Tag Archives: Interboro

Signing Season: Fentress chooses Shippensburg

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Interboro coach Steve Lennox informed me that All-Delco tight end Rashon Fentress recently committed to Shippensburg University.

Fentress was a force this past season for the Bucs on both sides of the ball. He finished \third in the county in receiving with 724 yards on 39 receptions, including seven touchdown.

Fentress help lead the Bucs to their first District One Class AAA championship.

Fentress will join 2011 Daily Times Player of the Year Justin Pyle (Garnet Valley) at Shipp.

National Signing Day for high school football players is Wednesday.

Preview: Interboro-Archbishop Wood

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As it appeared in today’s Daily Times.

Points For-Against: Interboro 359-210, Archbishop Wood 451-180

How Interboro got here: Winners of three in a row, the Bucs’ only losses were Episcopal Academy (10-0) and Academy Park (10-2). Interboro defeated Phoenixville and Academy Park in the first two rounds of the District One Class AAA tournament before earning a 14-12 win over West Chester Henderson to claim the program’s first district championship.

 

How Archbishop Wood got here: Considered the preseason favorite to repeat as PIAA Class AAA champ, Archbishop Wood is ridiing a five-game winning streak. Its only losses came to traditional state powers North Penn (24-10 Sept. 8) and St. Joseph’s Prep (23-10 Oct. 5). The Vikings captured their fifth consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League championship when they disposed of Bonner-Prendergast, 38-16, Nov. 10. The Vikings carried the momentum into their District 12 championship game against Bok Vo-Tech and cruised to a 49-28 victory two weeks ago. They are coming off a bye week.

Scouting Report (Interboro): The Bucs continue to survive despite struggling to take care of the ball on offense. They’ve committed eight turnovers over the last two games, but their defense has stood tall. The Bucs are allowing only 162.5 yards per game over the last two weeks. Led by linemen Eric Owens and John Bellano, and linebackers Rashon Fentress, Alex McCloskey and Sonny Armstrong, Interboro’s defensive unit will need another A-plus performance against Archbishop Wood, which will be the Bucs’ toughest opponent to date. On offense, Interboro has relied on a mixture of pass and run. Wide receiver Mark Everton, who had four catches for 56 yards last week, including a touchdown grab, and tight end Fentress are the Bucs’ top playmakers in the passing game. Chris Simmons is also a threat. Fullback Sonny Armstrong and running backs Warren Allen and Austin Quiah give Interboro good balance in its ground game.

Scouting Report (Archbishop Wood): The Vikings aren’t the juggernaut that dominated in 2011, when they won the PIAA Class AAA title while hardly breaking a sweat. But make no mistake, Wood is still one of the top football programs in the area and is the heavy favorite in this game. Josh Messina, a junior running back/linebacker, had double-digit tackles, a forced fumble, an interception and a touchdown run in the Vikings’ victory over Bok. And he’s not even the player Interboro should be most concerned about. That player is senior running back Andrew Guckin, a monster athlete with devastating speed, quickness and power. The 5-11, 200-pounder has rushed for 1,542 yards and 24 touchdowns. Senior Nick Arcidiacono is a phenomenal linebacker and blocking tight end. Wood’s quarterback, freshman Tom Garlick, doesn’t factor into the Vikings offense all that much, but can make the big throws when called upon. Wood has allowed a respectable 15 points per game, but over its previous three contests, is yielding an average of 26.3.

Media: Follow @DTMattSmith and

@MattChandik on Twitter for live updates.

Delco Football In Review … Games of the Year

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This list is in no particular order … Maybe I’ll add to it later when I get some free time.

Enjoy, debate and discuss…

1. Interboro 22, Academy Park 21 (District One Class AAA semifinal): The Bucs were dead in the water … so it seemed. Trailing by 13 points midway through the fourth quarter, Interboro stormed back with under five minutes to play and scored 14 unanswered points. After getting pummeled by the Knights two weeks earlier, not many people saw the comeback brewing. Maybe Interboro was a team of destiny all along …

2. Ridley 27, Garnet Valley 17: The Green Raiders trailed 17-7 going into the fourth quarter. With first place in the Central League at stake, the Green Raiders forced three Garnet Valley turnovers over the final several  minutes of play. Ridley opened three consecutive series with a short field. Rich Coia’s touchdown scamper was the difference. Though Ridley’s season ended prematurely in the District One Class AAAA second round, this game “made” its season. It was at that moment I realized they had something special brewing.

3. Haverford 42, Strath Haven 36: One of the best back-and-forth affairs in Delco this season, the Fords outslugged the Panthers in a critical game for both teams. Had Strath Haven won, the Panthers could have potentially set themselves up for a better seed in the District One Class AAA (instead, as the No. 8 seed, they were blown out by Pottsgrove).

Leyden caught a 54-yard touchdown pass in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter to give the Fords their seventh win of the season, moments after Strath Haven had rallied all the way back from a three-touchdown deficit. Leyden hauled in a pass from quarterback Eddie Durkin and sprinted to the end zone for the game-winning score.

“The best game I’ve ever covered,” said Daily Times’ resident Canadian-born sports writer, Matt Chandik, who believes Kevin Leyden deserves an award for being awesome at everything he does.

4. Interboro 14, W.C. Henderson 12 (District One Class AAA championship): This game is fresh in everyone’s mind. The Bucs relied on stingy defense, timely first downs and tremendous special teams to claim their first district title. Interboro, for lack of a better term, punched Henderson in the mouth and the Warriors, while they hung around, really never really knew how to respond. It was an epic win for Interboro and the Del Val League in general, and a win that Steve Lennox could retire off of if he so chooses (I’m not implying anything … I’m just saying, it’s a good way to go out for any coach who’s been around as long as Lennox).

5. Ridley 7, Springfield 3: Many people trashed this game for being boring or uneventful, but it still goes down as my favorite game to cover. It was, to use a tired sports cliche, a true heavyweight battle. Rich Coia had a long touchdown run in the first quarter … and that was just about it as far as offense was concerned. A definitive statement game for Ridley’s defense.

6. Episcopal Academy 21, Haverford School 14: The Churchmen put the cap on one of the most memorable seasons of Delco football in the last decade at “EA-Haverford Day” … Just being there, soaking in the incredible atmosphere, is a moment that I will remember for quite some time. EA trailed in the game (a rare sight), but roared back to score 14 unanswered points. Haverford School proved to be a formidable foe for the No. 1 team in Delco.

Adam Strouss told me: “There was no way we were losing that game.”

….

Can Interboro beat Archbishop Wood? My first thought is …

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… Sure, why not?

I think the Bucs provide a unique challenge for the Vikings. I’m not going to compare Interboro to St. Joseph’s Prep or North Penn, against whom Wood suffered its only losses.

But, you know, I’m not so sure Wood has faced a team as good as Interboro (outside of Prep and NP).

I saw Wood in action in the PCL Class AAA final. Bonner, which doesn’t have the talent of an Interboro, hung around for a little while. They were able to move the ball. A few weeks prior, the Friars put up 35 points vs. Wood despite the fact Bonner was missing its starting All-Delco quarterback.

Interboro is better than Bonner.

The Bucs have to worry about RB Andrew Guckin. Like, really, really worry about him.

The kid is long, powerful and jet-fast. He’s a “Holy cow!” kind of good.

Wood, though, doesn’t have the depth at the skill positions it had last year and the year before that. They’re going to run the ball, and Interboro has to form the wall it had going last night, when Henderson’s had a difficult time hitting the corner, to stand a chance at limiting the scoring output.

But Guckin will run right up the gut. He is a no-frills type of running back. He isn’t fancy, and he’s not afraid to hit the middle of the line. So, it would be imperative for guys like Matt Gould, John Bellano and Sonny Armstrong to be aware of that and clog up the middle.

Guckin is the best running back I’ve covered all year, followed by Josh Adams at Central Bucks South and Academy Park’s Jerry Lanier.

Guckin and Lanier are vastly different backs in terms of their approach.

If the Bucs can somehow contain Guckin, the same kid who rushed for back-to-back 300-yard games, I’m fairly confident they can win the game.

You can watch Guckin’s highlight video here

But if it turns into a slugfest, I don’t see how the Bucs will be able to keep up.

There is no question, though, this Archbishop Wood team is not as lethal as the 2011 squad that crushed everyone it faced on the way to winning the state title.

Something else to keep in mind is this: Wood played a woeful Public League team last week (they call it the “District 12 championship game,” you know). This week they had a bye week, while Interboro fought like hell to win the district title.

Interboro, in general, has had a much tougher road to states than Wood over the last couple weeks.

 

Quick thoughts on Interboro-Henderson

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I’ll put together an article or two for the blog over the weekend. For now, here are some of my thoughts on Interboro’s impressive win, at 3:30 a.m., insomnia style.

  •  Simply put, Interboro was the tougher, more physical team. I’m not sure Henderson had played a team that packs a punch like Interboro. The Bucs punched them in the jaw (figuratively speaking) and the Warriors never really got used to it. They never deviated from their game play. Counter here, option there, reverse here. It worked in patterns and got way too predictable.
  • Henderson couldn’t run anything laterally. The Bucs did such a phenomenal job on defense, taking away the outside.
  • I heard someone from Interboro say, “This championship is for the Del Val.” I thought that was appropriate and a nice tip-of-the-hat to the other teams in the league.
  • Lennox told his team afterward, “The good news is, we’ll play another one. The bad news is, it starts tomorrow morning at 9:30.” Good comedic timing by the old ball coach.
  • I should have rented property in Whitemarsh. I’ll be back there next week for what feels like the 43rd time this season.
  • Nice to see a raucous Interboro crowd. Always one of the best football crowds in Delco.
  • Shoutout to the Marple Newtown radio crew, which came out to broadcast the game live on Marplenewtownfootball.com. Pretty neat of them to do that.
  • Let it be said that Interboro got a gigantic effort from WR Mark Everton and K/P Mike Christaldi. You can read my column about those guys in today’s Daily Times.
  • Oh, and because I didn’t get to write about it … Sonny Armstrong, Eric Owens, John Bellano and Rashon Fentress were relentless on defense. I had Fentress with a team-high 12 tackles, followed by Armstrong (10). Bellano had a big sack on the final drive of the game and Owens had his nose in on everything.

We won’t have the Interboro-Henderson live stream … but these guys will

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The Delcotimes.com team of live streamers WILL NOT be on location for Friday night’s District One Class AAA championship.

That’s the bad news. The good news is, you can still follow the game online.

Our friends at Marplenewtownfootball.com will have a live audio broadcast of the game. You can tune in starting at 6:45 p.m.

And as always, you can follow me on Twitter (@DTMattSmith) for up-to-the-minute (or at least quarterly) updates

Vosheski: “They’re going to come out fired up”

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Here’s my Q&A with Academy Park coach Jason Vosheski from earlier in the week.

Do you expect Interboro will come out with a sense of urgency this time?

“They haven’t beaten us in however long and they’re not going to let that happen

Academy Park running back Jerry Lanier rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown in the Knights’ 49-26 victory over Interboro two weeks ago.

twice in one year. They’re going to come out fired up. For us, it’s lose and you’re done, and it could be the same thing for them. There’s that extra motivation right there. Win and you keep playing, lose and you’re done. We have to match that intensity.”

The last time you played Interboro, they had a lot of success in the second half throwing the ball. Do you expect they’ll come out and attack with their passing game?

“I think they’re going to go back to what they do best. I think they’re going to ride (fullback Sonny) Armstrong. I think the passing they did in the second half, a lot of that was predicated on the score. If it’s a closer game, I don’t know if the same formations and the same passes occur. Maybe it does, but typically it has not with Interboro. I see them riding  Armstrong as far as they can take them and (establishing) their running game.”

What makes TE Rashon Fentress so difficult to stop?

“He’s big, he’s got good hands, he’s got decent speed and he’s an angry person when he’s running the ball. You can’t tackle the kid high. If you tackle him, you have to wrap him up. That’s one thing we didn’t do. You can’t just run into him and expect him to go down. He doesn’t weight 140 pounds. He’s a big kid. He’s a very good player.”

Are you players mentally prepared to embrace the atmosphere of playing on a big stage — and at home — with a trip to the district championship game on the line?

“I don’t know, to tell you  the truth. It’s always hard beating a team twice in one year.  Obviously, I think that’s working against us. I don’t know if last week’s game (against  Upper Moreland) helped us at all. For whatever reason … not to say we seemed disinterested, but we were down from the week before. Maybe that’s because we played Glen Mils and Interboro back-to-back weeks and we were phyiscally and emotionally exhausted, then we had to play a team that was bigger than us and who was going to power run. Maybe we were a little overwhelmed by the home game. I don’t know. But it did change in the second half. Maybe the light bulb will go on and we’ll realize how good we can be because we can be very good.”

Is everyone healthy?

“Yes. Knock on wood. When we played them four years ago in the playoffs (a 28-0 loss), (All-Delco) Jeremiah Lowery, our right tackle as a sophomore, tears his knee in practice on like Monday. So we went into the game with a senior at right tackle who never played ever other than extra point. We were actually talking about this. He actually did well, but he wasn’t Jeremiah. Not like it would have made a difference in that game.”