Wood, Prep are in the spotlight

THE GUY addressing Archbishop Wood High's football team a couple of weeks back certainly looked like coach Steve Devlin. Sounded like him, too.

Early in the process, though, two-way star Colin Thompson knew something was different.

"Coach Devlin is really good at hiding his emotions," said the 6-5, 255-pound Thompson, a tight end, defensive tackle and University of Florida commit. "But this time, he was grinnin' and smilin'."

Reason: Devlin had wonderful news to announce. The Vikings would soon be playing on national television!

"As soon as we came out of that meeting, we were all on Facebook and Twitter, spreading the news," Thompson said. "When you think about it, it's so exciting. We've been talking about it ever since."

While Week 1 of every high school football season is noteworthy, 2011's is offering a double dose of special occasions.

At 2 p.m. Sunday at Gateway High in suburban Pittsburgh, Wood (Class AAA) will meet Pittsburgh Central Catholic (AAAA) in a clash of Pennsy bigwigs to be shown on ESPN2. But first, Saturday at noon at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High, St. Joseph's Prep will host St. Marguerite d'Youville, of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

Yes, Canada.

"We got that straight right away," Gabe Infante, the Prep's coach, said with a laugh. "They know we play with four downs down here."

Infante said d'Youville, as it's commonly called, popped onto the schedule in crazy fashion. Originally, the Hawks, who feature Penn State-bound quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg (son of Marty, the Eagles' offensive coordinator), were going to open the season in Florida against Christopher Columbus, of Miami. The sponsoring company folded, however, and the schools could not mesh thereafter.

"After that, we could not find a game," Infante said. "Trust me, it was a pain in the butt. I was on state association websites from Vermont to Virginia, then out to Ohio and Illinois, looking for a game. On the Internet every night. Sent out 40-plus emails.

"Finally, a guy I knew from a school in Chicago said he could help me, and from there, I was getting the call from Canada [in early spring]."

Athletic director Jim Murray said that the Prep is paying d'Youville's bus-rental costs (the Prep's will be reimbursed next week for a trip to Navy to play Gonzaga, of Washington, D.C.) and that the players and coaches are staying in a hotel near P-W. Also, the Prep is hosting a dinner tonight.

"They said it's a 58-passenger bus and they're bringing 38 players and something like five to six coaches," Murray said. "Not sure how many fans might come down. We're playing at noon, so they won't get back to Canada too, too late.

"We're lucky this opportunity surfaced. We were scrambling, scrambling, scrambling. Pretty much to the point where it was, 'Guess we won't have a game for Week 1.' "

D'Youville boasts a strong athletic program (in addition to the usual sports, it offers archery, badminton, curling and separate rugby teams for boys and girls) and is coming off a championship football season.

"They're ambitious," Infante said. "I'm sure they have a little chip on their shoulder about American football. I've seen some tape. They've got athletes. Guys who can run. It'll be interesting."

Ditto for Wood-PCC.

Before assuming command at Wood for the '07 season, Devlin was a chief assistant under ex-Prep coach Gil Brooks. In '04, also at Gateway, the Hawks opened their season against PCC and fell by 38-12, waving bye-bye to a city-record, 35-game winning streak.

Devlin at first thought Wood's opponent for this one would be Thomas Jefferson, also a AAA toughie. But that changed, and so did the date.

"ESPN asked if we could play it on Sunday," Devlin said. "Terry Smith, Gateway's coach/AD, said he would help us any way he could, so I really have to thank him."

(Last fall, for the first time in pretty much forever, not one Philadelphia scholastic game was played on a Sunday.)

The Vikings will bus to western Pennsylvania Saturday morning, then practice at night.

"This will be a very tough opener," Devlin said. "But it'll show us where we stand, and I like that. It's great for the kids. A game on ESPN! They'll have the DVD 20 years from now and be able to relive everything."

Devlin said that he forwarded head shots of all players and coaches to ESPN and that the players were required to fill out three-page questionnaires.

"The guys were talking about how they'd try to make theirs funny and interesting," Thompson said. "I was going to put down my grade-point average as 4.0. But then I said, 'Nah, can't do that 'cause it's not the truth.' "

Thompson said as many as 20 family members will be making the trip, as will best buddy John Shulby, who has Down syndrome; the two met while attending Holicong Middle School in the Central Bucks district.

"He's as excited as I am," Thompson said. "I mean, this is our chance to make a national splash."

Shortly after the on-TV announcement was made, Thompson received an email from one of Florida's recruiting coordinators.

"He said they'll all be watching my first opportunity to play on ESPN," he said. "That 'first' part hit me, because in college, hopefully, I'll get to play a lot on ESPN. To think about that is exciting, but for now I'm only concerned with this one.

"It's very cool to know I'll be sharing this with 70 guys I'm close to."