North beats Conwell-Egan 20-17. Heading to the Championship.

Game Summary

If you didn’t know better, you’d think that the Falcons gave their uniforms to some other group of young men for the second half of this game. I mean, have you ever seen two different halves in a North Catholic team? I have to be honest and say that the Falcons played like a mediocre JV team in the first half. Missed tackles, fumbles, bad blocking, etc. Conwell-Egan jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, and it looked like it was going to be a long night for the Falcon faithful.

Conwell-Egan was led on offense and defense by Anthony Singlar, Kerry McAnany, Ryan Bond and Vince Benedetti. I should know, as I announced the game and said their names all night long. These guys weren’t just the offensive stars of the game, they all played both ways, and had a huge impact on the game on both sides of the ball. In the first five minutes of the game, Conwell-Egan led 14-0, after Ryan Bond took a 77 yard pass from Anthony Singlar into the end zone. About a minute and a half later, Singlar scampered 26 yards for the second (and last) touchdown for the Eagles of the night. Bill Castor added a 33 yard field goal midway through the second quarter. Throughout the game, Kerry McAnany and Vince Benedetti were the rushing workhorses for this team, getting yardage and first downs when the Eagles needed them most.

It was almost like they were the only four guys on the field for the Eagles. It seemed as though Conwell-Egan could do no wrong in the first half and everything the Falcons tried seemed to fail. Nothing illustrated this point as much as a late second quarter pass to Tre Stone-Davis, which was about 2 or 3 inches too far as Stone-Davis stretched for the ball in the endzone, and the ball just whizzed off his finger-tips.

Even during the third quarter, the Eagles continued to move the ball up and down the field, with the only scoring in that frame being an errant pitch by Singlar, which Daniel Clark intercepted and scampered down the sidelines for the Falcons first score of the night. The third quarter ended with nothing to write home about as far as the North defense was concerned.

This game came down to who made the bigger plays, or capitalized on the other team’s mistakes. The touchdown by Clark was huge, but the 64 yard touchdown pass from Anthony Reid to Julian Huggins was just as big. Or, the fourth quarter fumble by Conwell-Egan late in that quarter, which all but sealed the deal for the Falcons. In their only scoring drive of the night that was not a big play, Eugene Byrd's feet, Anthony Reid's arm and Dave Sherman's hands pushed the ball down the field, allowing Reid to score on a 1 yard run with only 2:03 remaining in the game.

Did You Notice…..

….That guy in the North Catholic Bleachers with the huge head? The people behind him kept asking that he sit down, as they couldn’t see the game. It was later determined that the large head belonged to Mike McBride, class of ’81.

….that many of the North basketball coaches were in attendance, including Guy Moore. We’re all pulling for Guy to get the job for the upcoming basketball season. Expect an announcement soon.

…speaking of North coaches, we spotted Tom Crossett in the stands. Tom got to watch one of the North soccer players, John McCarthy, handle all of the kicking and punting duties for the Falcons tonight.

…Steve Cardullo and Tony Colletto, both from the class of 72, who are usually joined at the hip, were in attendance. Steve mentioned to our faithful announcer that he seemed to be very down late in the first half. Well, we were getting out butts kicked, and it’s hard to be happy about that.

….we also spotted John Musial (class of ’62) in the stands. I’m sure John would rather have been sitting in the bleachers at the Pit watching the basketball team. At least it’s warmer there.

…that once again, Taylor Rand, the Falcons’ version of Lauren Hart, belted out her usual first rate National Anthem before the game. We’re hoping that we’ll have Taylor sing for us one last time on Thanksgiving.

…that after a play that appeared to be a sack of the Conwell-Egan quarterback, but was ruled as an incomplete pass, the clock continued to run. When I said something to the clock guy, who was sitting next to me, he just ignored me and let the clock run. I guess I wasn’t speaking “Suburban”, the official language of the folks in the Plymouth-Whitemarsh area.

….that since the beginning of the playoff system in the Catholic League, North has never made it to the championship game? Next week will be the first time in 54 years that North has a shot at a championship.

….that Tim Murphy and Paul Dixon were not seen at the game. Our guess is that Mr Dixon is searching the countryside for a basketball and baseball coach for this year. Do you think Murph is advising him Paul Dixon about the baseball job? After all, since he lost his super fan status by going to a chick soccer game, Murph seems to have turned his attention to baseball.

....Breaking News Update: Mr Paul Dixon was indeed at this game. Seems there was some heavy traffic along the way which prevented him from getting to the field early, as he usually does. We had multiple sightings of Mr Dixon, who was on the sideline from opening kickoff through final celebration. Our apologies for the mis-information. Looks like we'll have to fire another intern for the mixup.

….Fran Dougherty (class of ’59) was in the house for this game. Mr Doc is the former Athletic Director at North, but is now a District 12 representative and handles the playoff games for teams in the district. As always, it’s great to see Mr Doc at a North game, even if he’s supposed to be neutral these days.

...finally, it's always a pleasure to see the Glackin brothers, Ed and Joe. These guys are true Falcon faithful, and I love seeing their smiling faces after a big win by the Falcons.

Have a great week, and check www.NorthCatholicFootball.com for the date, time and location of the championship game next week against Archbishop Wood.