Blue Devils Hang Tough

Written by: Marcus Wright on Sunday, September 6th, 2009. Follow Marcus Wright on Twitter.

Hold on to defeat North Catholic, 21-13
by Marcus Wright
9/6/09

Chestnut Hill Academy, Philadelphia -Quick Snap: Chestnut Hill Academy defeated North Catholic in the first ever meeting between the two clubs, 21-13 in front of their home crowd Saturday afternoon. CHA was led by running back and defensive backIbraheim Campbell(Sr. 6-0, 195), who had 153 yards on the ground on 27 carries. CHA got off to a 14-0 lead going into halftime after a 5 yard touchdown catch by Jon McAllister (Jr. TE, 6-0, 190) and a 3 yard run by Campbell. North Catholic came back in the second half with touchdowns by quarterback Anthony Reid (Jr. 5-11, 162) on a 1 yard run, and receiver Julian Huggans (Sr., 6-0, 161) on a 24 yard TD catch. North Catholic’s extra point attempt after the second touchdown failed, and after the ensuing onside kick was recovered by CHA, Campbell sealed the deal for the Blue Devils with a 23 yard touchdown run.

Photos
Stars of the Show
Highlights (coming Tues.)

Four Downs:

1st: CHA started strong, firmly placing the ball in the hands of Campbell. Quarterback Danny Gallagher (Jr. 6-0, 175) only passed 3 times in the first half, but one pass was nicely executed from a right-side roll out, with McCalister getting the touchdown catch. CHA controlled the tempo and the pace in the first half, and North Catholic barely had the ball.

2nd: We were hoping to get a steady dose of North Catholic’s running back Eugene Byrd (Sr. 5-8 160), but he got hurt and did not play in the second half. He managed to get 9 carries for 70 yards before exiting the game. We got to see some of the explosiveness that he presents for the North Catholic offense.

3rd: North Catholic pulled off some big, unconventional plays to get back in the game. Near the end of the 3rd quarter, defensive backStephan Singleton (Sr. 5-6, 135) managed to strip the ball away from McAllister inside the 10 and return it into CHA territory. North Catholic scored their first touchdown of the game after that. The Falcons then recovered the ensuing onside kick and scored again in the fourth quarter. What did them in, however, was a motion penalty on the extra point attempt (that was good at first). They had to redo the extra point from 5 yards deeper, and this time it was no good. Because the score was 14-13, NC had to try another onside kick, but this time CHA recovered. Campbell would go on to score for the Blue Devils.

4th: The heat played a role in this game; CHA players were cramping up in the second half. North Catholic seemed fine. This played a role in the comeback for NC, as they were able to set a much better offensive tone in the second half as the CHA defense wore down.

Extra Points: We were impressed by the performance of new starter Anthony Reid for North Catholic… This was a good game, and a good win for CHA as they try to unseat Malvern Prep as Inter-Ac champions…It was also good for North Catholic, in that they did not give up once they were down by 14, and showed a lot of grit and resolve…

Out of Bounds: I’ve been to CHA a couple of times now, and get lost every time… special thanks to new CHA athletic director Mike Delgrande for working so well with us… My goodness it was hot out there; I’m bringing a visor next time!

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