Selinsgrove vs. MCA

Two weeks ago, this game was a "must win" if you were a Mount Carmel Red Tornado. With a big win over Pottsville on Saturday, Mount Carmel punched a spot in the District IV playoffs. This week's game will only count toward seedings for the Red Tornadoes and a possible home game in the first round. While every new edition of Mount Carmel is compared to champions of yesteryear, this team continues to make strides every week. At 6-3 after nine weeks, throw the Chichester game away. The other losses to Lancaster Catholic and Southern Columbia now have a combined record of 16-2.

From what I have seen this season, Mount Carmel in some shape or form will give up 14 points to Seals. The Red Tornadoes have had problems at Selinsgrove not winning there since 1997 and have only beat Selinsgrove once since 1999. For some reason, the "35" defense of Selinsgrove has given Mount Carmel fits especially trying to establish a consistent ground game. Defensively, the Seals rely on Nate Gingrich, Matt Ritter, and Bryce Auker. In the game against Shamokin the Seals were bringing 4 or 5 on the rush with little success. Marc Persing nearly set a Shamokin school record for passing. Selinsgrove though have proved they could win in a shootout or when they were statistically dominated like against Montoursville.

On the defensive side, the Red Tornadoes have been vulnerable to the deep pass all season long. The Seals have a good fullback in Seth Lauver, but injuries have hurt the tailback spot. Quarterback Eric Deckard is emerging from a slump and Matt Ritter could catch anything up for grabs in Snyder County. Still, I believe the Seals will manage two scores.

So here is the outlook. Mount Carmel has enough on the defensive side of the ball to win. It will depend on how the Red Tornadoes handle the "35" defense of Selinsgrove once again. Mount Carmel can't get down early. The Seals defense usually play at their best when they are ahead best. The five linebackers cause the most havoc in this situation. Selinsgrove have four really good seniors in Auker, Deckard, Gingrich and Ritter. Will it be enough? I think the X and O's are the same along with the Jimmy's and Joe's. Look for the Seals to come out on top in a close one at home with the four seniors leading the way.

BUCKNELL FOOTBALL

With one home game left on November 10th with Lehigh, Southern Columbia's Ryan Slater didn't have a bad game against the pass happy Holy Cross Crusaders. The senior had nine tackles, a sack and interception.

COLORADO ROCKIES

Who said the couch isn't good for anything. While flipping through some channels the other night on television, I tuned into the ninth inning of the Colorado-Expos game on April 9th, 1993 at Mile High Stadium on ESPN Classic. I remember a friend and contemporary in my youth baseball days played for the Expos in 1993. Frank Bolick of Mount Carmel came up with the Expos in 1993 with a wealth of other talented players like Mike Lansing, Sean Berry and Greg Colbrunn. Although I only watched the ninth inning, I pulled the box score from the Rockies first win as a franchise. I was interested in seeing if Bolick had played earlier in the game. Bolick was 1 for 4 at the plate, but had three errors in the field. A box score won't say if the errors led to any runs, but with an 11-4 win by the Rockies you can say Bolick may have a hand in the Colorado win that day.

All joking aside, Bolick went on to have 15 seasons in professional baseball and had his best professional years in Japan from 1999 to 2002. In 1998, Bolick resurrected his career by making the roster of the Anaheim Angels as a non-roster invitee to spring training that season.

A little side note to this game was that Pottsville's Chris Nabholtz was also in the stadium that day.