SEPT. 30
TEDBIT
  Under coach Phil Gormley, Northeast is off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2005. Like Germantown Academy, the Vikings have posted six 4-0 starts over the last 35 seasons. Below are the final scores and rushing/passing/receiving leaders for each squad through game No. 4. Check this out: In '87, the 4-0 start was followed by nothing but losses. That squad finished 4-7. The current Vikings are definitely not a follow-the-trend ballclub as they've averaged only five passes per game so far. On the flip side, waaaaaaay back in '84, QB Cary Boyd averaged 131 yards per game through the first four while also racking up eight TDs.

SEPT. 29
TEDBIT
  Under coach Matt Dence, Germantown Academy is off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1999. This is the sixth 4-0 start for the Patriots over the last 35 seasons. Below are the final scores and rushing/passing/receiving leaders for each squad through game No. 4. The last 5-0 start was achieved in '96. The Patriots hammered Pennington (NJ), 58-0, as Matt Blewitt rushed 21 times for 235 yards and four TDs.

SEPT. 28 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  Christian Connor (251 yards passing in 2012) was not the only McDevitt player to lose a one-game school record Saturday in the 35-32 loss to Steinert (NJ). And the other mark went waaaaaaay back. In 1973, in a 13-10 win over Wood, junior Matt Welsh made seven catches for 191 yards. That record was erased Saturday by sr. Dontae Mason, who turned 10 snags into 236 yards and three TDs. Matt's record was the city's second oldest among receivers, topped only by the 252 yards posted by future NFLer Don Clune (O'Hara) in 1969. The '73 football season was my third as a sports writer for a chain of weekly newspapers in Montgomery County and I often covered McDevitt/La Salle in addition to Springfield Montco, Cheltenham, Wissahickon, etc. That McDevitt-Wood game was covered by Jim DeStefano, who's now a desk editor in the Daily News sports department, but I wrote a feature story (posted right below) on Matt and his older brother, Tom, for that next week's edition. Why was Tom included? Because he did the throwing that day. And guess what? Matt outgained him! Tom finished 8-for-13 for 188 yards because his other completion resulted in a 3-yard loss for fullback Charlie Heiland. I'd forgotten all about that! (Charlie did score twice on short runs.) Matt finished his Lancer career with 68 catches for 1,179 yards and seven TDs. He also played basketball and baseball at McDevitt and played the latter sport at Temple. He played seemingly forever in the Pen-Del League and is that organization's lifetime leader, by far, in home runs. In fact, each season's home run leader now receives a trophy named for Matt. Matt's son, also named Matt, played football for St. Joseph's Prep (class of '04), primarily serving as a kicker (18 PAT in '03)-punter and part-time d-back. He also played some offense, but in his senior year had to settle for 17 yards on two catches. He then attended Gettysburg and . . . became a star! He finished his career with 68 catches for 1,019 yards and seven TDs. I tried reaching Matt Sr. last night, but his family had spent much of the weekend stalking Pope Francis (smile). He called me back today and we had a great talk about the good, ol' days. Matt mentioned that McDevitt's Class of '75 will soon have its 40th reunion. Here's hoping everyone has a great time!      

SEPT. 28
TEDBIT
  You knew this would happen at some point. Likely sooner rather than later, right? Drew Gordon, formerly an offensive coordinator (1994-97, 2005) and head coach (2006-14) at La Salle, is now the offensive coordinator at his alma mater McDevitt (Class of '68), and once again a quarterback has REALLY filled the airwaves. Saturday, in a 35-32 loss to Steinert (NJ), junior lefty Max Bryson passed 19-for-32 for 411 yards and five touchdowns. The 411-yard outburst ranks No. 2 among Catholic League QBs (Roman's Phil DiWilliams posted 415 last year in a non-league game vs. Downingtown East) and this is the ninth time a Gordon-guided QB has reached at least 300. Drew's son, Brett, was the first to do so in '97 and Brett later served dad as OC at La Salle. McDevitt's top receiver on Saturday (that group is mentored by Colin Leach) was Dontae Mason, who turned 10 snags into a school record 236 yards (Matt Welsh had 191 in 1973) and three TDs. Jaron Macon added four catches for 119 yards and one score. Bryson passed for 204 yards in the fourth quarter! Meanwhile, because reports from newspapers and websites in NJ listed different totals for Bryson, stat guru Ed "Huck" Palmer decided to watch the game tape on Hudl (thanks to Colin for providing access) to break down the stats . . . then he did so again to make SURE the numbers were correct. Thanks, Huck. With the ball on the 3 in the last few seconds, McDevitt decided to try for a win. That pass was broken up . . . Please check back tonight for a Tedbit about Matt Welsh's special day in '73.
UPDATE: Here are McDevitt's grunts, as provided by Colin . . .
Ts Sean Campbell (jr.) and Daniel Church (sr.); Gs Robbie Brett (sr.) and Darien Hilliard (so.), C Giancarlo Kelly (so.)

SEPT. 27
TEDBIT
  As his team, Father Judge, thumped SCH Academy, 38-0, in a non-league game yesterday, Yeedee Thaenrat became the fifth player in city history to rush for 300 yards for at least a second time. As tabulated by Aaron "Ace" Carter, Thaenrat ch-chinged his way to 313 yards (and four TDs) on 18 carries. We're still in September, of course, so Yeedee will have more chances to join the Triple Club or even the Quadruple Club.
UPDATE: Here are Judge's O-linemen, as provided by assistant Tony Heffner (thanks!) . . .
C Mike Marchei (jr.), Gs Dom Carey (jr.) and Andy Wilson (so.), Ts Brendan Clark (sr.) and Kevin McGranaghan (sr.) and Es Anthony Heffner (sr.) and Brian Giampietro (jr.).
 

SEPT. 26
TEDBIT
  Thanks to a 21-14 success last night at Upper Dublin, La Salle now owns five consecutive wins over Malvern. The streak began in '09 and the last four wins have come since 2012; the teams did not play in '10/'11. During the five seasons, basically, La Salle has won four of every five games (45-10, .818) while Malvern has won two of every three (30-16, .652). Below are the stats for La Salle's QBs during the five-pack. In '08, when Malvern won, 47-21, Friars QB Billy Conners was terrific while going 9-for-11 for 192 yards (17.5 yards per attempt!) and three TDs. 

SEPT. 25 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  It's doubtful Matt Romano will ever forget the date of Sept. 24, 2015. On the rough end, Ryan's junior quarterback was guilty of six turnovers (four interceptions, two lost fumbles) in a non-league game vs. Roman. On the decent end, he was also involved in all three of his team's touchdowns as the Raiders snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Cahillites. In 2001, Ryan beat Roman, 17-6, as Kyle Gallagher and Scott Downey scored the TDs and Chris Weber added five points with a field goal and two PAT. Ryan then dropped two meetings, including a playoff, in 2002 and one per season from '03 through '14. In all, Ryan was outscored by 400-160, an average score of 28.6 to 11.4. Oddly, this game, with Roman as the "home" team, was played at Bensalem High because the visiting stands at Conshohocken's A Field have been condemned. Romano passed 4-for-9 for 86 yards and one TD. He rushed 17 times for 39 yards and two scores. His passing TD went to Jeremy Smith while Ryan Stock kicked three PAT. Coach Frank "Five" McArdle's club overcame a 14-7 deficit and Pat Jurgelewicz ended Roman's last possession by posting an interception.

SEPT. 25
TEDBIT
  Weeks Three and Four were especially ugly in Public League play. In five games, all shutouts, the margin of victory was at least 52 points. The worst blowout was Del-Val's 71-0 stomping of Palumbo and Mark "Frog" Carfagno, when time permits after the weekend, will present a breakdown of a particularly disturbing late-game moment in his report.

SEPT. 17
TEDBIT
  This has already been a terrific decade for black quarterbacks in the city leagues. And since we're only halfway through, the fun isn't close to being over. The Daily News began tracking stats in the 1981 season. The list below shows the Top 21 yardage totals (there was a tie for No. 20) for black QBs from '81 through 2014. Only five were achieved before 2010. To boot, the highest three totals were posted last season! Through just two games, Haverford School's Kevin Carter is averaging 308 yards. The Fords are scheduled to play 10 games, so Kevin Caldwell (Franklin in '14) could be challenged for his No. 1 spot. That's also the overall No. 1 spot -- La Salle's Brett Gordon had rung up 2,647 yards in 1997. For a long time, the city yardage record for black QBs belonged to Frankford's Warren Mays, who was credited with 1,875 yards in 1969. West Catholic's Jarred Evans topped that in 2009 (1,882), Fels' Tyree "Bam" Rucker followed suit in '10 (1,994) and the top three guys listed below raised the bar even higher in '14. Boykin, a junior, can now be found at Imhotep.   

SEPT. 16
TEDBIT
  Well, we're through two weeks of the 2015 season and the Inter-Ac is sittin' pretty. Its record is 11-1 and the scoring advantage is 385-191. That comes to an average score of 32-16. Malvern, by far, is leading the way with a combined score of 71-0. In Haverford School's two games, 157 points have been scored. If you're keeping stats, bring a few extra pencils (smile).

SEPT. 14
JV FOOTBALL
Penn Charter 35, Conwell-Egan 0
  In the first football game of any variety on PC's new turf field, the Quakers' JV squad blanked Conwell-Egan, 35-0. JV games are played with 10-minute quarters. The game began at 4:11 and ended at 5:31. Below is the boxscore, assorted firsts and PC's starters/participants. Varsity head coach Tommy Coyle coordinated PC's defense. Fran Costello guided the offense. Other coaches on hand: Casey Jones, Tauren Barker, Chris Rahill and Malcolm Ford (video). Coyle's son, Quinn (fifth grader at PC), was the ballboy. C-E's coaches were John Mascione and Merdic Green. The game officials were Paul Kubach (ref), Gregg Asman (umpire), Rocco DiSangro (head linesman) and Steve Tidey (line judge).

SEPT. 14
TEDBIT
  Tonight in Atlanta, Penn Charter product Matt Ryan will lead the Falcons into battle vs. the Philadelphia Eagles in the teams' first game of the 2015 NFL season. Passing yard No. 17 will raise his career total, counting Penn Charter and Boston College along with the Falcons, to exactly 23 miles! That's the equivalent of 92 laps around the track at Penn's Franklin Field, site of the Penn Relays). Or look at it this way. The Broad Street Run begins just a few footsteps from Central High's field and ends about a quarter-mile into the old Navy Yard in the deepest portion of South Philly. Run down there, run back (20 total miles) and then do 12 laps around Central's track. Or how about a trip on the Pennsylvania Turnpike? It's almost exactly 23 miles from the Delaware Valley Exit (Levittown/Bristol; Route 13) to the Mid-County Exit (Plymouth Township; I-476, takes you up the Northeast Extension or over toward Chester). "Matty Ice" has already experienced quite the journey and all who know him, and all members of his wonderful family (PC sr. RB Jake McCain is one of his many sports-playing cousins), are extremely happy for his success.
  UPDATE: On the Falcons' first series, after a running play, Ryan completed a short slant to Julio Jones and the gain was . . . exactly 17 yards! Perfect!            

SEPT. 9
TEDBIT
  As the 2010 season began, Franklin's school records for passing and receiving yards in one game belonged, respectively, to Dwayne Lilley (181) and Rodney Hicks (125). Those numbers, admittedly not exactly earth shattering, had been posted in 1998. Then, on Oct. 29, in a 44-0 blitzing of University City, the records were claimed by Anwar "Huddy" Mathis (198) and Willie Battle (153). Since Mathis and Battle did their thing, the Lilley-Hicks numbers have been surpassed all KINDS of times. Twenty-eight, to be exact. Under coach David Carter, who played QB for the Electrons (Class of 1996) and then was a linebacker at West Virginia, Franklin has become quite the pass-happy outfit. In last week's opener, Devin Darden (300) and Javier Buffalo (193, school record) had all kinds of aerial fun. Here's guessing they're not close to being finished. 

SEPT. 8
TEDBIT
  In football, it's not always easy for the Catholic League's five smallest schools to gain respect. But lots of chests are puffed out right now thanks to the results of Week One Games. Conwell-Egan, Lansdale Catholic, McDevitt, Neumann-Goretti and West Catholic combined to post a 5-0 record and three of those schools -- Conwell-Egan, McDevitt  and West Catholic -- bumped off opponents from higher classifications. The total score for all five games was 125-39. Congrats, guys!

SEPT. 7
TEDBIT
  As mentioned in yesterday's Tedbit, Dan Concannon, first-year coach at Neumann-Goretti, made quite the first-game splash. Down in Wildwood, N.J., he steered the Saints to a 38-0 win over Valley Forge Military Academy (coached by his brother, Michael). Early yesterday afternoon, the mind began spinning. When was the last time a Catholic League or Inter-Ac coach (the I-A guys were also included in the posting) won his first game by that many points? The answer? Hard to believe! You must go way back to 1966 or way, way back to 1930, depending upon your point of view. In 1966, in Wood's first year as a CL member, the Vikings opened their season by crunching Morrisville, 40-0. The coach was Dominic "Mick" Pileggi (and one of his assistants was Ted Taylor, who writes a monthly sports-hobby column for this website). One "problem." Pileggi was also Wood's coach in 1965, when the school played a patchwork varsity schedule in preparation for its CL debut. So, '66 wasn't his first year as the school's coach. If we discount Pileggi, the journey takes us back to 1930. In game No. 1 of that season, a non-league affair, North Catholic pummeled Camden Catholic (N.J.), 50-0. The Falcons' coach was Ken Simendinger, who'd starred in football and baseball at La Salle and Holy Cross and had even played one season (1926) in the NFL. That squad was the Hartford (Conn.) Blues, who existed for just that one campaign. In recent years, the best debut by a CL coach belonged to Kevin Kelly. In 2002, his Conwell-Egan squad blasted Bristol, 35-0. Meanwhile, in the Inter-Ac, a first-year coach hasn't won his initial outing by as many as 38 points since 1951. In that season, his first and only in the position, "Indian" Joe Nejman guided Germantown Academy past Solebury, 51-7. Nejman was also quite the local legend. He starred at Frankford and Temple. In the 1940 season, he passed for one score and ran for another as the Pioneers bested West Catholic, 13-0, for the City Title. He'd done likewise on the final day of the Public League regular season in Frankford's 14-6 win over Germantown, which locked up the championship. Nejman was Temple's MVP in 1947 -- his career had been interrupted by military service -- and he also earned honorable mention All-American honors. In the interim, Jim Auch Jr., who later coached at Haverford School and Episcopal, led Malvern over Mastbaum, 34-0, in his first game with the Friars in 1964.

SEPT. 6
TEDBIT
  Dan Concannon will never forget his coaching debut for his alma mater, Neumann-Goretti. (Officially, he graduated from what was then all-boys St. John Neumann). Not only did Dan face off against his older brother, Michael, likewise a Neumann product and the coach at Valley Forge Military Academy. He also steered his squad to a 38-0 victory. There are 20 schools in the Catholic/Inter-Ac leagues and no other current coach has debuted in such impressive fashion. The breakdown is below. For guys who coached elsewhere, we listed the result for their current school. For guys in second stints at the same school, we listed their back-in-the-day debut. The total record is 10-10.      

SEPT. 5
NON-LEAGUE
Lansdale Catholic 21, Penn Charter 6
(At Ocean City High School, NJ)
  Ryan Quigley (click here for pic) last year earned MVP honors in Catholic AA while overcoming two obstacles: He was only a junior and his team did not have a winning record. Guess what? He fully deserved that award, and today he again displayed magical qualities. Quigley, a sr. RB-DB, scored all three of the Crusaders' TD and the first one could stand up as the play of the year. Or at least a Top Five candidate. Just three plays into the game, PC jr. QB Mike "Niko" Hnatkowsky, a lefty, threw a pass over the outstretched hands of a leaping receiver . . . right into the mitts of Quigley. Quigley caught the ball on LC's 28 at maybe the right hash mark. He then took off toward the "boardwalk/beach end" of the field and scored in the left corner. What a journey! Zig here. Zag there. Shake off a tackle here. Give a defender the slip there. About midway downfield, he undoubtedly caused spectators to think, "He's gonna score here. Not sure how. But it IS gonna happen." On the other side, Quigley rushed 20 times for 140 yards and two more scores -- a 14-yarder early in the second quarter and a 2-yarder midway through the fourth. He reminds me very much of PC assistant/alum Rick Mellor, a classmate ('69) and crafty/brassy performer (and the school's former forever baseball coach). Sr. Ryan Carbone hammered all three PAT and that was a quality performance because the wind was blowing pretty hard from the northeast to southwest corner. Using an unbalanced line rather often, LC racked up 273 yards on 48 carries. Also effective were sr. RB Marlen Fenstermacher (14-76) and jr. QB Michael Basilii (10-50). Though they were hanging around rather deep into the game, the Quakers never completely gave off a we-can-win-this vibration. Due to a combination of injuries and inexperience, PC is not completely itself. Exhibit A: Star sr. TE Evan Ferrell, a returning first team All-Inter-Ac selection, had to play tackle today because two O-line starters, jrs. Jeremy Bass and John Grace, were unavailable due to injury. Last year, Hnatkowsky likely, at least a few times, posted consecutive completions within 15 seconds. Today, he didn't notch his first hookup until 15 minutes had flown by. In all, the Quakers definitely were guilty of four drops and that total might have been five; I didn't have a good angle on another play and couldn't tell for sure why the ball wasn't caught. The scoring drive occurred in the second quarter, advancing the ball 80 yards in 12 plays. Sr. RB Jake McCain (9-82) had the big one with a 38-yard run. Sr. FB Cody Sweeney tallied the TD on a 5-yard burst up the middle. Ferrell punted three times (long of 50) for a 43-yard average. Jr. DE Kevin MacCabe had a strong day on defense, notching a sack, two TFLs and a fumble recovery (forced by fellow DE Kenny Bergmann, a sr.). Soph S Owen Pighini broke up a pair of passes. Soph OLB Trajan Womack managed a solo TFL while sharing another. The crowd was impressive and LC had a large, energized student section. The Quakers spent Friday night at SpringHill Suites, in Voorhees, NJ, footsteps from the Flyers' practice facility (and the McDonald's where I eat almost every meal -- ha ha), and that made for a much easier commute to OC this morning. Aside from the PC folks, it was great to see LC coach Tom Kirk and assistant John McFadden, ref Bill McKeever and back judge Ernie Gallagher, and officials assigner Jim King, among others. After taking some post-game pics, I made a brisk walk out of the stadium, headed up the 6th Street ramp to the boardwalk and . . . applied the brakes at Johnson's Popcorn! Where else, baby!? I would share some caramel corn with you, but it's already gone (smile).

SEPT. 4
TEDBIT
  Two years after retiring from the Daily News, I am scaling back this website for the 2015 football season. We will continue to update schedules, results and standings, and provide Tedbits, but my specific coverage will be limited to my alma mater, Penn Charter (reports/photos of football games; photos a couple times each week of other sports). We will no longer provide TEAM PAGES. Long-time sidekick Ed "Huck" Palmer will keep track of stats and provide leaders each week for the Daily News (starting after Week Three, in all likelihood) and we hope to post those a day after they appear in the paper. Those days will likely be Wednesday and Thursday. On this site, updates to individual school/season/career records will be made, and postseason all-star teams/other historical info will be posted. And if long-time sidekicks still want to provide reports/lists, they'll be posted as well. Anthony Franklin is working on his annual college list. Aside from Huck and sports writer Aaron "Ace" Carter (now officially an Inquirer employee but still with ties to the DN), the mainstays of the DN's stat crew are Amauro "Amar" Austin (he also coordinates the game assignments), Mark "Frog" Carfagno, Jon "Duck" Gray, Thomas "Hockey Puck/Nutman" McKenna, Big Steve Reid and Keith Hines. Others contribute from time to time -- we also get stats from other newspapers; links on homepage -- and the work of all is greatly appreciated! As mentioned, Huck will be handling stats. Please direct your questions/concerns to him. His email is teddycat10@aol.com. Thanks to all who have supported this site since its inception in 2000, and we hope you stick around. Enjoy the season!

SEPT. 1
TEDBIT
  Two guys -- Pat Manzi at McDevitt, Jim Murphy at Roman -- are back in the Catholic League head coaching saddle again this season, specifically at schools where they previously ran the show. In CL history, 12 guys have performed that feat and two, as you'll see on the list below, have pulled off a hat trick. This list includes only those coaches who missed at least one full season between their stints. (St. Thomas More, at 47th and Wyalusing in West Philly, closed in June 1975.)

AUGUST 27
TEDBIT
  If you're a fan of watching football games played on artificial turf, you're going to be very happy in the 2015 season. A large majority of games involving Catholic, Inter-Ac and Public teams -- with those squads as the home teams -- will be played on the unnatural stuff. Now that Penn Charter has joined the turf explosion, only two games involving Inter-Ac teams against their own schools or Cath/Pub schools will be played on grass -- Penn Charter/Lansdale Catholic at Ocean City (N.J.) High in Week One and SCH Academy at Central in Week Two. For the CL, there will be two grass-dominates weeks (One and Nine). Same for the PL (Four and Eight). These are the grass fields scheduled to host home games for Catholic/Public schools this season: Bartram, Carroll (campus), Central, Cheltenham, Conshy A Field, Edison, Frankford, Olney, Roxborough, 29th & Chalmers, Upper Darby, Washington, West Phila., Wildwood (N.J.).
  *Road games at non-Cath/Int/Pub sites are not included . . . Schedules beyond Week Nine in Cath/Pub to be determined . . . Thanksgiving games not included.*

AUGUST 23
TEDBIT
  One of the best things about watching the Eagles this preseason is listening to the color commentary provided by Mike Mayock. Mike also has a great reputation as a draft analyst and it's very nice to see how much success he has achieved. At Haverford School, with his dad, Mike Sr., as his coach, Mike was the oldest of four brothers to earn All-Inter-Ac and All-City honors. In all, Mike/Mark/Dan/Matt were first team all-leaguers eight times and first team All-City guys five times. Mike starred in football (AND baseball) at Boston College and played in nine total games for the New York Giants in 1982 and '83. Mark (also BC), Dan (Virginia) and Matt (Bucknell) also played college football. Mike Sr. was a captain and tight end at Villanova and coached for 19 total seasons at Malvern (1956-62, 34-23-1) and Haverford School (1970-76/1983-87, 49-45-2). His best accomplishment: 16-0 overall record through his first two seasons at HS. In the '55 season, he was also the head coach at the long-closed St. John the Baptist High, in Manayunk. By that point, St. John's was out of the Catholic League. During my days of watching/interacting with the Mayocks, there was no such thing as a bad experience. All the best to one of the very best families in city leagues history!  

AUGUST 20
TEDBIT
  With '77 grad John Steinmetz now in charge, an alumnus is leading La Salle's varsity for the 55th time in 64 seasons. Two other Catholic League schools with grads now in charge also own spots on the dominated-by-grads trail. Judge is being coached for the 42nd consecutive season by a former Crusader. Meanwhile, West Catholic's run is 41 of the last 46 seasons. Details right below . . .
UPDATE: I messed up on the alma mater of a former West Catholic coach. Thanks to Jim Trainer for the assistance! The Burrs' numbers have been adjusted to 33 of 39.

AUGUST 19
TEDBIT
  Malvern, it's believed, is about to make history. On Friday, Aug. 28, at the famous Soldier Field in Chicago, the Friars will play St. Rita of Chicago in what I think will be the earliest game involving a city leagues team. To this point, Public, Catholic and Inter-Ac teams have only played games over Labor Day Weekend. This year Labor Day doesn't pop up on the calendar until Sept. 7, so this game will occur 10 days earlier. LDW activity is a rather new phenomenon. As far as I know, except for scattered games with Catholic schools playing suburban schools, the trend began in 1981 when Judge played Neumann at 11 o'clock on a Saturday (Sept. 5) at Northeast. Judge rolled to a 41-14 victory as Jerry Magallanes, now a prominent college football head referee, produced 148 yards and four TDs on 22 carries. (In an afternoon game that day, Roman fell to now-closed Darby Township, 44-36.) Very few people attended that Judge-Neumann game, so in '82 the schools decided to move the game to Wildwood, N.J., correctly figuring that the crowd would be pretty respectable since so many people were "down the shore." The first Inter-Ac school to play a LDW game was Haverford School. On Sept. 2, 2006, a Saturday, the Fords lost to Overbrook, 12-10. Fred Ferro scored Haverford's TD on a rush. Through the 2003 season, Public League schools did not begin game activity until Week Four. Heck, practice didn't even start until Sept. 1. The change occurred when the Pub joined the PIAA. The first game was played at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, 2004. Lincoln beat Bartram, 14-8, as Robert Keels and Antonio Wessells scored the Railsplitters' TDs. Also scheduled to play at 1 o'clock were Bartram and Penn. The game was canceled that morning (forfeit win for Bartram) because Penn, fielding its first team since dropping the sport after the '84 season, did not have enough players. All together now . . . Only in the Pub. Below are the dates of the first games for all seasons in this century.

AUGUST 16
TEDBIT
  In a preseason game last night, for the Houston Texans vs. the San Francisco 49ers, West Catholic product Jaelen Strong caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from O'Hara product Tom Savage. In regular season action, you have to go back to 1950 to find the last time "Our Guys" combined for a passing TD. On Oct. 7, 1950, West Philadelphia product Bill Mackrides connected with Jack Ferrante for a 35-yard score to complete the Eagles' 56-20 romp over the Los Angeles Rams. Those two also accomplished the feat in 1948. On Nov. 21, their 15-yard hookup was the Birds' last score in a 42-21 frolic past the Washington Redskins. Mackrides and Ferrante were teammates for four seasons (1947-50) with Philly. Mackrides was almost exclusively a backup. Ferrante, a star, was a walk-on in the truest sense. Some sources list his high school as West Philadelphia, and that would make sense because West Philly is listed as his neighborhood during his teenaged years (he first lived in South Philly). However, he never played sports in high school and it is widely reported that he dropped out in the 10th grade to work in a supermarket. He never returned to high school and did not go to college. Ferrante drew the Eagles' attention while starring in sandlot action. In an eight-year career (1941, 1944-50), he turned 169 catches into 2,884 yards and 21 TDs. And, yes, he's the same Jack Ferrante who steered Monsignor Bonner to Catholic League championships in 1959 and '61     

AUGUST 6
TEDBIT
  As a product of a Division III college (Delaware Valley), Roxborough's Rasheed Bailey is facing long odds in his attempt to make the Philadelphia Eagles. Well, he already BEAT long odds when he earned a spot on the training camp roster, so who knows how this will turn out? In Eagles history, only seven products of Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac schools have caught passes for the Eagles (some others have gone catch-less) and the by-far leader, Fran Murray, was primarily a rusher. Bernie "Bert" Kuczynski, whose one catch produced a TD, also played major league baseball. One guy not on the list is Jack Ferrante, who had a terrific career with the Eagles (1941, 1944-50) and later coached Bonner to pair of Catholic League championships. One problem: he never played football for one of "Our Schools" and, according to numerous accounts, dropped out of high school (some sources list that school as West Philadelphia; that would make sense because West Philly is listed as his neighborhood during his teenaged years) in the 10th grade to take a job in an A&P supermarket. He played sandlot football and made the pros that way. His Eagles receiving totals: 169 catches, 2,884 yards, 17.1 YPC and 31 TDs. Outstanding! Meanwhile, best of luck to Rasheed!

JULY 28
TEDBIT
  How much has Philly high school football changed in recent years? A lot, if the stats listed below can be taken as gospel. I decided to check the Top 5 Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac passers from 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2014. The total numbers for the first three years were not a whole lot different. But in 2014, the total was more than 400 yards better! Why? These days, of course, many coaches favor a pass-first offensive approach. Also part of the outburst: Many more games are played on artificial surfaces, which still makes passing possible even in crappy weather.

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MAY 23
TEDBIT
  Well, that didn't take long. Just two years into its association with the City All-Star Game, Wood has claimed one record (most TDs by one school in back-to-back games) and just missed tying another (most TDs in one game). From 1975 through '13, only schools from inside the city limits were allowed to supply players for the Non-Public squad. Players from Catholic schools became eligible in '14 and Wood coach Steve Devlin, a Ryan grad, has made sure his players have participated. In fact, 10 of this year's 43 N-P players were Vikings. Steve was also the squad's head coach in '14 and '15. And current Wood senior Ryan Bates, a tackle bound for Penn State, is the nephew of Doug Macauley, Dobbins' former coach and a member of the City All-Star Game's executive committee.

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