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Roman's rough ride followed by easy win over Chestnut Hill Academy

Good thing the game wasn't as much of an uphill battle as the journey.

Good thing the game wasn't as much of an uphill battle as the journey.

For Roman Catholic High's football players, getting thrown for one loop a day is more than enough.

Coach Joe McCourt had one of those uh-oh feelings when the driver of the Cahillites' team bus told him beforehand that something was wrong with the vehicle and that 30 mph would be the top achievable speed from downtown to Chestnut Hill Academy.

Red signs with big, white letters mean stop. Sometimes, so do inferior buses.

"We were going up Green Lane [in Manayunk] and the bus just came to a complete stop," said Jack Gallagher, a 6-3, 225-pound senior defensive end.

As in, the combination of the players' weight and the angle of the hill was too much.

"We all had to get off and walk uphill about three blocks before we could get back on," Gallagher added. "I was in the very last row, in the same seat where I always am; it's a good-luck thing. The equipment was in the [aisle]. Guys were jumping over the equipment. Hopping over the seats. Scrambling to get off. Everybody was yelling."

Hmm. Sounds as if the guys were fearful that the bus' brakes would give out, and that it was going to roll back down the hill.

"I don't get scared of anything," Gallagher said, quickly dismissing that notion. "But yeah, yeah, yeah . . . "

Potential disaster did cross guys' minds.

As for Thursday's game, a non-league contest played largely in spotty rain over the final 26 minutes, Roman captured a win by 35-10.

Among the contributions for Gallagher, who's drawing interest from Temple (he'll be a guest at this week's game), Stony Brook, Monmouth and Akron, were two sacks, a tackle for loss on a shovel pass, and a fumble recovery to set up Roman's second touchdown.

"I was just trying to make a statement for the defensive ends, and the defense in general," Gallagher said. "The defensive line, especially, hadn't played too great in our first couple games.

"I wanted to prove that I can be the player that everyone wants me to be . . . And it was just a great defensive performance overall, I feel."

Roman's first score, 4 minutes, 32 seconds into the contest, was a 38-yard, left-side fade from Michael Keir to Michael Boccelli. Gallagher made his recovery late in the first quarter when a handoff from Danny Gallagher (no relation) to Bobby Keyes found grass instead of belly.

Keir hit William Fuller for 21 yards, then Marcus Kelly, with a block from receiver Dennis Regan, had no trouble running 16 yards to the end zone.

Flash to the end of the second quarter. Jack Gallagher rocked Keyes for a 1-yard loss on the shovel pass, then dropped Danny Gallagher for an 8-yard loss. The QB toughed out 13 yards on a keeper before Christian Guinan pounded a 44-yard field goal for CHA at 0:03.

"That [ticked] me off," Roman's Gallagher said. "I really wanted a shutout today."

He also wanted to be on the field at the end of the game "so we wouldn't give up a touchdown. I wish they would have kept us in."

Instead, with both teams' second units participating, Michael Hayes hit Jamie Young for a 20-yard score at 1:10.

Jack Gallagher, a linebacker upon entering Roman, is in his fourth year at defensive end.

"They moved me, because I had a lot of speed coming off the edge," he said. "I've really worked, thanks to hard drills in practice, to keep those pass-rush skills going."

The Cahillites' four-man line also featured end Jack Schanz and tackles Tyrone Brown and Corey Bronson. Dan Pellicciotti looked good at linebacker, while Regan, at safety, intercepted a pass (tipped it to himself with his left hand) and forced a fumble (recovery to teammate Chris Cruz).

With his 16-yard TD, meanwhile, Kelly was juuuuust gettin' started. He added 80- and 72-yard scores in the second half and finished with 209 on 12 totes. A second TD toss from Keir (6-for-12, 125) went to Fuller (4-74); they're both sophomores.

D. Gallagher passed 5-for-15 for 102 yards, and Cedric Madden turned 18 carries into 67 yards.

J. Gallagher, who lives near Edgemont and Huntingdon in Fishtown, envisions selling insurance, in part because an uncle has that job and enjoys it.

"I want something where I can wear a suit every day," he said. "I don't want to have to work outside in the hot weather."

Or make any more mad scrambles off shoddy buses.

"Later in the trip, the bus was fluttering," he said. "It was like,'Don't tell me . . . ' " *