Conwell-Egan eager to end year on high note

PASSING ALONG SOME city high school football tidbits . . .

There's one reason Conwell-Egan has waited patiently since Oct. 29 to conclude its season: It hasn't won since last Thanksgiving.

The 0-9 Eagles will visit Truman, also on the rough-going list, at 10 a.m. Thursday, and John Clark, for one, will cherish the one last chance to fly high.

"Getting this win is all we've been talking about," Clark said. "We really need it. It would mean so much to all of us, especially the seniors."

The 5-10, 170-pound Clark, having received medical clearance Friday, will line up at quarterback and safety. He tore cartilege in his right knee Oct. 23 vs. McDevitt after tearing ligaments in his right ankle Sept. 9 against Carroll.

"I first sprained the ankle in two-a-days," Clark said. "I tried to come back too quickly and hurt it again. Later, I was so excited about making it back [for three games] and then the knee thing happened. It was really throbbing. Couldn't even straighten my knee. Couldn't get out of bed to go to school.

"I wasn't allowed to practice [before Friday]. I have a knee brace. The doctor said there's minimal risk of hurting it worse, and that he understands how much I want to be out there."

Clark praised the heart of the sophomores who filled in for him at QB, Kyle Techtmann and Nick Singlar.

"Our whole team is young," he said. "We only have seven to eight seniors and three juniors. This has been such a rough year. I'm not sure how much of a difference I could have made, but at least we would have been out there together. It's hard to just watch."

Coach Kevin Kelly said the nearly 4-week layoff has felt like more like months. The Eagles scaled back to three practices per week, and only one player opted not to hang around.

"We're hoping to send the seniors out the door with a win," he said. "It would mean a lot. They were part of two pretty good teams."

Steve Wagner, following in the footsteps of his late father, John (14 years), and brother, John (2 years), went 9-1 in his first season as the coach of St. Joseph's Prep's freshman team. The Wagners have combined for 128 wins and 13 unofficial Catholic League frosh titles . . . Fels' Tyree "Bam" Rucker (six passing, one running) and Franklin's Anwar "Huddy" Mathis (four, two) accounted for 13 of the 15 TDs in the 56-46 classic finished Thursday, won by Fels . . . With 1,798 thus far, Rucker needs 78 yards vs. Frankford Thursday to replace Frankford's Warren Mays (1,875 in '69) as the Public League's most prolific one-season passer . . . Will North Catholic loyalists show up just to root against Frankford? Or maybe attend Roman-Roxborough to support the "Norphans" now with the Cahillites? . . . Fels coach Bill Harrigan said he installed the no-huddle spread offense after attending a clinic and listening to Dave Wilkerson, a junior college coach from Mississippi, extol its virtues, especially for schools with high player turnover. "Bam wasn't exactly enthralled with the idea of playing quarterback," Harrigan said. "He wanted to be a running back. Now everybody wants to be our quarterback next year" . . .

Of the 18 TDs in the three City Title games, only one was scored via a pass (a mere 3-yarder from Wood's Joey Monaghan to Andrew Guckin) . . . The scant fan support (close to nonexistent, truthfully) for Northeast and Dobbins was sad . . . Did you ever think you'd see a team coached by Drew Gordon and offensive-coordinated by his son, Brett, post two three-game stretches without a TD pass in the same season? . . . Lunacy: A supporter of a city star set up an e-mail account, pretending to be the kid's coach, and forwarded a link to a highlight video "on one of my best players." Also, I strongly suspect the guy created another fake account - he said he was a fan this time - to trash the skills of a kid who plays the same position as the kid he's trying to promote. Feel free to shake your head. For hours . . . West Catholic is the only city team with a 1,000-yard rusher in each year this century. Brandon Hollomon (1,090) made it vs. Bok. Mark Casale needs 186 vs. Malvern to allow St. Joseph's Prep to keep pace . . . John Loughery, cousin of fellow Penn Charter grad Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons), is the Inter-Ac's career passing yardage leader with 4,764. Haverford School's Bryan Savage ('04) threw for 4,250. *

Send e-mail to silaryt@phillynews.com.