Lansdale Catholic

To those who have seen Lansdale Catholic's football team over the last couple of seasons, the Crusaders' high-powered offense appears to come from many years of practice. And if you didn't know better, you'd think quarterback Mike deMarteleire diagrams half his team's plays in the dirt for friends he's known since he was 6. It certainly looked that way Saturday night when the Crusaders clobbered Owen J. Roberts, 43-13, in a Pioneer Athletic Conference game at North Penn. But deMarteleire had never met any of his classmates until transferring to Lansdale Catholic after his family moved from New Jersey when he was a freshman.

Led by prolific passer John Algeo, the Lansdale Catholic offense has been grabbing more of the attention in this young football season. But to repeat as District 1 Class AA champions, or even go beyond, the Crusaders know there will be games when the defense will have to carry the load. Luckily for the Crusaders, that unit appears more than capable of doing the job. Just ask Great Valley. Lansdale Catholic held visiting Great Valley to just 120 yards of total offense and earned a 14-0 victory in the Pioneer Athletic Conference opener for both teams Saturday night at North Penn High School.

Mickey Algeo held her 4-week-old grandson, Ryan Anthony, in a baby blanket and waited patiently for her husband, Jim Algeo Sr., to finish speaking with reporters. Lansdale Catholic had just escaped with a 29-26 win over visiting Phoenixville in a Pioneer Athletic Conference football game Saturday night at Wissahickon High, and Mickey Algeo had every reason to smile. Her husband's team won the game. The victory came at the expense of Jim and Mickey's son, Dan, who is in his first year as Phoenixville coach.

This time last season, Lansdale Catholic was struggling. High expectations evaporated beneath an 0-3 cloud that the Crusaders never were able to crawl from under, and their season ended with a disappointing 6-11 record. So this season's 3-1-1 start (2-1 Pioneer Athletic Conference) has been refreshing. The Crusaders have played well, with a 2-1 nonleague victory Saturday over Upper Darby for the first time in three years and a 2-2 tie in their season opener against North Penn. Lansdale Catholic coach Tom O'Donnell has changed his lineup slightly, moving senior Chris Glinski, the team's leader in assists last season, back to the sweeper position to shore up a porous defense.

Sure, Lansdale Catholic coach Paul Duddy is disappointed that his Crusaders lost to powerful Holy Ghost Prep in a PIAA District 1 Class AA semifinal Tuesday. But even he concedes that, in a week or so, he and his team will appreciate the successful postseason run that landed them one game short of the state tournament. Lansdale Catholic lost by only 1-0 to a dominant Prep team, despite being outshot by a 24-3 margin. Prep controlled play, shut down junior Mark Jackson and the Crusaders' offense, and peppered Crusaders goalie Dan Heron, who made 15 saves.

It was definitely not your typical rundown. But then again, scoring the winning run in a quarterfinal playoff game on your 15th birthday isn't the usual way to celebrate turning another year older, either. For Lansdale Catholic freshman Ashley Seal, both were parts of her special day Thursday, as the Crusaders defeated Archbishop Ryan, 5-0, to advance in the Catholic League softball playoffs. Seal walked in the third inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Jenna Gibbons.

Lansdale Catholic freshman Ashley Seal looks back at the victory over Archbishop Ryan. www.philly.com/rallyvideos

Diamond Hodge continued her dominance in the long jump and triple jump Wednesday afternoon as the Girls High senior captured both events at Germantown on the first day of the PIAA District 12 Track and Field Championships. Hodge set a meet record with a 38-foot, 7-inch mark in the Class AAA triple jump. She won the long jump at 18-1. It was eight inches ahead of second place. Hodge won both events last week in the Public League championship meet. Ke'Von Lumb of Bishop McDevitt won the Class AA girls' long jump at 18-11/2, just a quarter of an inch ahead of second-place Tehya Noell of Engineering and Science.

IN A CONVERSATION with someone standing 3 feet away, Scott Grinnan placed his injury problem into context by saying, "I couldn't throw the ball to you . " Nor would he try . . . Nor was he kidding. Grinnan is a 5-10, 160-pound senior and has been a seasonlong factor for Cardinal O'Hara High's baseball team. The only thing he does, however, is serve as coach John Grossi's designated hitter, and the reason dates back to wintertime. In the Lions' next-to-last hockey game, Grinnan, a right wing, fell to the ice merely while trying to change directions from forward to backward - no contact was involved - and his right shoulder . . . Ouch!

Baseball CATHOLIC PRELIMINARY ROUND Cardinal O'Hara 6, Lansdale Catholic 5 Father Judge 11, Archbishop Carroll 4 PENN-JERSEY PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS Barrack Hebrew 11, Solebury School 7 PUBLIC LEAGUE AA FIRST ROUND Mariana Bracetti 18, Roxborough 8 MaST Charter 12, Phila. Academy Charter 2 Esperanza 15, University City 0 PUBLIC LEAGUE AAA FIRST ROUND Swenson 3, Bodine 2 Phila. Electrical 8, Boys' Latin 7 Ben Franklin 14, Engineering & Science 2 PUBLIC LEAGUE AAAA FIRST ROUND Frankford 4, Edison 3 Washington 9, Furness 5 Northeast 3, Lincoln 1 Olney 6, Central 4 CENTRAL LEAGUE Penncrest 5, Upper Darby 2 Conestoga 9, Haverford High 3 Radnor 6, Springfield (D)

As Bonner-Prendergast senior Will McDermott came around the last turn Saturday in the 3,200 meters at the Catholic League track and field championships at Upper Darby, he met a loud ovation. Red-faced and appearing fatigued, McDermott sped down the final stretch to break the meet's oldest track record, finishing in 9 minutes, 19.7 seconds. While the crowd knew McDermott could be on the verge of history because of a public address announcement, the long-distance runner had no idea and said he could not even hear the cheers.

Holy Ghost Prep baseball coach Keith Smeraglio was looking ahead Thursday afternoon when he penciled in Tim Brennan as the Firebirds' starting pitcher. Brennan has eight saves this season, but Smeraglio said it was time to stretch the sophomore's right arm and get him ready for the playoffs. He sure looked prime against Lower Moreland, as Brennan pitched six innings, scattered two hits, and fanned eight to help Holy Ghost Prep win, 3-1, and clinch its ninth Bicentennial Independence title in the last 10 years.

J.D. Brachman to Jake Saenz was an unstoppable combination on Wednesday afternoon. Saenz scored four goals to lead Hill School to an 11-9 win over visiting Hun School in a Mid-Atlantic Prep League boys' lacrosse game. Brachman assisted on each of the freshman attack's four goals and added a score of his own. The Blues took a 5-4 lead into halftime and held on for the win despite a 90-minute lightning delay in the second half. Pat Carmody and Will Schantz each netted two goals for Hill School, and James Gould made 15 saves.

TIM O'NEILL allowed himself to feel only minimal joy a shade after 6 p.m. Wednesday. After all, like almost always in the program's two generations of existence, Bishop McDevitt High's baseball team found itself on the wrong side of the hyphen in a Catholic League game. But this time, against visiting Lansdale Catholic, the score was respectable, at 3-1, and O'Neill, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior righthander, slapped together quite the performance. Thanks mostly to a wicked curve and an even more impressive changeup, O'Neill limited the Crusaders to one hit, a second-inning single by Patrick Duggan that proved to be inconsequential.

With his team down by five runs entering the seventh and final inning, Friends' Central baseball coach Ross Trachtenberg gathered his players Thursday and delivered what he called "the normal. " Fight to the last out. Don't quit. Win the inning. Surprisingly to Trachtenberg, the normal did the trick as Charles Bears capped a six-run rally with a two-run single to right as the Phoenix stunned visiting Moorestown Friends, 8-7, in a Friends Schools League game. Bears, a junior who started the game as the designated hitter, pitched a perfect seventh inning to earn the win. He produced the winning hit with one out after working a 2-2 count.