NOV. 12
NON-LEAGUE
Frankford 12, Mastbaum 0
Game Summary
  First Quarter – Frankford took the opening kickoff and drove from their own 34, to the Mastbaum 23, largely on the legs of Tommy Cuthbert (6 rushes, 43 yards), who ran the ball 4 times during this opening drive, for a total of 34 yards.  This drive stalled after a 2 yard loss, and incompletion, a 10 yard penalty and two more incompleted passes.  Mastbaum took over and wasted no time going 3 and out.  Frankford’s second drive, which began at their own 31, and ended at the Mastbaum 13.  This drive was aided by a mis-handled punt, which was recovered by Quinyon Speller, at the Mastbaum 31.  The drive continued into the second quarter, and Mastbaum once again took over deep in their own end of the field.  At the 9:09 mark of the second period, Mastbaum had only run three plays, and held the ball for 2 minutes and 19 seconds of the nearly 15 minutes at that point.
  Second Quarter – Mastbaum's first possession of the second quarter lasted only 37 seconds, as Frankford’s Marc Price picked off a Tyree Stone-Davis pass on second down, giving the Pioneers a first and 10 at the Mastbaum 32.  Six plays later, Frankford QB Michael McGroarty scampered 7 yards for the first touchdown of the game.  But, it was after Mastbaum got the ball back after the kickoff that things got a little crazy.  After driving from their own 28 to the Frankford 30, compliments of the two Tyrees.  Tyree Stone-Davis’ legs (9 carries, 28 yards) carried the ball 5 times on this drive, for 14 yards, while Tyree Walker (5 carries, 34 yards) carried the ball only twice on this drive, but accounted for 16 yards.  On a third and ten from the Frankford 30, Stone-Davis’ pass was picked off at the Frankford 13, and it was returned for and apparent Frankford touchdown.  But, it was almost immediately after this pick that the flags started to fly.  After a long ref conference, it was determined that there was a block in the back by a Frankford player, offsetting personal fouls, and an additional personal foul and ejection of a Frankford player.  The half ended on this play, with Frankford leading 6 – 0.
  Third Quarter – The third quarter featured one short drive by Frankford, and two Mastbaum drives that got as far as the Frankford 32 and 37, respectively.  Both Mastbaum drives ended on failed 4th down conversion attempts.  Frankford took over at their 37 with 35 ticks remaining in the quarter, and got off one play before the quarter ended.  But, it was the biggest play of the day, as Troy Clark busted a 42 yard run, down to the Mastbaum 21.
  Fourth Quarter – Frankford began the quarter at the Mastbaum 21, and one the third play of the quarter, Marc Price went up the middle, 16 yards, for the second and final score of the game.  Mastbaum’s next, and final drive, began at their own 37.  This time, Mastbaum ran off 14 plays (there were a couple of penalties too), and ended with an incompletion at the Frankford 8.  This drive lasted about 8 and a half minutes, and when Frankford took control of the ball, they needed to just run one play, and then kneel down for the win.
Sights, Sounds and Observations
- I know this game was a 2:30 pm game, but during the coin flip, I counted 28 fans in the stand (23 on Frankford's side, and 5 on Mastbaum's).  But halftime, there were about 50 in the Frankford stands, and maybe 10 on Mastbaum's side.
- Mastbaum only had 24 players suited up for this game.
- Announcing the game was Andy Folino, who has been with the program for as long as I can remember.  Mr. Folino was a long time JV coach and varsity assistant at Frankford.
- The Frankford scoreboard needs some fixing.  At one point, I looked up and the clock read 4:79 remaining in the quarter.
- At least three Frankford folks tried to convince me that their Thanksgiving Day match-up with Fels will be a great game, mainly because, "Fels is a good team and had a great year."  This was justified by Fels winning the Silver Division.  Really?  And, also due to Fels' first round playoff win against Bartram.  If beating Bartram by more than Lincoln did makes you a "great team", then I'll go along.  Then again, if Frankford plays on Thanksgiving like they did against Mastbaum, they just may go home with a loss that day.
- Seems as though the Frankford folks believe that Roman will not play them on Thanksgiving this year because the Roman alumni won't allow it.  I was told this by more than one person before and during this game.  Apparently, the thinking is that the Roman alum like watching Roman kick the crap out of Roxborough every year.
Personal Commentary
  As a neighborhood guy, I’ve been to hundreds of Frankford games over the years.  And, win, lose or draw,  I always felt that Frankford was the class of the public league.  They weren’t always the best team, but they always contended, and they always played hard, and always have been, in my mind, the “gold standard” in how to run a high school football program in the Philadelphia Public League.  This, of course, is not a slam against teams like Northeast or Washington, but rather just my opinion based on my many experiences watching the Pioneers over the years.
  After watching this game, I came away quite disappointed with the Frankford program.  I understand that this game meant nothing in the big scheme of things, and the Pioneers had just come off an emotional loss to Washington the week before, effectively ending their shot at a Pub title.  But, what I witnessed during this game was something that I didn’t think I would ever see; a Frankford team that looked unorganized, undisciplined, sloppy, and downright apathetic.
  During the warm-ups before the game, one player gave some lip to a Frankford assistant.  It took the coach about 10 minutes to explain to that player why it was wrong to jaw with the coach.  Back in the day, that player would have been sent to the locker room to think about why he wasn’t on the field.  During the game, I saw another Frankford assistant trading verbal jabs at a Mastbaum player who was on the field.  Coach Cap put an end to that.  On the last play of the first half, an interception, which was returned for a touchdown, was called back for a block in the back.  This was followed by some pushing and shoving between the two teams.  This resulted in a Frankford player being ejected.  Just prior to the ejection, while the refs were sorting out the penalties, Coach Cap gathered the team on the sideline, and gave them some grief.  He was very upset with what he was witnessing.  He said, ‘You’re not playing Frankford brand football.”  It’s funny, because I was thinking the same thing.  I’m a fan of Coach Cap, but in this game, he had his hands full.  Later in the game, when a player was losing his cool, the player was pulled off the field, and Coach Cap made a bee-line to him to give him an earful.  It seemed to me that Coach Cap was spending more time trying to keep the Frankford tradition alive than he was coaching.  He was putting out fires all game.  Back in the day, Frankford teams won and lost games with class.  In this game, Frankford was not the “one cut above“ type team that I’ve followed over the years, but instead, they were just another Pub team.
 

 

NOV. 6
PCL AAAA SEMIFINAL

Roman Catholic 27, St. Joseph's Prep 7
Game Summary

  In the first meeting between St Joseph Prep and Roman Catholic, the Cahillites came in as the consensus favorite, but Prep jumped out in front of that game, mainly due to efficient passing, and Roman miscues.  In this first game, the Cahillites spent the entire game trying to play catch up.  It didn't work, and the Prep ended up cruising to a 31-15 win.  This game, however, would be different in so many ways.
  Roman won the coin flip and decided to defer to the second half, putting the game in the hands of their defense to start the game.  After each team traded punts, Prep began their second drive at the Roman 49.   The Hawks ran 6 offensive plays on this drive.  Roman stuffed the Hawks for minus-5 on running plays, and a minus-11 on a sack by Abdul Basil.  With the Hawks looking at a 4th and 24 from the Roman 29, Prep's Skyler Mornhinweg hit Jim Hurley for a 29 yard touchdown pass to give the Hawks the lead, 7-0.  On the ensuing drive, after Roman turned the ball over near mid-field, a feeling of “déjŕ vu” went through the Roman crowd.  Fortunately, for the Cahillites, their defense was up to the challenge, as they held Prep to 2 yards on 3 plays, forcing the Hawks to punt the ball back to Roman, early in the second quarter.
 It's right about here that this game went from benign to just plain wacky.  Roman began their first drive of the second quarter at their own 23.  Marcus Kelly rushed for 10 yards on the next three plays.  On the fourth play of this drive, Sophomore QB, Michael Keir, hit Anthony Johnson with a pass, which Johnson turned into a 67 yard touchdown.  With the extra point, we were sitting at 7 - 7.  The second quarter was far from over.  On the next Hawk possession, a Mornhinweg pass was picked off by Corey Bronson, who returned it for a touchdown.  By the way, this interception was the first of twelve consecutive attempts that did not find their mark.  It was a span lasting well into the second half.   After forcing the Hawks to punt on their next possession, Roman, with a good mix of passes and runs, marched 56 yards to the end zone.  Big play of this drive was a 32 yard touchdown run by Marcus Kelly.  At this point, it looked like we'd be going into the half with Roman up 21 - 7.  But, in a game like this, nothing is really certain.  After the Kelly touchdown, Prep went three and out, followed by Roman failing to convert a fourth and nine at the Prep 28.  With only 16 ticks left on the clock, it looked like Prep would just go to the locker room and lick their wounds, down by 14.  But, Prep had over plans.  On their first two plays, they handed the ball to Jeff Heath, who broke runs of 10 and 11 yards respectively, and giving Prep a first down at mid-field.  Prep called a timeout, and with only six tenths of a second, it appeared as though Prep would run one more play and throw one toward the end zone.  In hindsight, this may have been the worst decision made in this game, as the pass from Mornhinweg was picked off by Anthony Johnson at the Roman 11.  It was not only picked off, but it was returned 89 yards for the fourth Roman touchdown in the quarter.   The extra point attempt sailed wide, ending this crazy quarter of football, with the Cahillites leading 27-7.
  Roman began the second half looking a little apprehensive, almost like they expected Prep to come from behind and win.  Well, after going three and out and punting on their first possession, Prep went on with what I'll call the "phantom drive".  There's no other way to explain it.  This drive covered 74 yards and resulted in a touchdown.  But, it’s how Prep managed those 74 yards is what is so strange.  Prep moved the 74 yards on only 20 yards rushing and 11 yards passing (that’s only 31yards to anyone who is counting).  It also featured 6 incomplete passes.  Added to this was 20 yards in Roman penalties, and 23 yards on a punt that was fumbled by the Roman return man.  It was a very strange, but effective drive.  On the ensuing drive, Roman went into the football equivalent of the four corners, as they managed to run 10 plays, net only 14 yards, yet they earned two first downs and they ran 5 minutes and 34 seconds off the clock.  This ball control offense didn't faze the Hawks one bit, as Skyler Mornhinweg found his touch again and hit Paul McGann for an 81 yard bomb, which gave Prep the ball at the Roman 17.  After two straight incompletions, Mornhinweg hit Andrian Johnson for a 17 yard touchdown pass, bringing the Hawks to within 8 points of Roman.  The clock showed 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.  Prep's kickoff was booted around a bit by Roman, who began their next drive on their own 19.   Roman embarked on a 10 play, 80 yard, and nearly 6 minute drive, ending on the Prep 1 yard line.  Prior to the fourth and goal play, Roman coach Joe McCourt called a timeout.  The consensus of the group I was standing with on the sideline was that Roman would go for the field goal, giving the visitors a comfortable 11 point lead, and with only about 5 minutes to go.  McCourt had other plans, and decided to try to muscle it in from the 1.  It didn't work, and Prep took over, with 99 yards between them and the touchdown and the two point conversions they needed to tie this game up.  On the next 5 plays, Mornhinweg went 4 for 5, including a 42 yard pass to Andy Parker, giving the Hawks a first and ten from the Roman 40.  Mornhinweg's next pass was picked off by Roman's Abdul Basil, giving Roman the ball at their own 23, with 3:19 to play.  The Roman crowd erupted, as it appeared that this game would now be over.  But, it was still far that point.  Needing a first down to be able to run down the clock, Roman stayed on the ground.  On the second play, there was a fumble.  It seemed as though all 22 players on the field ended up in the scrum.  To tell you the truth, I have no idea who came up with the ball, but everyone on the Roman sideline groaned when the referee pointed toward the Roman end zone, which means that Prep had recovered.  Prep, once again, had a chance to catch up.  From the Roman 23, Prep once again went to the air for the next two plays.  After an incompletion and a 7 yard completion, Prep was facing a 3rd and 3.  Prep followed up with two running plays.  The first was a 3 yard loss, thanks to Roman’s Tyrone Brown.  On what would be their last offensive play of the game, a not so clean exchange and a slip of the running back in the backfield, forced the Hawks to go out on downs with a little over 2 minutes to go.  Kelly gained 8 yards on the first play, but it was offset by a 10 yard holding penalty.  On the second play, Kelly again rushed for 8 yards, giving Roman a crucial third and four from their own 29.  Just before the snap of play three of this drive, a Prep player yelled “Go!” at the line of scrimmage, hoping to draw the Roman line offsides.  The Roman coaching staff let the officials know they heard it too, and the ref threw a flag and called the Prep player for unsportsmanlike conduct.  The result of this play was a first down for Roman, at their own 44.  And, with Prep out of timeouts, the Cahillites went into Victory formation to end the game at 27-19. 

Sights, Sounds and Observations

-         Instead of the National Anthem, the “Philly Anthem” was played, which as you all know, is Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America”

-         As the #2 seed, and with Roman as the #3 seed, Prep was the home team.  But, they decided to use the visitors’ sideline, which gave Roman the home bleacher section.  Not sure if this had anything to do with the fact that Prep really didn’t have as many fans at this game as they usually do.

-         The start of the game was delayed for about 5 minutes, as the refs discovered there was no down marker on the field.  The site manager was found, with the help of yours truly, and the marker was brought to the field.

-         In addition to the group of North Catholic orphan players on Roman’s team, as we call them, “Norphans”, three former North Catholic coaches now wear the Purple and Gold.  Tony Owens, Shawn Stratz and Patrick McCullough joined Joe McCourt’s staff.

-         Speaking of North, in what was a classy move by Roman, the back of every Roman helmet has two stickers, one with a “CD” and the other with a “NC”.  This is in memory of Cardinal Dougherty and Northeast Catholic. 

-         Continuing on with the North theme, catching the game from the Roman sideline was former North Catholic AD, and current District 12 official, Fran Dougherty.  I’m sure he doesn’t like when I mention this, but Mr. Doc taught my Accounting class when I was a sophomore, back in the 1979-1980 school year.  He still looks great.