La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect

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1 La Salle College High School Football: In Retrospect NOTE: This is the eighteenth of, I hope, many retrospectives highlighting some unique history of the football program at La Salle. The topics to discuss seem endless at this time. Hope you enjoy these. Bill Wasylenko, 69 Issue Number Eighteen: The Friar-Explorer Rivalry On January 6, 2012, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced the closing of Monsignor Bonner High School, among other schools. This Retrospect was written with that closing in mind; however, on February 24, 2012, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced that Bonner and Prendergast will remain open. At this update, no additional games between the Friars and the Explorers have been played, but hopefully this great rivalry will arise again someday. The Beginning This isn t meant to be a comprehensive history of the school, but Bonner didn t start out as Bonner!! The school opened as Archbishop Prendergast High School for Boys in The fledgling freshmen played football in the school s rookie season, and handled themselves quite well against La Salle s plebes in a game on October 31, The Friar frosh were coached by ex-eagle Jack Ferrante, and they defeated a previously unbeaten La Salle freshman team, one that would be a vital part of the 1955 unbeaten Catholic League champions. Though it may not have been in this year of 1953, one day Ferrante appeared with a trunkful of green and white uniforms for his new team to wear. Just a coincidence that his new team had the same color combination as his former pro team!! Within a couple of years, a new school was built adjacent to the existing school, and the boys moved into the new Monsignor Bonner High School, in honor of Monsignor John Bonner, who taught at (Roman) Catholic High School, and who was a guiding light in the formation of the Philadelphia Catholic League in 1920.

2 Bonner was not officially in the Catholic League until 1956, but Ferrante had built his team to be instantly competitive, a real fighting bunch, and the Friars notched a league record in La Salle played Bonner in the 7 th game of the season, and the Explorers held on to win 26-20, as Johnny Herrera and Eddie Dever each scored two touchdowns. The Friars also played.500 league ball in 1957; La Salle handled them again, 26-7 in Villanova Stadium, as the Cuban Flash Johnny Herrera scored three touchdowns and kicked two extra points in the midst of the perfect 1957 season. But Bonner was on its way up, and they proved to be the Explorers toughest rival in the late 50 s and early 60 s. Joe McNichol leaving Friars in the dust in 1958 La Salle opened their 1958 season with a 14-0 whitewash of Monsignor Bonner, but the Friars came home with their first winning league record at 5-3-1, and were slated to contend for the Catholic League Championship in In the fourth game of that 1959 season, the Explorers continued their hex over the Friars. The Blue and Gold was nursing a 2-point lead over unbeaten Bonner in the 4 th quarter, when Joe McCarty intercepted a Friar pass and returned it to the Bonner two-yard line, where Vic Gittens slammed in for the score, making it a final But the Friars ran the table for the rest of the season, as the Explorers recovered from their opening day 22-0 loss at the hands of their brother Burrs from West Catholic, and also ran the table. Bonner and La Salle ended the season with identical records, setting up a playoff for the Catholic League Championship.

3 In front of an estimated 25,000 fans at Franklin Field, the two teams battled to a scoreless tie midway into the fourth quarter. After a La Salle drive was stopped at the Bonner nine-yard line on a fourth-and-one, Friar Russ Hendricks raced 80 yards for the game s only touchdown, and Monsignor Bonner won their first Catholic League Championship, 6-0. Bonner annihilated Central, 54-0, to win the City Title as well. The Friars just couldn t beat the Explorers in the regular season, and 1960 was no different. The Blue and Gold avenged their title game loss, pulling away from a halftime tie to defeat the Green and White, 42-24, as Ed Bogdan snagged two TD passes, and QB Ed Stranix ran it in for two scores. La Salle went on to record their fourth Catholic League Championship in 6 years, and won their 3 rd City Title as well La Salle defense stymies Bonner runner in the 1960 game 1961 started with the Explorers intent on defending their 1960 championships, and won their first 7 games. In the fourth game, they blanked Bonner, 16-0, as Frank Daniel and Ed Brennan scored first-half touchdowns, and the defense made them stand up In the shutout. But La Salle lost a league game to West Catholic, and a non-league game against Neshaminy, and, like two years ago in 1959, they again shared first place with Bonner with identical records, and another playoff game was required to determine the Catholic League champions. Again, the Friars prevailed, 13-6, in front of 14,000 fans at Temple Stadium, on scores by Pete Padley and Jack McIlhenny. La Salle receivers dropped no less than four potential touchdown passes from QB Frank Daniel. Bonner held off Southern, 20-13, for the City Title at Franklin Field to give retiring coach Ferrante his second City Title in three years.

4 Strange things happened in It was the last year of one-divisional play, as new schools forced the formation of Northern and Southern Divisions the following year. Monsignor Bonner was most likely to be in a rebuilding year in the Catholic League, but a funny thing happened on the way to the season: Bonner was suspended from Catholic League play for a year due to illegal practices prior to the season! La Salle easily handled the Friars in the 8 th game of the season, The intra-divisional rivalry between La Salle and Bonner then took a hiatus for 36 years until 1999, when they were once again division brethren. But 1963 saw the only Thanksgiving game between the Explorers and the Friars, as La Salle won 20-0, just 6 days after the Kennedy assassination. La Salle played a home-and-home series against Bonner to open up the seasons of 1967 and The Blue and Gold won, 24-14, in 1967, as Kevin Brett rushed for one touchdown, and caught a pass from Mike Ternosky for another. Ternosky also threw a TD pass to Mike Whitaker, and junior Joe Zaiss ran in from 30 yards for the insurance touchdown. Bonner won their first regular-season game over La Salle in 1968 by a score, as Steve Phillips scored twice in the second half to break a tie. No one could imagine that these two great rivals would not play again until Two great Monsignor Bonner players from the early years 1963 (some typos no Johnson on LS) Al Atkinson, Class of 1961 In green and white again John Cappelletti, Class of 1970 Heisman Trophy winner

5 A Dormant Rivalry for a Quarter-Century When divisional play started in the 60 s, Bonner (in the Southern Division) and La Salle (in the Northern Division) could only play each other in an early season game or a playoff or championship game. After the games early in the 1967 and 1968 seasons, no further Bonner/La Salle games were scheduled. And great seasons for the two schools became few and far between for quite a while, limiting the opportunities to play in a post-season game. Monsignor Bonner had a great season in 1972, finishing with an divisional record. But that was the year of the great St. James team, as the Bulldogs won all 12 of their games en route to a City Title. The Friars had some solid teams in the 80 s and early 90 s, but didn t match up against La Salle in any playoff action. In 1994, Monsignor Bonner won their first Catholic League Championship since 1961, as they shut out Archbishop Carroll, 21-0 at Plymouth- Whitemarsh, led by their great QB Mike Mitros, who threw his record-setting 41 st touchdown pass in that game. Stump Coyne coached that team, and one of his players was Tom Oropeza, a recent head coach of Bonner. A Return to Friar/Explorer Playoff Action In 1995, Bonner underwent a re-building year, and barely made the playoffs, garnering the last spot due to a tiebreaker. In the first round, they took on an undefeated Kennedy- Kenrick team, and upset the Wolverines, 10-7, as QB Jeff Jones scored on a one-yard run with 30 seconds to go. The second round matchup was against the Explorers, and the Friars held the Championship-bound Blue and Gold to a tie until Brett Gordon kicked a field goal, and Gordon s touchdown pass to Mike Mattia clinched the victory. Red Division Rivalry By 1999, a decision was made to eliminate the Northern/Southern divisional play, and create divisions based on school size. The Red Division housed the larger schools, and the Friars and Explorers were division-mates once again. For the nine seasons between 1999 and 2007, La Salle reverted to old habits and dominated Bonner in the regular season games, winning 8 of 9 of those games, losing only in 2001, In that season, the Friars had their most recent great year, winning 10 games while losing only two, and playing in the Red Division championship against St. Joseph s Prep; the Hawks won that game, The game in 2007 was a close one; John Harrison passed for 231 yards without the availability of his two best receivers, and the Explorers hung on for a victory.

6 Recent Years As the PIAA siren song was finally heard by the Catholic League, divisional play in 2008 was now based on the PIAA criteria of school size. La Salle was still in with the largest schools in the AAAA, or Quad A group, but Bonner had dropped to the AAA level. Despite the divisional difference, the Explorers and Friars were able to continue their rivalry for the next 4 years with non-division games. La Salle was utterly dominant in the three games between 2008 and 2010, winning by the combined score of Bonner s football program had fallen on hard times, but new coach Tom Oropeza was determined to bring the Friars back to contention despite the ominous loss of enrollment. The Most Recent Game In 2011, the Explorers were scheduled to face the Friars on Saturday night, September 24, at Upper Darby High School. Due to a week-long rain, the game was switched to the turf at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, a virtual home game for La Salle. Sean Burke s flying tackle in the 2011 game The Blue and Gold running attack was finally in high gear, as La Salle raced out to a 21-0 lead, with Tim Wade scoring two TD s. Bonner scored before the end of the half on a Jim Haley TD pass, but two Explorer scores in the third period by Tim Wade and Colin Buckley put the game out of reach. Bonner scored twice late in the game, but La Salle continued on course to a Quad A Catholic League Championship with a victory. 2011: Not The End!! Tom Oropeza was successful in his attempt to bring Bonner to a competitive level. The Friars clinched their first winning season since 2001 with a playoff win against Cardinal O Hara, 20-14, as Jim Haley passed for two touchdowns. The Friars broke a 10-game losing streak against the Lions in this game. But their next playoff game, and what could have been the final game ever, was against the Archbishop Wood juggernaut. The Vikings comfortably cruised past the Friars, 42-14, on their way to a PIAA AAA State Championship. The Monsignor Bonner Friars ended what seemed to be their final season with a record, and went out the same way that they came in back in 1956: competing and fighting to win. Jack Ferrante would have been proud. And the Friars are still alive, going 4-7 under new coach Greg Bubba Bernhardt in La Salle has dominated this rivalry, , but the Friars broke the Explorers hearts in 1959 and 1961 in the PCL Championship games. Had La Salle won those games, they would have garnered 5 consecutive PCL Championships from

7 Some Final Notes Monsignor Bonner had just three players to advance to the NFL (Al Atkinson, Anthony Becht, and John Cappelletti), but they had many notable players, including these players who were two-time first-team All-Catholics: Russ Hendricks, back, John Cappelletti, quarterback in 1968, running back in 1969 Joe Dollymore, defensive back in 1969, linebacker in 1970 Ernie Carsia, defensive lineman in Ken DeFeo, offensive lineman in Jim Chupein, punter/kicker in Fran Mitros, offensive lineman in Ed Monaghan, defensive end in 1982, linebacker in 1983, offensive lineman and defensive end in 1984 Pete Ruggieri, defensive lineman in Joe Gallagher, linebacker in Jerry Coughlin, offensive lineman in Art Serano, defensive lineman in Gene Stickley, offensive lineman in Chris Hemmert, wide receiver in Brian Morrow, offensive lineman in Tom McHugh, offensive lineman in Kevin LeSage, wide receiver/defensive back in Chris Schrader, kicker in 2001, punter in 2002 Jim Haley, defensive back in 2010, defensive back/quarterback in 2011 Coaches MVP Awards: Kevin O Sullivan, running back in 1979 Mike Mitros, quarterback in 1994 Kevin LeSage, wide receiver/defensive back in 2001 Jim Haley, quarterback/defensive back in 2011 And remember, the REAL Monsignor Bonner (Father John Bonner at the time) was one of the guiding lights in the creation of the Philadelphia Catholic League in Finally, the school has officially merged with Prendie to become Bonner-Prendergast Catholic High School, as the footballers now share a full legacy with that Prendie freshman team back in I welcome your comments, corrections, and additions. Go La Salle!! Bill Wasylenko, 69 explorerfb@gmail.com January 11, 2012, revised July 5, 2013