OCT. 31
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 42, Episcopal 35
  Excuse the baseball reference, but today felt as great for the Quakers as a last-day, doubleheader sweep to win a pennant. The morning featured a walk-through practice on the new turf field by Notre Dame -- and OPC '13 Mike Glinchey, a starting offensive tackle -- in preparation for the nationally televised game (8 o'clock start) against Temple. The afternoon offered a stirring victory that featured vintage performances by. jr. QB Mike "Neeko" Hnatkoswky and jr. WR Chris Tucker along with erasures of 14-0 (very early) and 35-34 (very late) deficits. The folks who were around for both events will never this special combo. Wearing special T-shirts prepared for the occasion, PC's players watched ND's practice from the new stands across the way from the main building. The practice ended at about 11 and that meant time had to be killed. Once the game began, one had to wonder whether the Quakers were still basking in the Fighting Irish glow and/or a shade wiped out because they'd been on campus for roughly five hours. EA sr. handyman Christian Feliziani caught the opening kickoff next to the left-side hash mark and . . . 90 impressive yards later . . . scored in the right corner of the end zone. Then, with 3:02 left in that first stanza, Feliziani recorded a 75-yard TD on a pass from jr. QB CJ McAnally (like Neeko, he's a lefty; his final stats were 10-for-15 for a 253 yards). Talk about wrecking a good day. Luckily for PC, the bad vibrations didn't last. The Quakers seized the second quarter by 21-7 and their three scores were posted within 7 minutes. Hnatkowsky hit sr. TE Evan Ferrell (11 yards) and Tucker (70 and 14 yards) for the three scores and a fumble recovery by soph DB Terence Thompson set up that last one; jr. DE Luke Stansfield had knocked the ball free in the aftermath of a bad-snap scramble. EA scored at 0:23 on a 39-yard, jump-ball catch by Feliziani. All he did was finish the half with 255 yards on six touches! (And 306 on 10 for the game. OutSTANDing!) To start the third quarter, PC notched a 29-yard TD catch by jr. WR Denarii Beard (right-side swing pass; quality tight-roping along the sideline) and the Churchdudes answered with a 3-yard run by sr. RB Dee Barlee. The Quakers scored again 98 seconds into the fourth quarter as Hnatkowsky hit Tucker, who was maybe the third (or even fourth) option, on a 4-yard toss into the near left corner. Alas, the kick by sr. Colin Mattice sailed wide and the door was left ajar. And here came EA! Sixty-five yards were covered in 12 plays. A correct interference call on fourth and 10 placed the ball on the 12. Barlee barreled right up the middle for a 10-yard TD on second down and the PAT by jr. Connor Ringwalt made it 35-34 with 5:52 showing. Sr. RB Jake McCain, one of McGlinchey's MANY cousins, provided quick hope with a 17-yard burst. Two plays later Tucker went long and -- yes! -- made a soaring snatch worth 42 yards to EA's 3. McCain gained one yard, then another. But on third down, Neeko was stopped just short of the goal line -- roughly four inches -- and Mattice trotted onto the field to try a field goal. Toot! The Quakers called time and switched gears to the classic, power-straight-ahead quarterback sneak. One yard officially. Four inches really. Touchdown! The conversion yielded two points thanks to Neeko's flip to Jake. All day, pretty much, PC was victimized by passes straight down the middle and, truthfully, most were misplayed by defenders who didn't turn around in time and/or didn't execute proper jumps. Fiiiiiiinally. Twenty-seven yards downfield, Beard exhibited perfect timing and ball-hungryness (is that a word? smile) and made what turned out to be a clinching interception at 1:36. So now, after having lost 10 consecutive I-A games over three seasons, PC owns two wins in a row. Thanks largely to a 14-of-15 stretch, Hnatkowsky finished 17-for-21 (81 percent) for 327 yards (10 short of his school record) and five TDs. While honoring the memory of his grandfather, Stephen Greene, who passed away this past Monday, "Tuck" ("We were VERY close") turned six catches into 163 yards and three TDs and came within three yards of a fourth. Sr. handyman Cody Sweeney racked up 70 yards on four snags and McCain rushed 18 times for 104 yards. Right after Feliziani returned the opening kickoff for the 90-yard score, a PC fan bellowed, "They just punched you in the mouth on your home field! How you gonna respond?!" Answer: Pretty darn well . . . eventually. Among the legends on campus in the morning and/or afternoon: Jim Burner, Bill Gallagher (played for Notre Dame; coached PC and EA; quite the hat trick), Ed Malandro, Bob Rosania, Jim Rullo and Armand Vanore (reporting for a football website). Special congrats to Ed Foley for doing the heavy lifting involved with assuring ND would visit PC.

OCT. 31
TEDBIT
  Much fanfare is being directed Will Fuller's way and that's great to see/hear. The star jr. WR for Notre Dame is a full-tilt class act and during his career at Roman (2013 grad) I never heard one person say anything remotely negative about him. However, this is not the first time in this century that one of "Our Guys" has done very well at pass-catching for the Fighting Irish and I feel it's time to again show some respect for Maurice Stovall. Young bucks won't know much, if anything, about him, but he was quite the wideout for Carroll (2002 grad) and Notre Dame before spending seven seasons in the NFL. The high school and college stats for Fuller and Stovall are below. While slapping the numbers together, I kept wondering, "Is Will a whole lot more productive than Maurice was?" Keep in mind: Just over the last decade, passing numbers have increased like crazy in most (all?) levels of football. How do the numbers compare? Here we go . . . At ND so far in three seasons, the QBs during Will's career have combined to pass for 8,874 yards. Will has racked up 1,956 yards, so his percentage is 22.0. Maurice -- known as "Bird" to many because he was very thin as a little guy -- posted 2,195 yards for QBs who totaled 10,993 yards over four seasons. That percentage is 19.97, which rounds up to 20. Pretty darn close. Plus, Maurice's 2004 season was limited to nine games. Bird's dad, also named Maurice, was a quality lineman at Bartram, earning second team All-City honors in 1978. I hope all in the family are doing well! Ditto for Will and his people. It'll be so cool to watch him play vs. Temple tonight! (On TV. Not in person -- smile).

OCT. 30
TEDBIT
  The Duke-out of Delco will again take place tonight -- 7 at Upper Darby High -- and Bonner-Prendie will be looking to extend its recent mini-run of success. After losing 20 of the previous 23 meetings through the 2013 regular season, the Friars captured the '13 playoff by a score of 41-38 and the '14 contest in the regular season by a score of 33-13. The series began in 1965 and O'Hara owns a 39-20 advantage. Due to playoffs, the teams have met twice in nine seasons. Three times have tables been turned in the second meeting (by O'Hara in '81, by Bonner in '89 and '13). In the games in '78 and '79, only five total points were scored! O'Hara won by 3-0, then by 2-0. The Lions also claimed a 2-0 victory in '75. In the teams' first 10 meetings, Bonner went 7-3. O'Hara swept six straight from 1975-80, then eight in a row from 1983-89 (one playoff mixed in). In three games vs. O'Hara, 2015 B-P grad Collin DiGalbo rang up 1,059 yards and 14 TDs! He passed 44-for-75 for 765 and nine while rushing 50 for 294 and five. At 6:30 tonight, B-P will hold a ceremony to retire the No. 6 jersey worn by 2008 grad Dave Garrison. Dave, then a freshman at the University of West Virginia, died in January 2009 of injuries suffered in an automobile accident. Click here for a Tribute Page from this website. RIP, Dave . . . Here are the top performances in rushing/passing/receiving from 1982-2014:

OCT. 29
MIDDLE SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Penn Charter 39, SCH Academy 12
First MS Game on New Turf Field
  Casey Jones is providing more than good assistant coaching to PC's varsity. His son, Kyle, is an eighth grader for the middle school team and he turned in quite the performance as the Quakers rolled to victory. Kyle was the starting QB for coach Ed "Bumper" Foley, but he also played some running back (and even fullback close to the goal line). End result: He turned 11 carries into 171 yards and two TDs while racking up three runs of 40-plus yards -- 44, 52 for a TD, and 42. At LB, he blocked a PAT, was involved in three stops behind the line of scrimmage and, while dropping back in pass coverage, made a deflection that helped to produce a 90-yard pick-six for seventh grader Marvin Harrison. Wait. Marvin Harrison? Yes, he's the son of the future NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver from Roman. Lil' Marvin had two interceptions on the day. PC's other TDs were scored by eighth grader Isaiah Meyer on a 36-yard pass from seventh grader Cameron Pygatt and by eighth grader Marcellus "Warsaw" Poland on a 61-yard run and 44-yard interception return. Eighth grader Noah Evans had an interesting first quarter. After the first TD, he was lined up to kick when a shaky snap ruined those plans. All he did was gain possession and power ahead for one point. After the next TD, out of Pygatt's hold, he did nail the PAT for two points. (Those are the rules in middle school games -- two for kicks, one for runs/passes.) SCH's TDs were scored by Zion "Hank Aaron" Spearman on a 77-yard kickoff return (he was a member of the famous Taney Dragons in the summer of 2014) and by KeShawn Williams on a 9-yard run. SCH is now being guided by Ed Aversa, formerly a long-time varsity assistant. Ed is Mr. Energy and it was great to see him!

PENN CHARTER 39, SCH ACADEMY 12
SCH Academy           0    6    6    0 -- 12
Penn Charter            15  12  12    0 -- 39
  PC: Kyle Jones 2 run (Noah Evans run)
  PC: Isaiah Meyer 36 pass from Cameron Pygatt (Evans kick)
  PC: Jones 52 run (kick blocked)
  SCH: Zion Spearman 77 kickoff return (run failed)
  PC: Marvin Harrison 90 interception return (kick failed)
  SCH: KeShawn Williams 9 run (kick blocked)
  PC: Marcellus Poland 61 run (kick failed)
  PC: Poland 44 interception return (pass failed)
PC'S STATISTICS
  RUSHING: Kyle Jones 11-171, Marcellus Poland 5-72,
Cameron Pygatt 7-0, Marvin Harrison 1-0.
  PASSING: Pygatt 1-2-0 -- 36. Jones 0-1-0 -- 0.
  RECEIVING: Isaiah Meyer 1-36.
  INTERCEPTIONS: Harrison 2, Poland.

MIDDLE SCHOOL FIRSTS ON PC'S NEW TURF FIELD
(Chronological Order)
  Kickoff: Noah Evans
  Special teams tackle: Dean Bleier (for 6-yard loss)
  TFL: Isaiah Meyer and Marcellus Poland (for 6-yard loss)
  Punt return: Poland (for 4-yard loss)
  Rush: Poland (no gain)
  Rush for loss: Kyle Jones (errant backward pass for 8 yards)
  Rush for gain: Jones (for 8 yards)
  Incomplete pass: Jones.
  Interception: Marvin Harrison
  Touchdown: Jones (2-yard run)
  Conversion: Noah Evans (successful run)
  Fumble recovery: Bleier (on kickoff)
  Completion: Cameron Pygatt to Meyer for a 36-yard TD.
  PAT: Evans (successful)
  Pass breakup: Evans
  Kickoff return: Pygatt (for 4 yards)
  Sack: Jameson Ford and Jones (for 8 yards)
  Lost fumble: Colin Michener (on kickoff)
  Blocked PAT: Jones
  Conversion pass: Evans to Bleier (incomplete)
  Recovery of own fumble: Pygatt (rushing play) 

OCT. 16
TEDBIT
  The game won't start until 1 p.m. tomorrow at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, but the excitement is already building. That's always the case when St. Joseph's Prep and La Salle, the Catholic League's only fully private schools, bang bodies. These archrivals have met 27 times in this century and the Prep owns 19 victories. Prior to the 2013 season, La Salle had captured eight of the last 12 contests. But the Hawks seized both meetings in '13 and '14 and stormed ahead to win Class AAAA state titles. All time, the Prep leads the series, 46-35-5. Best runs: the Hawks were 13-0-3 from 1920-43, the Explorers were 14-3 from 1976-92 and the Hawks answered with 13-0 dominance from 1999-through the regular season meeting in '05; La Salle broke its skid on Thanksgiving. Immediately below are the top 10 performances in rushing, passing and receiving from 2000 through 2014. Below that are guys who would have made the top list, going back to the first season (1982) in which we began publishing stat leaders each Tuesday in the Daily News.

OCT. 15 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  This is season No. 106 for Northeast as a Public League member and this is the ninth time the Vikings (formerly known as the Archives) have started with an overall record as good as 7-0. The Pub was formed in 1909 and this should be season No. 107 for NE. However, NE did not compete in 1957 in the league as the school was getting settled at Cottman and Algon after moving from 8th and Lehigh. It did play a four-game slate, going 1-2-1. The 1909 and 1914 teams were perfect at 9-0 and it's amazing, considering the transportation challenges, that opponents such as Perkiomen School, Swarthmore Prep and Wilmington (Del.) High were among the non-league foes in '09 while Bordentown (N.J.), Rancocas Valley (N.J.) and  Bethlehem Prep filled that bill in '14. The non-wins that prevented perfection in '53, '55 and '68 occurred in City Title games while those in '74, '01 and '05 took place in the regular season or on Thanksgiving. Congrats to coach Phil Gormley and his players/assistants for making this kind of history! . . . Northeast first played football in 1892. Just one game. A tie. It next took a crack in 1895 and again just one game was played. That result was a loss. The teams in 1905 (7-3), 1906 (8-3) and 1908 (8-2) had lots of wins, but there's no way (at the moment, anyway) to check on the order of the games, so I don't know if any of those squads started at least 7-0.
Here are Northeast' starters, as provided by coach Gormley . . .
Offense
QB Keith Moore
RB Amir Paulk
RB Elijah Wilcher
FB Demario Molina-White
TE Nashir Wilson
TE Kevin Cato
C Ormond Isom
G Vince Stratton
G Mohammed Ali
T Zack Dorsonne
T Nick Lawson
Defense
L Darrius Harris
L Zack Dorsonne
L Nashir Wilson
L Bejon Pryce
LB Terrance Williams
LB Joshua Reoun
LB Kyle Morasch
CB Carlos Divali
CB Elijah Wilcher
S Jaquan Amos
S Keith Moore

OCT. 15
TEDBIT
  The Inter-Ac season will begin tomorrow and, if recent history is any indication, points will be flying onto scoreboards. Check out the list below. In 2013, the average game produced 58.4 points while the number in 2014 (56.0) was pretty darn close to that. A '14 opener between SCH Academy and Penn Charter was an all-timer with SCH finishing on top, 53-51. Six other games produced at least 60 points.

OCT. 14
TEDBIT
  Through 2014, only six guys in city history had racked up 3,000 career passing yards through their junior seasons. Penn Charter's Mike "Neeko" Hnatkowsky now owns a spot on the list (he's the only lefty). Imhotep's Nasir Boykin (formerly of King) is on the doorstep. Down the street a way is McDevitt's Max Bryson. Those two are also lefties.

OCT. 13
TEDBIT
  So, were you doing anything special in 1928? The Inter-Ac's football teams were. They were compiling a perfect record (7-0) in non-league football games. Admittedly, that's not exactly a huge amount of games, but perfect is perfect. Listed below are all non-league performances of .750 or better over the last 88 seasons. At 25-5, 2015 is currently tied for second at .833. One game remains -- Malvern at Cardinal O'Hara at 7 o'clock on Nov. 25 -- and the former will enter that fray as a strong favorite so a 26-5 finish (.839) would not surprise. Very cool. How often does someone (or a group) accomplish something for the first time since 1928? (On the list of schools below, the six current members are obvious. Others: FC is Friends' Central, GF is Germantown Friends and MS is Montgomery School. 1928 has provided frustration. One source does not list GF as a league member. Another does. I was able to find online versions of the Inquirer from the fall of 1928 and games involving GF are routinely listed as being part of Inter-Ac play. We'll go with it!) The 7-0 record was achieved this way: Episcopal over Church Farm, 51-0, and Haverford High, 12-0; Friends' Central over Church Farm, 14-7; Gtn. Academy over Central, 18-6, and Bryn Athyn (now Academy of the New Church), 13-0; Haverford School over Pennsylvania Military Academy's freshmen (now Widener), 31-0; and Penn Charter over Peirce, 6-0. The other members did not play a non-league game. 

OCT. 12
TEDBIT
  Everyone knows -- or at least predicts -- Wood and Imhotep will meet down the line for the Class AAA City Title. Assuming that happens, here's a strong guess: The game won't head to overtime with the score at 0-0 (smile). Wood (45.2) and 'Tep (41.7) rank one-two in scoring average and their combined total comes to 87. The Top 10 outbursters are below. Their combined record is 48-9.

OCT. 11
TEDBIT
  The third time brought no harm. In the previous two seasons, Wood was unable to post 6-0 starts because of Week Six losses to SJ Prep (31-21 in '13) and La Salle (35-31 in '14). In those games, the Vikings coughed up leads of 14 and 17 points, respectively. Last night at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, the Vikes stormed to a 21-0 lead over La Salle, but again allowed a serious comeback before triumphing, 27-24, on Dan Zanine's 25-yard field goal at 0:00. Zanine's heroics made Wood 6-0 for the third time in this century and seventh time in 50 seasons of Catholic League membership. The other occasions in the 1900s: 1981, '77, '75 and '72. The 2010 squad stormed to a 13-0 record before falling to Allentown Central Catholic, 49-27, in a Class AAA state semifinal. The performance by ACC QB Brendan Nosovitch remains the best I've ever seen by any guy in any sport. He passed 17-for-28 for 419 yards and five TDs and ran 21 times for 183 yards and two more scores. He was involved in 49 of ACC's 52 plays. The other three netted minus-three yards, so he outgained his team, 602-599. Wood's only perfect season occurred in '03. That team finished 11-0 well before the CL joined the PIAA. The '81 and '77 teams stormed to 9-0 marks before losing.

OCT. 10
TEDBIT
  In early October last season, I started a Tedbit with . . . How did this ever happen? How have La Salle and Wood, two of the Catholic League's best programs, failed to bang heads even once since 1998? I know. Hard to believe, right? Thankfully, that wrong was corrected and an all-timer resulted. Roaring rack from a 31-14 deficit, La Salle posted a 35-31 victory as Kyle Shurmur passed 19-for-31 for 274 yards and all four TDs, all to Jimmy Herron (8-132). Meanwhile, Wood's Jarrett McClenton rushed 27 times for 293 yards and three scores. Those three guys now head the lists below. Tonight's game -- 7 o'clock start -- will take place at Plymouth-Whitemarsh. As veteran CL followers know, La Salle (six titles since '99) and Wood (10 in that span) formerly were stationed in the Northern Division, which existed in football through the '98 season. Wood entered the CL in 1966 for football and the teams met 34 times through '98. Two of those tussles occurred in that last season and the Explorers captured both; one was a quarterfinal. And their win was not exactly a surprise. La Salle seized the last 12 meetings! Overall, La Salle leads the series, 21-13-1. The tie, which occurred in '84, produced a 0-0 score. Wood's best run (8-1) took place from 1974-82. Most interesting nugget: In '94, La Salle won, 7-6, and racked up NO passing yards. The QB was Sean McDermott and he finished 0-for-5. He's now in his fifth season as the Carolina Panthers' defensive coordinator (after an earlier stint with the Eagles) and in 2013 was named the NFL's DC of the Year by The Sporting News. There could be a big moment tonight. La Salle's Syaire Madden needs 84 scrimmage yards to raise his family's total to 5,000 (see Oct. 6 Tedbit).

OCT. 9 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  Since 1960, seven NFL/AFL rookies from Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac schools have been part of scrimmage touchdowns in the first game in which they touched the ball. And No. 7 made the biggest splash. Jaelen Strong, a wideout for the Houston Texans out of West Catholic (during his Burrs career his surname was listed as Strong-Rankin; his late father, John Rankin, starred in basketball at West and Drexel), last night turned his first TWO touches into TDs as the Texans fell to the Indianapolis Colts. On the final play of the first half, Houston had the ball on the Colts' 42. Hoyer lofted a Hail Mary toward the end zone and Strong, even though four defenders were right in his neighborhood, used a superior box-out move and leaping ability to make the catch! Strong's other reception, in the third quarter, yielded an 11-yard TD. Strong dressed for Houston's first game, but never made it onto the field. He was inactive in Weeks Two through Four. On the list below, Charles Way, Matt Ryan and Strong definitely were part of TD plays on their first NFL touches. It's doubtful Angelo Coia and Irv "Bo" Roberson were able to achieve that feat, based on certain details, and I'm not sure whether Kevin Ingram's TD toss came on his first or second throw. Also, he might have rushed beforehand.

OCT. 9
TEDBIT
  With a 28-7 triumph over Roman last night, Malvern assured a series win this season for Inter-Ac League schools in games vs. Catholic League schools. The current advantage is 7-3 and just three games remain -- two this weekend (Episcopal at Conwell-Egan, Judge at Haverford School) and one at Thanksgiving time (Malvern at O'Hara). The current scoring advantage is 256-181. In last night's game for Malvern, Nick Maras passed for two TDs while O'Shaan Allison and Zac Fernandez ran for one apiece.   

OCT. 8
TEDBIT
  Some teams pump out records as good as 4-1 to start a season five times a decade, or even five times in a row . . . And then there's Overbrook. This is season No. 88 for the Panthers as a Public League member and this 4-1 start is only the FIFTH. In case you're wondering, there has been ONE 5-0 start. That occurred in 1964. That team finished 8-1-1, but playoffs did not exist back then so 'Brook had to wait until 2004 to first experience a postseason contest. That was season No. 77 and the result was a 27-8 loss to Frankford in a quarterfinal. That team finished 9-3 and eight of the wins produced shutouts. In only 32 seasons has  'Brook won as many as four games. Only 18 times has it won more than four. Only 16 times has it finished with a winning record. Because coach Rendell Ivory's squad is playing Imhotep this week, it's unlikely 4-1 will become 5-1. But more wins are possible and the motivation will certainly be intense. Good luck, Panthers/Hilltoppers. (The 4-1 records not detailed below were achieved in 1970 and 1968.)
  UPDATE: These are Overbrook's two-way starters, via coach Rendell Ivory . . . Johnathan Gathers OT/DE, Joel Polk RB/LB, Quincy Fairy WR/DB and Jonathan Hodges WR/DB.