Week 4 Recap

Week 4 Recap
This was the last pre-season week for most of the PCL AAAA and AA teams, as their regular seasons kick off in week 5 (the PCL AAA begins league play in week 7).  But, pre-season or not, there was some real good high school football in week 4.  But first, I'll recap my picks from week 4:


Weekly and Overall Picks for Week 4
Week 4, Games to Watch 2-2  .500
Week 4, All Picks : 21-3  .875
Season, Overall Games to Watch: 11-5 .688
Season Record: 85 - 23  .787


Games I saw this weekend
O'Hara at Roman
This was one of the games that the crew and I attended on Saturday night.  Going into this game, all expectations pointed to a defensive battle.  Despite the 486 combined passing yards and 60 total points, in many ways, it was truly a defensive battle.  Neither team seemed to be able to run the ball effectively all night.  O'Hara gained 136 total yards, but 41 came on touchdown run on their final offensive play of the night.  Roman, who gained 32 yards on the ground, included a 34 yard broken play touchdown run in the first quarter.  So, if you take away those two runs, there was a total of 93 yards gained on the ground (CO +95, RC -2 ).  But, with the revelation that both teams are tough to run against, it seems as though both exposed their susceptibility to the pass.  Both QBs threw for over 200 yards, but more importantly, both teams gave up over 200 passing yards.  This could be a problem for Roman in week 5, as they open the regular season against pass-happy La Salle.  The best chance Roman has next week is to hope that La Salle QB, Matt Magarity, is still in the DL.  As for O'Hara, they continue with their pre-season against Chester, who put a hurting on Fels in week 4 (32 - 6).  O'Hara doesn't open the regular season until week 7, when they play Bonner.

Bleacher Notes: 
1. The kid in the O'Hara student section who yelled "I love you, Jesus" after the pre-game prayer, was a little inappropriate, but it was also pretty funny.  His timing was impeccable.
2. There were a lot of hard hits in this game, but when Jack Schanz hit Laughlin at the end of the first half, Laughlin's helmet came off his head and was attached to Schanz's helmet.  It was pretty funny to see.  Wish I was closer and had a camera with me.
3. Speaking of the hard hits, there were bodies all over the field during this game, including after one play, where there were two O'Hara players still on the ground near the Roman sideline after the play ended.  One had a cramp, but I'm not sure what was up with the other.
4. Not sure if it was a tribute to this being Irish Weekend or not, but the National Anthem was sung by someone with a slight Irish brogue.  That's not something you hear all the time.
5. There were a bunch of loud young people sitting in front of the pressbox on the Roman side of the field.  Very loud, stomping on the benches and pretty much giving several people a headache.  I gave the feeling of a big Pub basketball match up.
6. Roman's William Fuller, a North Catholic refugee, had another big game, with two touchdowns.  The soph WR now leads RC in receptions, receiving yards and overall scoring.  He's going to be a nice target for Keir for the next two and one half seasons.


Franklin at Boys' Latin
This was the early game that I caught on Friday.  I was there to collect stats for the DN.  You see, I'm not a regular stat guy, but instead, I get the games that nobody else wants.  I don't mind, as it gives me a reason to catch yet another game.  Anyway, this was your typical Pub AAA type game.  Lots of running around, and not a lot of scoring.  This game was flying by, with the first half ending in about 40 minutes.  I figured I would get out of there and up to Morrisville in plenty of time to film the Jenkintown/Morrisville game (one of my many sports related jobs).  At the half, it was 6-0 Franklin, with each team rushing for 38 yards apiece.  Boys' Latin managed only 6 passing yards in the first half (BF had 53).  The big difference in the two halves was Franklin's Crusito Cruz, who only carried the ball 3 times in the first quarter, for 24 yards, but in the second half it all changed.  Cruz had 10 second half carries for 149yds, including a hard fought 76yd scamper in the fourth quarter.  On this run, Cruz should have been tackled about 5 times, but he kept his feet moving and broke tackle after tackle to put the Electrons up for good.

Sideline Notes:
1. There were about 60 people in the bleachers for this one, which is probably a little more than most Pub Friday afternoon games that don't include Washington, Frankford or Northeast.
2. A Boys' Latin assistant coach was ejected in the first half, after questioning why a ref walked off 10 yards on a defensive holding penalty.  This was after another ref told him it was a 5 yard penalty.  Not sure if the "discussion" warranted an ejection or not, but I didn't hear everything in the exchange, so I'm sure the ref was correct in doing what he did.
3. With about 30 seconds left in the game (Boys Latin had no timeouts left), and immediately after Boys' Latin failed on a late 4th quarter 4th down, at about their own 30, I heard someone on the Franklin sideline say, "Let's score another one".  The referee proceeded to pick the ball up and declare that the game was over.  When a Franklin coach pointed out that there was still 30 seconds on the clock, the ref said, "You're ahead, they had no timeouts, you don't have to snap the ball.  No need for someone to get hurt now."  Good call, as I bolted out of Gratz Stadium and made it to Morrisville in plenty of time.

Surprise Results in Week 4
Del-Val over IMHOTEP  - IMHOTEP ended Bok's 9 year league winning streak in Week 3.  They looked very sharp doing so.  Del-Val is no slouch, as far a Pub AA teams go, but never did I think they would be IMHOTEP.  I kind of figured IMHOTEP would have an easy ride until the playoffs began.  Big shocker to me.

Ending of Wood/Prep game - It really didn't surprise me that Wood beat Prep.  But, the fact that they let Prep back in the game in the second half, and then had to rely on a blocked PAT to win the game was the real shocker.  That should be the last big test for the Vikings until their regular season begins in week 7.  But, don't expect them get tripped up before week 9, when they play O'Hara.  Now, that will be a good matchup to end the regular season, and quite possibly a preview of the PCL AAA championship game.

O'Hara over Roman - Sixty points is a lot of points when two defensive minded teams play.  This game was all about the passing, as neither could mount an effective ground game.  There were almost 500 combined passing yards in this game, as both teams showed that they can throw, but both teams also showed that they may be susceptible to the pass.  This may cause Roman a headache next week, as they will try to contain the usually high powered passing game of La Salle in their PCL AAAA regular season opener.

Check back on Tuesday, when we list the "Games to Watch" and my picks for week 5.