Football Team

Derryk Sellers will walk the halls of Lindenwold High School. He'll check out the cafeteria. He'll poke his head into the library. He'll make a pitch at gym class. "I'll find some guys who want to play football," Sellers said. It has come to that for Sellers, a good coach and a great guy. When Lindenwold students report for classes next week, he'll be forced to try to rustle up some football players to keep the sport alive at the Colonial Conference school. For most of the last couple of weeks of preseason practice, Lindenwold has fielded just 18 players.

A New Jersey boy who briefly quit his youth football team when his coach told him he couldn't wear pink gloves is back on the squad. Julian Connerton wanted to wear the gloves to support his mother's fight against breast cancer. And when the 12-year-old returned to the field Saturday, he wasn't the only one wearing pink. The Press of Atlantic City reported that all of Connerton's teammates on the Egg Harbor City Crusaders and the team's cheerleaders donned pink socks to raise awareness about breast cancer.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The day before Joe Paterno may make his first public comments since an unprecedented sex scandal took the country by storm, more than a dozen news trucks and vans set up shop around Beaver Stadium. Then, later Monday evening, Penn State kicked off its quest to direct reporters from asking questions about Paterno's former longtime defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with sex abuse crimes against minors. "Media planning to attend Tuesday's Penn State Football weekly teleconference are advised that that primary focus of the teleconference is to answer questions related to Penn State's Senior Day game with Nebraska this Saturday," a Penn State spokesman wrote in a note.

A 37-year-old Montgomery County woman has been sentenced to up to 23 months in jail and four years probation for having sex with two teenage members of her son's high school football team. Jennie Lee, of Abington, pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of statutory sexual assault and one misdemeanor count of corruption of minors for having sex with the boys, then aged 15 and 17, in 2010. She had faced 7 1/2 to 15-years in prison for the felony count. Instead, Common Pleas Court Judge Steven T. O'Neill sentenced her Wednesday to 9 to 23 months in jail and four years probation.

In fall 2004, Ashley Brown, a 5-foot-4 sixth grader, was days away from lacing up her cleats and throwing on a helmet for the football season. She had a permission slip to join the Catholic Youth Organization team at St. Laurence School in Upper Darby and was salivating over the prospect of lining up at left tackle or nose guard, two of the sport's grittier positions. "I wasn't going out there to be twinkle toes," Brown, now 20, said in an interview last week. "I was going out there to play.

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - A judge on Sunday convicted two members of Steubenville's celebrated high school football team of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl. The ruling concluded a months-long ordeal for the victim and the accused, even though the case is far from over for the community. Ohio's attorney general immediately announced that he was investigating whether coaches, parents, or other students broke the law by refusing to speak up. Among those his office has interviewed: revered head coach Reno Saccoccia and the owners of one of the houses where a party was held the night of the rape.

Tomorrow, Ridley Senior High School's football team will play its first night game in 30 years. Four 100-foot-high lights, costing a total of $172,366, were installed by the Ridley School District last week as part of a $4.7 million capital-improvement program. The Green Raiders' game against St. James High School in Chester is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

If You Go What: 67th annual Brooks-Irvine Memorial Football Club banquet. When, where: Monday, 6:30 p.m. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Cherry Hill. Who: The All-South Jersey football team will be introduced ,and college players Johnnie Troutman of Penn State (Pemberton), Jon Grimes of William & Mary (Paul VI), Jay Donohue of the College of New Jersey (Seneca), and Ryan Piatek of Johns Hopkins (Bishop Eustace) will be honored. Ticket information: 856-858-8712 or brooksirvinefb@aol.com . - Phil Anastasia

A 37-year-old Montgomery County woman has been sentenced to up to 23 months in jail and four years of probation for having sex with two teenage members of her son's high school football team. Jennie Lee of Abington pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of statutory sexual assault and one misdemeanor count of corruption of minors for having sex with the boys, then ages 15 and 17, in 2010. She had faced 71/2 to 15 years in prison for the felony count. Instead, Common Pleas Court Judge Steven T. O'Neill sentenced her Wednesday to 9 to 23 months in jail and four years of probation.

"We Got Your Back. " That's what written across the front of a helmet that the Seneca football team sent to Mainland as a show of support to the Mustangs. The gold helmet is signed by Seneca players and coaches. "We wanted to show them South Jersey was thinking about them," Seneca coach Bill Fisher said. South Jersey football programs have rallied around Mainland as the school, football team, and community struggle with the Aug. 20 automobile accident that killed four Mainland football players.

VILLANOVA'S FOOTBALL team has almost every ingredient back, led by national Freshman of the Year quarterback John Robertson, from a group that won eight games and made it back to the FCS playoffs after a 1-year absence. The Wildcats will be ranked high, with the return of explosive sophomore slot receiver Abdur-Rahman, who missed last season after being suspended by the university for his role in an off-campus incident. That doesn't guarantee anything. It just means ambitious expectations, especially for a club with only six senior starters.

With Temple's quarterback position up for grabs this spring, an unexpected player is finding himself as a serious contender for the starting position. Connor Reilly, who has never thrown a single pass in a collegiate football game and spent last season listed fourth on the depth chart, has impressed head coach Matt Rhule this spring by stepping up and completing passes. Rhule said Reilly is thriving under his new "pro-style" offense. "I see a guy that can throw the football and deliver the football," Rhule said of Reilly's performance this spring.

MY SON is 8 years old, and in all the years I've known him, he's never expressed a rooting interest in a sports team. He'd rather play than watch, and I respect that. Still, there are certain responsibilities I have as a Philadelphia father. One of them is to teach my son the rules of Philly sports culture. They're simple: You cheer for the home team, no matter what. You can be angry. You can be disappointed. But you never give your allegiance to another team. This is especially true for football fans.

Who: No. 13 La Salle (21-9) vs. No. 13 Boise State (21-10) What: NCAA opening round (West Region), at Dayton, Ohio. When: 9:10 p.m. TV: truTV (Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Tracy Wolfson) Radio: WNTP (990-AM), WIP (610-AM). History: This is the first meeting. How they got here: La Salle (at-large from Atlantic 10). Boise State (at-large from Mountain West). Up next: The winner faces fourth-seeded Kansas State (27-7) in Kansas City. Coaches: John Giannini (La Salle)

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - A judge on Sunday convicted two members of Steubenville's celebrated high school football team of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl. The ruling concluded a months-long ordeal for the victim and the accused, even though the case is far from over for the community. Ohio's attorney general immediately announced that he was investigating whether coaches, parents, or other students broke the law by refusing to speak up. Among those his office has interviewed: revered head coach Reno Saccoccia and the owners of one of the houses where a party was held the night of the rape.

This week, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is expected to decide whether to uphold a ban on girls from playing Catholic Youth Organization contact football. My daughter Caroline Pla was a junior varsity member of Doylestown Romans team in Bucks County. Last fall, the archdiocese decided Caroline could no longer play because football is designated for boys. Caroline had received permission to play from the CYO Philadelphia Office in 2011, was successful on the field, and supported by her coaches, team, and pastor, and capped this last season with an all-star appearance.

In fall 2004, Ashley Brown, a 5-foot-4 sixth grader, was days away from lacing up her cleats and throwing on a helmet for the football season. She had a permission slip to join the Catholic Youth Organization team at St. Laurence School in Upper Darby and was salivating over the prospect of lining up at left tackle or nose guard, two of the sport's grittier positions. "I wasn't going out there to be twinkle toes," Brown, now 20, said in an interview last week. "I was going out there to play.

When it came time for West Jersey Football League schools to vote on a potential merger with the Cape-Atlantic League, more than a few folks referred to St. Joseph of Hammonton as "the elephant in the room. " That's funny, because Wildcats coach Paul Sacco figures his team is more like the mouse that scares the elephant in those old-time cartoons. "The last thing I remember is that I'm allowed to put 11 on the field and you're allowed to put 11 on the field," Sacco said Thursday night after WJFL members voted overwhelmingly to deny the Cape-Atlantic League's efforts to merge with the 66-team superconference for the 2014 season.

Caroline Pla has become a media darling. The 11-year-old star of the Catholic Youth Organization football team in Doylestown has been everywhere in recent weeks, since the media picked up on her fight with the Philadelphia Archdiocese, which banned her from playing next season because she's a girl. Good Morning America and Forbes.com have featured her story. And last weekend, Caroline traveled to Los Angeles for an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show. After taping Monday, the segment aired Tuesday, with Caroline donning her navy-and-gold No. 10 jersey while sitting across from the host.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Students withholding information about an alleged rape in eastern Ohio last summer are thwarting investigators, school officials said Thursday, as the FBI looks into threats to local authorities who are working on the case against two high school football players. The Steubenville school board is also expanding programs to raise further awareness of sexual harassment, bullying, date rape, and substance abuse in the aftermath of the incident in August in which the two high school football players are accused of raping a 16-year-old girl.