At Judge, a feather in Condron's cap
Passing along some city high school football tidbits . . .
Passing along some city high school football tidbits . . .
In an era when teams often appoint four, five, even SIX captains, Eric Condron is Father Judge's one and only.
After a practice during training camp, Condron, a 6-1, 245-pound center and defensive tackle, said he was called aside by coach Tommy Coyle and told he'd be "one of the captains."
He continued. "Then, for our first game [with Northeast], he sent me out for the coin toss and I didn't see anybody walking out with me. I thought, 'This is pretty cool. I'm the only one.' We seem to be getting all the same refs. They recognize me now."
Coyle said he and his assistants unanimously voted to honor only Condron "because he's the guy who gets things done. Through the years, I guess we've had anywhere from two to five captains. This year Eric's head and shoulders above the rest."
Surprisingly, Condron is not exactly Mr. High-Volume Chatterbox.
"I don't really say much," he noted. "I lead more with how I do things on the field. When I do talk to the guys, it's just as teammates. Mostly just, 'You're playing good. Keep it going.' "
Right before the game, the Crusaders gather for a chanting session that helps them get hyped.
"I always say the first few words, then the guys repeat after me," Condron said. "Tim Mills does the last part, when everybody's going crazy and screaming."
As Condron knows, he could soon have company.
"I'd like to see somebody join me," he said. "I mean, I like the honor of being the only captain, and my parents think it's cool, too, but this [arrangement] is really surprising me. Guys like Raul [Quinones] and Matt Smalley are having good seasons . . . And we have a few more guys who'd be eligible for a captain's role."
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As Lansdale Catholic played Bonner, an assistant yelled in to a player: "Tell whatchamacallit he has to a better job of blocking!" . . . LC held a nice halftime ceremony to honor the memory of star quarterback Noell Maerz ('90), who was killed in New York City in the 9/11 attack. Twenty teammates attended. Among them was O'Hara coach Danny Algeo, son of LC coach Jim . . . Against Mastbaum, Olney likely set a city record for biggest weight differential between its kicker (Dontae Angus, 310 pounds) and punter (Valsky Auguste, 135) . . . Olney lost fumbles on six of its first seven second-half possessions. When Auguste did punt, the ball bounced off returner Frank Quiles and Olney's John Whitehead recovered . . . When it comes to kids with cool names, South Philly schools have a foot up on the competition. The 2010 Bok team had Maurice T-Toe. Now, Prep Charter has soph Marky Toe . . . Chestnut HillRoman featured Howard brothers wearing No. 55. Chris, a senior, plays both ways for Chestnut Hill. Payden, a soph, is a sub for Roman. Their parents, Chris and Gretchen, were joined by maybe a dozen relatives, all wearing special T-shirts . . . Bonner soph Michael Ockimey had two late interceptions vs. Lansdale (though one was erased by a penalty). His twin, Josh, started last year at first for Neumann-Goretti's Catholic League baseball champs . . . Some outrageous air numbers at Wood: Joey Monaghan is 19-for-22 (86.4 percent!) while Nate Smith and Kyle Adkins are averaging 35.1 and 33.8 YPC, respectively . . . CH's Jamie Young blocked two PATs and gave credit to the teaching skills of 2011 grad Brian Dones, who formerly drove him to school. Dones was a master at successful dash-and-dives. His brother, Jason, now plays for Ryan . . . After frosh Joe Holmes made four consecutive solo tackles late in Prep Charter's 66-12 destruction of Future, assistant Robert Ford yelled, "Hey, man, it looks like we're playing a 1-10 defense out there!" When Holmes failed to extend his tackle streak to five, assistant Dahnte Crawley screamed, "Come on, Joe. You gotta fight off that block!" . . . The five TD passes by Haverford School's James Chakey vs. Lawrenceville (N.J.) were the most by an Inter-Ac quarterback since Germantown Academy's Sean Grieve scorched Hun (N.J.) for a city-record seven in 2002 . . . Haverford School (56), Communications Tech (59), Prep Charter (66), Bonner (54), Wood (53) and St. Joe's Prep (51) all exceeded 50 points last weekend . . . With seven points so far, 0-3 West Catholic is in its worst drought since the final three games of 2001 (all shutouts) . . . Episcopal's Quinn Hager already boasts five field goals. The city record is 13 by GA's Greg Davis in '97 . . . There were eight interceptions in Lincoln's 19-14 win over Germantown. Three guys posted two: Lincoln's Isaiah Gonzalez; the Bears' Will Parks (Pitt commit) and Myles Brooker.