Warriors

BY 5:30 MONDAY afternoon, only one word should have been directed toward the lone freshman in Delaware Valley Charter High's baseball lineup. Bravo! Say hello, with gusto, to Rainiel "Ray" Bravo, a 5-10, 180-pound designated hitter, and congratulate him on the strong performance he mounted in a Public D contest, played in occasional drizzle, at Charles Papa Playground, Haverford and Lansdowne avenues. As the visiting Warriors thumped Robert Lamberton, 17-2, in six innings, thus clinching first place at 9-0, all the 15-year-old Bravo did was go 5-for-5 with four singles, a two-run homer and four RBI. He posted his hits in that order, too. A hard single to right to chase home a run and cap a three-run first.

Bristol used a well-rounded offense to overpower host Lawrence (N.J.), 33-15, in a nonleague game Saturday. "There were two big keys," Warriors coach George Gatto said. "Our offensive line just did a good job. We had over 320 yards rushing and 76 more passing. "Second, we played with more consistency. We made some great plays, not like in the past where we made one good play and five bad ones. " Tony Fusco led the Warriors (3-4) with 108 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 carries.

October is definitely the time to come out to play for all would-be warriors out there. The controversial video-game studio Rockstar is bringing out a brawler based on director Walter Hill's 1979 street-gang classic The Warriors in a couple of weeks, and this week a director's cut of the film has been released on DVD. Can you dig it? For those of you who are really passionate about the film, hold on to your copy of the 2003 DVD release. In the director's cut, Hill has added a number of comic book-style wipes to certain segments of the film to help with the narrative.

Bristol, for the first time ever, advanced to the PIAA Class A state tournament quarterfinals with a 54-51 win over Lebanon Catholic on Thursday at Reading High. The victory pushed the Warriors into Saturday's game against Nativity Blessed Virgin Mary at Landisville. Depth and a strong inside game helped the Warriors overcome a 43-38 disadvantage entering the fourth quarter. The Beavers were outscored, 16-8, in the final period as the Warriors' sophomore center, Stephanie Casperson, tossed in 9 of her game total of 11 points.

Bristol discovered the true value of Stephanie Casperson the hard way in a 49-38 loss to Elkland on Wednesday in a second-round PIAA Class A state tournament game at Northwest High. Casperson, a 5-foot, 10-inch junior center, had no points when she left the game with a sprained ankle early in the second quarter, but the Warriors held a 21-9 lead. Elkland (26-4) went on to outscore the District 1 champion Warriors (20-8) by 40-17 for the remainder of the game and earn a quarterfinal berth.

Height, speed and experience are necessary ingredients for a successful basketball team. Woodlynde School has that blend of talent this year. "Some people would say that's unbelievable if you were talking about Woodlynde," said coach Dave Shank. The Warriors will start four seniors and a postgraduate. With 6-foot, 7 1/ 2-inch center Joe Wolf and 6-7 postgraduate Paul Johnson, the Warriors have one of the biggest front lines in the area. "I don't think anybody in our league can match up with us there," Shank said.

Scoring points was a problem for Woodlynde last year. The Warriors had opportunities, but no one with a smooth shooting touch, coach Dave Shank said. Turnovers plagued the team, many coming after it successfully broke tough full-court pressure. That evidently has changed this year with a new corps of players. Shank is confident that he has players who not only want to shoot the ball, but also will move the ball close enough for a good shot. "We had a great group of kids," Shank said, "but there was no one who could shoot the ball.

Nothing cures a Golden State losing streak better than the 76ers. The Sixers, losers of four of their last five appearances in the Oakland Coliseum Arena, were tonic once again for the ailing Warriors. The Warriors, who came back from a 10-point deficit midway through the final quarter, defeated the Sixers, 109-103, and ended a seven-game losing streak. It was the sixth longest skid in the team's West Coast history. On Feb. 1, 1986, the Warriors used the Sixers to stop an eight-game slide, the team's fifth longest losing string.

Another season, another heartbreaking loss. For the third straight season, the West Chester Henderson boys' soccer team lost in the PIAA Class AAA state championship match. The only difference was that this time the Warriors didn't lose to Upper St. Clair. This time the loss came against Warwick, which defeated Henderson, 1-0, at HersheyPark Stadium last night. In 2003, the Warriors (20-6) suffered a 1-0 overtime loss to Upper St. Clair. Last season, the suburban Pittsburgh school again defeated Henderson, 2-0. The Warriors did win the Class AAA crown in 2002, but that was the furthest thing from their minds last night, as several players tried to fight back tears.

The Gloucester Township Tech Warriors will not only have a tall lineup, but also one with experience and talent as they look to surprise a few teams in the tough Olympic Conference National Division. "In any other league, we might be able to hold our own against anyone," coach Landrus Lewis said. "But we're in a real tough division, and the going will be rough, although I believe we'll surprise a few teams. " COACHING. Lewis will begin his fourth season as the Warriors' head coach.

Sarah Yannes scored the first two goals of the game and Holy Cross bolted to an early 7-1 lead on Tuesday, opening the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 1 girls' lacrosse tournament with a 19-8 win over visiting Robbinsville. The balanced Lancers got goals from 11 players, led by Grace Steel with five and Anna Baranowski with three. Yannes finished with two goals. Bishop Eustace also cruised through its first-round game, bouncing visiting Moorestown Friends, 23-8. Kristen Kelbon poured in eight goals, Mikaela Gekas-Robinson had four, Morgan Wright contributed three goals and four assists, and Erin Logue posted two goals and four assists for the Crusaders.

Alex Scarlett's two-run, walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning capped a wild comeback and made host Holy Spirit a 9-8 winner over Oakcrest on Tuesday in Cape-Atlantic League baseball. Reliever Mike Dilanni gave up one run over the final three innings to earn the win. The Spartans overcame an 8-3 deficit by rallying for four runs in the sixth and prevailing on Scarlett's winning hit, which brought home his twin brother, Chris Scarlett, and Ryan Solari. Colonial.

BY 5:30 MONDAY afternoon, only one word should have been directed toward the lone freshman in Delaware Valley Charter High's baseball lineup. Bravo! Say hello, with gusto, to Rainiel "Ray" Bravo, a 5-10, 180-pound designated hitter, and congratulate him on the strong performance he mounted in a Public D contest, played in occasional drizzle, at Charles Papa Playground, Haverford and Lansdowne avenues. As the visiting Warriors thumped Robert Lamberton, 17-2, in six innings, thus clinching first place at 9-0, all the 15-year-old Bravo did was go 5-for-5 with four singles, a two-run homer and four RBI. He posted his hits in that order, too. A hard single to right to chase home a run and cap a three-run first.

Kelsey Dominik of Kingsway and New Egypt's Alison Martino pitched perfect, but abbreviated, games to highlight Monday's South Jersey softball action. Dominik (17-3) struck out nine in notching her first perfecto as the host Dragons needed just five innings to scorch Delsea, 14-0, in a Tri-County Conference clash. Martino (14-2) retired a dozen batters on strikes over six innings, as the host Warriors dismissed Burlington County League rival Maple Shade, 10-0. Olympic.

Mark McGowan homered and Drew Smick pitched a solid game in relief as Woodstown rallied from a 4-0 deficit for a 7-5 upset of visiting Delsea in Tri-County Conference baseball Tuesday. Delsea (10-7) jumped out to an early lead against Wolverines starter Rich Stuart, but Woodstown (3-7) took the lead for good with a four-run fifth inning. McGowan went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, and Nick Battle and Sam Nowicki added two hits apiece in support of Smick, who got the win with 21/3 innings of relief.

If the 76ers had their druthers, they certainly would prefer playing the remaining six of their final seven regular-season games at home. But, as they prepared Sunday for a Monday game against the Orlando Magic, the reality for the Sixers is that six of their final regular-season games are on the road. The Sixers (31-28) have backed themselves into a corner mostly because of their shoddy play at home. After dropping a 95-89 decision to the Nets at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday, the Sixers, who began the season by winning 12 of their first 14 home games, have lost 11 of their last 18 games at home.

Jose Rivas pitched five strong innings in relief and helped Camden High's baseball team snap a 36-game losing skid over three years with a 9-4 victory over LEAP Academy on Sunday in the Camden County Tournament at Campbell's Field. The Panthers, who last won in the final game of the 2009 season against Woodrow Wilson, fell behind by 3-1 before Richard Jaquez delivered a three-run single in the third inning to put Camden ahead for good. Kelvin Davis added two hits, and Rivas struck out seven in relief.

THERE HAS never been a time when I didn't think of myself as Catholic. When my father died at the age of 43 from a virulent form of cancer, and a lady at our local parish sternly said, "It's God's will, you need to accept it," I wasn't tempted to leave the church. I just left that parish. When my feminist college friends told me that Mass had "cult-like" aspects, I reminded them that raising Lanterns and chanting in Greek (Bryn Mawr traditions) were not like meetings of the 4-H Club, either.

PITTSBURGH - It ended with Peter Laviolette and Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato face-to-face, standing on top of the boards, with the Flyers coach holding a broken stick he had just smashed on the glass partition separating the teams. On the ice in front of them, Wayne Simmonds was tangling with the Pens' Deryk Engelland despite wearing a visor over a black eye swollen to the size of a grapefruit. Twenty feet away, Pavel Kubina was chucking knuckles with Matt Niskanen.