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O'Hara senior Cordes does it for dad

He blocks two kicks in comeback win over Bonner-Prendergast,

Mark Cordes shows off the game ball while posing with son Gabe, who had two blocked kicks in win. (Aaron Carter/ Daily News Staff)
Mark Cordes shows off the game ball while posing with son Gabe, who had two blocked kicks in win. (Aaron Carter/ Daily News Staff)Read more

GABRIEL CORDES had already blocked an extra point in regulation, but with his team trailing Bonner-Prendergast, 35-29, in overtime on Saturday afternoon, the Cardinal O'Hara senior had to do something.

With "Dad" written on the tape above his right forearm, and "Honor" scrawled on the left, one thing was on his mind.

"You have to get this," said the 17-year-old Cordes. "You got one before. You have to try again. You have to go hard or else it's over.

"When the ball was snapped I just ran my hardest, jumped over a kid and prayed to God my arm hit that ball!"

His right arm, the only one he could raise high enough, blocked the kick and gave the Lions' offense a chance, which it seized on a fourth-and-2 touchdown run by J.T. Blyden.

Steve Weyler's extra point made the final score, 36-35, and punctuated a furious 29-14 comeback that began with 8:26 left in the fourth quarter. It also sent an emotional Cordes searching for dear old dad.

"I just started freaking out," said the 6-1, 240-pound nose guard. "I don't know what happened. I ran over a couple kids and went over to hug my dad. First thing to do was just run over and see him."

Mark Cordes, 57, recently began his second bout with cancer and had been released from the hospital just 3 days prior.

The proud papa and former O'Hara and Villanova football player was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010, and said he was "clean" after doctors removed part of a lung in 2011.

However, after a fainting spell 3 weeks ago, scans revealed a small tumor in his heart.

"Ever since, it's been a rough few weeks," said Gabe, who also recorded a sack in the game. "But this just makes it feel so much better. And I know he feels 10 times better than I do right now."

Mark Cordes couldn't hold back the tears as he addressed the team after the game. Each player would later sign and present the game ball to the Cordes family patriarch.

"I have to tell you," he said, "from the bottom of my heart, from my family and my wife, this is the greatest gift I've ever received."

Saturday was Gabe's first game back after missing several weeks with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

A first-year starter, Cordes, who is also a skilled rugby player, couldn't pass up a chance to ruin a bitter rival's final regular-season home game.

When doctors told him he could have season-ending surgery but still be back in time for rugby, he quickly declined.

"Instantly, Gabe said, 'I want to play with my teammates in football. I want to finish the season,' " his father said. "As of today, he made a wise decision. We're very, very proud."

Mark, a roommate of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long at Villanova, faced a different obstacle.

Eighteen days at Lankenau Medical Center left him weak and weary, but seeing his son, who wears No. 75 because of Long, was a must-see event.

"I walked around the nurses' station every day in anticipation of being here just so I would have some kind of energy," he said. "Nothing would have dragged me away from this game. I mean, if they had to wheelchair me I was coming."

The Lions put on a show.

Blyden, a 6-foot, 205-pound senior tailback, finished with 99 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Dashawn Darden added two scores in the air and one on the ground.

Thaddius Smith caught the final touchdown of regulation with 3 seconds remaining, and Lamont Veal caught the game-tying two-point conversion.

Bonner quarterback Collin DiGalbo, who carried his team in the second half, finished with 166 yards and two scores in the air and 143 yards and another score on the ground.

However, the day belonged to the Cordes family. Older siblings Amy, 24, and Matt, 23, were in attendance along with their mother Jeanne Cordes, 57.

The family will participate in Free to Breathe Philadelphia, the 8th Annual Lung Cancer 5K Run/Walk and 1-Mile Walk on Nov. 3 in Fairmount Park.

Gabe, who owns a 3.7 GPA and an affinity for accounting, hopes to walk-on at Bloomsburg and play college football just like his dad, who he describes as "a hell of a man."

Swept by emotion, the proud son paused briefly to find the right words to describe scene.

"Ecstasy I guess," he said with a shoulder shrug. "It was all for him. Everything I did today was for him. Not for me, not for my team - it was just for him."

Wearing a navy blue Cardinal O'Hara hat with matching jacket, Mark Cordes embraced his son with tears in his eyes and pride and appreciation in his heart.

"I'll tell you," he said later, "having cancer you get a lot of pills and medicine to make your heart feel better, but those blocked kicks were the best medicine a father could have ever had."