On the Trail With Ted Return to TedSilary.com Home Page  Observations, notes, etc., on games I've seen during the 2004 season . . . September reports

OCT. 30
CATHOLIC RED
La Salle 26, Bonner 0
   The youthful Explorers have absorbed their share of lumps this season. Tonight they doled them out. Though many will find it hard to believe, this tilt was one-sided. Bonner earned a first down on its first play and then didn't get another until late in the second quarter. La Salle scored four TDs and could have had two more. It got to the 13 without scoring in the second quarter and to the 3 early in the fourth quarter. Then, in the waning moments, La Salle had fourth-and-goal on the 4 when offensive coordinator Bill Travers ordered a kneel-down. The QB at the time was his son, Ryan, a jr. The temptation to let his son try to make something happen undoubtedly was great, but . . . "That's how people used to do things in this league," said Travers, mindful that coaches have occasionally been accused and/or guilty of rolling up scores. Anyway, the night featured the coming-out performance of soph RB Tyrell George, Eddie's nephew. He posted 115 yards and a TD on 15 carries and had a 41-yard run. He has a smooth style and is already solid at 5-10, 180. On the 41-yarder, he didn't LOOK fast. But he surely did get through holes that didn't appear to be big enough. He did most of his running in the second half. Soph Chris Ashley ran 14 times for 47 yards and two scores. Sr. QB Mike "Michael Jack" Lynch passed 6-for-14 for 82 yards, as Ashley, George and jr. RB George Hudson (also a force at LB) handled much of the receiving. Jr. Mike Padgeon blocked with passion. The line: jr. C Jim Gehringer, sr. Gs Stew Ryan and Mike Andrews, sr. Ts John Clifford and Jack "In the Box" Crouse and sr. TE Tom Jorfi. Counting sacks, La Salle held Bonner to 3 yards rushing. Jr. QB Marc Verica did hit seven different receivers for 143 total yards, but the Friars could not pull off the big play and came close to scoring just once. A 15-yard pass to sr. RB Jeff DeSipio put the ball on the 14. Sr. DE Joe Sobocinski dumped Verica for a 15-yard loss. Verica hit sr. RB Carl Graham for a 7-yard gain, then again went back to pass. With "Sobo" again in his face, Verica threw to the left and the play wound up being an 89-yard interception return for a TD for soph DB Jack Forster! La Salle did some mixing and matching on defense, but this was the main crew (I hope): Sobo and sr. Christian Barrett at E; Ryan and soph Kevin Rose at T (soph John McBurnie suffered an early injury; didn't appear to be serious); Hudson, and sophs Dominic Baker and Greg Frantz at LB; and in the backfield sophs Sean Saverio, Forster, sr. Mike Boyle and jr. Jeff Liberatore. Forster also had a fumble recovery and blocked a field goal attempt. Hudson (7-yard sack) and Barrett added recoveries. For Bonner, soph DB Mike Dougherty had a second-quarter sack and jr. DB Ryan Hunt followed immediately with another. Sr. DT Mike Nolan and Hunt again had second-half sacks. Jr. LB Matt Licci exploded across the line to drop Hudson for a 7-yard loss. Sr. Jake Dukes had a big-time crunch on punt coverage. Sr. Andrew Case, the backup QB, punted six times for 176 yards and handled punt/KO-return duties. He was also the holder on the blocked field goal and he scooted from the 29 to the 14 after picking up the loose ball. So, he picked up 15 yards of rushing. A few La Salle guys, including basketball player Brian Carlin, were watching from the track with injured lineman Andrew Rocks, one of the captains. One kept saying, "That's the hit of the week." Or, "That's the pop of the week." After Bonner held one time, I said to the guy, "Is that the goal-line stand of the week?" He said, "No, the goal-line collapse." As the clock wound down, Ryan yelled at me, "Tell Huck he doesn't know what he's talking about!" He then held out the front of his jersey and said, "That's coming from Stew Ryan, No. 58!" I reminded him that Huck has e-mail (smile). It was quite foggy, especially as the game began. Yes, people were breaking out the Buddy Ryan/Chicago Fog Bowl references.

OCT. 30
PUBLIC MID-CITY
Dobbins 24, Germantown 8
   Time to break out all the references to Lazarus. Dobbins is back from the dead. The Mustangs stumbled to an 0-4 start mostly because top rusher Rashad "Reds" Williams was tending to some classroom issues. They're 5-0 since his return and that's not a coincidence. Dobbins not only needed to win this game, but had to do so by at least five points to win a complicated tiebreaking procedure with G-town and Gratz. It turned out to be no problem. G-town settles into third place and Gratz is out (because it lost to G-town). Williams was his usually frisky self with 24 carries for 120 yards and one TD; he also had several attention-grabbing plays on defense. But one could make a strong case that the most important player today was sr. QB Steve Sydnor. Coach Doug Macauley correctly assumed G-town would focus much effort on trying to stop Reds, so he came out throwing. Sydnor was a shade off early -- nerves, maybe -- but he finished 7-for-15 for 162 yards and two TDs and several of his long passes were absolute beauties! His TDs went for 41 yards to sr. Cedric Graham and for 33 to Williams (becoming a weapon out of the backfield), while sr. WR Damond Griffin had four snags for 76 yards. Griffin also had one of Dobbins' four interceptions. Sr. LB Greg Davis had one and jr. DB Paul Boldin had a pair. One of Boldin's even went for a 27-yard return for a TD. In all, G-town was guilty of eight turnovers. Phew! Not good! Three of the recoveries set up TDs as Sydnor (hit by Griffin), Davis (bobbled snap) and sr. DE "Famous" Amos Leak (hit by Williams) did the honors. The personable Leak also had a TFL and a sack on successive plays. I told him he's not allowed to again nominate himself for Player of the Week honors. Somehow, I think he's going to do it anyway (smile). Dobbins' line: sr. C Cordero Thompson, Gs Davis and jr. Joshua Brooks, sr. Ts Dedarryl Washington and Matt Brent and ends Graham and Griffin. Dobbins had 348 total yards. Jr. RB Reginald Lloyd (11-117) scored for G-town on a 55-yard run and added the conversion dash. Jr. RB Akeem Johnson, playing hurt, settled for 49 yards on eight totes. Sr. LB Korey Carter and sr. DB Xavier Shaw made most of the tackles. Soph LB Eric Williams also had some moments. Early, G-town's coaches were wondering about the absence on Dobbins' d-line of No. 68, jr. T Robert Williams (6-3, 300). He was wearing No. 73 in this one. "In No. 73, I'm just Rob," he said. "In No. 68, I'm 'Freak Junior.' " If you say so (smile). Well after the game, G-town's drum players lined up face to face in the middle of the field to go at it with Dobbins' as cheerleaders and others gathered 'round. My ears are still ringing. To see who won the drum competition, go to www.GeneKrupa.com. Just kidding. Don't go there.

OCT. 29
PUBLIC NORTH
Northeast 17, Frankford 0
   This was for second place in the division and, as it turned out, a much tougher matchup in the quarterfinals. But Northeast will be getting a home game on the brand new artificial surface at Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium and the unbeaten foe will be good, ol' Central, the Vikes' arch-rival and Thanksgiving foe, and I doubt anyone from Cottman and Algon will mind. After posting a shutout AT Frankford and giving the Pioneers their second consecutive home setback (man, how often has THAT happened?), NE is flying high, no doubt. Frankford went through the first half without its only returning starter, sr. QB Lamont Brown. He was being disclipined for some school shenanigans. But when he did come in, he bobbled the ball and lost it and then threw an interception, so it wasn't as if he was sterling. Then, in the waning moments, Frankford had first-and-goal at the 2 and couldn't get in. Brown lost a yard, gained a yard and then passed incomplete as sr. DE Khaliyl Willis applied good pressure. The fourth-down call was for a pitchout to the right and sr. FB Frank "Cherries" Jubilee was dropped for a 4-yard loss by sr. CB Kyle Sample and jr. LB Seth Shapiro. Northeast had one TD in each half and jr. Chris Mountney added a 35-yard field goal with 6:51 to go in the game. The early star was jr. WR Rockeed McCarter. He turned a right-to-middle slant from sr. QB Cordia "Chop" Mosley (6-for-10, 88) into a 17-yard score. His best play came in the final minute of the half, though, when Northeast was scrambling in an attempt to add to its lead. McCarter made a tough catch along the sideline and kept fighting for extra yardage against multiple defenders. When the string ran out, he had the presence of mind to get to the sideline, and across it, to make sure the clock would stop. Impressive! Mountney had great distance on a subsequent FG attempt from 33 yards, but eased the ball to the left. My DN story highlighted sr. RB-S Jeremiah Pitt. He had 16 carries for 72 yards and two catches for 28 and he should have been able to enjoy an 81-yard interception return for a TD. But one of his teammates made a bonehead play -- no other word for it; a block in the back WAY behind the action -- and Pitt had to settle for 39 of the return yards. Sr. FB Chris Banks wasted little time wiping away the sour thoughts, taking the second play 53 yards for a score. NE finished with 240 yards total offense on 44 plays. The line: sr. C Brandon Stewart, sr. Gs Brandon O'Malley and Keith Erickson, sr. Ts Teddy Joseph and Shaun Taylor and soph TE Sean Evans. On defense, jr. E Chris Craddock had two sacks and two other stops at the line and jr. LB Jeffery "Milky" Jones recovered a fumble. I don't know what to make of Frankford. Honestly, no one stood out. For my money, the hero of the day was a player -- sorry, not sure of identity -- who displayed a huge amount of common sense very late in the game. After Sample made a lackluster tackle, a Pioneer hollered at him from the sideline, "You call that a tackle?" Another Pioneer admonished the first one by saying, "You're gonna say that?! And we're losin'?!" He then shook his head in disgust. Frankford's quarterfinal opponent will be Overbrook, making its first postseason appearance in the program's 77-season PL history. Frankford, just because it's Frankford, will go in as a favorite. Likely a big favorite. But I truly wonder what's up with this squad and I'm betting the coaches and even some players are wondering, too. The game featured dueling brothers in Northeast assistant Matt Evangelist (a former QB star for Fkd) and Frankford assistant Mario Evangelist. Late in the game, Frankford RB Malik "Flip" Walker was ordered to the sideline by head ref Tom McClain because his pants had a big rip near the left butt cheek. Manager Tarryn Pietersen gave Flip some new pants and most of the subs stood around him in a circle as he changed so no one could see what was going on.

OCT. 28
PUBLIC NORTH
Washington 43, Lincoln 6
   From the competition standpoint, not much was expected. And not much was delivered. The mighty Eagles barely broke a sweat and running-clocked Lincoln just a shade into the third quarter. Lincoln had a decent plan going in -- stop sr. RB Jerry Butler -- and it worked in OK fashion, actually, thanks to heavy attention to the corners. But the middle was left exposed and the deep pass was left largely uncovered and Washington still scored more than enough points. Sr. FB Jerome Lewis (5-66), who goes 225 pounds, tallied the first two TDs on runs right up the middle. Then, sr. Courtney Williams, usually a scatback-type, lined up at FB and HE went 30 yards for a score. Immediately after sr. LB Justin Presley, a catcher during baseball season, made his fourth pick of the month, offensive coordinator John McAneney went for the quick strike and sr. QB Chuck Hughes (5-for-6, 163 yards) bombs-awayed for a 65-yarder to sr. WR Raymond Roy. As the third quarter began, Hughes found sr. TE-WR Dominique Curry for a 37-yard gain and Butler (13-88) ran in from the 3 three plays later. Sr. Mike Kline added the PAT for a 36-0 lead and the clock started running with 9:16 left. Ouch! With a playoff game coming up next week, coach Ron Cohen wanted to give his first-stringers a little more time. On G-Dub's next possession, Butler ran for 4 and 16 yards, then eased through the middle of the line and caught a 27-yard scoring strike. My DN story focused on sr. LB Stefan Ruff, who's surprisingly agile, and even fast, at 6-foot, 270. He had eight tackles, along with an interception and fumble recovery. He played rugby -- yes, rugby -- last offseason and it helped him greatly. (Bill Wettstein is also doing a report on this game; he'll have more defensive accomplishments.) For Lincoln, sr. RBs Terrell Denson (18-48) and Rory Stallworth (11-71) did some hard running with guys in their faces all game long. Denson ran 6 yards for a late TD against Washington's second-liners. Stallworth helped to set it up with a 29-yard burst. Sr. LB Joe DiGrazio uncorked numerous hard hits and received props from those standing along Washington's sideline. After throwing two interceptions in the first half, sr. QB Kareem Dennis was shut down, in effect, by his coaches. Despite the huge deficit, he threw NO passes in the second half. He was sacked twice by subs -- jr. E Gerald Brady and jr. S Brandon Smith. Lincoln, wearing black jerseys with yellow trim, was on the field warming up when Washington's players came marching down the concrete steps. One of the Eagles yelled, "Let's put these bumblebees to sleep!" Sr. two-way lineman Dave Gonser, one of Washington's true headliners, had to depart after being popped in the, ahem, jewels. We hear the school chorus has an opening for a soprano! (smile) By the way, Dave said he doesn't wear a cup. Think that might change next week?

OCT. 23
CATHOLIC RED
SJ Prep 12, O'Hara 7
   The Hawk will never die? Not this season. Not yet, anyway. Yes, The Prep was humbled in its first two games of the season vs. traditional toughies Pittsburgh Central Catholic and St. Ignatius, of Cleveland. But loss No. 3 has yet to come and the Red regular season winning streak now stands at 34. With a huge, overflow crowd looking on at Springfield Delco, the Hawks took an early punch to the gut and then pretty much laughed it off. All season O'Hara has made first-drive scores an art form and did so again. Soph John Dempsey reeled off a 27-yard kickoff return to the 31 and the Lions needed only six plays to get to the end zone. Sr. RB Steve Cook started the thrust with dashes for 14 and 19 yards. Sr. FB Pat Macaulay capped it with a TD run of 17 yards. He looked like a scatback, making a few impressive cuts, especially inside the 10. O'Hara then continued another trend, getting a quick turnover after the first score as sr. SS Mike Marotta intercepted a pass by soph QB Chris Whitney (pressure by jr. DB Anthony Walters). The Lions could not make the most of it, though. On third and 6, sr. LB Andrew Cabrey dumped sr. QB John Ward for a 12-yard loss and O'Hara could not convert its opportunity to jump ahead by two TDs and perhaps change the game's complexion completely. The Prep had a TD of its own before the end of the quarter and a pick set it up. Penn State-bound sr. LB Steve Quinn intercepted Ward on the O'Hara 47 and returned the ball 16 yards to the 31. Jr. RB John Shaw (21-122) gained three yards and sr. QB Jim McCormick whipped a scoring pass to jr. WR Tim Lutz. Thereafter, the game mostly had a late-November look. The kind you see on cold and blustery days. A few decent scoring chances, but not much happening overall aside from hard-hitting defense. The Prep finally got something going in the third quarter and the drive was memorable. The Hawks went 97 yards in 11 plays. Shaw had runs of 25 and 24 yards. McCormick hit Quinn for gains of 14 and 16 yards. Then, on third-and-goal from the 3, McCormick lofted a pass to sr. TE Mike Boyle in the left corner of the end zone. The big guy caught it -- it was his first varsity catch -- and that play wound up being the game-winner. O'Hara had a chance to pull out the win in the late going, starting from The Prep's 44 at 2:51. The QB for this drive was another senior, the faster Tom Creighton. But on first down at the 32, defensive coordinator David Hand called for a blitz for the only time all game and Quinn forced Creighton to switch directions. Boyle then ran him down and Creighton threw a dump-it pass that resulted in an intentional grounding call. Total loss on the play, counting the 5-yard penalty -- 19 yards. The effect -- killing. Finally, on fourth-and-forever, Ward came back in and jr. DT Charlie Noonan (11 tackles) dropped him and recovered the fumble. How often have you ever seen both teams in a game involving powerhouses use two QBs? Amazing, huh? Prep coach Gil Brooks has been using McCormick and Whitney for a long while. It'll be interesting to see whether O'Hara coach Danny Algeo now alternates Ward and Creighton. Whitney was off in this one. McCormick's performance should give him renewed confidence. Creighton threw an end-zone interception (to jr. DB Ryan Malarick) late in the first half, but had a 28-yard gain on a nifty keeper. While making a point to the officials, Brooks hollered, "Hey, this is a big game! Let's act like refs! This isn't a CYO game!" At least one of them smiled, ever so slightly. Prep sr. LB Andrew Spross made a dozen stops. O'Hara recorded five sacks. Jr. LB Scott Taylor, jr. DT Ed Callahan and jr. LB Todd Cannon had solos. Sr. DE John Paul Conneen shared one and batted down a conversion pass.

OCT. 22
PUBLIC SOUTH
Overbrook 27, University City 0
   So, will Oct. 22 go down as the best day in Overbrook's 77 years of Pub football? Or will Oct. 29 go down as the most crushing? The Panthers definitely did their part in their quest for the school's first-ever crack at postseason action. But now it's out of their hands. Bartram and Franklin play on Friday. If Bartram wins or Franklin wins small or medium, 'Brook is in. But if Franklin wins by 14 points or more, 'Brook is out. (The tiebreakers in this situation are complicated.) Anyway, this was a wild day and fun to watch. Coach Ken Sturm and those before him had endured SO much frustration and disappointment and pain and other negative emotions. Sturm and I had discussed the various possibilities before the game, but he rightly declined to tell them about the Bartram/Franklin points thing while everyone was still excited. He said he would tell them when the team returned to 'Brook. Sr. WR-DB Devon Starks provided an early spark with a 56-yard punt return for a TD. He might have been touched, but I doubt it. Starks also had one of the Panthers' three interceptions (others by sr. DB Jarrett Johnson and freshman DB Eric Kemp) and he made a key block on a 26-yard TD run, off an end-around, by sr. Arthur Sanders; it was his first carry of the season. Sr. RB William Brownlee, one of the team's emotional/spiritual leaders, ran 22 times for 158 yards and a TD. Johnson whipped a TD pass to jr. TE Naftalia "Talie" Ellis, quite an imposing target. Sr. Khalif El-Harre-Bey rocked folks at linebacker. I mentioned this stuff in my DN story: The Panthers' last winning season was in 1970 and they won two games or fewer in 25 of the seasons thereafter. This is only their 11th winning season and the school record for wins (8 in '64) is definitely in jeopardy. All six of this season's wins have come by shutout! As time was winding down, the Panthers (6-2 overall) soaked Sturm. Then, as the game ended, defensive coordinator David Carter began running across the field because he knew the players were gonna try to get him, too. Carter was a tremendous player at Franklin, and then was a factor at West Virginia, but the Panthers caught him. I kidded him that he must have lost a step. In the old days, he would have hopped the fence and the players would STILL be trying to catch him (smile). Because the game was so historic, we'll list the starters. Offense: QB Johnson, FB sr. Marquice Freeman, TB Brownlee, SB Sanders, WR Starks, TE Ellis, sr. T Steven Johnson, jr. T Andrew Jrateh, sr. Gs McHale Timothy and Chris Howard, jr. C Hassann Denmark. Defense: Es Freeman and Denmark, sr. T James Morgan, jr. T Robert Sheed, sr. NG James Scott, LBs El-Harre-Bey and Howard, CBs Brownlee and Starks, Ss Johnson and Sanders. The kicker, sr. Leeshon Hyman, hit three PAT and put a few balls out onto Spruce Street. UC was held to two first downs and one of those came on an interference call. The Jaguars' longest plays were a pair of 8-yard runs for sr. Sterling Johnson. After an early successful play was followed by a penalty, a UC parent muttered, "Every time we get moving, Lady Luck just bites us in the ass!" In the second half, I heard an Overbrook player say to a teammate, whild nodding toward the scoreboard, "How much time is left? I don't have my glasses."

OCT. 21
PUBLIC SOUTH
Bok 8, Bartram 0
   There was an interesting dynamic here. Because Bok has opted to forsake the Pub playoffs in favor of entering a PIAA Class AAA subregional (not until the second weekend in November), it didn't really NEED to win this game. But pride is pride and even though the Wildcats were outgained, 165-84, and were unimpressive for large chunks of the game, they found a way to win. Bok had 7 yards in the first half and did not post a first down until 3:51 remained in the third quarter! And the bad vibrations continued late in the session when sr. WR Nafis Edwards, on a trick play, became the first 'Cat other than sr. QB Joe "Pepe" DeSalis to throw a pass this season -- and had it picked off by Max Williams. But on third down, as the teams switched ends to start the fourth quarter, sr. CB Maurice Brockington came hard off the right side and forced soph QB Kris Brownlee to fumble for a 7-yard loss. Sr. LB Gregory Thomas made the recovery. Bartram got some momentum as sr. E/OLB Monir Anderson threw sr. RB Amir "Lefty" Nuriddin for a 2-yard loss. But on second down, sr. RB Cory Moultrie (12-53) headed toward the right side, deftly turned the corner and went 29 yards for a TD. He then caught the conversion pass from DeSalis. Bartram had three possessions thereafter. The first featured a pair of 4-yard losses as jr. LB Cortez McLaughlin and jr. DT Dahson "X" Exum did the honors. The next one was terminated when Edwards made an interception. However, Nuriddin fumbled on the very next play (hit by sr. S Cameo Ali; recovery by sr. DE Tyrell Winchester) and Bartram was back in business at the Bok 41 with 3:54 left. Tiny sr. RB Cecil Waters and Ali ran for first downs and the ball was at the 18. Ali picked up 2 yards, with Thomas and sr. DE Sean Jessup combining to make the tackle. Brownlee threw two incompletions and backup QB Andre Goddard took over at the back of a shotgun formation. He ran to his right and was knocked out of bounds by soph CB Maurice Goodwin at the 11, three yards short of a first down. Bok ran out the clock from there. The division title is the Wildcats' sixth in seven years and eighth in 12 under coach Tom DeFelice. That's no accident. Bok's defense: sr. ends Cossim Turner and Jessup, tackles Exum and jr. Shon Tompkins, jr. NG Nick Perrone, linebackers McLaughlin and Thomas, cornerbacks Goodwin and Brockington and safeties Edwards and Moultrie. Sr. E Rasheed Fleming, sr. interior linemen Joe Campagna and Chris Cotton and Nuriddin, at cornerback, also figured in the rotation. For Bartram, soph RB John "Fudgie" Pratt finished with 26 carries for 115 yards. He appears to have "the feel" and could be very dangerous over the next two seasons. Sr. TE Sherman Hopkins, listed at 6-4, 225, made a pair of catches. Aside from forcing a fumble, Ali was in on four TFLs. Sr. DE Kevin "West Catholic Needs to Play US on Thanksgiving" Reeder was in on two. In the fourth quarter, a Bartram player definitely fumbled, but the umpire blew his whistle too soon and then, of course, had to convince everyone that the call was correct. Anyway, the 6-foot, 350-pound Tompkins recovered for Bok and had dreams of scoring. One of his teammates said of Tompkins, "He runs a 4.4" for 40 yards. Someone piped up with, "Four months and four days." It might have been me (smile).

OCT. 18
PUBLIC NORTH
King 14, Lincoln 13
   It's not too often a team gets outgained by roughly 3 to 1 and wins, but it happened in this one. Happened in controversial fashion, too. After sr. WB Joe DiGrazio turned a short flip from sr. QB Kareem Dennis (11-for-25, 217 yards) on fourth-and-10 into a right-up-the-middle, 16-yard touchdown with 1:45 left, Lincoln coach Gene Kelly decided to go for the win. (Sr. FB Charles Whittington is an OK kicker, but surely not automatic.) Dennis rolled to his right. Under pressure, he flipped to sr. handyman Rory Stallworth in the end zone. Stallworth made the catch on his back! According to the head linesman. Standing just a few feet away. Wait, no he didn't! According to the line judge, who came running across from the other side of the field, emphatically waving his arms. The stripes had a quick confab and ref Tom McClain backed the line judge. Lincoln outgained King, 272-96. How'd the Railsplitters lose? A few mistakes at inopportune moments. Early in the third quarter, King had fourth-and-1 at the Lincoln 48 and several players bitched hard when coach Mike Stanley called for a punt by sr. Larry Allen. His punt covered 32 yards and Lincoln began at the 16. On third-and-17 after a holding call, Dennis tried a pass to the left flat. Sr. DB Sammy Tranks closed hard and made an interception on the 22. He nearly could have walked to the end zone. A pass from sr. QB Jeff Campbell to jr. Marquis Clark made it 8-7. Lincoln's next drive was terminated when Clark applied good pressure and forced Dennis to fumble. Sr. DT Kerry Watson-Stover picked up the ball and returned it to the Lincoln 23. Four runs got the ball to the end zone -- 4 and 8 yards for sr. RB Jared Williams, then 6 and 5 for sr. FB Tirrell Dekeyser (back from a knee injury). We move ahead to the stretch run: With 2:33 left, Lincoln took over on its 17. Dennis supplied immediate juice with a 33-yard connection to sr. WR Khaleef Ings. After a spike and regular incompletion, he again hit Ings and the gain this time was 34 yards! To the 16. First, second and third downs resulted in incompletions and the Railsplitters were down to fourth and 10. DiGrazio delivered big-time, trucking one defender at the 6 and another at the 2. It was an impressive effort and, as earlier, I heard a few King guys praising "that aggressive white boy" (smile). DiGrazio finished with five catches for 98 yards along with a sack and two other tackles for losses at LB. Ings had two of his four catches (and 67 of his 91 yards) in the last scoring drive. Lincoln was out of timeouts after the drive and when Clark recovered the onsides kick, that was it. When King first had the ball, sr. Jeff Leriche and jr. Elijah Mauldin had SERIOUS pops a few plays apart. King assistant John Schroeder, who was late for the game (he probably teaches in a middle or elementary school), engaged in lengthy complaining about the officials. Finally, late in the first half, Carlos Deno threw a sideline-warning flag and reported to McClain that Schroeder was the reason. McClain said he wanted to talk with Schroeder and Schroeder, at high volume, said in effect he'd welcome the opportunity. Anyway, he said the wrong thing and McClain banished him. Schroeder watched the second half from behind the fence behind King's bench and freely gave suggestions to Stanley and his assistants. The refs had to know he was there, but opted to ignore things. When players are thrown out of games, they have to miss the next one. Wonder if the rule applies to coaches? King has an important game Friday vs. Northeast. I'd advise Mike Stanley to check with his father, Joe, the Pub FB chairman, and make sure about the ejection rule (smile).

OCT. 17
CATHOLIC BLUE
Neumann-Goretti 22, Dougherty 0
   Pitching and defense will win you a lot of games and in this one it got N-G a 2-0 halftime lead (smile). The only score in the first 24 minutes came early in the second quarter when Dougherty, for some strange reason, opted for a sweep off a pitchout on its own 6 yard line. It took a long time to develop and N-G's defense was equal to the string-it-out task. Sr. OLB Mike McLaughlin was the first to arrive and jr. LB Dan Chavis (seven tackles) was among those to assist and the Saints were up. The second half began as jr. Hiram Bowman ripped off a 58-yard kickoff return to the CD 21. Chavis (10-40) scored from the 3 six plays later. The Saints scored again early in the fourth quarter on Chavis' 1-yard run. The star of that drive was backup QB Tim Kopicko, a sr. He had runs of 10, 3, 21 and 7 yards on the thrust, but on the 7-yarder, which carried to the 1, he suffered an injury to his right hand. It was a bad blow because he'd done well to that point and his teammates were quite stirred; he must be a popular kid with good work habits. The conversion featured a successful pass from sr. Brian McLaughlin to his cousin, Mike. The last score, in effect, was a freebie. After gaining control of a bad snap, sr. P Mike Copestick was dumped for a 13-yard loss by jr. Barry Canady. With the ball on the 5, coach Steve Smith inserted his second offense and sr. Tom Lerro scored easily on a wingback reverse. Nobody was even within three feet of him. There was a funny moment on the PAT. M. McLaughlin was ready to kick out of the hold of sr. QB-RB Kenny Brown. But there was no block on the field. But just before the play was about to begin, someone threw the block a LONG way from the N-G sideline. It arrived on about 15 hops and ref Tom McClain blew his whistle in disgust, preventing the play from starting. Brown placed the block in the proper spot and McLaughlin kicked. Unsuccessfully. Sr. LB Chris Baldwin had nine tackles for N-G. As for Dougherty, man, it hurts to see how badly this program is struggling. The Cards have lost 16 in a row overall and 24 straight in Blue action. The numbers aren't bad and the kids still appear to be upbeat, so that's good. Sr. WR-DB Ralph Smith is a trusty receiver and punishing tackler. Jr. DB Derrick Israel stands his ground well on the corner. Sr. DE Chris McNicholas is now 6-5, 190, and is growing by the day, insiders say. He's an ornery dude, too, so he might have a future! The QB is sr. Luke Ashenbrenner. He's a small kid (5-8, 155) and has a weird throwing motion (from his shoulder), but he's an unchallenged leader and commands repsect. He hit Smith for about a 55-yard gain, but a holding call wiped out the play. This was late in the first half and, who knows, the game might have turned out in MUCH different fashion had the Cardinals gone into intermission with the lead. Though the game was slated for a 1 p.m. start, it didn't get rolling until 1:27. Dougherty waited until 1 to BEGIN its ceremonies for homecoming and senior day. Oh, brother! Only in the Cath! Smith and N-G's players got tired (and hissed) of waiting around and so did the refs. They all went back into the clubhouse. Sr. RB Patrick Smith was the homecoming king. One of the runners-up was a freshman named Anthony Empson (not a FB player). When I heard the name over the PA system, I had to go over and ask him if he had an uncle/father named Thomas Empson. Yes, he said. Thomas Empson is his uncle. He was also a star RB for Dougherty in the early 1980s. Tom Sprague, N-G's equipment manager, was plowed over along the sideline. He popped right up, smiling, and the Saints congratulated him for absorbing a pretty solid hit.

OCT. 16
CATHOLIC RED
SJ Prep 38, Roman 0
   Well, this division certainly appears to once again be top-heavy. In the afternoon, O'Hara pounded one of the next-tier teams, Ryan, by 36-0. And in the evening, after a delay of almost an hour because of lingering lightning (there was a brief, yet violent thunderstorm at P-W a shade before 6 p.m.), the Hawks squeezed the life from another next-tier team, Roman. You probably know this already, but the Prep-O'Hara game is Saturday at Springfield-Delco. The Hawks scored on three of their first four possessions to make this one lose any hint of luster. And they set the game into running-clock mode on a score with 10:29 left. Jr. RB John Shaw ran 25 times for 172 yards and three scores. This guy looks even faster/quicker under the lights. He also had a 42-yard gain on a screen pass from sr. QB Jim McCormick to set up a score. He should have scored, but sr. WR Steve Quinn was doing his part, blocking WAY downfield, when he and Shaw collided. Jr. TE Matt Leddy had two catches for 35 yards and a score. Sr. Mark Giuliani, a hair-on-fire return man, saw extended, late RB duty and responded with 39 yards and a TD on nine rushes. Soph QB Chris Whitney went 5-for-8 for 111. His best play came when he kept rolling right and finally found jr. WR Tim Lutz for a 55-yard gain. It appeared that Whitney's original target fell down, and that he then had to improvise. Not sure, but the "falldown guy" might have been Lutz himself. Anyway, it was a nice play all the way around. Jr. DT Charlie Noonan had two TFLs in the decisive first half. Quinn, the LB bound for Penn State, had a sack and TFL. Later, Quinn and sr. DT Alex Wade combined on a sack and Wade had a solo TFL. Sr. LB Andrew Spross had an interception. Roman was held to 45 yards rushing and 26 in the air. The Cahillites' most interesting play came when jr. WR Cory Jackson (also a sure, correct-form tackler at DB) made an appearance at QB and threw an under-pressure pass that looked like a popup to shortstop. Jimmy Rollins made the call, but sr. Tim Hoban, usually the QB, made the catch. He had to come back for the ball, and snatched it with an authoritative leap. Jackson is quick and electric and Hoban is a good/brassy overall athlete, so we might see more of that approach down the line. With little blocking, sr. RB Evin Jones was held to 27 yards on 14 carries. Roman's best defender was sr. OLB Tim Plona. He had a sack and two other TFLs, along with three other stops at or close to the line of scrimmage. He was limping in the second half, though. Everywhere I go, I'm asked about the Comcast SportsNet show and the language of Prep coach Gil Brooks. I didn't see it, but I'm told his language was, ahem, salty (smile). Anyway, this game was on CN8 and at one point Brooks responded to an official's call by yelling, "Jesus Christmas!" A member of Prep's support staff said with a laugh, "You can tell he's on TV tonight."

OCT. 16
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Gtn. Academy 21, Malvern 20
   This one could have headed to overtime, and I would not have minded one bit because the afternoon was mostly entertaining. But after sr. QB Brendan O'Sullivan hit sr. WR Ryan McManus for a 32-yard score with 1:40 left, soph K Joe Buckley pushed his PAT to the right. Another kicker, jr. Shane Lilly, handled the onsides kick and GA jr. Mark Brown recovered. There are many places where we could place early focus, but let's go here: GA's spectacular drive to end the first half. It was one of the all-timers in terms of clock management and clutch-play conversions. GA started on its 10 yard line with 2:38 left after a Malvern score. The Patriots covered the distance in 14 regular plays and scored at 0:05 as sr. QB Tyler Stampone went in from the 2. Stampone had six runs for 39 yards during the drive. Soph RB Alex Holcombe added five carries for 41 yards. The other 10 yards came on penalties. Stampone passed 0-for-3 officially and thrice spiked the ball to stop the clock. GA went 4-for-4 in third-down conversions and got the other first down on a second-down play. Again, it was a wonderful drive! GA maintained the momentum out of the locker room as sr. DB Warren Sewell recovered a bad pitchout at the 15 on just the second play. Holcombe then bruised for 8 and 7 yards to create a tie at 14-14. The Patriots weren't done. Stampone intercepted a pass at the 46 and returned it 45 yards, all the way to the 1. GA needed four plays to get in, but TS (we TS guys have to stick together -- smile) got in from the 1. He'd made a crucial play on first down. Sr. FB Matt Brown, Mark's brother, was popped hard and the ball squirted out of his arms. Stampone caught it at the 4. GA got those three yards back on a run for two by Holcombe and run for one by Stampone. Holcombe finished with 28 carries for 140 yards. He's 6-foot, 200 pounds and is said to be a unbelievably dedicated kid. It shows. He gets the tough yardage and never seems to be the least bit tired. Matt Brown was a pillar on defense. I had him involved in 18 tackles. Sr. Tom Matteo was also highly noticeable for his play at G and DT. Though O'Sullivan finished 6-for-11 for 128 yards, his two second-half picks were damaging (Holcombe had the other). Jr. Tom Hagan, a rumbling, hard-to-bring-down FB, had 79 yards on 13 rushes. The officials had some horrendous moments. As even Malvern loyalists freely admitted, Friar receivers twice were guilty of offensive interference (not called) while making important catches (McManus' late TD; jr. WR Trey Womack to set up a score 2:48 before halftime. The stripes also messed up the time in key moments. Late in the half, after one of Stampone's spikes, the side judge, keeping the official time on the field, tried to end the half with a countdown from 8 seconds. The ball had been spiked, stopping the clock! Luckily, his partners realized the mistake. Late in the game, GA did a running play and the ball did not go out of bounds. There was a penalty and the clock should have restarted after Malvern declined. It did not. GA coach Michael "Pup" Turner was understandably amazed/livid. One more big messup: Early in the second quarter, Stampone powdered jr. RB Will Miller at the 1, causing a no-doubt-about-it fumble. Miller was not even close to being down. A teammate recovered in the end zone, but a ref for some reason had blown his whistle. Again, even Malvern loyalists were stunned. "Brutal call," one said. "But, hey, it favored us so . . . " At one point during a timeout, Matteo yelled, "Bring out the white thing! The white thing!" He was getting no response. Turner finally added, "The cleat scraper. Bring out the cleat scraper. That's what he wants." It was, indeed. It rained for much of the game. Not too hard. Just enough to be annoying. This was Malvern's Homecoming. As the final ticks melted away, Turner said to his players, "Happy Homecoming, guys." There was some funny byplay between two great guys, Malvern teacher (and basketball assistant) Joe Redican and Jack Turner, Michael's dad and GA's long-time coach back in the day. Joe was standing on GA's sideline and yelling out occasional encouragement to the Friars. Jack yelled at him, "Hey, Malvern's cheerleaders are on the OTHER side!" All kinds of sporting activties were taking place. As kids came streaming into the indoor complex to pass away halftime, one bellowed, "What do I watch? Water polo or squash? Tough decision!"     

OCT. 15
PUBLIC NORTH
Washington 24, Northeast 6
   Major disappointment. You know a squad is having a bad day when the only thing it does well is block PATs. Washington jumped to an 18-0 lead in the first 11 minutes and Northeast never came close to making a game of it. Oh, well. This game is always emotional due to geography, but the juices were flowing with extra momentum this time because of No. 6 in a Vikings uniform. He's NE sr. RB-safety Jeremiah Pitt and last year he played for Washington. He was playing on a tender ankle and the injury affected his performance, along with the fact his linemen kept getting manhandled by G-dub's linemen. Pitt had nine carries for minus-one yard. Ouch. Three times he was dumped for losses by sr. DT Dave Gonser, the subject of my DN story and a prospect being eyed by Rutgers, Temple and Villanova, among others. Washington established an early, butt-kicking tone as jr. DT Demitrius Wilson and sr. DE John McFillin (listed as 5-5 on the roster; he's actually 6-5) logged sacks of sr. QB Cordia "Chop" Mosley (also playing hurt). When GW took over at the 50, sr. QB Chuck Hughes hit sr. WR Dominique Curry for 12 yards and then sr. RB Courtney Williams turned a right-to-middle slant into a way-too-easy 38-yard score. A holding call messed up NE's next possession and Chris Mountney punted. Washington sr. stud Jerry Butler was going to nix a return. But when he saw the ball bounce off a teammate's foot, he figured he'd better go get it in case the Vikings noticed and pounced. A 66-yard TD resulted. On NE's next series, Gonser and sr. CB Lawson Draper combined to drop Pitt for a yard loss, then Gonser did the honors solo as Pitt lost two yards, then McFillin and sr. LB Justin Presley applied pressure as Mosley threw incomplete. GW's next thrust? Way too easy again. Butler (14-114) ran for 16 yards. Williams took a reverse for 37. Sr. FB Jerome Lewis bulled right up the middle for a 9-yard TD and was barely touched. NE wound up with 11 yards total offense and scored only because Williams thought he was Willie Mays. About 4 minute into the second quarter, Mountney uncorked a long punt that bounced past Williams toward the goal line. Williams ran back and, with his back to the field, tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch at the 2. He did, but Pitt pushed him back and into the end zone and the ball came loose and sr. DB Darrin Smith recovered for a TD. The second half was played in a mostly heavy rain. Washington went 80 yards in 11 plays to start things off and Butler scored from the 10. He lost another TD, a 19-yarder in the fourth quarter, to a holding call. Northeast did nothing. In the fourth quarter, Butler went down with what, from far away, some people thought was a serious injury. It was only cramps. But even Northeast's coaches thought they'd seen a cheap shot, perhaps even a spearing, and they yelled for the guilty party to admit it and come running off the field. Guess what? The flag was against GW for clipping. When Butler finally got up, he yelled and pointed at the Vikings as he trotted off the field and everyone's emotions were once again stirred. He was so agitated, maybe there had been a personal foul, one that hadn't been called. With no room at all, NE sr. FB Chris Banks managed 30 yards on seven carries and never was dropped for a loss. As for the blocked PATs, jrs. Jordan Strickland and Rockeed McCarter did the honors. Strickland was also in on three half-sacks.

OCT. 10
CATHOLIC RED
O'Hara 39, La Salle 7
   Early, this one had the look of first string vs. scout team. O'Hara frolicked through the first quarter to the tune of 26-0. Its last two scoring "drives" in the session lasted just one play as soph John Dempsey ran 53 yards and sr. Steve Cook, after a procedure call, went him one worse with a romp for 52 yards. Possession No. 1 produced a true drive as the Lions went 77 yards in 12 plays. Dempsey had a 24-yard burst, but the rest of the yardage came in drips and drabs and Cook finally scored from the 1. TD No. 2 (set up by an interception from jr. DB Anthony Walters) came on a 30-yard pass from sr. QB John Ward to sr. WR Sean Barksdale. Yes, 30 yards! "Barks" has become the master of the short, fade-pattern TD and I kidded him that we'd have to check the rulebook to see whether he's allowed to score TDs from as far out as 30 yards. I guess he is; no flags were thrown. The second quarter was scoreless, but not without further pain for La Salle. With 10:55 left until halftime, sr. C Andrew Rocks, a popular co-captain just back from an ankle injury, went down and began screaming. Loudly. Everyone close to the field had that all-too-familiar sinking feeling. No medical vehicle was on site at Springfield Delco and it took roughly 15 minutes for Andrew to begin his journey to the hospital. He at least suffered a broken shinbone and perhaps more damage to his knee and/or ankle. What a deflating moment. The Explorers were visibily upset. The large crowd -- it was Homecoming for O'Hara -- gave Andrew a warm ovation and we can only hope his recovery is swift, and complete. On the first play after the resumption, soph RB Chris Ashley ripped off a 16-yard gain; the drive died at the O'Hara 21, though. La Salle had one more chance before halftime and jr. FB Mike Padgeon broke loose for 45 yards to the 25. An 18-yard pass from sr. QB Mike Lynch to sr. TE Tom Jorfi created first-and-goal at the 4, but this opportunity also did not pan out. The sequence: Padgeon was stopped for no gain by sr. DLs Brahiim Washington and Kevin Murray; Ashley was held to 2 yards by sr. DB Brian Giacobetti; Padegon was dumped for a 1-yard loss by Washington; and Lynch overthrew Padgeon in the left corner of the end zone. A funny thing happened as the half wound down. After getting the play from coach Danny Algeo, Ward turned around and began to trot back to the huddle. Another player was coming off the field and the two collided kind of hard. The other player fell to the ground, even. The "highlight" of the third quarter: back to back lost fumbles. Cook dropped a punt and Jorfi recovered. Padgeon lost the handle on a run and sr. DE John Paul Conneen did the pouncing. Cook (2 yards) and Dempsey (26 yards) ran for one TD in the fourth and Dempsey's came with 7:51 left, introducing a running clock at 39-0. La Salle, mostly against reserves, drove downfield and finally scored at 23.6 as Lynch hit sr. WR Kevin Trainer for a 12-yarder. It was a great play. Lynch was flushed out of the pocket far to the left side, then turned and scrambled far to the right. As Lynch came across, Trainer and Jorfi signaled from the end zone that they were open. The throw went to the very back end and Trainer had the concentration to get it. Soph Andrew Houchins, new to the squad, kicked the PAT. Just before his fumble recovery, Conneen had a TFL and a sack. Sr. NG Felix Quagliarello also had a sack in that time frame. Sr. WR-DB Matt Daly was in the Homecoming court. So were 65 other guys named Matt. Or so it seemed (smile). Really, it was three or four out of maybe seven. I didn't write down that stat. Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. O'Hara's starting line: sr. C Jerry Feehery, jr. G Dan Gough and soph G Jerry Penrose, sr. Ts Matt Lowry and Joe Glace, and sr. TE Tom Green.

OCT. 9
CATHOLIC BLUE
Conwell-Egan 27, Carroll 20
   Steve Slaton certainly knows how to do up special occasions in style. In his first varsity start as a freshman, he broke the school record for rushing yards in a game with 290 vs. Dougherty. Last year vs. Neumann he surged past 1981 grad Tom Seger (2,828) for the school mark for yards in a career (2,979) with a 253-yard performance. And then came this one: He walked onto the field with a shot -- admittedly a long one -- to become the city's fourth-ever member of the 5,000-yard Club. He did it, though, and at one point it appeared he'd have a chance to challenge the still-fresh mark for rushing yards in a game! West Catholic's Curtis "Boonah" Brinkley last year ran for 399 vs. North Catholic. Slaton had 204 at the half, on just 12 carries, thanks largely to scoring runs of 51 and 78 yards. He also had a 14-yarder for a third score along with bursts for 16, 10 and 20. He finished with 25 totes for 263 and his total now stands at 5,016. On his 51-yarder, the Maryland-bound Slaton got past three guys who appeared to have decent angles as he steamed down the right sideline. One, sr. DB Brian Rorick, made a dive and almost made contact. Steve's 78-yarder was to the left. Again Rorick made a concerted effort to prevent the score. This time he actually caught him at about the Carroll 25. Could only knock him the slightest bit off-stride, though. And Steve continued the rest of the way for the TD. The most amazing play of the first half, though, came early in the second quarter when Carroll soph RB Brent Christie had the ball taken away by C-E sr. DB Jeff McClenton, who sped 56 yards for a score! The second half was in great contrast. It featured mostly long drives. Wanting to keep C-E's offense off the field, Carroll opted for the slow-and-steady approach. The Patriots entered the second half down by 27-14, but threw just one pass until the very end of the game. And it netted a 36-yard gain from sr. QB Greg Kobilka to Rorick. Carroll's first drive of the second half was aborted when sr. OLB Dan Stavish dumped Kobilka for an 8-yard loss on fourth-and-3 at the C-E 13. Kobilka's 7-yard keeper for a score ended the next drive with 8:43 left in the game. On their last drive, the running mostly of bruising jr. FB Jake Szulinski (17-93, two TDs) eased the Patriots down the field and Kobilka surged forward to get a yard on fourth-and-one at the C-E 33. Only 1:16 remained. Kobilka then threw short to Rorick. His next pass was right into the arms of someone. Just the wrong someone. Slaton intercepted at the 13 and reeled off a 35-yard return. He added three carries for 15 yards as the Eagles rode out the clock. C-E's line: jr. C Ron Smith, sr. G Ryan Biernat, jr. G Rob Heller, sr. T John Leahey, soph T Justin Bainbridge, sr. E Dan Salera and soph E David Kuebler. Stavish had three sacks for 22 yards. Biernat, at LB, was in on 12 stops. Leahey, at DE, was also an important cog. Both teams had new kickers, due to injuries. Freshman Anthony Pospiech had two PAT for Carroll. Sr. Sean Mitchell hit three for C-E and executed an onside kick so well, he made the recovery! Leahey absolutely powdered a Carroll player who was hoping to flop onto the ball. A freshman, DB Ellis Rogers, had a pick for Carroll. The Patriots' Dave Puliti had an 88-yard gain on a reception. Didn't score, though. Two C-E players gave chase and Puliti made a late cut, allowing them to bring him down at the 4. Szulinski ran right up the middle for the TD. Slaton spent part of the game wearing No. 32, instead of his usual No. 22. A teammate was bleeding and blood got onto Steve's jersey. A trainer had to clean it off with bleach wipes. 

OCT. 9
CATHOLIC BLUE
West Catholic 37, Neumann-Goretti 0
   Bad blood? What bad blood? These schools were intense rivals long before Neumann closed last June and, as has been widely reported, six Neumann players opted to transfer to West and the Archdiocese gave them immediate eligibility. That, of course, did not sit well with those left behind, both coaches and players, and a decent amount of people in attendance for this one undoubtedly expected anything from rough play to outright carnage. Everything was pretty much tame. Yes, there were a few -- repeat few -- chippy displays, but you can get those in any game. And perhaps a nice tone was set even before the game when coaches Brian Fluck (West) and Steve Smith met at midfield for a several-minute discussion. The game itself? Not one to remember. Neumann had some noteworthy moments defensively, but just could flat-out not move the ball. The Saints' O-line had big problems trying to withstand the pressure of West's D-line, and linebackers. N-G recovered two fumbles in the early going and easily could have jumped ahead. The Saints got to the 9, then sr. RB Bruce Holloman was dropped for a 4-yard loss by soph DE Anthony Rhoades and jr. DB John Maddox followed with a leaping interception in the end zone. Four plays later, N-G got the ball at the Burrs' 35. But the four plays lost 3 yards total. N-G finished the half with 13 yards total offense. West kept sputtering and had to settle for nine points in the half. Sr. Josiah Morley kicked a 33-yard FG and Maddox made a spectacular catch of a pass from frosh QB Eric "Bambi" Brennan for a 32-yard score. Maddox was camped out in the end zone, and he plucked the ball out of the air while jumping over sr. DB Tim Kopicko. Quite a sight! There was a weird play late in the half. N-G's No. 35, jr. LB Dan Chavis, intercepted a pass and reeled off an 11-yard return. He fumbled, though, and No. 35 (sr. FB Kelven Quick) recovered for West. A strange play followed. Morley tried a 48-yard FG as the half ended. The ball didn't reach the end zone, though. N-G's Ryan Howlett caught it on the 1 and zipped for a 30-yard return. West's four second-half TDs were easy. Sr. RB Chris Diaferio (10-97) ran 48 yards from scrimmage; Brennan hit sr. WR Antoine Stout for 33 yards; Diaferio went 33 yards with a punt; and jr. DB Parris Shannon went 100 yards with an interception! Actually, he caught the ball 3 yards deep in the end zone, but only the length of the field itself is credited. He made the pick on N-G's side of the field and went all the way down the sideline. Morley, a soccer player, twice made tackles to prevent TDs on kickoff returns. He stopped Holloman to prevent what would have been an 84-yarder and jr. Hiram Bowman to prevent what would have been an 89-yarder. Hmm. Defensive Player of the Week??? (smile) Eighteen of N-G's plays went for losses (ouch). Rhoades and fellow soph E Isiah Edmond lived in N-G's backfield. Rhoades had 1.5 sacks and four more TFLs for 20 yards. Edmond six TFLs, with 2.5 sacks, for 21 yards total. Sr. LBs Chris Baldwin and Anthony Colancecco showed true grit for N-G's defense. When a cleat belonging to jr. lineman Paul Bryson broke, the call went out on the sideline for size 11s. Assistant Bill Sytsma (not sure if that's spelled correctly) offered his 11 1/2s and wore flip-flops for the rest of the game. He said with a smile, "If my feet get stepped on, Bryson's getting popped." A bunch of N-G athletes, current and former, stood along the sideline in the second half and yelled out some trash-talk remarks to the ex-Neumann guys who now are Burrs. Billy Canady, ex-FB and baseball star, had some classics. We can even repeat some of them (smile). To Marques Slocum he yelled, "How many blocks did you throw for me last year, 'Ques? Two! I counted them!" And then, "How much you bench now? 150?" He also "warned" the new Burrs they'd better not set foot again in South Philly for being traitors. Slocum, Mike Evans and others just laughed and/or held their finger to signify their status as No. 1.

OCT. 8
PUBLIC NORTH
Frankford 41, Mastbaum 20
   Hopes for a competitive game were dashed quite early. Mastbaum lost two fumbles in the first couple of minutes and the Pioneers scored both times. Then, a shade later, just after 'Baum advanced past midfield, sr. QB Markies Tavares was intercepted by jr. DB Ryan Hardy, who returned the ball 64 yards for a TD, making it 21-0 after just 9 1/2 minutes. Ugh! Mastbaum did respond immediately as Tavares hooked up with sr. Sherrod "Sheet Rock" Evers for a 63-yard bomb, but the air had pretty much been taken out of this game's balloon. Mastbaum is going through rough times. Now that the computer system is back up running, school officials have realized that sr. FB-LB James Baptiste is too old (19 last April). The Panthers might have to forfeit victories over Bartram (non-league) and King (league). Also, late in the game, sr. FB-LB Perrell Jones, who uncorked the game's hardest hit, was ejected after getting into a very brief scrap and he'll be unavailable for the next game. One more downer: standing on Fkd's sideline, wearing a jersey but not yet in pads, was jr. WR-DB Eric Hairston. He played for Mastbaum a week ago. He got into some playful jawing with several Mastbaum players. My DN story focused on jr. TE Alonzo Williams, who went to training camp as a backup fullback and is now the city's leading receiver in yards per game. Amazing, huh? He turned three catches into three TDs (seven total for season) and 128 yards. The QB was sr. Lamont Brown. The last TD was roughly a catch for 15 and run for 65. Williams was extremely tight to the right sideline, and should have been pushed out at the Mastbaum 45. Didn't happen. Sr. FB Frank "Cherries" Jubilee (17-106) and sr. HB Malik "Flip" Walker (14-120) ran for one score apiece and Hardy added another interception. Sr. DE Isaiah Stroman had two sacks. Stroman also made a recovery of a bad snap. Jr. LB Ernest Canales had a strip of Tavares and sr. LB Derrick Kennedy recovered for a 24-yard loss! Jr. DTs Chris Cruz and Braheem Foy also notched sacks. Tavares finished 13-for-18 for 238 yards. The always-impressive Evers made five catches for 152 yards and two scores and sr. David Pough got into the end zone with a 6-yard reception. A woman who identified herself as Tavares' grandmother yelled again and again, at high volume, about Mastbaum's inability to provide Markies adequate protection. After a sack, she hollered, "How you gonna let five (guys) tackle my grandson?! Now I see what he's been talkin' about!" Sr. RB Ifen Onwodi had a couple of nice runs en route to 54 yards on six attempts. Ex-Frankford coach Tom Mullineaux was in attendance. As was his defensive coordinator, Bill Clausen. Also, I got to meet Ray Capriotti, brother of Frankford's current coach, Mike Capriotti. Ray was the highly productive QB for Dougherty's 1968 City Champs and at one time held the city mark for TD passes in a season. (I know it's hard for youngsters to believe Dougherty was once a power. Believe it, guys. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, Dougherty had over 6,000 students and was the largest Catholic high school in the world!) Anyway, the Caps were excited because their father, Ray, was celebrating his 77th birthday. When I first arrived at the field, I thought senior leader Shannon Garrett had abandoned her managing duties because she was wearing a cheerleader's outfit. But later, there she was, back in a Fkd jersey, helping Tarryn Pieterson with the usual chores. She explained, "I perform with the cheerleaders in competition and today we had pictures taken."

OCT. 7
PUBLIC NORTH
Washington 48, King 16
   This was my first look at the Eagles and there was much to make a positive impression. With that being said, King could have and should have provided better competition and truly killed itself with some early messups that created a snowball effect. My D story highlighted the relationship between sr. RB Jerry Butler and ex-Washington star Bruce Perry, an Eagles' draftee who's missing the season with an injury. Bruce watched the first half and often could be seen counseling Jerry whenever Washington's defense was on the field. The two guys talk a LOT and it must be so beneficial for Butler to have someone like Perry to look up to, and receive guidance from. On just 18 touches, Butler posted 296 yards. Phew! He carried 15 times for 228 yards and TDs of 56, 38 and 58 yards while adding a 9-yard catch and 59 on two kickoff returns. He runs like the wind and has the find-the-holes savvy to match. Penn State finally called him Wednesday, but Wisconsin is in the lead for the moment. Villanova has jumped in with both feet, and likely sees him as the second coming of Brian Westbrook. Butler went 56 yards for a TD on the game's fourth play, sidestepping a King defender at the 20. His 38-yarder was a sweep to the right; he scored in the left corner of the end zone. Enough said. He frolicked on his 58-yarder. Butler was effusive in his praise of his linemen. I finally had to tell him, "OK, enough with the commercial. I'll mention their names." (smile) Here they are, and ALL are srs.; C Lance Gribbin, rotating Gs David Gonser, Nolan Young and Stefan Ruff, Ts Demitrius Wilson and Jason Patton and rotating Es John McFillin, Dominique Curry and Jelani Washington. Sr. QB Chuck Hughes had a TD pass to Curry. Sr. Courtney Williams ran 2 yards for a TD while adding an interception and a forced fumble at CB. He also had a tremendous face-up hit on King WR Sammy Tranks. Sammy caught a hitch pass and appeared to have room after juking a defender. A King kid even yelled, "He's out!" As in, he's going to the end zone. Not quite. Williams uncorked his thunder and then muttered to those on King's sideline, "Holla at me! Holla at me!" The overall defensive star was sr. LB Justin Presley, who had two interceptions and returned them for TDs (of 40 and 42 yards). He's the catcher during baseball season. Late in the first quarter, King had a chance to pull within a TD but sr. QB Jeff Campbell (he's in a deep slump) bobbled and lost the snap on fourth-and-goal from the 1. The Cougars' overall highlight came when Tranks returned a kickoff 88 yards for a score. It was one of those plays where the ball bounced past Tranks and Washington's first kick coverers to arrive were guilty of overrunning. Meanwhile, again and again, 5-4, 140-pound Raheem "Rah-Rah" Isaac (at least that's what it says on the roster -- smile) took and delivered hard hits. This kid's heart is as big as all outdoors! His best "play" came when the clocked was stopped, though. On the last play of the third quarter, a King player was injured far across the field. When ref Tom McClain waved for some guys to help the player off the field, the first guy to respond was Rah-Rah. Assistant Harry Wood called him back, knowing Rah-Rah was already contributing much more than his fair share.

OCT. 3
CATHOLIC RED
SJ Prep 23, La Salle 12
   Remember how the Hawks opened the season with a 35-game overall winning streak, longest in city history, and were spanked by Pittsburgh Central Catholic? Well, another streak is still alive and it stands at 30. That's how many consecutive games SJP has won in CL regular season games, starting with the last game of the '99 season. Though the Hawks came within a whisker of doubling the score on their private school rival, this wasn't a gimme. In fact, La Salle even had a lead! Prep coach Gil Brooks was a VERY frustrated man early in the second quarter as his team lost out on TDs on consecutive plays. A behind-the-line holding call wiped out a 10-yard toss from soph QB Chris Whitney (10-for-19, 134) to jr. RB John Shaw, placing the ball at the 26. Whitney delivered a strike to the end zone, but jr. WR Tim Lutz failed to hold on. When the score came eventually, it was a 22-yard FG by soph Mike Cavanaugh. La Salle slapped together a drive and the capper was a 22-yard TD pass from sr. Mike Lynch to sr. TE Tom Jorfi. The Prep did not mess around. Sr. WR Steve Quinn (6-80, five catches in scoring drives) made snags for 9 and 36 yards and Shaw went in from the 3 (good block by jr. FB Charlie Noonan). In this one, the 5-7, 180-pound Shaw carried a whopping 38 times!!! He produced 202 yards and three TDs. His 54-yarder with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter made it 23-12 just a short time after La Salle soph Chris Ashley had the play of the day. He went 64 yards for a TD on a punt return after showing major brass to catch the ball with a Prep guy pretty much right in his face. He also tightroped down the right sideline. Impressive! Prep sr. LB Jim Bogan suffered a knee injury on the play. Didn't get an update, but it might have been serious. I did a story on Jim during baseball season and he's a personable kid. Hope he's OK! Jr. DB David Clement, out lately with an injury, had two late interceptions. In fact, they came two plays apart. In between was a fumble recovery by La Salle jr. LB Joe Tubolino. The strip was by sr. DE Joe Sobocinski, who registered a hard-to-believe 13 tackles. Included were a sack and another TFL. "Sobo" played with game-long passion. My DN story highlighted Quinn, who recently said yes to Penn State. On defense, he batted down two passes near the line of scrimmage and broke up another downfield while registering a sack and several hurries. Jr. DB Jeff Liberatore made eight tackles for La Salle. Missing from La Salle's squad are a couple of guys who've been pretty important at times. Not sure whether they quit or were dismissed. Coach Joe Colistra said, "Just say they're no longer with us." The Prep ran 73 plays. Phew!

OCT. 2
CATHOLIC RED
O'Hara 24, Bonner 0
   There were very few people in attendance as the game between these spirited Delaware County rivals began, but the crowd grew to large proportions as the evening proceeded. Unfortunately, there was little to provide excitement and, judging by the number of Upper Darby police cars in the parking lot afterward, the best action must have taken place among kids not wearing pads. For me the key moment came just before halftime. Bonner was already down, 17-0, when a pass interference call moved the ball to the O'Hara 13. Jr. RB Frank Bizzari ran for 3 yards (tackle by sr. LB Bill Kerr), jr. QB Marc Verica rolled right and was held to a 2-yard gain by sr. DB Steve Cook and sr. DB Mike Marotta broke across the line to dump Verica for a 3-yard loss and the Friars faced a crucial decision on fourth-and-8 from the 11. Try for a TD and maybe get one and storm into the locker room with all kinds of momentum. Or opt for a FG attempt and at least get on the board. The choice was FG. The usually reliable Ryan Juisti, a sr., hooked the ball a shade to the left. As it turned out, everyone could have gone home right then and there. O'Hara opened with all kinds of pre-snap shifting and unbalanced formations and a new way to get the ball to sr. WR Sean Barksdale, via speed-sweep handoffs. The first drive covered 64 yards in 12 plays. The first 10 were runs. The last two were passes of 2 and 28 yards from sr. QB John Ward to sr. FB Pat Macaulay and Cook, respectively. TD No. 2 came in short order as Marotta made an interception and 28-yard return to the Bonner 15. Cook immediately ran 15 yards for an up-the-middle TD. He was barely touched. Cook's 36-yard run was the big play in a drive early in the second quarter that ended with a 27-yard field goal by sr. Frank D'Angelo. The only score in the second half came late in the third quarter. Macaulay ripped off an 18-yard gain to the 1 and more than a few kids on O'Hara's sideline said right away, "Give it to him again." Coach Danny Algeo obliged and Macaulay got the TD. Jr. DB Anthony Walters had two second-half picks for O'Hara. Verica had further miseries when he was blocking as the up-back on a punt and the ball hit him, allowing sr. DE John Paul Conneen to recover. He did break free for a few respectable gains on scrambles, though, and Algeo flared again and again, "Contain! What happened to contain?!" When I said to him after the game, "The theme for the night was contain, eh?," he smiled and said, "How many times did I say it? Sixteen? Seventeen?" Sr. QB Andrew Case was given a couple series' worth of action. His blocking fell apart in all directions on one play and was sacked for 13 yards by sr. DL Brahiim Washington. O'Hara jr. DB Harry Duke went out early with what was likely a separated shoulder. Jr. LB Greg Smith twice tackled Bonner RBs for 2-yard losses.

OCT. 2
CATHOLIC BLUE
Carroll 35, McDevitt 14
   It was a dreary day and there was a hint of second quarter drizzle, but Carroll lit things up just enough to make this a worthwhile football-viewing experience. The Patriots' offense is undoubtedly difficult to track for rookie stat-keepers because the ball's going this way, and then that way, because everyone is a pretty good ballhandler and deception is part of the schtick. Only one of Carroll's TDs covered under 30 yards and three were two-thirds of the field and longer. Two of the longies went to soph RB Brent Christie. He went 67 yards toward the end of the first quarter and 91 with 7:52 left in the third. Take my word for it: The 67-yarder was much cooler. Christie was ready to be dropped for a loss, then was banged backward and was ready to be dropped for a bigger loss. But the Lancers were guilty of the mortal defensive sin, failing to wrap, and Christie used just a hint of daylight along the right sideline to turn the corner and zoom! On his 91-yarder, he hit the open field rather early and even people driving cars would have had trouble catching this speedster. In all, his numbers were 9-187. The other very long TD came when sr. QB Greg Kobilka (4-for-7, 127) hit sr. WR Brian Rorick for an 88-yarder. This was way too easy, also. Kobilka's own TD run, of 30 yards, was a keeper to the right. He received excellent blocks from Rorick and jr. RB Josh Halladay (9-58, TD). Carroll generated 439 yards total offense in 44 plays -- 1 yard under a first down per play! The blockers: soph C John Pettine, sr. Gs Mike Kelly and Dan Ritter, sr. T Tom Rowinski and soph T Bill O'Brien and sr. Es Pete Novak and Rorick. The Patriots still have a few holes on defense, but the guys with the dirtiest uniforms were the guys who offered the most production: Kelly at LB, srs. Ryan Dougherty and Rowinski along the line. Rorick (DB) and jr. DB Mark Smith had interceptions coming down the stretch. On this website and in other media outlets, Carroll took all kinds of heat in the early part of the decade for allegedly running up scores. With just under a minute remaining, Halladay's 24-yard run took the ball to the 5. Offensive coordinator Fran Murphy ordered two straight kneeldowns. I'm sure McDevitt appreciated it. McDevitt had its moments. Sr. HB Damian Jordan ran quite hard en route to 150 yards on 24 attempts. Sr. Lamar McPherson, still hobbled by a tender ankle, did some punishing blocking at FB and ground out 41 yards on seven carries. In a duel with Mark Smith along the left sideline, jr. WR Brian Mitros made a spectacular, leaping catch to set up Jordan's score. Mitros earlier scored on a slant from sr. QB Ed McGrory, who's getting an extended look as jr. Tom Maha recovers from an injury (maybe another month). Sr. DL John Gorman was sturdy all day and partner Barry Porter, also a sr., had 1.5 sacks. Some of McDevitt's hardest hits were delivered by the lightest guys, sr. DB Steve Merlini and soph DB Joe Mitros. John George, Carroll's sr. K, does not use a block on PATs. When I asked him the reason, he said, "I play soccer and I'm used to kicking off the ground." Ex-Germantown HS star Omar McDonnaugh was part of the chain crew. He's buddies with McPherson. Omar, an all-time talker, pretty much behaved (smile).

OCT. 1
PUBLIC NORTH
Northeast 35, Mastbaum 18
   Before this game I decided to swing past NE and see what kind of progress was being made on the improvements to the stadium. Lo and behold, a few strips of turf had just been laid (check out Special Photos)! Over at Lincoln, the Vikings did some laying out of Mastbaum sr. QB Markies Tavares. Markies is one of The Pub's better passers, but he suffered an ankle injury early in this one and he partially hobbled the rest of the way. Plus, Northeast exerted constant pressure and he truly took a beating. Tavares had 13 carries officially. Twelve resulted in losses (for 87 yards!) and one was a no-gain. In all these years of covering FB games, I guess I've seen something similar, but I can't remember it. Two of his losses came on misdirected pitchouts. The rest were sacks. Here we go, in order: 11 yards, sr. DE Khaliyl Willis; 13, on an intentional grounding; 9, sr. DE Jordan Strickland; 1, jr. LB Jeffery Jones and sr. DT Jamel Evans; 8, sr. DB Chris Craddock; 4, Strickland; 7, Strickland and Willis; 13, Jones; 1, sr. T Terron "Quaker" Oats; 8, jr. LB Seth Shapiro; and 4, Jones. Unbelievable, huh? You couldn't but feel sympathetic for Tavares. I mean, he just got pounded again and again. NE assistant Gary Covington said at one point, "He's a pretty good quarterback, but he can't throw the ball on his back." Anyway, the Vikes' offensive star was sr. FB Chris Banks, who churned out 133 yards on 16 carries in part while taking up the slack for sr. HB Jeremiah Pitt, who suffered a first-half ankle injury and had to settle for 39 yards on nine carries. Banks scored three TDs. His last, a 47-yarder, was an eye-popper as he made two downfield cuts on the dead run and powered through a Mastbaum defender to get into the corner of the end zone. Jr. WR Rockeed McCarter (6-3, 195) challenged Banks in the great-TD department with a 38-yard catch-and-run from sr. QB Cordia "Chop" Mosley right down the middle of the field. Tavares finished 12-for-26 for 151 yards and much of his success came in tosses to sr. WR Sherrod "Sheet Rock" Evers. Sheet showed good hands and concentration and was skilled in placing his body in front of defenders. His seven snags went for 92 yards and all three 'Baum TDs. After Northeast scored a TD, 'Baum defensive coordinator Don Richardson called out the names of a few guys he wanted to talk to. A few extras began walking over, too. He said sternly, "If I didn't call you over here, you might not want to be around me right now." On third-and-17, Tavares threw an incomplete pass and 'Baum was flagged for procedure. The refs kept waiting for someone to make a decision and no one was speaking up. So defensive assistant Chris Riley finally yelled, "Take 'em back!" After sr. Ifen Onwodi zoomed for a 52-yard gain, Riley immediately hollered, "That's my fault!" A Viking responded, "Don't worry, coach. We've got your back." NE coach Mel Hinton and Mastbaum coach Al Coleman were roommates at West Chester and remain best friends to this day. They're said to be spirited tennis rivals, though Al would be favored at this point. Mel is still slightly hobbled after undergoing a summertime hip replacement operation.