M Paying tribute: Academy
Park fullback James Carmichael is one of
several Knights who wears the No. 8 on the back of his helmet in honor
of fallen teammate Dayton Henson.
Henson, a 6-1, 165-pound junior
defensive back, is out for the season as a result of a bruised kidney
suffered in the Knights' 17-0 opening-day loss to Springfield.
""He's
a good friend and I just wanted to do something for him,'' said
Carmichael, who was the third-leading rusher in the county going into
the weekend. ""I told him that I would wear his number even if he came
back this season.''
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Fallen teammate Dayton Henson
King James' day bad for Interboro - October 16, 1994
October 16, 1994 | Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, P | Section: News
SHARON HILL -- If James Carmichael's life were a book,
the chapter that included yesterday would be entitled, ""King for a
Day.'' The Academy
Park senior not only led the Knights to a 19-0
win over Interboro, he also participated in the homecoming festivities
at halftime as the senior class king. Carmichael lead the Knights (1-2
Del Val National, 3-4 overall) past the Bucs (4-1, 4-2) by rushing for
144 yards on 22 carries. Ironically, he almost had to sit the game out
with a sprained ankle. ""I couldn't miss this,'' Carmichael said.
""Senior year, captain, homecoming, that only happens once in a
lifetime. I woke up this morning and I felt about 85 percent. ""The
trainer told me I probably shouldn't play. I missed most of practice
this week. We needed this win, we can get back in shape now. We needed
to beat a good team, and we did.'' For Interboro coach Steve Lennox, the
loss culminated a turbulent week, which included the announcement that
the Bucs will forfeit their Oct. 28 game with Glen Mills. ""My
philosophy is to give the other team credit,'' Lennox said. ""You've got
to win with the players you have. Every team gets injuries. ""We didn't
get the job done. They played very well, we just have to go back and
work harder. I don't think the past week had any effect on this game.''
""I'm sure it was difficult,'' said Academy
Park Sal Oropollo. ""I can't speak for Steve,
but I'm sure he didn't let that affect his preparation for this game.
He's too good of a coach to let that happen.'' The Knights and Bucs
traded possessions in the first quarter before a Tim Flynn-to-Jeremy
Klein 40-yard pass set up an Academy
Park touchdown. With the ball on the
seven-yard line, Flynn told his coach that the Interboro defense was
vulnerable to an option. Oropollo listened to his young signal-caller
and Flynn scored on the keeper. ""Flynn did a great job,'' Oropollo
said. ""He is becoming a good quarterback.
""I thought James
(Carmichael) did a real good job considering (his injury), and Dwayne
Smart made some real nice runs. If James is healthy, a couple of those
runs where he got into open field, he would have been gone.'' The
Knights defense, which held Interboro to 10 yards rushing, two first
downs, and caused two turnovers, made the score 13-0 in the fourth
quarter. With Interboro first-and-goal at the nine, Chris Ferrari
tackled Mike Wilkes for an eight-yard loss on first down. On second
down, Andre Harrison sacked Bucs quarterback Gary Matthias. Matthias
fumbled, and Kwasi Asare picked up the ball and went 74 yards untouched
for the score. ""I just blacked out,'' Asare said. ""I saw Andre
Harrison knock the ball loose, and I picked it up. I didn't hear
anything, I didn't see anything. ""I got tunnelvision. I headed straight
for the end zone. Our defense had it going on today. The D-line, the
secondary -- the whole defense deserves the credit.'' Although Matthias
threw for 98 yards, the Bucs' QB was kept on the run all day by Asare,
Harrison, Greg Pierce, and Radof Mateen. ""I was real concerned about
Matthias,'' said Oropollo. ""You have to respect a quarterback like
that. He's a big, strong, smart kid. ""We played good defense. To hold a
good team like Interboro to 10 rushing yards, that's good defense.''
Carmichael put an exclamation point on his day with a four-yard
touchdown run to close out the scoring. ""I didn't have to cut back much
today,'' Carmichael said. ""The offensive line knew I was hurting a
little, so they just stayed with their blocks a little longer. I was
running through some huge holes out there.'' FOOTBALL
Academy
Park 19, Interboro 0
Academy
Park 0 7 0 12 -- 19> Interboro 0 0 0 0 -- 0>
AP -- Flynn 7 run (Klein kick)
AP -- Asare 74 fum ret (kick failed)
AP -- Carmichael 4 run (kick failed)
TEAM STATISTICS IAP
First Downs212
Rushes-Yards13-1045-232
Passing Yardage11874
Passes12-21-04-7-0
Punts-Average3-44.52-24
Fumbles-Lost3-22-1
Penalties-Yards6-3613-145
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Interboro: Parmer 1-0, Wilkes 6-6, Owen 1-(-1), Matthias 2-(-6), Marchetti 2-14, Moore 1-(-3). Academy
Park: Klein 7-29, Carmichael 22-144, Smart 9-70, Flynn 5-(-18), Bissinger 1-(-6), Asare 1-13.
PASSING -- Interboro: Matthias 10-18-0, 98, Moore 2-3-0, 21. Academy
Park: Flynn 3-6-0, 70, Klein 1-1-0, 4.
RECEIVING -- Interboro: Owen 2-27, Brady 3-25, Moore 3-46, Parmer 2-13, Wilkes 1-8. Academy
Park: Klein 1-40, Scanlon 1-18, Ferrari 1-12, Flynn 1-4.
Mackrey, Penn Wood enjoy walk through Park - October 23, 1994
SHARON HILL -- In the perfect season, Aaron Mackrey still is waiting for the perfect game.
He didn't see it through Penn Wood's first six victories, including three in the Del Val Conference.
He didn't see it yesterday, when the Patriots subdued host Academy
Park, 26-7, at Knight Park.
He
may see it against Unionville. He'd better see something close to it
against Glen Mills -- if the Pats are to win a championship.
He may never see it at all.
He did, though, see something close in final 24 minutes against the 1-3, 3-5 Knights.
""We
knew it was time for all of us to step it up,'' Mackrey said, after
scoring three TDs to keep Penn Wood spotless at 7-0 overall, 4-0 in the
league. ""So we had a talk at halftime. We all had to step up. All of
us.''
The Patriots, though clearly superior, settled for a 12-7
halftime edge, then pounded the Knights in the second half with alert
defense and efficient offense en route to touchdown-per-quarter
precision.
Mackrey rushed for 116 yards and scored on TD runs of
three, 15 and five yards as the Patriots bolstered their status as Del
Val contenders. Just ask Academy
Park coach Sal Oropollo.
""Glen Mills
and Penn Wood,'' the Knights' coach said. ""It's going to be an
undefeated showdown, I imagine. It's two different teams, two good
teams. It should be a great game.''
That game is in two weeks,
and the Patriots' encounter with Unionville is in one week. John Leary,
the Penn Wood coach, can do that math.
""Honest to God,'' he
said. ""We've been trying to stress this for weeks: Play them one at a
time. I told them, "Winners win one at a time.' I told them Unionville
is a tough team. I know we will have a tough game at Unionville.
""But they are kids.''
So
now that the kids from Penn Wood have come this far without a loss,
they are -- naturally -- considering the possibility of running the
table. As for yesterday around noon -- when they were ahead by only five
at the half -- they basically ran for cover, Leary apparently
dispensing a spirited intermission sermon.
Penn Wood used
Mackrey's 52-yard run to establish early field position, then took a 6-0
lead on Mackrey's three-yard blast with 7:50 left in the first. With
11:10 showing in the second quarter, Mackrey raced 15 yards for a score
and a 12-0 lead.
Academy
Park was not necessarily overwhelmed.
With
1:10 until halftime, Tim Flynn launched a 42-yard TD pass to Jeremy
Klein. As Klein was adding the PAT, he wasn't the only player on the
field doing some kicking. Mackrey, the defender on the touchdown, was
trying to kick himself in the backside.
""I felt real bad after that,'' said the Patriots' two-way factor. ""I got burnt. We all knew we had to do better.''
DeCorey
Pitts -- who later was in on a pair of sacks -- recovered a fumble to
put the Pats in third-quarter business, and four plays later quarterback
Kyle Hill plunged in from the one to make it 18-7. Hill's sprint around
right end meant two more points and a 20-7 cushion -- and gave the
recruiters from Pitt, Temple and Villanova who have been calling Leary
of late additional incentive to pound the redial button.
""We
were a little sluggish in the first half,'' Leary said. ""We were a
little shaky. Actually, I had to throw them off the field Friday. Lack
of execution. Lack of intensity. But we did a little better in the
second half.''
With 9:58 to play, Mackrey went five yards untouched off right guard to end the suspense.
Now, the storyline lengthens: Can Penn Wood win them all?
""Everybody is looking to November,'' Leary said. ""But we still have another game in October.
""I'm
still waiting for us to play four quarters of good football in one
game,'' he added. ""But I've seen improvement. I have to be pleased.''
Penn Wood 26, Academy
Park 7
Penn Wood 6 6 8 6 -- 26> Academy
Park 0 7 0 0 -- 7>
PW -- Mackrey 3 run (kick failed)
PW -- Mackrey 15 run (pass failed)
AP -- Klein 42 pass from Flynn (Klein kick)
PW -- Hill 1 run (Hill run)
PW -- Mackrey 5 run (pass failed)
TEAM STATISTICS PWAP
First Downs1411
Rushes-Yards32-17833-66
Passing Yards12484
Passes8-17-04-14-1
Punts-Av.3-33.64-19.0
Fumbles-Lost0-02-1
Penalties-Yards7-867-47
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Penn Wood: Mackrey 13-116, Hill 7-6, Wright 2-20, Davis 2-4, Reynolds 1-11, Audelein 5-8, Willis 2-13. Academy
Park: Carmichael 18-84, Klein 2-14, Smart 5-4, Flynn 8-(-36).
PASSING -- Penn Wood: Hill 8-17-0 124. Academy
Park: Flynn 4-14-1 84.
RECEIVING -- Penn Wood: Wright 3-37, Reynolds 4-82, Mackrey 1-5. Academy
Park: Klein 4-84.
Academy Park wins one for the "G' - October 30, 1994
ASTON -- Chuck Buechler tried to wait until he and Academy
Park coach Sal Oropollo got to Crozer Chester
Medical Center to give fellow assistant coach Tony Gagliardi all the
details of the Knights' 22-10 Del Val League victory over Sun Valley
Friday night.
He really did -- but he just couldn't wait that long.
Buechler
had to call his fellow assistant coach, who underwent a successful
angioplasty earlier in the day to clear blocked arteries. So, being the
90s kind of guy that he is, Buechler pulled out his cellular phone and
gave Gagliardi a call.
It didn't take long for that ""brief''
phone call to turn into a gabfest. Player after player grabbed the phone
to wish their defensive coordinator a speedy recovery.
The
Knights (2-3, 4-5) had dedicated the game to Gagliardi, who suffered a
mild heart attack prior to the Knights' 26-7 loss to Penn Wood last
week. Then they went out and brought home the man they call ""G'' a win.
Afterward,
Buechler and Oropollo said they were going to sneak into Gagliardi's
room so they could present him with the game ball.
Fittingly, Gagliardi's defense led the way.
""We
just wanted to win this one for Coach G,'' said defensive end Pat
Hicks, who blocked a punt and spent most of the night in the face of Sun
Valley quarterback Brad Messick. ""He's always been there for us and we
just wanted to show him that we're behind him now.''
Hicks, and
fellow defensive end Kwasi Asare, had a field day teeing off on Messick.
Both ends spent so much time in the Sun Valley backfield Friday night
that they could qualify for a varsity letter at the Vanguards' banquet
at the end of the season. AP sacked Messick six times for minus-39 yards
and never let the Sun Valley offense maintain any consistency after
Messick's 18-yard TD pass to tight end Dave Lock gave the Vanguards
(3-5) a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
""We just didn't let up,'' Asare said. ""Our game plan was to keep the pressure on the quarterback and that's what we did.''
It
didn't take long for the Knights to recover from that early deficit.
Asare and Hicks teamed up to sack Messick for a safety as the first
quarter game to a close. In the next four minutes, Jeremy Klein would go
58 yards for a touchdown and kick two extra points, and quarterback Tim
Flynn would throw an 11-yard scoring toss to Chris Ferrari to put the
Knights up for good, 16-7.
Even a 22-yard Jerry Guidotti with 35
seconds to play in the first half could not swing the tide in Sun
Valley's favor. The Knight defense simply would not allow it.
Flynn,
Ferrari and Kevin Hornug intercepted Messick on three consecutive plays
from scrimmage and James Carmichael (22 carries, 107 yards) sprinted 32
yards for the final TD to make sure the game ball Gagliardi received
had a ""W'' attached to it.
""This game was for Coach G and we weren't going to let them take it away from us,'' Asare said. FOOTBALL
Academy
Park 23, Sun Valley 10
Academy
Park 2 14 0 7 -- 23> Sun Valley 7 3 0 0 -- 10>
SV -- D. Lock 18 pass from Messick (Guidotti kick)
AP -- Safety
AP -- Klein 58 run (Klein kick)
AP -- Ferrari 11 pass from Flynn (Klein kick)
SV -- FG Guidotti 22
AP -- Carmichael 32 run (Klein kick)
TEAM STATISTICS APSV
First Downs67
Rushes-Yards41-14023-(-1)
Passing Yards58102
Passes4-8-110-24-3
Punts-Average6-22.85-22.4
Fumbles-Lost0-02-1
Penalties-Yards9-905-56
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Academy
Park: Carmichael 22-107, Smart 9-0, Howatt 1-(-8), Klein 5-58, Flynn 3-(-17). Sun Valley: G. Lock 16-39, Messick 6-(-39), Horn 1-0.
PASSING -- Academy
Park: Flynn 4-8-1, 58. Sun Valley: Messick 10-24-3, 102. Kelly 0-0-0, 0.
RECEIVING -- Academy
Park: Carmichael 1-5, Klein 1-33, Ferrari 1-11, Hornug 1-9. Sun Valley: Horn 7-66, D. Lock 1-18, G. Lock 1-11. Starkey 1-7.
Friday, December 10, 2021
Before I knew it, you were gone...
This picture, always been one of my favorites in life. There is no filter. There are no effects. I may have taken this picture with a phone that was pre-Apple. I know where I was. I know who I was with. I know how these lines came to be. I have never edited this photo. I have never touched it. I have never added or removed. I never took more than one of it. It is alone. It is special. The colors coming and going, time changing, people coming in from the day. The picture never gets old to me. It's that point in your heart, not your whole heart, not your new heart, not your old heart, just that point. That mile marker that never changes in the road...no matter how many times we travel it, we can come back...to that moment. Much of capturing of photos of nature began with this photo. I don't even know why it started with this one, but it did. It showed me that something, something with no tangible value, gave to me, so much intangible value that someone cannot change. The picture is the picture. I took it. I was the one who stood there...I was not alone...I was with someone....the picture was taken so fast, we hardly even spoke about it. We just kept on walking along the ocean and down the road. Heading back in from the chill settling in to New England on that night. I cannot say what day this was taken. It has no date. It will always be that moment...it does not need a date. The picture stays close to me as one of my favorites. Maybe for the purity. Maybe for the quiet and serenity it brings me because it's just so peaceful. Sails are down. Boats docked. Lights slowly dimming. I see the shades of the sun that day, setting, night setting on it to create a beautiful blur in the center. It will never bore me. Before I knew it....the sun was gone. I was home. A picture keeps that moment forever.
Edit..I stand corrected after locating the original. The date the picture was taken was 9/2/2011. Labor Day weekend. Kinda insane and cool.
“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea.” – E. E. Cummings
“The heart of man (and woman) is very much like the sea, it has its storms,
it has its tides and in its depths, it has its pearls too.” – Vincent
van Gogh
the bad things
When bad things happen and they're natural, I can only question Mother Nature so much. It's life..as I go through this cycle, I am spit out often to loved ones, good people, real people, sunlight, rain, the ocean and the hills. When bad things happen and I know bad people are responsible, I know to not be like those people, be better! get away from them. they're only hold you back.
Old Satch knew to keep moving, keep tossing, keep going.
Thursday, November 18, 2021
UsefulHappy-ness
Rain falling down. Wetting the soil. Overflowing waterways. Helping things grow. Quieting down the seas. I had this belief I would always be useful. I had this belief I might have a chance at eternal happiness. I now believe that both are kind of intermittent. They occur and then they don't. You have a lull, you become dull. You aren't useless, you're just not being used. You're not always going to be happy, but sometimes it's the chance you might be happy. I wonder a lot. I wonder what truly will make me happy and whether or not I am supposed to be "happiest" or if this threshold is enough. It's been a long time since I thought about the happiest time in my life. I did have that moment today. Shopping for the cards to hold the gift cards. She was looking at cards, she laughed and then spoke, "these cards...they're so stupid....(giggles).." It had been a long time since I talked to a pretty stranger. In a few seconds, I "woke" up out of my weekly work of boredom daze to look at her. Her hair, her face, her cut jeans....and our quest for cards to make someone happy....to make us feel useful. She walked out, I stared. Usually I would get back to my car and regret not asking her more. This time I just smiled and enjoyed a moment between two strangers and maybe, an awakening of sorts.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I stumbled on a great article on Happiness and Usefulness...by Darius Foroux... I subscribe to his work. Most times I am playing catch up on his articles, but the ones from yesterday are relevant today and tomorrow. Check it out.
The Purpose Of Life Is Not Happiness: It’s Usefulness
https://dariusforoux.com/happiness-usefulness/
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