O’Hara beats Wood in first game of season

By Bob Steiner
Editorial and Sports Assistant


There are plenty of similarities between the Cardinal O’Hara and Archbishop Wood football teams.

Each is led by a head coach entering his second year at the helm (Dan Algeo at O’Hara and Joe Powel at Wood), each features a strong running game, and each began its quest to repeat as Catholic League champion on Saturday as they faced off against each other in Ocean City.

O’Hara, though, made sure that it would begin its quest on the right foot, as the team shut out Wood, 26-0.

The Lions fed the ball early and often to their junior running back John Dempsey, who gained 68 yards on 14 carries for the day. Dempsey’s fellow backfield mates, junior Sean Lyons and senior Joe Juisti, led the Lions offense in the second half, combining for three touchdowns, after both teams started slow offensively. O’Hara led only 6-0 at halftime.

Lyons scored on a 14-yard run off the left side in the fourth quarter, in which he barreled over a Wood defender — an effort that received vociferous praise from senior offensive lineman Dan Gough, who was instrumental in blocking on the play. Juisti posted two touchdowns on the day: a 33-yard scamper toward the end of the third quarter, and an 80-yard burst with 3:32 left in the game.

Senior wide receiver Harry Duke opened the scoring for O’Hara late in the first half after both teams found themselves caught in a defensive struggle. Duke lined up wide right on the play, ran a fade, and caught a beautifully lofted pass from fellow senior, quarterback Anthony Walters.

“Anthony threw a real nice ball,” Duke said. “I just dove and caught it in the end zone. Last year I missed half my season because I got injured, [so] this is a real good start to my senior season.”

Walters briefly suffered from cramps in the humid heat, although the fleet-footed signal caller wasn’t about to let that slow him down.

“I was cramping up in the middle of the third quarter, but I didn’t want to come out,” Walters explained. “I hate to come out. In the beginning of the third quarter, the offense still wasn’t moving the ball, so I tried to take [the team] on my shoulders and tried to make some runs. Then Joe Juisti scored two hard-earned touchdowns.”

As to be expected from a senior starting quarterback, Walters immediately examined his own performance in light of O’Hara’s offensive difficulties in the first two quarters.

“We thought, in the first half, that we could’ve done better,” Walters said. “I fumbled inside the 10 [yard line], which can’t happen. You can’t have mistakes like that. So that killed one drive we had. [But] we’re in great shape because of the coaches, so we knew we just had to out-will them.”

Call it will-power, or the classic combination of a powerful rushing attack and a stingy defense, which on Saturday was led by O’Hara’s senior linebackers Todd Cannon and Greg Smith. The Vikings also made a concerted effort to pound the ball with senior running back Bryan McCartney, but even though he carried the ball 11 times on the day, the stout O’Hara defense limited McCartney to only 32 yards on the ground.

The Wood passing game didn’t fare much better, although junior wide receiver Chris Lorditch was able to haul in three passes for 45 yards, courtesy of the arm of senior quarterback Joe Kosich.

Despite their week-one defeat, McCartney is confident that he and his Wood teammates will rebound.

“Offensively, we just have to come together as a team,” McCartney said. “This is a good lesson for us. They’re a good team, with a great defense. So when we come out against another defense, we’ll be ready.”

And there is every reason to believe Wood can, indeed, bounce back, since the Vikings went 1-3 in their first four games last season and ended up winning the Catholic League Blue Division championship.

On Saturday, though, the O’Hara Lions made sure that Wood’s quest to repeat didn’t come at the expense of theirs.

Bob Steiner is the CS&T’s Editorial and Sports Assistant. E-mail him at rsteiner@adphila.org or call 215-587-3698.

 

What lies ahead for non-League Catholic H.S. football teams


Learning experiences come in many forms, and sometimes, they aren’t very pleasant.

The players from last year’s Malvern Preparatory School’s football team can tell you about that.

Accustomed to winning a lot more than to losing — as reflected by Coach Gamp Pellegrini’s stellar 179-74-8 record in 27 seasons at Malvern — last fall’s Friars finished an uncharacteristic 3-7.

Some of the losses were close; some were downright heartbreaking. However, at no time did you hear excuses mitigating the Friars’ responsibility, such as holding onto the football.

“In the past, we’d play tight games, and something good would happen,” said Pellegrini. “Last year was a tough year for us. We weren’t used to it.

“We were ahead in the fourth quarter [against Delaware’s power, Salesianum School] and fumbled at the four-yard line. That’s our fault. You can’t let that happen. We were ahead late against Valley Forge but couldn’t get the job done. We were a play or two away in a lot of games. But the other teams made the plays that needed to be made.”

Pellegrini smiled.

“What it did do,” he said, “is kind of give us a punch in the stomach. It woke us all up.”

Pellegrini said that winning programs “might become complacent. They’re used to going 8-2, 9-1, 7-3, and winning league titles every other year. Sometimes, you lose your aggressiveness. Maybe that happened with us.”

Chances are it won’t happen again.

Although the Friars play a typically rugged schedule, Malvern returns many starters from last year. Among them is senior Ian Mitchell, a three-year starter in the defensive secondary. Pellegrini described Mitchell as a “tremendous athlete who has lots of speed and toughness, and gives us a real dimension.”

The Friars also expect key contributions from seniors Steve Layne, Will Miller, Tom Hagan, and Jim Cotton.

“I can tell that our kids have worked really hard to get themselves into shape,” Pellegrini said. “They come back with a lot of experience. That’s a key.”

Now in his 39th year of coaching (he also coached at St. Thomas More 1967 through ’69 and at St. Joseph’s Prep 1970 through ’77) Pellegrini said he is still as content and fulfilled as he did when he started coaching.

“I’ve been blessed in so many ways,” said the St. Thomas More graduate. “To be able to do this year after year is something I am forever grateful for. I’m very proud of our program and very proud of our players.”

The players no doubt feel the same way.

Meanwhile, a couple of other local Catholic high schools can relate to Malvern’s tough fall of 2004.

Both Bishop Shanahan and St. Pius X endured difficulties last year as well.

Against competition that was more experienced, and usually bigger physically, Shanahan finished 3-7. Meanwhile, St. Pius X managed only one win against 10 losses, though the 16-0 victory over Harriton showed that, despite their record, the Winged Lions had significantly improved since the first game of the season.

So far, last season’s script has continued in 2005. Shanahan lost to Penncrest in its season opener, 28-7, while St. Pius X dropped a 33-0 decision to Delone Catholic. Shanahan will try to rebound Sept. 9 at Unionville; St. Pius X will take on Phoenixville 1 p.m., Sept. 10.

On the other side of the bridge stands Lansdale Catholic. The Crusaders are coming off a phenomenal campaign, in which the Crusaders went an unbelievable 14-1 and captured the PIAA Class AA state championship.

Jim Algeo, who begins his 38th year as head coach, couldn’t help beaming when recounting some of the memories of last fall.

“Every year is special, but when you have that kind of a season, it’s hard to put into words,” said Algeo, whose son, Dan, coached Cardinal O’Hara to the Catholic League Red Division championship last year. “It was exciting to say the least.”

With eight players back on defense, the Crusaders figure once again to compete with anyone. They already started the season in grand fashion, whipping host Methacton, 48-7, on Saturday. Several mainstays from last year didn’t skip a beat.
The running game — which last year received over 2,000 yards from recent graduate R.C. Lagomarsino — launched the Crusaders to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. When it was over, Sal Nocchi had gained 133 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns on only nine carries. R.C.’s brother, Drew Lagomarsino, threw a 14-yard touchdown pass and rushed for another score from six yards out. Back Dylan Saldutti scored twice and gained 82 yards on nine carries while catching a pass for 32 yards.

All of which seemed to answer one of Algeo’s early-season concerns.

“I’m hoping the offensive line will be as efficient as it was last year,” he said.
So far, so good.

(Do you have any comments or tips for future articles? Send email to jknebels@comcast.net.)