Jenkintown

If Jenkintown wins its fourth straight Pen-Del League title this year, head coach Pete Lucente may have to break out the Geritol instead of the champagne to celebrate. "We're the oldest team in the league," said Lucente, whose core of veterans has an average age of just under 32. "But I think that's to our advantage. These guys know how to play the game. " Indeed, Jenkintown has gotten off to a frisky start, winning its first six games to take up residence atop the American Division standings.

As the Wissahickon School District and its teachers reached a tentative settlement this week, pressure mounted on Jenkintown's school board and its striking teachers to reach a contract agreement. The Jenkintown school board and teachers were scheduled to meet tonight. On Monday, about 75 Jenkintown students, waving picket signs, marched in front of the district's two schools to urge both sides to settle the strike. School and extracurricular activities, including classes, had been suspended since Sept.

Donna Hayes finally had her moment in the spotlight last night. With two starters hampered by foul trouble, the girls' basketball coach at Jenkintown, Jim Romano, called on the hard-working but unheralded senior to provide offense in the second half against Christopher Dock in the PIAA District 1 Class A championship game, at Lower Moreland. Hayes responded with a career high of 12 points, including eight in the decisive third quarter, to lift Jenkintown to a 35-31 victory.

Bristol coach Frank Perri stood with beads of water clinging to his eyeglasses. He was wearing a soaking red polo shirt and a big, big smile. Perri's team had just beaten host Jenkintown, 20-0, Friday afternoon. The joy was evident on Perri's face. Why the dousing, he was asked. "Because we had a shutout this year," he said. "This was a very important game in the Bicentennial League. " The victory was Bristol's second in the four-team Bicentennial League and gave the Warriors (3-1)

Chestnut Hill Academy's game plan against host Jenkintown in the Independence League opener for both teams Saturday was simple: Keep the ball away from Steve Eichert. Eichert, the Drakes' 5-foot-9, 185-pound tailback extraordinaire, had burned Chichester for 165 yards rushing a week earlier, and Blue Devils coach Jack Plunkett wasn't about to let his charges get caught flat-footed against the fleet back. "We wanted to try to control the ball with a running game, and that was going to give us a chance to keep the ball out of Eichert's hands," Plunkett said after Chestnut Hill won, 10-0.

Springfield's large and physical defense led the Spartans to a 27-0 win over Jenkintown yesterday in an Independence League game postponed by Saturday's rain. It was the first time this season that Jenkintown (3-4 overall, 1-3 league) had been shut out. The Spartans (5-2, 4-0) hurried junior quarterback Eric Long and sacked him a half-dozen times. A battered Long, who had completed 3 of 5 passes for minus-2 yards in the first half, finished the game 7 of 11 for 51 yards. "I was just telling our players that the best pass defense is a good pass rush, and we had very little time to throw," Jenkintown coach Rick Stetler said.

It was a day of breaks for Jenkintown and Radnor. Most were good for the Drakes - even after the game - and bad for Radnor. Jenkintown held on for an opening-game 8-6 victory on Saturday morning, and the winning margin came on a broken play for a two-point conversion. The touchdown drive was kept alive when a Jenkintown punt bounced off the calf of a Radnor blocker. Radnor was playing without several seniors, who were suspended for disciplinary reasons. And the best news for the Drakes was that senior quarterback Eric Long did not suffer a broken right hand.

Jenkintown might be the smallest Class A football school in the state, with only 102 boys in grades 9-12. Fortunately for Jenkintown, Steve Eichert happens to be one of those boys. Eichert, a 5-foot-8, 164-pound junior running back, rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns and accumulated 319 all-purpose yards last night to lead host Jenkintown to a 41-0 shellacking of Bristol in the District 1 Class A championship game. With the victory, Jenkintown (9-2 overall) advances to the state tournament.

The opponents changed during the week, but not as often as the score did during the game. Bristol, which saw its competition switch from Jenkintown to Morrisville and back to Jenkintown again, overcame the visiting Drakes, 34-26, for the PIAA District 1 Class A football championship yesterday. "All we asked for was a chance to win a championship," said Bristol coach George Gatto, whose teams fell to Jenkintown in the previous two District Class A title games. With the victory, Bristol is scheduled to meet District 11 champion St. Pius X (Bangor)

Jack Plunkett could only shake his head in disappointment Friday after his charges bowed to visiting Jenkintown, 17-14, in the Independence League opener for both teams. "I thought we played really well, and it's a shame that it came down to that one big play," the Chestnut Hill coach said, referring to Eric Long's winning 8-yard touchdown pass to Chris Richards with 2 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in the game. Not that it was something new: The Drakes are making a habit of come-from-behind victories.

Highlights of Thursday's contests can be found at: www.philly.com/rally Here are the pairings for the PIAA District 1 baseball tournaments, which begin May 21. Seeded position in parentheses. Baseball CLASS AAAA North Penn (North 9) at Marple Newtown (South 8), winner at Council Rock South (N 1); Coatesville (S 12) at Boyertown (N 5), winner at Penncrest (S 4); Radnor (S 10) at Methacton (N 7), winner at Downingtown East (S 2); Wissahickon (N 11)

A man wanted for murder in New York was killed this morning when he jumped in front of a SEPTA train near Jenkintown, police said. Thomas W. Borden, 33, was fleeing from police when he jumped in front of the train between the Noble and Jenkintown train stations, Jenkintown Borough Police Chief Albert J. DiValentino said. New York state police notified officials in Montgomery County about 7:45 a.m. that the suspect was "headed our way," DiValentino said. The suspect's blue-and-tan Ford F150 pickup truck with Pennsylvania license plate was spotted speeding down Route 309 near Upper Dublin.

Lloyia Anne Harvey Vance, 68, of Elkins Park, a longtime banker and wife of former Montgomery County chief detective Oscar P. Vance Jr., died Saturday at home of Lewy body dementia, a degenerative brain disorder. A native of Abington, Mrs. Vance was raised in the Crestmont section of Willow Grove. She graduated from Abington Senior High School in 1961 and attended Temple University for a year before going to work as a teller for the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society. She served as a teller at PSFS branches in Center City, North and West Philadelphia, and Cheltenham and Willow Grove in Montgomery County.

A PNC Bank in Swarthmore, a Pep Boys in North Wales, a Wawa in Allentown, a Wal-Mart near Pittsburgh - nearly 500 stand-alone properties in 43 states are part of Jenkintown-based American Realty Capital Trust Inc., worth $1.8 billion since it started trading on Nasdaq earlier this month. American Realty boss Nicholas S. Schorsch calls the sale a sign that commercial real estate is again attractive to investors - at least for national landlords with solvent corporate tenants. The company leases to FedEx and the U.S. General Services Administration, Walgreens and CVS drugstores, and the Dollar General, Payless and PetSmart retail chains, among others.

Lower Moreland's three-pointer at the buzzer hit the rim and fell astray on Wednesday night as New Hope-Solebury won, 29-28, at Upper Moreland in a District 1 Class AA girls' basketball semifinal. The Lions relied on balanced scoring highlighted by eight points from both Elise Kalinovich and Grace Massimino. In the other semifinal at Upper Moreland, Olivia Bradford led Christopher Dock to an easy 61-29 win over Bristol. The senior guard scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as Dock took a 27-13 lead.

MARK CITRON, Jenkintown School District's athletic director, has been arrested on charges of having a sexual relationship in 2010 with a then-17-year-old Jenkintown High School student. Citron, 43, of Philadelphia, faces charges of corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal use of a communications facility, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Jenkintown Police Chief Albert DiValentino said in a joint statement yesterday. They said the allegations against Citron - former baseball coach at West Philadelphia High and Communications Tech in Philadelphia - came to light recently through an anonymous call to Childline.

Lower Moreland's three-pointer at the buzzer hit the rim and fell astray on Wednesday night as New Hope-Solebury won, 29-28, at Upper Moreland in a District 1 Class AA girls' basketball semifinal. The Lions relied on balanced scoring highlighted by eight points from both Elise Kalinovich and Grace Massimino. In the other semifinal at Upper Moreland, Olivia Bradford led Christopher Dock to an easy 61-29 win over Bristol. The senior guard scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as Dock took a 27-13 lead.