Passing along some city high school football tidbits . . .
Nick Visco started his kicking career on a whim, then added a prayer.
As a seventh-grader, he'd just abandoned soccer in favor of football, and his coach, one day at practice, wondered whether someone, anyone, might like to take a whirl at extra points.
"I was a little hesitant at first," Visco said. "But I decided to pursue it and found I had some talent. Everything just clicked."
And how. Though still a junior, the 6-2, 190-pound Visco, a right-instepper for ever-mighty Wood, now owns the city (and likely state) record for career PAT. Thanks to six Saturday vs. Dobbins in the Class AAA City Title, his total stands at 173, six better than 2010 West Catholic grad Tim Carroll.
The national record? An eye-popping 350 by Tyler Lewis, of Albemarle, N.C., from 2000-03.
Visco's yearly breakdown is 41, 65 and 67, and he also hammered 14 field goals for 215 career points. Pat Kaiser, a St. Joseph's Prep grad ('03), owns the city mark in that department with 235.
"I owe a lot of this to my team," said Visco, who's in his third season of joining forces with snapper Colin Thompson and holder Joey Monaghan; Jerry Rahill did some holding in '09. "If we weren't so good, I wouldn't have all these opportunities.
"There can be some downfalls to kicking, because people tend to look down on you as 'only a kicker,' but I don't really get that at Wood. The coaches and players respect me for what I do.
"It's a great feeling to have this record. I didn't even know about it until just before I went out for that [fourth kick]."
In 2012, Visco hopes to expand his grid horizons.
"I should be seeing some time at other positions," he said. "Not sure about defense, but on offense, I'm looking at playing wide receiver. I've been talking to coach [Steve] Devlin about that. I play it now on the scout team and it seems to be going pretty well.
"I like it. So next year, I'm hoping to get the opportunity to do a little more than kick."
Gratz Charter, now part of the Mastery family, will host Mastery North, housed in the ol' Pickett Middle School in Germantown, at 5 o'clock tonight. MN has played a nonleague schedule this season . . . Furness will retire the No. 1 jersey of RB/QB/DB Sharif Smith, a 4-year star, before tomorrow's 3:30 game with Prep Charter at 11th & Bigler . . . Eagles cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is expected to liven the proceedings at 2 p.m. today at Germantown during a pep rally for Thursday's game with King. He's also scheduled to attend the Bears' practice . . . Although both teams will appreciate the rest, I would have enjoyed watching Wood play La Salle this week to determine a true Catholic League champion. Many thousands would echo those thoughts. It's not too late. Is it? . . .
Dobbins lineman Clarence Murphy might have a future in officiating. Before the referee had a chance to do so, Murphy turned toward the press box and announced a holding penalty on teammate Steven Bizzell . . . During West Catholic's Friday night game at Springfield Montco, Springfield's band played "Low Rider." By the sideline, West assistant Eric Rutherford was trying to remember whether the song had been recorded by War. (It had.) Nearby, a West sub blurted out, "That's that George Lopez jaun" . . . Good thing Wood's Joey Monaghan passed 12-for-14 vs. Dobbins. If he'd gone only 11-for-14, his season percent (now at 80.0) would have stayed the same . . . Cool name spotted on a roster: West has a backup lineman named Damien Fabien . . . Damiere Shaw, O'Hara's Temple-bound star, is the brother of Dennis Shaw, the leading rusher for West's 2006 Catholic Blue champs. Dennis created a stir that year because six of his upper teeth were covered with a gold grill (Christmas present). Although Dennis was in attendance as O'Hara bested Haverford School, the grill was nowhere to be seen. Damiere said, laughing: "He's got a job now. He had to lose it" . . . Wood's Nate Smith owns five TDs on punt returns . . . With 78 carries in West's last two games, David Williams has upped his season total to 264 (for 1,712 yards). The city record is 372 by Judge's Mike Elentrio in 1983. The Burrs could play three more games.
