La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1996 Game 1, September 8, 1996: La Salle 28 – West Catholic 0 by Frank Bertucci, Inquirer La Salle Blanks W. Catholic In A Game Shortened By Half; The Explorers Were Leading, 28-0, When Heavy Rain Ended The Game. They Were Declared The Winners. La Salle didn't need a full game to prove it was better than West Catholic in yesterday's game at Springfield High. So when thunder roared, lightning flashed and rain fell just before the teams returned to the field for the second half, officials delayed the start of play and then determined that the field was unplayable. The game ended after a 40-minute wait. The Explorers' 28-0 lead was declared the final score. “There was a safety factor with the field conditions,'' referee Jerry McGinn said. “It's early in the season, and we don't want the kids hurt.'' In the first half, the only hurt was to West Catholic's pride. The Burrs' total offense was 3 yards; La Salle's was 146. And the Explorers' defense and special teams, in the person of safety Ed Boron, were responsible for scoring as many touchdowns - two - as the offense. Boron opened the scoring with a 32-yard return of an interception on the game's third play from scrimmage. And he ended the scoring with a 50-yard punt return with 6 minutes, 58 seconds to play in the second period. They were the senior's first varsity TDs. “I just made a simple read, and then had a couple of nice blocks,'' he said of the interception. “Last year, it seemed that every time we had an interception, there was always a clipping penalty. “The punt, I don't know where I pulled that from.'' The game wasn't totally one-sided. West Catholic's Virgil Sheppard reached the end zone on a 71-yard pass from quarterback Eric Martinson late in the second period, but a clipping penalty nullified the play. Except for that play, La Salle's defense was in fine form. The offense, meanwhile, scored on two drives, but also saw two other series end with an interception and a fumble. “This game builds confidence in the defense, but the offense wanted to try different things,'' Boron said. Junior quarterback Brett Gordon came out throwing, as he usually does, and completed 7 of 11 pass attempts for 91 yards, with a 25-yard score to Mike Durso. Gordon also connected with his favorite receiver of a year ago, Mike Mattia three times for 26 yards. In all, five Explorers caught passes. The win was the 12th straight for La Salle, the defending Catholic League champion, and somewhat eased the sting of last season's opening 34-33 loss to West. “We talked about that early in the week,'' Boron said. This week, the Explorers can talk about what they might do if they ever play a full game. Game 2, September 14, 1996: La Salle 41 – Valley Forge Mil. Acad. 0 by Adam Gusdorff, Inquirer La Salle Squelches Valley Forge, 41-0; The Explorers Held The Trojans To 112 Yards. Their QB, Brett Gordon, Threw Five Touchdown Passes. 1 La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1996 The scariest part of La Salle's 41-0 romp over Valley Forge Military Academy on Saturday was not the cool efficiency quarterback Brett Gordon displayed while leading the Explorers downfield. Nor was it the defense's earning its second straight shutout by limiting the Trojans (0-2) to 112 total yards. No, the scariest part came after the game, when coaches and players alike agreed on one thing. “We still need to improve,'' Gordon said. “There's still some confusion with personnel, and we still had some missed assignments and reads. Hopefully, when we get to the prime part of the season, everything will be working well.'' Receiver Jeff Pietrak, who caught two of Gordon's career-high five touchdown passes, and coach Joe Colistra echoed Gordon's thoughts. Overconfidence does not seem to be a problem for the Explorers (2-0), who have outscored their opponents by 69-0 in just six quarters of play. Their first game, a 28-0 win over West Catholic, was called at halftime because of rain. In their first full game, the Explorers easily overmatched the Trojans. Gordon was in midseason form, throwing passes to seven different receivers. Making his performance even more remarkable, he did not complete a single pass to Mike Mattia, who was his favorite target last year and is among the area's best receivers. “We've got a bunch of new guys out there who can catch the ball,'' Gordon said. “Everyone recognizes that people will be keying on Mike, and he'll be the first to tell you that it's great because it's a chance for three other guys to be open.'' It seemed that every time a receiver went into his pattern on Saturday, he was open. Four fumbles by the Trojans gave La Salle excellent field position, so Gordon threw for only 143 yards on 11-of-16 passing in 2 1/2 quarters of play. “That's the best passing team we'll see this year,'' Trojans coach Mike Kormor said. “I thought we stopped the run pretty well, but we didn't stop the pass as well as we needed to.'' While the Brett Gordon Aerial Show was leading the offense to five touchdowns on its first eight possessions, the defense allowed VFMA to get inside the La Salle 30 only once. Scary, indeed. Game 3, September 20, 1996: La Salle 21 – Kennedy-Kenrick 18 by Mike Sielski, Inquirer La Salle Emerges A 21-18 Winner In Air War With Kennedy-Kenrick; The Explorers' Gordon And The Wolverines' DeChurch Were Two QBs Who Passed In The Night. You couldn't have asked for a better shootout from Clint and the Duke. La Salle quarterback Brett Gordon and Kennedy-Kenrick quarterback Chris DeChurch blasted away at each other and didn't stop until the Explorers prevailed, 21-18, in a nonleague game Friday night. Gordon, a junior who stands 5-foot-9, completed 14 of 21 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, delivering the final shot midway through the fourth quarter with a 10-yard fastball to Mike Mattia. “I rolled out a lot, and that was an adjustment we made during the game,'' Gordon said. “I'm just glad Mike was open in the end zone.'' But Gordon might have been bettered by DeChurch, only 5-7 himself, who was 19 for 26 for 190 yards. He threw for one touchdown, ran for another, and completed 15 consecutive passes at one point. “Who needs professional football when you can watch a game like that?'' La Salle coach Joe Colistra asked. 2 La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1996 The Explorers (3-0), who had bludgeoned opponents by a 69-0 total in their first two games and were ranked No. 3 in the area by The Inquirer, ended the third quarter dazed, dizzied and trailing, 18-14. “I think La Salle was in shock that we came out throwing like we did,'' said coach Dan Bielli of Kennedy- Kenrick (0-3). “Everything was high-risk. If you lie back against La Salle, they'll eat you up.'' So DeChurch took risks. He threw early, often - and deep. He's “real good,'' Colistra said. “Boy, my heart was racing all night.'' On the drive after Mattia's winning catch, Bielli and his staff elected to run fullback Greg Sadowski up the gut on fourth and 1 from the La Salle 21. Sadowski was smothered behind the line of scrimmage. Despite his quarterback's dissection of La Salle's defense, Bielli refused to second-guess himself. “We thought [Sadowski] would make it,'' Bielli said. “If I had it to do again, I would make the same call.'' Game 4, September 27, 1996: La Salle 42 – Cardinal Dougherty 10 by Marcia C. Smith, Inquirer Passing Of Gordon Guides Explorers To 42-10 Triumph Behind its star quarterback, its unyielding defensive line and its ability to cool the opponent's wishful crowd, La Salle routed Cardinal Dougherty, 42-10, last night in a Catholic League North Division game at Northeast High. Everything worked for the Explorers (4-0 overall, 1-0 league) and Brett Gordon, who completed 17 of 27 passes for 194 yards and four touchdowns. Gordon took his time behind the line, scrambled out of the pocket when he needed to, and fired at his targets for frequent gains. The game was typical for the junior. As for the Cardinals (3-1, 0-1), the game will be remembered for mistakes: five costly turnovers and many expensive penalties earned out of frustration. Their trials were early lessons for the season. For the first nine minutes of the game, the Cardinals thought they could pull off an upset. “As soon as the defense was able to take the ball away from Dougherty and get our offense on, we were able to run our game,'' Explorers coach Joe Colistra said. “Until then, we seemed a little flat.'' The turning point for the Explorers came late in the first quarter, after a couple of key completions between quarterback Ryan Hamilton and Mike Prince and a ground attack led by Brett Crespina set up a 32-yard field goal by the Cardinals' Matt McDonald. The score, which capped the first drive of the game, sparked Dougherty's hope of dethroning the defending Catholic League champion and second-ranked team in this week's Southeastern Pennsylvania poll.