Ted Silary: Duggan garners record day for Lansdale Catholic

Passing along some city high school football tidbits . . .

AT AN EARLY AGE, Pat Duggan was told by his father, Dave, he needed to do well in school if he wanted to play sports.

The kid was all ears, as evidenced by the fact he ranks No. 1 in Lansdale Catholic's senior class.

"The rankings are a known fact around school, so I get some good-natured kidding about it," Duggan said. "One of my teammates, James Ward, is also in the top 10 - No. 8, pretty sure - so that's cool, too."

Saturday, smarts very much equaled poise and production.

As the Crusaders topped O'Hara, 33-28, reeling off the final 26 points, the 5-11, 175-pound Duggan, a lefty, passed 16-for-24 for 267 yards and four touchdowns. Ward posted three of those scores and the other went to Mike Iacono.

"It wasn't an explosive comeback," said Duggan, who also plays cornerback. "It was long and slow. The defense started holding them and the offense began to click.

"Even when we were down three touchdowns, coach [Tom Kirk] was remaining calm. We never got down. Still had a good feeling. Coming into the game, O'Hara was viewed as the favorite on paper. We felt we could beat them, though, and that was why we didn't give up."

The four-TD outburst was a lifetime first for Duggan. While effective in previous games this season, his yardage high was 136 and he'd thrown for only three TDs. Two scores went to Ward (6-102), while Iacono (3-71) and Joe Pinzka (3-45) snagged one apiece.

The linemen were center Dan Pederson, guards Max Wengyn and Ian Bates, tackles Nick Albanese and Steve Snider, and tight ends Zach Talley and Michael Jester.

"It was great," Duggan said. "I was getting time and the guys were really going up for the balls."

Duggan's football life is winding down. He plans to attend a large college, likely major in civil engineering and concentrate solely on academics.

What an outrageous weekend. Wood's Andrew Guckin ran for 345 yards, West Catholic's Antwain McCollum passed for 342, Bonner-Prendergast's Colin DiGalbo passed for 332, B-P's Christian Summers tied the city record with four TD catches, Gratz rang up 62 points vs. Boys' Latin, Lansdale (vs. O'Hara) and Conwell-Egan (vs. Neumann-Goretti) rallied from three-TD deficits and Imhotep's Brandon Chatmon scored on an interception non-return (he caught a desperation shovel pass at the very back of the end zone) . . . Oh, and let's not forget this: Carroll scored 23 points in 48 seconds vs. McDevitt. Sal Bello passed 25 yards to Christian Ritter; Evan Harvey returned an interception 33 yards; Ryan Boornazian tackled the punter (bad snap) for a safety; Steffen Ramondo returned the free kick (a kickoff) 65 yards and Max Frederick hit three extra points . . . Or this: Roman had a difference of 46 yards in kickoff return TDs vs. Judge - William Fuller 97 with a regular, Chris Cruz 51 with an onside . . . Or this: Germantown's Shaquil Jones picked off a pass in the end zone and began a return. The ball popped loose and Southern's T.J. Thompkins recovered for a TD . . .

Mastery North's Jermaine Norris and Roxborough's Isaiah King boast seven interceptions apiece . . . Shortly before the Del-Val/Prep Charter Pub AA semi began, there were more refs on the field (10, counting a chain crew) than people (eight) in PC's stands . . . The game featured more picks (six) than catches (four) . . . This season, PC's Anthony Wyche has scored via rush, reception, returns of kickoff and fumble, fumble recovery, conversion run . . . C-E was penalized 5 yards vs. N-G because Kyle Techtmann handed the ball forward to Tim Bolton to start a double-reverse sequence on a kickoff return . . .

Against University City, Nadir Hudson hammered what was only the fifth PAT in Fels' 8-year grid history. The game was played at West Philly, and the ball hit the second story of a house across Locust Street. Alas, a penalty wiped it out. He mis-hit the rerun attempt and a later kick was blocked . . . An adult woman did not like a call against UC and yelled at the ref, "What are you doin', ref?! Hangin' with the Republicans?!" . . . St. Joseph's Prep's Tim Rafter and O'Hara's J Kraiza (yes, his first name is just a letter) and Andrew Houtmann are first cousins. Their grandfather, John McGrory, was the coach at St. Francis of Assisi, in Springfield (Delco), through most of the 1970s and '80s.