Burrs

Coming up with big plays again and again in the fourth quarter, Archbishop Carroll came from behind to beat West Catholic, 10-7, and win the Catholic League Southern Division championship Monday afternoon at Villanova Stadium. Carroll's victory, its ninth in 11 games, sends the Patriots against Northern Division champ Archbishop Ryan for the league title on Dec. 3. Trailing 7-3 when the final period began, the Patriots stopped a West Catholic drive on their own 20. After three subsequent plays that produced 6 yards in losses, Todd Roberts got Carroll out of trouble by booming a punt from his end zone to the Burrs 23-yard line.

West Catholic's Rob Holloman neatly explained the difference between himself and fellow junior running back Raymond Maples. "He's more of a power back," Holloman said. "I'm the speed back. " Complementing each other perfectly, as they have done all season, Holloman and Maples combined for 181 rushing yards as the Burrs topped Archbishop Wood, 28-7, and claimed their second consecutive Catholic League Blue Division championship last night at Northeast's Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium.

After a 35-17 loss to St. James at Bartram Field on Saturday, West Catholic coach Ralph Rapino reviewed his team's injuries and considered what it would take to reach the playoffs. "A break here or there, and things could be different," he said. Then the Burrs coach caught himself. "Of course, today, 10 breaks wouldn't have helped us. . . . You have to give credit to St. James. They're a very good football team, and they just beat us up today. " St. James' record (6-1 overall, 3-1 Catholic League South)

They made the plays they always knew they could, celebrating each time with smiles of incandescent confidence and hand-slaps to teammates. Showing their desire to capture a long-sought league girls' basketball crown, West Catholic defeated St. Hubert, 70-39, last night in the second game of the Catholic League semifinal doubleheader at St. Joseph's Fieldhouse. West Catholic (22-5), which hasn't won a title since 1977, will now play Cardinal O'Hara for the Catholic League title at 1:30 p.m. next Sunday at the Palestra.

Cardinal O'Hara proved Friday night that winning ugly is better than losing. The Catholic League Southern Division leaders overcame poor shooting and a plethora of fouls to rout visiting West Catholic, 72-46. The Lions (10-0 league, 17-2 overall) got another incendiary performance from senior center Ed Malloy, who posted his third consecutive 30-point-plus performance. Malloy, who will play for St. Joseph's University next year, scored a game-high 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

After West Catholic held on for a pulse-racing 14-12 win over Archbishop Carroll at Harry S Truman High School to secure a spot in the Catholic League Blue Division title game for the second straight season, Burrs coach Brian Fluck huddled his team near the south end zone and started to hand out game balls. Fluck almost ran out. There simply were too many players and too many prime-time plays to warrant just one game ball. So, here we go . . . Wide receiver/cornerback John Maddox muffed a punt return late in the fourth quarter which led to the Patriots' final score, cutting the lead to two. But he later redeemed himself by intercepting a Greg Kobilka Hail Mary pass with 17 seconds left to play and received a game ball, without question.

There are times each basketball season when Jasmine Williams's hair becomes a little longer than he would prefer. It's not that he's short on cash. It's that his buddies like to talk trash. The guys at LA Headlines, a barbershop not far from Williams's home, in Mantua, want him to shoot the ball each and every time it's in his mitts. One problem. Williams, a 5-10 junior at West Catholic High, is a point guard. He passes first and cringes at the questions asked by the barbershop brigade later.

The first season - the one in which Archbishop Carroll folded, spindled and mutilated the rest of the Catholic League - is over. The second season - the one that really matters - starts Saturday. The Catholic League South playoffs will open with regular-season champion Carroll battling West Catholic at Radnor High at 10 a.m. and St. James meeting Cardinal O'Hara at Chester High at 1 p.m. Carroll (8-1 overall, 7-0 league) beat West Catholic, 35-0, during the regular season, but the Patriots didn't dominate the Burrs (5-4, 4-3)

Wes Jackson has a tale to tell for the rest of his life. Best of all, it's not tall. Jackson, a 6-foot, 215-pound senior, really is the manager/scorekeeper for West Catholic High's basketball team. And in the Burrs' regular-season finale Sunday, a 117-70 loss at Roman Catholic, he really did score nine points on dial-ups from Three-Point Land. Coach Bill Ludlow has a nice tradition. Once West is assured of a playoff berth or not, he tosses his manager a uniform and tells him, "Go have fun. " After Friday night's win at Kennedy-Kenrick, the Burrs were locked into third.

Jeff Connell was getting a little tired of this: The last two years, Monsignor Bonner had entered the Catholic League Southern Division season full of expectation - then began it with an 0-3 record. Enough already, thought Connell, Mark Mulroy and the rest of the Bonner players. So they did something about it Friday night, annihilating West Catholic, 71-48, in the Southern Division opener at St. Joseph University. Connell scored a team-high 18 points, Mulroy added 17, and Kevin Lee supplied 16 points and 16 rebounds.

NOTE TO Archbishop Chaput: If you'd like to discover one reason why West Catholic High should not be closed, spend a few minutes with Anthony Fleet. In fact, by the end of the interaction, you might be thinking, "Hmm. I could picture this kid becoming a saint. " The 6-5, 170-pound Fleet is a power forward/center for the basketball Burrs, but his sporting experience ranks fourth on his list of personal importance. You see, he ranks sixth in the class with a 4.0 GPA, is revered by all for his positive vibrations, and also is the primary student force behind WestNet, the school's closed-circuit TV station.

Albie Crosby, an assistant coach for 11 seasons at West Catholic, has been named the head football coach at Imhotep Charter. Crosby met with Imhotep's players Friday afternoon. "I'm pretty excited," he said. "I think it's a great opportunity. I'm looking forward to it. " It is Crosby's first head-coaching job. The 1988 West Catholic graduate served the last four seasons as the Burrs' co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. Crosby, 42, also spent two seasons as a running backs coach for La Salle University's now-defunct Division III football program.

YOU COULD SAY Bruce Mapp's days as West Catholic High's go-to guy are only beginning. True, the 6-1, 170-pound senior will no longer catch passes as the football program's primary receiver, but that doesn't mean he'll fade into classroom/hallway oblivion. Mapp is also the student council president and there's one question he'll be asked again and again - and a thousand more agains, minimum - until early January: "Yo, Bruce. You hearin' anything?" Or, to be more precise . . . "What's the deal?

Some late-game indecision proved to be the difference in West Catholic's 23-20 loss to Lancaster Catholic in a PIAA Class AA football semifinal Saturday at Coatesville. After seizing its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter, the Burrs lined up for a fourth and 1 at their own 29-yard line with a little more than a minute remaining. Go for it, gain the yard, and it's to the state final for the second year in a row, with a chance to defend the title. That was the plan - until it wasn't.

Some late-game indecision proved to be the difference in West Catholic's 23-20 loss to Lancaster Catholic in a PIAA Class AA football semifinal Saturday at Coatesville. After seizing its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter, the Burrs lined up for a fourth and 1 at their own 29-yard line with a little more than a minute remaining. Go for it, gain the yard, and it's to the state final for the second year in a row, with a chance to defend the title. That was the plan . . . until it wasn't.

West Catholic is a win away from reaching the PIAA Class AA state final for the third time in the last four football seasons. Standing in the way is a Lancaster Catholic squad that ousted the Burrs, 23-21, in a 2009 semifinal. Here is a closer look at Saturday's semifinal, set for noon at Coatesville's Red Raider Stadium. Records. After starting 0-3, West Catholic is 10-3. Lancaster Catholic, the District 3 champ, is 14-0. At stake. A berth in the final against the winner of Saturday's semifinal between District 6's Tyrone and District 7's Aliquippa.

West Catholic is a win away from reaching the PIAA Class AA state final for the third time in the last four football seasons. Standing in the way is a Lancaster Catholic squad that ousted the Burrs, 23-21, in a 2009 semifinal. Here is a closer look at Saturday's semifinal, set for noon at Coatesville's Red Raider Stadium. Records. After starting 0-3, West Catholic is 10-3. Lancaster Catholic, the District 3 champ, is 14-0. At stake. A berth in the final against the winner of Saturday's semifinal between District 6's Tyrone and District 7's Aliquippa.

It looked as if West Catholic was going to struggle. Pen Argyl drove more than half the field to the 1-yard line and seemed poised to snatch an early lead on Saturday. The Knights handed off to 2,000-yard rusher Dylan Evans, who appeared ready to extend the ball over the plane of the goal line for a score. Marquise Gordon decided he just wanted to hit somebody. "I was actually trying to take his head off," Gordon, the Burrs' senior linebacker, said. He did his team one better.