Another Dempsey leads O'Hara over Roman

The next time Adam Dempsey backs down from a challenge will be the first. OK, the second.

Saturday night at the steamy Germantown Super Site, after helping to spark Cardinal O'Hara High past Roman Catholic, 36-24, in an entertaining, exhausting, filled-with-cramping nonleague football contest that lasted close to 3 hours and featured 685 yards of offense, Dempsey said maybe he'll be following his brother, John, to Villanova.

When asked to pinpoint the level of "maybeness," Dempsey took three steps backward and playfully indicated there'd be no more discussion on that matter.

You see, though Dempsey, a 5-10, 185-pound senior halfback and strong safety who boasts offers from Towson, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in addition to 'Nova, where John, a senior, starts at defensive back for the defending FBS national champions, formal acceptance has not been granted so he really can't make a decision right now.

That doesn't bar him from listening to sales pitches - sensible though they are - from Big Bro, and from continuing to benefit from his encouragement/guidance.

"John has been there for me since scratch," Adam said. "All the way back to grade school, he has been helping and pushing me. He's definitely the No. 1 person who motivates me. With everything in life."

Adam then mentioned that he and John often worked out in tandem over the summer, and that John even challenged him to beat him in sprints.

"We were actually close," Adam said. "Always neck-and-neck. I think I even got him once or twice."

Smile. "He might not like hearing that. Might even get him mad."

Adam Dempsey's most prominent contributions came in the fourth quarter. An interception for starters. Then the breaking up of a fourth-down pass to assure a 29-24 lead would be maintained. And then, to seal the deal, an immediate 41-yard touchdown burst.

Within that span, Dempsey was momentarily sidelined with cramping issues; he spent part of that time quickly stalking up and down the sideline in exaggerated huff-and-puff fashion.

"I'm really hard on myself," he said. "I hate to make mistakes. That's why I'm a leader on the team.

"The game was coming down to the wire. That's what it's all about. I enjoy that. We always try to finish stronger than we start. For a couple of plays, I was mad at myself for not being out there."

While Dempsey sloughed off his interception - "I was just reading my coverage and the ball happened to come over" - there was no minimizing the victory's impact, seeing as how O'Hara is now in Class AAA while Roman remains in AAAA. Two other Catholic League AAAers, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll, also conquered AAAA foes Saturday night (St. Joseph's Prep and Archbishop Ryan, respectively).

"This means a lot," he said. "We're definitely looking to make a statement. To win our division and make a good run in states."

For O'Hara, Ryan Laughlin passed 8-for-18 for 255 yards and three TDs, long ones to Damiere Shaw (78 yards) and Tyler Gallen (92) and a medium to Brendan McLaughlin (26). Laughlin also scored on a 1-yard sneak.

Roman sophomore Michael Keir passed 18-for-38 for 261 yards and a pair of scores to classmate William Fuller (6-146). Marcus Kelly ran for the other TD and Kyle Haber crunched a 39-yard field goal.

Dempsey, who lives in Secane, intends to major in criminal justice ("I'm into all that homicide stuff") or business.

"I followed my brother's footsteps to this great tradition at O'Hara," he said. "Might be going to 'Nova, too. Just don't know yet. My brother says not to let myself be forced to go there just because he did. He says it has to be what I want."

As Adam walked off the field with family and friends, there was one thing he wanted to know.

"Yo, mom," he said. "How'd the Penn game go?"

"They won," Mary Dempsey said, meaning Villanova, of course.

"Cool," Adam said.

All was right in the brotherly football world.