Coatesville

How many tough Ches-Mont games has Hank Bernat been through in his 29 years at the helm of Owen J. Roberts? "Too damn many," the crusty coach said after his team edged Coatesville, 21-13, yesterday afternoon in a game that wasn't decided until Wildcats defensive back Greg Walsh knocked down a pass in the Roberts end zone as time expired. "My legs are gone and my ulcer's bad," Bernat lamented. "And my feet. . . " Bernat didn't even want to talk about his feet. "Everything's shot from here on down," Bernat said, placing his hand just above his stomach.

When Jim "Scoogie" Smith returned to the Coatesville bench in November, he had no idea his fill-in duties would last until mid-March. But Smith and the Red Raiders are very much a part of the PIAA Class AAAA boys' basketball tournament. Wednesday night, with Smith showing his usual exuberance, Coatesville built a 19-point advantage and held off Bartram, 61-52, in a second-round matchup at Norristown. Smith is filling in this season for Rick Nelms, who is on sabbatical for personal reasons.

Coatesville's cast of speedy skill-position players went back to work Friday night. The explosive Red Raiders scored on seven of their first nine possessions and hammered Spring-Ford, 59-28, at Downingtown West's Kottmeyer Stadium to gain the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA championship. As they were in a semifinal last week vs. Neshaminy, quarterback Emmitt Hunt, halfback Daquan Worley, and wideouts Chris Jones and Dre Boggs were terrors. Hunt threw for 173 yards and four touchdowns.

Another so-called breadwinner is behind bars. Yusef George, 29, of Philadelphia, was into custody this morning in the 600 block of Belmont Street by Coatesville police, authorities said. George was one of 20 defendants identified on Oct. 6 as a participant in an extensive crack-cocaine operation. With the assistance of the Attorney General's narcotics unit, police arrested 16 of those defendants during a raid in what was dubbed Operation Bread Winner. The alleged ringleader, Lester Womack, 33, of Darby, "bragged to associates and friends about the size and scope of his drug organization . . . claiming to sell more drugs in Coatesville than any other dealer because of the high quality of his cocaine," said state Attorney General Linda Kelly at the time of the arrests.

Coatesville running back Dwayne Miller will have the chance Saturday to accomplish something his older brother, Ralph, never did: to prove to the postseason football crowds that he can play football. In 1985, Ralph Miller rushed for more than 1,900 yards for a Downingtown High School team that finished at 12-0 for coach Mike Dominick. The performance earned him the Daily News Back of the Year honors. Unfortunately for him, the state football playoffs still were three years away and he could not put his stuff on postseason display.

Once Kate Poppe's cleats find their place on the pitching rubber, there's not much that bothers her. Not the unusually cold spring weather that had many spectators wrapped in blankets Wednesday. Not the slight drizzle that came and went. And not the bases-loaded, one-out jam she smoothly worked out of in the first inning of her two-hitter against visiting Coatesville, as Bishop Shanahan earned a 4-1 win in a Ches-Mont League game. With a mixture of pitches, Poppe kept the Red Raiders off-balance, striking out 12, including four that were caught looking.

Expressing frustration with what he views as Coatesville's impaired moral compass, City Council president Karl Marking has announced his resignation. In an interview Friday, Marking, who was unanimously elected president earlier this year after serving his first year on council as vice president, cited a combination of factors, including possible job relocation and the increasing difficulty of devoting 30 hours a week to city government. But he said a stronger motivator was his growing concern about city leaders' and employees' reluctance to heed rules, a pattern highlighted by City Manager Gary Rawlings' recent decision to live outside the city.

The internal investigation concluded that the Coatesville police officers accused in a sex scandal should be fired. Instead, a lawsuit claims, the officers, all white, were promoted and went on to help foster a "hostile environment" for the handful of African Americans on the Chester County city's police force. One example of that environment, the suit alleges: a Confederate flag decal that a white sergeant has displayed on his auto license plate "with the knowledge of the police department.

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in a June 26 homicide in Coatesville, Chester County District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll said Thursday in a news release. Falandez M. James, 22, of Coatesville, was arraigned Thursday on a murder charge in the shooting of Carron London, 17, in the 600 block of East Lincoln Highway. In the release, Carroll said that "the aggravating circumstance" needed to warrant the death penalty was not evident in the case, which involved a personal dispute, and that the victim's family had asked that the death penalty not be pursued.