Well, despite the fact that I had a wedding on Saturday and had to film a soccer game on Friday night, I was able to get three games in this weekend. But, only one of those games had earth-shattering implications (IMHOTEP/Bok). All of the Pub divisions have started the regular season. The PCL doesn't begin league play until week 5 (AAAA and AA) and week 7 for AAA. In the meantime, there is a lot of good high school football to watch in Philadelphia. For week 3, I have given a little summary of the three games I saw this weekend.
Roman at Chestnut Hill Academy - This game started off slowly for Roman, but the Cahillites went to the locker room at the half with a 14-3 lead. Roman came out firing in the third, posting 3 TD’s, mostly on the legs of junior RB Marcus Kelly (12-209 3TD), as the Cahillites put down any threat from the Blue Devils. Standout players in this game, in addition to Kelly, was sophomore QB, Mike Keir (6-12-125-20), and sophomore William Fuller, a North Catholic refugee, who made some spectacular catches, including one which was ruled out of bounds. These two are going to be quite the pass/catch pair through the 2012 season. Defensively, DE Jack Gallagher played bigger than his 6’ 3” 225lb frame, as he seemed to be in on every play. Senior LB, Dan Pellicciotti, a Prep transfer, helped keep the Chestnut Hill team out of the endzone most of the game. Big stop of the day goes to junior, Jack Schanz, another North refugee, when CHA had a 4th and goal in the first half, and threatening to keep it a game. The play went wide right, but before the RB could turn up field, he was met by Schanz, who dropped him for a 5 yard loss.
Central at Fels – There’s not much to say about this one, other than Central is no longer one of the top tier teams in the Pub. Well, they haven’t been for quite a few years, but in the Pub AAAA second division, they have been able to hold their own of late. Noticeably missing from Central are linemen of any size. They are a small team, and have just a limited number of true athletes. Now, Fels on the other hand, is a loaded with talent and size. This game came down to one player, senior QB Tyree Rucker. Rucker had the game of a lifetime, throwing 10-19, for 261 yards, and 3 touchdowns. If that wasn’t enough, he also rushed 12 times for 93 yards and 2 more TDs. The Fels Wideouts seemed to be running by the Central defenders all day. This could be a long season for Central.
IMHOTEP at Bok – This game was a contrast in styles. On the Bok side, you had the old-guard, conservative and traditional football, on both sides of the ball. Heck, the Bok coaching staff doesn’t even have a coach in the booth, and there are no headsets for the coaches on the sidelines. Bok plays a more ball control style of offense and a read and react defense. It’s a formula that has worked, as the Wildcats have won every regular season game since 2002. IMHOTEP plays a much different style on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they run wide, into the open spaces, quite a bit. And, they’re not afraid to throw the ball down field. On defense, for most of the game, they played a swarming, all hands to the ball type of play. The only exception was the start of the second half, when the IMHOTEP corners played back (about 12 yards), and Bok reacted with several consecutive throws to the uncovered WR, who picked up 5 or 6 yards/play. IMHOTEP called a timeout and immediately went back to the 8 in the box, and chuck the receiver off the line style. This effectively shut down the Bok offense. This game came down to turnovers (3 Ints for IMHOTEP) and penalties. Bok never really seemed to get any type of flow going when they had the ball. You could feel the momentum on the IMHOTEP side all game. IMHOTEP is definitely a team to watch at the AA level in 2010.
Check back on Tuesday, when we’ll have out “Games to Watch” and other picks for Week 4.
