Bishop Ireton High School | Archive | October, 2009

Friend Collegiate Academy rides big 2d half to win

Posted on 31 October 2009 by .

 Friendship Collegiate Academy shook off the tenacious Cardinals with a key drive to tie the game with only seconds left in the first half, then exploded with 26 second half points to down the Cardinals 40-22 at Fannon Field Saturday on senior day.  ” I am disappointed for the boys, but I am not disappointed in the boys.” said head coach Tony Verducci.  The loss put Ireton in a position to need help from a number of teams to get the Cardinals back into the playoff picture.  This week’s poll has the Cardinals in 5th place  behind Collegiate, Potomac School, Liberty Christian Academy and Fork Union.

The overcast day started as a defensive struggle with the Knights and Cardinals battling unsuccessfully until Ireton put together a a four-play, 49 yard drive capped by Doug Vines’ 29 yard run to take a 6-0 lead. Mike Larrabee’s PAT attempt went wide to the left. FCA responded immediately with their own 8-play drive from their own 32 yard line.  Sophomore Albert Reid’s 2-yard run, the first of two touchdowns he would score, and his 2 point conversion run, put the Knights on top 8-6 early in the second quarter.

The second quarter saw a continuation of the defenses dominating the contest. Moses Webb picked off a Chris Griggs pass at the FCA 41.  Ireton drew new life from the game’s first turnover and Larrabee directed the Cardianls’ second scoring drive, a 5-play march with Vines scoring a second TD on a 14-yard scamper.   Verducci sent the offense back on the field and Larrabee found Vines in the end zone for a 3-yard pass and the two-point conversion to send Ireton back on top, 14-8.

FCA had 2:57 left in the half, and used all but 9 seconds of it to tie the game with a 4-yard toss from Griggs to Larenzo Fisher at 14-14.  That foretold the avalache that would hit the Cardinals in the second half when the Washington DC school would score on every possession except one before the game’s final drive.

The Knights took the second half kickoff and in four plays drove 50 yards with Griggs finding a wide open Denzell Stanbeck and the tight end hauled in the 13-yard touchdown pass.  The conversion failed but Friendship was up 20-14. Ireton and FCA would exchange punts before the Knights Albert Reid picked off a Larrabee pass at the Cardinal 49.  Four plays, capped by senior Malcolm Crockett’s 32 yard run, pushed the lead to 26 – 14. Again, with a penalty to the Minnesota Avenue school the 2-point conversion failed, but the Cardinals were in a big hole as the third quarter ended.

Reid’s second TD of the afternoon, this one a 58-yard dash, and subsequent 2pt conversion with Griggs hitting Juabril Ezell, pushed the advantage to 34-14.with 11:08 left in the game.  The “good guys” were stymied after a 7 play drive and turned the ball back to FCA on downs with 6:49 to play on the Knights’ 35.  Ezell would plague the Cardinals again, this time capping a 7-play drive with a 28 yard touchdown gallop, ballooning the lead to 40-14.  Ireton had a final drive left with just over 3 minutes to play and Oliver Noon drove the Cardinals from their own 31 to score when junior Ricky Baier bolted 15 yards into the east end zone. Noon passed to Tommy Kestermann to close the scoring for the day at 40-22.  FCA ran out the clock and headed back to the District with their 5th win of the year against 4 losses.

“We didn’t make a lot of adjustments,” said the Knights skipper, Aazaar Rahim.  “We are a young, athletic team. We suffer from a lack of focus and discipline at times, but we stressed making your blocks, executing the play and the second half was more of what we wanted to do.” 

For Ireton, and 19 seniors honored in pregame ceremonies, there is only the certainty of one final game on Friday in Leonardtown, Maryland against WCAC opponent, St Mary Ryken.  The Cardinals (6-3) will play their first night game of the season with a 7pm kickoff at Lancaster Park in Leonardtown.

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Holy Cross ousts Cardinals 3-0

Posted on 28 October 2009 by .

 The season came to an end for the Cardinals Wednesday on a muddy pitch when Holy Cross advanced to the WCAC semifinals with a 3-0 shutout in Kensington, Maryland.  “We played reasonably well, we just didn’t get it done.” said a deflated head coach, Marianna Sullivan of the contest.

The campaign completed goes in the books with a 6-10-3 record, but a big step forward for the program that didn’t want a game in 2008.  The squad put together a six-game unbeaten streak during the season and saw a large improvement from August to late October.  “You completely dominated us,” commented Elizabeth Seton head coach Mellanie Nei, after Ireton bounced the Roadrunners 3-0 in the rematch of the season’s opening game, won by Seton 2-0. 

Bishop Ireton willl serve as hosts of the 2009 WCAC championships at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland, on Sunday, November 1st. Girls championship is slated for a 1pm start, boys at 3pm. Admission is $10. Ireton volunteers are needed and are admitted free. Students are eligible for community service hours when working at the championships. Contact the athletic department at (703) 212-5169 if interested in participating.

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Helen Fonda named to US Rowing Honor Roll

Posted on 28 October 2009 by .

Helen Fonda, a senior and captain of the women’s crew team, won one of the most prestigious awards US Rowing gives to high school athletes when the Us Rowing Association announced their awards list this week. The award is a combination of grades, SAT score, and a high level performance at a championship regatta.


 


Helen rowed in the 3 seat of the varsity women’s four that won the Washington Metropolitan league championship. Her boat’s victory qualified them to compete at the US National Championship in Princeton, NJ.  Her boat included stroke Katherine Aust, Meredith Ramey, Sarah Morgan, and coxswain Katie O’Neill. The league victory and Helen’s outstanding grades put her at the top among students from over 120 schools that applied for the US Rowing Scholastic Honor Roll.


 


Joe Morgan and Amanda Krauss both were recipients of the US Rowing Scholastic honorable mention. Joe stroked the men’s eight to a victory at the Baltimore Championship last spring and ranks among the top ten students in his class. Joe is one of the men’s team captains this year and is a top sculler on the crew team. Amanda Krauss experience multiple successes as both a rower and a coxswain for the men’s and women’s team. Her versatility helps her have multiple rolls on the crew team positioning her for success. Amanda is a captain on the women’s team with Helen this year.


 

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Andersen, Boys Capture VA Catholic State Title, Girls 2d

Posted on 28 October 2009 by .

Bishop Ireton cross country had a spectacular day in Newport News Tuesday. The Cardinals enjoyed a great day in cool weather at Newport News Park for the Virginia Catholic Schools State Championships as they made the long trip back to Northern Virginia boasting the state team title and individual champions. Bishop Ireton’s Michael Andersen laid claim the state title this year in a dramatic 16:36 victory, the first since Rob Sagar won it in 2005. His individual win also helped the Bishop Ireton boys claim their first state title since 1986.  The girls varsity team finished second to Paul VI, while the both Ireton’s boys and girls JV squads cruised to first place finishes.

“I don’t know what it was, but all the kids were firing on all cyclinders, they really ran well. I don’t think there was an Ireton runner without a huge grin yesterday,” said an elated head coach, Brad Byrnes.  “What I experienced as a coach down at Newport News was a total team effort. Everybody had a role and every role was played close to perfection. We knew coming in that it was not going to be easy to place top two but you couldn’t have written a better script for the day. Being part of what happened down there and just seeing how happy the team was afterward, it’s just amazing. It was probably the greatest single day in the history of this cross country program.”

Ireton’s Andersen battled Wyatt Haas of Benedictine and Blaize Johnson of PVI across the 3.1 mile course at the Newport News Park with the Cardinal pulling away in the final 200 yards for the dramatic win.  The Cardinals edged host Peninsula Catholic 51 to 54 to win the crown, Roanoke Catholic finished third, PVI fourth. Billy Burns finished 6th at 17:22, Liam O’Connor’s 17:41 was good for 11th place, freshman Murphy Costigan was close behind at 17:48 in 14th.  Sam Ferrara (17:57) grabbed a 19th spot while Nick Manzek (18:12) and Kevin Corcoran (18:13) secured 25th and 26th for the champions.

In the varsity girls meet, sophomore Aubrey Gartlan led the Cardinals to a second place team finish as her 21:02 time gave her a 6th place individually. Paul VI dominated the race with 4 runners in the top 5 positions to capture the title title with 23 points, the Cards 72 points was matched by host Peninsula Catholic, the Gartlan finish pushing Ireton into the second position.  The key to Ireton’s strong finish, however, was the ‘gang’ of Hannah Lynn (22:22), Margaret Nealon (22:27), Ellie Marrin (22:33), and Maddie Zeigler (22:41) who finished 15th through 18th for the Cardinals. Erin Beckman (22:55) was 23rd and junior Bridget Reilly (23:05) rounded out the scoring for the cardinal and gold.

In the JV meets, Daniel Burns (18:55) and Connor Pearson (19:09) completed a 1-2 sweep for the Cardinals who took the JV boys title 34 to 39 over host Peninsula Catholic; Paul VI finished third.  Andrew Baehre (21:07) grabbed 11th place, Jack Youngberg (21:21) was 14th, Josh Martini covered the course  in 22:13 for 18th place, while Darcy Gomez clocked a 22:24, good for 20th. Alden Borio rounded out the scoring for Ireton with a 24th place finish at 27:46.

Ireton’s JV girls, current Alexandria city champions, were strong again in the Catholic state meet, defeating second place PVI 26-40.  Katarina Frustaci’s 23:35 paced the winning Cardinals with a 4th place and freshman Lauren Freshwater was on Frustaci’s heels with a 5th place finish with a 23:57 time.  Eva Irwin was shoulder-to-shoulder with Freshwater at 6th in an identical 23:57 time, and the Cardinals’ Mary Johnson was next across for 7th place in 24:02.  Anna Chelak completed the impressive performance scoring a 10th place finish in a 24:57 time.

The Cardinals return to action this Saturday in the tough Washington Catholic Athletic Conference’s championship meet at Lake Fairfax Park beginning at 10am.

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Ireton coach lauded by Navy football Saturday

Posted on 28 October 2009 by .

 The United States Naval Academy announced that Chris Lepore (USNA Class of 2001) was among eight defensive backs who will be honored as part of Navy’s 50th Anniversary Team this Saturday, October 31, 2009 at the Navy – Temple football game. Lepore, an active duty Naval Officer, has been a member of Bishop Ireton Head Football Coach Tony Verducci’s staff for the past three years.


As a Navy football player, Chris earned three varsity letters (1998, ’99, ’00), leading the team in tackles as a junior (127) and senior (109) and in interceptions (five) as a senior. He was selected to play in the Gridiron Classic and Hula Bowl All-Star Game as a senior and was named the winner of the E.E. Rip Miller Award, which is presented to Navy’s Most Valuable Player. He was a two-time First-Team All-East selection and was named Honorable Mention All-America as a junior and a Preseason First-Team All-American as a senior.



Verducci noted that, “Chris’ contributions to our program reflect the many significant achievements he made as a player at Navy. Our players and coaches join me in congratulating Chris, Jodi, and the entire Lepore family.” Lepore is the second member of the Ireton staff to be recognized during these 50th Anniversary proceedings; joining Associate Head Coach Frank McCallister (offensive line) on the team. Charlie Meyers, Cardinals dynamic defensive line coach, was one of the twenty defensive backs nominated for this honor. Meyers was a four-year letter winner who played both defensive line and cornerback from 1976 – 1979.

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Volleyball ousted by PVI in WCAC quarterfinals

Posted on 28 October 2009 by .

The Cardinals’ volleyball season likely came to a close with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-14 sweep at Paul VI Tuesday. The loss eliminates Bishop Ireton from the WCAC playoffs and makes it unlikely the Alexandria school will receive a bid to the Virginia Independent Schools tournament. 

Coach Kathy Gutmann’s squad, a 6th seed in the tourney, finished the campaign 8-13 but captured the Fredericksburg Christian tournament title earlier in the season as well as a fourth place finish at the Norcross Invitational in Roanoke.  The setback was the final appearance for six seniors, but the Ireton looks forward to help next year from a JV squad that went 18-5, sweeping every conference opponent except powerhouse Good Counsel. 

“We will miss our seniors, they were the backbone of our squad” said Gutmann,  “but I am looking forward to seeing our younger players next season. They experienced a great deal of success, and once you get that, I think you stay hungry to keep being successful.”

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Cardinals lose heartbreaker in 2nd PK session

Posted on 26 October 2009 by .

Playoffs are the “second season” and Ireton’s men’s soccer team came out under first year Coach Jon Norem on a mission.  The Cardinals grabbed a 1-0 lead on a goal by Cameron Wallace from Daniel Valdez. O’Connell countered with the first of two Will Tidwell goals, Dan O’Keefe’s pass to Evan Guidry put Ireton back on top before Tidwell tied it at 2-2.

As the second half progressed, the Cardinals became the hunter in the contest, evidenced by the 4-2 advantage in corner kicks in the second session.  The redbirds had  a number of opportunities but great saves and shots missed denied the Alexandrians. Ireton pressed the action and O’Keefe, Guidry, Valdez, Galdos controlled the play with a spring in their step and deft ball handling to work on the O’Connell side of the field for long periods of time, but they could not convert the advantage.

As the game moved quickly through the 2 5-minute overtime sessions with neither team getting much of an opportunity to end the game, the looming penalty kick finale set in. With Ireton kicking first they quickly scored the first three goals, only to be matched by the Knights. When Cameron Wallace’s shot sailed high over the crossbar the Knights had their opportunity.  Senior Arthur Deegan, playing his final game for Ireton stepped into those long odds and pulled the “rabbit out of his hat” with a great save on hard, low shot headed the the shooter’s left corner and sending the Ireton team to the next round.

Overtime penalty kicks become a sudden death affair round by round and when CJ Hancock was stopped on his drive hard and dead on the goal, the luck had run out for the cardinal and red when O”Connell scored in the afternoon’s last light.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team. They fought, everyone one of them, every minute of the game.” said a disappointed Norem.  “But we will build on this, come back next year with the knowldege of what it takes to be successful. I wish our seniors could be with us, but they have new challenges ahead and if they “play” every day like they did today, they will have much success.”  Ireton ends the year 5-14-2 but will lose only six seniors from the club.

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Cardinals Rain on Sidwell Friends homecoming, 48-0

Posted on 25 October 2009 by .

Saturday was another miserable weather day for a homecoming football game and Ireton has become a miserable guest for the event with an overwhelming 48-0 win over the Quakers of Sidwell Friends at Woodrow Wilson High School.  The Quakers, shorthanded with key injuries to their starting quarterback and a starting linebacker, were unable to mount any offense during the contest and had little more success stopping the Cardinals offense than they did with stopping the torrental downpours.  It marked the 5 consecutive week of homecomings, with Ireton winning 4, including their own.

“We needed to get win number six to stay in the chase for a state playoff berth.” remarked head coach Tony Verducci after the game. “I was happy to be able to get all the players in the game for some substantial playing opportunities, they work hard in practice and deserved a chance to play today.”

The Cardinals wasted little time building a 14-0 lead at the quarter break and a 28-0 advantage by halftime on runs by Doug Vines for 34 yards, Tommy Kestermann on a one-yard run, then two more Vines’ scampers of 31 and 19 yards. Moses Webb got into the act at the start of the third quarter as the speedy sophomore bolted 75 yards on the Ireton opening drive to push the lead to 35. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Bladen scored the Cardinals’ sixth rushing touchdown in the 4th and junior Ricky Baier bulldozed up the middle 12 yards in the final stanza to round out the scoring for Bishop Ireton.  The Cardinals took a knee on the PAT to end the scoring at 48.

The issue before the Alexandria school now is the division I independent school playoff picture. Potomac School in McLean continues to lead the polls with an undefeated record, second-ranked Collegiate School defeated #6 Fork Union while #3 St Stephens fell to Landon. Liberty Christian will likely move up to number 3 opening the final spot for the Cardinals to slide into 4th.  “It’s a playoff game as well as a senior day game,” explained Verducci. “The players know what’s before us. Win number 7 against an extremely tough Friendship Edison Collegiate Academy would really put us in the driver’s seat. But a loss…”

Bishop Ireton’s final home game is a senior day affair for 19 Cardinals.  Passport Mini of Alexandria, a partner in the Passport Automotive Group is the gameday sponsor of the home finale. Every driver who test drives a Passport Mini Cooper at the football game will earn Bishop Ireton a $50 donation to financial aid programs, courtesy of the Passport Mini of Alexandria.  Test drives began at 12:30, kickoff is slated for 2pm at Fannon Field.

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Boys top St Johns, 2-0, girls win 3-1, head into WCAC tourney action

Posted on 25 October 2009 by .

 Evan Guidry, one of six Ireton seniors playing their final regular season home game, scored a pair of goals to lead the Cardinals to a 2-0 win on Fannon Field. With Daniel Valdez, Peter Giambone, Frankie Massa, Drew Bedford, and Arthur Deegan, the boys dominated the game early and stayed focused as the play became more physical during the course of the action. The win sends Ireton to Bishop O’Connell on Monday in first round WCAC playoff action.  Winner of the contest Monday travels to Trinity College to face top-seeded DeMatha (17-0-1). 

In the girls contest in Washington, the Cardinals jumped on the Cadets early in the game, building a 3-0 advantage before the half and substituting liberally in the 3-1 win. The team will head to Fairfax for their third meeting of the year with Coach Meg Ashley’s Panthers in the WCAC quarterfinals.

Semifinals for the WCAC tournament are slated for Friday with the championship contest scheduled on Sunday, November 1st at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland. Bishop Ireton is the host school for the event, with games beginning at 1pm for the girls and 3pm for the boys. Admission is $10.

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Volleyball team peaking at season’s end

Posted on 25 October 2009 by .

Bishop Ireton seems to be finding a “groove” at just the right time. WCAC playoffs begin this week, Ireton, a 6th seed, travels to third-seeded PVI for quarterfinal action. But it was the final week of conference play that has raised the expectations for the Cardinals and their six seniors. Hosting St Johns on Senior Night the Cadets hoped to repeat a 3-0 sweep from earlier in the season. It was the not to be, however, as the inspired seniors led Ireton on a 3-2 rollacoaster ride Tuesday night before one of the season’s biggest and loudest crowds, in fact one could say the “gym was a rockin”!

All six seniors had outstanding performances , particularly  setter Katherine Boyd and hitters Lauren Monroe and Courtney Connaughton. Losing the first set to St John’s 21-25, Ireton battled back and took the second set 25-18. Next two sets were split between the two team 26-24 and the final set went all Ireton’s way 15-7. Outside hitter Lauren Monroe and Libero Richelle Villa both felt like they had been in a fight. “It was a fantastic game that I will always remember,” said Connaughton.  Seniors and D’Elia Chandler both felt that the team realized that when they work together they are capable of anything. It was the type of game that the Bishop Ireton Varsity players will remember for quite some time.

They maintained that momentum into the St Mary Ryken match in Leonardtown. The long drive had little impact on the Cardinals as they rolled to the match 3-1, emptying the bench and substituting liberally.  The team took a detour to Sidwell Friends on Saturday, to participate in their homecoming activities. Between the weather and the pace, the team may have lost some focus, falling 3-2 in a match a disappointed Coach Kathy Gutmann remarked was certainly winnable. “We were up and could have put them away, but volleyball is a game of momentum. When we lost it, it was too much to overcome.”

The Cardinals get their chance to find that “mojo” and avenge earlier defeats at the hands of the Panthers. “This is a good matchup for us, we can win this” commented Gutmann.  Gametime is 6pm in Panther Gym at Paul VI Tuesday.

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