September 1-4

Friday night, Labor Day weekend: at McCaskey for the start of my 35th year on the mic for JPM football. I couldn't help but be reminded how I once worked elsewhere for thirty-five years at a professional (albeit minor league) level before it was ruined by ego and arrogance. That was a seventy-game season in the summer as opposed to a five-game high school season but the difference is that at McCaskey my efforts have always been appreciated and never taken for granted. The Red Tornado began its season with a win on the road on August 27, on this night Elizabethtown visited for a non-league game (interesting terminology: games against divisional opponents are called "league" games, those against non-divisional opposition are "non-league" even if the team is actually a member of The League itself. The L-L League has thirty-seven teams for football, there are five divisions aligned by enrollment and E-Town is in what is creatively called "Section III"). Ben Thompson is back for his second year as head coach looking to improve on the team's 2-8 record in 2021 but this night showed that there is still a lot of work to do, E-Town led early 14-0 and was never seriously challenged enroute to a 50-21 decision. JPM scored twice on carries by Josh Monzon (three yards) and Andres Rivera (one yard), Quimeak Talton returned a kickoff for a 73-yard TD and placekicker Liam Cox went three-for-three in the extra-point department. Offensively there were some good signs but the defense struggled badly all night long, E-Town did just about anything they wanted. The club stays at home for week #3 and a date with Cedar Cliff, a true "non-league" opponent from the Harrisburg-area. Take care, thanks for reading.