September 20-22

Friday nights in the fall mean high school football, on this night the Red Tornado played its fourth home game in five weeks as Warwick visited. JPM's struggles are well-documented as the program tries to find its way under a new coaching staff, on a personal level I like what the staff is doing but the results are not going to come immediately. That was on display once again on this night as the visitors ran out to a 42-0 advantage at halftime, the second half was entirely under the mercy rule. Warwick scored one extra touchdown in the second half but their shutout bid went by the boards in the closing minutes. Da'Aviance Rodriguez scored for JPM on a two-yard carry, the two-point conversion attempt failed bringing the final score to 49-6. The club reaches the season's midpoint at 0-5 by an average game-score margin of 47-10 and it's interesting to note that every game has been against an opponent undefeated at that point. The boys play six home games in 2019, the next one is on October 4 and on that night something will happen that has not since 2001: I am absent because of ice hockey in Reading. The Royals host the annual exhibition game at home forcing me to miss the football game, this happens more so during basketball season but very rarely during football. When I found out about it in July I immediately let Jon Mitchell know so he could find a substitute, he tells me we are covered so I'm sure everything will work out (although I'm sure there will be a few turned heads that night just the same). Had my lunch visit with Jenny on Saturday, the rest of the weekend was quiet which wasn't a bad thing since daytime temperatures were in the high-80s. The Atlantic League's regular season ended on Sunday, the Barnstormers finished 51-89 with a .364 winning percentage the poorest in franchise history. Over in York the Revolution finished 75-65 and clinched a postseason date with the Sugar Land Skeeters, the first two games in the best-of-five series are in Texas with game #3 in York on Friday the 27th (a possibility for me if the weather is good). Take care, thanks for reading.