Penn Charter

At 15, Charles Balsamo of Meadowbrook will get to do what many others his age only dream of. Beginning tomorrow, Balsamo, a student at Penn Charter, will embark on a month-long trip to Europe with the TEAMS/USA youth soccer squad. Balsamo will play in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. If he is lucky enough, he may also get to play as part of a select team that will compete in Monaco. The consolation prize would be to play a tournament in the Soviet Union. Balsamo, who started for Penn Charter last season as a freshman, was picked for the team after attending a tryout at Penn's Franklin Field.

MaryKate O'Brien completed a three-point play with one second left in the game to break a tie and give Penn Charter a dramatic, 45-42 win over Shipley in the Make A Wish Girls' Basketball Classic on Friday at Germantown Academy. Shipley led by 25-24 at halftime, but Penn Charter rallied behind Dee Thomas-Palmer (18 points) and Danielle Sienko (10). O'Brien had eight points, and Shipley got 13 from Aja Ellison. In the second game, host Germantown Academy beat Archbishop Ryan, 41-28, as Kiernan McCloskey had 26 rebounds for her second straight 20-plus rebound effort this week.

Penn Charter rallied for two goals in the last two minutes before winning the game in overtime, 4-3, against Chaminade (N.Y.) in a nonleague boys' soccer game Saturday in Newark, N.J. David Koch scored to cut Chaminade's lead to a goal, and with no time remaining on the clock, Sam Agre headed a free kick into the net to tie the game. Sean McKie, a junior-varsity player who made the trip only because the team had suffered injuries in a game Friday, finished a nice pass by Agre with 13 seconds remaining in overtime to give Penn Charter the win. Elsewhere in nonleague action, Matt Lucas volleyed in an overtime winner for La Salle, which knocked off visiting Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 1-0. Mark Gurenlian headed home a corner kick to give Springfield (Delco)

Highly touted freshman Sean Singletary came to Virginia to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He arrived at a school picked to finish eighth in the ACC and not expected to make much noise. Two games into his college career, the former Penn Charter star is already working to change that. He had 15 points and made several big plays last night as the host Cavaliers beat No. 10 Arizona, 78-60. "We just have something to prove," the 6-foot point guard said. "I know a lot of people are overlooking us. They picked us to be in the bottom of the ACC. We're just going to stay humble about this win. " The Cavaliers (2-0)

Sometimes bigger is better. That's the lesson West Chester Henderson learned at home on Saturday night as taller Penn Charter topped the Warriors 58-39. The Quakers, who had three players taller than the tallest Warrior, were led by 6-foot, 7-inch junior center Steve Goodrich, who had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocked shots. Tyrone Burton, Henderson's leading scorer (13 points), had five of his shots rejected by Goodrich and company. "Our kids kept trying to do the things they have been doing all season, which is take the ball to the hoop," coach Don Ficca said.

Haverford School golf coach George Haines is hoping a dynasty has been rekindled. After yielding the Inter-Academic League championship to Penn Charter the last two seasons, the Fords won this season's crown with a 242-266 triumph over Malvern Prep Thursday at Waynesboro Country Club. The triumph allowed the Fords to finish the regular season with a 9-3 overall record and 7-3 league mark. Coupled with Penn Charter's 257-264 loss to Chestnut Hill Academy Thursday, the Fords clinched their first title since 1985.

Mark McGonagle accounted for six points yesterday as Penn Charter topped host Malvern Prep, 18-16, in a sweetheart of an Inter-Ac League football opener. Four with his foot. Two with his arm. The spotlight shone on McGonagle, a 6-1, 160-pound senior, mostly because he kicked a 28-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining. But first, let's flash back to the first quarter. Mike Samuel, who would complete 9 of 21 passes for 129 yards, tossed an 8-yard scoring pass to Steve Ley. A bad snap then sailed back toward McGonagle and holder Brian McMahon, his backcourt partner in basketball.

As well as things turned out yesterday, don't expect Nick Myers to keep missing 2 days of football practice every week. "No way," he said. "That's it for that. One-time thing. " Myers, a 5-10, 170-pound senior, serves Father Judge High as a shared-time running back and full-time cornerback. This week he found, well, that suffering from a fever and swollen glands is not as bad as it's cracked down to be. "I was actually in school on Tuesday," Myers said, "but then I started feeling bad, and they let me go home.

SINCE WHEN HAS Halloween expanded to multiple dates? Bob Scaramuzza's face and words can provide the answers. Perhaps you've heard of an oak tree of a lineman from Penn Wood High in Yeadon named Shawn Oakman. He goes 6-9, 245, already has committed to Penn State, and Scaramuzza, for one, is hoping that someday he storms into the NFL. "That'd be a nice story," Scaramuzza said. It already is. While helping visiting Malvern Prep down Penn Charter, 14-3, Friday in an Inter-Ac League opener that very well could have served as the title-decider, Scaramuzza, a 5-9, 215-pound senior fullback, wore a bandage that covered the upper part of his nose and maybe half of his forehead, along with large Band-Aids to each side of his nose.