Catholic League football awaits PIAA play
By John Knebels
Special to The CS&T
Now it begins.
After much warning over the past few years followed by the announcement that despite some major controversy along the way, Catholic League football must learn to adapt to an entirely different approach to the post-season, the time has officially come.
Starting this fall, the 17 Catholic League football teams are about to experience what it’s like to live in District 12 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA). Here is the breakdown as to what class each school has been assigned.
In the Class AAAA (largest enrollment) will be Archbishop Ryan, Cardinal O’Hara, Father Judge, La Salle, Monsignor Bonner, Roman Catholic and St. Joseph’s Prep. In the Class AAA will be Archbishop Wood, Conwell-Egan, Lansdale Catholic, Neumann-Goretti and North Catholic. In the Class AA will be Archbishop Carroll, Bishop McDevitt, Cardinal Dougherty, Kennedy-Kenrick and West Catholic. There are no Catholic League football teams in the smallest-enrollment Class A.
Teams within each division will face each other once, with both the AAA and AA having one additional crossover contest that counts as a league game. But school loyalists take heart, because there still remain numerous non-league games scheduled between Catholic League schools that will help maintain rivalries that have lasted for many years.
After the completion of the regular season, the top four teams from each division will reach the postseason, followed by a semifinal and final. Thus, instead of two Catholic League champions, there will be three.
However, the difference now is that after winning a Catholic League title, the teams’ rise to glory is just beginning. Because awaiting the Catholic League champs are the Public League champions from the respective divisions. Those victors will be deemed district champions, and their seasons will continue against competition from the other 11 districts throughout the state.
At this point, it is not surprising that it’s difficult to find too many people who are in favor of this new arrangement, particularly those who are heavily steeped in tradition. But the same was true among the masses when the league eliminated the Northern Division champion vs. the Southern Division champion as the means to determine the Catholic League champ.
In time, however, when the now defunct “Red Division” and “Blue Division” crowned separate champions, most of the teams from the Blue were quickly in favor of the new arrangement because competition replaced blowouts.
In all probability, the same positive adaptation will take place in this new era, especially if one, two, or three teams ultimately win a state title.
John Knebels can be reached at jknebs@aol.com.
Grade school soccer coaches produce high school starters
By John Knebels
Special to The CS&T
Any time a varsity high school team fields a quality squad, there are always people behind the scenes who have contributed greatly but are rarely recognized.
Take, for instance, Tim Higgins and Steve Guarrieri. Both are long-time soccer coaches — Higgins at St. Philip Neri in Lafayette Hill and Guarrieri at Epiphany of Our Lord in Plymouth Meeting.
The Archbishop Carroll High School varsity soccer starting lineup features a combined seven players from those two grade schools, a point that has not escaped Carroll’s fourth-year coach Kevin Curley.
“A lot of our seniors are always talking about the championship game they played against each other in eighth grade,” said Curley. “They obviously had a great time competing against each other and now enjoy being teammates.”
Curley praised coaches such as Higgins and Guarrieri for their unselfish dedication.
“You always know right away what players have been playing soccer for a while and what players are just going out to play soccer,” said Curley. “The basics and fundamentals of the game are so important, and high school coaches rely on those guys to teach as well as they can.
“Many of them do a nice job with that. You can tell by the way their players perform in tryouts.”
John Knebels can be reached at jknebs@aol.com.