Penalty Flags

Maurice Taylor wanted one more chance. After allowing a big play early in Woodrow Wilson's game against Rancocas Valley yesterday, he hoped for another opportunity. Taylor's 54-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Wilson football team a two-touchdown lead and the Tigers' defense stymied Rancocas Valley the rest of the way in a 28-2 Olympic Conference interdivisional victory. Wilson senior quarterback Jamil Tyson threw two touchdown passes in a contest often interrupted by penalty flags.

According to Germantown Academy head coach Bill Caum, in order to win football games you need to have "players that can make the big plays for you. " In the Patriots' win over Archbishop Wood on Saturday, GA junior Jay Jordan proved in an emphatic way that he is one of those players. Jordan's 75-yard interception return for a touchdown with 6 minutes, 58 seconds left in the game sealed the Patriots' 26-7 victory over the host Vikings. The interception was Jordan's third of the game (all in the second half)

The Moloney brothers helped Lansdale Catholic pound Upper Perkiomen on Friday night. Senior tight end Kevin Moloney caught two passes for 101 yards from junior quarterback Joe Judge, and junior fullback Ryan Moloney gained 64 yards on the ground to send the Crusaders to a 21-0 Pioneer Athletic Conference football victory. "Running the ball and being a passing team go hand in hand in order for us to be successful," said Lansdale Catholic coach Jim Algeo, in his 31st season coaching the Crusaders.

They frustrated Gavin Hoffman like they frustrated the rest of the Penn football team yesterday at Goodman Stadium. Penalty flags. They were scattered everywhere, like speed bumps in a mall parking lot. They did their job, too. They effectively forced the ready-to-fly Quakers into a crawl in their season-opening 17-10 loss to Lehigh. "I thought we were getting some good drives together and moving the ball on them," said Hoffman, the Penn quarterback who set Quakers single-game records for completions (36)

The quarterback was hobbling toward the line of scrimmage, waving his arms and hollering at people. The clock read 0:09, the Eagles were out of timeouts and there were still Eagles on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage. Green jerseys were running everywhere . . . :07 . . . the field goal unit was on the field, somewhere . . . :06 . . . :05 . . . :04 . . . McMahon, hit (late?) and shoved to the turf by Bengals cornerback Lewis Billups after the 20-yard pass to wide receiver Fred Barnett, finally reached the line of scrimmage with 4 seconds remaining in the half.

Maybe it was because the Frankford players found themselves in such an unusual situation. Here they were facing Mastbaum in a game that didn't even count in the standings when normally, at this junction, the Pioneers would be gearing up for a title run. Whatever the reason, the Blue, Red and Yellow produced a sea of yellow - as in penalty flags - as the Pioneers won Thursday's nonleague game at Frankford Stadium, 32-12. The Pioneers were penalized 10 times for a total of 110 yards.

In the first Paulsboro football game in five years in which do-it-all Kevin Harvey was not the focus, Harvey's replacement, Gabe Spitale, and his Red Raiders teammates were challenged to prove that their 40-game winning streak was more than Harvey's doing. Consider the challenge met. In both teams' season opener, the Red Raiders pushed their South Jersey record to 41 consecutive wins with a 37-6 slugging of host Sterling yesterday on a sunny but windy afternoon. Marcus Ruffin, a senior running back, and Spitale, a senior quarterback, each scored two touchdowns, including Ruffin's 84-yarder on the opening kickoff.

There was more than just rain falling at Willingboro's Carl Lewis Stadium yesterday - like penalty flags and thrown balls that went uncaught. Still, the Chimeras dodged all that was falling around them to come from behind and win a Burlington County League Freedom Division affair against visiting Pemberton, 38-25. "I think we came out asleep in the first half," receiver Anthony Harris said. The Chimeras spent much of the first half making up for mistakes. Four passes from quarterback Sam McQuillar were dropped, two in the end zone.

After it was over, after he had scored on runs of 10 and 50 yards to direct Woodrow Wilson High to a season-opening, 31-16 nonleague victory at Cherry Hill East yesterday, senior quarterback Donnie Bunch said he wanted to "thank" his defense for keeping him off the field. "They helped me stay fresh," he said. Now, normally, when a quarterback's defense keeps him off the field, his team is in - to borrow the words of the late Robert Preston - Trouble . . . Trouble . . . Trouble.

Highlights, lowlights and various wry observations from the weirdness and excitement of the Eagles' 32-23 comeback victory over the Houston Oilslicks yesterday at Veterans Stadium. Ending their worrisome, three-game losing streak, Buddy Ryan's troubled troupe improved its record to 2-3 for 1988 and 4-0 for this remarkable series that Eagles management obviously should book on a home-and-home, annual basis as soon as possible. While the victory cost the Eagles Mike Quick - the peerless wide receiver will be out eight weeks with a broken bone in his left leg - it also proved that football is a fun game with a good foot, as Luis Zendejas certainly would seem to prove, even if he does have a couple of corns.

LIGHTNING STRUCK much more forcefully and consistently than the Eagles' first-team offense, in the home fans' first preseason glimpse of their 2008 team last night at Lincoln Financial Field. Normally, you hate to see the starters leave. In this 24-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers, it was a relief, as each first-half Eagles' possession after a 58-minute, first-quarter thunderstorm delay seemed a little more futile than the one before. Then the subs, led by backup quarterback Kevin Kolb, fueled a fourth-quarter comeback to victory against the Carolina subs.

Maurice Taylor wanted one more chance. After allowing a big play early in Woodrow Wilson's game against Rancocas Valley yesterday, he hoped for another opportunity. Taylor's 54-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Wilson football team a two-touchdown lead and the Tigers' defense stymied Rancocas Valley the rest of the way in a 28-2 Olympic Conference interdivisional victory. Wilson senior quarterback Jamil Tyson threw two touchdown passes in a contest often interrupted by penalty flags.

There was more than just rain falling at Willingboro's Carl Lewis Stadium yesterday - like penalty flags and thrown balls that went uncaught. Still, the Chimeras dodged all that was falling around them to come from behind and win a Burlington County League Freedom Division affair against visiting Pemberton, 38-25. "I think we came out asleep in the first half," receiver Anthony Harris said. The Chimeras spent much of the first half making up for mistakes. Four passes from quarterback Sam McQuillar were dropped, two in the end zone.

They frustrated Gavin Hoffman like they frustrated the rest of the Penn football team yesterday at Goodman Stadium. Penalty flags. They were scattered everywhere, like speed bumps in a mall parking lot. They did their job, too. They effectively forced the ready-to-fly Quakers into a crawl in their season-opening 17-10 loss to Lehigh. "I thought we were getting some good drives together and moving the ball on them," said Hoffman, the Penn quarterback who set Quakers single-game records for completions (36)

The NFL has redesigned its yellow penalty flags to lessen the risk of injury to players. For years, officials weighted the base of their flags with everything from BB pellets to popcorn kernels to pennies. This year, officials will toss lighter, standardized flags that are weighted by sand, said line judge Tom Barnes, of St. Paul, Minn. The move stems from a December game in which Cleveland lineman Orlando Brown was injured when he was accidentally hit in the eye by a flag tossed by referee Jeff Triplette.

Browns offensive tackle Orlando Brown pushed referee Jeff Triplette to the ground during the first half of yesterday's game against visiting Jacksonville after Triplette's penalty flag accidentally hit him in the eye. Brown was immediately ejected and had to be restrained by several teammates and members of the Browns security staff. Brown, who's 6-foot-7 and 350 pounds, then had a heated argument with coach Chris Palmer before kicking over a sideline marker as he was ushered to the locker room.

Gov. Ridge yesterday did the right thing by vetoing the so-called stealth legislation that could have authorized $175 million for new Pittsburgh sports stadiums. The problem was that few legislators knew that an obscure bill they approved last Wednesday exempted Pittsburgh's stadium funding from state debt restrictions - opening the door for the governor to approve Pittsburgh-only stadium debt. The governor - who is trying to deliver on his offer of a one-third state share of stadium costs in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - fortunately agreed that was the wrong way to get the job done.

The Moloney brothers helped Lansdale Catholic pound Upper Perkiomen on Friday night. Senior tight end Kevin Moloney caught two passes for 101 yards from junior quarterback Joe Judge, and junior fullback Ryan Moloney gained 64 yards on the ground to send the Crusaders to a 21-0 Pioneer Athletic Conference football victory. "Running the ball and being a passing team go hand in hand in order for us to be successful," said Lansdale Catholic coach Jim Algeo, in his 31st season coaching the Crusaders.

In the first Paulsboro football game in five years in which do-it-all Kevin Harvey was not the focus, Harvey's replacement, Gabe Spitale, and his Red Raiders teammates were challenged to prove that their 40-game winning streak was more than Harvey's doing. Consider the challenge met. In both teams' season opener, the Red Raiders pushed their South Jersey record to 41 consecutive wins with a 37-6 slugging of host Sterling yesterday on a sunny but windy afternoon. Marcus Ruffin, a senior running back, and Spitale, a senior quarterback, each scored two touchdowns, including Ruffin's 84-yarder on the opening kickoff.

According to Germantown Academy head coach Bill Caum, in order to win football games you need to have "players that can make the big plays for you. " In the Patriots' win over Archbishop Wood on Saturday, GA junior Jay Jordan proved in an emphatic way that he is one of those players. Jordan's 75-yard interception return for a touchdown with 6 minutes, 58 seconds left in the game sealed the Patriots' 26-7 victory over the host Vikings. The interception was Jordan's third of the game (all in the second half)