Bishop Ireton High School | Archive | August, 2009

Ireton, PCA Announce partnership

Posted on 31 August 2009 by .

Bill Simmons, athletic director at Bishop Ireton, has announced the completion of a new partnership between the Alexandria school and the nationally acclaimed Positive Coaching Alliance. With none other than Phil Jackson as the key spokesman for the Alliance, Simmons said the philosophy of the PCA is nearly the athletic equivalent of that of the School’s own patron saint, Francis deSales. “Any Ireton student or alum knows the Salesian idea, ‘be who you are, and be that well’. The PCA believes that this is  the right approach to athletics. It isn’t about only winning or showing up an opponent. It is about competing, teamwork, improving yourself, your teammates, and the game.”

PCA believes its time to reclaim competition.  From an unrelenting seriousness to a joyful seriousness, from seeing opponents as an enemy to viewing opponents as a gift that enables an athlete to realize his greatest potential, positive coaches change the paradigm. They believe in mastery of the sport and a pursuit of excellence to be the goal of athletics, not a win-at-all costs approach. “PCA talks about having double goal coaches, people that understand winning is important, that it is the object of the game; but more significantly, teaching life lessons is the reason American educators brought sports into the school in the first place,” said Simmons in explaining the partnership.  “We are getting to the point, to use a golf analogy, that a kid would rather shoot a 45 for nine holes and win than shot a 39 and lose, to me as a golfer that completely misses the point.”

Principal Tim Hamer was originally approached this summer about the relationship with PCA and studied the materials. Once he understood it, he became it’s biggest supporter.  He organized the first training session for school administrators and personally introduced the training to the school’s coaches last week. 

Coaches from all 22 sports will select student athletes from each team, varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen to attend an upcoming athletes seminar.  There the students will be exposed to another phrase, triple impact competitor, where they will discuss how they can make themselves better, make their teammates better, and make the game better.  Once they understand, and hopefully embrace this philosophy, they will be the building blocks for teammates to recognize the value of this different outlook on athletic participation.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, parents will be invited in October to participate in the seminar to develop Second Goal parents. Those parents will team with coaches to ensure the Second goal; learning life lessons, hard work, and enjoy the experience, is reinforced and not simply watch the scoreboard or rehash mistakes.  “I hope every parent can attend this session because when they leave I believe they will be excited to know their child is at Bishop Ireton and involved with this life changing program.” concluded the Ireton AD.

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Verducci looks for big things from Ireton football in 2009

Posted on 31 August 2009 by .

The Bishop Ireton 2009 Football Team completed its preseason under the lights at Thomas Jefferson on Friday, August 28, 2009.  The final scrimmage marked the end of three weeks of practice that included six days of team training camp at Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia from August 16 to 21, 2009.  “The coaches like this team’s speed and aggressiveness on all three sides of the ball and  we hope this contributes to a return to the Virginia Independent School Football Association playoffs.” commented Coach Tony Verducci, who enters his third campaign at the helm of the Alexandria school’s football program. 


 


This years squad figures to be more explosive than the 2008 team as senior quarterbacks Oliver Noon and Michael Larrabee both return for a second year in the Cardinals spread offense.  Things clicked for both players during the final weeks of last season when Ireton scored a total of 80+ points in the final two games.  In addition to the quarterbacks, Coach Tony Verducci returns his leading rusher from 2008, Doug Vines, and a trio of talented receivers in Conlan McCallister, Dom Puglise, and Tommy Gallinaro.  Each of these four players had a  big play  against the Colonials that covered more than 25 yards from scrimmage.  Senior right tackle Ed Harmon anchors a line that includes first-time starters John Sullivan, Eddie Busch, Brad Thomas, and Jacob Manley.  Sophomores Patrick OConnell and Eddie DAntuono figure to see plenty of time backing up this talented group.


 
On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals will look to inside linebackers Kevin Galloway and Andrew Denny to set a physical tone.  They willl prowl the middle behind Busch and talented defensive ends Richard Walker and Jay Green.  The edge of the defense is in good hands thanks to McCallister and Theo Daubresse.  Senior Tommy Kestermann did not play against Thomas Jefferson, but he is a critical part of the offensive and defensive schemes this year as a fullback and linebacker.  The secondary has looked solid heading into fall, thanks to Puglises leadership and the experience Anthony Rivers and Robert Chastain gained in 2008.  Moses Webb, Ricky Baier, and Kyle Brooks give the Cardinals quality depth behind the linebackers.


 


 Ireton special teams figure to be quite special this year, thanks to a creative return specialist in Vines, a thundering punter in Galloway, and battle-tested kickers in Larrabee and Daubresse.  These teams will get an added shot of adrenaline when senior receiver/kicker Mark Holmes is cleared to play within the next two weeks

The Cards open the season with a rare Friday afternoon contest when they host the Lions of Archbishop Carroll.  Carroll opened with an impressive 32-7 win over St Mary Ryken at Maus Collins field in Washington, DC last Saturday.

 

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Eagles overcome Ireton in DC, 3-1

Posted on 30 August 2009 by .

 Bishop Ireton’s boys soccer team ventured into DC for their first road game of the season, dropping a hard fought 3-1 contest at the RFK Auxiliary fields on Friday. Senior CK Hancock gave the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead when he scored in the 10th minute of the contest. The Alexandrians head the lead for the majority of the half against the heavily favored Gonzaga until Joey Wilkins knotted the game at 1-1 on a penalty kick in the games 29th minute.  Once again, first year coach, Jon Norem liked the tenacity and effort from his team. “Gonzaga is another quality WCAC opponent. We played them tough, we are going to be alright if we keep working hard.”

Both teams battled for the go-ahead goal into the second half before Zach Malanoski scored for the purple and white clan home squad, and Pedro Rivera followed quickly with the third goal in the 57th minute to put the contest out of reach. Bishop Ireton (0-2) doesn’t find the going much easier as the Cardinals travel to Olney, Maryland for an evening match with highly regarded Good Counsel on Tuesday, September 1st.  The JV Cardinals ran into a buzzsaw in the nightcap dropping a 6-0 contest to the JV Eagles.

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Cards lose heartbreaker on late goal, 1-0

Posted on 29 August 2009 by .

For more than 78 minutes of varsity soccer, Bishop Ireton and Holy Cross were locked in an exciting struggle of non stop thrusts and parries and moments of near misses. Perhaps not surprisingly in a tight contest, the game was decided with only 1:17 to play when Georgetown-bound Colleen Dinn of Holy Cross beat a pair of Cardinal defenders and buried a shot high into the net of a 1-0 contest in Alexandria Friday.  Ireton had contained the 2008 all conference selectee for the game up to that point, but when the Tartans needed a big play, their big-time player answered the call.

“We played with great passion and enthusiasm, moved the ball well, and created some great scoring opportunities.” commented Ireton seonc year coach, Marianna Sullivan.  “It was an exciting game. Colleen is a great player and made a great play.”  The Cardinals opened the both halves with speed and pressure on the ball. “The artificial turf is faster than we are used to” observed Holy Cross’ head coach, Nelson Abreu. “In both the first and second halves, Ireton pushed us early before we could adjust to the speed of the game.”

Ireton’s best chances came in the second half, when sophomore Katrina Guyau sprinted down the sideline and sent a crossing pass to Catherine Vasquez. The senior’s blast hit the crossbar with 17:54 to play and the Tartans were able to clear the rebound.  With 10:35 remaining, Guyau again victimized the Holy Cross defense with her lightning speed when she broke into the clear just beyond midfield with only the goalie to beat. AHC’s Marie-Laure ****** played the situation aggressively to cut down the angle, but the Cardinal sophomore’s deft deke fooled ****** who tackled the racing Guyau earning an automatic red card and match disqualification.  Senior Jackie Galdos took the direct kick from just out side the box, but the backup goalkeeper made the save and the rebound was knocked just wide.  With 4:00 remaining the Alexandria school again worked the ball deep and in a wild exchange in front of the goal a shot snuck through but, for the Cardinals, meandered agonizingly wide by feet past the goalpost and out of bounds.  Ireton continued to press the attack with Holy Cross one man short as a result of the goalie ejection.  The Tartans were frantically turning away the Cardinal attack and clinging on to the scoreless tie until a long outlet pass to Dinn set the stage for the senior’s final heroics. With Dinn dribbling expertly through a pair of defenders, she broke into the clear to face Ireton’s Baumann.  The Holy Cross senior sent  near perfect blast to the short side high; Baumann leapt outstretched to tip the rocketing shot but could not turn it way, sending the black clan Tartans into an excited swarm.  The Cardinals (0-2) turn now to Good Counsel (2-0) a 3-1 winner earlier over AHC, when the Falcons visit Fannon Field for a 4pm start. Holy Cross (1-1) head to Ellzabeth Seton, winners over Ireton 2-0 in the season opener in Bladensburg last Tuesday.

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DeMatha spills Ireton in WCAC opener

Posted on 25 August 2009 by .

 Bishop Ireton knew they had a tall order last winter when DeMatha was announced as the Cardinals opening game opponent.   The Stags, stunned by O’Connell last season in the conference semifinals, are anxious to return to the top of the WCAC hill.  They stepped off in great fashion with a convincing 6-0 win in Alexandria Tuesday.

The bigger, faster Stags controlled play for much of the contest though Ireton played hard.  “We played a very good team with few, if any, weaknesses.  The effort was there, the execution, particularly in our own end, wasn’t.” commented first year coach Jon Norem (class of 89), with senior goalkeeper Arthur Deegan’s seven saves as  evidence of the work in the defensive zone.

DeMatha got on the board with 18:23 gone in the first stanza with a goal from senior James Rice.  Ireton countered briefly following the goal but Cody Albrecht made the Stags’ lead 2-0 with breakaway speed that would plague the Cardinals throughout the afternoon.  Junior Ben Fleri made it 3-0 going into intermission and the tone for afternoon was set.

A defensive miscue by Ireton resulted in James Rice’s second goal of the day in second half and junior Gabe Phillips and sophomore Vincent Conti rounded out the day for DeMatha.   Stags assistant head coach, Tom Park liked the Hyattsville squad’s effort.  “We challenged the team to start the season well and they did.  Our young players stepped up and played well, with Chris Hegngi graduated there is a lot of offense to replace.”  DeMatha faces off with Good Counsel Friday while the Cardinals will travel to RFK Auxiliary Field to play the Eagles of Gonzaga. The Stags tackle Gonzaga next Monday while Ireton will travel north the Olney to try Good Counsel on Tuesday.

DeMatha leveled the Cardinals in the nightcap affair, 7-0, after building a slim 1-0 halftime avantage in the JV season opener for both schools.

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Cheerleaders Sweep Summer Camp Awards

Posted on 25 August 2009 by .

For the second year in a row the Bishop Ireton Varsity Cheerleading Team has received the Spirit Award and the 1st Place at UCA Camp Competition at lake Braddock High School in Burke, Virginia. It was a  very special vwin for the Varsity Cheerleading team, capturing all of the awards at the Universal Cheerleading Association Summer Camp Competition on August 19th-21st. The first two days of the camp the teams learn cheers, stunts and routines. On day three, all teams enter 2 competitions; to perform what they have learned and compete against the 17 other local high schools attending the camp.

Bishop Ireton Cheerleading Team once again took home the 1st place trophy for the cheer and stunt competition! This year, they also took home the 1st place trophy for the dance and stunt competition. The Bishop Ireton Cheerleaders competed with 17 local teams including Lake Braddock, Oakton, Chantilly, Hayfield, Edison, and Wakefield High Schools.


 


The Universal Cheerleading Association has a tradition that the best team over all wins the Spirit Banana Award;  the most sought-after award and it is given to the team with the most team spirit! Again, for the second year in a row, the Bishop Ireton Varsity Cheerleading team home the Spirit Banana!


 


This year UCA gave out a new award called the Leadership Award. All of the teams in the competition vote for 1 team that is their favorite team to receive the coveted recognition. This year the Bishop Ireton Varsity Cheerleading Team received the Leadership Award, a plaque to be displayed at the winning school.  Finally, in this award winning camp, 4 girls were selected as UCA All-star Cheerleaders. The BI UCA All-stars are Ashley France, Carolyn Isham, Alese Zeman, and Alex Isola.


 


The Bishop Ireton Cheerleading team took home all of the awards given at the UCA Camp an unprecedented achievement! Athletic director Bill Simmons commented, “Coach Hope has taken a group of talented girls and quickly developed another team of exceptional performers.  I think we may need a new trophy case for all the hardware this exceptional team is accumulating.” The cheerleaders public debute is Friday, September 4th when the Cardinals open the 2009 football season at 3:30pm for a rare Friday afternoon opener against Archbishop Carroll High School of Washington, DC. 

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