August 30

Had a haircut appointment after lunch, later in the day Dick Myers and I met up at his place in Neffsville. The destination was Shirk Stadium at Albright College in Reading as the 2013 high school football season kicked off literally and figuratively. When we arrived my first stop was the press box to say hello to an old friend. Paul "Cooter" Jones does the PA there, he and I worked together during my baseball days in Berks County. He coached at Reading High for many years, I hadn't seen him since September of 2012 when he was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall Of Fame. Sometimes professional associations may end but friendships endure. On this night the McCaskey Red Tornado met Reading High in a matchup of teams that went 4-6 in 2012. In high school sports every year is a new year, for JPM it's very much a new start due to heavier than usual graduation losses. JPM scored first in the second quarter on a seven-yard run by Erder Mocombe, Connor Zahm added the PAT for a 7-0 lead. Mocombe was assisted to the sideline after his TD with an apparent injury to his right leg, he was later transferred to a local facility for further attention. Football is a game of attrition, as the game wore on several players were in need of sideline medical attention. The 7-0 lead stayed in place until the third quarter, the wheels came off as RHS scored twenty-six unanswered points to blow the game open. JPM mounted a small comeback on a TD pass from quarterback Brandon Allen to wideout Felix Trevino and a two-point conversion pass from Allen to Kamall Gantz but a late RHS TD put the punctuation mark on a 33-15 McCaskey loss. JPM plays its next three at home as York, Exeter and Wilson visit (in that order). Take care, thanks for reading.