ALTOONA – When Joey Orlando straps on his helmet and laces up his cleats at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium on Saturday evening in the East-West All-Star Game, his father, and former NFL defensive back Bo Orlando, will be watching.
The elder Orlando played in the Big 33 game after his senior year at Berwick, and now his son gets to experience an all-star game of his own.
“I’m glad Joey’s getting to experience some of the things I did when I was in high school,” Bo said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.
“The way I look at it is, ‘Hey, this is your congratulations present for a successful high school football career.’”
Joey Orlando’s career was pretty successful. His Bethlehem Liberty Hurricanes won a District 11 championship reached the 2006 PIAA “AAAA” state title game in his junior season, a year in which he finished with 655 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns.
2007 was also a solid year for #5 – he totaled 473 receiving yards and scored 8 touchdowns, leading the Hurricanes in both categories and helped Liberty reach its third straight District 2/4/11 “AAAA” semifinals.
“Joey had a great year,” his father said. “He was our (team) MVP. I love his work ethic. I was harder on him than any of the other players, and he worked his tail off.”
Now, he’s teaming up with some of the best receivers in the state.
“It’s an honor — just to be with all these athletes, it’s a real honor,” Orlando said.
Orlando will be part of an East team which also features Roman Catholic’s Al Desiderio, Bishop McDevitt’s Julian Harrell, and Wilson-West Lawn’s Chris Hartzell.
Combined, the quartet hauled in 148 passes for 2,372 yards and 30 touchdowns a season ago.
“We’ve been coming together as a team this week,” Orlando said.
And when the talented receviing corps has two strong-armed quarterbacks in Downingtown West’s Nolan Kearney and West Scranton’s Matt McGloin, it makes for a pretty scary offense.
Kearney has thrown for just over 5,000 career yards, and McGloin finished 2007 with a 12-2 record and a berth in the “AAA” quarterfinals against Garnet Valley.
“(Nolan) he’s got a really strong arm,” Orlando said. “And (McGloin) has a strong arm too – he played baseball as well.”
Truth is, Orlando could have played either receiver or defensive back. He played both positions in high school, and racked up 8 career interceptions on the defensive side of the ball.
“Coach Gallagher (Souderton’s Ed Gallagher) had 4 DBs at the beginning, and then (Tyrell) Harris from Bishop McDevitt got called in, so they’re OK at DB,” Orlando said.
“I’d play either position,” Orlando continued, “but I do like catching the ball.”
And come Saturday, both father and son will be experiencing Mansion Park Stadium for the first time.
“Joey tells me it’s a nice little stadium out there with a ton of tradition,” Bo said. “I just told him to be careful and have fun out there.
“That’s what it’s all about.”
