thirty-one. LaSalle could do nothing with this chance and had to punt. Yet, another golden chance for points presented itself for the Explorers when Roman muffed the punt at the 15-yard line and jr. DB Matt Day recovered. However, three straight incomplete passes led to a field goal attempt by Cain. After a low snap, Roman’s jr. LB Nick Moody easily snuffed out the kick storming in from the right. Moody would suffer a thigh injury on the play and wouldn’t return. Then, the third quarter began with LaSalle recovering a ball that slammed off a Roman player on the front line. LaSalle would recover at the fifty and quickly move to the Roman 33-yard line on a 17-yard Harrison-to-Migliarese connection. Again, the Explorers would stall and after three misfires, Harrison was sacked by sr. DE Chuck Cohen for a loss of 12 yards. I’m pretty sure when La Salle looks back they’ll look closely at the missed opportunities at the end of the half and beginning of the third quarter, as a sequence that kept them from a win. The Cahillites responded nicely with the door still open with a six-play, 55-yard drive to tie the game. Doing the honors was Lewis with a 27-yard scamper. Later in the quarter, the Explorers would regain the lead on a 13-yard pass from Harrison-to-Migliarese. Is that combo starting to sound repetitive? Anyhow, the touchdown was set-up by a sneaky 36-yard punt return by Ashley. I say sneaky because he picked up a rolling punt along the sideline just before it went out of bounds. This definitely caught the Cahillites off guard and allowed Ashley to pick up a head of steam.  Defense took over from here until Lewis’ game-tying reception. Though 48 combined points were scored this game had defensive tone throughout. For Roman, if ever they needed their D-1 recruit (Virginia) Joseph to shine it was today against the pass-happy Explorers. And shine he did! Aside from his three picks he had three other pass defends and seven tackles (6 solos). He held La Salle headliner sr. WR/DB Jack Forster to just 56 yards on 7 catches. Sure, some of you not familiar with the Explorer program might think that seven catches is a lot, but considering how much they throw the ball it was really good effort by Joseph. His defensive backfield partners Clark and Richardson were also physical and competent all afternoon. These two combined for three additional pass defends. Richardson had seven stops too, while Clark added five. Jr. DT/OL John Mazzola made a fumble recovery. Jr. LB Sean Clift hustled for six tackles. Cohen had two sacks (19 yards), while jr. LB Andrew Regan also contributed a sack. The defense held the Explorers to a poorest -21 yards on 14 carries. On offense, Roman gained 162 of their 213 total yards after the intermission. This is where the running game by Lewis really picked up some steam. Again, I left impressed with the way this kid competes, he finished with 101 tough yards (85 yards in 2nd half) on 27 carries. He also added 21 yards on three catches. Nau (10-40) ran hard and added a few important and timely rumbles. Johnson ended 5-for-12, for 50 yards. For La Salle, Harrison did manage 218 yards, but needed 44 attempts to get there. He completed 24 passes. Some quick math tells me that is only 4.9 yards per attempt. Hardly a number La Salle can be happy about. It might also have been a first that Harrison threw four picks. Much of what LaSalle does in the passing game is based on timing and I’ll give Roman credit for disrupting this timing considerably. Migliarese must have had 18-to-20 balls thrown his way. He snared 11 for 116 yards. Many were fades along the sideline, where he easily used his 6’5” height advantage. Ashley finished with 116 all-purpose yards, but could only manage 10 yards on 11 carries on the ground. Defensively, the Explorers were game throughout. Jr. LB Andrew Wood had a game-high 12 tackles. Campanella registered a sack and eight total tackles. Sr. DE Scott Waters played a strong game with nine tackles, including a sack. Other active Explorers on that side of the ball were; Saverio (five stops), sr. DB Greg Frantz (eight, INT), Forster (six), sr. DT Dom Baker (six), and sr. DT John McBurnie (five). An amazing 121 offensive plays were run in this tilt. The Explorers have now lost three straight after starting the season (7-0). This was my first game at Germantown’s Benjamin L. Johnston stadium since it was refurbished. I like the transformation and hope to get here more often. Who knows, maybe next weekend when the playoffs start. The Explorers will tackle Cardinal O’Hara in the three vs. six match-up, while Roman will wait at home to find out their semifinal opponent. Possibilities --- La Salle, North, or Father Judge.

NOV. 3
CL RED
SJ Prep 41, O’Hara 7
   Nine weeks have passed in the high school circuit this season and tonight I finally got a chance to the Hawks for the first time. Now, I knew the Hawks were very good, but you don’t realize how good they are until you actually see them live and for yourself. And boy, are they good! I could go on a superlative rampage right now and that would probably only tell part of the story. Let’s just sum it up like this – There is much to like about this team! Prior to the game I had hoped that the Lions could make things difficult for the Hawks. They were playing for their playoff lives, and a win would ensure them a spot in the second season. With this in mind, Head Coach Dan Algeo had to know that getting off to a good start could do wonders to lift his team’s current fragile psyche. So, what happened? It took the Hawks all of 16 seconds and one play to give the Lions a kick to the gut that they could and would never recover from. On the game’s first play, sr. QB/DB Chris Whitney unleashed a thing of beauty into the night sky that found a streaking jr. WR Brett Tiagwad down the middle the field. Right after making the grab Tiagwad shook off an O’Hara defender and proceeded to scamper into the end zone for an 82-yard touchdown. Talk about setting a tone! The Hawks would go on to score on their five subsequent possessions, propelling them to an insurmountable 34-7 halftime lead. Offensively, the only mistakes that they probably made in the half were that they twice settled for field goals by jr. K/WR Tim Edger (32, 37 yards), instead of touchdowns. During the half the Hawks rolled up an astonishing 315 total yards (423 for game). Included in this was a 241-yard, on an 8-for-11 passing effort by Whitney. Let me say something about this kid real quick. If he ends up at a 1-AA school, then that school will be getting a steal. Big time! I’m not positive which 1-A schools are pursuing him, but there just has to be a few out there that have a spot for this kid. Yes, it was only one game, but his attributes are endless in both the physical and mental aspects of the game. In the first half he threw two other touchdowns, and both went to whirlwind sr. WR Brian Brinkmann for 30 and 18 yards respectively. In the game, Brinkmann made four total grabs for 104 yards. This kid just oozes excitement and brass! He is to a football field what an ultra-quick point guard would be to a basketball court. The Prep’s other first half score came on a 1-yard plunge by jr. RB Jamir Livingston. In the second half, Livingston would add another touchdown, this time on a 4-yard run that closed out the scoring. The 5’7”, 159-lb Livingston, who possess quick feet, didn’t uncork any real long runs, but did manage a hard-earned 112 yards on 30 totes. Tiagwad finished with 105 yards on two catches, while Edger added 61 yards on three snags. Whitney would end up going 9-for-15, for 270 yards. The Prep ran 60 offensive plays. Don’t take this the wrong way because the Hawks have plenty of skill, but the strength of this team just might lie on the offensive line. The unit is big, can move, and has a lot of experience. Their members include; sr. C Joe D’Orazio (6’3”, 252 lbs), G’s Adam Kasprzak (6’1”, 257 lbs) and John Gazzola (6’5”, 260 lbs), and T’s Joe McKendry (6’6”, 275 lbs), Pat McCarthy (5’11”, 283 lbs), and sr. Jeff Battipaglia (6’5”, 260 lbs). This is as complete a unit I have seen at this level in some time. Additional credit should go to sr. TE Steve Schell and soph. FB Mike Pereira, who also did a great job of protecting throughout the night. Defenisvely, the Hawks received solid outings from a handful of players. Sr. LB Buster Ousley contributed a team-high nine tackles, including two sacks that loss 12 yards. Sr. LB Neil Doogan was next with eight stops, while Tiagwad added six. Sr. DE Ross Drueding had a sack amongst his five total stops. Jr. DB Jim McGoldrick had five tackles, and jr. DB Greg Castillo mixed in three pass defends. For the Lions, their lone score came on a nice individual effort by sr. RB/DB John Dempsey (8-105) on a 79-yard jaunt. Twice, he shredded tackle attempts early in the run before getting into the clear. Other than this the Lions couldn’t muster a whole lot more on offense. They did start the second half with a 14-play drive that saw them move the ball to the Prep 11-yard line before stalling. Soph. QB Tom Savage, who has a ton of potential, had a difficult night. He finished 9-for-24, for just 76 yards. However, he was victimized by multiple drops by a plethora of receivers. No, it wasn’t a good night for those running patterns! Early on though, the Lions had a golden chance to answer the Prep’s bomb with one of their own. However, Savage overthrew sr. WR Brandon Royal, who had gotten behind the Hawk’s secondary by ten yards. Jr. RB/DB Steve Werner mixed in 47 yards of receiving and rushing. On defense, sr. LB Joe Colleluori played with plenty of heart and finished with a game-high 11 tackles (8 solos). Soph. LB Anthony McCloskey hustled for nine stops. Werner forced a fumble that was recovered by jr. DB Pat Daly, who also made seven tackles. Jr. DE Bill McMonigle was next with six stops. Jr. LB Mike Grunde (5 tackles), sr. DE Joe Goldschmidt, sr. DT Jerry Penrose, and sr. DT Andrew Neubauer each split a sack. At game’s end the Lions did receive good news from the Northeast. Father Judge had knocked off Archbishop Ryan 20-3; therefore, the Lions clinched a playoff berth despite the loss. It will be interesting to see how this team accepts this second chance. They’ll face the loser of tomorrow’s Roman/LaSalle contest. For the Prep, the win marked the 48th consecutive game they have beaten a CL Red opponent during the regular season. In the seven games this year the Hawks have posted four whitewashes and outscored their opponents beyond convincingly, 247-to-33. Can you say carnage? Speaking of carnage, that is exactly what O’Hara manager Willie “Big Willie Style” McGonigle put on the concession stand at Widener’s Quick Stadium prior to the game when he polished off no fewer than 14 hot dogs. Phew!

OCT. 28
CL RED
Roman 17, O’Hara 7
   How happy do you think the Cahillites are that jr. RB Balial Lewis has returned from a knee injury that kept him out of the last two games? Well, I didn’t officially ask that question, but I’d venture to say that they are ecstatic! The Cahillites sputtered tremendously over the past two games without the rushing prowess of Lewis, but tonight he returned and was a big reason why Roman soundly handled the Lions in this CL Red match-up. Was he the only reason? Of course not, the Roman defense, which has been very good all season, did its part too. Let’s begin things with the play of the offense though, specifically Lewis. On Roman’s first drive he unleashed a 36-yard run that put the ball at the O’Hara 29-yard line. The Cahillites would get another first down at the seventeen. However, two penalties worth 17 yards, an incomplete pass, and a run that loss three yards would put them in a third-and-30 situation. On this play, jr. QB Chris Johnson escaped a heavy rush and got out of the pocket to his left. Throwing off the wrong foot and against the wind he whipped a pass to sr. WR/DB Dom Joseph, who made a sprawling grab at the 13-yard line. No, it wasn’t enough for a first down, but it did put them in a more manageable position to try a field goal. Jr. K/P Chris Fioravanti neatly lifted the 30-yard kick into the wind and watched it sail just beyond the crossbar to give the Cahillites an early 3-0 lead. The defenses took over from here and the next five possessions ended with punts. Then, in the final minutes of the half Lewis again gave a spark to the offense, this time with a 31-yard jaunt that brought the ball to the O’Hara 24-yard line. Afterwards, and on third down, Johnson fired a missile to sr. WR/DB Troy Richardson, who made dynamite leaping reception with two defenders nearby. This placed the ball six and on the very next player, after a Roman timeout, Lewis waltzed up the middle for a touchdown. There were only 39 seconds left in the half. A personal foul penalty on Roman after the kickoff gave the Lions some hope though. They did get as far as the Roman twenty-seven. On the last play of the half soph. QB Tom Savage threw a nice ball down the left-sideline in the direction of sr. WR TJ Long. With a Roman defender close-by Long juggled, then dropped the ball, while in full stride near the seven-yard line. It would have been interesting to see if he would have scored, but like in a lot of instances this season for the Lions it just wasn’t to be. The Cahillites got the ball first to start the second half and put together a statement-making drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown run by Johnson. This put a stranglehold on the game. It was a real kick to the gut for the Lions! The drive covered 81 yards on 14 plays. Every play was a run and as you can imagine it chewed up serious clock, 8-minutes and 7-seconds to be exact! The big play on the drive occurred just three plays in and was courtesy of sr. FB Ricky Nau, who caught O’Hara off guard with a 19-yard run on a third-and-seven play. There would be no more scoring until the Lions got on the board with a 2-yard run by sr. RB John Dempsey with just 33 ticks left in the game. For the game, Lewis rushed for 121 yards on 23 hard carries. I enjoy watching this kid run. He runs with passion and has a low center of gravity. He does a great job of hitting the hole and following his blocks. Also, he appears to be much stronger than his 5’8” frame might suggest. He received solid help from Nau who went for a tough 47 yards on 11 carries. This kid has been out of the line-up with an injury too, and I’m sure the Cahillites are glad to have his services once again. Johnson added 26 yards rushing and was 3-for-7, for 50 yards passing. It always seems that the Cahillites don’t produce large amounts of success through the air, but the passes they do complete are usually huge at the time. Like Joseph’s and Richardson’s first half grabs tonight, as both led to scores. Defensively, Richardson made a third quarter pick. Sr. LB Matt Marcinek had eight tackles. Cohen also had eight stops, including a sack. Rugged jr. LB Nick Moody contributed a sack amongst his seven tackles. He also provided the hit of the game with a vicious, wind-stopping pop on Dempsey on a slant reception. Jr. DT Ed Krimmel added a sack. Lastly, jr. LB Sean Clift chipped in with five stops. Quietly, Fioravanti has been quite the weapon for the Cahillites this year. Late in the game, he showed a little athleticism when he retrieved a ball that was snapped over his head. He ended up picking the ball up at his five and then still had time to get the punt off. It went for 24 yards to the O’Hara forty-eight, but considering he kicked it near the five it actually traveled more like 47 yards. Nice job! The Lions had trouble sustaining drives all evening. Their first drive did cover 37 yards and got them into Roman territory before they stalled, but not much happen from this point to their final series when they eventually did score. Savage was only 7-for-16, for 63 yards. Early on, he had little time to do much when back to pass, as the Roma eush was constant. The only receiver to catch more than one ball was jr. WR Chris Smith (3-25). The Lion ground game was non-existent and only managed 71 yards on 31 carries. Dempsey, the Villanova recruit, had just 37 yards on 16 carries. I’m baffled as to why this team, with the personnel they have, can’t be more efficient on offense. Yes, Savage is only a sophomore, and yes, Dempsey has been injured, but still they should be better. Jr. TE Mark Wedderburn, who goes 6’7”, 225 lbs, didn’t make a catch until the final moments. I’m not sure what the problem is, but this shouldn’t happen. On defense, the Lions were game and gave a good effort. Again, I left impressed with the hard-nosed play of soph. LB Anthony McCloskey. He led the Lions with 11 tackles (7 solos). Jr. LB Mike Grunde had eight tackles, including a sack. Sr. LB Joe Colleluori was active with ten stops. SR. DT Andrew Neubauer and jr. DE Bill McMonigle each had five tackles. Things got a little wacky on Roman’s first offensive possession. The Cahillites like to go without a huddle and call the play from the line of scrimmage. Each player is equipped with a wrist band that has the plays on it, and at times they have to call out the play to each other. To counter this O’Hara’s front seven started making all of these hand signals and yelling things to cause confusion. Meanwhile, the O’Hara bench was being as loud as they could too. The scene resembled a Sunday morning episode of the Three Stooges. It was quite a sight! Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Lions they found out at game’s end that Ryan had upset La Salle, 14-12. Now, they need a win over powerful SJ Prep to ensure a playoff bid. If not, they’ll need Father Judge to beat Ryan next weekend. On the other hand, the Cahillites will be playing for second place and a first round bye when they tackle La Salle in their regular season finale.

OCT. 28
CL BLUE
West Catholic 10, Carroll 0
     This is the eighth year for the CL Blue/Red set-up, and for many of those seasons Carroll has been the cream of the crop of the Blue. They played in the first four title games the league had to offer, winning three. However, over the past couple of seasons the rest of the league has caught up with the once mighty Patriots. No team has handled them more so than the Burrs. Carroll’s last win over West came in the ’02 title game. Since then, West has beaten them in four straight regular season contests and also during the last three playoff runs. Today, marked the third straight time West has shut out the Patriots. It happened twice last year, 20-0 and 12-0. Phew!! That’s hard to imagine when you consider how potent Carroll’s offense has been over the years. Today, with gusty winds playing a huge factor, both team’s defenses controlled things. In the end, though, it was West who made more plays to secure a much needed victory that will now allow them to play for the CL Blue regular season crown next weekend against Archbishop Wood. The Burrs held Carroll to just 16 first half yards and a single first down. Also, it was a key defensive play that set up the lone touchdown of the game. Jr. DB Herman Hinton intercepted a pass by sr. QB Matt Cantafio and returned it 36 yards to the Carroll 13-yard line midway through the second quarter. Two plays later, soph. QB Curtis Drake took a keeper around the left end for a score. Later on, Drake brilliantly led a drive in the last minute-and-a-half that led to more points. First, he unleashed a 20-yard run, and then he connected on passes to jr. WR Rodney Blango for 15 yards and sr. WR Khiry Carter (2-66) for 46 yards. This sequence brought the ball to the Carroll six. The Burrs wouldn’t score a touchdown, but they would get on the board again after a 20-yard field goal by sr. K Dennis Fox. This was encouraging considering the kicking woes the Burrs have suffered through all year. Fox, a soccer player, joined the team just two weeks ago. In the second half, Carroll actually got the better of the offensive play. They traveled into Burr territory each of the four times they had the ball, but could never ignite the scoreboard. All four possessions ended with fourth down non-conversions. The first one was eliminated by a pick by soph. DB Haleem Hayward. Two others ended on sacks; by jr. LB Marquese Sanders and sr. LB Chris Booker respectively. Protecting Cantafio was a problem all day for Carroll, as he was sacked six times in total. Sr. LB/DE Anthony Rhoades (5 tackles) and sr. DE Isiah Edmond also had two sacks apiece. Sr. LB Marc Holloway chipped in with six tackles, as did Sanders. The Burrs held Carroll to just 55 yards rushing on 27 carries. Offensively, the Burrs did much of their damage in the first half, where they accumulated 188 of their 255 total yards. Once again Drake impressed. He passed for 110 yards, on 5-for-11 throwing. He also added 54 yards rushing on 8 carries. Right now he appears to be his team’s best offensive player. Sr. RB Dennis Shaw found running room hard to come by for the most part. He gained 60 yards on 20 totes. He did however eclipse the 3,000-career yards barrier. He now has 3,058 yards. Chipping in with the rushing duties was soph. RB Raymond Maples, who ran hard for 37 yards on 7 carries. For Carroll, there wasn’t a whole lot of plays to talk about. Cantafio did turn a broken play into a 46-yard scamper. For the game, he passed 8-for-16, for 93 yards. His main target was sure-handed sr. WR Wiley Flowers (4-50). Sr. RB Brent Christie was the leading Pat rusher, but netted just 22 yards on 7 lugs. On defense, Carroll played hard and didn’t make things easy for West. Sr. DE John Pettine (6’3”, 250 lbs) was a force all day. He finished with 7 tackles, including a sack. Sr. DB Sean Easton led with eight tackles. Mammoth sr. DT Jordan Faust (6’2”, 290 lbs) chipped in with six stops. Meanwhile, sr. LB Marcus Mattaway and jr. DB Kevin Eckel each added five tackles. Jr. DB Ellis Rogers was active in the secondary with three pass defends. With the way things transpired over the weekend the Patriots clinched a playoff spot, but a loss next week might make them the sixth-seeded team. Who would have thought this heading into this season? As I mentioned earlier, the Burrs will play Wood next Saturday night at Widener to decide first place in the CL Blue. As much success West has had with Carroll over the past few seasons it has been the direct opposite for them versus Wood. The Vikings have bested the Burrs in the last three title games. And has done so in rather convincing fashion.

OCT. 27
CL RED
Father Judge 28, Bonner 8
   I’m pretty sure that when the Monsignor Bonner brass planned their senior night sometime earlier this season, that the weather conditions tonight and the state of the team weren’t part of the blue print. The Friars entered the game looking for their first victory of the season. OK, so it isn’t absolutely necessary to have a ton of success between the lines in order to have a memorable and festive senior night for all involved. But can the weather at least cooperate? I don’t think so! The teams warmed up in a steady rain and then played the entire game in that same steady, annoying, soaking drizzle. Field conditions were sloppy to say the least. These same conditions also forced the Bonner seniors to welcome their parents behind their bench and on the track, instead of the middle of the field. I’m pretty sure not too many moms and dads came equipped to handle those conditions. Oh well, such is life! Maybe a win could lift the spirits? Yet another not-to-be! The Crusaders stormed to 179 yards in offense in the first half and produced three touchdowns to lead 21-0 at the intermission. They wasted little time getting started and traveled 67 yards on seven plays with their first possession of the game. They scored on a 40-yard rumble by sr. RB/DB Joe Thompson. Just prior to this, sr. FB John O’Hanlon picked-up a first down on a fourth down play with a 2-yard bull. The Friars actually showed life, significantly too, when they received the ball for the first time. Early on in the drive they were aided by a 15-yard face mask penalty, but soon after jr. QB Matt McGillian raced for 17 yards, sr. RB Mike Curran 16 yards, and McGillian for another 12 yards to give themselves a first-and-goal at the two. McGillian followed with runs of one and zero yards. Then, his third carry produced a touchdown, but the Friars were whistled for a procedure penalty, placing the ball back at the six. Curran ran for four yards to set-up a fourth down play from the two. However, McGillian failed to handle the exchange (problem all night) from center and by the time the ball was gathered-in he had lost five yards back to the seven. Three plays later, on a beautifully executed draw play jr. FB/LB Chris Dowling (4-95) pounded through the left side of the line, and then after a slight stutter-step around the twenty was off to the races down the left sideline. The run covered 88 yards and did major damage to the Friar morale. Jr. QB Paul Volpe lofted a pass to soph. WR Tom Ryan for the two-point conversion, making the score 14-0. However, things would turn bleak for Judge a short time later. On their very next possession, Dowling caught a short screen pass and was tackled in the open field after a six-yard pick-up by sr. DB Mike Kerrigan. He injured his knee on the play and had to be helped to the sideline. I asked Judge Head Coach Tom Coyle how he was after halftime and he expressed that it didn’t look good. Let’s hope that it’s not as serious as feared. This kid is an excellent two-way player for the Crusaders and is arguably their best all-around player. The Crusaders would score their third touchdown of the half midway through the second quarter. Again, it was Thompson doing the honors, this time with a 5-yard scamper. The Crusaders only needed to travel 13 yards for the score, as sr. DE Ryan Kreider recovered a fumble that was forced by soph. LB Adam Nowak. The Friars showed life one more time and reached the three-yard line before time expired in the half. It was encouraging to see them get down there, but the last few plays definitely had my eyebrows raised awkwardly. The Friars opted to run the ball on third down from the five-yard line with no timeouts left. Curran only managed a yard and then they had to race to get one last play off, a 2-yard run by McGillian to the three. Personally, I thought a pass would have made sense at some point during the last minute of the drive. Jr. TE Martin Spellman, who goes 6’3”, was lined up all alone with Judge’s jr. DB Tyree Quiah, who goes all of 5’6”. Why not a fade at some point? Yes, it was raining, but the wind was hardly a factor. Oh, well, that’s why I keep the stats and other people coach the players. The Crusaders didn’t have the ball all that much in the second half and when they did they kept it relatively vanilla. They did dent the end zone once more early in the fourth quarter. Volpe did the honors with a 10-yard run. He received a zinging block toward the end of the run by jr. TE Dan Keenan. The touchdown was set up by a nifty 26-yard punt return by jr. DB Andrew McHale, who was also the recipient of another crushing block, this time by Thompson during the return. Early in the game McHale had 46-yard punt return for a score wiped out by an illegal block. The Friars would avoid the shutout with just :17 seconds left in the game on a 21-yard gallop by McGillian on a keeper. He also added the conversion run. Amazingly, Bonner’s only pass attempt (incomplete) came right before the touchdown run. For Judge, Thompson finished with 92 yards on 14 carries. Defensively, Kreider had a game-high 10 tackles and was a force all night. Other defensive standouts were; soph. DB Louis Crespo (8 tackles), soph. LB Joe Swallow (7 stops), and sr. DT Mike Murphy (6 tackles). Jr. DT Josh Carfagno added a sack, while he, Dowling, sr. LB Ryan Boyle, Quiah, Nowak, sr. DT Kevin Keenan, and soph. LB Tim McCaffrey all had four tackles. As you can see the Crusaders had plenty of active defenders in the game. No defender drew a louder roar from the Judge sideline than back-up sr. LB Brian Ferry after a tackle late in the game. It was easy to tell that this is well-liked by his teammates. The excessive tackling numbers for Judge is kind of strange for a team that won 28-6. Usually, the losing team’s defense would roll up the tackles, but interestingly enough the Friars ran 21 more plays that the Crusaders (53-to-32). For Bonner, both Curran (24-116) and McGillian (20-50) ran hard. However, even though they only lost one of their eight fumbles, these miscues really assisted in stalling drives. Thirteen of McGillian’s twenty carries went for zero or negative yardage. Defensively, I like the intensity that soph. LB Mike McCreight demonstrated. He led his team with seven tackles, including three for losses. Sr. DB Mike Dougherty was next with five stops, while sr. LB Joe O’Donnell recovered a late-game fumble that led to the Bonner touchdown. The teams combined for 130 yards in penalties. The inclement weather really put a chink into the attendance tonight. This was probably the worse attended Bonner game I have ever seen. Can’t say I blame them though. It was really raw and miserable. Still, my game-picking adversary Tom “Puck” McKenna made it. I ran into the Puckster at halftime and he proceeded to do what he does best. COMPLAIN!!  He stated that he hasn’t gotten his fair shake of quality games in the Public League this season. Yes, he showed major disdain towards the boss, aka Mr. Ted Silary. I wasted little time filling Ted in after the game. Now, I can’t wait to see how much further Puck falls into Ted’s doghouse. See, it’s all about positioning within the hierarchy at TS.Com, and something tells me that I just maneuvered my way towards the penthouse some more, while Puck slips further into the depths of the basement.

OCT. 21
CL BLUE
West Catholic 28, Neumann-Goretti 27 (OT)
     I’m not going to lie to you and say that the first three quarters of this game between heated rivals was of classic proportions. It wasn’t! However, the fourth quarter and overtime provided countless entertainment and enjoyable moments. And if it can’t be classified as classic, then it was darn close. Sure, the game to this point was competitive and spirited, but it was mostly filled with good defense, rather than high-octane offense. Then, with the Saints holding a slim 7-6 lead there was an offensive eruption that started with the third play of the quarter, and didn’t end until a game-clinching conversion run by the Burrs in the extra session. Let me provide some highlights up until the overtime. N-G sr. QB Mark Hatty hit sr. WR Joe Gionfriddo behind the Burrs secondary for a 44-yard score, giving the Saints a 14-6 advantage. With the wind at their backs the Burrs answered with an 8-play 65-yard drive that was capped with a 13-yard scoring toss to jr. WR Rodney Blango from soph. QB Curtis Drake, making the score 14-12 after the conversion run failed. N-G’s next possession resulted in a three-and-out. WC’s sr. LB Anthony Rhoades sacked Hatty on third down to put the ball back at the twenty. Punting into the wind, the Burrs took over at the N-G thirty-nine, after a 7-yard return by sr. RB/DB Dennis Shaw. Four plays later, the Drake-to-Blango combination was at it again, this time on a 25-yard hook-up. The play was a thing of beauty, as Drake was flushed from the pocket and began rolling to his left. With three N-G defenders closing quickly, he brilliantly pulled-up and with dynamite touch lofted the ball to Blango, who made a nice arms fully extended grab before stumbling into the end zone. Drake then hit Shaw for the conversion making the score 20-14 West with 3:37 remaining in the game. A shanked kickoff by Drake gave the ball to the Saints just two yards from midfield. N-G would need just five plays to knot the score. With three wide receivers lined up to the left Hatty fired a quick missile to jr. TE/LB Preandre Watson (6’3”, 235 lbs), the lone receiver on the right. He easily split two Burr defenders on a slant and waltzed into the end zone untouched. With a chance to snatch the lead back jr. K George Hatton’s kick was blocked by sr. LB Chris Booker, who stormed up the middle hardly touched. West took over with 2:14 left, but Drake misfired on three pass attempts and a punt was in order. N-G’s next possession ended when Shaw intercepted a deep Hatty pass. Then, with just 12 ticks left Drake had a Hail Mary of his own picked by sr. DB Mike DiGiacomo. The Saints had time for just one play, a 10-yard completion from Hatty to Gionfriddo. In overtime, N-G’s first three plays of their series went like this: A loss of a yard on a run by sr. RB/LB Mark McPherson, a 10-yard gain on a lateral by sr. RB Anthony Sample placing the ball at the one, and a run for no gain by McPherson. On fourth down, after the Saints broke their huddle Gionfriddo was split out to the left. With no Burr in the vicinity he began jumping up and down to get the attention of Hatty. Once Hatty spotted him he alertly tossed the ball to him before Rhoades could get out into coverage, scoring an easy touchdown. The play was hardly Rhoades' responsibility, but he was the closest Burr to the play. Hatton’s extra-point made the score 27-20. WC’s overtime possession started ominously, as soph. RB Rob Holloman failed to handle a pitch from Drake on an option play. Sr. DE Terrence Martin corralled soph Holloman (10-36) at the twenty, and the play lost ten yards. No need to worry though as the Drake-to-Blango combo struck again, this time for 14 yards bringing the ball to the six. A procedure call on West put the ball back to the eleven. This actually may have been a blessing because it gave them more room to operate. And operate they did, as Blango supremely sold a slant before cutting back to the far cone where Drake delivered a perfectly thrown ball for a touchdown. The Burrs still trailed by one and for anyone who has followed this team, you had to know that getting the subsequent point was the furthest thing from a lock. I’m almost positive this was on Head Coach Brian Fluck’s mind, so he kept the offense on the field and opted to go for the win. Considering the circumstances and history with PAT attempts this wasn’t as gutsy a call as one would think, but it was definitely the correct decision in my mind. Two timeouts by West and one by N-G made for great theater, as the end zone closest to the non-working scoreboard were littered with dozens of anxious fans. While in the shotgun and with three WR’s bunched to his left, Drake took the snap and raced in that direction. With brass and quickness he used what little room he had to dive head first into the end zone. Multiple Saints were in the area, but Drake didn’t hesitate and somehow found his way in safely. Great play! And with it the Burrs raced onto the field in exuberance, while the Saints could only watch in disbelief. Check this out! From the fourth quarter on Hatty and Drake combined to pass for 257 yards and six touchdowns. Amazing! Drake, who was involved in all 28 points for West finished 11-for-22, with 174 yards and three scores. He also added 40 yards rushing and a score on 9 rushes. I loved the poise and confidence he displayed, especially when his team was down in the fourth quarter and in the OT. Meanwhile, Hatty shook-off a sluggish start to finish with 175 yards on 9-for-20 hurling and four scores. Early on, he did misfire on a few passes that could have been huge plays, but he did settle down to complete 8 of his final 9 throws. Are there two more underrated players in this league then Blango and Gionfriddo? Each of these kids is having a fabulous season. Today, Blango made 8 grabs for 120 yards and 3 scores, while Gionfriddo hauled in six for 124 yards and three scores of his own. Blango has been quite the find this year for the Burrs. He’s not the biggest of guys, but he is as fearless as they come. I don’t hesitate in saying this, but in my opinion he is pound-for-pound one of the toughest players West has had in some time. Gionfriddo quietly has 10 touchdown snags this year. The city record is 16 by Dougherty’s Mickey King in 2000. Neither team could muster up much of a consistent running attack. WC’s Shaw needed just 20 yards rushing to eclipse the 3,000 career yards. At halftime he had 26 yards and was over the milestone, but he rushed just four times for minus-8 yards after the intermission. In total, he had 12 lugs for just 18 yards, thus leaving him two yards shy. He did add 50 yards on three returns and on defense had six tackles to go along with his pick. For N-G, who found plenty of running room a week ago in their 44-26 win over Conwell-Egan, they too had a difficult time garnering much of a rushing attack. McPherson did manage 57 tough yards on 17 carries. At times, West had a nightmare of a time in the secondary, but for the second consecutive week I did notice an improvement on defense overall. Leading the way was hard-nosed sr. LB Marc Holloway (6’1”, 225 lbs) who had a team-high 11 tackles. Holloway is an excellent student and is receiving attention from some Ivy types. Rhoades (3 TFL’s) was next with eight stops, including a sack. Booker (3 TFL’s) also had a sack. The Burrs held the Saints to just 75 yards rushing on 32 carries. For the Saints, I just loved the energy that jr. LB Adam Malatino exhibited. He finished with a game-high 12 tackles, and seemed to be in the Burr backfield routinely. Jr. Darrell Dulany was active with 9 tackles and 2 pass defends. Sr. LB Vinny Burgese was next with six stops and blocked a PAT. Martin chipped in with five, while former Burr jr. DE Brandon Terrence added four. Hatty did a nice job with punting, booting four for 35.5 average. There was a solid crowd on hand and it was great to see that they were treated to a hard-fought, clean, and entertaining contest. When both of these teams are competitive it makes for a great afternoon of football. With the win and C-E loss, West finds themselves in second place behind three-time champs Archbishop Wood in the CL Blue.

OCT. 20
CL BLUE
Dougherty 43, Kennedy-Kenrick 6
     Feeling blue? Well, the Cardinals had been since Oct. 12, 2001. That was the last time they'd beaten a CL Blue opponent, and tonight, like then (23-12 final), it was the Wolverines they bested. In between, Dougherty had dropped 37 consecutive league tilts. How about some numbers? Over this stretch their average loss had been by 27.4 points per game. They were shut out eleven times, and on 17 occasions they surrendered at least 33 points. OK, enough with the bad, how about some good? Tonight, the Cardinals rolled to a victory in convincing fashion. In fact, after sr. RB/DB Bryan Williams fourth score of the game the mercy-rule was in effect with 8:29 remaining. Hard to imagine a team losses 37 straight, and then ends this streak with a 37-point victory. But that’s exactly what happened. You had to think things were going to go right when Dougherty scored on their first offensive a touch; a 26-yard gallop by B. Williams. They made it 14-0 after another B. Williams scamper. This time it was a 7-yard score. Then, with just :51 seconds in the half left, jr. QB Phil Baxter kept the ball and sprinted in from 19 yards to make the score 21-0. This all but did in the Wolverines. B. Williams third touchdown of the game came on the third play of the third quarter and covered 43 yards after a lovely option pitch from Baxter. He received a great downfield block by sr. WR/DB Roberto Townsend, which allowed him to coast along the sidelines. Other scores by the Cardinals came on a 1-yard run by Baxter and an 11-yarder by B. Williams. For the game, Dougherty stormed to 364 yards in offense. All of the damage was done on the ground, as they attempted just one pass. B. Williams was terrific with his four touchdowns and 203 yards on 23 carries. He’s not the biggest (5’8”, 155 lbs) of kids, but boy, is he cat-quick. He’ll also lower his shoulder when afforded the opportunity, and you have to like that. He just didn’t shine on offense either, as he made an interception, recovered a fumble, blocked a PAT, and made two tackles on the defensive side of the ball. Hmmm, somebody’s looking for Player-of-the-Week honors! Baxter ran for 47 yards on 6 lugs to help the cause. Sr. FB/LB Sean R. Williams did a tremendous job in the lead-blocking department, but wasn’t too shabby when he got a chance to carry the rock either. He finished with 87 yards on just 10 carries. The grunts up front all did an admirable job and consisted of; jr. C Wrenton Wright (6’3”, 255 lbs), G’s sr. Matt Bryant and jr. Jesus Godoy, T’s sr. Paul Howard (5’11”, 330 lbs) and sr. Anders Damas, and jr. TE/LB/P Sean Kidd. Defensively, the Cardinals gave up some yards on the ground, but they tightened when they needed to and allowed just one score. I really, really like jr. LB Quinten White. At 6’3”, 190 lbs he just oozes athleticism. Tonight, he was extremely active with a game-high 11 tackles. Fellow jr. LB Braheem Carroll was next with six stops. Sr. DE Colin Fequa registered a sack that netted 13 yards. Townsend made three pass defends. Sr. DB Charles Gladman, Kidd, and jr. DB Keith Dockery each made four tackles. Sr. WR Corey Key added a nice 37-yard kickoff return to start the second half. K-K showed juice early, as they moved the ball between the 30’s before stalling. Their lone score came on a 2-yard sneak by soph. QB Ryan Sejda and it made the score 28-6. They had an opportunity to possibly make further noise shortly thereafter. Dougherty was punting into the wind (4th-and-12) from the 25-yard line and the Wolverines appeared like they would get the ball back with some momentum and good field position. However, after a slight bobble Kidd saw nothing but open real estate up the right sideline and took off. He gained 21 yards on the play and a first down. Great heads-up play! Seven plays later the Cardinals made it 35-6. Ball game! K-K ended up getting productive ground yardage from a few backs. Jr. RB/DB Greg Santangelo carried 20 times and carved out 146 yards in the process. Included in this were runs of 41 and 46 yards. Sr. FB/LB Keith Andrews rumbled for 66 yards on 7 carries. Jr. RB Nick Ciccone carried five straight times to end the game. He netted 55 yards and got his team down to the 5-yard line before the game ended. Defensively, a trio of Wolverines managed seven tackles apiece; Santangelo (forced fumble), Andrews (2 TFL’s), and sr. DE Alex Johnson. Soph. DB Ronell Fairel made a fumble recovery. Unfortunately, there were a couple of uncomfortable moments as the game moved through the fourth quarter. First, Sedja was hammered by White who darted unimpeded towards him before delivering a tremendous blow. The hit was clean, and there was nothing dirty about it, but he was blindsided and never had a chance. He lay on the ground, with movement in his legs and hands, for roughly 25 minutes until an ambulance got back to the field. It had left right before half to take CD jr. WR Dominique West to the hospital with an injured elbow. Sedja suffered a minor concussion last week versus West Catholic and I was told that he has had bell rung on more than one occasion. It is always tough to sit back and watch a kid’s parents as their son gets lifted into an ambulance. My thoughts and prayers go out to Ryan and I hope he gets well soon. As for the next uncomfortable situation I‘ll keep the player nameless, but you know who you are and what you did. And hopefully this will be a learning experience for you. After a run by Baxter towards his team’s sideline, one of the two K-K defenders who were in on the stop, inexplicably and blatantly punched at Baxter’s head. The play happened right in front me and it really took me by surprise. Now, I’m not in on piles and such that occur in the middle of the field, but I saw little evidence to this point that the game was getting chippy. The sideline referee immediately tossed the K-K player, as well he should have. No reason for that kind of behavior! Luckily, things didn’t get out-of-hand real quick with Dougherty’s bench right there and witnessing the whole thing. The Dougherty coaching staff did a pretty good job in restoring order quickly. On the very next play, the Cardinals scored. Then, on the PAT attempt they pulled what appeared to be a design fake. Kidd caught a perfect snap, yelled fire, and then raced around the end for the two-point conversion. This definitely drew the ire of the K-K coaching staff. Personally, I thought it was uncalled for, even if your QB just got suckered in the head. When the final whistle blew K-K Head Coach Mike Santillo directed his club to head for the locker room without shaking hands. Santillo and his staff members did shake the hands of the Dougherty coaches. I overheard him tell the Dougherty players that, “It isn’t a reflection on you guys. I just don’t want anything to happen in the line.”  He did not look like a happy camper. Lastly, for those of you who may be confused. Yes, Dougherty did beat K-K last Thanksgiving 27-26, but that didn’t halt the losing streak because it was not a league game.

OCT. 20
INTER-AC
Penn Charter 7, Episcopal 0
     With steady rain over night and throughout the morning there was talk that this game could be switched to Haverford School, where the teams could use a field that had artificial surface. However, shortly after 1 o’clock, with rain still falling from the skies, a decision was made to play the game at Episcopal anyway. Then, by the 3:15 start time the rain had stopped and the sun was beaming. Everything ok, right? Not exactly, the conditions of the field were extremely poor and within a snap or two we had a slop-fest. Something tells me that EA’s decision to play this game on their home field wasn’t to just accommodate their students and fans, but also to give them a better shot of knocking off the Quakers, who entered the game as a consensus favorite. If this indeed were the intentions of the Churchmen brass, then it worked to perfection for over 46 minutes. However, with just 1:21 to play in the game, sr. RB/LB Sean McNally bounced a left-tackle run outside and sprinted 21 yards for the game’s only score. A trio of Quakers; soph. T/DT Justin Renfrow, sr. FB/LB Joe Rauchut, and sr. TE/DB Brian Teuber helped pave the way. Charter’s scoring drive started with 5:20 on the clock and covered 70 yards over nine plays. Big plays on the drive were a; 12-yard run by McNally to begin things, a 2-yard sneak by jr. QB/WR/DB Eddie Bambino on a fourth-and-one play, and a huge 29-yard pass from soph. QB John Ryan to Bambino on a third-and-13 situation. This reception occurred on the play prior to McNally’s scoring run. The Quakers, who fumbled seven times (loss three) in the game, survived two of these fumbles earlier in the drive. The Churchmen couldn’t do anything on their final opportunity, as Rauchut sacked jr. QB Dan Hilferty for a loss of ten yards on first down. Then, Hilferty misfired on three pass attempts and the Quakers took over. Three kneel downs ended it. The sloppy conditions and blustery winds really prevented either team from generating much offense, but the Quakers did let some golden opportunities slip past in the first half. Four times PC turned the ball over (3 fumbles, pick) deep in Episcopal territory. The last of these TO’s came on first down from the EA 2-yard line and prevented what probably would have been a sure score. Offensively, the Quakers rotated QB’s with Bambino and Ryan. Bambino was in there mostly on running plays (option) and against the wind, while Ryan served as the throwing QB in passing situations. Bambino didn’t attempt a pass in the game. Ryan is the younger brother of former PC standout Matt Ryan, who is now running the show at Boston College. I liked what I saw of the younger Ryan (6’3”, 180 lbs). He finished 5-for-12, for 99 yards. Not bad numbers considering the conditions. Also, his clutch toss to Bambino was a big-time throw. He is far from a finished product, but it should be interesting to watch him develop over time. Bambino did contribute 20 yards rushing and 77 yards receiving. McNally runs extremely hard and is difficult to bring down. He ended the game with 129 yards on 25 soggy totes. The Penn Charter defense was strong throughout. Only once did they allow the Churchmen to do some praying on their side of the field, and this came on their first series, and with that they only reached the 48-yard line. For the game, PC held their opponents to just 75 yards in offense and five first downs. Episcopal was besieged with poor position throughout the second half. Defensively, I really liked Renfrow, who at 6’4”, 225 lbs has plenty of room to fill out. In this game he contributed 7 tackles and a fumble recovery. His defensive line sidekick, jr. Ryan McGarvey was active as well with seven stops and a fumble recovery. The hard-nosed Rauchut notched two sacks worth 19 yards. Sr. DE Drew Fullen and sr. LB Sam Biddle each had a sack. McNally chipped in with five tackles. For the Churchmen, jr. RB Bobby FitzPatrick managed 68 yards on 17 carries. Overall though, he found running room hard to come by, as 30 of those yards came on one run towards the end of the first half. Defensively, for the Churchmen they received a solid team effort. Sr. DT Luke Miller (6 tackles), jr. DE Greg Nealis, and jr. LB Sean Cohen each made fumble recoveries. Soph. DB Ryan Klein had a pick and made six stops. Frosh. LB Jack Butts contributed a team-high seven tackles. Meanwhile, FitzPatrick and sr. LB Dan Gillespie evenly split ten stops. For the most part this is a young Episcopal squad, with just eight seniors on the roster. Great stat of the day: The Quakers managed 50 yards on the 22 plays prior to their late-game heroics. Then, they got 50 yards and touchdown on two straight plays. I really thought this game had OT written all over it prior to Bambino’s 29-yard reception. Just goes to show you that you never really know when a game is on the verge of changing.

OCT. 14
CL BLUE
West Catholic 39, Kennedy-Kenrick 0
     Coming into this game I thought it was possible that the Wolverines might show some resistance against the Burrs. K-K played tough against Carroll earlier in the week, and West was coming off a loss to Conwell-Egan and had been up and down all year. On top of that, two of the Burrs top contributors, sr.’s TE/LB Anthony Rhoades (mild concussion) and OL/DE Isiah Edmond (groin), were out. However, it was not to be as the Burrs raced past an undermanned K-K squad almost from the outset. West scored three first quarter touchdowns and never looked back. With the win Head Coach Brian Fluck became the all-time wins leader at the school with 53. He passed Vince McAneney who achieved 52 wins from 1957-64.  Defensively, the Burrs finally showed some life. Granted it was against an opponent that doesn’t have much offensive firepower. Still, it was a step in the right direction for a team that uses many underclassmen in their rotations. The Wolverines could only manage 11 yards in offense on 36 plays (25 of these plays went for zero or less), including minus-14 yards rushing. Ouch! They had just three first downs (one by penalty) and all came during their third possession of the game. Jr. LB Marquese Sanders was a headliner with seven total tackles, including two sacks. He also had the hit of the night when he rocked a K-K return man late in the third quarter. Fumble recoveries were had by soph. RB Rob Holloman, forced by soph. FB Juan Rozier (3-17) on opening kickoff, and jr. C/LB Aaron Maggio. Soph. DB Haleem Hayward made a pick. No other Burr racked-up a large amount of tackles, but twenty-one players did contribute a defensive statistic in one form or another. Two freshmen started at the defensive tackles position for West, Jon Ruppert (5’9”, 235 lbs) and Fred Ruff (6’5”, 305 lbs). Ruppert was very quick off the ball and managed three stops and a couple of near misses. Ruff is a mountain of a kid. He’s very green in a football sense, but I see nothing but good things for him if he continues to work hard. On offense, sr. RB Dennis Shaw (11-204) scored twice, including an unbelievable 95-yard jaunt. On the run, he went through the right side of the line pretty much untouched, but when he got into the secondary it became a juke-fest. At least four or five defenders at a chance at him at some point, but he just wiggled his way free. I’ll venture to say that the run actually covered close to 160-170 yards with all the bobbing-and-weaving. Earlier he posted a 4-yard run to start the scoring. With this game’s total he now has 2,980 career rushing yards. Leaving him just 20 yards from the 3,000-yard milestone. Soph Curtis Drake got the nod at QB and though he didn’t post gaudy numbers was still a factor. He finished just 2-for-8 (at least 3 drops), for 40 yards. His first completion was a lovely 38-yard scoring pass to jr. WR Rodney Blango (2-40) on a post pattern. Drake also scored twice with the rush (2, 13 yards). Overall, he had 4 rushes for 32 yards and definitely adds another dimension with his ability to move. It will be interesting to see what develops between him and jr. QB Eric Brennan from this point on. Tonight, Brennan, who is 6’5”, was used at WR on occasion. The other West touchdown came courtesy of Holloman (6-27) on a 2-yard plunge. He also added 53 yards on two returns. West churned out 367 total yards (315 rushing) in the game. Leading the way up front were; C Maggio, G’s frosh. Jake Zuzek and soph. Paul Murtagh, and T’s soph. Victor McNair and Earl Griffiths. Sr. FB Jack Mason (5-45) did a nice job with blocking and hard running. For K-K, their best offensive play was a 25-yard completion from soph. QB Ryan Sejda to soph. WR Ronell Fairel. The play actually put the ball at the Burrs’ 25-yard line. However, back-to-back penalties, a short run, pair of incomplete passes, and a pick killed the drive. K-K’s best chance to score probably came on the last play of the first half. While in punt formation WC’s frosh. P Dwayne Medley mishandled a snap. K-K’s sr. LB Keith Andrews scooped-up the losse ball around the twelve, but could only manage to advance to the eight before being tackles as time ran out. Defensively, the Wolverines received solid play from jr. DT Mike Olszewski who had team-high six tackles and forced a fumble. Fumble recoveries were had by Andrews, sr. DE Alex Johnson and jr. LB John-Michael Quigley (4 stops). Jr. DB Nick Tinneny had a pick, two other pass defends, and five tackles. Also, Fairel (five) and jr. LB Matt Ganley (four) were active in the tackling area. Sr. P Tom Belski had a busy night booting eight balls for a nice 33.8 yard average. At the end of the games Rhoades and sr. LB Marc Holloway doused Fluck with a water cooler. I don’t think he minded it all that much. Later, Rhoades presented him with a game ball that was signed by the players, both current and former.

OCT. 14
CL RED
Roman 14, North 13
     Every now then you’ll witness a game when the team who had the better of the play doesn’t win. And in my opinion, that is exactly what happened today. No, the Falcons didn’t dominate the Cahillites by any stretch, but they definitely controlled things for a good part of the contest. However, in the end, behind a solid defensive effort and a couple of opportunistic plays, the Cahillites slipped past the Falcons by the slimmest of margins. To get things rolling let’s start way back in the opening moments of play, more specifically, North opening possession. The Falcons were forced to punt from their own end zone and did so into a stiff crosswind. The punt by jr. P/WR/LB Pete Sellecchia went up the left sideline and began to sail back. On the other side of the field Roman’s coaching staff began to scream poison, as in get away. However, Virginia-recruit sr. WR/DB Dom Joseph must have drawn a deaf ear because he nicely caught the ball on the run, and with tons of momentum behind him returned it for one of the easiest 32-yard punt returns you’ll ever see. This gave the Cahillites a 7-0 lead before the Falcons ever knew what hit them. To their credit, the Falcons shook off the early cobwebs and answered with a score of their own on the following series. Doing the damage was none other than sr. RB/WR/PR Daryl Robinson, who is just simply a pleasure to watch. He started the drive with runs of 34 and 11 yards, then ended it with a 6-yard burst up the middle to the tie game. From this point in the first half the play was sluggish on both ends, but the Cahillites did muster up one more spark of damage. It came in form of a 49-yard scoring pass to sr. WR/DB Troy Richardson by jr. QB/LB Chris Johnson. On the play, Johnson rolled hard to his right. The ball appeared to leave his hand awkwardly. This and the wind caused it to flutter, but somehow it made over the outstretched arm of a defender and found Richardson, who raced harmlessly in for the score. Jr. K/P Chris Fioravanti belted the point-after, a point that would prove to be the difference. In the second half, the Falcon defense would dominate. Meanwhile, the offense, behind the skills of Robinson kept giving themselves a chance to draw closer. A golden opportunity came towards the end of the third quarter. A 38-yard swing-pass to Robinson from soph. QB Dennis Logue set North up with a first-and-goal at the Roman seven. However, an incomplete pass and two runs that each loss a yard had North settling for a field goal attempt. However, as the ball was being snapped whistles blew and Roman was called for procedure. The kick sailed way left. Not sure if this made the decision by North’s coaches any easier, but they sent the offense back out onto the field for a fourth down try from the four. They tried a fade to the far right corner to sr. WR/LB Ryan McCullough, but the ball was slightly overthrown and Roman survived. Still, the Falcons had the Cahillites pinned and did force a three-and-out. They took over at the Roman 36-yard line to begin their next possession, but failed to move the ball. Then, on fourth down and in punt formation, Matt Ibbotson threw a pass to soph. WR. Mike Scott. The Cahillites were ready though and the ball went off Scott’s hands as he was blasted by Richardson. Following this sequence the North defense again stiffened and forced another punt. Well, you play with fire too much, and then chances are you might get burnt. The kick found Robinson’s hands and he returned it 43 yards to the Roman 27-yard line. Then, on fourth down Robinson came up clutch again, this time on a 19-yard reception down to the Roman eight. On the play, it did look like he got away with an obvious push that allowed him to create some space to make the catch. Shortly thereafter, the Falcons would again find themselves in another fourth down situation. Need I say who they’ll go to? If you guessed anyone else but Robinson then you haven’t been paying too much attention to the Falcons this season. This time, though, he’s barely pushing 5’10” he went over not one, but two Cahillite defenders to make the touchdown grab from Logue. At the end of the play Roman’s jr. RB/LB Nick Moody, who was one of the defenders victimized, was slow getting up. However, a North timeout allowed him to stay on the field for the game-tying PAT. The snap was clean, as was the hold, but Moody coming off the right edge like a missile was there to snuff-out the kick. Jr. LB Andrew Regan was also close by coming from the left-side. At this point, 4:12 still remained on the clock, but North had just one timeout remaining. Roman’s offense took over and to this stage had just three first downs in the game, none in the second half. A run on first down went for no gain, but Johnson was bale to gain nine on a keeper. He then bulled straight ahead for two yards and Roman was able to move the chains for the first time in the half. Talk about ideal timing! Roman’s next three plays all went for losses (6, 5, 5), but with North out of timeouts Roman’s Head Coach Jim Murphy worked the clock brilliantly taking every possible second away that could have been. When Roman punted just 24 ticks remained. North opted to send the speedy Robinson off the corner in hopes of a possible block. Thinking that there was no way that Roman would punt to him. Fioravanti, with Robinson nearby managed to get away an effective 29-yard punt. The Falcons ran two plays, an incompletion and 10-yard pick-up by Robinson, who was tackled by a host of Cahillites just beyond midfield to end the game. Amazingly, Roman gained just nine yards on 18 plays in the second half. They generated just 118 for the game. Johnson was just 2-for-10, for 83 yards, both went to Richardson. Richardson has a scintillating 74-yard punt return nullified by a penalty. The running game was severely hampered without the services of jr. Balial Lewis (knee miseries). He is probably a couple of weeks away from returning. Defensively, they played extremely well. Though Robinson did his share of damage, overall they kept him from breaking the real big one. Instrumental in this was the play of jr. LB Sean Clift, who had a game-high 12 tackles and was all over the field in the second half. Clift did a great job in picking up the slack for sr. LB Matt Marcinek who was in and out of the game with leg woes. Sr. DE Chuck Cohen was active with seven stops. Rising jr. DT Jewhan Edwards (5 stops) registered two sacks (3 TFL’s – 21 yards), including one that just engulfed Logue and forced a fumble. This kid can be force when he puts his mind to it. Regan added a sack, while Johnson and Moody (6 tackles) spilt a sack. Joseph had six tackles, while Richardson added three pass defends and sr. DB John Clark notched four pass defends. Joseph chipped in with six tackles, while sr. DT Mike Penna recovered a fumble. Fioravanti did a great job in the kicking game by booting both his PATs and punting nine times for 30.9 average, a good number when you consider the conditions. For North, Robinson was as advertised, and finished with 234 multi-purpose yards, 87 rushing (23 carries), 87 receiving on 5 grabs, and 62 yards on three punt returns. This kid is extremely quick, and he’s no slouch on defense either. He made three tackles, two prevented considerable gains. At DB he has been a stalwart all year. In four league games he has allowed the receivers he has covered a mere 58 yards on three catches. Today, he covered Joseph. There are many great players in the CL Red, but you would have to think that he’ll get CONSIDERABLE consideration for MVP honors. On defense, R. McCullough was exceptional and all over the field. He finished with 11 tackles (5 TFL’s – 19 yards), including three sacks. There is a ton to like about this kid. I have a sneaky feeling that he is just starting to scratch the surface with his potential. Sr. LB Tom Hannan had four stops and a fumble recovery. Jr. DB Terrell Oglesby made a pick. Sellecchia also had four stops, including three for 10 yards in losses. Overall, the Falcons played GREAT team defense! It was hard not see the anguish on some of the faces of the North coaching staff. At this part of the season there is no place for moral victories or anything like that, but you guys need to know that you have done a tremendous job with your club. You have a lot to be proud of!!