Roxborough

Mike Cassidy feared that Jules Mastbaum Tech might be in for a struggle this basketball season. It was just his luck to be right. The Panthers (4-9 overall) did not experience Public League Division B-C glee until yesterday, when Cassidy collected 20 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 68-63 win at Roxborough. "Late last school year, I was thinking of transferring to Franklin Learning Center," said Cassidy, a 6-2, 190-pound senior wing guard. "It would have gotten me a little closer to home (11th and Girard)

Roxborough nose guard Jeremiah Kenderick really had a nose for the football in a Public League Class AAA game Thursday. Kenderick recovered three fumbles and returned one for a touchdown to spark the Indians to a 26-6 win over visiting University City. Kenderick, a senior, rumbled 40 yards with a fumble in the first quarter to give Roxborough (4-0, 2-0) a 7-0 lead over the Jaguars (0-3, 0-2). Later in the quarter, Bernard Avery sprinted 12 yards for a touchdown to give the Indians a 14-0 lead.

Standing practically in the shadow of Veterans Stadium, where the Philadelphia Eagles play an erratic brand of football, is a smaller stadium where another group of Eagles went in search of a prize. The place was Bok High School's stadium, a half-mile directly north of the Vet. And the prize the Washington Eagles wanted was advancement past the first round of the Public League playoffs. They got it, running over Bok, 14-6, Thursday. The Eagles, who placed second in the Public A division, will face Roxborough in the league semifinals Saturday.

Speed kills. In the context of spring football, in which scant preparation time limits the potential for offensive fireworks, speed also cures many ills. When Roxborough coach Cliff Hubbard timed star halfback Scotty Mack at 4.2 seconds in the 40-yard dash last fall, he thought his stopwatch or eyes had gone bad. Maybe both. But each Indian player had to run two 40s. Surely Mack was unable to match the feat. Wrong! On Saturday night at Northeast High, the 5-7, 160-pound Mack used his ever- impressive Roadrunner impersonation to electrify 3,000 fans as the Publics tripped the Non-Publics, 14-0, in the 18th annual Daily News-Eagles City All- Star Football Game.

It wasn't easy being Marty Miller's brother at Roman Catholic. All Miller did before graduating in 1985 was become the student body president and generate a resurgence in school spirit. "At Roman, everybody expected me to follow in Marty's footsteps," said his brother, Mike Miller. "They thought I would do as well as him. I did some good things, but not nearly like Marty. "I had some trouble there. I just didn't like it. It seemed like the disciplinarian would always come down on me, usually for reasons that I thought were kind of silly.

Roxborough is just two games into its season, but the season is already one of the Indians' most successful campaigns in recent years. The Indians (2-0) have matched their win total from last year, when they finished 2-9 overall, 0-5 in the Public League. A game against Germantown tomorrow afternoon will help the Indians gauge their progress. "It's a barometer this week," first-year head coach Larry Burnetski said of the game with the Bears. "They killed us last year, literally killed us by like a 35-point differential.

At the United States Figure Skating Championships in Minneapolis, Brian Helgenberg and Aimee Offner found truth in the adage that athletes perform as well as they practice. In their fourth and final year as juniors, the Roxborough teenagers went out in smashing fashion, winning the national title against 11 other invited pairs on Feb. 16. For Helgenberg, who spent the first week of the month being treated for back problems, the groundwork for victory was laid as soon as the pair reached Minneapolis on Feb. 10. "We skated in practice all week like we competed," Helgenberg said.

Things have happened to them no child should have to experience. One was thrown out of a second-story window. One was stabbed. One watched while his father killed his mother. One had acid thrown in his face by his mother. Many have been beaten, sexually abused, or simply left to fend for themselves. A few have ended up, at a tender age, taking on something close to parental responsibilities - for example, caring for a mother so strung out on drugs she was unable to care for herself.

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.

The Roxborough Indians really didn't want to run with the visiting Central Lancers in yesterday's Public League game. But they did anyway. They ran themselves right into a 17-point hole to open the third quarter. "We couldn't help ourselves," said Roxborough coach Bob Correnty. "They make you want to show them you can run like that, too. " Fortunately for Roxborough, the outcome of the game did not hinge upon the success of either team's transition game. It hinged on the free-throw-shooting ability of Roxborough forward Victor McKnight.