Linebacker

This is it. This is  really  it. The 3-6 Eagles must win Sunday in Washington or their already minuscule chances of making the playoffs are cooked - which they probably are anyway. Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978 no 3-7 team has made the playoffs. So while the Birds wouldn't officially be eliminated, the end of the  Andy Reid  era would be all but mathematically over with a loss. But if the Eagles were to beat the Redskins - and that is certainly plausible - they would still have a flicker of hope.

MAYBE WE'LL soon see a national ad campaign with a local high school football player sporting a chocolate milk mustache. And saying at the end of commercials, "Chocolate milk. It does a body good. " Hey, there have been stranger developments in this world - sports portion, included - and, if asked, Josh Messina would be willing to serve. Messina, a junior, is a star inside linebacker for Archbishop Wood and he now carries 180 pounds on his 5-8 frame. Little more than a year ago, his position was outside linebacker and he tipped the scales at 150. What's an underweight guy, especially one being switched to a physically more demanding position, to do?

Our position-by-position rankings continue with a review of the best linebackers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. In compiling this top-10 list, we considered a player's toughness, open-field tackling ability, instincts in sniffing out the pigskin, and potential to play at the next level. 1. Matt Galambos, senior, 6-foot-2, 225 pounds. Smart and rugged, Galambos, who is ticketed for Pittsburgh, was a driving force behind the Fords' 7-4 campaign. He also played running back and tight end. 2. Diquan Gilbert, Communications Tech, Sr., 6-1, 195. This versatile performer, also a running back and long-snapper, is drawing interest from Penn State and Boston College.

STATE COLLEGE - Glenn Carson probably doesn't get the respect he deserves. Penn State's junior middle linebacker has 65 tackles, third most on the Nittany Lions. The two names he's behind? Fellow linebackers Mike Mauti and Gerald Hodges. Arguably the two best players on the Lions, Mauti and Hodges have combined for 183 tackles, four interceptions, four forced fumbles and two spots on the semifinalist list for the Butkus Award, given to the nation's best linebacker. Oftentimes, Carson's consistently solid play has been less talked about than that of the two likely NFL-bound, heavy-hitting seniors, who are also two of the most recognizable names on campus.

After dislocating a finger, Wissahickon's Dan Murphy was forced to watch the dramatic late minutes of Friday's PIAA District 1 Class AAAA playoff opener against Downingtown East from the sideline. "It happened while I was trying to block an extra-point kick," the senior said. "It was rough not being out there. But I had confidence in my teammates. " His faith was warranted. In the final 61/2 minutes, the 16th-seeded Trojans drove the ball to the East 5-yard line and, with Greg McDonough's 22-yard field goal at the buzzer, shocked the top-seeded and previously unbeaten Cougars, 38-35, at Kottmeyer Stadium.

In case Pennsbury head coach Galen Snyder or defensive coordinator Dan McShane miss something while breaking down film, there is always a third set of eyes closely watching the play of Tommy Hose. "My dad [Tom] videotapes all the games," the senior middle linebacker said. "Afterward, he gives me feedback. He tells me what I did well and what I didn't do so well. " Tom Hose does know a thing or two about football. In 1984, he was a 1,000-yard rusher for Pennsbury. A spleen injury in the Bucks County Lions all-star game cut short his career.

There is something attractive about a college football team that is referred to as "Linebacker U. " Just ask Mike Hull, who went to Penn State because of its reputation for preparing linebackers for the NFL and stayed for the same reason after the NCAA imposed sanctions against the university. The 6-foot, 228-pound Hull, a redshirt sophomore, is considered the next star in the pipeline where he receives a share of playing time behind three starters - Michael Mauti, Gerald Hodges, and Glenn Carson - who probably will be taking the field on Sundays very soon.

YOU COULD SAY Andrew Guckin has come out of nowhere to emerge as the top rusher for Archbishop Wood High's ever-impressive football team. You could also say he jumped up from a hospital bed and, well, that wouldn't be the worst-ever example of truth-stretching. The 5-11, 200-pound Guckin, a senior halfback, last Friday night sliced and diced the Vikings' school record for one-game rushing yards by churning for 345 in a 56-35, looked-like-a-track-meet victory over host Bonner-Prendergast.

Baseball is a family affair for Archbishop Carroll's Evan Harvey. The senior plays first base for the Patriots. Brother Joe, formerly a standout at Kennedy-Kenrick, is a righthanded pitcher at the University of Pittsburgh and cousin Chris Harvey, who shined at Germantown Academy, is a catcher for Vanderbilt. "Growing up with Joe and Chris, it helped me become a stronger competitor," Evan Harvey said. "Seeing what they did made me want to go out and make a name for myself. " Harvey is doing just that, on the diamond and gridiron.

In an era when more and more kids are getting home-schooled, we give you Shahir Gates. This time last year, he was getting hotel-schooled. Say what?! Gates, a senior, is a 5-11, 195-pound linebacker for Northeast High, and Friday, in barely more than a half of action, he hustled and bustled for a dozen tackles (six solos, one for a loss) as the Vikings squashed Horace Furness, 44-0, at 10th and Bigler in the first round of the Public AAAA playoffs. Then, he talked about having been a backup defensive end for the 2010 championship squad, and how he never got a near a football field in 2011.