District 12 PCL Report
Philadelphia, Pa. High school football players across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had the opportunity to put on the pads this week after an offseason of training, lifting and working on technique. August 15 could not have come soon enough for those players and coaches that worked hours on end refining their skills to make their team perform the best that they can be. For some, the hitting began early that Monday morning and continued in some cases to three a day practices.
Week one culminated with Saturday scrimmages. Although these scrimmages featured very basic play calls, it gives the staffs an opportunity to see what each team has (especially across the line of scrimmage) so that the coaches can install their own game plans around it prior to their opening games.
I had a chance to check out a few of the practices and catch glimpses of two Saturday scrimmages in District 12. Here’s a quick report on some of the happenings in the Philadelphia Catholic league and D1
LaSalle/Boyertown Scrimmage: Drew Gordon’s offensive game plan here was basic vanilla. As with most coaching staff’s, the Explorers wanted a chance to see what kind of line they have to protect the skill players they use. They could not have picked a better team to prepare for than Boyertown. The Bears have a mammoth line themselves led by Rutgers commit Chris Muller. For LaSalle, with the loss of virtually their entire line from last year’s state runner-up team, it’s basically a reload process here. They did a respectable job even without their biggest lineman (Pat Hoffman) out of the game due to an emergency appendectomy. Senior Connor Kerrigan did a good job both at center and guard and he may be the leader of the group due to his off season conditioning. At running back, Tim Wade will be the soul of the Explorers attack. He’s also a ferocious downfield blocker. Senior Colin O’Hara and Junior Jared Herrmann will play a part in the running attack. Both had some nice runs. Senior Quarterback Matt Magarity and Junior Chris Kane have live arms and will aid in their passing attack. Gordon and his staff preach a quick tempo offense and it was obvious from the beginning that everything was done at a fast pace. Kane also may play some fullback and safety on defense. Although they did not see extended play, Junior Sean Coleman, and Seniors Mike Piscopo and Colin Buckley appear to be prominent in the Explorers receiving corps. For Boyertown, it appears that their offensive and defensive line are their strengths. Muller is a beast on both sides of the ball and many of the Bears feed off his ability and energy. I spoke briefly with Muller’s father, Doug and he was very proud of both his son and team’s work ethic and very happy to be a part of the Boyertown program. The Bears will be a very hard team to run the ball against this year in District 1’s Pioneer Athletic Conference. I noticed that Muller primarily played right guard because he will be doing a lot of pulling on sweeps.
Archbishop Wood/Father Judge Scrimmage: As was the case last year it will be apparent that the Vikings will be able to score on a moment’s notice on a big play for major yardage. That was the case in the sixth play from scrimmage (after being stuffed on their first five attempts) when Senior Rutgers commit, Desmon Peoples broke off a 70 yard TD run. He is completely healed from the broken foot he suffered in last year’s PCL AAA championship conquest over Cardinal O’Hara. Although he didn’t play much more on offense, Desmon was effective as a DB on defense as well. Desmon’s cousin and Temple commit Brandon Peoples was sensational both running the ball and as a DB on the other side of his cousin. He figures to be even a more prominent part of the Vikings offense this year. A returning offensive line of D1 commits Frank Taylor (Boston College), Brandon Archidiacono (Rutgers) and TE Colin Thompson (Florida) will give offensive line coach Mike Carey a lot to work with as they prepare for their AAA schedule against Cardinal O’Hara, Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Carroll. The OLine looked efficient in the short time they played. George Washington transfer and D1 prospect Nate Smith will add tremendous depth to the Vikings receiving core and defensive backfield with his overall speed and athleticism. Smith caught a 60 yard TD in the scrimmage. He will be a major help in their defensive backfield verses the spread offense that Allentown Central Catholic runs if the Vikings can get to the eastern championship game again this year. Senior multi threat southpaw QB Joey Monaghan figures to be an intragal part of the offensive attack. After a few misfires, Monaghan settled down on his throws and became very effective as the scrimmage wore on. He was on target on a long pass drop by Smith, followed by the long TD connect to him later on. Judge played a very respectable scrimmage without three of their top offensive lineman not suited for the contest. Tackle Vince Lostracco (whom offensive line coach Casey Jones called their best blocker) is out till October with a broken wrist. New Jersey’s Washington Township transfer Andrew Zabrowski (6’5, 301) also sat this one out with an illness. Judge still pounded the ball with Senior do everything RB Raul Quinones running hard between the tackles for respectable gains. In the past, Judge has always been a very hard hitting team that lacked team speed. This year’s squad figures to be just as tough and with more speed then they have had in the past. Senior RB Matt Smalley (State 60 meter medalist), Sophomore RB Marquis Seamon, Senior WR John Landis and Quinones are all speedsters and the coaching staff will design plays to get these players in space this year. Junior Brandon Spatz also figures to play a major role as WR and LB and has turned heads at a few of the offseason camps. Senior QB Rob Daniels will most likely get the nod as the starting signal caller. Daniels is a savvy cool quarterback with tons of talent and a live arm that Quarterbacks coach Mike Samuel (QB at Wisconsin 2002) has developed over the summer. The one player that should get All State consideration is Senior C,DL Eric Condron who is a true leader and has a motor that never stops. Finally, I have always been amazed at how passionate the entire coaching staff (from headman Tom Coyle all the way down to the freshman assistants), work with these kids. This entire group “coaches these players up” better than almost any group I’ve seen. It’s bound to produce positive results.
D12 News/Notes:
- Two Freshman RB’s to watch: Roman Catholic’s Dimitri Kelly (Marcus’s brother) and St. Joe Prep’s Jonathan Reid
- Under the radar players: Archbishop Wood’s Benji Abercrombie (Hatboro Horsham Transfer) and DB Ulis Jordan. Both have big motors.
- Cardinal O’Hara and their skill players ran all over George Washington (More on O’Hara next week)
- Archbishop Ryan will be a factor in PCL AAAA
One Response
You do know the public is a part of district 12 too. Or do u only report on the catholic league? Just kidding thanks for the reports. Will u be looking in on any public schools next week?