Sports
Angela's Monthly NFL Notes
Angela Lafond '24
I am writing this article as the NFL season is entering week six. Let’s recap the season so
far! So far the Philadelphia Eagles are the only undefeated team at 5-0. The Eagles do look good
but they haven’t really played any good teams yet. They have one of the easiest schedules in the
NFL which makes it hard to tell if they're actually good or just beating bad teams. Some other
high up contenders this NFL season are the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, the Green Bay Packers, and the San Francisco 49ers. Some other surprisingly good
teams are the New York Giants, the New York Jets, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Each week in
the NFL seems like a new story. Anyone can win.
I have a few hot takes for the rest of October. One hot take is that the Eagles will lose to
the Dallas Cowboys this weekend and then lose to the Steelers the week after that. I think the
Eagles will lose their status as undefeated and go on a two game losing streak. My next hot take
is that the Lions will upset the rest of the teams they play in October. The Lions play the
Cowboys and the Dolphins. I think they can beat both of them out. My third hot take is that
Carson Wentz, the quarterback for the Washington Commanders, will be benched by the end of
October. He may not be benched for long, but I believe he very well could get benched because
of his sluggish performance so far.
With all these hot takes I want to next say my early Super Bowl prediction. I think the
two teams in the Super Bowl will be the Buffalo Bills versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The
Bills are off to a great start this season and seem to be the strongest team. I also think the
Buccaneers will be in the Super Bowl because this could be Tom Brady’s last season and he will
want to end it on a high note.
Alright that is all for this month! I will write again in November and see if my hot takes
of the month were right or not.
Girls' Soccer Wins PCL Championship
By: Emily Foley '22It was a Viking Victory for girl’s soccer as they won the PCL Championship for the first time since 2016 on October 30th! The Vikings won against Archbishop Ryan 3-1 with goals from Meghan Matthews '22 (2) and Alyssa DeGeorge '22.
The victory comes after their intense playoff battle against Lansdale Catholic a few days before. The Vikings lost their 2-0 lead in the second half, but Madison Kennedy '22 scored the overtime goal to save the day and punch the team’s ticket to the PCL Championship. “As we got to overtime we knew that we were struggling a bit but we wanted this win so badly,” Kennedy says, “After I scored it changed the whole game and I was beyond excited to play in the PCL championship game.”
Archbishop Ryan was not going to make an easy opponent, though. Both teams were undefeated, besides their tie against each other in the regular season. Ryan came in hot and scored the first goal in the 6th minute of the game, but Meghan Matthews scored her first goal of the night quickly after to tie the game up until halftime. In the second half, Ava DeGeorge '24 found her sister, Senior Captain Alyssa DeGeorge, on a corner kick which Alyssa headed into the net to give the Vikings the lead. “This is my first season playing with my sister,” Alyssa says, “She just transferred in this year from Tennent. Playing with her this season means a lot to me because this is the only time we got to play together on the same team.” This was an extremely special moment for the sisters, whose dad is head coach Tom DeGeorge. “It’s really great to be coached by my dad this year because we got to celebrate winning the PCL with my sister Alyssa as a family kind of. This year will be a year my family will never forget,” Ava says.
To secure the Viking Victory, Matthews scored her second goal of the night, earning herself the title of Philadelphia Sports Digest Player of the Game. “Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about being the Sports Digest Player of the Game at the time. All I could think about was my team and I becoming champions,” Matthews says about her title, “Being titled Player of the Game was such an accomplishment. It made me feel proud and thankful that my hard work had paid off.”
Not only did the goal scorers shine through this game, but so did Senior Captain and Goalie Bella Diodato '22. The only goal that got behind her happened in the first few minutes of the game. “As a goalie, no matter what is happening or what the score of a game is, you have to continue to keep your head in the game and encourage your team to continue to push,” Diodato tells us. The captain did just that, not allowing another goal behind her for the rest of the game, which was over 70 minutes of play.
The Vikings then went on to win the District XII 2A Championship against Masterman High School which qualified them for the PIAA State Championship Tournament. They won their first round, but lost in quarterfinals against Central Columbia High School.
Their State Championship loss doesn’t diminish the hard work of this team. They won two championships and brought the PCL back to Archbishop Wood for the first time since 2016, adding on to their winning legacy. Additionally, the team had seven All Catholic players. Alyssa DeGeorge '22, Ava DeGeorge '24, and Bella Diodato '22, along with Megan Hickey '22 and Junior Captain Daryn Savage '23, brought home First Team, while Emily Beck '22 and Madison Kennedy '22 took Second and Third Team, respectively.
It was an unforgettable season for all the incredibly talented players. For seniors especially, this championship moment was one they had been waiting for their whole high school careers. Senior Captain Emily Beck '22 says, “The highlight of the PCL Championship was probably the feeling of finally being a winner of something that I had worked so hard for the past four years on the team. It was probably the best feeling of my life and I am so grateful to have experienced it with such great people.” It was truly a season to be proud of, one the Viking community will be talking about for years to come!
Thanksgiving on Ice
By: Emily Foley '22The slice of skates on ice, booming shouts of avid fans, slamming fists on glass barriers. These were the sounds of a hockey game. Specifically, the sounds of the annual Thanksgiving Eve rivalry game between Bux-Mont and William Tennent for the Jim Bagdon Cup. The Bux-Mont team consists of Vikings from Archbishop Wood and Crusaders from Lansdale Catholic High School. It was a nail-biting game that went back and forth throughout the three periods, but the Bux-Mont boys secured the Viking Victory with a 6-4 win!
It was a fierce start, both teams starting stronger on defense than offense. Towards the end of the first period, Archbishop Wood’s own Pat Cawley scored two in a row, with Tennent only being able to match one. In the second period, Tennent tied it up to a 2-2 score. Both teams were feeling the intensity of the rivalry and the annoyance of a tie game, resulting in a multi-player fight to break out during the 8th minute of the second, bringing it to a 5-on-5 play. The Bux-Mont boys were able to get two goals in a row, with the first happening during the 5-on-5 and the second happening in the last few minutes of the period. Tennent was able to quickly reply during the last minute of play, bringing the second period to close with Bux-Mont up 4-3.
Early in the third period, Cawley scored his third goal of the game, earning himself a hat trick. Not long after Bux-Mont scored again. Tennent was able to match one, but it wasn’t enough, making Bux-Mont the Jim Bagdon Cup Champions! This is the first time Bux-Mont has secured the title in the Class of 2022’s time in high school. Senior Assistant Captain Joe McGoldrick says their coach, Tom Walsh had a lot to do with their ability to break Tennent’s winning streak. “It was due to our coach’s mentality. He makes us feel like we are a winning team,” McGoldrick says.
The annual game brought out big crowds for both teams. The Vikings showed out to support, along with a surplus of LC Crusaders, making it one of the biggest student sections this year for the hockey team. Tennent’s student section of Panthers was also quite large, as Bucks County Ice is their home rink. Both groups of fans were feeling the passionate school spirit that only comes out during a rivalry game, with roaring chants going back and forth between the student sections. Bux-Mont had the upper hand on Tennent the entire game, with a 2-2 score in the beginning of the second period being the closest Tennent got to a lead. It was no sweat for Bux-Mont fans though, as the Vikings and Crusader students replied back quickly and simply, with deafening shouts of “Scoreboard” to be heard throughout the entire rink.
It was an exhilarating night all around. McGoldrick ‘22 says on Bux-Mont’s win, “Honestly it was surprising. It felt like relief to finally win at least once in high school. It’s nice to graduate as a winner of the Jim Bagdon Cup.” It was definitely a game to be proud of and a night to remember. Hopefully it was the start of Bux-Mont winning streak for the Jim Bagdon Cup!
