The Philadelphia Catholic League seems to have this PIAA playoff thing down pat. They’ve only been involved with the PIAA playoff system since last year, but the PCL’s record against PIAA playoff opponents is fairly impressive.
Archbishop Wood, a “AAA” school, is 3-2. West Catholic, which ripped through the “AA” bracket last year and made it back to the Eastern Finals this year, is 5-2. And LaSalle College, making its first-ever foray into the world of the PIAA playoffs, is 2-0. Adding up those records, that equals a 10-4 mark, a winning percentage of .714.
Saturday night in the “AAAA” state championship game, the Explorers will look to push the PCL’s PIAA playoff win total to 11 and bring home the league’s first state title. LaSalle College (13-1) will face State College Area (12-2) Saturday night in Hersheypark Stadium, with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. The Explorers will try to do what neither West Catholic or Archbishop Wood could do last year – win the title game.
Wood’s order, to be fair, was a tall one. The Vikings had the task of trying to slow down a powerful Thomas Jefferson juggernaut whose only ’08 loss was to Ohio Senate League powerhouse Cleveland Glenville. West Catholic had a 14-0 lead at halftime, but couldn’t hold off Wilmington, falling in double overtime, 35-34. Two PCL shots at a PIAA title, two PCL losses, two silver footballs.
So now, the inaugural title onus falls on LaSalle College. Not that the Explorers mind, though. They’d relish it if you doubt them.
Easton was figured to knock off the Explorers after posting an impressive three wins in eight days. But that never materialized, though the 17-14 decision said more about LaSalle’s ability to make a comeback than it did about Easton wearing down from four games in a span of three weeks.
Ridley was coming off of an emotional 19-10 victory over nationally-ranked North Penn and favored to win, but the Explorers could have cared less, pummeling the three-time Eastern finalist Green Raiders 35-7. LaSalle defeated a Ridley program that had won 611 games and boasted an overall record of 92-23 (.800) since 2001.
In two weeks, LaSalle knocked off two programs that have won a combined 1,358 games, eight district championships (Easton – 6, Ridley – 2) and had appeared in a combined seven Eastern Finals.
LaSalle, which began playing football in 1920, has built a nice little tradition of its own. The Explorers have won 447 games as a member of the PCL, but did not compete in the league from 1921 to 1922 and 1928 to 1933. The blue and gold waited 35 years to win its first PCL championship, then won three more, totaling four titles from 1955 to 1960. Then, after a 29-year hiatus, LaSalle returned to the title scene in 1989, and added additional titles in 1995, 1996, 1998, 2006, 2008, and 2009.
The PCL titles reach 11 in number, and the Explorers have 10 seasons of 10+ wins to their credit. Three undefeated and untied seasons add to the LaSalle resume, coming in 1955, 1957, and 1998. The ’98 team owns the school record for wins in a season, 14, which this ’09 edition can tie with a win Saturday night.
LaSalle has reached this point with a pretty balanced offense. Two running backs compliment 2,200-yard passer Drew Loughery, and both are underclassmen. Junior Jamal Abdur-Rahman and sophomore Tim Wade have combined for over 1,700 rushing yards. Abdur-Rahman has run for 1,137 yards and 15 touchdowns; Wade has 671 yards and six scores.
Both Wade and Rahman are also steady receivers in the Explorer aerial assault. The duo has combined for 44 catches, 606 yards, and five touchdowns. Other LaSalle receivers worth noting include Connor Hoffman (35, 582, 7), Sam Feleccia (27, 412, 5), Steve Jones (21, 330, 5) and Kevin Forster (20, 269, 1).
Loughery, meanwhile, has thrown for more than 2,000 yards for the second consecutive season. He’s completed 155-of-254 passes for 2,292 yards and 23 touchdowns. For his career, Loughery has thrown for 5,246 yards and 50 touchdowns. As a program, LaSalle has produced three 5,000-yard passers – John Harrison and Brett Gordon are the other two.
Defensively, LaSalle has only held six opponents to seven points or less and has two shutouts. The Explorers’ defense has allowed double-digit points in five of the last six weeks, but the defensive domination in the Ridley win may have raised a few eyebrows.
Is LaSalle going to be able to lay the claim of being the PCL’s first PIAA champion? Will LaSalle continue its roll through the PIAA playoffs and remain with an unblemished record?
Find out Saturday night.
39 Responses
Look at how West Catholic dismantled the AA field this year if you need proof of why including schools that can draw from a greater talent pool but are classed by attendance have an unfair advantage. Columbia Montour Vo-Tech (public) must compete in AAA because they draw from schools that size and the same rule should apply to Catholic schools who recruit from various public districts. Anyone who loves fair competition should be offended by the current nonsensical system. Catholic schools who draw from a large area should realize their victories are like a 200lb wrestler beating a lightweight…
pretty good placekicker from southern california…….
So let me get this straight… people think that the BIG kids (200+ lb. backs) were recruited to PCL schools because of their size? How many 6’4″, 200lb 8th graders do you know? I’ve yet to meet one! But the guys who hit the weight room can bulk up and become those big guys by their junior and senior years.
The “recruiting” that happens at PCL schools is what others have made it out to be: coaches approaching kids and suggesting that they look into the PCL schools. However, from a fairness perspective, how is that more unfair to border-enforced schools than the border-enforced schools with FEEDER SCHOOLS would be to PCL schools? North Penn has thirteen elementary schools which feed into three middle schools which feed more than 500 boys EVERY YEAR into North Penn High School. All that means is that the lower schools’ coaches get to teach their players the NP system before they ever put on a Knights uniform.
Furthermore, if PCL schools have all of this recruited talent which make them essentially “all star teams,” could someone please explain why La Salle doesn’t have a single Division I recruit? The closest is Drew Loughery, who has received interest from Syracuse, a school that hasn’t been to a Bowl game in years. Meanwhile Gateway out in Western PA has several D1 recruits every year, and they choke every year.
The fact is that the Philadelphia Catholic League is a VERY competitive league which has advantages and disadvantages against the rest of the state, but to say that it has an unfair advantage is frankly ignorant.
Actually classifications are based on boy’s enrollment numbers- for calendar year 2010- 9th thru 11th grade- North Penn is biggest school in district with 1538 boys followed by Upper Darby- 1498, Pennsbury- 1395, Neshaminy- 1295- CB West has 732 and Ridley 850……
Thanks for your honesty coach12- Ridley’s potential starting QB next year was recruited by the Prep- actually played freshman football for St Joe…..The brother of Ridley’s wideout/db was also recruited by O’Hara and will hopefully transfer back to Ridley for his Junior year- We are not that naive……….
Throughout these posts PCL guys have admitted to recruiting, they just don’t like that word. They’ve said “kids from different districts, areas, states”, “coaches talk to kids because of their athletic ability”. O’Hara has been “talking” to Ridley’s Dixon-Dugan trying to get him to go there. I heard they’re even offering him the #1RB spot next year, which is his 1st choice of position and he lost at Ridley this year after an injury. Others have talked about an “even Playing field” with larger schools like CB West, North Penn and Neshaminy. I’d bet my lefty that there are a few quality players living in those school districts playing PCL football. And what about smaller schools like Ridley with 2000 kids?? Thats an even playing field?? If DELCO kids could select a school because they wanted to play winning football, and Ridley bused them in, EVERYONE would go to Ridley. Hell, just let Ridley pull from it’s 2 closest neighbors, Interboro and Strath Haven….State Championship every year!!! It was mentioned that people moved in to the CB West district. Well ok. They weren’t pulling the top players living in different school districts. I was once approached by a Malvern coach after an ice hockey game and asked if I’d ever consider going to Malvern. I was also given a few details on what I would need to do to make it happen. At that time Malvern was the best hockey school in the state. Was I offered a scholarship? No. But it was clear to me that I was approached because the coach felt that I could help the program WIN. Not because I was a good guy…. That’s recruiting!
Guys: Take this from someone who has coached at 2 PCL schools and who won several championships, we do not recruit. period. I coached 180 lb lineman for years and I always laughed when we were accused of recruiting–I’d say that I did a pretty poor job of recruiting to not have 1 kid over 200lbs. Guess what–we won. Now LaSalle has a big line for once and all the Ridley guys are assuming they were recruited–big kid Szostak’s dad and brother played at LaSalle as well as QB’s dad and about 30 of the 60 on the Varsity roster. They don’t have the money to fund athletic scholarships anyway–they are self funded–16,000/ yr.
PCL school’s do indeed recruit, and not just in football. I coach CYO Basketball and after one of my recent games a coach from one of the PCL schools approached me about one of my players and asked me what school he currently attended and why he was not playing for the team there, and then proceeded to ask me to talk to the kid and his parents about letting him talk to them.
As a former PCL football player I can say that I was given no money. Alls that I did was show up every day year round, including the offseason. I hit the weight room hard packed on a lot of muscle weight, as did most of my teammates, including everyone who saw meaningful playing time. It’s not the money that brings the PCL wins, it’s the dedication to the sport from the players. Maybe your teams just need a little bit more dedication to their sports in the offseason.
Both basketball players at PW were at LaSalle CJ & Julian, both very good kids but they didnt meet the academic requirements so they were dismissed. Both r nationally ranked players so if Lasalle was only trying to win championships they would still be enrolled. That should put this recruit garbage to bed.
RYAN : you’re redundant. It’s all been said in previous comments.
Just do not think it is right to have student athletes residing outside the state of Pennsylvania and competing for PA State Title- Buddy, let’s see if you are just as happy when North Penn splits and you play with 800-900 boys available to play football instead of 1800…..
the “PCL recruits” thing is getting old. people do not appreciate the simple fact that students want to go to la salle. no coach needs to get students to attend la salle. they already do for the atmosphere and the academic program.
the piaa let us in and i dont think they will kick us out already so quit whining. the complaining will go nowhere.
In Philadelphia, a kid can go to any public school they want to as long as there address say philadelphia. So for kids that go and play for Washington as long as they from the city they go there. They city has had open enrollment at any non-neighborhood HS since the Mid 90’s.
As for a Private Prep school having players outside the state has been going on a long time prior to the PCL joing PIAA. Look at Catheral Prep out of Erie. When they beat CB West in that great Quad championship game, most of there players were from Ohio not PA. If you a private Prep school you have no borders to worry about. But it is up to that parent and child if they want to goto that school. Like someone said before, it all goes in cycles. It’s only been 2 years in PIAA for PCL. Public schools will bounce back as they always do if they have good coaching. When you are winning, those kids that have a choice of public school or a catholic school will really think twice about it. Prime example is North Penn and Lansdale Catholic. Kids are not going anymore because they have been down and they are going to North Penn. Its all cycles in HS football.