Archbishop Wood

It's easy for a player or team to get amped up for a league game or one against a long-standing rival, but what if your schedule looks like Archbishop Wood's? The Vikings opened the girls' basketball season against Bishop Ford, which had reached the Brooklyn/Queens Division I championship game last season. Then they traveled to Arizona, where they competed in the Nike Tournament of Champions, featuring some of the top teams in the nation. The next challenge for the Vikings was Archbishop Molloy, considered one of the best teams in New York state and boasting three Division I recruits.

In a showcase between South Jersey and Philadelphia private schools, Archbishop Wood's Pat Smith made his mark Saturday at St. Augustine in Richland, N.J. Smith scored a school-record 42 points to lead Wood to a 78-46 win over Sacred Heart. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard hit eight three-pointers en route to the record, which topped Joe Getz's previous mark of 41, set in the 2010-11 season. Also at the showcase, Mike Louden's 18 points guided Cardinal O'Hara to a 72-46 win over St. Joseph.

Boys' Basketball BOARDWALK CLASSIC SHOWCASE Atlantic City 38, Archbishop Wood 37 CITY OF PALMS TOURNAMENT Whitney Young (Chicago) 67, Chester 56 FRIENDS BASKETBALL SHOWCASE Abington Friends 66, Carolina Friends (N.C.) 31 WALTER D. PALMER BASKETBALL CLASSIC Bartram 65, Girard College 47 Audenried 57, World Communications 56 West Philadelphia 54, Lamberton 52 (OT) Palmer 68, Edison 54 CENTRAL LEAGUE Lower Merion 74, Marple Newtown 34 PUBLIC LEAGUE DIVISION C Central 62, Mastery Charter North 47 NONLEAGUE Council Rock North 58, Holy Ghost Prep 43 Olney 53, Mariana Bracetti 31 Friends Select 63, GAMP 61 Bishop McDevitt 79, Chichester 71 Pennsbury 65, Spring-Ford 50 Downingtown West 49, Radnor 41 Malvern Prep 82, West Catholic 40 W.C. Henderson 69, Oxford 40 Conwell-Egan 44, Lower Moreland 27 Math, Civics & Sciences 55, Elmer L. Myers 46 Shipley 39, Episcopal Academy 32 LaSalle 60, Reading 58 Methacton 76, Frankford 62 Archbishop Carroll 72, Plymouth Whitemarsh 55 New Garden Friends (N.C.)

Daily News All-City football team JUST BECAUSE a guy may never play football again, that doesn't mean his accomplishments should be considered less significant. The Daily News presents its 2012 All-City Football Team and one of the four prime honorees is bound for Harvard to play lacrosse, in which he's considered one of the nation's very best prospects. Ah, but La Salle's Sean Coleman is also one helluva gridder. The 5-9, 170-pound Coleman is being listed at wideout, but he was also critical to the Explorers' success as a d-back and returner.

JUST BECAUSE a guy may never play football again, that doesn't mean his accomplishments should be considered less significant. The Daily News presents its 2012 All-City Football Team and one of the four prime honorees is bound for Harvard to play lacrosse, in which he's considered one of the nation's very best prospects. Ah, but La Salle's Sean Coleman is also one helluva gridder. The 5-9, 170-pound Coleman is being listed at wideout, but he was also critical to the Explorers' success as a d-back and returner.

HERSHEY, Pa. - In recent weeks, Archbishop Wood's defense had been suffocating right from the get-go. But Erie's Cathedral Prep, with quickness and solid blocking up front, gained the upper hand on the Vikings in the first 24 minutes of Friday night's PIAA Class AAA state football final. With Michigan State-bound quarterback Damion Terry leading the way, the Ramblers did all their scoring before the break and downed the Vikings, 24-14, at Hersheypark Stadium for their first state title since 2000.

In its last two games Archbishop Wood, with a steadily improving bunch, has frolicked to victory in mercy-rule fashion. But it's a safe bet that the last hurdle in the team's bid to repeat as state champion won't be anywhere near as easy to clear. Erie Cathedral Prep has a pair of players who have committed to Michigan State; averages 48.4 points per game with a spread attack; and has a 4-3 defense that allows only 9.9 points per outing. The Vikings will battle the undefeated Ramblers, of District 10, for the PIAA Class AAA crown at 7 p.m. Friday at Hersheypark Stadium.

EVEN WHEN it's followed by 300-plus, you always remember your first. Kicking point, that is. Nick Visco, a 6-2, 195-pound senior, is in season No. 4 of drilling footballs through uprights for Archbishop Wood High and No. 1 was collected, oh, 90-odd miles from his Southampton, Bucks County, home. To open the 2009 season, the Vikings traveled to Ocean City (N.J.) High for a non-league game against Cardinal O'Hara. Though the result was a 35-14 loss, Visco batted 1.000 with PAT. "The first one?

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The teams were the same as last year. The result, too. And Josh Messina scored a rushing touchdown, exactly as he had done last season. But for Archbishop Wood's junior running back, Friday night's 36-6 victory over Allentown Central Catholic in the PIAA Class AAA state semifinals was a lot different. Last year, Messina got to play only in the fourth quarter as Wood routed Central Catholic, 70-14 in the semifinals. Friday, at Banko Field in Bethlehem, Messina didn't merely start - he ran the second offensive play 55 yards for a touchdown.

A few days after Halloween, Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot, surfaced in Warminster, found his way to Archbishop Wood, and walked into a film session for the Vikings' offensive linemen. "He scared the hell out of me," Wood assistant coach Mike Carey said. "It was the coolest costume I've ever seen. " Inside that costume was Wood's Chris O'Connor, a 6-foot-7, 278-pound guard. It was Carey, the squad's defensive coordinator and offensive-line coach, who had nicknamed the hulking senior "Bigfoot.