Archbishop Wood

Archbishop Wood was slow to rebound from its 1-0 loss to Archbishop Carroll on Sept. 27, a rematch of Wood's 1-0 win over the Patriots in last year's Catholic League championship game. The Vikings (4-1-1) followed up the loss by tying Cardinal O'Hara 1-1 on Wednesday and edging Bishop Conwell (2-2-1) by a 2-1 score on Friday. "We weren't up for the O'Hara game at all," said first-year Vikings coach Kathy Greenberg. "We weren't aggressive and didn't show any emotion at all. " In the win over Conwell, the Vikings got goals from seniors Marietta Atkinson and Jessica Pritchard.

In the second quarter against West Catholic, Joey Monaghan hesitated in unleashing the ball downfield, crossed the line of scrimmage before finally tossing it, and Archbishop Wood was penalized for the infraction. Soon after, the quarterback, not surprisingly, received an earful from Vikings coach Steve Devlin on the sideline. "After four years of it, I'm used to it," Monaghan said afterward with a laugh. "I get it a couple of times a week. It's all good. " Said Devlin, following Wood's 28-0 blanking of West Saturday night at William Tennent: "Joey's such a tough kid. Sometimes you have to give him a bit of a nudge.

At HersheyPark Stadium, Jonathan Mercier scored in the game's 43rd minute to give Hampton a 1-0 win over Archbishop Wood in the PIAA State Class AA soccer title game. The Vikings finished their season 17-8-1 and appeared to score a goal 10 minutes later, but that play was ruled offsides. It was one of nine offsides calls against the Vikings. The game was shown live before a statewide television audience on PCN.

Three-time returning state champion Archbishop Wood couldn't hold onto a nine-point halftime lead in a loss to Lancaster Catholic in a Class AAA second-round game at Reading. Lancaster Catholic used a 22-point third quarter to come back and win, 54-46. The game was a rematch of last year's state final, when Archbishop Wood won, 52-33. Senior guard Porscha Speller led Lancaster Catholic and all scorers with 24 points. Colleen Young led Archbishop Wood with 11 points. Speller, who didn't score at all in last year's state final, scored 10 of her points in the game's crucial third quarter.

Sixteen former standouts in Archbishop Wood athletics since the school's opening in 1965 make up the inaugural class inducted into Wood's Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday. They were honored during a dinner Saturday night and introduced before the boys' varsity basketball game yesterday against Conwell-Egan. Headlining the list of former athletes is Debbie Black, a 1984 graduate who was a standout in field hockey, basketball and softball at Archbishop Wood and later starred at St. Joseph's University.

Going 2-for-6 in baseball again and again and again could punch your ticket to the Hall of Fame. So, on Monday, why did a 2-for-6 performance feel like a punch to the gut for supporters of the Catholic and Public leagues? Easy . . . Because .333 was a winning percentage. Not a batting average. The PIAA state playoffs today head into the quarterfinal round in the four classifications, and for the two survivors, CL squads Archbishop Wood (AAA) and Kennedy-Kenrick (AA)

St. Joseph's Prep and North Penn enter Friday night's nonleague meeting with a spring in their steps. The Hawks (2-0) arrive for the 7:30 p.m. clash at North Penn's Crawford Stadium with victories over two out-of-state foes. The Knights (1-1) are fresh off snapping Archbishop Wood's 15-game win streak. The Prep topped Cocoa (Fla.), 16-7, and Gonzaga (D.C.), 28-14, in the first two weeks. North Penn, rebounding from a Week 1 loss to La Salle, scored 24 unanswered points en route to a 24-10 triumph over Wood.

The bulldozer-style running of North Catholic junior Sean Fisher and a multitude of mistakes hurt Archbishop Wood in a 24-6 loss to the Falcons Saturday in a Catholic League Northern Division game at William Tennent High. Many of the Vikings' mistakes stemmed from their inability to tackle Fisher, a 6-foot-2 fullback with incredible leg drive. Fisher rushed for 202 yards on 26 carries and helped the Falcons jump out to an early lead when he picked up 126 yards in the first half.

The first 10 times Andrew Guckin carried the ball for Archbishop Wood in Saturday night's Catholic League Class AAA title game, he had fewer than 40 yards. An optimist could have believed that a Bonner-Prendergast upset was brewing. Then Guckin shredded those hopes by taking his next three runs for 138 yards and two touchdowns, putting the Vikings well on their way to a 38-16 win over Bonner-Prendergast at Plymouth Whitemarsh and their fifth straight Catholic League title. The defending state champions will play Bok for the District 12 championship, tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Northeast.