La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1992 Game 1, September 11, 1992: La Salle 14 – Plymouth-Whitemarsh 13 by Beth Onufrak, Inquirer Explorers Come Back To Edge Past The Colonials Dazed from a hit in the first half, La Salle senior quarterback Sean McDermott returned to the lineup in the third quarter Friday, only to have his jersey ripped off his back. By the fourth quarter, McDermott had finally been rewarded for his trials, as he led the Explorers to a 14- 13 comeback victory over Plymouth-Whitemarsh at the Colonials' field. "I just landed on my head and got knocked out," McDermott said of his injury in the first half. "I felt good at halftime. The trainer said it was up to me. I know it's the beginning of the season, but I felt like I could come back. I wanted to prove that I was a leader, so I came back, and it turned out good." The Colonials were leading 13-0 - they scored all their points in the first half - when the Explorers found their offense with a little help from their special teams. McDermott led the offense onto the field for the first possession of the fourth quarter after the special teams had forced one of a series of bad punts. That was on the Colonials' 32. Seven plays later, on fourth and goal, McDermott threw over the top to score the Explorers' first touchdown. Joel Klock added the extra point to close the score to 13-7, with 8 minutes, 53 seconds to play. Pressure from a rejuvenated Explorers' defense held the Colonials on their next possession, forcing another punt. McDermott fielded the punt at his own 44-yard line and raced 53 yards to set up another touchdown. McDermott took the ball in for a 2-yard run with 3:50 remaining. Another Klock kick put the Explorers ahead, 14-13. "I think the story of the game was our kicking game. Our punting game was terrible," said Colonials coach Joe Iacovitti. The Colonials' offense, which had been dominant in the first half and dormant through much of the second, began a quick drive down the field. Under the direction of senior quarterback Jason Borusiewicz, the Colonials moved from their own 24-yard line 51 yards to the Explorers' 25 in just 2 minutes. Borusiewicz completed four passes on the drive before being intercepted by Chad Ormond with 1:23 to play. The Colonials had opened the scoring on an 80-yard, 11-play drive on their first possession. Junior running back Matt Matheson, who finished the game with 74 yards rushing, capped the drive with a 4- yard run. Steve Clement added the extra point to give the Colonials a 7-0 lead. The Colonials scored again with 5:50 to play in the first half on a Borusiewicz 41-yard pass to senior split end Sonny Jones. Sandwiched by defenders Bill Sellers and Brian Carmody, Jones out-leaped the pair and ran to the end zone. Clement's kick was wide, leaving the score 13-0. "They are the mirror image of our team," Explorers coach Joe Colistra said of the Colonials' man-in- motion offense. "They gave us some of our own medicine. We do it in practice all the time with our offense and our defense can't handle it. They can't adjust as quickly as we want them to do." Borusiewicz completed 9 of 13 pass attempts in the first half for 136 yards and finished the game at 15- of-20 for 187 yards. "(The Colonials') offense wasn't nearly as effective in the second half," Iacovitti said. "I think field position played a part." 1 La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1992 Senior running back Bill Tatar rushed for 108 yards for the Explorers, with 58 yards coming on a run as his team tried to run out the clock to end the game. The Explorers play at Holy Cross in New Jersey on Saturday in a nonleague game. The Colonials host Hatboro-Horsham on Friday. Game 2, September 19, 1992: Holy Cross NJ 34 – La Salle 0 by Marc Narducci, Inquirer A Hard Lesson To Toughen Lancers For League Play La Salle High football coach Joe Colistra is an eternal optimist. Even after the Explorers had been trounced by host Holy Cross, 34-0, on Saturday, Colistra had no regrets about playing the defending South Jersey Parochial A champions. His reasoning: Competing against a team such as the Lancers will harden the Explorers for the rigors of Catholic League North play, which begins this week against North Catholic. "I'm happy we played them," said Colistra, whose team dropped to 1-1. ''Games like this get you ready for league play. And the good thing is that it wasn't a league game. In a game like this, you find out a lot about your team." And what did he discover about the Explorers? "That we lost this game in the weight room," said Colistra. "Holy Cross was so much stronger than we were. They weren't much faster, but I was surprised how strong they were." And at least Colistra can take consolation in the fact that any team he faces in the future probably won't measure up to the Lancers (1-0), who were The Inquirer's No. 1 team in South Jersey last year and began this season No. 3. "I hope we don't face a team as good as Holy Cross," he said, forcing a smile. Holy Cross was playing its first game under new coach Tom Maderia, who replaced former Phillies and local South Jersey hero Greg Luzinski, who did not leave the cupboard bare for his successor. The Lancers took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in 7 plays. Matt Taylor, a bullish 5-foot, 11- inch, 185-pound senior, finished the drive with a 4-yard run. It was the first of four touchdowns for Taylor, who also rushed for more yards (152 in 16 carries) than La Salle had total yards from scrimmage all day (110). On the ensuing series, the Explorers drove deep into Lancers territory, getting a first down at the Holy Cross 19 before destructing. On the next three plays, La Salle suffered two quarterback sacks and a fumble that Holy Cross recovered at its 49-yard line. From that point, the Explorers would only cross midfield once, and that came on the final drive of the contest. Even if La Salle had scored on that crucial first possession, Colistra didn't figure that the game's outcome would have changed. "I'd like to say 'Yes, if we scored it might have given us the momentum we needed,'" he said, "but I don't think so." Holy Cross scored on its first four possessions, putting the game away with a 27-0 halftime lead. The Lancers' offensive line, which averaged 245 pounds, continually dominated the line of scrimmage, helping the Lancers outgain La Salle, 326 yards to 110. 2 La Salle College High School Football: Chronicle 1992 "For some reason, we just came out flat," said La Salle's 6-5, 245-pound senior defensive lineman, Mike Flanagan, who performed well in defeat. "We practiced hard all week, but for some reason, we weren't playing together. We were getting good hits on 33 (Taylor), but we weren't bringing him down." Against Holy Cross, Colistra went to an almost exclusive two-platoon system, with the exception of quarterback Sean McDermott, who also played in the secondary. The week before in La Salle's 14-13 win over Plymouth- Whitemarsh, more of the Explorers saw action both ways. It wouldn't be surprising if some of La Salle's top players, especially the linemen, once again see double duty this week against North Catholic. "We tried a lot of kids, and the good thing is that we didn't get anybody injured," said Colistra. "That is what these (nonleague) games are for. Our number-one goal is to get ready for the Catholic League season. We have a good bunch of kids and they will bounce back." Game 3, September 26, 1992: La Salle 14 – North Catholic 0 by Nick Fierro, Inquirer Explorers' Defense Shoots Down Falcons A nasty wake-up call inspired the La Salle defense against North Catholic at Frankford on Saturday morning and may also have called up a ghost of football past. The slumbering defense slowly returned to form after suffering a 34-0 shellacking at the hands of Holy Cross (N.J.) the previous week. It took the Explorers a while to rebound, as they faced a powerful Falcons ground attack in the first half of Saturday's game. With poised senior quarterback Sean McDermott directing the offense, wearing a jersey temporarily pulled out of retirement, La Salle was able to put together two touchdown drives in the second half and escape with a 14-0 Catholic League North victory in its league opener. McDermott was listed to wear No. 22 to start the season, but the number was torn off during La Salle's season-opening 14-13 victory over Plymouth- Whitemarsh. The jersey still had not been mended. So McDermott has been wearing No. 10 - the number previously worn by former league MVP Jack Stanczak - ever since. Stanczak led the football team to a Northern Division championship in 1988, graduated in 1989, turned down an offer by the Houston Astros to play professional baseball and is now playing baseball at Villanova.