When I was in school (way back about a million years ago) the new year didn't start until the day after Labor Day and sporting events didn't start until the following weekend. The School District Of Lancaster was back in session on Wednesday the 20th, Friday was the first date of the new football season. The stadium at McCaskey is undergoing extensive renovations that will include a turf playing surface, as a result our good friends at Lancaster Catholic have made their facilities available for game nights. The program also has a new head coach, former JPM assistant Todd Mealy is the new man in charge. It's been a long time since the program has been relevant, Coach Mealy has previous head-coaching experience and been successful so maybe it's just a matter of giving it time. The club only won two games in 2024 and a lot was lost to graduation, on this night in Rossmere John Bartram visited from Philadelphia. This was One Ugly Game, the teams combined for 540 yards of offense but gave back 315 of it on thirty-eight total penalties. Bartram was up 20-0 in the closing moments before JPM broke the shutout on a one-yard TD carry by Quinnes Jones-Hawkins, the extra point failed bringing the final to 20-6. The club was supposed to have six home games (after hosting just four in '24) but two of them were switched because of seating concerns, the 2000-seat capacity at Crusader Stadium is about one-third of what we could accommodate at McCaskey. With it all the boys play next at LCHS on the 30th (a 10:00 kickoff vs Conestoga Valley) before a four-game road trip in September. The rest of the weekend and the following week was largely uneventful, all the better for me to recharge the internal batteries before what should be a full weekend of activity, Take care, thanks for reading.
