La Salle College High School Football 2009a

ALL-CATHOLIC

Ryan Geiger-C

Head Coach: Drew Gordon

Steve Jones-TE Sam Feleccia-WR

Drew Loughery-QB J. Abdur-Rahman-RB Connor Hoffman-WR

Mike Bennett-K Steve Szostak-DL/OL Steve Sinnott-DE

Regular Season

Overall Record

Plymouth-Whitemarsh W 56-0

Malvern Prep W 28-7

West Catholic W 16-14

St. Joseph's Prep L 17-24

Archbishop Ryan W 38-0

Father Judge W 28-10

Monsignor Bonner W 31-6

Roman Catholic W 45-7

Cardinal O'Hara W 24-14

Cardinal O'Hara (Semi) W 31-21

St. Joseph's Prep (Final) W 35-28

George Washington (City Title) W 31-20

Easton (State Qfinal) W 17-14

Ridley (State Semi) W 35-7

State College (State Final) W 24-7

Catholic League Red Division Champions

City Champions, State Champions

5-1-0

14-1-0

Shane Brady-OLB Ryan Saraceni-ILB Kevin Forster-DB

Matt DiGiacomo-OL Tim Wade-FB Anthony Cognetti-ILB Cameron Cappo-OL

La Salle College High School Football 2009b

Captains vs Prep: Kevin Forster, Steve Szostak, Drew Loughery, Ryan Saraceni

TE Steve Jones vs. Cardinal O’Hara Kevin Forster INT

FB Tim Wade vs. Prep

La Salle College High School Football 2009c

Sideline before the O’Hara playoff game

Jamal Abdur-Rahman vs Prep in PCL Championship Shane

Brady

Connor Hoffman vs. O’Hara in playoffs Drew Loughery bootlegs vs Prep in PCL Championship

The Road to the PCL Championship

La Salle College High School Football 2009d La Salle wins 1st City Championship since 1960

November 28, 2009

Loughery

Hoffman

Forster

Abdur-Rahman TD Brady

Brett Gordon

instructs

the offense

La Salle College High School Football 2009e La Salle vs Easton in the Little Town of Bethlehem

December 5, 2009

Defense stiffens after early problems

Drew Loughery scores on keeper to narrow the score to 14-7

Mike Bennett’s 37 yd FG in 3rd quarter puts La Salle on top for good, 17-14

Defensive shutout in second half

Sam Feleccia takes

swing pass from

Loughery

La Salle College High School Football 2009f

ON T

O

La Salle Riddles Ridley December 12, 2009

Drew Loughery to Sam Feleccia

Jamal Abdur-Rahman makes a move, and scores

Steve Sinnott sack Tim Wade TD run

La Salle College High School Football 2009g

The Explorers enter Hersheypark Stadium Loyal fans headed west through the storm

Connor Hoffman elevates on a slant-in

Jamal Abdur-Rahman heads to paydirt (pay-snow?)

Early special teams action

Steve Sinnott and Ryan Geiger keep up defensive pressure

Matt DiGiacomo bearhugs Tim Wade after touchdown

HERSHEYPARK STADIUM – DECEMBER 19, 2009

La Salle College High School Football 2009h HERSHEYPARK STADIUM – DECEMBER 19, 2009

Sam Feleccia in the Wildcat formation

Final snaps in the Victory formation Pure joy for Vinny Migliarese and Kevin Wilkins

Steve Szostak

Heads of State

Sam Feleccia and Drew Loughery

La Salle College High School Football 2009i REPORT FROM TED SILARY: DEC. 12, 2009 – CLASS AAAA STATE SEMIFINAL: La Salle 35, Ridley 7

Who would have thought, eh? The hope of Catholic League loyalists seemed to be that La Salle would hang with Ridley, a long-time suburban toughie, and

have a chance to win at/near the end. But with an overflow crowd at Northeast as witnesses, the Explorers pretty much had their way, especially in a 28-0

second half. A bit of truth-telling first: The score is SLIGHTLY misleading because Ridley, down by two touchdowns, opted to attempt a 4th-and-2 play from its

own 13 with 7:07 remaining. When it failed, La Salle of course needed to cover only an extra short distance to expand the lead to approaching-blowout

proportions. The Explorers added another score shortly thereafter and, lo and behold, we did have a blowout. So, how'd this monumental result occur? Deeee-

fense. Deeee-fense. Coordinator John Steinmetz' crew forced one, two, three, four, FIVE turnovers and, oddly, each one was a fumble. That's semi-surprising

because Ridley has long been a passing program and you'd figure 1 or 2 of the coughups would have been airway oriented, right? Here's the breakdown:

force by sr. LB Shane "Pain" Brady and jr. DE Cameron Cappo, recovery by sr. DT Steve Szostak; force by jr. Mark DiFrangia on a punt return, recovery by sr.

DB Pat Resch; force by jr. DB Kevin Forster, recovery by sr. DB Vinny Migliarese; force by jr. DE Joseph Naji, recovery by sr. LB Anthony Cognetti; force by

sr. DB Ryan Saraceni, recovery again by Cognetti. Incredibly, only one of those turnovers led to a score and that was the 5th. They certainly helped with tide-

changing, though, and no doubt had the Raiders second guessing their chances. Cappo helped to set an early tone with a TFL and a half-sack, and his forced

fumble occurred late in the first quarter. As the game proceeded, there was a TFL for Brady, a sack for Szostak, a TFL for Brady and soph DB Ryan Otis, a

sack for sr. DE Steve Sinnott and a TFL for Naji. Notice anything? Yup, tremendous balance. In all of those scenarios, we mentioned 12 guys! Ridley slapped

together just one truly impressive drive all game and that was right before the half. After Alex Nicolino picked off a pass by sr. QB Drew Loughery, the visitors

drove 73 yards in nine plays to post a TD, making it 7-7, with just 8.1 seconds remaining. They managed just 4 first downs thereafter. Here's another oddity: all

5 of La Salle's TDs were scored in rushes. Loughery and jr. RB Jamal Abdur-Rahman (21-118; general shot here) had 2 apiece while soph FB Tim Wade was

rewarded for his blocking passion with a chance to get the last one. He did, on a 9-yard run. That was posted with 2:05 left and a Ridley guy was called for a

dead-ball personal foul when he made a foolish move and went after Loughery. The guy was also ejected. In case further nitwitism was forthcoming, the

Explorers did not keep Loughery on the field to hold for sr. Mike Bennett's kick. That duty went to soph QB Matt Magarity, who's in line to become next year's

starter. After hitting the PAT, Bennett blasted a 55-yard field goal! Well, not really, but his kickoff from the Ridley 45 did split the uprights! Niiiiiice! (And he

boomed three other kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.) Yardage-wise, this was not one of Loughery's vintage performances. But when a guy goes 10-

for-13 (104 yards), how can anyone possibly complain? The linemen -- sr. C Ryan Geiger, sr. G Matt DiGiacomo, Szostak at the other G, sr. T Dylan Gavin,

Cappo at the other T, sr. TE Steve Jones -- are to be commended as well. They did allow Loughery to suffer a regular sack (for eight yards) and a really bad

one (for 26 yards, plus a lost fumble), but those hiccups occurred in the 1st half and the guys, especially with the whole starting unit still out there, were pretty

much perfect thereafter. Abdur-Rahman showed great heart on some of his late runs. We're talking third/fourth effort, let alone second. I can't believe how

many people turned out for this one. The stands on both sides were pretty much completely filled and people were standing three-four deep behind the fence

at the top of La Salle's stands. Also, Ridley's extras stood behind the fence that rings the far end of the stadium. As things wound down, I found myself wishing

the game had been more competitive because it would have been cool to hear so many people roaring back and forth in ultra-tense moments. But I doubt

many (any?) La Salle folks minded the domination.

REPORT FROM TED SILARY: DEC. 19. 2009 – CLASS AAAA FINAL: La Salle 24, State College 7

About time the Catholic League won a state football title, right!? In just its second year, the CL has broken through and La Salle did the honors in relatively

easy fashion. The score was 24-0 when SC finally broke through and the Explorers' defense wasn't the victimized unit because that score came on a 96-yard

kickoff return. Sr. K-P Mike Bennett opened the scoring by hitting a 37-yard field goal with 6:23 left in the first quarter. If the distance had been 37 yards and,

oh, 3 inches, the kick would not have succeeded as the ball thumped against the crossbar, toward the left side, as it passed through. That was the lefty's 26th

career field goal and left him tied with '03 SJ Prep grad Pat Kaiser for the city record. Congrats! The other scores, in order, were runs of 22 yards by jr. TB

Jamal Abdur-Rahman, 8 by soph FB Tim Wade and 55 by sr. TB Sam Feleccia. Huh? Since when is Feleccia a tailback? Well, while blocking for Wade on his

TD, Abdur-Rahman, lined up at slotback on this play, got dinged on his knee and suffered a partially torn MCL. That came 1:10 before halftime and Jamal

spent the second half on the sideline, properly bundled up. Feleccia, a star wideout who had enjoyed some good moments recently out of a Wildexplorer

formation, moved to the TB spot and finished with 21 carries for 160 yards. Thirteen of those totes, for 114 yards, came in the second half. The 55-yarder was

a lead draw and was the first time Sam ran the ball on a handoff from sr. QB Drew Loughery. La Salle was going toward the scoreboard and he rolled down

the left sideline (State College's). Abdur-Rahman's run was also cool. It was one of the few times all game when a play gave the appearance it was taking

place on a bright, sunny, warm day . . . rather than in a legendary snowstorm. He burst through the line straight ahead and then continued to the end zone,

dragging a late defender for good measure. Wade, so dedicated all season to blocking, and successful earlier this season when Abdur-Rahman had to miss

some time with an injury, got his TD on an audible. Because the TDs were scored on runs, don't think that Loughery was a non-factor. He passed just 11

times, but the five completions went for 109 yards and 4 came in scoring drives. On the FG drive, Loughery hit Feleccia for 17 yards on third-and-19 and then

ran for five on 4th down. Clutch! He connected with Feleccia for 26 and with sr. WR Connor Hoffman for 22 on the A-R drive. Wade scored after A-R's 54-yard

TD dash was negated by penalty. The big play was a 40-yard hookup with Hoffman. The last score capped just a two-play "drive." La Salle finished with 361

yards total offense while SC settled for 123. That, of course, is pretty much a 3-to-1 advantage. The linemen were the usual guys and they're listed below with

all starters. La Salle's defense notched two turnovers. Sr. DE Steve Sinnott recovered a fumble -- Huck told me he also caused it in impressive fashion (it

happened in traffic on the other side of the field) -- and sr. DB Vinny Migliarese intercepted a late pass. Sinnott had seven stops, with six as solos or first hits;

jr. DB Kevin Forster (two for losses) and sr. LBs Shane Brady and Anthony Cognetti had six apiece; Migliarese and Feleccia had four and three stops,

respectively. It was so much fun covering this squad all season. Though every team deserves the championships it wins, these guys REALLY do. From

coaches to players to support personnel, they didn't give off one negative vibe in my time around them. And from the emails I received from players/coaches

attached to other CL schools, who said they were rooting for them and wanted to see them go all the way, the La Salle folks definitely impressed others as

well. Very nice.