North - LaSalle Settle for Scoreless Draw

Here is how a real reporter sees PCL soccer from today's Inquirer

Catholic League Boys’ Soccer - May Be Region’s Best
By Matt Gelb

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

An incredible save on a point-blank shot with time about to expire in overtime, three posts hit by laser shots and trash talking with some pushing and shoving after the final whistle.

And this is just the beginning of the Catholic League race.

"I think it's going to be tighter than ever," North Catholic keeper John McCarthy said. "Like, one point, two points, three points between first, second and third place. It's a real good league this year."

La Salle and North Catholic played to a thrilling 0-0 tie on George Todt Field at Archbishop Ryan Tuesday night, the opening salvo between these squads so very familiar with one another.





It's just another story to add to the intrigue of what should be another close race in the Red Division of the Catholic League. With some perennial area powers down this season and few clear dominant teams, the Catholic League looks like it possesses some of the area's best soccer - especially at North Catholic, La Salle and Father Judge.

Both La Salle (4-1-1) and North Catholic (4-1-1) will take the crucial point from the tie, especially North Catholic, which was outplayed for the majority of the game.

Father Judge remains undefeated with a 6-0-1 record. They beat La Salle last week, 2-1, and coach John Dunlop said he is impressed with his team's play so far. Emmanuel Kollie is averaging a goal a game, and Dunlop said he has been able to use his bench effectively.

"It's been interesting so far," Dunlop said.

Tuesday night, McCarthy once again bailed out North Catholic.

With time winding down in the second overtime period, La Salle's Darius Madison broke free from the North Catholic defense and had a clear shot on McCarthy. The goalie challenged Madison and made a spectacular diving save to his right.

"That's a game-winner right there," La Salle coach Bob Peffle said. "You're on fumes in overtime. That's a game-winner. And as a forward you look back and yeah, you're going to be upset because you should put that away."

Just minutes later, as the teams started walking toward one another to shake hands, Madison was yelling at some North Catholic players, and there was some shoving before the referees and other players intervened.

The teams were separated and then lined up to shake hands with the officials closely watching.

Later, after he addressed his team, Peffle held back Madison, a sophomore, and talked privately with him for five minutes.

"That shouldn't happen," Peffle said. "He's just got to be quiet. Things were said that shouldn't be said. He's got a ways to go on a lot of things."

McCarthy was one of the players who rushed in to break up the scuffle, yelling at his own teammates for losing their composure. He described it as "a little smacking and pushing."

"I just have to keep my team under control," McCarthy said. "I'm the leader on this team, so I should be able to keep my team the way they're supposed to be. We shouldn't be down to someone else's level."

The entire match was spirited as both teams met for the first time since last season's Catholic League championship game, won by North Catholic, 1-0.

La Salle dominated much of the play, hitting three posts and testing McCarthy with some good balls. But the only one that went in the net didn't count - a throw-in by John Whitman from near the corner that didn't touch anyone on the field. And throw-ins need to be touched.

This was North Catholic's first game since losing, 1-0, to St. Benedict's (N.J.), which is fifth in the nation in the NSCAA/adidas rankings. In that game, McCarthy made 27 saves.

"I don't think anyone doubts that we have the best keeper in the area," North Catholic coach Gerry Brindisi said.

That may put North Catholic over the top eventually, but that remains to be seen. One of the game's many observers, Archbishop Ryan coach George Todt, could only shake his head in amazement over the play of both teams after the game was over.

"This is round one," Peffle said with a smirk. "It was a great Catholic League game."

Highly Regarded St. Benedict's Prevails 1-0 Over North

Sunday, 9/20 (Newark, NJ)

Any successful team or program needs to measure itself from time to time. Throughout North’s storied history, every PCL match is a litmus test. It is always our main mission to win the Catholic League Title whatever comes after is just gravy. But every now and then, the itch to see just how good one is needs to be scratched. Even with the PCL now in the PIAA, which allows our schools to compare on a statewide basis, not all of these championships are fair because the PCL is limited in the number of teams compared to its suburban peers. Today, North stepped outside its comfort zone and represented the PCL in such a test.

The Falcons traveled to highly regarded St. Benedict’s to take on the #4 ranked Grey Bees at New Jersey Institute of Technology. The Grey Bees are highly regarded with a soccer heritage the likes of what North had in the 1960s. After our game, they are deserving of both the reputation and the ranking.

Analysis

Each team has a contrasting style of play. St. Benedict’s is very methodical team looking to exploit any weakness by working the ball throughout the midfield and defensive backs trying to isolate forwards on defenders or crossing balls to switch directions in hopes of a catching the opponent too pinched. North on the other hand, plays a more direct style and attacking more in the bottom third.

Game Action: McCarthy Superman for Falcons

The game in fact played out exactly like that, the one thing that North had and the Grey Bees did not is John McCarthy. As we have been saying all year, this young man is the best goal tender bar none in the City and its suburbs. If you think I am kidding, how about this, 20 + saves tonight, many acrobatic and several after going down with an injury.

In the first half, St. Benedict’s controlled most of the possession. While describing their style deliberate, it still generated about 10 scoring chances. However, North’s back line of Sr. Mark Brown, Jr. Dan Venuto, Sr. Tyler Ward and Soph. Austin Baranukas forced St. Benedict’s to take shots from long range. In the 20th minute, the right midfielder hit a cracker from 30 that hit the cross bar, a few minutes later however, his counter part, the left midfielder cranked one up from 25 that knuckled and swerved past the outstretched McCarthy. The few attacks that North mounted seemed to keep St. Benedict’s off balance but they were able to stymie and consistency that North tried to develop.

The second stanza while starting out on the same theme quickly developed in a more direct game as North’s backs continued to purposely move forward to compress the field and limit the Grey Bees any type of purposeful possession. As the game became more back and forth, the more North seemed to gain in confidence. The similarity of the first half was McCarthy. While stopping an equal number of shots, the difference in this half is the development time of each shot. In the first half, there was buildup with very little transition, in this half, it was mainly transition. Shots happened at a breakneck pace which gave North more chances to equalize. Unfortunately, the Falcons were not able to get on the board, but in the waning seconds North two corners forced the keeper to make a nice deflection while on the second, Dan Venuto missed from six yards out on a head ball that went wide right of the near post.

Sidebars……

Did you know that while the game was played on the spacious, sprint turf of NJIT, St. Benedict’s also has a turfed field on its campus, hmmm…..

Prior to the game, the St. Benedict’s team entered the stadium by signing and chanting, it comes by the way of that each morning (8 AM) all students, staff and teachers meet for song, readings and prayer……

While highly ranked at #4 nationally, North had just as many fans at the stadium as the Grey Bees……..

In region where St. Benedict’s plays also uses a two man referee system like our PIAA, they too need to jump into the new millennium and use what the rest of the world knows, a head ref and two assistant referees…….

There was a man sitting not far from North’s bench taking pictures with a very powerful camera. I asked him who he was shooting for and he advised that he works for the school. I asked him if it was possible for him to send some pictures for our website and blog. He game me his card and asked me to send him an email. His card read that he was Assistant Headmaster. This would be like North’s President or Principal taking pictures during the game…….

Speaking of personnel, North’s AD was not spotted at the game. Quite possibly he was at the school’s smaller turfed field……….

The clock at the NJIT field, while big, was facing west (field runs north and south) and therefore in the sun, so the only time to see the clock or the score would be , say around midnight……..

There was not trainer from the home school, and guess who needed one………..

St. Benedict’s is a mission school looking to educate boys. Of its 500 or so students, over 50% are non-Catholic. In fact, there is no school system set up by the Church, most, like St. Benedict’s are independent. It cost $8,000 per year in tuition, however many of the boys also board there. Over 65% of the boys receive some sort of financial help to attend……..

Next Up

The Falcons return to regular season action on Tuesday, September 22 as the LaSalle Explorers come calling. Game time is 5 PM at Archbishop Ryan.

Falcons Lose to O’Hara 23-6

Game Summary

As was written on the football team site, the Falcon running game was all but non-existent. The only offensive bright spot in this game was Anthony Reid, who performed better than his 8-17-150-1-1 stats. Anthony threw a couple of sure touchdown passes which were dropped by receivers. But, the offense never really got going much in this game, with the exception being a nice 87 yard touchdown pass to Dave Sherman. Defensively, the Falcons held the top three O’Hara runners to season lows in yards. Corey Brown recorded his most attempts of the season, but his lowest output. Now, the team needs to prepare for their game next week against Glen Mills.

Did You Notice……

….Sitting in the North endzone, under the Falcon Tent, was John Beck, a former football player and grad from the class of 1936.

Coach Szydlik welcoming game co-captain and class of '36 grad, John Beck

John Beck, with Tom Kaiser and Abigale Jackson, Mr Beck's granddaughter

….That there were quite a lot more fans in the stands than we’ve seen in recent weeks. Could that be due to the nice Saturday weather that we enjoyed for this game? Let’s hope it continues throughout the season.

….There was no Taylor Rand singing the National Anthem. Could this be the reason why we didn’t win? We did miss Taylor. The O’Hara band played the Anthem for this game.

….The team used a different locker room for this game. Not sure why there was a change, but the door for this locker room is more accessible to the field

….Former AD and current Director of Institutional Advancement, Tom Kaiser, was filling in for our Athletic Director. We can only assume that our AD, Paul Dixon, was back at his office mapping out the locations of our soccer and football home games. Apparently, with Lighthouse field no longer being at Front and Erie, Mr Dixon decided to double check the locations of all of the home games. Please note that Northeast High School is now at Cottman and Algon, in NE Philly, not the location of the old Edison high school, where it used to be until the late 1950’s.

Faces in the Crowd…..

….Spotted in the crowd entering the game was Bill Feltwell and his daughter Jules. We think we overheard that Jules, a four time All Catholic bowler from Little Flower, was now attending Gwynedd Mercy

….At halftime, we ran into Shaun Gallagher, former Falcon baseball player and 2003 grad.

….Mike McBride arranged for his head to get into the stadium. Mike was accompanied by, not one, but three lovely ladies.

Mike McBride (right), along with Casey Grady (granddaughter of Dr John Grady '55),

Mike's daughter Siobhan and Erin Moran (no relation to Joanie, from Happy Days)

….The Roman Catholic contingent was seen in the house. Head Coach Joe McCourt, whose dad and uncle played for North back in the day, was seen sitting with former Roman coach and North grad, Jim Murphy.

….We spotted John Connors in the north end of the bleacher section. John is an old neighbor of mine and he has been seen a couple of times at football and basketball games with his dad, Doctor Connors, class of 1937.

….Our normal superfans were in attendance. We spotted Tim Murphy sitting in the bleachers with North grad and AOH brother, Dennis James. Ed White ’55, made a point to say hello. You can usually find Mr White at just about any North game.

Tim Murphy (m), with his bud and fellow Hibernian, Dennis James (l)

….Hanging out near the gate was basketball assistant coach, Tom Ballard. Tom and the guys are getting ready for another season of basketball.

….Spotted at the game were some former players, Ricardo Pierre, Daryl Robinson and Radcliffe Phillips, all 2007 grads from North

Some former Falcons, all from the class of 2007,

Ricardo Pierre, Daryl Robinson, Radcliffe Phillips

….Watching the game from the south end of the bleacher section was brothers, and former Falcon football players, Joe and Chalie Steinmetz. I’m sure with Joe there, politics were NOT discussed.

Chalie and Joe Steinmetz

Watching the Falcons play O'Hara were former AD and long time teacher, Fran Dougherty, hanging out with Vice Principal for Student Services, Ernie Koschineg

Fran Dougherty and Ernie Koschineg

That wraps up another week of Falcon Football. We’d like to thank all of those who were in attendance as well as those who help make our home games a success. We hope to see you next week, at Glen Mills.

North Edges The Prep 1-0

BackDrop

What a great day yesterday was, mid 70s to low 80s, no humidity with plenty of sunshine. What a better way to spend it by watching North soccer take on a heavily regarded St. Joe’s Prep team. Last year, North was able to defeat the Prep by the scores of 2-1 in OT and 1-0 (at the death). This has been a contentious rivalry throughout the years and this year would be no exception. Both teams come into the game with a similar 1-0 record. The outcome of these games usually has a direct impact on seedings come playoff time.

First Course

As an appetizer to the main event, the JV team engaged the young Prepsters as the warm-up act. It was an old home coming of sorts, see the Prep is coached by Mr. Jack O’Neil and his son Anthony. Now Anthony went to the Prep and was an outstanding keeper during his tenure but Jack is a North man, through and through. North’s JV team is coached by Mr. Larry Sullivan. Larry, if you don’t know, is a North Soccer Hall of Famer, great player and equally great coach. He retired as coach of Villanova to take the freshman coaching job under his mentee, Mr. Jerry Brindisi. Jerry was Larry’s assistant during his time at Father Judge. Anyway, back to the point of reminiscing, Jack and Larry go way back, in fact they helped start Summerdale soccer back in the 70s which continued at FC Bayern that became what is now known as Lighthouse Soccer. Bragging rights this year go to Larry, as his squad defeated Jack’s team by the score of 3-0. While there was plenty of loud voices coming from both sidelines, when the game concluded all the coaches shook hands, laughed and talked about the next game, still friends and great role models to the boys.

The Main Event

The first half was sort of see-sawed match with each team taking control in short spurts. About the 5th minute a Prep forward latched onto a loose ball at the 18 and hit a surprising bullet ticketed to the far, high corner but Sr. Keeper, John McCarthy made a sensational save. In our opinion, John McCarthy is the best keeper in the area, bar none; in fact he has been for the past two years. A few minutes later, North's Ira Woodruff missed a great opportunity when he shot high from 12 after receiving a pass from Khristian Hall. Coach Brindisi substituted pretty liberally and was not hesitant to use some of his younger players. Kevin Lockhart, Justin Hiltwine and Austin Baranukas saw plenty of first half action. When North was able to collect the ball at midfield and play its passing style, the game looked easy as Prep looked to counter attack. The back line, anchored by Tyler Ward and Dan Venuto was outstanding in keepng the ball away from the net. After one period it was 0-0.

The second half looked very familiar to the first but North committed more players forward looking to press the action. This style of course, leads to counters and the Prep countered with a vengeance a few times. About 10 minutes into the half, a Prep forward, on a counter, was able to turn his defender at the penalty spot and hammer a shot that appeared to be in, but the cat quick McCarthy lunged and deflected it just wide of the near post. A Prep family standing a few feet from me were overheard rumbling, man that’s All Catholic there. I would tell you that save was “all world.” This save seem to take some steam out of the Prep while energizing us. About 20 minutes or so later into the final stanza, North was able to gain control at midfield. As Hank Stramm, legendary coach of the Kansas City Chiefs once said "we matriculated the ball down the field." At the end of the possession, near the top of the box, North played a sweet tic-tac-toe possession between Hall, Woodruff onto the foot of All-Catholic Juan Pablo Martinez. Pablo moved from his left to right and nailed a shot from 18 where all the Prep keeper could do was have it hit off his fingertips into the near corner.

For the final 20 minutes, North was able to keep pushing men forward to force Prep to defend more than attack. When they did attack, Ward, Venuto, Baranukas and Sr. Mark Brown were equal to any chance Prep initiated.

Final score, North 1, Prep 0.

Rumblings and Grumblings

While we have been contemplating PSL for all our games (personal seat license) for some time, we decided again to forego it on behalf of our loyal followers and they are many. Spotted at the game, as usual, were certifiable “SuperFans” and you know who they are: Ed White, Tim Murphy and Mike Ferris. Accompanying these fine men was none other that Kevin Murphy’s dad, Bob. There were other die hard fans there as well that want to attain the status of Super Fan but have to put a little more time to it. One that comes to mind is Mike Ritchie. Mike is such a soccer nut; he arrived at 3:30 for our game that didn’t start until 5. Not sure if he was mowing the grass or lining the field but it was a good 30 minutes before the team got there for warm-ups. While he could not stay for the entire game, some excuse about parent/teacher conference, he did want to be texted with an update and results. As I hope all of you know, you can follow updates when Mike Ferris is there through Twitter and this website.

Another sighting was our Athletic Director Paul Dixon, while arriving fashionable late for the game, he saw it to its conclusion. He was perched along the fence, near the south end of the field. Hey Paul, we need a bus for Sunday! Finally, my classmate (75), Mike Quinn was spotted rooting for his Falcons.

While the games were going on, I couldn’t help but notice both of Ryan’s Varsity and JV football teams practicing. In remembering Mike Ferris’s commentary, I have to tell you that I felt tall next to them, not sure what is not in the water up in northeast Philadelphia these days.

Finally, you hear me rave about George Todt Memorial Field all the time but sometimes the accessories of the field are not on par with the field. Any criticism that is offered is constructive of course and when it comes from a Super Fan it comes with some standing. Tim Murphy was overhead complaining about an undercooked hotdog and sauerkraut that he bought at the concession stand at the field. Tim knows his dogs by golly.

Next up is a visit to O'Hara this Friday (9/18) at 3:30 PM for the Varsity, JV starts at 5.

On Sunday, North travels to Newark, NJ to take on the Nationally Ranked, St. Benedict's Prep at New Jersey Institute of Tecnology. Game time is 4 PM.

Sunday Night Soccer: North Defeats Roman 3-0

Now I know what all the excitement is about for Monday night football as North visited Roman to open its campaign as defending Catholic League and City Champs. Actually, North travelled a shorter distance as visitor since the game was hosted by Lighthouse Soccer Club in northeast Philadelphia. The reason for Sunday night was not because of a television contract, rather the weather played havoc with those teams that play on natural grass on Friday with rain up and down the east coast. Now why Roman used this site to play us, that is another question.

Actually, the Cahillites came out strong as if the field was their home turf from the opening tap, putting pressure on the inexperienced back line of North, but the boys were more than equal to the task and soon established midfield play. Now can anyone tell me what a Cahillite is? Now I know that answer but I am just wondering in there are any other PCL historians in our midst.

THE GAME

North's backs, junior sweeper Dan Venuto, senior Mark Brown and junior Tyler Wolfinger thwarted the Roman flank play time and time again. If they missed, keeper John McCarthy was there to care of the situation. With four minutes till half North struck for the its first league goal of the season. Senior captain Ira Woodruff fought off a host of Roman defenders with help from Khristian Hall and Pablo Martinez and put the Falcons ahead from six yards. Then, with only seconds remaining in the half, Woodruff again penetrated the box on a break from the left flank and found senior midfielder Dan Micucci steaming into range with a crafty ball from the side of his boot. Micucci, the pride of Port Richmond, made no mistake from three yards. North took a 2-0 advantage into halftime.

Second half action saw a slightly different style from the Falcons. Senior back Tyler Ward and junior Kyle McCabe, the stopper and midfielder respectively controlled anything Roman attempted to do in the central third of the field. McCabe later slipped a ball to all-Catholic Khristian Hall who put the match out of reach.

The Falcons shared the ball for the remainder of the second half and created several chances with Micucci missing on two separate runs from his flank spot and junior Tommy Goodyear smashing one wide of the far bar. Hall continued to create havoc linking up with Christian Cepeda and Pablo Martinez running out of the central midfield. Sophomore Matt Martinez played equally well in midfield and on the front line distributing and holding possession for North.

Four year varsity goal keeper, John McCarthy, kept his first clean sheet for the 09 regular season with five saves, clearing all Roman set piece attempts.

North Catholic will host St. Joseph's Prep on Tuesday afternoon at 5 pm at ARCHBISHOP RYAN. Come on out and see great soccer action and support the boys.

SIGHTINGS

While it was a decent crowd to root the Falcons on, I have to apologize since most of my time was with the JV squad, who vanquished Roman by the score of 3-1, so I did not get to see many faces in the crowd or SuperFans. However, one SuperFan that I did see was John "Baines" Jacober who was straddling North's bench for much of the 2nd half. He did tell me that legendary SuperFan, Mr. Tim Murhpy was also in attendance and I would have to wager that Mr. Falcon himself, Mr. Mike Ferris was somewhere in attendance and probably seated right next to Mr. Murphy, at least that is what I want to believe.

Former Frankford great, Mr. Charlie Oswald was there as well. Those who don't know Charlie, he was a star at Frankford in the 60s and wears that proud on his sleeve. He always rambles about how that while at Frankford, his team never lost to North. Charlie was and is still responsible for taking care of the fields at Lighthouse. He came up tonight and lined both fields for the game. Thanks Charlie! Also seen lurking, was Mr. Jerry Blaney. Jerry helps run Lighthouse, is a 75 Grad from North and played on some great teams and allows North to play at Lighthouse. Thanks to you Jerry.

One person I didn't see was our Athletic Director but maybe he was there incognito, it was a weekend though.

Anyway, a good start to hopefully a good season. Send us your thoughts and visit us also at www.northcatholicsoccer.com

Week 2: Football Team beats Ryan 17-0

In our first home game of the 2009 season, the Falcons’ defense dominated the Archbishop Ryan team throughout the game. Ryan was held to 5 first downs and 62 total yards on offense. As a matter of fact, North led in just about every statistical category, but unlike last week’s game, we also put more points on the board than their opponents. Go to www.NorthCatholicFootball.com for a game summary and stats.

Before we get started, I’d like to recognize those people, who behind the scenes make our home games possible.

As you enter the game, you are greeted by Mike Fagan, our ticket guy. Mike is from the class of 1957 and attends more high school games than anyone I know. He’s good man and I try to stop and talk with him whenever I get to the field.

The Family and Friends of Falcon Football members sell the food and North Catholic merchandise at home games. The money raised by these folks help make the football program successful, and we’d have a hard time fielding a team without them.

Performing the announcing duties was Mike Kaiser, who has been doing announcing duties at football and basketball games for a couple of years now. Once again, Mike called an excellent game. It was such a good job that we’re not even going to mention the fact that he mispronounced Taishan Tucker’s name during the first half…..oops! Too late.

Once again, North Catholic’s version of Kate Smith, Taylor Rand, sang the National Anthem before the game. This young lady sure does have a set of lungs on her and can really belt that song out. Thanks to Taylor and we hope to see you for many games in the future.

Helping with the water for the team are a couple of young ladies who ensure that the players have water on the sidelines as well as on the field during timeouts. Here’s a picture of Jenna, who I believe is in her 3rd or 4th season, along with new water girl, Tiyana. Thanks for the help. It’s really appreciated.

Finally, I’d like to say thanks to Mr Paul Dixon, our Athletic Director. Rumor has it that he was at the game on Saturday, but since I really don’t know what he looks like, I couldn’t get a picture of him. But, there were several sightings of him throughout the day. Mr Dixon is responsible for making sure the game goes off without a hitch, including taking care of arranging for an announcer, referees, national anthem, and general setup of the field prior to the game. We actually forgot about him missing last week’s game. But, then again, the AD is really only required to be at home games. Personal note to Mr Dixon: You really don’t have to make yourself look busy during games (yes, we have ears everywhere) just so people don’t think you’re not doing your job. We all know you did a fine job at the game. And, we all appreciate it.

Did You Notice…..….

The Northeast Catholic tent (see picture above)? Whoever thought of getting this tent (rumor has it that it was Tom Kaiser) made a great decision.

….For the first time that I can remember, we were allowed to use the concession room in the NW corner of the stadium. Usually, our parents have to sell food off tables and have no shelter in the event of bad weather. Thanks go to the folks at Frankford.

….The number of people who stand outside the fence on the south end of the stadium and watch the game for free? Note to these folks…..Break down and buy a friggin ticket. We’ll stop short of calling them deadbeats. Check that......they are deadbeats.

…..Rumor has it that former NC football star, father to a recent grad (Freddy) and current NC player, Al DiMascia, was late for the game. Al insists that he was there on time, but if that’s true and he didn’t stop by to say hello, than we can’t verify it. Sorry Al, but next game you’ll be required to get a late pass and serve 1 day of JUG.

Faces in the Crowd…..….

A few of my old teammates were in attendance. Brian Smith, Ken “Art” Rooney, and Greg Smith (no relation) were at the game. It’s great to see some old classmates at the games.

….2009 graduate and current Villanova student, Shane Rand (Taylor’s brother) stopped by to catch the game. Shane will be missed on the field this year. Shane lettered in football and wrestling at North.

…..Some Super Fans were in attendance for this first home game. Ed White sat with Tim Murphy at the game. I hope to see them both at the soccer game Sunday night. I promised Murph that I wouldn’t mention the fact that he left the game early. We’re not sure if it was because he felt confident that the Falcons had the game in hand, or if it was to get to a party. Knowing Murph, we’re guessing it was the latter. Leaving a game early gets you 10 days JUG. You can begin serving those days on Monday.
….Our Principal, Father Waseline, and President, Father Smith, were catching the game from the sidelines.
….Father Kilty was also saying a prayer for the from the bleacher section.
….We even had a couple of our basketball players in the house for the game.
…. Honorary Falcon, Tom Schweiser, and his lovely wife were spotted in the stands for the game. Tom is such a nice guy that he stopped by just before half with an offer of a hot dog and soda for your favorite blogger. He said that I looked a little hungry. Hell, I always look hungry. That’s just the type of Tom is and that’s why we love him. Also seen in the bottom left hand corner of this picture is Joe Glackin. Joe's a great guy and loves watching his Falcons win.
….Not at the game, but worth mentioning is Mike McBride, class of 1981. Mike had all intentions of showing up for the game, but since the Frankford people nixed the idea of widening the gate so Mike could get that melon on the top of his shoulders into the stadium, he decided to stay at home and catch the game on the internet broadcast. I’m sure we’ll see him at the soccer game Sunday night.

Well, that wraps up another edition of TheFalconNest. Please join the team at Frankford next Saturday when we host the Lions of Cardinal O’Hara in a non-league contest. O’Hara is a real good team and it should be a good challenge for the Falcons. The game will once again be at Frankford stadium at 1:00PM.

Falcon Booters Come From Behind for a 2-1 Win

So, I decided to drive to Richland, NJ, or as I call it, East Bumblefutch, to catch the Falcon soccer team take on the very talented St Augustine team. It’s like 50 miles from Philly, but I happened to be in Washington Township and decided to trek down to watch my favorite soccer team play. I normally don't write the soccer stories, but I enjoyed this game so much that I asked our normal soccer reporter, Tom Crossett, if I could have the honor and put my thoughts on "paper" for this game. Think of me as a "celebrity guest writer".

Before getting into the game itself, I should give you a mental picture of the complex at St Augustine. Well, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and you have to drive down a nondescript tree lined road off Rt 40, just south of Buena Vista, NJ. Once you turn down the road that leads to the entrance of the campus, you start to get a sense of the place. This campus makes Archbishop Ryan’s campus look like North Catholic’s campus. Big doesn’t even begin to describe the place. A person could make a fortune selling campus maps at the gate. They have brand new buildings there, and rumor has it that a local guy, who didn’t even finish high school, and lives in a run down hut like house, donated a million dollars for one of the buildings. I guess he had it stuffed in his mattress. Too bad this guy didn’t live in Juniata or Kensington. Wishful thinking, I know. The playing fields are incredible, with a new turf field in their football/soccer stadium. They have baseball fields, practice fields, lacrosse fields, etc. If there's a sport that is played outside, St Augustine has a well groomed field to play that sport. But, for $15,000/year for tuition and fees, I guess they have the funds to do that.

GAME SUMMARY
During the first half, both teams pressed on their offensive ends, but defense was the name of the game as the half ended knotted at 0-0. Senior McCarthy wasn’t challenged much in that first half, but he came up big when he needed to throughout the half. It was the Falcon defense that kept the opponent in check.

The second half started off much like the first half, with the only difference being that the Falcon players seemed a lot more aggressive, keeping the ball in the St Augustine end of the field most of the half. But, it was one unfortunate play that put the Falcons down 1-0 early in the second half. A forward from St Augustine took a nice pass from behind, with the ball on his foot inside the penalty box. He dribbled in a little closer and took a shot. But, John McCarthy was up to the task and made a diving save. Unfortunately, the rebound went straight out and onto the foot of another Augustine player, who booted it in the net for the first score of the night. It was just about this time that the rain started, which came down as a steady, yet slightly annoying drizzle.

For the next 20 minutes of play, the Falcons pressed and at one point, got caught with their pants down. A St Augustine forward took a pass about midfield and had, what he thought would be a clean break to the net. But, as he turned, he found the Falcon goalkeeper about 40 yards out of his net, attempting the tackle. McCarthy got a foot on the ball, but not enough, which left the Augustine player on a one on none break toward the goal. It was a sure goal and the Falcon crowd seemed to give a collective groan. But, just as clear as this should have been a goal, as the player took his shot, a Falcon defender came seemingly out of nowhere to make the sliding tackle and knocked the ball out of bounds. What a save! The Falcon faithful cheered, and we somehow knew the momentum had shifted back to the good guys.

Not long after the aforementioned non-goal, a Falcon player took a shot on goal, which everyone in the joint thought would catch the net. But, it hit the right post and sailed to the corner. Big groan!! But, the Falcons, who seemed to have extra energy stored somewhere, didn’t let up and continued to press. At about the 75 minute, Christian Cepeda found the net and put the Falcons on the board, with the score 1-1. It seemed to breathe new life into the Falcons, who knew this game was in hand. At about the 79th minute, Ira Woodruff found the net for the winning goal and the Falcon players knew it was just a matter of running out the final minute or so to go home with the win.

All in all, it was an exciting game, and one which was well worth the 50 mile drive. If you want to see some great soccer, come out and catch the 2009 Falcon soccer team. You won’t be disappointed.

NORTH GUYS ARE EVERYWHERE……
…..As I approached the field, I heard someone say my name. Now, mind you, the people against the fence were all St Augustine fans, so I couldn’t imagine who would know me. It turns out that Brian Murzyn, ‘81 (Sorry Brian, I hope I didn’t butcher your name too much), has a son on the St Augustine JV team. Brian played football for North back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I spent the first half getting caught up with Brian.

…..During the first half, I was told that one of the St Augustine forwards is the grandson of a North soccer player.

….Finally, as I’m talking during the first half, a young man walked up and was standing with some St Augustine fans and said, “Hey, this is North Catholic? My cousin goes to North Catholic”

The point about these short blurbs is that no matter where you go, you can usually find a North grad, or someone who is related to a North grad. We are NC! And, we are never alone. Keep that in mind as you travel the world throughout your life.

The next game for the Falcons Soccer team is Friday night, against Roman. This is a league game and will be played at Lighthouse Field at 8:00PM. Grab your lawn chair and come out to support the team. We’ll see you there.

Falcons Lose Opener to CHA 21-13

Good morning and welcome to another season of Falcon football. I need to begin by apologizing for not having any pictures from yesterday’s game. You see, one of our young staffers had one job and one job only. The job was to make sure that the camera was ready and available by kickoff time. Well, just as the team was warming up, I asked about the camera and found that the memory card was not in the camera. Grrrr! Needless to say, that young staffer, who once had a bright future, is now unemployed.

Pregame Warmup
At one point, while the team was warming up before the game, we had a flashback to the early 1980’s. I’m sitting on the team bench, getting ready for the start of the game, and I heard a voice from down in the end zone area. I looked in that direction and realized that it was our normally mild-manner offensive line coach, Rob Moore, who was really getting into it with the linemen. He was so effective that I got up and started hitting random people on the sideline. I eventually came back to my senses, picked up a couple of the people I knocked down and got ready for the game.

Game Commentary
The Falcons came out a bit flat and spotted Chestnut Hill a 14 point halftime lead. There were some miscues (penalties, overthrown balls, missed blocks and tackles, etc). But, if the fourth quarter was any indication of what this team can do this season, I expect the Falcons to have a real good run. After all, Chestnut Hill Academy is considered by some to be a top 10 city team this year.

Defensive Observations
The linemen on both sides of the ball played as well as can be expected. On the defensive line, Soph Jack Schanz, in his first varsity game, had 4 tackles, as did Senior linemen Stephen Rooney. Our linebacker corps, led by David Williams (11 tackles) and Daniel Clark (6 tackles), contained the “All World” CHA running back, Ibrahim Campbell. Campbell was held to under 100 yards until a successful fourth quarter drive, where he accounted for 48 yards of this 147 game total. The defensive backs weren’t really challenged in this game, as CHA only attempted 7 passes, completing 4 of those attempts. One of those completions was a 20 yard completion to about the North 8, but the ball was stripped by Stephan Singleton and returned 50 yards, where the Falcons began the first of their two scoring drives. Julian Huggins had an interception and Gabe Toledo led all defensive backs with 5 tackles.

Offensive Observations
The line did a decent job of opening holes for Eugene Byrd, who rushed for 56 yards in the first half, before going down early in the third period with an ankle injury. The injury didn't seem too severe, but the coaching staff decided to keep him out for most of the second half as a precaution. Overall, six different Falcons carried the ball, for a total of 105 yards. In the second half, the Falcons threw the ball a little more, so the running game wasn’t as much of a factor. Junior QB, Anthony Reid (14-28-185-1-0), making his first varsity start, seemed to get off to a decent start. Anthony had a couple of early overthrows, which we think could be due to the little extra adrenalin running through his body. But, when push came to shove, Anthony was nailing his targets down field, leading the Falcons to two 4th quarter scores. We’re expecting big things from this young QB this season. Dave Sherman led the team in receptions (7 catches for 81yds), while Julian Huggins (5 catches, 77yds, 1 TD) showed his versatility by playing well on both sides of the ball (1 interception on defense and 1 nice catch and run for a TD on offense).

Overall Outlook
After watching this game, and despite the loss, we should come out of this game with confidence that the Falcons will be just fine in the 2009 season. Yes, the coaching staff has some work to do so the team overcomes some of there early season issues. Elimination of the silly penalties and an improvement in the kicking game should help a bit. But, what do we know? We’re just a bunch of writers who really don’t have a clue.

Did You Notice…..
…..that the teams didn’t use locker rooms at halftime? Yes, they have locker rooms at CHA, but they are in the next zip code over, and neither team wanted to wear out the players by marching them five miles to the nearest locker room.
…..that they don’t charge admission for their football games at CHA? Maybe if they did charge admission, they could afford to build some visitor stands on their field. (see below)
…..that there were no visitor stands in this stadium? What’s with that? You’d think that with all the money out in Chestnut Hill, they could afford some bleachers on the visitor side of the field.
….the very nice restroom facilities? They went out of their way to provide not one, but two matching spot a pots in the corner of their football complex. This was CHA’s contribution to the wildlife, as we didn’t need to find trees to do our business.

Faces in the Crowd….
Note: Since the spectators were all on the home side of the field, we didn’t have an opportunity to see many people. But, we’ll list those who we did see.

….Mike Fagan, class of 1957, who probably sees more high school football games than Ted Silary, was in attendance. After talking it over with the FalconNest staff, it was voted that Mr Fagan has now gained “Super Fan” status. It’s really difficult to go to a North football or basketball game without seeing him.
….The class of 1969 was represented by Jack Devine. Jack is also a regular at football and basketball games. And, as usual, it’s always a pleasure seeing him.
….Former NC Athletic Director, and current Director of Institutional Advancement, Tom Kaiser, was at the game. Tom doesn’t miss many games. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the last time I was at a game and Tom wasn’t in attendance.
….The Wikiera brothers, Gary and Ben, were both in attendance. Ben is a former NC player, and Gary is the grandfather of former player and current Villanova student, Shane Rand, as well as Taylor Rand, the “Kate Smith” of NC athletics.

Where’s Waldo?
We were a little worried during this game, when we tried in vain to find the new NC Athletic Director. You see, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing our AD at football games, but yesterday, he was a no show. We’re not going to criticize our AD for missing the game, as he’s new to the job, but we will offer a top ten list of reasons for him not making it to the game.
Top Ten Reasons why our AD didn’t make it to the football game.
10. He’s new and didn’t realize that it’s football season.
9. His car broke down and he didn’t have a train schedule
8. The Wawa didn’t have maps of Philadelphia and he ended up at Chestnut Hill College.
7. He went down the shore to catch the NC soccer game against Wildwood Catholic.
6. As a teacher, he was working on his curriculum for the upcoming school year.
5. He got caught up playing Mafia Wars on Facebook and just couldn’t pull himself away for the game.
4. He thought he was the announcer for the game and didn’t want to ruin his streak of football game no-shows.
3. He had a fever and had to call out sick..
2. He was out late the night before celebrating Father Judge’s (his alma mater) first win of the season over Council Rock North.

And, the Number 1 reason why our AD wasn’t at the football game…..
1. He was so overwhelmed and worn out by the long and drawn out interview process to get the job that he just didn’t have the strength to get up and out the door.

Ok, that wraps up another week of NC football. We hope to see you at the game next Saturday, at 1:00PM against Archbishop Ryan. This game will be played at Frankford Stadium and we expect you to be in the stands, cheering the team to victory.