ProfessorBriggs.com
THE Sports
Authority in Mercer County!
Note: This does not reflect the opinion of Grove City College, WSAJ-FM, The Herald, or their respective sponsors and supporters.
Professor's Proverbs -- December 12, 2008
For the third time in the last five seasons, the Mercer County area has a team in the PIAA football finals. Unless you have been isolated from the outside world, you know that Wilmington will face Philadelphia's West Catholic in the Class AA finals Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Hershey.
WPIC-AM 790 and WLLF-FM 96.7 (The River) will provide coverage of the game. Joe Klimchak, Bob Greenburg and Chris Burtch will be live in Chocolatetown for the call of the game. The Preston of Sharon Pigskin Preview Show, hosted by yours truly, will start at 12:05 p.m. Following the game, we'll have the Preston of Sharon Fifth Quarter Show until 5 p.m.
Few people outside of the Wilmington Area School District are giving the Greyhounds any sort of shot. A lot of "experts" think it will be ugly. A blowout. Nolo contendre, if you will. West Catholic comes in averaging over 45 points per game and has pretty much run roughshod through its seven playoff games to date. Yes, seven playoff games.
The first two playoff games came in the Burrs' Catholic League tournament. West Catholic rolled past Kennedy-Kendrick 63-21 before ringing up a 56-7 victory over Archbishop Carroll in the finals. Those two schools finished with a combined 7-14 record. In the Philadelphia "AA" city title game, the Burrs bombed previously unbeaten Edward Bok Technical, 55-0. Bok had won the Public "AA" League title.
In a district subregional game, West Catholic then defeated Benjamin Franklin (nickname: Electrons), 56-6. Franklin had lost twice to Bok this year, including in the Public League playoffs. Yet, the Electrons somehow stayed in the playoffs for another round or two.
In the PIAA playoffs, the Burrs have defeated District 11 champ Palisades (63-20), District 2 champ Dunmore (49-21) and District 3 champ Lancaster Catholic (37-14). Those wins are certainly impressive to say the least.
West Catholic has three players with more than 1,000 yards rushing: Rob Hollomon (1,821 yds; 35 TDs), Curtis Drake (1,527; 21 TDs) and Raymond Maples (1,132; 16 TDs). Those are certainly impressive numbers. But what percentage of those stats are "gravy"? i.e. How many of those yards and scores came when the game was well out of hand? Suffice to say, not all of those combined 72 touchdowns were go-ahead scores.
The Wilmington season totals of starting backs Derrick Burns (1,333 yards), Sutton Whiting (834) and Jake DeMedal (389) seem rather paltry compared to the West Catholic trio. However, Wilmington owned large halftime leads against no less than eight opponents this year and the Greyhounds played numerous reserves in the second half throughout the season. Wilmington could have named the score in a lot of regular season games but did the sportsmanlike thing.
Some other people have brought up the fact that Wilmington lost to Terrelle Pryor-led Jeannette teams in both 2006 and 2007. A few have said that West Catholic has three "Pryor-types." That's hogwash. Hollomon, Drake and Maples are all legitimate Division I prospects. There's no denying that. But Pryor-esque? Terrelle Pryor is a once-in-a-generation type of player. How many guys 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds start at quarterback as a true freshman for a top 10 program in big-time college football? Not only start, but play fairly well? Wilmington has faced guys comparable to the West Catholic studs in recent years, including in last week's game against Aliquippa. Guys from Aliquippa are usually pretty fair ballplayers. Plus, Wilmington was competitive with Jeannette. Jeannette had to earn everything; they were not 55-0 walkovers.
There are a couple of other factors that a lot of people have not talked about. They are things than cannot be quantified by numbers or stats. One of them is grit. The other is physicality. I have a very reliable source in the Philadelphia metro area who has told me that the Philadelphia schools (both public and parochial) are not as physical or hard-hitting as the teams elsewhere in the Commonwealth (not just the west, but the Capital Region and up in the northeast sector). Simply put, Wilmington will not be intimidated by West Catholic.
Defensively, Wilmington runs a 4-4 alignment. Thus, most would presume that the Greyhounds would be susceptible to a spread attack. That is a fallacy. Wilmington's linebackers are athletic enough to play the equivalent of a 4-2-5 nickel or even a 4-1-6 dime defense without having to substitute. Plus, Wilmington's front four generates a pretty good pass rush. Tackles Clint DeRosa and Dallas Hartman are big but quick; I doubt West Catholic has faced a tandem like that this year.
It's quite possible that West Catholic will roll to an easy victory. Many think that will happen. As you have deduced from my above writing, Professor Briggs expects a fiercely competitive game. In close games, what are things to look at? Special teams and experience in close games. I think both favor Wilmington.
The weather is not going to be a factor. Chilly, but dry with not much wind. I have a hunch Hartman will have a big game from his tight end position. I think Wilmington might be able to hit a big play or two early in the passing game against an aggressive Burrs defense.
Without further delay:
Professor's Pick: Wilmington 28, West Catholic 26
> While Saturday is the conclusion of the WPIC/WLLF football schedule, it also marks the start of the basketball schedule on radio. Sports director Bob Greenburg has put together a strong 36-game schedule for the regular season. That number is quite comparable to previous years and considering that the PIAA whacked two games off everyone's regular season schedule, it's an even more impressive slate. Saturday night, WPIC will carry the Grove City at Kennedy Catholic boys basketball game as Mark Slezak and Tony Mastrian will have the call. Here's the remainder of the schedule for December:
Thursday, December 18 -- WPIC -- Reynolds at
Sharpsville (girls)
Friday, December 19 -- WPIC -- Hickory at Farrell (boys)
Friday, December 19 -- WLLF -- Grove City at Franklin (boys)
Tuesday, December 23 -- WLLF -- West Middlesex at Sharpsville (boys)
Tuesday, December 23 -- WPIC -- Farrell at Sharon (both girls and boys --
doubleheader)
> Keep the cards and letters coming at at ryanbriggs@zoominternet.net