August 23

Friday dawned under bleak and dreary conditions, by afternoon the rain had moved on and the clouds broke allowing the sun to make a cameo appearance. In the evening I was at McCaskey for the opening week of high school football season. When I was in school the athletic seasons didn't start until school itself was back in session and that never happened until the week of Labor Day. The JPM  football program has not seen much success in recent years, since the last postseason appearance in 2010 the club has played to a .275 winning percentage (22-58). The operation has a new head coach in 2019, his name is Sam London and he comes to JPM from Lincoln University (in southern Chester County, about thirty miles southeast of Lancaster) where he was an assistant football coach and recruiting coordinator. It takes any new coach time to put in a new system and on this night that was in evidence, visiting Red Lion (from York County) scored early and often taking a 39-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. The entire second half was played under the running-clock mercy rule, Red Lion never scored again but there was little need. The Red Tornado got on the board in the fourth quarter on a 47-yard fumble recovery/return by Ben Desmarais, in the closing minutes Bassir Epps ran twenty-three yards for a score bringing the final to 39-14 (placekicker Sam Hershey was 2-2 in the PAT department). The club plays six home games in 2019 (making up for having only four at home in '18), they host York on the 30th. Take care, thanks for reading.