7 on 7 Now a Summer Staple for PA Football Players

Seven-on-seven football has become a staple in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. More than 20 high-school teams from three states were on hand on Friday at Delaware Valley University.

The occasion offered an opportunity for teams and players to refine timing and individual skills in a setting that approximated game speed.

Each team was assured of four 25-minute running-time games with the possibility of playoffs to follow.

DelVal first staged the event in 2016 and has hosted it annually since then (save for 2020 because of Covid). Aggies head coach Mike Isgro, a former DelVal quarterback, notes the event allows high-school student-athletes to not only sharpen their skills but also work against unfamiliar opponents.

“We’ve got some teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware that have come to this event,” he said. “We try to mix and match, based on the size of the school.”

Isgro notes that coaches can pick up a lot of information about their teams during the sessions.

“I think for the coaches, it’s about getting the work,” he said. “These guys put in so much work over the summertime, being around each other, competing.

“It gives them a head start too from the offensive standpoint and defensive standpoint.

“A lot of teams film this (at least one team was utilizing a drone) and are able to go back and review it with their guys correct some of the mistakes and work on them here in the summertime.

“You never want to make mistakes, but if you’re going to make mistakes you’d rather make them now in the summertime.”

North Penn coach Dick Beck notes there were seven-on-seven events when he was playing high-school football at Central Bucks West. But the landscape has changed significantly since then.

“It’s gotten very serious I would say, in the last 15 years,” Beck said. “There are tournaments all summer long, a lot of them in the spring. A lot of those are AAU teams; a lot of guys play on all-star teams.

“But once the summer starts, now usually guys are with their high schools.”

Beck comes to seven-on-seven events with goals in mind.

“I think we’ve got to get used to our defensive coverages,” he said, “and then our play calling and our route running.

“It’s a little bit easier because we can coach out receivers about steps and we don’t have to worry about one guy breaking down in front and [allowing] a sack; then we’re not getting to every play.”

Andrew Erby brought his Steelton-Highspire Steamrollers two hours east from Dauphin County to take part in Friday’s event.

Like Isgro, Erby played football at DelVal; he was an all-conference linebacker and is a member of the Aggies’ Hall of Fame.

Erby notes the increasing prominence of seven-on-seven events.

“I think football becoming a year-round sport in Pennsylvania,” he said. “This is your spring period, your summer period. A lot of your skill guys get this competition work, it’s really good for the program.

Apart from the competition, Erby learn a lot about his own players during the sessions.

“What I’m really evaluating is emotional stability,” he said. “How do you handle adversity? How do you handle a drop? How do you handle penalties? How do you {interact} with your teammates?

“It lets you know a lot about your team culture, how you handle those adversity steps, whether it’s too hot, whether it’s a dropped pass, whether you’re down.

“So, for me, you get to evaluate your culture and your climate. Your good and your bad, and thing you need to work on for fall.

Isgro notes that having players from more than 20 schools on campus simultaneously is an asset to DelVal’s recruiting efforts.

“All these teams here on campus, to see the place helps us get a head start on some of the recruiting,” he said.

“We obviously have our list of guys we’re going to recruit. Some of them are here today. Some might jump off the board that we could have missed in the process too.

“But, it’s an opportunity for all these students to see DelVal, see some of the university, see some of the campus. I know some of the schools will take their guys up in the middle of the campus afterwards or just kind of look around.

“But, mainly it’s just having the high schools here; they know that DelVal is here and what we’re kind of about too from a football standpoint.

“It gives you an opportunity to talk to the coaches, build those relationships with the high-school coaches. If they enjoy they’re going to push a guy over to us if they’re in between on something.”

(posted on 7-12-25)

Holy Ghost Prep to Leave BAL

 

Holy Ghost Prep to pursue independent athletics schedule in 2020-21

After a thorough, year-long analysis of Holy Ghost Prep athletics—which included input from HGP student-athletes, the entire coaching staff, current and alumni parents, several HGP alumni representatives, and with authorization from the school’s Board of Trustees—Holy Ghost Prep will leave the Bicentennial Athletic League (BAL) at the end of this school year and will play an independent schedule starting in the 2020-21 school year.

Holy Ghost Prep has been a proud member of the BAL since the 1970s, and the school greatly appreciates its longtime partnership with the league. With the recent departure of Devon Prep and both Lower Moreland and New Hope-Solebury slated to leave the BAL for the 2020-21 school year, all involved were in unanimous agreement that it was time for the school to make a change as well.

“We explored numerous options and playing an independent schedule for the short-term future provides us with the best of both worlds—allowing us to remain in the PIAA District One and state playoffs while building more competitive schedules in each sport. In addition, being independent gives us flexibility to continue to investigate several new league possibilities in what is an ever-changing Philadelphia area athletic landscape,” says Holy Ghost Prep president Gregory J. Geruson ’79.

Declaring its athletic independence is a bold move for Holy Ghost Prep. The idea of going independent was discussed with every Holy Ghost Prep varsity coach and all are in agreement that this is the best strategic move for the school at this time. Every Holy Ghost Prep coach is confident in his/her ability to build top-notch schedules that will have HGP student-athletes regularly test themselves against quality opponents all over the area.

“All of the coaches are really looking forward to this new opportunity for Holy Ghost Prep athletics,” says legendary Holy Ghost Prep basketball coach Tony Chapman ’71. “I am excited to work with our AD Craig Conlin to put together a top-notch schedule for our basketball program.”

UWNT Makes History in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA—It was quite a night at Lincoln Financial Field Thursday night. The occasion was the second stop on the U.S. Women’s National Team’s Victory Tour. It was an occasion to not just recognize their winning the recent Women’ World Cup but to celebrate the cause of female empowerment.

A crowd of 49,504 fans, a record crowd for a U.S. friendly, were on hand. Many of them were school-aged girls. To them the result, a 4-0 U.S. win over Portugal was in some ways immaterial. Win, lose, or draw, the 23 women in the red uniforms, trimmed in blue and white, were their idols, and role models.

And the players know it.

“I think our team takes that really seriously,” said veteran midfielder Julie Ertz. “It’s about inspiring the next generation. It’s about growing women’s soccer, obviously domestically here, but globally as well and I think being able to see and have role models, to see how that is possible, that’s just a huge thing.”

The 27-year old Ertz points out that she didn’t have an abundance of female athletes who she could emulate when she was growing up.

“I didn’t really see women’s sports, let alone women’s soccer on TV that much,” she said, “so for it to be as accessible ass it is now, to be able to see it, and dream that, and to have that possibility and the opportunity to do this; to see it come to fruition I think is huge, so that’s been really cool.

“That’s really the fun part of the job, to be able to see young girls and talk to them. They want to be in our shoes one day and continue to grow soccer here.”

For U.S. coach Jill Ellis, who is stepping aside, the Victory Tour is a last hurrah. She sees the accomplishments of the national team as a source of inspiration for other women, whatever their dreams, goals, or ambitions.

“It’s just a wonderful representation of things I think that are important for women to advance in society,” she said. “I think there’s a sense of power in terms of just bering strong, committed in the way they play, they way they get after it. I think they’re inspirational.

“I think that’s also important because of what they stand for, on the field and off the field.”

Ellis believes the UWNT’s success  has had a global impact. “I think they’re helping not just young boys and girls in our country, but all over the world,” she said. “I think that was the fallout from the World Cup, that the team went global and I’ve heard from many, many people that this team has been a source of inspiration, so I think it’s symbolic of driven women, wanting to achieve a dream, a goal, and pursuing that and achieving that. “I think for young people to look at this group of women and see them achieve something like a World Cup trophy, a victory, whatever you want to call it, I think that’s a good message.”

Tobin Heath (4th minute), Morgan Brian (18th) Carli Loyd (52nd) and Allie Long (82nd) scored the U.S. goals. Lloyd, a native of nearby Delran, N.J. started the game and wore the captain’s armband.

“It was great,” Lloyd said. “A super, super proud moment to be here playing tonight. I had a lot of family and friends scattered throughout the stadium. To have played here at the Linc is just really special.”

Adrianna Franch went the full 90 minutes in goal in just her international appearance with the national team, making one save. “Coming from France, we were able to see what (a large crowd) was like,” she said, “but for it to be everybody cheering for the U.S., it just shows everything that we’ve done in the World Cup and how much it’s impacted this nation. It’s beautiful.”

Wednesday’s crowd was the ninth largest in history for a USWNT match on American soil. Six of those were during the 1999 Women’s World Cup, the other two were during the 1996 Olympic Games.