High School Football

George Bokrosh last missed a Berwick Bulldogs football game in 1972. Or maybe it was 1973. It has been so long that even he can't remember when, or what it was that kept him from attending the game. He thinks it might have been a kidney infection. He remembers running a fever of 104 or so, and his doctor advised him to stay in bed. "Just pop me some aspirin, doc," Bokrosh told him, "and let me get the hell out to that game. " George Bokrosh can count on his fingers the practices he has missed in 15 years.

THOSE GUYS WERE gigantic! With each step they took, the ground truly shook! Yes, in the 1972 football season, most opponents of now-defunct St. James High in Chester learned to spell fear with a capital "F. " How could they not? The Bulldogs boasted size that had never been seen at a city-leagues high school. It was as if Paul Bunyan had moved into the area and talked three Bigfoots into joining him on the squad. Surely, a team with that many big-'uns would never exist again.

Harvey "Brew" Schumer likes to tell a tale about football at Northeast High. "Every spring we pass out the sign-up sheet," said Schumer, the Vikings' coach. "This year I had 90 kids sign up. Then we get the (academic) ineligible list and I lost 50. Then we come out to tryouts in the fall and I'm down to 32. That's before injuries. " It is a familiar tale being repeated throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania. It is a story of dwindling turnouts for football. Whereas less than 20 years ago the average high school football team with 350 boys enrollment had nearly 100 students trying out, today's teams are lucky if they can field a squad half that number.

It's time to rock. Fifty-five high school football openers are on tap Friday, 12 are on Saturday's card, and the biggest of them all, Sunday afternoon's showdown between juggernauts Archbishop Wood and Pittsburgh Central Catholic, gets the ESPN2 treatment. Before the first pigskin gets booted into the air, we present you with some noteworthy items, interesting nuggets, and an idea of what to expect in Southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond. As always, we close with our can't-miss predictions.

Varsity Blues, a high school football movie set in Texas, where the sport is a civic religion, stars James Van Der Beek in a performance that invites comparison with that of Tom Cruise in Risky Business. The combined effect of Van Der Beek's low-key appeal and the film's pumped-up score and scrimmages leaves you adrenalized enough to quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. On the plausibility scale, this anti-football football flick doesn't rank very high. But on the pleasurability scale, it goes the whole 10 yards.

THE GUY addressing Archbishop Wood High's football team a couple of weeks back certainly looked like coach Steve Devlin. Sounded like him, too. Early in the process, though, two-way star Colin Thompson knew something was different. "Coach Devlin is really good at hiding his emotions," said the 6-5, 255-pound Thompson, a tight end, defensive tackle and University of Florida commit. "But this time, he was grinnin' and smilin'. " Reason: Devlin had wonderful news to announce.

Somewhere not so far away, crisp, idyllic fall Friday nights belong to cheerleaders yelling and crowds roaring for high school football. Not in Cherry Hill. Here, a history of losing seasons and a single aging stadium for the two public school teams means football players are more likely to get ribbed than rah-rahed. At High Schools East and West, a team is lucky if 100 people dot its stands for most home games - held on Saturday mornings, when most teenagers are still in bed. Cherry Hill lacks a strong youth football program to feed its public high school teams.

Josh Dugger was asked so often, he knew the question before it even came out of anyone's mouth: "Why aren't you playing football?" It's understandable. He fits the mold. It's been hard to miss the 6-foot-7, 300-pound Dugger walking the halls of tiny Oxford High School the last three years. Football just never really appealed to him - that is, until now, his senior year. The last time he played football was in the eighth grade. Dugger entered this season as possibly the biggest curiosity in the area.

Stopwatches, for good reason, were being double- and triple-checked. In front of many wide-eyed college football coaches assembled near the track, Jerry Butler first ran the 40-yard dash in a blistering time of 4.28 seconds, according to the stopwatches. Then, after briefly catching his breath, he clocked in at a lightning-quick 4.19. For Butler, a junior running back from George Washington High School, it was no big deal. "I wasn't surprised," he said. "I've run close to that before.

A Superior Court judge in Trenton yesterday dismissed all but one claim against state Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto in a lawsuit that arose from a high school football team dispute. Judge Linda Feinberg also dismissed the state as a defendant, and ruled that Rivera-Soto could be sued only as a private citizen, not in his capacity as a justice. The civil suit alleges the justice improperly used his position to intercede in a 2006 dispute between his son, then a sophomore at Haddonfield Memorial High School, and a football teammate, senior Conor Larkin.

NOT SO LONG ago Dan Lindsay was a guy who'd played a waiter on "Entourage," and the director of an unreleased documentary about beer pong. Now, he and buddy T.J. Martin are newly minted Oscar winners, the kind of guys who lunch at the home of Sean "Diddy" Combs, hang out with Michael Moore. They are the co-directors of "Undefeated," an Oscar-winning, emotionally-charged sports documentary about a Memphis, Tenn., businessman who turns around a hard-luck high school football team and the lives of some of its players.

Take two teams that are always in the Top 10. Make them represent schools that are a mile apart, in a town that loves its high school football. Add a twist in that the coach of one school is a graduate of the other. Now let them stew, simmer, and square off 50 years in a row on Thanksgiving weekend. The result should be one of the best rivalries in South Jersey football. In one sense, that's exactly the case when it comes to Hammonton and St. Joseph, perennial powers who will meet for the 50th time Saturday, on the Wildcats' little field off Wood Avenue in the heart of the Atlantic County town.

The speeches. That is what had these tough Williamstown football players giving in to their emotions. Thanksgiving is an emotional time as it is for high school football players, especially for seniors when it's their final game. Williamstown's team had so much invested in one game. There was revenge, sending the seniors out on the right note, and the chance to end matters as champions. Throw in two cousins playing their final game together, and there was more than enough on Williamstown's emotional meter.

Take two teams that are always in the Top 10. Make them represent schools that are a mile apart, in a town that loves its high school football. Add a twist in that the coach of one school is a graduate of another. Now let them stew, simmer, and square off 50 years in a row on Thanksgiving weekend. The result should be one of the best rivalries in South Jersey football. In one sense, that's exactly the case when it comes to Hammonton and St. Joseph, perennial powers who will meet for the 50th time Saturday on the Wildcats' little field off Wood Avenue in the heart of the Atlantic County town.

The speeches. That is what had these tough Williamstown football players giving in to their emotions. Thanksgiving is an emotional time as it is for high school football players, especially for seniors when it's their final game. Williamstown's team had so much invested in one game. There was revenge, sending the seniors out on the right note, and the chance to end matters as champions. Throw in two cousins playing their final game together, and there was a more than enough on Williamstown's emotional meter.

For decades, Thanksgiving morning in South Jersey has meant the smell of a turkey in the oven and the sights and sounds of high school football. But the second half of that tradition is starting to give way. More and more schools are scheduling games on Thanksgiving eve in hopes of increasing attendance and freeing up the holiday for family-related events. "People are so busy and do so much traveling to get to Thanksgiving dinner," said Kingsway athletic director Joe Galliera, whose school will host rival Clearview on Wednesday at 6 p.m. "This creates more of an opportunity for people to have more time to spend with their families.

In 1925, the Pottsville Maroons were cheated out of the NFL championship. That's how the people of Pottsville will always see it, and that's how the story is presented in a new play by the Iron Age Theater in Norristown. The story itself is fascinating. A team of coal crackers in the Anthracite League of Pennsylvan- ia, in the earliest days of professional football, joined the NFL. Nobody gave them a chance. But they won the championship game against the Chicago Cardinals, 21-7.

Springfield (Montco) will rejoin the Suburban One League for football next season. Before they head off to the Suburban One American Conference, the Spartans, fueled by senior tailback Clay Ewell, are making quite a splash in their final go-around in the Bicentennial Athletic League and Independence Football League. Entering Friday night's homecoming clash against IFL rival Academy of the New Church, Springfield (6-0 overall, 4-0 BAL, 3-0 IFL) has won its games by a combined score of 240-70.

Springfield (Montco) will rejoin the Suburban One League for football next season. Before they head off to the SOL American Conference, the Spartans, fueled by senior tailback Clay Ewell, are making quite a splash in their final go-around in the Bicentennial Athletic League and Independence Football League. Entering Friday night's homecoming clash against IFL rival Academy of the New Church, Springfield (6-0 overall, 4-0 BAL, 3-0 IFL) has won by a combined score of 240-70.