Roxborough

With the myriad possibilities surrounding the wild-card slot in the Philadelphia Public League football playoffs, Dobbins coach Robert Smith's focus was on one thing yesterday. "Winning," said Smith. "We knew if we won, we were in. We didn't want to back in after losing. " And win Dobbins did. The Mustangs defeated Roxborough, 18-8, to capture their first Mid-City Division title since 1979. The victory puts Dobbins into the playoffs, where it will meet West Division champ Bok, at Northeast High, at 1 p.m. next Saturday.

Every time Jesse Wenk looks at the quarter-inch-wide cracks in his walls, he's reminded of it. Every time he sees that his front steps have pulled farther away from his Roxborough home, he can't escape it. Wenk's house on Pensdale Street near Freeland Avenue is sinking. Unbeknown to Wenk, his house, which dates from the 1920s, was built on a former pharmaceutical company dump that was covered over with ash. The ash is now shifting, causing his house to sink. Before long he will have to move.

For the first time since 1985, the Washington Eagles will not be the Public League baseball championship game. On Monday afternoon at Central High, with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Washington watched a 5-4 lead over Roxborough, and its hopes for a fifth straight title, disappear. "It hurts," Washington coach Joe O'Hara said after Roxborough rallied for a 7-5 semifinal victory. "There's no question it hurts. But to a certain extent, I'm relieved because now we can start all over.

It's been 10 years and lots of letters, but still no final answer as to whether 202 apartments will be built in Roxborough. Residents and developers have yet to meet, and the planning board won't make a decision until they do. Each side blames the other. "I have never had a problem with meeting with a community," said Carl Primavera, an attorney for the Andorra Group, which wants to build six apartment buildings at Umbria Street and Shawmont Avenue. "Usually they are anxious to hear us and anxious to give input.

If Larry Kolongowski's latest pitching performance was listed as a lunchtime item at a nearby deli, it would probably be a roast beef sandwich on rye bread. Make that month-old rye. After the senior righthander got much-needed last-out relief from teammate Ken Mulderrig to preserve Washington's 7-4 win over visiting Roxborough (4-3 league) on Monday, all Kolongowski wanted to remember about his outing were innings two through six. Throw away the first and seventh and you're left with some quality filler.

Gerald "Scotty" Mack left yesterday's Public League Division B showdown at Central with less uniform than he started with, but the Roxborough running back never looked better. The 5-foot-7, 155-pound senior rushed for 232 yards and two touchdowns as Roxborough clinched a playoff berth with a 29-0 thrashing of the Lancers. The victory puts Roxborough (6-2 overall, 4-1 league) into a quarterfinal game at Martin Luther King, the Division C champion, on Friday. Mack began the day with three blue letters (M-A-C)

The Public League baseball schedule-maker was not exactly kind to Mike Miller's right arm. Humane, yes. But not kind. Before yesterday, when Roxborough bested Central, 12-5, in a semifinal at Northeast, Miller had pitched four innings in the 17 previous days. No wonder he had trouble finding a groove. No wonder his five-inning stint was largely lackluster. "Our last regular-season game, against Edison, was so long ago (May 21)," said Miller, a 6-1, 165-pound senior righthander and Temple signee.

After last week's loss to La Salle in the Catholic League Red Division semifinals, Roman Catholic was determined to avoid similar frustration in yesterday's Thanksgiving Day clash with Roxborough. Troy Richardson did his part, catching seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns as the Cahillites defeated the host Indians, 19-6, on a muddy and puddle-filled field. "We really wanted to end the season on a good note," said Richardson, a senior wide receiver and cornerback.

Roxborough, with its 4-3 defeat of Washington on Monday afternoon, won its second consecutive Public League baseball title, but what Washington shortstop Tom Honda won at the Frankford site of the game was respect. In the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Indians up by a run and Ray Barnhart - representing the tying run - on second base, Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard did the unthinkable. He instructed pitcher Mike Miller to walk Honda. Intentionally. This decision put the winning run on first and placed the bat in the hands of Jeff Strunk.

Whenever Derrik Millhouse needs football pointers, he turns in so many directions, his head nearly spins off. Derrik's father, Walter, and uncle, Roger, starred at Germantown. Two more uncles, James and Anthony, were prominent players at Gratz. A cousin, Kevin, was a linebacking force at King. "My uncle Anthony played for Temple," Derrik said, "and they all played semipro. Some people thought Anthony would make it big. Now, I'm going to try to be the first. " Yesterday, Millhouse, a 6-3, 210-pound junior quarterback (and part-time cornerback)

AMID OPPOSITION from Roxborough residents and preservation groups, the city last week announced a delay in its plans to build a Treetop Adventure Course at the neighborhood's prized Wissahickon Valley Park. In a statement Thursday, the Department of Parks and Recreation said it would defer further public discussion and action around the proposed course, pending a re-evaluation. "The volume of misinformation currently in circulation, along with the Department's responsibility to safeguard valued community partners from misguided criticism, necessitates the additional review and analysis of this opportunity," the statement read.

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat of April 16, 2013: Craig LaBan: Saturday night I was drafted by my daughter to be pizza chef for her birthday sleepover party. So, a field trip to South Philly (Faragalli's for dough, Claudio's and Di Bruno's for cheese, pesto, and meats) then I FIRED UP THE BIG GREEN EGG! Yeah, I'm a little enthusiastic. Here's my fave, an admittedly free-form round topped with prosciutto, mozz, and some organic tomato puree that went from tart and bright (when raw)

As a basketball player for Roxborough High in the mid-1990s, Stephen Brandt was a guy with "a high motor" - a tall, skinny guard who gave everything every minute he was on the floor, who liked to get things done on the court. As the current principal of Roxborough, he's not much different, though his actions are more likely to lead to a more orderly, high-achieving school than an athletic victory. Brandt is one of seven school leaders being honored Tuesday as some of the Philadelphia School District's best.

It was not much more than 12 hours after neighbors lost the fight to preserve the 130-year-old Bunting House at Roxborough and Ridge Avenues that the gracious, flat-topped stone landmark with maroon trim began to come down. By day's end, it was a pile of rubble. Three months later and still mourning the building's loss, neighbors are fending off a battle on a new front: what will replace it? Will it be a drive-through Wendy's, as rumored? And is the home of the Baconator really a worst-case scenario?

B RITTANY GILLESPIE, 30, of Roxborough, is CEO and lead designer for Petals Lane, a florist and wedding/special-events planner on Ridge Avenue near Harmon Road, Roxborough. Her husband, Michael Phinney, 32, takes care of the books and the event setup and breakdown work. I spoke with Gillespie. Q: How'd you come up with the idea for the biz? A: My husband and I worked at Robertson's in Chestnut Hill and there was no way to move up in the business. We were dating at the time and we just decided to start our own business.

The body that Marine Unit police found Saturday in the Wissahickon Creek was identified Tuesday as a missing Roxborough man, David Taundi, his father said Tuesday. "It's a nightmare. That's the only way to describe it," Josiya Taundi said of losing his son, who was recalled as a good-spirited humanitarian. David Taundi, 33, had been missing since Dec. 15, when his vehicle was involved in a fiery crash on Henry Avenue near the creek. "There's a lot of speculation," Josiya Taundi said of the incident.

A BODY FOUND Saturday in Wissahickon Creek in East Falls has reportedly been identified as David Taundi, 33, of Roxborough, a missing Bank of America employee. 6ABC reported Monday night that Taundi had been involved in an accident Dec. 16 in which his Toyota Camry hit a pole on Henry Avenue near Lincoln Drive. It was unknown how he wound up in the creek. Taundi's father, Josia Taundi, told 6ABC that his son was involved in charitable organizations.

One in a continuing series spotlighting the real estate market in this region's communities. An overcast winter's day was a perfect time for a "flatlander" to revisit Roxborough. Flatlanders are those not born and bred here. My last official visit with intent to write was in May 1993, when this slice of Northwest Philadelphia along Wissahickon Creek had 13,000 people and houses sold for $85,000. Today, there are more than twice as many people, and the median price for a single-family house is $222,000.

A go-ahead dunk by Roxborough's Matthew Harris in overtime proved too much to overcome as the host Indians won, 68-62, over Audenried in a Public League Division C basketball game Thursday afternoon. The 6-foot-6 junior center finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and collecting 15 rebounds. His dunk came with less than a minute remaining in overtime to give Roxborough a 64-62 lead. Tony Brown led the Indians with 22 points, and teammate Edward Davis added 10. Elsewhere in the division: Overbrook was led by 21 points from Kevin Wallace in a 62-59 win at Master Charter North.

Mary P. Nelson, 76, of Gladwyne, longtime dean of academic affairs for the Roxborough Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, died Sunday, Jan. 6, at Lankenau Hospital of multiple myeloma. For 47 years, Dr. Nelson worked at Roxborough Memorial, culminating in the position of a nursing school dean. She also served on the facility's board of directors. Her leadership yielded many years in which all of the nursing students who took the licensing examination passed, her family said. Mary Patricia Kovatch was born in McAdoo, Schuylkill County.