Football Team wins League Opener 33-18

We’ll begin this week by apologizing for being a little absent last week. After taking the entire staff to Irish Weekend, in North Wildwood, some of the younger staffers went missing, and the rest of us had to search the entire Jersey shoreline to find them. They were found, unharmed, on the beach of Asbury Park. Yes, they ended up all the way up in North Jersey. It’s a great and very long story, but way too long for this column. Needless to say, the entire staff was back in the office by Friday, just in time to prepare for the Lansdale Catholic game. A couple of them will be docked for this.

Game Summary

It was good to see the Falcon offense come back from their two week break, and it was especially good to see Eugene Byrd back to 100 percent health. Eugene rushed 23 times for 193 yards, including touchdowns of 91 yards and 17 yards. With Lansdale Catholic leading 12-6 coming out of halftime, the Crusaders started the second half with a 63 yard drive, down to the North 5. It looked like Lansdale Catholic was on a roll and the Falcons were back on their heels. But, the Crusaders fumbled the ball, which was caused and recovered by Stephen Rooney (5 tackles, 1 interception, 1 forced and recovered fumble). It was a remarkable play, and the turning point in the game. After a 3 yard run by Byrd on the first play, Eugene took the next handoff and sprinted 91 yards for the game tying touchdown. On Lansdale Catholic’s next possession, they gained 12 yards on two plays, before a botched screen play resulted in Rooney recording his first interception of his career. At this point in the game, Rooney was a one man wrecking crew. He was causing nothing but fits for the Crusader offense. Rooney returned the interception to the Crusader 17, where it only took 1 play for Eugene Byrd to rush for the final yards and the go ahead touchdown. At the end of three periods, the Falcons now held an 18-12 lead. In the fourth quarter, Reid found Julian Huggins for a 13 yard touchdown. Julian caught the ball despite being interfered with on the play. Byrd converted the 2pt conversion with a run. With the game still in reach for the Crusaders, they began their fourth quarter drive at their own 22. After an incompletion and a short gain, John Ziegler sacked the quarterback, causing a fumble, which was recovered by Steve Anderson, which shut the door on this game. The Falcons scoring was capped off with a 2 yard run by Anthony Reid. Sean Reidy made the PAT. Lansdale Catholic scored a late touchdown to make the final 33-18. Outstanding defensive players were, in addition to Stephen Rooney, Gabe Toledo (9 tackles, 1 assist and a pass defense), Daniel Clark (8 total tackles and a forced fumble), David Williams (10 total tackles, 1 TFL), and Jack Schanz (3 TFL's and 1 sack)

Did You Notice….

….Taylor Rand once again got things going with a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem. One note here……The Falcons are 2-0 when Taylor sings and 0-3 when she doesn’t. Makes you wonder.

….The cost of admission was $6, as opposed to the normal $5. The extra dollar was donated to the Coaches vs Cancer organization, for cancer research.

….that Mike Kaiser, our normal home game announcer, was not at the game. There was a rumor that the Kaiser family had some sort of family reunion or something. Don’t they know that you can’t have family functions during football season. We’re blaming Tom Kaiser, Mike’s brother, for this one. As our former Athletic Director, he should know better.

….speaking of announcers, what was the deal with that nitwit they found to announce the game? What did they do, find some random guy walking in the gate and ask him to do the job? It was so bad that the crowd was chanting, “We want Kaiser!….We want Kaiser!” We sometimes poke a little fun at Mike Kaiser, but the guy they had in the booth for this game makes Mike seem like the late great Harry Kalas. From what we understand, the person responsible for finding an announcer is the athletic director. That folks, would be Mr Paul Dixon. Sorry Paul, but you get the blame for this fiasco in the booth.

….the Lansdale Catholic people tailgating in the parking lot on the North Catholic side of the field before the game? Now that’s dedication to their team.

….the guy with the mullet in the North Catholic bleachers? Hello??!! It’s 2009, not 1985. It was a very Retro look on that guy.

….the guy in the NC stands pleading for the coach to pass the ball in the fourth quarter, with the Falcons leading by 21 points, the running game working, and the clock running? Now we know why he’s a fan and not a coach. By the way, if you see me before the next game, stop by and I’ll give you a couple of dollars to go buy a clue.

Faces in the Crowd…..

….Sitting in the “Super Fan” box was Tim Murphy and Ed White (true super fans). Joining them in the box was Bainesy and Mr and Mrs Finn.

….The NC basketball team was well represented with assistant coach, Tom Ballard, as well as several members of the varsity team.

….Spotted at halftime was former players Daryl Robinson, Radcliffe Phillips and Ricardo Pierre.

…We also ran into the Glackin brothers, Ed and Joe. Now these are two of our favorite people and they are both huge North Catholic supporters. By the way, working the steps at Citizen’s Bank Park as an usher must agree with Ed, as he’s looking quite svelte these days.

....Speaking of Ed Glackin, he was spotted hanging out with his former chain gang mate, Carter Fellenbaum. Carter has become quite the NC fan.

….We ran into our Athletic Director, Mr Paul Dixon, at half time. But, as AD’s usually are, Mr Dixon was busy running around making sure the entire behind the scenes operations run smoothly.

Well Falcon fans, that wraps up another week on the trail of the Falcons football team. Next week, the Falcons return to Frankford stadium to take on the Patriots, of Archbishop Carroll in a non-league contest. The game will be Saturday afternoon at 1:00PM. Come out and support the team.