Falcons

The state of mind for the Pennsbury boys' basketball team was very much in doubt the last few weeks. The Falcons lost their final two Suburban One National Patriot Division games and blew what seemed to be a safe lead for the division title. But after they closed the regular season with a somewhat surprising win at American Freedom champ Wissahickon on Tuesday, the 11th-seeded Falcons entered Friday's PIAA District 1 Class AAAA first-round game with 22d-seed West Chester Henderson riding a wave of emotion.

Although Burlington Township's boys' basketball team lost four of five starters from last season's Group 1 state runner-up, don't count the Falcons out. Coach Ken Faulkner's team, 25-5 last season, will return just one starter in senior guard-forward Troy Jackson. But the Falcons will have an arsenal of talented athletes on their roster and will be looking to win Faulkner's ninth Burlington County Freedom Division championship. "We lost a lot of talented players, but we have a nice crop of players up from the JV program," Faulkner said.

It's a moment Matt Rader will never forget. His Pennsbury Falcons were leading Norristown by 14 points with less than 7 minutes remaining in the Suburban One National game. The Eagles had the ball at Pennsbury's 35-yard line and were driving for a score that would have put them just 7 points behind the Falcons. Norristown quarterback Sean Scanlan took one step in his attempt to drop back to pass, but like a bolt of lightning, sophomore defensive lineman Jamey Helsman flattened Scanlan and the ball popped loose.

The Atlanta Falcons can turn their attention to defense in next month's NFL draft after acquiring Eric Metcalf in a trade with the Cleveland Browns Saturday that also involved swapping the team's two first-round spots in the draft. "It gets what we wanted done on offense and now it kind of directs our attention to finish the other things that we've got going defensively," Falcons coach June Jones said at a news conference outside the team's training complex. The deal came one day after the Browns signed former Falcons star wide receiver Andre Rison, a free agent, to a five-year deal worth $17 million.

Four games in four nights is a rough schedule for any team at any level. But that's the position Phil-Mont Christian Academy found itself in last week. The Falcons took second place in the Jenkintown Tournament Wednesday night, losing in the championship game to Abington Friends, 60-53, after defeating Jenkintown, 55-31, the night before. Despite the fatigue stemming from that tournament, Phil-Mont jumped right into the Pioneer Boys Basketball Tournament Thursday and Friday evenings at Christopher Dock.

Garnet Valley stopped a two-point conversion attempt with 2 minutes and 25 seconds left to play, then hung on for a 14-12 win over visiting Pennsbury last night in the quarterfinals of the District 1 Class AAAA football playoffs. The win puts the unbeaten and No. 2-seeded Jaguars into a semifinal matchup with Neshaminy, a 31-3 winner over Ridley last night. In winning their 12th straight game of the season, the Jaguars survived a pair of second-half turnovers that allowed Pennsbury (9-3)

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. - A slip of the tongue gave away Atlanta coach Mike Smith's focus. Smith was just starting his review Monday of the Falcons' 30-28 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC divisional playoffs when it became clear his thoughts were on this week's NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. "We knew the San Francisco Forty ... excuse me, the Seattle Seahawks, were a very good football team and they showed a lot of resiliency," Smith said before smiling after catching his verbal miscue.

Since it is taken as gospel in the NFL that few teams can survive the ruinous impact of distraction, the Falcons won double praise for their mental toughness in the Georgia Dome yesterday. In the week before their 28-21 victory over the Eagles, the Falcons twice sustained emotional jolts hardly designed to help any player keep his focus pointed toward the opposition. One occurred when the Falcons welcomed back Andre Rison, their bad-boy wide receiver, from a one-game suspension caused by 19 different violations of team rules.

Cardinal Dougherty used a stifling zone defense to hold visiting Archbishop Wood to 22 points in three quarters en route to a 59-38 Catholic League Northern Division victory yesterday. The Cardinals (3-0 league, 9-3 overall) used a 9-point first quarter performance by forward Tony Fleming to take a 17-7 lead. The Cardinals extended their lead to 34-17 at halftime and then held Wood to 5 points in the third quarter. On Friday, Kevin Comey led North Catholic with 17 points, as the Falcons defeated Wood, 59-47, in a Catholic League North game at Wood.

Host Phil-Mont Christian build a 40-point lead after three periods before turning to the reserves in a convincing 87-64 victory over Cedar Grove Academy on Tuesday night. The win was the seventh in a row for the suddenly high-flying Falcons, who improved to 6-3 in Keystone Conference play, 12-6 overall. The Titans slipped to 1-3, 5-9. Even though his team produced one of its highest point totals of the season, Phil-Mont coach Chip Struck insisted that the Falcons' play at the defensive end was the key to their success.