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When a team loses 71-44, there isn’t much to say.
Saturday afternoon, there wasn’t a lot of noise coming out of the South Philadelphia High locker room following their lopsided defeat to Norristown Area High at Villanova University. A good 20 minutes passed before someone appeared in the hallway. When the players finally did come out in their street clothes for the ride home, their expressions said it all.
That was the bad part.
The upside is the 2007-08 Rams are the first Southern team to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association AAAA tournament. Of the four District 12 teams that qualified this year, only the Rams advanced out of the first round. The 23-7 squad kept its run alive with wins over Downingtown West, 45-44, and Souderton, 73-54. This also tops the previous year’s performance when the Broad-Street-and-Snyder-Avenue squad was eliminated in the second round by Chester. When the loss hit, these were the accomplishments coach George Anderson told his team to look back on.
"I told the guys how proud I was of them for the greatest season I’ve ever coached," he said while waiting for the team bus. "I really believe they still were the best team [in the tournament] and they could’ve won."
At least on this day, nothing seemed to fall Southern’s way. They didn’t score their first field goal until the 3:04 mark of the first quarter. After eight minutes of play, they trailed just 11-10. That would be the closest Southern would get as Norristown went on an 11-0 run and led by nine at halftime. The game was blown wide open in the second, with opposition leading by as much as 30 in the fourth.
"I thought that the jitters were over [after the first quarter] and we would start playing our game, but the aggressiveness never came," Anderson said. "We tried everything we had, it just wasn’t there today."
Norristown, out of District 1, improved its record to 31-1.
The Rams can use the defeat as a learning experience as the senior Reese twins — Antoine, with 10 points, and Anthony, with six — are the only starters the team is losing to graduation. Sophomore Jamir Hanner also finished with 10 points, while junior Furnell Doster tallied eight.
Anderson foresees better times ahead.
"The last thing I told the kids before we left the locker room was every year we have gone another level higher and I really believe that we are going to be back," the coach said. "I don’t have any doubt about that.
"I am ecstatic for what I have to look forward to."
Home games are at 7:05 p.m. unless otherwise noted at Citizens Bank Park, One Citizens Bank Way.
www.philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com.
March 31 vs. Washington, 3:05 p.m.
April 2 vs. Washington
April 3 vs. Washington, 1:05 p.m.
April 11 vs. Chicago
April 12 vs. Chicago
April 13 vs. Chicago, 1:35 p.m.
April 15 vs. Houston
April 16 vs. Houston
April 17 vs. Houston, 1:05 p.m.
April 18 vs. New York,
April 19 vs. New York, 3:55 p.m.
April 20 vs. New York, 8 p.m.
April 29 vs. San Diego
April 30 vs. San Diego
May 1 vs. San Francisco
May 2 vs. San Francisco
May 3 vs. San Francisco
May 4 vs. San Francisco, 1:35 p.m.
May 13 vs. Atlanta
May 14 vs. Atlanta
May 15 vs. Atlanta
May 16 vs. Toronto
May 17 vs. Toronto
May 18 vs. Toronto, 1:35 p.m.
May 26 vs. Colorado
May 27 vs. Colorado
May 28 vs. Colorado
May 30 vs. Florida
May 31 vs. Florida
June 1 vs. Florida
June 2 vs. Cincinnati
June 3 vs. Cincinnati
June 4 vs. Cincinnati
June 5 vs. Cincinnati, 1:05 p.m.
June 16 vs. Boston
June 17 vs. Boston
June 18 vs. Boston, 1:05 p.m.
June 20 vs. Los Angeles Angels
June 21 vs. Los Angeles Angels
June 22 vs. Los Angeles Angels, 1:35 p.m.
July 4 vs. New York
July 5 vs. New York
July 6 vs. New York, 1:35 p.m.
July 7 vs. New York
July 8 vs. St. Louis
July 9 vs. St. Louis
July 10 vs. St. Louis, 1:05 p.m.
July 11 vs. Arizona
July 12 vs. Arizona
July 13 vs. Arizona, 1:35 p.m.
July 25 vs. Atlanta
July 26 vs. Atlanta, 3:55 p.m.
July 27 vs. Atlanta, 1:35 p.m.
Aug. 5 vs. Florida
Aug. 6 vs. Florida
Aug. 7 vs. Florida, 1:05 p.m.
Aug. 8 vs. Pittsburgh
Aug. 9 vs. Pittsburgh
Aug. 10 vs. Pittsburgh, 1:35 p.m.
Aug. 19 vs. Washington
Aug. 20 vs. Washington
Aug. 21 vs. Washington
Aug. 22 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Aug. 23 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:55 p.m.
Aug. 24 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 1:35 p.m.
Aug. 25 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Aug. 26 vs. New York
Aug. 27 vs. New York
Sept. 8 vs. Florida
Sept. 9 vs. Florida
Sept. 10 vs. Florida, 4:05 p.m.
Sept. 11 vs. Milwaukee
Sept. 12 vs. Milwaukee
Sept. 13 vs. Milwaukee, 3:55 p.m.
Sept. 14 vs. Milwaukee, 1:35 p.m.
Sept. 22 vs. Atlanta
Sept. 23 vs. Atlanta
Sept. 24 vs. Atlanta
Sept. 26 vs. Washington
Sept. 27 vs. Washington
Sept. 28 vs. Washington, 1:35 p.m.
Philadelphia Soul
Home games are at the Wachovia Center, 3601 S. Broad St. Games with an asterisk (*) are not home games, but are being televised on ESPN2. 215-336-3600. www.philadelphiasoul.com.
March 16 New York Dragons, 2 p.m.
March 29 Tampa Bay Storm, 2 p.m. (on ESPN2)
April 5 Utah Blaze 7 p.m.
April 21 at Columbus Destroyers 8 p.m. (on ESPN2)*
April 28 Dallas Desperados Home 8 p.m.
May 12 at Georgia Force 8 p.m. (on ESPN2)*
May 17 Columbus Destroyers 7 p.m.
May 22 Kansas City Brigade 7:30 p.m.
June 14 Cleveland Gladiators 7 p.m.
