La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1990 Game 1, September 7, 1990: La Salle 21 – Upper Dublin 0 by Scott Huff, Inquirer Explorers' Powerful Defense Stifles Cardinals Imagine the awesome strength and power of Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Reggie White and the quickness and fury of Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary combined in a single defensive ballplayer. La Salle defensive ace Dave Gathman fits that description, at least on the high school level, and the junior proved it Friday night as he helped the Explorers stifle host Upper Dublin, 21-0, in a nonleague game. "We put Dave right in the middle of our defense as either a nose tackle or a middle linebacker," said La Salle coach Joe Colistra. "There is absolutely no way that teams are going to be able to run away from him. "The strength of this football team is our defense, and the strength of our defense is Dave. He's only a junior, but he started for us last season as a sophomore, and he is a leader on the field." The imposing Gathman, who stands 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 205 pounds, intimidated the Flying Cardinals offense into a woeful performance - just 2 first downs, 46 yards total offense and a meager 1.4 yard average per play. "Dave had an excellent game, but then I thought the entire defense had an outstanding game," Colistra said. "Our defense is both very physical and very experienced. And it is in our game plan to play both tough and smart." Also gaining rave defensive reviews was the senior front four of Craig Fitzgerald, Vince Galzerano, Matt Romano and Keith Conlin. The line averages 6-4 and 226 pounds, led by Conlin at 6-8 and 265. The Explorers also had an active day from their outside linebackers, senior Kevin Schmidt and junior Craig Pensabene. The longest gain on a Cardinals rushing play was 4 yards, and the secondary limited UD to 39 yards passing. While the La Salle defense squelched an overmatched Cardinals offense, the Explorers' offense generated enough to win the game comfortably. La Salle scored its first touchdown on an 11-play, 48-yard drive that began at the close of the first quarter and culminated at 9:31 of the second. Key in the drive was the running of junior fullback Steve Cook, who led all rushers in the game with 73 yards on 22 carries. He ran the ball on the final 3 plays of the drive, scoring on a 6-yard run. Senior Jamie Earton, kicked the first of his three extra points. La Salle took the 7-0 lead into the locker room at the half. "Steve ran the same off-tackle play 3 times in a row," said Colistra. ''Our feeling there was to run the play until they stop it. Sometimes the game can become very simple." What wasn't as simple was Colistra's decision to start Cook. Junior Mitch Sava had battled Cook for the fullback job all during summer training camp, but a season-ending knee injury to Sava near the end of camp ended the battle. "We are going to give Mitch the game ball," said Colistra. "It was a shame to see his season end like that." La Salle posted a pair of touchdowns in the second half to ice the win. 1 La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1990 The Explorers scored a third-period touchdown when senior quarterback Joe McNichol threw an 11-yard pass to senior split end Steve Strohecker. The final score came in the fourth period, when senior running back Keith Tornetta scored on a 14-yard run. "In a game like this one, it's hard for me to see anything but the progress of my team," Colistra said. "I thought we played hard and I thought we played well. Upper Dublin is a class program, and they are well-coached. It was a good experience for my football team to play a team like Upper Dublin." Game 2, September 15, 1990: Central Bucks East 28 – La Salle 12 by Joe Ferry, Inquirer Patriots Overwhelm Explorers Central Bucks East coach Larry Greene is not ready to anoint his team as a PIAA playoff contender. At least, not yet. But the Patriots took a big step in that direction Saturday night when they dominated defending La Salle, the Philadelphia Catholic League Northern Division champion, 28-12, in a nonleague contest in Doylestown. "We have to do it again next week," said Greene, whose team is scheduled to open the Suburban One National Colonial Division season against Council Rock on Saturday. "We beat one champion tonight, and we have to play another one next week." The Pats did just about everything right in running their nonleague record to 3-0. Senior quarterback Mike Morelli threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another. Tailbacks Ray Crawley and Brian Titus keyed a ground game that accounted for 222 yards and controlled the clock. And the defense was overwhelming, holding the Explorers to only 154 yards in total offense. "Morelli played an almost flawless game," Greene said. "He has improved tremendously since his junior year. I give a lot of credit to his maturity and his off-season work." Morelli, who connected on 7 of 11 passes for 101 yards, twice hooked up with split end Brian Penecale for touchdowns. The first was a 7-yard strike in the opening quarter. The other was a 24-yard floater with 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the third quarter, which gave the Pats a 21-6 lead. Penecale, a 6- foot, 2- inch junior, leaped high in the air to snatch the ball over a pair of La Salle defenders in the corner of the end zone. Between the two scoring passes, Morelli engineered an 11-play, 76-yard touchdown drive. He accounted for the score with a 1-yard sneak. The biggest defensive play of the game occurred early in the third quarter with the Pats ahead, 15-6. La Salle, which scored late in the first half on a 2-yard run by senior running back Chad Stowe (47 yards on 13 carries), was at midfield when quarterback Joe McNichol tried a pass over the middle. But senior linebacker Ed Wess made a spectacular one-handed interception to squelch that threat. Both coaches agreed that Wess' theft was probably the turning point in the game. East went right down and scored on the second Morelli-to-Penecale pass to take firm control. La Salle did manage to trim its deficit to 21-12 with 7:05 left to play when junior Max Guevera (94 yards on 16 carries) ran 14 yards for a score. But on East's first play after the score, Titus turned the corner and sprinted 61 yards for a touchdown, which put the game out of reach. Titus, who finished the night with 83 yards on 6 carries, was in the game to replace Ray Crawley, who had 98 yards on 19 carries before suffering a leg injury in the fourth quarter. 2 La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1990 The Explorers got a scare in the third quarter when 6-8, 265-pound senior defensive end Keith Conlin and senior running back Keith Tornetta went down with leg injuries. Tornetta eventually returned to the game, but Conlin hobbled off the field afterward on crutches. "He got banged on the knee," said Explorers coach Joe Colistra. "But we don't think there is any serious damage." Colistra downplayed the significance of La Salle's first loss of the season after opening with a 21-0 win over Upper Dublin. The Explorers are scheduled to open the Philadelphia Catholic League Northern Division season next week against North Catholic. "It was a good practice for us," the coach said. "Next week is what is important. That's when we have to win." Game 3, September 21, 1990: La Salle 7 – North Catholic 6 by Frank Fitzpatrick, Inquirer Falcons Lose Heartbreaker To Explorers North Catholic coach Bob Kaupp knew that if his Falcons were going to win their Catholic North opener against La Salle on Friday, they were going to have to beat more than the defending league champions. They were going to have to overcome the ghosts of North's recent football past. "For most of the last 25 years, this has been a mediocre program," North's second-year coach said. "They loved to play football here, but they never cared much about winning. At some point, these kids have to start believing in themselves. They have to start beating the La Salles, the McDevitts." Maybe the Falcons (0-2-1, 0-1) will get over that hump against McDevitt on Nov. 3. But Friday, despite outplaying the much-larger Explorers (2-1, 1-0) for most of their game at Northeast High, the Falcons - as Kaupp had feared - found a way to beat themselves and ended up on the short end of a heartbreaking 7- 6 defeat. "North Catholic is a rough, tough, physical team that is well-coached and obviously came to play," La Salle coach Joe Colistra said. "It wasn't a great game to watch, but it was what we anticipated - a real Catholic League war." Leading, 6-0, after Steve Wendt's 27-yard run on a counter play with 9 minutes, 54 seconds left in the first half, the Falcons turned into losers during a 5-minute stretch late in the third and early in the fourth period.