The Football Reunion Part 2

The Football Reunion Part 2

The Stories Go Late Into The Night

By Jack Coll

     Rob Masroeni and his team-mate Jerry Porrecca from the class of 1971 were at the Archbishop Kennedy/St. Matthew’s Football Reunion held at the Great American Pub back on January 30.  A host of 1972 grads who played in the fall of 1971 had a lot of stories to tell, along with a little catching up.  Gary Bello, Larry Bowe, and Frank Butera were seen bouncing around the room throughout the night.  Michael Cannistraci, Tommy O’Connor, Mike DePallo, Al Marinari, John Matkowski, Greg Moore, Bruce Quinn, Mark Rambo, Bob Shaffer and Dan Sheedy were all present.  I couldn’t help but notice that most of these guys never left the bar area for the four hours of gossip, I’m not sure if that little fact reflects on how things were played out in 1972 when they were teenagers or a skill they developed over the years.

     As my eyes scanned the room of more than 200 ex-football players I thought I would see more guys from the 1988 team.  I noticed Mike Kane and Rob Sassi, I’m not sure if Barry Doganieri was part of that team.  The 1988 Kennedy football team had to be one of the most puzzling teams that I ever witnessed play a season on the gridiron.  That 1988 squad had more talent than any team I’ve ever witnessed on a football field.  I certainly don’t remember all of them but if memory serves me correct, let’s see if I can name a few.  There was Joe Hendrazk and Brian Turtle, (They might have been soph’s at the time) Joe Simpson was a pretty good ball player, Steve Koczur, Phil Braun, Joe Paul, a young Tommy Zadroga, Joe Seaner, Mark Lewis, Garret Carr was also a pretty good player.

     I also remember Jason Januzelli, Alan Greidus, Frank Henry, Mike Schultz, Steve Novelli, Ronnie Keaser, Scottie Leflar, Joe Carracappa, Jason Budroni, and a host of other talent, I thought for sure these guys would tear up the league but it seemed like every team they faced  were ready for them.  The team went 4-6 that year, some said it was a disappointing season, in the world of high school football there was nothing disappointing about it.

     The team certainly bounced back in the fall of 1989 with a 7-3 season good enough for the Bicentennial League Championship that year.  Guys like McGovern, Novelli, Keaser, Helverson, Carr, Bockrath, Greidus, Leflar, Totaro and Zadroga helped the team to the championship.

     I recognized a couple of guys at the reunion from the fall of 1984 and I don’t have the records in front of me but I think they had a pretty good season.  Felix McKeough looked like he could still strap on the pads, so did Mark Streeper.  Wade King, Chris Lohin, Bobby Blazczak, Andy DiPasquale, and I didn’t get a chance to say hello to Fran Tomlinson but he was there, and I didn’t see him but I’m told that Jimmy Borkowski was also in the room.

     It seemed like everywhere I looked in the Great American Pub Ballroom I noticed guys who played in the 1970’s. While I don’t know or remember all the years I saw Mike Connor, Dom D’Addona, Marty Eckert, Dominick Coccia, (I wonder who let Dom out of the office during tax season.)  Someone told me Phil Mascio was in the room but I didn’t see him, Ralph Pettine, Harvey McCloskey, Jim Braun, John Conboy, Dan Ferris, Glenn Hoy, Jack Irwin, Vince Krout and Joe Radazewski were all seen roaming the room with a pocketful of tales from yesteryear with them.

     I gotta tell ya I really enjoyed watching and writing about the 1991 team, overall they posted a 5-5 record but they beat Morrisville in the fog, played a mud bowl in Springfield, and beat Kenrick 9-6 giving Chris Bockrath his 100^th victory at the high school coaching level, and the fight after the game wasn’t bad either, that’s right, the Kennedy players kicked their ass.

     I noticed Andrew Guano, Brian Coll and Kevin Flanagan standing in a corner at the reunion.  The team had a lot of talented guys including Craig Kaminski, Jason Sedgwich, Michael Blaszczak, Chris Specca, (Specca hit like a tank) Tom Henry, Mike DeLucca, Jerry Melusky, Sean Harper, Mike DeRosier, Paul Marker, Joe Schreiber, Kenny Young, Marc DeStefano, Steve Lepak, Brian Hendrzak, Michael Johnson and I have to mention Dave Carrol, who took the field against Lower Moreland and was the star of the game in the 43-7 Saints victory.

     A handful of other players from the 1990’s were on hand including Mike DellaPorta, J.J Brzowzowski, My Man Ray Jones, who spent a good portion of the evening inspecting the base of the toilet bowl, just checking out the Great American Pub plumbing.  Jones’s buddy, Steve Obrimski, I asked him for an autograph, I thought it was ZZ Top looking for the Spectrum, I thought he lost his way.  I’m not sure if I mentioned Jason Leflar, if I did he’s worth mentioning again, how about Brian Turtle, and Rich Pownall, it was good to see all those guys including ZZ Top.

     Before we close out until next week I would like to mention a few more guys from the 1970’s that were at the grand reunion including Mike Getzfread, Pat Testa, Kevin Brown, Tom Connor, Bill Gambone, Wayne Champagne, Kevin Gavin, Al Russo, Paul Gale, Jeff Stanley, Dennis O’Brien, Tom Whalon, and Tom Canning.

     If I didn’t mention a few names from the great 1980’s teams I know I would catch a lot of crap and quite a few of the guys from the championship teams of the 80’s were present.  I did see Donald Moore near the end of the night, he was from the class of 1982 hanging out with a few other 82 grads including John Brady, Keith Champagne, Mike Ratoskey, Rich Zadroga, and Kip Kelly.  There were a few guys from 1983 and 1984 including John Boudreau, Billy Freas, Mike Giongo, Mike Barattucci, John Capizzi, John Catania, Gerry Davis, Rob Henry, John Staudenmayer, and Anthony Venezia.

     While I mentioned a large amount of the guys that I noticed let me say that I’m sorry for all the guys I didn’t know or didn’t mention, I looked around and saw a room full of gridiron warriors and heap praise on all of you, sorry if I didn’t get a chance to stop and chat, but it was a busy night for everyone involved and it seem like four hours just isn’t enough to catch up.

STAY TUNED FOR PART THREE OF

THE GREAT FOOTBALL REUNION

“A FEW MEMORABLE MOMENTS

FROM A FEW OF THE PLAYERS

PART FOUR

A LITTLE SOMETHING ON CHARLIE HEAVEY

AND A LITTLE SOMETHING ON CHRIS BOCKRATH