Falcons

They're called free throws, but visiting Bishop McDevitt paid a hefty price for giving so many of them to North Catholic. In a Catholic League North Division game Friday, the Lancers (9-8 overall, 5-3 league) scored three more baskets than the Falcons did. But McDevitt sent North to the free-throw line 40 times. The Falcons (7-10, 4-4) converted 30 of those attempts, including 27 in the second half, and came away with a 64-46 victory that kept North in the thick of the Catholic North race.

ATLANTA - The Falcons had been waiting all season for a complete game. They finally got it. Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes in less than three quarters of work, John Abraham had 3 1/2 sacks and the Falcons clinched a fourth straight winning season with a 41-14 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars last night. "Hopefully, we can play like we did tonight for the next couple weeks," Ryan said. This one was over by halftime. Atlanta (9-5) led, 27-0, when the teams trotted to the locker room.

Senior guard Kevin Comey pumped in 18 points, including two 3-pointers, to lead North Catholic to a 60-58 victory over host Bishop McDevitt yesterday. The win catapulted the Falcons (11-5 league) into the Catholic League North Division playoffs against Archbishop Ryan this weekend. North and Ryan are tied for second place in the league behind Cardinal Doughetry. Bishop Kenrick won the fourth playoff berth. Comey tied it at 48-48 with a short jump shot with 6 minutes, 12 seconds left in the game.

Mary Hearl, an assistant coach at Burlington Township, has been named the girls' basketball head coach at the school. Hearl replaces Marliese Filbert, who resigned after last season. Hearl's appointment became official during Wednesday's school board meeting. "I'm very excited to get the job," Hearl, 24, said. "I've been working with Marliese closely and have watched the program take off. " Hearl, who attended Riverside, is familiar with the Freedom Division. She is a 1996 graduate of Ursinus College, where she was captain of the basketball team in her senior year.

There was no stopping the Westtown Quakers Friday night in a 62-26 rout of Friends Select in a Friends School League girls' basketball game. The game was a mismatch worthy of the final score. The Quakers had suffered only their second loss of the season on Tuesday - 45-36 to Archmere. The Falcons have yet to win a league game. But they were well aware of whom they would have to stop if they wanted to have a shot at upsetting Westtown: 6-foot, 4-inch center Nina McIntyre. The Falcons hoped to force the agile McIntyre into foul trouble, and they did. But by the time she was charged with her fourth foul in the fourth quarter, the game had long been decided.

For one quarter, Friday night's nonleague game between Phil-Mont Christian Academy and Jenkintown appeared to be a relatively even matchup, even though the Drakes were missing flu-ridden star forward Scott May. But suddenly, everything came together for the Falcons in the second quarter, and the game was all but over by halftime. So dominant was Phil-Mont Christian that even head coach Chip Struck was somewhat surprised. "Everything we tried in the second quarter seemed to work," Struck said after his team's 63-43 victory.

La Salle erased two ugly memories with its 66-60 victory at North Catholic yesterday. One recalled a game that had taken place less than 48 hours earlier. The other was ancient history, a specter more than 10 months old. A 50-29 loss to Bishop McDevitt on Friday night had embarrassed the Explorers. La Salle scored just 16 points in the first three quarters, and coach Marty Jackson inserted underclassmen from the junior varsity for the last 10 minutes. At practice the next day, Jackson rolled the tape from last March's 60-48 playoff defeat at North Catholic.

His voice cracking with dejection, North Catholic football coach Bill Saybolt stood at midfield late Saturday night and offered a somber post- mortem. "We dictated what happened - we just didn't put it in the end zone," Saybolt said moments after his Falcons were eliminated from the Catholic League playoffs by Father Judge, 23-21, in a North Division semifinal game. This was not an easy defeat for Saybolt to accept. North (7-3) fell to Judge (7-2-1) for the second straight week and on the same field.

Burlington Township girls' basketball coach Edgar Moss is looking for plenty of improvement over last season. The Falcons experienced a dismal 1-18 overall record and finished last in the Burlington County Freedom Division standings. It was a season Moss would soon like to forget. "It was a very frustrating season," Moss said of the 1987-1988 campaign. "I truly believe we were better than a 1-18 team, and I'm hoping this season will see a lot of improvements. " That task, however, will be difficult in the competitive Freedom Division.

For a quick basketball quiz, name the only South Jersey team to post two 31-win seasons. It's not traditional powers Camden, Wooodrow Wilson or Atlantic City. The answer is Burlington Township, a tiny Group 1 school that went 31-0 in 1985 and 31-1 in '87. The Falcons have been consistent winners for the past decade and a half and show no signs of slowing up this year. Once again, Burlington Township should be a major contender, although not necessarily the favorite, for the Burlington County Freedom Division.