Delaware County Olympians on exhibit April 4

The Delaware County Athletes Hall of Fame and the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum will be hosting an exhibit of Delaware County Olympians beginning on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. The exhibit will be presented by the Hall of Fame under the direction of its executive director, Joe Cirilli, and will highlight the accomplishments of the 17 Olympic Medal winners from Delaware County as well as other Olympic team members.

A special opening day ceremony of the exhibit will honor Bonner High School and West Chester University graduate Dr. Eddie Coyle, one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Delaware County. He won four Pan American gold medals, three World Championships, two Olympic gold medals and one silver. Between 1970 and 1980, he captured ten National Championships and set 23 world records. This special ceremony will be held on April 4, the opening day of the exhibit, from noon to 1 p.m. Dr. Coyle has promised to bring his Olympic Gold Medals to the opening ceremony.

The exhibit will take place at the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum at 1 Beaver Valley Road in Chadds Ford at the intersection of Routes 202 and 491. The Museum is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday. The museum is also available seven days a week for school programs, group tours, corporate meetings, special events and private parties.

For more information, contact Jim Vankoski 610-909-4919 or vankoski21@comcast.net.

SAA U-10, U-12 and U-14 teams advance to Del Val Champs

SAA U-10
Springfield 15, Brookhaven 11
The Springfield U10 team won its semi-final playoff game Sunday against Brookhaven in a defensive battle.
Liam McGuire led the team with five points. Patrick Marley Jr. added four points. Jack McCarry, Owen Sheehan both had two points. Patrick Toal added two key free throws.
Outstanding defensive and team play by Patrick McCann, Cole Sprague, Kevin Duffy, Tanner Robinson, and Chris Ringwalt.
Colin Hopkins' great steal late in the game was vital to the Springfield victory. The boys will play for the Del Val Championship Sunday March 11th against Aston at Academy Park High School.
SAA U-12
Springfield 49, Chester 34
The U12 team also won its semi-final playoff game Sunday against Chester.
Kyle Long and Tommy Toal lead the team with 12 points each. Jason Estep added 10. Justin Collins had six. Greg Tamaccio put up four. Trevor Robinson and Alex DeAngelis both had two, and Michael Conran added 1.
There was outstanding play by Johnny Powers, Jeff Houtmann, Charlie Sheehan, Zach Chevalier, David Bingaman, and Patrick McCarry.
The boys will play either Folcroft or East Lansdowne on March 11 at 12:15 p.m. at Academy Park High School.
SAA U-14
Springfield 49, East Lansdowne 45
The Springfield U14 team won its semi-final game Saturday against East Lansdowne.
After losing to EL twice this season, the boys battled to win a spot at the DelVal Championship at Academy Park on Sunday, March 11 at 2:45 p.m. It was a great team effort by Brian McClosky, Colin McClosky, Matt Conran, Matt Methlie, Chris Abbronizio, Jordan Collins, Justin Collins, Will Powers, Dason Sanders and Pat Smyth.

Springfield Elementary Ice Hockey play continues

Springfield Gold 9, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
The Springfield Cougars Gold team bounced back from two tough losses in Delco League Elementary play by crushing Plymouth Whitemarsh last Monday.
Goals came early and often from Aidan Shandley, Matthew Shandley, Riley Garrison, Adam Baumann and Johnny McCormick.
They got spirited play from the Bush brothers (Austin and Dylan) and a superb game out of goaltender, Brett Barber, as they cruised to a 9-0 shutout victory.
Ridley 7, Springfield Gold 4
The Gold Cougars played their regular season finale on Sunday against a talented Ridley team in a battle of two of the top teams in the Delco League standings. Both teams came out strong.
Johnny McCormick tied the game early on at 1-1.
Springfield got stifling defense out of Ryan Kertis and Shane Knoell and tough play up front out of Franny Doerr, Dylan Bush, Riley Garrison, Matthew Shandley and Austin Bush. Adam Baumann and Aidan Shandley banged in goals for the Cougars but it wasn’t enough. Ridley was firing on all cylinders and despite another solid effort out of Brett Barber (26 saves) the Cougars fell to Ridley 7-4.
The Gold team played a tremendous regular season marked by great teamwork and defensive play. They find themselves at the top of the Delco League standings and poised for a solid playoff run.

Team Oregon wins SAA Intramural Championship

Team Oregon came from behind to defeat Ohio State 25-21 and win the SAA fifth- and sixth-grade Intramural Championship. Members of the team include (bottom row) Ray Mele, Jack Spence, Chris Ringwalt, Mark Masi, Sean Lerro, (middle row) James Kutufaris, Tommy Cresta, Jack McCarry, Brian Reger, Nicky Kutufaris, (top row) Tommy Kutufaris, Coach Colin Ringwalt and Luke Sprague. Missing from the photo: Martin Meenan.

SFA boy's JV basketball team Region 24 Champs

The SFA Boys JV Basketball team defeated St. Laurence 35-28 to win the Region 25 Championship. Members of the team include (bottom row) Joe Carpenter, Owen Galligan, Nicky Kutufaris, Johnny Powers, Connor Hoffner, (top row) Liam McKnight, Adam Klein, Luke Sprague, Alex Smith, Tommy Kutufaris, Dan Devaney, Charlie Sheehan and coaches Dennis McClatchy, John Gillespie and Tom Sheehan.

Springfield CYO basketball finishes season

SFA Junior Varsity
Semi-Finals
Regional Championships
SFA 47, St. Pius 45
The SFA JV moved on to the finals of the Regional CYO Playoffs with a hard-fought win over St. Pius. The Bruins led for most of this close game, falling behind by a single point in the third quarter.
With what has been an outstanding season sitting there on the brink, this tough team came through down the stretch against a talented, high-quality opponent. Defense was the name of the game for the green and gold in this contest, as they held St Pius at bay most of the night, especially when it counted.
Ben Clausen led the charge with 18 points, seven of which came with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. He was assisted nicely by Kevin George who chipped in with 11, and Dan Dickinson with nine.
Finals
(Game 1 of Best of 3)
SFA 62, Holy Cross 61
How many times has it come down to this? St. Francis against cross-town rival Holy Cross for all the marbles. St. Francis won game One of a best-of-three series for the regional CYO JV title in a double-overtime nail-biter, 62- 61. This was simply one of those games that neither team deserved to lose.
Kevin McKnight sent the game into OT by hitting two clutch free throws at the end of regulation. Then Kevin George was the overtime hero for the green and gold, hitting a clutch three pointer in the second OT that proved to be the difference in the game.
Coach Milt Hedrick could only say that his “guys were unreal” in this exciting contest, coming up time and time again to secure the win.
Dan Dickinson led the SFA scoring with 22 points, followed by Kevin George with 15, Kevin McKnight with 12 and Ben Clausen with nine. Andrew Peranteau and Colin Ringwalt each had two.
Finals
(Game 2 of Best of 3)
SFA 49, Holy Cross 45
Every now and then a player steps up and just “refuses to lose” and helps his team to a key win or a championship. Such was the case for SFA in the JV Championship, and that player was their sensational point guard Kevin George. With the entire season on the line, this talented young man did all that he could, controlling the tempo and the game and filling the nets with 27 points in the process. Coach Milt Hedrick described him as a pit bull on the court – relentless and focused, a leader in every way. He went on to note that this fine young man may have sank the final two free throws of the game with a broken hand, an injury he sustained driving to the hoop on that final play. Undaunted, he sank both free throws like a pro.
The Bruins took their first lead in the third quarter with two starters on the bench in foul trouble. Colin Ringwalt and Joe Travagline came through at that key time in the game. Besides George’s 27, other key scoring for SFA came from Ben Clausen with 13, Kevin McKnight with six and Dan Dickinson with three. Andrew Peranteau chipped in with four steals. Other players for St. Francis in this championship season included Luke Reichert, Chris Scarduzzo and Anthony Swink.
SFA finished the season with an overall record of 20-2. Both regular season losses came at the hands of previously unbeaten Holy Cross, both by a point – a clear indication of just how close in talent these two fine young teams happened to be.

Springfield players were DelVal All Stars

The DelVal All Star game was held recently at Academy Park High School. Players were voted by their teammates. Tommy Toal and Justin Collins represented the U12 Springfield team in the recent DelVal Allstar game.
Patrick Toal and Patrick Marley, Jr. represented the U10 Springfield team.

St. Francis JV team defeats St. Mary's in playoffs

Junior Varsity
St. Francis 49
St. Mary’s 41
The St. Francis JV basketball team moved on to the semi-finals of the Regional CYO Playoffs with an impressive 49 to 41 win over St. Mary Magdalen’s.
The game started slow for the ninth- and 10th-grade Bruins as they fell behind by a score of 8 to 2 coming out of the gate.
It was then that, according to Coach Milt Hedrick, incredibly talented point guard Kevin George “got started.” Besides leading the green and gold offensive attack with 13 points and seven assists, George hit two key free throws to seal the win.
Speaking of free throws, SFA struggled mightily overall at the charity stripe, with George's being the only two foul shots converted for the game. Coach Hedrick commented that his team’s struggles at the foul line made this a much closer game than it should have been.
Ben Clausen had a nice game with 12 points and Dan Dickinson tallied eight. Kevin McKnight had six, while Andrew Peranteau, Colin Ringwalt and Joe Travagline each had two to round out the scoring.
The overall record for this fine squad now stands at 17 and 2, with a semi-final match-up with St. Pius slated for Sunday evening, Feb. 12, at home.
Varsity
Notre Dame 55
St. Francis 52
To say this was a star-crossed season for the St. Francis Varsity would be putting it mildly. These 11th- and 12th-graders have worn the SFA green and gold for a long time now, and there can be no doubt about the talent and b-ball potential for this group of kids.
Oftentimes it was crystal clear during the season, sometimes it was a mystery. But their heart and talent could never be doubted, and those qualities clearly showed in the regional CYO Playoffs.
In their last game of the season, and the last game ever for the seniors, the Varsity Bruins fell to Notre Dame in overtime.
Coach Hedrick was nearly at a loss for words following a very tough season. Down by two with 13 seconds left in OT, Matt Reichert calmly sank two free-throws to tie the game. As any basketball fan can attest, 13 seconds can sometimes feel like an eternity at the end of a game. Suffice it to say, this was 13 seconds of strange calls and “second chances” for the Fighting Irish.
After several trips to the free throw line, several Irish foul shots were converted, and the Bruins never truly got a chance to re-tie the game, falling short by a final score of 55 to 52.
Eric Pollock, Reichert and Jeff Peranteau were sensational for SFA in this game, netting 22 and 15 and 14 points respectively against a very tall and talented opponent.
The amazingly athletic Pollock also skied for 14 rebounds to go with his 22 points. Mike Dougherty and Nick Santana kicked in with two each. John Oakley also played tough for SFA in this game.
With this tough loss, the Bruins ended their season with an overall mark of 13 wins and 6 losses.

Springfield's Bobby Marker took first place

Bobby Marker, from Springfield AA Wrestling, took first place in the Haverford Novice Tournament on Feb. 12.He is shown with coach Bobby Gildea, a recent graduate of Springfield High School Wrestling.

Springfield CYO basketball teams enter playoffs

Junior Varsity
St. Francis 53
St. Thomas “B” 37
Third-seeded St. Francis opened up the Regional CYO Playoffs with a resounding 53 to 37 win over 14th seeded St. Thomas “B.”
This was a solid win at both ends of the court, and the JV Bruins displayed a smothering defense that would not let the kids from St. Thomas get untracked.
Coach Milt Hedrick noted his “guys were everywhere, all over the court.”
The team headed into this important start of the playoffs without steady veteran leader Kevin McKnight. Luke Reichert seized the moment and played an extremely solid game. Although tallying just two points, Reichert had a number of key blocks at the defensive end along with timely rebounds and assists. .
Kevin George had another incredible game at the point, quarterbacking like a seasoned pro, while leading all scorers with 17 points. Colin Ringwalt had 12 points, eight in the second half, as SFA pulled away for the win. Dan Dickinson chipped in with nine.
The Bruins head to the next round of playoffs at home on Tuesday night. Opponent yet to be determined.
Their overall record now stands at 16 and 2.
Varsity
St. Francis 60
Drexel Neumann 56
Coach Milt Hedrick has said all season how talented his Varsity St. Francis Bruins are, and that was clearly evident in an opening round 60 to 56 playoff victory over a very good Drexel-Neumann team.
Talented Eric Pollock led the charge for the green and gold, tallying a game high 19 points. Pollock continues to be a clear leader all season.
Pollock was assisted by Jeff Peranteau, who was sensational with 17 points, eight rebounds and three key steals.
John Oakley hustled for 15 points and had a number of clutch plays and steals to seal the win.
The 11th- and 12th-graders now sport an overall record of 13 and 5. They headed into the next round of the playoffs Feb. 6 at Notre Dame.