Penn Charter hands Malvern Prep first loss

Did you notice cast had no "e" on the end? There was a reason.

Moderski, a 5-10 (generosity never hurts), 165-pound senior wing guard, owned a certain level of sporting fame long before last night, when he helped Penn Charter dismantle visiting Malvern Prep, 56-44, thus leaving the three city leagues with no perfect squads and sending PC's student rooters, known as the Quaker Crew, rushing across the court as one to swallow their heroes. The Friars had been 17-0.

Last fall, Moderski was The Kid Who Played Football With Casts on Both Hands.

He broke his right hand in Game No. 2, then shattered the pinky on his left hand a few contests later.

"All my friends were bustin' on me. They were calling me Johnny No Hands," Moderski said, laughing. "It was nice. I didn't have to do much homework. Yeah, I got some teachers to actually think I couldn't do it. As for others . . . They knew what was up."

On offense, Moderski played receiver. Innnnteresting.

"Murph checked to me once," he said, referring to quarterback Kevin Murphy. "It wasn't supposed to go to me, and no one was too happy it did since I was wearing a CAST. Nah, I didn't catch it. I wound up having to play defense on that play because the ball was up in the air. I was able to knock it down.

"Once I got the second cast on, they wouldn't let me play offense anymore. Had to stick with defense."

Why not walk away and think ahead to basketball season?

"The doctor actually advised me not to play," he said. "But, hey, I'm a senior. It was going to be last time playing football. I wanted to do it. Luckily, I didn't get hurt any more, which would have messed me up for basketball."

Football was Moderski's No. 3 sport. And in college, it's likely he'll wind up playing defense for somebody's lacrosse team, even though he began playing that sport just two springs ago.

"But basketball, that's the sport I've loved my whole life," he said.

The passion certainly showed. Moderski, the definition of oodles of energy, totaled 24 points, three assists and two steals. He shot 6-for-13 (two treys) and 10-for-14 and packed 14 of his points into a 21-9 fourth quarter. Therein, he went 9-for-10 at the line.

"We knew we had to go hard to the hole and get ourselves into the double-bonus," Moderski said. "In our last game, we took 24 three-pointers. You can always shoot them. Our coaches were emphasizing how we had to take it inside and show them we were going to be aggressive."

The night offered an early snag for first-year boss Lynard Stewart, the former Simon Gratz ('94) and Temple star.

Mike McGlinchey, the man mountain football stalwart who's agile enough to set up behind the arc and not get admonished, incurred his second personal foul 3:13 into the first quarter. PC led, 3-2, and McGlinchey only watched the rest of the first half, won by PC, 24-20.

With four points, five rebounds and the same number of steals in those first 16 minutes, Grant Shaffer did a great job as McGlinchey's replacement. McGlinchey remained out of foul trouble in the second half, finishing with 14 total points (three treys) and 12 rebounds.

Also crucial was the play of soph Sean O'Brien, who held Vermont signee Brendan Kilpatrick to 10 points (none in the first half) and 2-for-15 from the floor; one of those buckets came on a follow.

"We knew Brendan was the key to their team," Moderski said. "He'll keep making shots and just put games away, if you let him. We knew they'd set a bunch of double screens for him. Sean did a great job of running around all those picks and sticking with him."

Pause. "He did a great job handling the ball, also."

Thanks to Steve Perpiglia's pull-up jumper with 6:50 left, Malvern claimed a 37-35 lead. But the Quakers stormed to 16 of the next 20 points over the next four minutes and the capper was McGlinchey's trey.

Moderski, who lives on Lantern Lane, not far from Ridge Avenue and Bells Mill Road in the upper reaches of Roxborough, is unsure what kind of career he'd like to pursue.

He does know he'll miss basketball immensely.

"I love my team, and how hard everyone works," he said. "We knew what we had to do in this one, and we did it."

Give the Quakers a hand. Especially John Moderski.