Rusty Bono is a prominent name from North Catholic's lustrous soccer past.
In 1977 and 1978, he starred at forward for back-to-back Catholic League champs, teams that helped the Falcons slap together a hot streak of five winners from 1974 to '79.
Now, as part of a father-son team, Rusty Bono will attempt to aid the Falcons from the sideline. Russ Bono, Rusty's father and an assistant to Jim Greene for the past four seasons, is the head coach and he has tabbed Rusty as his assistant.
"They picked the handsome one," kidded the elder Bono.
Russ Bono could not have better-timed his assumption of the job. Most other teams in the Northern Division, which opens Tuesday, are short on experience, but the Falcons return numerous players with battle scars.
"I'm feeling terrible," Bono said. "Why? Everybody's saying how great we're going to be. It's putting pressure on us. As long as we don't get big heads, we should be in good shape. We have to be the better team after we come off the field, not before."
Backs Marc Eckert, Tim Comey and Bill Pancoast, midfielder Dennis Dolan and forwards Walt Clark, Eric Nicolai and Bruce Mattus are the veterans. Before long, several sophomores will be pushing for time.
"We should have more offense," Bono said, "than North has had in the past few years."
North's last championship (of 17 since 1957) came in 1979. The balance of power then swung in the direction of Archbishop Ryan, the winner in '81 and
from 1983 to '85.
Coach George Todt's team returns just one starter, goalie Bill Zawacki, but the Raiders are not about to fade.
The headliners are backs Eric Warner and Mike Petrakis, midfielders Joe McNamee and George Montag and forwards Matt Knowles, Bob Proll and the Direnzi brothers, Joe and Lance.
"We're going into this with the idea that we're prepared to defend something," Todt said. "Teams will be looking to play their best against us. It's been that way for a while, and we've usually been able to make them come up short."
Bob Rojahn is not one of Cardinal Dougherty's three returning starters, but coach Hugh McInaw says, "He may well be one of the best keepers in the area."
The backfield - senior Scott Roney, juniors Doug Sauder, Ed Kryjer and Bob McCarthy - also has been a strong point in the non-league games.
"Who's going to score? Good question," McInaw said. "We do have talent up front - I guess Chuck Heybach's the best - and we should be able to score
somehow. Especially on our (rocky) field. We know how to play the crazy bounces."
