September Reports

OCT. 31
CATHOLIC AA
West Catholic 40, Lansdale Catholic 8
  Now that his 44-year stint as a head coach is over, maybe Jim Algeo can find work as an offensive coordinator (smile!). Though still as sharp as ever, Algeo in recent years had mostly let his assistants run the show. But in the fourth quarter of his final game, played at P-W (with a 7:45 start) on a Monday night after snow had intervened on Saturday, Algeo suggested a play to his offensive underlings and, hey, what do ya know, it worked like a charm. The sprint draw, for jr. RB Kevin Sabo, netted 19 yards to WC's 35 and represented the Crusaders' best gain of the evening. Finally, the sideline was alive and there was hope (even an expectation?) that Algeo's last game would not end with a blanking. Four plays later . . . Bingo!! Soph handyman Mike Iacono, lined up as a wideout, embarked on a right-to-left journey on a reverse and ran 35 yards for a TD, scoring in roughly the middle of the field. Jr. QB Pat Duggan, a lefty, tossed to soph TE Zach Talley for two more points and pretty much everyone at P-W felt happy. (Maybe even WC's folks, as much as they would have enjoyed posting a shutout.) With some key people missing for assorted reasons, LC was no match for the bigger, faster, stronger and more experienced Burrs. There was one other main highlight, and it came on defense. Just before halftime, with the score already at 20-0, West had the ball on second-and-goal at the 2. The give went to star jr. RB David Williams (19-141) and, pow, he was stopped for no gain by Talley and sr. LB Tim Dugan. On the next play, which turned out to end the half, sr. QB Jaleel Reed sprinted out to his left on a designed keeper and, nothin' doin'. He was dumped for an 8-yard loss by soph DE Mason Schmauder. Also, with the score at 40-0, soph Joe Schmidt had the gumption to scurry into the backfield and block the PAT. Overall, West mostly frolicked, of course. Three of its TDs were long ones -- runs of 62 yards by Williams, 78 by Reed and 41 by jr. Jalil Shoatz -- and two others were lost to penalties. A hold wiped out a 43-yarder from Reed (5-for-5, 96) to sr. WR Bruce Mapp (3-85; did get a 17-yarder) and motion erased a 68-yarder for Williams. A procedure followed, then Reed ripped off his 78-yarder. So in a very short time span, the Burrs racked up two scores worth 146 yards! Because I wanted to soak in all the atmosphere for the DN story, and keep eyes/ears open for meaningful tidbits, I spent the entire game on LC's sideline. "Mr. Burr" -- a k a Ed "Huck" Palmer -- remained across the way throughout, as did sidekick lensman Matt "Cauls" McCauley. Huck's defensive stats show that sr. LB Marquise Gordon was in on nine tackles, including two sacks and three others for losses. Sr. LB Alex Murray  made eight stops (1.5 sacks) and recovered a fumble. Sr. LB T-J Waters (eight) and sr. LB Tristin Freeman (seven) were also in that good-numbers mix. For LC, three of Schmauder's eight stops went for losses while T. Duggan logged six tackles and forced a fumble (recovery by Talley). Major congrats to everyone associated with LC for the wonderful sendoff given to coach Algeo. I was honored to see it and get a chance to report on it. Well before gametime, I gave Jim a Player of the Week T-shirt and snapped his pic. Click here for that. He quipped, "I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life I've been a Player of the Week." And what a life it continues to be. ALL the best, Mr. Algeo!!

Algeo gets carried away in finale after 44 seasons at Lansdale

BY TED SILARY

  THE FORMER player identified himself as a member of the Class of 1972.
  Jim Algeo looked up, shook the guy's hand with passion and quipped, "What happened to your black hair? "
  On the inside, perhaps Algeo was experiencing agony over the fact his wonderful 44-season reign as Lansdale Catholic High's football coach had concluded. If so, he never let it show and those who love the man - as in everyone - will never forget the wind-down.
  As the final seconds melted off the clock, LC's student rooters chanted, "Big Jim AL-gee-oh! . . . We will miss you. " Soon, Algeo was being handed the game ball by the head referee and a ceremony was breaking out at midfield.
  As the current players and perhaps as many as 75 former Crusaders (one even came from Texas) looked on, with complete reverence, Algeo stood with head bowed as a glowing bio was read over the PA system. His wife of 52 years, Mickey, popped up to hand him yellow roses and Tim Quinn, the principal, offered a plaque.
  Not inclined to babble, Algeo said "Thank you" while waving his hand and someone nearby said, much louder, "Thank you, coach. " Others echoed those sentiments.
  After informing the underclassmen he would let them know today about the status of the JV game - hey, a coach's work is never done - he walked away from the group, head still bowed . . . Didn't get too far, though. He was lifted off his feet and carried to the sideline.
  Next, he shook hands and/or posed for pictures with patient, lined-up former players, then finally the media approached.
  When asked what he'd miss, Algeo smiled and shot back, "I won't miss getting beat by 40-8. "
  Yes, folks, that was the final score in Jim Algeo 's final game.
  The occasion was a Catholic AA regular-season finale against long-mighty West Catholic. A win would have put LC in the playoffs, but a loss was expected by anyone with a hint of common sense, which explained the impressive turnout on a chilly night. A school night, no less. With a 7:45 starting time mixed in. They knew his career would be ending.
  This was a makeup game. The teams had been scheduled to meet Saturday at Wissahickon High. But the snow intervened and a postponement occurred, even though both squads were already on site. The new venue was Plymouth-Whitemarsh and the late start was necessitated because P-W first played its own makeup.
  Well before the game, Algeo said the last two-odd weeks since he'd announced his plans to retire had been rather whirlwindish. Calls, emails, letters. Nonstop.
  He described the whole experience as being bittersweet.
  "I know it's time to go," he said. "But I know I'm going to miss it. "
  Nearby, his grandson, assistant Mike deMarteleire, was putting the quarterbacks through their paces.
  "Lots of emotion," he said. "He has touched a lot of lives. He's a great coach and a better man. Everybody would say the same thing. "
  During the game, Algeo sometimes went the feisty route. He was positive that quarterback Jaleel Reed had been pushed into the end zone on West's first touchdown and he railed at the refs, "That's illegal. That's aiding and abetting! "
  Later, when a defensive back's missed assignment allowed a long gain by WC, the coach called the guilty party to the sideline and asked, "Where were you? "
  Shortly into the second quarter, LC receiver James Ward, whose interest in lifting weights the Monday after the conclusion of the 2010 season had, in part, convinced Algeo to stay around even though he'd be retiring as a teacher, suffered an injury 30 yards downfield on a play where a sack took place. Those nearby claimed Ward had been speared. No flag.
  "That's ridiculous! " Algeo flared at a nearby ref. Soon, Ward was being permitted to return to action. Algeo walked over and asked the medical staffers whether that move was supported by all. "He's a good kid," the coach said. "I worry about him. "
  Toward the end of the third quarter, Ward was thumped again and this time departed for good.
  "Mr. Official, spearing is illegal!" the coach noted.
  Through most of the night, LC had little fun. David Williams ran 13 yards for TD No. 2. Williams exploded again (62 yards) for No. 3. Reed seized the long-one spotlight (78 yards) for No. 4. No. 5, a 17-yard pass from Reed to Bruce Mapp, came with 2:01 left in the third quarter and Jalil Shoatz raced 41 yards on the final play of that stanza, putting the mercy rule into effect.
  To this point, the Crusaders' offense had pretty much done zilch.
  Then it happened. Some fun. Pat Duggan hit Mike Iacono for 11 yards. Three plays later, Mike Larson made an 8-yard reception. Algeo walked over and said to his offensive assistants, "Now, out of the I [formation], run the sprint draw. "
  There'd be a slight delay. Two plays later, guess what? Kevin Sabo got the call on a sprint draw and posted a 19-yard gain! Juice was evident up and down the sideline. The man still had the touch! And then, with 2:51 left, Iacono, on a right to left to back-to-the-middle reverse, dashed 35 yards for a touchdown. Zach Talley caught Duggan's conversion pass.
  "You always get a good feeling when you score a touchdown," Iacono said. "But that one gave me a great feeling, because we all knew the situation. In Mr. Algeo's last game, we had to get at least one touchdown. "
  Algeo, 75, went 293-183-15 in his LC career. He won nine championships in assorted leagues, his '72 team was perfect and his '04 squad won the PIAA Class AA state title. Prior to LC, he assisted for 9 years at three schools.
  As a postgame interview session wound down, Algeo said he enjoyed coaching so much "because everyone strove to accomplish a common goal. "
  He then mentioned, referring to his first season, "It almost feels like it was yesterday. "
  In Jim Algeo 's right eye, there appeared to be a tear . . . Then again, it was kind of cold.

OCT. 29
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 50, Conwell-Egan 0
  As most people with even a passing interest in Catholic schools are aware, another round of high school closings is probably in the offing. Unfortunately, C-E is being mentioned as a strong contender for outta-here status, so it's possible this was the Eagles' final game against a Catholic League opponent (though it was a non-leaguer). Just as it was sad to see North Catholic, Dougherty and Kennedy-Kenrick vamoose, I'd feel bad about losing C-E, as well. Had some fun times covering Eagles' games through the years and knowing the late Mike "Tugger" Tos, stat man and goodwill ambassador, was a highlight for everyone who crossed his path. Let's hope C-E finds a way to stay open and, if so, makes a football comeback. This season has been extremely rough and now the Eagles (0-9, outscored by 379-75) have to wait around until Nov. 24 to finish their season vs. Truman. Ouch. Maybe they'll pick up at least one game to stay busy? **UPDATE: The Eagles do have a game this week. They'll host Morrisville on Saturday night at 7.** As the score indicates, Roman mostly frolicked in the snow -- yes, snow -- at Northeast High. The white stuff was only about an inch deep, but if fell throughout the game and was probably more like sleet, overall. When I first arrived, there was MAJOR concern. As in, how the heck will anyone keep stats? There were no yard markers and the numbers -- 10, 20, 30, etc. -- that used to be attached to the fences were removed long ago. The numbers ON the field were not visible but, thankfully, Joe the Field Man plowed the 50, 40 and 30 yard lines and we were able to guess pretty well from there, just based on the chains and some minimal foot-clearing done by the refs at the 10, 15, 20, etc.; opposite side of the field, however. Roman had a 6-0 lead just 62 seconds into the game and, guess what, the Cahillites kicked off. But the kickoff was fumbled (recovery by sr. LB Michael Boccelli; hit by jr. LB Chris Cruz) and jr. WR William Fuller scored on second down on an 18-yard WildCahillite run. Next series: three plays, another TD, this one a 78-yarder by sr. RB Marcus Kelly, who received a great block, about 35 yards downfield, from sr. FB Brett Pellicciotti. Roman scored once more before halftime as Fuller stormed into the end zone from the 11. This new wrinkle could be very effective as Roman moves forward. Who knows? Maybe he can throw a little, too? The subs took over beyond intermission and Marcus' frosh brother, Dimetri, added scores of 56 and 14 yards. The family theme continued as soph Patrick McCourt, who happens to claim coach Joe McCourt as his older brother, rumbled for a 23-yarder. The scoring was capped by soph Christian Green (2-yarder). The defensive whiz, by far, was sr. DL Roberto Harris-Barron, who made six stops behind the line by intermission. Then, as the third quarter opened, he made a stop for no gain on one play and recovered a fumble two plays later. C-E ran 33 rushing plays. Seventeen of them lost yardage. The Eagles managed just two plays of at least 10 yards. Jr. QB Kyle Techtmann, son of new coach Jack Techtmann (back for a second stint), had one and the other went to soph RB Rich Turchi. Soph handyman Tim Bolton showed some frisky tendencies and posted a 9-yard gain. Sr. DL Bob McTague recovered a fumble way behind the line and later notched a sack. Jr. LB Joe Jallah and Turchi combined for a TFL. In the press box, I wound up camping out next to Roman assistant Neal Regan, who had the best line of the night. He wondered whether ANYONE in the stands was not related to someone who was playing or coaching. Probably not, honestly. The Puckster was also in attendance, but he hung out in the announcer's booth to help (hinder?) Dan Hoban. I took the Puckster home and, well, not a surprise, he babbled he entire way. Then, as were getting close to his street, he said, "Just let me off here." And began opening the door! Even though my car was still a good 30 yards from the corner! I yelped, "Puck, what are you DOIN'?" His response, "Ooooh, sowwy . . . Just dwop me off heah. Dis good." And off he went . . .

OCT. 29
CATHOLIC AA
Neumann-Goretti 14, McDevitt 0
  How often do you a see team that's trailing by two touchdowns, late in a game, show nary a hint of urgency? Only in the Cath, baby! A shocking win by Lansdale Catholic over West Catholic (game postponed to Monday, details TBA) would change things completely, but otherwise McDevitt will be West's opponent in next week's AA final, due to a special tiebreaker, and Lancer coach Pat Manzi knew that all along. All he had to do was keep things vanilla and make sure N-G didn't add late points. Assuming LC does lose to WC, LC, McDevitt and N-G will all finish 2-2 in league play and 1-1 against each other. The top dog is decided by defensive yield in the games involving the tied teams. McDevitt gave up 26 while the totals for LC and N-G were 34 and 40, respectively. This game, on the turf at 11th and Bigler, was played in largely horrendous conditions. The field was covered with a thin coating of slush as play began and it rained pretty much throughout. Press box time, baby! I'm nuts, but I'm not crazy (ha ha). The pics thing went pretty well, overall, and of course shooting from up there gives a different perspective. (They won't be posted until late tonight, however). All points were scored on defense. N-G opened with a safety midway through the second quarter as a bad snap sailed over the head of sr. P Sean Bryson (also a QB) and wound up being knocked through the end zone. The first TD followed several minutes later as jr. OLB Sharif Custis blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone. The final six points were added on the second play of the fourth quarter as Bryson lost possession and sr. DB Christian DiFrancesco recovered in the end zone. The game was played almost entirely in the middle of the field and I'm pretty sure the clock had to be stopped by the ever-trusty scoreboard operator, Ralph Digneo, just TWO times for runs that extended over the sideline. Amazing. McDevitt's franchise back, sr. Keith Young, carried 10, 20, 30 times while settling for 80 yards. He tweaked an ankle, it appeared (was able to walk on it; probably not serious), and yielded for the last seven minutes to jr. Gerald Fuller, who added 11 more totes for 32 yards. Jr. QB Christian Connor, back from injury, threw just one pass in a very brief appearance. Mostly, N-G used soph TB Danny Murray early (9-22), sr. TB Antwoine Powers in the middle (16-21) and frosh FB Michael DiFrancesco late (7-38); he showed the best juice. Jr. LB Eric Holt made a pair of tackles behind the line while Custis and jr. DB Dom Valentino posted consecutive yard-loss stops on Young. I can't imagine he has been dropped for losses on back-to-back plays too often this season. There was a scary moment when one of N-G's players, Leroy Haigler, wound up in the press box having an attack of some kind. He apparently suffers from asthma and was heaving like crazy, momentarily. Eventually, medics came to the press box and he was able to walk down the steps with them. He wound up being taken to Methodist Hospital. Good luck, Leroy! The two most legendary press box visitors -- well, aside from Ralph Digneo (smile) -- were Bok coach Frank "Roscoe" Natale (his son, Blaise, plays for N-G; also suffered an injury; best of luck, Blaise!) and N-G baseball star Joey Gorman, our Pitcher of the Year last spring on the All-City squad. Finally, one of the weirdest things EVER happened at halftime. Beforehand, N-G coach CJ Szydlik gave me a laminated copy (very thin plastic) of the Saints' roster. A little gust of wind blew it off the table and it landed on the floor of the press box. On its SIDE!! And it stayed that way!! For a good minute!! The others in the press box were also duly amazed. I even had time to bring over guys in the room next door, so THEY could see it. Here's a pic of The Magical Roster.

OCT. 28
PUBLIC AAAA FIRST ROUND
Central 28, Northeast 20
  If you look at the early pics in the photo set, you'll be thinking, "Man, Central is hosting Northeast in a playoff game and the students don't even care?" Hey, this place emphasizes academics. No early dismissals. And it takes a while to walk over to the field from the school. (smile) Later, the home stands were pretty much packed and the kids' great enthusiasm -- bare, painted chests, etc. -- was rewarded with the Lancers' first win over their, um, hated Thanksgiving rival since 2004. In '07 and '08, the teams met twice because they were in the same division and the Vikings had won the last nine meetings by 251-94 (ouch). Early in this one, the prevailing thought might have been, "Damn, this could be a romp," seeing as how Central stormed to a 20-0 lead in the first 19:32. Insiders knew the deal: Northeast was missing roughly a dozen important seniors due to the fact they skipped a practice earlier this week. Those guys returned for the second half and, yes, we had a ballgame. Even had one BY halftime, actually. More on that later. The nitty-gritty is this: Central snapped a 20-20 tie with 3:09 left when jr. OLB Joseph Shepherd Jr. ("I'm a junior and I'm proud of that"), a tremendous student who's still just 15 years old, stole the ball from jr. RB Marquis Edwards after an 8-yard gain and raced 20 yards for a touchdown. Sr. QB Ryan Dydak hit sr. WR Richard "Tre" Drayton for the conversion. Next, Dydak was going to hit a squib kick. He did not connect completely, though, and the kick wound up in onside territory, where it was recovered by jr. RB Hakeem Ellis. Strong defensive plays by sr. LB Daquan White (2-yard loss), sr. LB Michael Brown (tremendous all game)/jr. DL Kamil Mazur (no gain) and Brown (6-yard sack) forced a punt and Northeast assumed command at its 41 with 1:25 showing. A hold erased a catch by jr. WR LaQuille "Dice" Nesbitt that would have placed the ball at Central's 37. Two snaps later, all suspense ended when sr. LB David Oliphant recovered by Nesbitt on another pass. Let's backtrack . . . Central's first three TDs came on passes from Dydak to Drayton (first two) and soph handyman Walt Pegues (last one). The distances were 25, 40 and 38 yards. Drayton said he went to his son so much early because he was stunned, not to mention happy, that Northeast chose to cover him one on one. With four minutes left in the first half, NE had the not-so-grand total of minus-6 yards total offense. Luckily for the Vikings and the game's competitive spirit, jr. QB Harold Alexander hit jr. WR Devon Dillard for scores of 48 yards (at 3:42) and 50 yards (at 1:41). Central's defense made two big plays aside from those already mentioned. Sr. Joe Kasztelan blocked a PAT after the first TD and Shepherd muffled a 32-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the half. Soph LB Jonathan Henderson (hopefully; had trouble seeing it among all the bodies) recovered a fumble to set up Central's second TD. Also, Ellis recovered a fumble (GREAT hit by jr. DB Jesse Gillis). For Northeast, jr. S Daquan Bohannan (two) and Edwards (off a trick play) combined for three interceptions. Northeast, the defending AAAA champ, has been wracked by an outrageous amount of serious injuries this season. The Vikings now have a long wait until Thanksgiving and it'll be interesting to see how together they remain. If they continue to care, the TG battle will be ferocious. Central's semifinal foe will be Frankford and all kinds of Pioneer coaches/players were in attendance. The other semi will pit Germantown vs. Washington.

OCT. 27
NON-LEAGUE
Del-Val 34, University City 0
  “Only in the Pub” can you arrive at a football stadium, see a bunch of young ladies get off a School District bus and realize right away, “Hey, they’re not cheerleaders. They’re field hockey players.” Yes, there’d been an ever-popular scheduling snafu and this game had been switched to D-V’s practice field at Stenton Park, 16th & Courtland. Luckily, I arrived at G-town’s stadium about 50 minutes prior to gametime, so there were no worries about making it to SP in time. UC coach Lorrel McCook called to let me know of the situation -- I was on Belfield Ave. by then; not far away -- and said he hadn’t even found out until a few minutes beforehand. Both of the Jaguars’ buses were late, anyway, and the first didn’t get to the field until 3:17, so the opening kickoff did not take place until 3:48. Head ref Brian McMahon, former Penn Charter basketball coach, said he was told the field had to be cleared by 5:30 so a youth team could hold practice, so the first two quarters were limited to 10 minutes apiece instead of the usual 12. The last two were back to 12 and no team, as it turned out, was waiting to practice. The field was a muddy mess and blades of grass were unavailable (mostly, anyway). Luckily, it didn’t rain ferociously until maybe 20 minutes after game’s end. The extremely faint yard lines were 10 yards apart, instead of the usual 5, and a few times through the contest the ball was a good 2 yards offline from the down marker. Oh, baby! DN ink went to good-guy sr. RB Rob “Six-Point” Davis, who until this one had never scored a varsity TD. However, he had posted a two-year total of 11 conversion runs – eight in 2010, three this season. Yes, 11. The highlight of that feat came in Weeks 5 and 6 last year, when he scurried for a total of 10 points even though he had zero yards on his one official carry. (Conversion plays don’t count in the stats.) First-year coach Shelton Farmer effusively sang Rob’s praises for his dedication to the team and lack of complaining over the goofy situation, so it felt good to give him a story. Farmer is also happy with sr. DE Siyiff McLeod and classmate Dana Shaw, and the former had a big day capped by a 29-yard score on a fumble return. Soph QB Nate Barnes scored the first two TDs on neat keepers. Davis’ 15-yarder was No. 3, McLeod’s was No. 4 and jr. WR Rasheed “Twin Two” Cade got the fifth on a 10-yard toss from Barnes; Rasheed’s brother, Rashan “Twin One” Cade, was formerly the QB and now plays receiver. Davis’ score was a pip. At roughly the 5, he became engulfed in a pile of at least a dozen guys. (Probably more.) The refs never blew a whistle because the pile kept moving ever so slightly and finally, there Davis was, in the end zone. Also for DV, sr. DEs Darnell Moore and Jamal Allen made multiple sacks/TFLs and soph LB Jordan Skinner had a late interception. UC had major problems moving the ball, finishing with just 51 yards. The Jaguars have some big kids and the line coach, Eddie Williams, was a star at Bok. Effective blocking was mostly non-existent, however. Robert Hall managed 42 tough yards on 11 carries. The ball found star sr. WR Marcus Lyles just once, so in the late going he moved to WildJaguar TB and scampered for gains of nine and seven yards. Soph LB Raymond Jefferson recovered a fumble and jr. DB Matthew Gilliam made a leaping end-zone interception. UC’s cheerleaders were on hand. Before the game I heard one ask another, "What's Del-Val's team name?" The second girl responded, "Warriors." The first shot back, mindful of the Warriors' orange helmets, "Should be the Pumpkin Heads." The girls' best cheer, however brief, came in the late going. “I’m hungry . . . I’m cold . . . I’m hungry . . . I’m cold.” Ha, ha, ha, ha. Good one, ladies!

OCT. 23
CATHOLIC AAA
Wood 49, Bonner 6
  It’s not too often a team makes final preparations by questioning its intestinal fortitude. I guess Wood does that to people, though. Shortly before the Bonner Friars ran to their sideline, they grouped in the west end zone and allowed one of the captains to run the show. At high volume a few times, he asked them, “Who’s scared?!” The response each time, “No one!!” Well, the Friars might not have been fearful, but they proved to be severely outmanned. They’re not alone in that neighborhood this season, of course, when it comes to trying to deal with Wood and its bevy of upper-echelon stars (six D-1 commits so far). Compared with some games, the Vikings actually took forever (wink, wink) to get on the board. We’re talkin’ three minutes, 56 seconds. Bonner made a nice starting statement, actually, because Wood needed zebra help to get in. After sr. FB Brandon Peoples raced 39 yards to the 8, sr. TB Desmon Peoples, his first cousin, was held to a 3-yard gain by sr. LB Cody Sutton. Next, sr. LB Joe Haley stormed across the line and dumped DP for a 2-yard loss. The next play was strange: The helmet of a Wood player popped off and a Bonner lineman was identified to be the guilty, made-that-happen party. A personal foul was called and the ‘skin moved to the 4. Even then Wood needed two more plays to get in – a 3-yard rush by BP and a 1-yard sneak by sr. QB Joey Monaghan. An oh-baby moment followed thereafter, sending the game into a downward spiral. With jr. QB Jim Haley in the shotgun, a snap sailed WAY over his head. In fact, the ball bounced and bounced and it was finally scooped up 34 yards later by sr. LB Kyle Adkins. His fumble return TD covered all of 1 yard. Seventy-eight seconds later? Seven more points. This score came on an easy, down-the-middle, 45-yard pass from Monaghan to sr. TE Colin Thompson. At the end of a long weekend, with many more chores to perform for the site and Tuesday’s Daily News, we’ll dispense with any more play by play. Thanks for understanding. DP ran 15-80 for two. BP managed 6-87 for one. Monaghan passed 6-for-8 for 80. Another defensive TD was scored by sr. LB Andrew Guckin on a 44-yard interception return. Bonner did have a good drive with the score at 28-0 and it was capped by Haley’s 15-yard run. A highlight was a 40-yard connection to sr. WR Paul Pfeffinger. Yet, the score soared to mercy-rule territory by halftime and hardly anything of interest occurred in the flew-by final 24 minutes. Wood’s offense was more vanilla than the color of my play-by-play sheets and it was obvious that coach Steve Devlin, who’ll turn 40 Monday (as my son Kevin turns 21), was not inclined to truly embarrass the Friars. Bonner was missing at least two important players, by the way – sr. WR John McGilligan and sr. RB Abraham Jaward, who has done a nice job as the fill-in for also-dinged sr. RB Ismir Gibson. Bonner’s cheerleaders mostly took the third quarter off. Most were sitting on the track behind the Friars’ bench. Some were even lying down. They all stood up and regrouped near the end of the third quarter. At halftime, Wood announced its Homecoming court and the king was Matt DiFlorio, son of the late Northeast HS basketball coach, Bob DiFlorio. Congrats, Matt, and it was nice to meet you while I was heading from the parking lot to the field long before the game. Best of luck to you and your family! Very early, Bonner sr. WR Eric Womack made an incredible catch along Wood’s sideline. He was upended while making it and landed COMPLETELY stretched out on his back. How he avoided serious injury, I’ll never know. At last year’s Wood-Bonner game, DP provided a great photo op by hurdling a tackler. BP tried it today and succeeded, but not in the same kind of dramatic fashion.

OCT. 22
PUBLIC AAAA GOLD
Frankford 21, Washington 20
  If "The Special Drive" had taken place in a Super Bowl, the entire nation would be abuzz. And the talk would not die down for weeks, months, even years. Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning . . . each one would have been proud to call this his own. Can't beat perfection, folks, and jr. QB Tim DiGiorgio, a tall/thin lefty, experienced that while rallying the Pioneers to the regular season title on a nippy night before a nice crowd at Northeast's Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium. First, it must be mentioned that Washington left the door to heartache wide open by opting to kick the PAT (good, by jr. Jake Wright) after taking a 19-14 lead with 10:30 left on a 2-yard run by franchise sr. TB Hakeem Sillman. All the Pioneers had to do was get to the end zone, then claim the win with a PAT of their own (by. jr. Eric Salguero). Sounds easy, right? Hardly. But damn if DiGiorgio didn't come close to making it look that way. OK, here we go . . . Frankford took over on its 20 with 3:50 remaining. While leading his team to payturf, DiGiorgio merely went 8-for-8! He hit four different receivers from sr. TE Aaron Allison to jr. WR Renz "Rodeo" Compton to sr. WR Marquan Scott to sr. handyman Mike Brown. The big plays went to Compton for 21 and Allison for 28 and the TD, a right-to-middle slant, went to Compton for 14 yards just after Frankford used its last timeout with 35.7 seconds remaining. There were two late setbacks during the drive, but DiGiorgio & Company overcame them. After an 8-yarder to Brown put the ball on the 6, the Pioneers were hit with a clip on a rushing try by sr. RB Kelly Johnson. The next play began at the 20 and produced a 12-yard gain on a left-side screen to Scott. Washington then made strong penetration and sr. DE Dan Yost, recruited off the baseball team, was prominent among the guys who dumped DiGiorgio for a 6-yard loss. So, in the span of three plays, there'd been two disasters -- the big penalty and the sack. Didn't matter. Right before the TD play began, I remember looking at DiGiorgio and thinking, "Man, he looks so calm back there." Like he was having a catch in a playground. And then, bingo, perfect strike to Compton, who made the snag maybe 1 yard into the end zone. Salguero, a baseball player (kicks leftfooted) who only joined the team a few weeks ago, then hammered the PAT. On its response, Washington got as far as its 46 before the final whistle sounded and the Pioneers stormed the field to celebrate. DiGiorgio was not a one-series wonder, by the way. He finished 21-for-26 for 304 yards! There were just four incompletions, plus a pick by Sillman. It must be mentioned: Washington was missing two defensive linemen, including junior star Justin Moody, because of ejections last week in the Northeast game. Plus, on the final drive, another DL had to depart with an injury. So, if these teams meet again in the playoffs, DiGiorgio can expect much more sustained pressure. Though the game was mostly entertaining throughout, it was also decidedly sloppy. The first half produced five turnovers and led directly to a TD. Frankford opened the game with an easy-as-pie drive as DiGiorgio picked apart the Eagles on the first three plays, then yielded to the rushers. The capper was a 10-yard run by Johnson. Washington went backward on its first possession -- after being dumped for a 3-yard loss by sr. LB Johnny Leach, Sillman popped up, looked toward Frankford's rooters and "applauded" the play by slapping his hand against the football four, five, six times -- Frankford hoped to double the lead. But on a third down, Allison caught a pass and lost possession while trying to stretch for extra yardage. Sr. Miguel Caban not only wound up with the ball, he took it 46 yards for a TD! The other TD exchange occurred late in the third quarter as Sillman dashed for a 39-yarder on a belly (two GREAT moves) and Frankford came right back with a 21-yard fade to Brown. Sr. Kashiem Poland, who had a strong game at DE, caught a bouncing kickoff and returned it 18 yards to Washington's 49. Then came an interference call, a 14-yard run by Johnson, a 1-yard loss for DiGiorgio (stop by jr. LB Melvin Gonzales) and the TD. Johnson's numbers were nine totes for 77 yards. The receiving headliners were Scott (4-97), Allison (7-77) and Compton (3-69). Notice a missing name? Sr. WR Savoy Martin (20-487 for the season) is out with a left-knee injury. He said he hopes to make it back in three weeks. Sillman posted 140 yards on 26 carries. Frankford's pick went to Scott while sr. DE Troy Clark (strips to sr. LB Geoffrey Phillippe and Compton) made fumble recoveries. Caban also notched two fumble recoveries (dual hit by jr. S Kendale Truitt and jr. DE Klevis Gjila). Former Frankford coach Mike Capriotti was the PA announcer. In the first half, before the crowd really grew, a very loud Pioneer fan could be heard again and again. At one point, he yelled toward a ref, "You better throw the flag! If one of my young boys gets hurt, I'm comin' to see you!!" Ha, ha, ha. Ex-Washington all-timer Sharrif Floyd (Florida) made an appearance and walked through the handshake line with the Eagles. Former star Frankford RB Marcus "Dink" Waddy worked with the chain crew. His nephew, jr. Malik "Boobie" Stradford, is a budding RB, as well. Amauro and Ed "Special Ed" Morrone (covering for the Northeast Times) were in attendance as was a young man, Paul Schneider, a Franklin Towne Charter student, who wants to get involved in making website contributions. He's a quick learner and was doing great with stats. Welcome aboard, Paul! Have fun with it.

OCT. 22
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Malvern 42, Penn Charter 6
  In this rivalry, it's not too often that either team dominates and/or coasts, but that was what happened today. PC is suffering from major injury woes and the Friars are just too good, especially along both lines of scrimmage, to hope to beat them without a full cast. (Cast? Get it? . . . Sorry.) Even with everybody available, this mountain would have been, oh, 87 stories high. Straight up with no hint of an angled approach. The Friars ran 49 plays and just one lost yardage. One measly yard, at that. It's not often grunts get their names in reports ahead of skills guys, but here's to Malvern beefsters -- sr. C Joe Smith, sr. Gs Connor Mahoney and David Srinivasan, and sr. Ts Michael Mooney and John Bradford (and the tight end was sr. Dan Riordan). For my money, the game's coolest moment came after sr. RB Shawn Wilson ran four yards for a patented, wing-T, short-side touchdown sweep and then, after a hint of a delay, summoned Mooney, who'd provided a vintage block, for a soaring hip bump. As if to say, "YOU got me that TD, sir, and YOU should be collecting those six points." Anyway, Wilson was hardly a one-play wonder. The former North Catholic Falcon churned for 196 yards and four TDs on 17 carries and two of this last three runs were his best -- for scores of 37 and 75 yards. The Friars' other TDs were posted by jr. handyman Eric Purnell on a 22-yard run and by soph RB Troy Gallen, a sub, on a 34-yard burst with 2:42 on the clock. Sr. Dennis Gabert hit all six PAT. Sr. DB Blake Gunther (game's second play; set up a score) and sr. DT Shannan Green (of a tipped pass; also set up a score) posted pilfers for the Friars while sr. LB Joe Nilan was once again a tacklin' terror (five on one series). Green also made many plays. Meanwhile, great hustle was shown by jr. DB Brandon Gentile, who dashed WAY downfield to keep PC jr. QB Kevin Murphy from posting a 78-yard TD on an option keeper. Murphy was tackled at the 1. Bradford and Mahoney made no-gain stops on the next two plays to keep the Quakers out of the end zone, then jr. WR Daryl Worley, lined up as a rusher, finally scored on third down. Jr. LB Eric Berger had an interception for PC while sr. DB John "Double Cast" Moderski and frosh DB Bruce Smalley combined for the one aforementioned TFL. Best wishes go out to PC sr. lineman Ed Malandro, who suffered what appeared to be a serious injury to his right knee, the SAME knee on which he had surgery last winter. How disappointing does that have to be? Ed's dad, also named Ed, was a running back on our Inter-Ac Team of the Decade for the 1980s. Terrific player and a great guy. I know he'll guide his son through this. Speaking of solid citizens (smile), Malvern hoops coach Jim Rullo was in the house. Well before the game began, the Friars' new field was officially dedicated in the name of former coach Gamp Pellegrini, who's still around as an assistant to his son, Kevin. Also, Gamp tossed the coin before the opening kickoff. At halftime, Ryan Polley, Toby Booker and Bob DelVescovo were among the inductees for Malvern's athletic HOF. Congrats, guys!

OCT. 21
PUBLIC AA
Comm Tech 48, Future 0
  There was little doubt this game would turn out to be ugly. The expectation, though, was that it would be meaningful ugly. Sr. Rolando “Ro-Ro” Ransom, a four-year mainstay in CT’s backfield, owns 3,810 career rushing yards (787 carries, 38 TDs, 246 points counting everything) and I sensed he could become the second guy in two days to reach 4,000 yards (Furness’ Sharif Smith did so yesterday vs. Central). One problem. Ro-Ro suffered an injury to his right-right knee in last week’s game and wasn’t available to run-run the ball. (Ever so briefly, just for two plays, he did appear at cornerback, but his limp was pronounced and coach John Gossett, Ransom’s step-father, didn’t want to push the issue.) Future dressed just 20 players and maybe 15 did the playing. The Firebirds were overwhelmed on both lines of scrimmage. On offense, though he was often eight-nine yards behind the line, frosh QB Ronald Wade barely had time to catch snaps and set himself before CT’s defenders were right in his face. The Phoenix forced the mercy rule into effect with six TDs in the first half: 2-yard run by jr. TB Diquan Gilbert, 3-yard TD by Gilbert, 60-yard pass from jr. QB Zaki Jamison to jr. WR Tikir Trent, 53-yard interception return by soph DB Devon Brunson, 23-yard pass from Jamison to sr. WR James Brunson (Devon’s brother; a fumble recovery by jr. LB Tylik Guilford set it up) and 39-yard fumble return by J. Brunson (strip by jr. LB Abdur Saaba). A 69-yard rollout TD run by Jamison was lost to a penalty. The second half flew by and the only TD went to Guilford, who swatted a punt and returned the ball eight yards into the end zone. Very late, another would-be score – a 35-yard interception return by jr. DB Jahmeer Faulcon – was lost to a completely unnecessary block in the back. A Firebird wound up getting hurt and coach Henry Hunt wasn’t too happy. He flared toward CT’s coaches, “That’s why we keep getting guys hurt! Because people block behind the play!” There was no lingering ill will. DN ink went to sr. G-DT Rasheed Brown, who 6-1, 287. He blocked well (who didn’t?) and frolicked along the defensive line (again, who didn’t?). Three of his tackles were made behind the line of scrimmage and he came close to two others. Brown's O-line partners included center sr. C Shamere Blanford, jr. Chris Stanly, jr. T Herron “I Need a Facebook Picture” McBride and soph T Tiler Wright. CT's front four on defense featured Gilbert and jr. Tommy Godwin at end with Brown and jr. Chris Miller at tackle. Future lost yardage on 10 of its 31 plays. Sr. OLB Shahiyd Wilson did manage to make two interceptions, as well as two receptions. Soph DL Muhammad Anderson made a late fumble recovery. Blanford’s brother, Sherman, a former CT star, is making a name for himself at a JC in Iowa. Tommy Godwin’s twin, Bernard, plays LB for CT and is three minutes older. CT jr. Losseni Karamoko, the kicker and a backup RB, is also a twin, but you won’t find his better half in yellow and light blue. He attends Elverson Military and plays his football for Franklin. Losseni is three minutes older. As the second half wound down, CT’s starters were mostly running around the sideline, spraying each other from water bottles. McBride also asked at one point, “How come you don’t put pancakes on the website?” Ha, ha, ha. Like I don’t have ENOUGH to do. Ha, ha.

OCT. 20
PUBLIC AAAA SILVER
Central 34, Furness 8
  We’ll assume you’ve heard that popular phrase, “Just win, baby!” Well, today, as far the Furness Falcons were concerned, it was switched to, “Just winning won’t be good enough, baby! It has to be by five points!” Yes, due to tiebreakers, Furness needed to triumph along the lines of 12-7 or 17-12 or 24-19 or whatever. That makes for extra pressure, of course, and the noose really must have felt tight after Central kicked off with the wind, played strong defense, saw the punt travel only 10 yards, then stormed the necessary 38 yards in just four plays to take an 8-0 lead with just 3:14 off the clock. In time, overall excitement was not to be experienced by any neutral observers. Central was basically dominant while finishing 6-0 in division play and assuring a move up to AAAA Gold next season, assuming the Pub setup remains the same. (I’m writing this report at home and it’s 10:33 at this exact moment. Just made a quick visit to the kitchen to see if The Wife purchased any snacks today. And there they are, in the cabinet next to the refrigerator. Marshmallows! Nice! Good hustle, Little Woman – smile.) DN ink went to sr. QB Ryan Dydak, and he has quite a tale to tell. It’ll be in the paper, but we can give you a tidbit: Shortly into his JV career as a ninth-grader, he was still a backup slot receiver. The nothing-flashy Dydak has become efficient and this year’s blockers, as a group, are much better than last year’s, and there’s a respectable array of runners/catchers, also. Keep in mind, however: Central’s schedule has included some king-sized cupcakes, so a whole different mindset will be necessary for the playoffs. Anyway, Dydak went 8-for-11 for 89 yards while jr. RBs Jesse Gillis (16-158) and Hakeem Ellis (10-77) halved four TD runs. Sr. WR Richard “Tre” Drayton, son of coach Rich Drayton, posted the final score on a 3-yard burst (after making three snags for 46 yards). The grunts were jr. C Devin Cruz, sr. G Dave Rosario, jr. G Michel Okeke, sr. T Cameron Johnson and soph T Samuel Reid, but the coolest, without a doubt, at least for the moment, but maybe for eternity, only time will tell, is Okeke. That’s because his name can now be found among the receivers on Central’s TEAM PAGE!!! In the fourth quarter, sr. receiver Gus Tolson gathered in a pass and then lateraled to Okeke, who was beyond shocked but gathered in the ball and picked up four yards. Four, I tell ya! (smile). Soph DB Wesley De La Rosa had an interception while the D-line of sr. E Joseph Shephard, jr. E Ellis and linemen Joe Kasztelan (sr.), Rosario and Reid mostly made things easy for the LBs and DBs. (At least I think it was a five-man line. Tough to tell and I forgot to ask defensive coordinator Bruce Glatthorn. It’s possible one of those ends, or both, played outside linebacker and there was only a three- or four-man line. Ah, at least their names are here – ha ha). Sr. David Oliphant was strong at LB. Like always, Furness was paced by sr. TB-QB-DB-KR Sharif Smith (15-108 rushing, 4-14/63 passing -- career rushing total now stands at 4,056 yards). Frosh RB Kharee Ruley added 52 yards, but 31 came against second-liners at the very end. The wind was whipping all game in pain-in-the-butt fashion and Smith is not the purest passer even in normal conditions, so that made things difficult. He did connect with sr. WR Malakiah “Max” Hunter for a 38-yard score. All game, the Furness defense was able to make just two stops behind the line, and only for two yards each time. Sr. DE Daiquan Means recorded one sack and sr. DB Bor Bor Kessley had a pick. Central will enter the playoffs as the fifth seed in AAAA. Sixth will go to Lincoln, which beat Furness head to head and has already clinched that spot no matter what happens tomorrow vs. Mastbaum. (Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play hard, Railsplitters! Heading into the playoffs off a loss, especially against a team you should beat, is not advised.) This was today’s only game, so Frog and Amauro decided to come by and check things out. Furness is a combo team and, thus, was supported by cheerleaders from Furness AND Franklin Learning Center. The Palumbo gals were not on hand, however.

OCT. 15
NON-LEAGUE
SJ Prep 49, McDevitt 14
  Well . . . . I'm thinking . . . I'm thinking. Sorry, folks. Impossible to put a positive spin on this one. If you ever doubted the influence linemen have on games' outcomes, this one would have convinced you. Truthfully, the Hawks' grunts were on a manhandle-'em mission right from the start and McDevitt didn't help its cause with numerous early messups. The Lancers started at their 6. Procedure back to the 3. Sr. RB Keith Young was tackled for a 1-yard loss. Procedure back to the 1 (ugh). Three-yard gain for Young. Two-yard loss for Young. The punt traveled only to McDevitt's 27 and just four plays were needed to advance the ball to the end zone. The TD came on a 12-yard pass from sr. QB Skyler Mornhinweg to sr. TE Eric Medes. The Lancers avoided disaster for a while, mostly thanks to some impressive pops by sr. LB Darren Wright (6-3, 220), who has "The Look" and terrific grades (Ivies and Patriots are among the sniffers), but with offense limited to non-stop three-and-outs, it was only a matter of time before the wear-'em-down effect came into play. The Prep led, 29-0, at halftime and the mercy rule took over 13 seconds later. Reason? Frosh John Reid returned the kickoff 89 yards for a TD. Then? Young returned THAT kickoff 86 yards for another TD. Unbelievable. In a two-day span, I saw two games with back-to-back kickoff return TDs. Is that some kind of national sports writing record? Ha, ha. The Prep added two more reasonably quick TDs on a 4-yard pass from Mornhinweg to jr. RB Joe Lavalle and a fumble recovery by jr. DL Shane Williams (of baseball fame). To that juncture, McDevitt had posted just one first down (very end of half) and 13 of its 26 plays had lost yardage. Young owned minus-4 yards on 15 carries. Soon thereafter, he sped 60 yards for a TD against second-team defenders (sr. WR Leroy "LJ" Chambers gave him a decent, far-downfield block) and finished the night at 19-71. With all kinds of time to throw, Mornhinweg (Penn State) went 13-for-22 for 144 yards and two TDs. Lavalle turned 10 carries into 70 yards and two scores. Medes also had a rushing six-pointer. Soph backup LB Grant Williams must be very popular. When he made a fourth quarter stop for a 5-yard loss, the other Hawks went nuts. After Reid scored his long TD, one of the Prep's coaches began chanting, "Four more years! Four more years!" As in, how much longer he'll be around. Someone needs extra help in math and/or common sense (smile). Reid's a freshman. That means three more years. Headed home with Puck in the back seat again. He said he wanted to go to the original Chickie's & Pete's, right off Frankford Avenue. "That good foh you, wight?" he said. "A bwidge wight dehe. Can take you to Juhsee." Wow, good thing he told me that. There's something called the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge that takes people back and forth between Philly and South Jersey? Thank goodness I know that now! (It never ends, people. Never comes close to ending with The Puckster.)

OCT. 15
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Chestnut Hill 7, Haverford School 3
  Oh, my goodness! It'll take days and days to describe all the legendary things that happened in this one. Just kidding, of course. With just 10 points total, you know this wasn't quite Washington-Northeast revisited. Yet, despite the low score, entertainment value was hardly lacking and you had to love the fact that one team overtook the other very late, then the suddenly-behind squad had a chance to regroup and snatch the victory. How could neutral observers possibly complain, right? Let's jump to the fourth quarter . . . CHA took over on the HS 38 after an against-a-strong-wind punt traveled just 22 yards. Jr. QB Michael Hayes, trying to get back in the flow after an early season injury, kept for 10 yards, then hit feisty sr. WR Brett Flannery for nine. Sr. TB Cedric Madden was held to no gain, but the Blue Devils then broke out an uncommon play for a 6-yard pickup as Hayes rolled slightly to his right and dumped a short one to jr. FB Cole Hoffman. That placed the ball on the 13 and Madden, on a counter, advanced it to the end zone from there. His key block, at roughly the 5, came from sr. WR Jamie Young, who’d been unfortunate enough to drop a sure TD pass (would have been a 65-yarder) in the second quarter. Young was open by, minimum, 20 yards and that situation evolved because the play was a trickster – a halfback pass from Madden. It was very windy, however, and Young just couldn’t quite gain control. No doubt he felt horrible about it. Also no doubt he felt great about being able to redeem himself with the crucial path-clearing for Madden. The score, followed by a kick from sr. Luke Mulvaney, occurred with 2:17 left and the Fords stormed, big time, into hurry-up mode. Sr. QB James Chakey completed passes of 10, eight, 22 and four yards, moving the ball to CHA’s 36. But on the next play, Chakey threw short underneath and Hoffmann was there to post an interception. This was only the opener, but the Blue Devils were pretty excited about the win. No. 1, they knew HS had captured the 2010 I-A title in outright fashion. No. 2, they remembered being victimized by 18-0 in what was the Fords’ only shutout of the season. Nothing against his fill-ins, but the return of Hayes no doubt expanded the BDs’ confidence level. Yes, he tossed three interceptions, but he also made some important connections and they were needed because Madden, often spectacular this season, had to settle for 62 yards on 25 carries. He was limited to just three carries of more than 10 yards (14, 13, 11) and eight times was dropped for losses. Twice, if I remember correctly, he incurred losses because of dropped pitches/handoffs. CHA got some clutch defensive contributions. Early in the fourth quarter, following an interception by jr. LB Matt Galambos, HS moved the rock 30  yards to the 8. First down: oops. First down had to wait because the Fords were guilty of procedure. First down (finally): sr. DL Tyler “Yeah, Baby!” Hightower (his mom yells those two words every time Tyler’s name is mentioned by the PA announcer) dumped sr. RB Zachary Rego for a 2-yard loss. Second down: sr. LB Lewis Lake broke up a pass and the Fords went backward for 17 more yards due to a dead-ball personal foul (oh, baby). Third down: Soph DE Andy Reid tripped up Chakey for a 13-yard loss. So, from first-and-goal at the 8, the Fords wound up with fourth-and-goal from the 45! They punted. (Also, a penalty wiped out an interception-return TD by jr. LB Stephen Fitzgerald. That happened right after Young’s drop, actually.) HS had scored on the game’s second possession. A nice, open-field tackle by Madden limited a gain by Rego to three yards and two incompletions followed. Jr. K Aron Morgan blasted a 32-yard field goal onto the track. Then, with the wind still behind him, he split the uprights with his kickoff. By a decent margin, too! CHA’s D-line included Reid and jr. Miles Johnston at the ends, and Hightower and sr. Chris Howard at the tackles. Early in the game, the line judge kept begging CHA’s coaches to keep everyone back off the sideline. Finally, assistant John McArdle bellowed to one of the injured BDs, “This is YOUR job now! From now on, take them and physically shove them onto the track!” Ha, ha. John’s the best! Haverford’s staff now includes former head coach Rob Allman (2002-04) and recent SJ Prep/Rutgers stud Charlie Noonan, who as recently as two months ago was playing D-line for the Eagles in a preseason game. Legendary spectators: ex-CHA QB Danny Gallagher, now at Penn but still the pride of Norristown (smile); La Salle mainstay Mike Piscopo, who has been Jamie Young’s best buddy since kindergarten; and Penn Charter assistant Rick Mellor (just figured I’d mix him in here, seeing as how we were PC classmates).

OCT. 14
PUBLIC GOLD AAAA
Washington 49, Northeast 28
  The visit to Bustleton & Verree began with an "Only in the Pub" moment. Two weeks ago, I took Washington's captains pic before the game with Germantown, but sr. lineman Tyrone Smith was unavailable; he arrived a little late because he'd been tackling the SAT. He wrote a nice email, asking if something could be done about it and that, of course, was no problem. Wait, yes it was. As we gathered the five REAL captains, two other Eagles came trotting over and claimed they were captains, too. At least one of the legit captains asked them to leave, but they weren't havin' it. So, the pic was snapped. But you won't see it in the photo set because coach Ron Cohen said not to post it. (We took it again, with just the five real captains, after the game. Phew!!) Also, the weather forecasts were ominous all day and while the teams were back in their locker rooms, getting last-minute instructions, the wind came howling through the stadium with incredible force. I weigh 220-odd pounds and twice lost my footing. Even fell over, almost. That was an all-time experience. Scary, even, because I was I hesitant to turn around and perhaps see a tornado! As for the game itself . . . NUTS!! It was rainy and sunny a million times each and then, as the proceedings wound down, a rainbow appeared! The Eagles noticed it as they emerged from the handshake line and headed to the east end of the field, where Cohen was ready to address them. They pointed skyward while expressing excitement and it turned into quite the scene. Washington's headliner -- surprise, surprise -- was sr. RB Hakeem Sillman, who sped/powered his way to 259 yards and two TDs (26 and 50 yards) on just 21 carries. We say "just" because he took occasional rests and carried merely one time over the final 16 minutes, and even remained a spectator despite the fact Northeast climbed within two TDs with 5:08 left on an 11-yard, fumble-return TD by sr. DB Michael "That's My White Boy!" Samarco. (That was what one of his teammates was hollering after the score was posted.) In the DN story, we dealt with an issue that has been discussed all fall among Pub insiders -- Sillman's disappearance, basically, after the 2010 season. He rarely went to school until February, insiders say, then didn't appear at all thereafter. Sillman did take three summer classes at Northeast Prep (not part of Northeast "regular" – earned two A’s and one B, he said) and was granted eligibility, despite all the absences, by a District 12 committee. Czar Robert Coleman said Sillman's family presented a compelling case, and that a thorough check was performed. No doubt the kid is a D-1 talent. Michigan and Syracuse have made preliminary contact and all will depend on how well he follows through with classroom responsibilities. Overall, the game's highlight -- well, aside from the rainbow (ha ha) -- was an outburst of three TDs in 27 seconds! Northeast sr. WR Christopher Gary caught a 40-yard fade pass from jr. QB Harold Alexander with 4:10 left in the first quarter. Jr. Donald Smith zoomed 86 yards with that kickoff (3:57) and Anthony Quail answered with an 82-yard return of his own at 3:43. Amazing! Washington's other TDs went to Smith and soph RB Ken Everage on runs and jr. QB Alfonso Augustine on a pair of 1-yard sneaks. Washington's grunts were sr. C Johnny Navarro, sr. Gs Austin McGrath (6-3, 325) and soph Tyrone McNeil, and sr. Ts Kevin White and the aforementioned captain, Smith. (That list got messed up in the DN story. Should have been Smith instead of another lineman. Sorry, Tyrone!) Sillman also played well at CB while sr. DE Klevis Gilja forced/recovered a fumble.  Sr. DT Larheim Brown, soph DT Zaire Hollerway and jr. DE Justin Moody also had excellent moments with TFLs/sacks. Alas, those last two guys won’t be available next week when Washington meets Frankford. They were ejected for their involvement in a dustup with Northeast sr. T Nahsir Bryant, who was also ejected. Northeast sr. LB Michael Brown, one of the few defensive Vikings who could actually claim he performed respectably, had to exit for a brief spell in the second quarter when a large gash appeared on his right eyebrow. Blood was everywhere. Northeast sr. K-P Howard Lynn only got maybe a hint of a finger on Smith on that TD kickoff return. When Lynn  kicked off again after Quail’s score, Smith again was the return man. He came right up the middle and, bam!, Howard executed a full-scale tackle. After Sillman ran 50 yards for a TD, making it 35-20, Northeast coach Chris Riley roared, “This is gonna be a shootout! We have just as many weapons as they do!” Later, as Washington continued to mostly roll, Riley muttered, “It’s like it’s August 16th." (First day of practice, of course.) In fairness, the Vikings are missing many mainstays due to injuries. Right after the ejections, Washington jr. CB Rashaan Williams wound up covering a receiver close to Northeast’s sideline. Rashaan is only 5-4, 135 pounds, and a couple not-in-uniform Vikings were giving him a hard time about being so small. Then the play took place. The ball, slightly misthrown, thumped off the hand of the Northeast receiver and, um, guess who intercepted? I’d imagine Rashaan will remember that moment forever. Had a great halftime talk with Ryan all-timer Gene McAleer (class of ’93), a first team linebacker on our 30-year team in 2005. I was mentioning that no one ever registers a solo tackle on Sillman, then it hit me . . . “Well, you could,” I told Gene.  Late in the game, back on Northeast’s side, there was interaction with another star LB, Germantown’s Omar McDonnaugh (’03). He wanted to be sure which players had been ejected. One last thing: This was the first time since at least 1999 that both teams entered this meeting off losses (Washington to Haverford School; Northeast to G-town).

OCT. 13
PUBLIC AAA
Dobbins 19, Boys’ Latin 0
  The one surprise was that Dobbins cheerleader Brianna Johnson didn’t run over to the sideline at one point and yell out to her boyfriend, sr. RB-S-KR-K-P Daquan “Day-Day” Brown, “What cheer should we do now?” The kid’s involved in every other facet, right? As Dobbins posted a comfortable, though not dominant, win, Brown had quite the Day-Day. Rushed 22 times for 143 yards and a touchdown. Caught two passes for 42 yards and another score. Following a penalty, hit a PAT (somewhat sloppy conditions) from 26 yards. Also soared to break up five passes and one of those deflections occurred in the end zone, when the game was still scoreless. Brown is one of the few veteran Mustangs and his teammates now look respectable thanks to hard work and gradually-attained experience. The grunts were sr. C Kyle Napper-Green, jr. Gs Kareem Jefferson and Stephen Thomas, sr. T Clarence Murphy and jr. T Gibreel Conteh, and Murphy even played coach at a key moment. According to Brown, Murphy noticed that BL was concentrating heavily on stopping the run, so he suggested a screen pass. Brown caught the ball a shade to the left, then zigged (or was it zagged?) to the right and scored in that corner of the end zone. Jr. FB Antwain Kitt also threw some crucial blocks for Brown all day. On defense, jr. DB Kevin Norris twice made great reads on passes and should have posted pilfers. Alas, he was unable to haul in the balls. The one pick went to soph LB Nigel Faulks while jr. LBs Sharquill Farmer and Khalif Brown and Murphy, on the DL, made fumble recoveries. As for BL, honestly I was surprised that more opportunities were not given to proven RB Ben Coulibaly, a jr. The Warriors exclusively used a run-and-shoot and Coulibaly was the only back. He almost always stood a step or two away from jr. QB Erik Lark and his runs came on mini-pitchouts that were more like awkward shot-puts. Coulibaly first had to worry about catching the ball. By the time he did that, Dobbins’ defenders were already counting his fillings. Assumedly, BL’s coaches felt, overall, that their O-line was not capable of handling Dobbins’ D-line. Lark wound launching 30 passes, completing 13 for 133 yards. BL’s defensive headliner was sr. LB Sam Drummond, who forced a fumble (recovery to soph DL Malik Spencer) and made six stops at or behind the line. His hits also had the pow! sound. Sr. DE James Norris also enjoyed success. For my money, there was one example of shaky officiating and it came late in a Dobbins scoring drive. On a play that began at BL’s 35, Brown ran hard to his right and stepped out of bounds at the 16. The whistle blew, but Day-Day kept going and got to the end zone, where he was hit. A personal foul was called, moving the ball half the distance to the 8. Wait! Why should an offensive be rewarded for ignoring a whistle? And why wasn’t a Dobbins player flagged for throwing a block downfield, also after the whistle? That whole scenario doesn’t flush. Maybe something for the rules committee to consider. In the story on Brown, we talked about how his shop/major (whatever you want to call it) is barbering. Standing right there was Day-Day’s active 3-year-old nephew, Tyleem Bonner, and Day-Day said he cuts his hair, too. So, of course I had to ask Tyleem, “Does Day-Day give you good haircuts?” No response. All he did was scratch his scalp. In the office tonight, as he looked over my story, Jim DeStefano, one of our editors, called out, “Hey, Ted, you’re trying to interview 3-year-olds now?” Another editor, Doug Darroch, added dryly, “Yeah, it’s a commitment story. He picked his nursery school.” Ha, ha, ha, ha.

OCT. 8
NON-LEAGUE
Penn Charter 41, Carroll 21
  Sameness is the spice of move-the-football life. That was PC's belief deep into this one, anyway. First drive: four runs for sr. RB Eric Neefe and a TD. Next: Four more and a TD. Next: Three more and a punt. Next: Five more and a TD. Next: Three more and then . . . Oh, my goodness. There was actually a change. Neefe and jr. WR-RB Daryl Worley lined up next to each other in the backfield and Worley turned a short toss into a bob-and-weave, 20-yard gain. Next? Five more runs for Neefe and -- you got it -- another TD. The scoring runs covered 18, 51, 8 and 9 yards and the 5-10, 215-pound Neefe lugged the pigskin on the first 19 plays and 24 of the first 25. He was mostly finished for the night, but not completely. He added three more carries in the second half, finalizing his numbers at 27-236, and the best of those produced score No. 5, a 55-yarder. PC's line included jr. C Mark Opaliski, frosh G Patrick McInerney, sr. G Tucker Colton, sr. T Tyler Mercer (6-1, 285) and jr. T Mike McGlinchey (6-8, 275), the first cousin of Atlanta Falcons' QB (and PC alum) Matt Ryan. Sometimes, PC coach Jeff Humble switched Mercer to guard and lined him up next to McGlinchey. Quite an imposing pair to run behind, especially against a squad that lacks size/girth. Jr. FB Eric Berger also did yeoman path-clearing work. All night, stationed along PC's sideline, was a true character named Jake Schwartz, who does internet broadcasts as he walks up and down among the players and coaches. As Neefe's solo act continued, Jake was saying things like, "Neefe on the carry. What a surprise." Or, "The handoff goes to Neefe. Didn't see that coming." Standing together were frosh subs Ricardo Peterson and Aaron Gardner. At one point, I heard them imitating Schwartz in spot-on fashion. Quality entertainment! Ha, ha, ha. Jake's best line came late in the game. With PC knocking on the door in the fourth quarter, on a drive that would produce an 11-yard, right-corner-fade TD for Worley, Jake described the weather as being "cold . . . but warm." Later, after Neefe recovered an onside kick, McGlinchey joined the corps of city rushers!! Soph backup RB Freddie Perri dropped the ball on a short carry. Mike picked it up and gained a yard!! Next stop, city rushing leaders!! (smile). All kidding aside, he is very athletic (also plays basketball) and was a tight end earlier in his career. Early, Mercer was the most active down lineman with a sack for three yards and a TFL for four. Also, Berger, at LB, uncorked a vicious pop on a receiver. The second half belonged to McGlinchey. Early, he batted down a pass on one play and scraped down the line of scrimmage on the next to make a tackle outside the hash mark. Later, he posted two more stops behind the line. Carroll's bright light was sr. handyman Teron Dobbs. He scored on an 8-yard run off a WildPatriot direct snap, again on an 80-yard punt return and again on a 45-yard pass from jr. QB Sal Bello. The Patriots have been crushed by major injuries to key players -- sr. QB Jalal Timmons and jr. RB Eric Massenburg among them -- and came onto the field with only 28 players. Eleven came down the steps separately as linemen after the backs/ends had been warming up for a while. Even the cheerleading squad had more members (31). Jr. DL Bill Ghaul and jr. LBs Sage Stevenson and Evan Harvey were the most active defenders. For PC, sr. LB Tom Monzo and soph DB Corey Kelley had interceptions while Monzo and jr. DB Dan Foley recovered fumbles (I hope that last name's correct; can't read my own scribbling -- ugh). The forces went to Colton and Berger. The Quakers had no coughups. PC's most recent QB, John Loughery, another Ryan cousin, was in attendance. He's now doing a post-grad stint at The Hun School, in Princeton. Frosh Patrick McCain, one of PC's backup QBs, is the brother of Sam McCain, the Wood product who's now playing at Sacred Heart. The McCains are also cousins of Ryan/McGlinchey. Then again, who isn't? (smile)

OCT. 8
NON-LEAGUE
Malvern 28, Bonner 7
  Somehow, I knew the Friars would win. (Inside joke for all Augustinian loyalists.) Though the Inter-Ac's version of the Friars wound up triumphing comfortably, the game was mostly competitive and Bonner could have jumped right back into contention with a long play or three. That wasn't to be, though, especially in the running department. Sr. RB Abraham Jaward, so effective recently while sr. RB Ismir Gibson has been recovering from an injury (might return next week vs. O'Hara), was limited to 12 yards on eight carries. Jr. QB Jim Haley, who's had success on flush-outs and draws, managed just 17 on seven. Sr. FB Sean Ferry did uncork a 21-yard rumble late in the first quarter, with Malvern already on top, 7-0, but the next four plays could not sustain the momentum as sr. SL Shannan Green, sr. LB Joe Nilan and sr. DE Connor Mahoney (Northwestern) were among the tacklers. Against mostly (all?) second-teamers, Bonner did get on the board with a four-play, 76-yard drive capped by a 20-yard hookup featuring Haley and sr. WR Paul Pfeffinger. (Actually, the refs gained more than anyone on the drive thanks to interference and a personal foul.) Bonner's O-line has some big-'uns, but clearing sufficient space proved to be difficult, especially beyond the second line. Malvern mostly went with ball control. Its first drive lasted 12 plays and it experienced just one three-and-out from late in the second quarter forward. Sr. RB Shawn Wilson, who played for the ol' North Catholic before surfacing at Malvern, finished with 105 yards and three TDs on 15 carries. On his longest score, a 26-yarder, he slipped an early semi-tackle near the line of scrimmage and then received stick-to-it downfield blocking from jr. Bill "Cameraman" Ammerman. On his last, a 15-yarder, Wilson was aided by great acting from Nilan, the fullback. Nilan was crunched by multiple tacklers, so I wasn't the only one who thought he had the ball off a fake (smile). Sr. QB Tommy Rumer posted the other TD on a sneak, right after sr. DB Blake Gunther returned an interception 35-odd yards to the 1. Nilan managed 42 yards on nine carries while jr. Eric Purnell, mostly on speed sweeps, had 39 on seven. Rumer went 5-for-10 for 31 yards. Nilan and Mahoney combined for a 12-yard sack while Mahoney and jr. DE Dan Reardon/sr. DB Reiley Syrek notched early TFLs. Sr. DB Dave Zarkoski suffered a late-game head injury while trying to prevent a catch by sr. TE Joe Haley and, ultimately, wound up heading for the hospital in an ambulance (though he'd been able to walk off the field). Best of luck, Dave! Bonner had a decent student rooting section on hand. As the players returned for the second half, one of them yelled to sr. DB-P Brian Dempsey, "No. 12 on the field! No. 1 in my heart!" Thanks to Malvern grad Brett Antell, who met me in the parking lot (near tailgating Malverners) about 15 minutes prior to gametime and handed over the TedSilary.com/Get in the Zone Player of the Week T-shirts. We're way behind, but all winners will receive them by the time they finish college (smile). I'm winding down this report a shade after 5 o'clock in a hallway at Radnor High, site of tonight's Penn Charter-Carroll game. The members of Radnor's senior dance team are in the gym, practicing their routine, and the same song is blaring again, again, again, again, again, again and, yes, again over the sound system at FULL volume. Anybody have a sledgehammer?! (No smile)

OCT. 7
PUBLIC AAA
West Phila. 40, Franklin 13
  Almost an hour before gametime, Franklin assistant David Carter pulled out a bunch of keys and picked out one with the hope it would unlock the gate at 29th Street Stadium. Bingo! But not much else went right for the Electrons as West enjoyed an orange-letter occasion (as opposed to red). With the defense doing yeoman work, the Speedboys advanced to 6-0 for only the second time since the 1928 squad went 9-0 in the midst of a 23-game winning streak! The other 6-0 start (en route to 8-0) occurred in 1984, a season that was derailed by a semifinal setback to Frankford. The star of that West team, rusher Reggie Barnes, later played in the Canadian Football League. The star of this game, meanwhile, was a guy who played last year at Roman Catholic, sr. LB Anthony Johnson. The Speedboys posted three TDs on interception returns and Johnson had two of them. After only dropping back a step or two, Johnson made easy, near-the-hash-marks catches of passes from sr. Anwar "Huddy" Mathis and needed to cover just eight yards, then 10, to reach the end zone. Those scores sandwiched halftime by 179 seconds and handed West a 20-7 lead. Just three minutes later, jr. CB Julius Hester posted yet another pick six, a 42-yarder, and West was emphatically proving it was best. The Speedboys mostly used a five-two alignment and these were the 11 mainstays: sr. NG Leander Berry, soph T Brian Davis, sr. T Tajah Brooks, sr. Es Jesse Thomas and Joseph Southern, Johnson and soph Elijah Hardy at LB, soph Stephan Pressley and Hester at CB, and sr. William Monaghan and jr. Quaseem Brown at safety. Davis, Brooks (two) and Davis/Thomas had sacks while Berry had an early TFL. Speaking of early, the game's very first play went for six as star sr. WR Eric "T.O." Leslie took a simple hitch pass from jr. QB Ricardo Streams and turned it into a 52-yard TD. Along the Franklin sideline, even those guys were buzzing about Leslie's burst of speed along West's sideline. He also posted a late TD on a leaping 13-yard catch and Hardy completed the scoring on a 54-yard burst with 3:36 left. To some extent, Franklin's offensive struggles were understandable. Top rusher Crusito Cruz (foot miseries) did not play at all and his replacement, sr. Marcus Johnson (9-45), had to shut things down at halftime due to knee tightness. On top of that, on the very last play of the first half, jr. SE Tyriek Coaxum got completely upended trying to make a catch and hit his helmet hard on the ground. He passed a sideline concussion test, but then injured his hip on a 40-yard kickoff return. Truthfully, West did almost nothing on offense except for the TD plays and a 46-yard burst by sr. RB Markel Faulk. The Speedboys lost four fumbles with recoveries going to sr. DL Rasalic Mackey, Coaxum, jr. LB Amir Crippin and jr. DB Manny Young. For West, Monaghan pounced upon an onside kick that preceded the final TD. When the Speedboys walked onto the field, they passed the Electrons, who were warming up. Southern babbled, "We gonna bust they ass." A teammate hollered, "Shut up, Joey," but Southern wasn't done. "All we gotta do is stop No. 4 (Mathis) and No. 27 (Cruz, unavailable as previously mentioned)." Franklin's Alexander Toledo (5-9, 260) is known as "Dump Truck." When I asked him if that's his nickname overall or just with Franklin's football team, he replied, "Just here." Does he like being called that? He smiled faintly and said, "I ain't really got a choice."

OCT. 6
PUBLIC AAAA GOLD
Overbrook 14, Bartram 6
  Hard to say for sure, but one suspects Bartram was victimized by Comparative Scores Disease. Though both teams entered 0-5, 'Brook had been sliced and diced by Washington, 41-0, while the Braves had fallen to the same team by only 38-28 and had even scored all four of its TDs on plays of 50-plus yards. Crazy, especially since Bartram’s previous three games had produced just two TDs total. For a while in this one, it appeared the winner would be the first team to, say, hit NEGATIVE 50 yards. Offense was mostly a rumor. Truthfully, Bartram wasn’t blocking a soul and five of its nine first quarter plays lost yardage. For 'Brook, the percentage of plays with losses over those first 12 minutes was 50 (3-for-6). Luckily, things got better. At least a little. The Panthers continued to struggle as the second quarter opened, but Bartram became energized. Pass from sr. QB Michael Pritchette to jr. WR Rondell Calloway for seven yards. Swing flip to sr. RB Brandon Jones for 26. Rush by Jones for 10. Keeper by Pritchette, right up the middle after a fake to Jones, for 10 more and a score. On the conversion, soph DL Jordan Brown and jr. LB Marice Tillman combined to tackle Pritchette. ‘Brook came right back with six of its own. The big plays were flushed-out keepers of 18 and 10 yards by jr. QB Michael Shenoster and then a 33-yard speed sweep by jr. RB Antonio Lynn. He was knocked out at the 2, but Shenoster then followed sr. C Nicamor “Frenchy” Delpe into the end zone on a sneak. The kick by soph Sadiq McGill was hammered low into the line. Third quarter? More bad offense or good defense, whichever you prefer, though Shenoster did launch a nice pass to sr. WR Greg Johnson that produced a 38-yard gain. The next two plays lost 21 and four yards. Ouch. The tie was broken with 6:11 left in the game on a 29-yard, Shenoster/Johnson connection. The Panthers had to cover just 43 yards, as opposed to maybe 60 or 65, because sr. DL Khalil Havens partially deflected a punt. On fourth and three at the 36, a Bartram player – a linebacker, no less – zipped into the neutral zone and that proved to be a killer. On the TD play, Johnson was supposed to run a slant. But a defender jostled him off the line and even used enough force to push him out of bounds. Johnson came right back onto the field and, by rule, was still eligible to participate. He made the catch at about the 12 and when the nearest defender slipped, he had no trouble getting to paydirt. On the conversion, again the Braves encroached. Shenoster needed to cover only 1 ½ yards, and did. Bartram had one more possession and it started well as Jones zipped for 21 yards. That’d be it, folks. Impressive soph LB Anthony Marcus (6-2, 225) dropped Pritchette for a 5-yard loss, then a poor snap cost the Braves 13 more yards. Next came a leaping, downfield interception by jr. DB Yvon Dessus, who began the season as Bok’s backup QB. Shenoster, who appears to have beaten out three other QBs, totaled 80 yards on 14 carries and passed 4-for-8 for 86. For Bartram, Jones managed 43 yards on nine totes. Marcus had four TFLs and 1.5 sacks. Havens (1.5 sacks), jr. DL Allen McDonald (two TFLs) and jr. DL Naquan McIntosh (one of each) also enjoyed themselves while Johnson, at safety, had an eight-yard sack. For Bartram, jr. DL Sherreff Parker and jr. LB Elijah Clark halved four stops behind the line. In the second quarter, a Bartram player draped himself all over a 'Brook receiver and was called for interference. Someone along 'Brook’s sideline yelled, “Next time, get his phone number!!” Ha, ha, ha, ha. This was the first career win for coach Rendell Ivory, so yes he was doused with water. Twenty-seven of the game’s plays lost yardage. Phew! Had a nice talk with Bartram assistant James Ockimey, whose nephew, sr. lineman Bassil Ockimey, played for ‘Brook. Ock’s son, Erik Simmons, was highlighted in the Daily News a couple times over the past six months after being thumped by a hit-and-run driver while walking across Broad Street, near Erie. Erik played football and basketball for his dad at now-closed William Penn and then baseball for Franklin in the spring of 2010 after Penn dropped that sport. After battling back from touch-and-go status, he was again attending Del State earlier this fall. However, he experienced a slight medical setback. He hopes to re-enroll in January. Best of luck, Erik!

OCT. 2
CATHOLIC AAAA
Judge 24, SJ Prep 14
  So, the trip is being made back to the office and The Puckster is sitting in the back seat. (Long story. It just works better when he’s not close enough to spray me while he's talking – ha ha). Anyway, he says, “Yo, you whitin’ a wotta stohy on Judge alweady.” True, but can I help it when the Crusaders win the games I attend? And this one had to be covered because it was the first Sunday game of 2011 (around here, anyway; Wood met Pittsburgh CC to open the season, but that was played in Western Pa.) after not one was played in all of 2010 (definitely a first since Catholic League play began). Puck did some more chirping about this game and deep down I knew he was mad. Reason: he’d picked Judge in the Pickin’ Parade. Finally, he admitted he felt like scrambling down to field level to serve as Prep coach Gabe Infante’s offensive coordinator “so I cood hehp dem put moah point on boahd. I no wike wosin’ to Huck!” Ultimately, the Hawks put up a strong battle and caused Judge to experience some late-game nervousness. They were mostly brutal early, though, and I have to believe the lack of fan support was part of it. Except for band members, almost NO Prep students were in attendance and the atmosphere on that side of the field was big-time drab at the start. Judge needed just nine minutes to cha-ching its way to 21 points. A simple hitch pass from jr. QB Rob Daniels to sr. RB Matt Smalley went for 41 yards, jr. DB Brandon Spatz returned a leaping pick 46 yards and Smalley went 71 yards on a right-side give. Judge almost added three more points three plays into the second quarter, but after a penalty soph Connor Foley was a short on a 39-yard field goal attempt. The momentum began to swing 4 minutes prior to halftime when Smalley had to leave with an injured left ankle. While his leg was being bent back, he was thumped up top and the visual was disturbing. Hopefully, it wasn’t too serious. Prep soon received a 20-yard punt return from frisky soph Vince Moffett and managed to get on the board very late as Penn State-bound sr. QB Skyler Mornhinweg (16-for-38, 150 yards) hit sr. handyman Eric Medes for a 19-yard TD. As the third quarter opened, sr. LB Pete “Sikipedia” Siki immediately dropped sr. RB Raul Quinones for a 5-yard loss and the Hawks became energized. They forced a three-and-out and even though the next series produced no points (despite a 44-yard pass to Medes), one could sense we’d eventually have a ballgame. Bingo. Frosh CB John “I’m Not Andy’s Son; Don’t Blame Eagles Crap on me” Reid picked off Daniels and the Prep tallied four plays later on a 2-yard flip to an all-alone Dan Sherry, a jr. TE. From there it was back and forth with no vintage moments until about four minutes remained. Daniels wound up and went long – 40 yards worth – to sr. WR Tim Mills. Foley drilled a 27-yard field goal at 2:07 – Siki had posted a 4-yard sack right beforehand – and Quinones ended any lingering suspense with an interception at 1:39. Props to Mills for his work on punt returns. If he knows he can’t run the ball back, he at least makes fair catches to save the Crusaders yardage. Very important and not enough coaches pay attention to that small (but potentially huge) detail. Mornhinweg had a very busy afternoon. Aside from passing 38 times, he posted 14 rushes (for 68 yards) and also was out there forever on defense. His accuracy was medium, honestly, but that’s mostly understandable when you’re always passing on the run. He was sacked just once (by sr. DE Anthony Walker) and wound up being called for intentional grounding. Moffett had 66 yards on 16 totes and five catches for 31 yards. DN ink went to Judge sr. WR-KR John Landis, who’s the No. 1 student in his class. In the car, Puck asked me, “Who you wite ‘bout?” When I mentioned Landis’ name, Puck said, “Why you do him?” When I explained Landis’ athletic/academic accomplishments and the fact that his track connection to Smalley figured in, The Puckster mumbled, “OK, dat good . . . But why Pwep hadda wose dis game? If dey win, I tie Huck! Cwap!!”

OCT. 1
CATHOLIC AAAA
La Salle 23, Roman 21
  Imagine if this division opener had been the closer, as in the championship game. People would be talking about it for weeks, even months and years. You have to love any game that's still in doubt until the final "real" play (not counting kneeldowns) and that was what this one offered. The only negative was the darn wet stuff, which fell through much of the fourth quarter and became heavy once or thrice. Calling my umbrella! Calling my umbrealla! Ugh, it's out in the car. No wonder knucklehead rhymes with Ted. Anyway . . . The fourth quarter featured major rollercoasterness, so let's offer some details. With 7:27 left, Roman sr. DL Roberto Harris-Barron dropped sr. QB Matt Magarity for an 11-yard loss, setting up third and 20, and the Cahillites took advantage as sr. DB Darryl Mintz, who had a great night with last-second deflections, picked off a pass at the 9 and returned the ball 31 yards to Roman's 40. Three plays later, La Salle jr. OLB-SS Mike Eife dropped back into coverage and likewise picked off a pass at roughly midfield, motoring all the way to Roman's 16. After sr. RB Tim Wade settled for 1 yard and an offside infraction put the ball at the 10, Magarity hit sr. TE Mike Piscopo, pretty much left unattended, for an easy, over-the-middle score. La Salle was up, 23-14, with 5:26 left, but the game was harrrrrdly over. After jr. K-P Ryan Winslow hammered the kickoff into the end zone, jr. QB Michael Keir led Roman on a 13-play, 80-yard drive that produced a 2-yard scoring run for sr. RB Marcus Kelly with 1:54 left. Sr. WR William Howell made a pair of stretching/leaping snags on that march and Keir added a 13-yard keeper. The onside kick by soph Phil Isaac was recovered by -- not a surprise -- Wade and all La Salle needed to do was slap together a mini-drive. First down: Wade was held to no gain by Kelly (at LB) and sr. DE Jon Upchurch. Second: Wade uncorked a 9-yard spurt. Third: Sr. LB Ken English tossed Wade for a 1-yard loss. Fourth: Magarity rolled to his left and was dragged down for minus-three by Upchurch. Roman would need to storm 60 yards in 42.7 seconds. Pass for 22 yards to sr. WR Taishan Tucker. Incompletion. Pass to Howell, who did a nice job of coming back to create some space when he noticed Keir in trouble, for 15. Spike at 11.4. The last play featured a pass into the left side of the end zone (on the home side of Northeast's field, in case you want to picture it). At least three guys were in the vicinity. The first touch went to Magarity, serving as a free safety. There might have been a few others in the mad scramble before jr. CB Dad Poquie came down with the ball. What a finish! . . . There were interesting moments throughout, of course, not just down the stretch. Roman took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter on an 11-yard fade from Keir to jr. WR William Fuller. La Salle answered two minutes into the second stanza on a four-yard run by Wade (right after he'd dashed for 40). And just before halftime, Magarity, uncorking a pair of 11-yard keepers, engineered a drive that produced a 27-yard field goal for Winslow. On the previous play, Mintz appeared at the very last second to knock down what would have been a TD pass to sr. WR Colin Buckley. In the third quarter, soph SS Zaire Franklin and jr. NG Andrew Carlone combined to hold Keir to a four-yard gain on fourth and down, enabling La Salle to take over at its 16. The capper of the scoring drive was a 1-yard flip to Buckley, while the big plays were a 37-yard pass to jr. FB Chris Kane and a 21-yard burst by Wade. Roman came right back after Kelly returned the kickoff 33 yards to midfield. Keir began and ended the drive with keepers for 13 and 16 yards. The play preceding the score was a 19-yard strike to Howell. La Salle ran 58 plays to Roman's 55, but was outgained, 371-296. Some numbers: Wade (26-150), Magarity (10-for-22, 128), Kelly (18-111), Keir (17-for-36, 204), Howell (5-83) and Tucker (5-72). All in all, this was a wonderful show and one strongly suspects we'll see MANY more in a division that appears to be very balanced. And we'll no doubt see more rain, as well. Ugggghhhh!!

OCT. 1
PUBLIC AAAA GOLD
Washington 41, Germantown 34
  Hakeem Sillman, Washington's star sr. RB, should clone his body and then donate one set of his legs to science. The medical guys would have a field day examining those things. It's hard to believe someone who's so squat can be so fast. But he is and the fact that he almost NEVER, EVER succumbs to a single tackler makes him a dynamic force. Even though he took occasional breaks, Sillman found time to run 32 times. The yield was 251 yards and five TDs with the long ones covering 39 and 36 yards. The Eagles needed his heroics, too, because G-town showed a competent passing attack, due to soph QB Cedric Wright (7-for-12, 166) and sr. WRs Will Parks (Pitt, 4-65) and Myles Brooker (2-79), and also received two splendid, lengthy kickoff return TDs from sr. Aaron "Snook" Boyd. He zipped 90 yards on the first one and wasn't even touched. He needed to shake off a couple guys on the other, an 87-yarder 6:10 prior to halftime. Wanna guess how many times Washington kicked long after that? Correct. You're smarter than you look (smile). Boyd's 87-yarder gave the Bears a 26-13 lead, but the momentum began to switch one series later when Wright tried to find Parks and Sillman outfought him to post an excellent interception. I'm thinking more of a ground approach would have worked better there, mostly to eat some clock and perhaps insure halftime would have been entered with that two-TD lead, if not more. Instead, soph RB Ken Everage got some extended duty and produced impressively, rattling off a 49-yard run to get the ball to the 15. Everage then added a 7-yard run and a six-yard catch from jr. QB David Gavrilov before Sillman scored on a 2-yard run with 33.6 seconds remaining. There were three possessions in the third quarter. Washington opened and closed with TDs (3-yard run for Sillman; 16-yard pass from jr. QB Alfonso Augustine to jr. TE Justin Moody) while G-town suffered a three-and-out. The Bears again went nowhere as the fourth stanza started and, zip!, Sillman immediately went 36 yards. The kick by jr. Jake Wright made it 41-26. Pretty safe lead, right? Not completely. With sr. RB Ackeno Robertson battling for a key first down, and with Parks reaching high for a one-handed catch, and with Wright hitting Robertson for 22 yards, the Bears slapped together a nice drive. The TD was the best play of all, though. On his only carry of the day, soph FB Jordan Alexander took a handoff and appeared primed to be tackled for a 4- or 5-yard loss. But he broke free and bulled right up the middle for a 5-yard TD at 3:52. Sr. Tim McCauley recovered the onside kick and suspense went on vacation at 2:35 as Everage took a right-side toss and fought for a first down. He was almost exclusively close to the sideline and it appeared several guys could/should have pushed him out. He would NOT let it happen. Washington’s line included sr. C Johnny Navarro, sr. Gs Robin Thomas and Tyrone Smith, and sr. Ts Kevin White and Kris Edwards, along with Moody. If you’re a veteran Pub watcher, you won’t believe this one. Um, yes, you will. John McAneney is back in Washington’s fold, assisting the offense!! This is, what, his 23rd stint? Smile. Johnny Mac was upstairs at the top of the home stands in the first half, then down along Washington’s sideline in the second. It was great to see him and talk for a while, as always.