Longtime Thomas Jefferson women’s basketball coach Tom Shirley received a welcome surprise before his team’s matchup with Caldwell on Saturday.
Shirley, who has coached the Rams for 36 years, was announced as one of 10 inductees into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026. The class will be inducted on Sept. 19.
“I am honored to be recognized by the Pa. Sports Hall of Fame,” Shirley said. “I do realize there is group of individuals that have assisted me in receiving this recognition. Thank you to the players, alumni, coaches, staff, and Thomas Jefferson University, who have made this possible.”
The other inductees are: Mike Bantom (basketball), Larry Bowa (baseball), Brad Cashman (administration), Joe Crawford (official), Marc Jackson (basketball), Benjamin Johnson (track and field), Kelsey Kolojejchick (field hockey), Ted Lachowicz (football), Darrelle Revis (football), Chris Snee (football), Nancy Stevens (field hockey), and Willie Thrower (football).
Shirley has led the Rams to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, five Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championships, two Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference titles, and two New York Collegiate Athletic Conference titles.
He has 922 victories, the most an for active Division II coach, and is considered one of the most decorated college women’s basketball coaches.
“This is a significant moment celebrating Coach Shirley’s contributions to basketball and sports in Pennsylvania,” said Hall of Fame president James Parrella.
Shirley has been named CACC Coach of the Year four times, including consecutive seasons in 2024 and 2025. He also was named the American Women’s Sports Federation Division II Coach of the Year and Converse District Coach of the Year in 1993.
His team had one of its best seasons in program history in 2023-24. The Rams set a program record with 23 straight wins, lost just once during the regular season, reached the Sweet 16 for a second straight year, and finished 32-2.
The Rams are 17-10 and 11-8 this season, after a 48-45 loss to Caldwell. They have one more regular-season game, Wednesday night at home against Chestnut Hill, before the conference tournament begins March 3.
Longtime Thomas Jefferson University women’s basketball coach Tom Shirley with Rams alumni.
Nicholas Singleton, who just wrapped his senior season at Penn State, suffered a broken foot during a Senior Bowl practice on Thursday in Mobile, Ala., according to Rich Scarcella of The Reading Eagle.
Scarcella first reported the news, citing Singleton’s father, Tim, who told The Reading Eagle that Nick injured the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot and will undergo surgery early next week.
Singleton is considered one of the top running backs in the 2026 NFL Draft. During his four-year career at Penn State, he rushed for 3,461 yards — with his season best of 1,099 coming in 2024-25.
#PennState RB Nick Singleton just left Senior Bowl practice with an injury sustained during 1-on-1s. Walked off the field, got looked at by trainers then limped to the locker room. We’ll see if he returns.
He finished with 54 touchdowns (45 rushing and nine receiving) to break the university’s career rushing and total touchdowns record. He’s also the program’s career leader in all-purpose yards (5,586).
The Governor Mifflin High School graduate had a down year this past season, but managed 13 rushing touchdowns for 549 yards, as Penn State finished 7-6 overall, 3-6 in the Big 10.
While Singleton, among 15 others, did not participate in the Pinstripe Bowl, the Nittany Lions beat Clemson, 22-10, in the final game of the 2025 season.
Chris Cervino wasn’t trying to become a TikTok influencer. He just wanted to make a “funny, trolling” video to get in his opponents’ heads before a game last year. That was until he went viral.
“I made this video, it was called, ‘Road to D2,’” said the Thomas Jefferson freshman guard. “There’s this kid, his name [online] is ‘Road to D1,’ and we were going to play against his team. … I made the video, it blew up. And then in that game, I actually ended up having a really good game. There were a bunch of videos posted about me [afterward]. One actually got like 2 million views and like 700,000 likes.
“It was a lot happening all at once, but it was a really cool experience. That’s kind of how it took off just from that moment right there.”
“Road to D1” is Troy Hornbeck, a 2026 recruit who has documented his journey to play Division I basketball and gained a large following doing so. He has more than 466,900 followers on his TikTok and is attending IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
The two played against each other in the Overtime Elite league last year when Cervino’s YNG Dreamerz beat Hornbeck’s Diamond Doves en route to an OTE championship. The Atlanta-based league acts similar to a professional league, offering high-level training for athletes ages 16 to 20 years old. It also claims to boost athletes’ brand and social media presence.
So Cervino took advantage of the traction he gained on social media and continued to post videos — from dancing to highlighting moments in his basketball career — while playing at Jefferson. He’s the only player on the men’s basketball team with an NIL deal and has gained 9,090 followers on TikTok.
“On social media, I like to just display myself,” he said. “I don’t really care about what other people think of me, even in basketball games. I wear gray socks. I don’t care what people think of me. People have looked down on me my whole life. … I’m happy with myself and who I am as a person.”
But the most interesting aspect of Cervino’s journey is how he got there.
The Franklin Lakes, N.J., native grew up playing basketball with San Antonio Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, who was drafted second overall in June. The two became close friends while playing AAU ball for Brick City, a team coached by Harper’s mother, before high school.
“In my backyard, we would go at it one-on-one almost every day, because we lived so close to each other,” Cervino said. “We would just play one-on-one in the backyard, talk smack to each other. I would run away with a bloody nose; it was a lot of fun. We would always challenge each other when we were young, and seeing him grow up to play where he is now, it’s crazy.”
While Harper played for Don Bosco Prep, Cervino won back-to-back state championships at Ramapo.
As a junior, he was part of the team’s first state title in program history. During his senior year, Cervino eclipsed 1,000 career points after he scored 34 in the state final. Playing in college was always the dream, he said. It didn’t matter the level.
Before arriving at Jefferson, Chris Cervino had a stop at Moravian Prep in North Carolina, which is an affiliate of Overtime Elite.
Coming out of high school, he had interest from one school, Felician University, which competes with Jefferson in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
However, he didn’t know if he was ready yet. Instead, he decided to opt for a prep year.
“If I got an extra year, I would be much more developed,” Cervino said. “So I took the extra year. I went to a really good school, played in the Overtime Elite League, played against five stars every single day, got my body better, developed myself as a player, and then that eventually led me to come here.”
He attended Moravian Prep in North Carolina, which is considered one of the top high school basketball programs in the nation. The school is also an affiliate with Overtime Elite, meaningit plays two schedules during the year: a national high school schedule and an OTE schedule, where the team is called YNG Dreamerz.
“Moving to North Carolina, it was a crazy jump,” he said. “But I learned a lot about life there, and how basketball could open up opportunities for me. For example, with social media, basketball opened that up for me, so I learned a lot from there.”
Through Overtime, Cervino was exposed to a social media agency called Press Upload, which gave him pointers on how to monetize his name. He eventually signed with an agency that finds brand deals on his behalf — like VKTRY insoles, which he partnered with and noted “it was really cool” since he grew up wearing those in his shoes.
Cervino, a 6-foot shooting guard, is still learning the ropes in his first year at Jefferson. He has played in three games this season and tries to be a sponge in practice under coach Jimmy Riley, who spent 15 seasons on Hall of Famer Herb Magee’s staff.
When it comes to his social media platform, Cervino is not chasing a number of followers or views; it’s about having fun with it while “living in the moment and seeing what happens next.” He also hopes other athletes at the Division II level see that they can have a platform, too.
“There’s always going to be people overlooking you,” Cervino said. “You only can control what you can control, which is how much work you put in, the effort you put into it, and all that stuff. Focus on yourself, focus on what you need to do.”
Albie Crosby has come across several talented athletes over his two decades as a high school football coach. But DJ Moore was “always one of the elites in that group.”
It makes sense, considering the success the 28-year-old is having in his eighth NFL season.
The Chicago Bears receiver, who graduated from Imhotep Charter in 2015, has been a critical part of the passing game since his arrival in 2023, while etching his name into franchise history.
The Bears won the NFC North for the first time since 2018, and Moore caught a 25-yard game-winning touchdown to seal a thrilling 31-27 comeback victory over the Packers in the wild-card round. St. Joseph’s Prep graduates D’Andre Swift and Olamide Zaccheaus also scored as the Bears (12-6) advanced to the divisional round for the first time since 2011 and will face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday (6:30 p.m., NBC10).
The wild-card matchup was Moore’s first NFL playoff game, and he’s experiencing his first winning season since his senior year at Imhotep.
“When you look at it, no winning seasons since high school. It’s crazy,” Moore told Marquee Sports Network ahead of the Bears-Packers game. “This is my first time in this thing, too, so I’m just going with the flow and working hard.”
That aspect of Moore has never changed.
He always wanted to be the best, Crosby said, who took over at Simon Gratz in late December after spending nine season at Neumann Goretti. Moore was the talk of the area. His skills caught the attention of coaches while he was in grade school, Crosby among them.
When Crosby became the head coach at Imhotep in 2012, Moore was in his sophomore season and played receiver, running back, and was the team’s kicker. He still holds the Philadelphia Public League record for most kicked points.
As a junior, he helped ignite Imhotep’s run to its first-ever state championship appearance. However, the Panthers got trounced, 41-0, in the PIAA Class 2A championship game by South Fayette of Allegheny County. That didn’t matter to Crosby, because his players had the experience of a lifetime at Hersheypark.
Imhotep finished 12-2 during Moore’s senior campaign. While it lost to Archbishop Wood in the first round of Class 3A playoffs, moments from that year have stuck with Crosby.
Former Imhotep star DJ Moore, who now plays for the Chicago Bears, caught a game-winning touchdown in his first NFL playoff game.
“We played Trinity High School, and into the third quarter, our kids started cramping up,” Crosby said. “Injuries started happening. We lost our quarterback. So the next week, we played Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia, and I had to put DJ in at quarterback.
“Then, we had another national game where we played against Friendship Collegiate Academy outside of D.C., they thought they got the team with DJ at quarterback. … First play, quarterback’s back, and DJ’s at wide receiver. We throw a little screen to DJ, and he takes it 80 yards.”
Moore finished with 35 receptions for 1,012 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2014 and was the No. 12 player in Pennsylvania, according to 247Sports.com’s recruiting rankings.
Despite the accolades, he’s a “private young person” off the field. He also had a strong support system, and his mother, Cookie Ridley, used to attend every game, Crosby recalled.
“He had an advantage when he turned to the sideline, he knew that there was loved ones looking out for him,” Crosby said. “His mom was one of the team moms, and she made sure that all the kids felt loved. He was a special kid because he embraced that. There was never no jealousy. He loved that his mom loved everybody. It speaks volumes of a young person that can share their parents.”
Crosby often brings up Moore’s journey when he’s coaching his high school or seven-on-seven team. But when he thinks about the impact he may have had on Moore, Crosby hopes he offered more lessons about life than football.
“I’m super proud of him,” Crosby said. “To be the father that he is, be the husband that he is, to be the son and brother that he is. All that is what makes me extremely proud.”
During his three seasons at Maryland and five with the Carolina Panthers — who drafted Moore in the first round with the 24th overall pick in 2018 — his teams compiled 13-24 and 29-53 records, respectively. With the Bears, he’s having career highlights.
In his first season, Moore finished with a career-high 1,364 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Last year, he had a career-best in receptions with 98. He hauled in six touchdowns and had 682 receiving yards in 2025.
Moore will have the crowd behind him on Sunday, and his former coach also will be cheering for him and the Bears back in his hometown.
“I’ll be rooting for him like crazy,” Crosby said. “Rooting for him, rooting for Olamide, and Swift.”
South Jersey’s Frank Cairone, an 18-year-old pitching prospect with the Milwaukee Brewers, remains hospitalized after a serious car accident Friday night in Gloucester County.
According to the Franklin Township police, the Delsea Regional High graduate and a 20-year-old female passenger were injured following a vehicle crash at 10:15 p.m. Police said the crash happened when an 18-year-old female driver from Millville was traveling east at the intersection of Williamstown and Fries Mill Roads in Franklin and failed to stop at a stop sign. The car struck Cairone’s vehicle, which was traveling south.
Cairone was flown to Atlantic City Medical Center and remained hospitalized as of Tuesday. No information has been given about his condition or when he would be released. The female passenger, who suffered injuries to her lower extremities, was driven to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
The Brewers have released a statement about pitching prospect Frank Cairone, who ranks 26th on @MLBPipeline’s list of Milwaukee’s top prospects. pic.twitter.com/1VJqTaKXWo
The driver of the other car was also taken to Cooper University Hospital with lower extremity injuries. According to police, she is expected to be charged with reckless driving and disregarding a stop sign. Alcohol and drugs did not play a role in the crash, police said.
Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said Monday that Cairone was “progressing positively. The reports we’ve gotten are good.”
The 6-foot-3 pitcher was selected 68th overall in the MLB draft in July and was considered one of the top lefties available. He withdrew a commitment to Coastal Carolina to sign with Milwaukee and spent part of the summer and fall at the Brewers’ facility in Arizona in hopes of making his professional debut this year.
With Delsea last season, Cairone was clocked throwing as high as 94 mph and kept an 88- to 90-mph pace in later innings. He struck out 94 batters in 44 innings and helped the Crusaders to an NJSIAA Group 3 quarterfinal appearance.
A former Temple guard who worked on coaching staffs at two Philadelphia universities placed hundreds of bets on professional and collegiate games while he was a volunteer coach, the NCAA revealed.
Khalif Wyatt, who served as an assistant volunteer coach for the men’s basketball team at West Chester University from July 2022 to spring 2023, placed 498 bets on professional and collegiate games between July and November 2022, totaling $176,326, according to the report released Thursday.
None involved West Chester teams.
Wyatt, who worked as a director of player development at his alma mater Temple before moving to the Long Island Nets in the NBA’s G League in September, declined to comment.
As part of the NCAA’s penalty, Wyatt was suspended from 15% of the regular season during the first season of his employmentif hired by any other NCAA member. He would not be able to participate in coaching activities during that period.
What does the violation mean for West Chester?
The NCAA began its investigation in 2024, when it was investigating another men’s basketball team. During that inquiry, sportsbook operator FanDuel reported Wyatt’s gambling. West Chester did not provide sports betting education to Wyatt, a volunteer coach, until 2023, according to the report. The NCAA found the university also responsible for Wyatt’s gambling.
The university was fined $2,500 and is on NCAA probation until December 2026.
A spokesperson for West Chester said, “Though the infraction was committed by a former short-term volunteer,” the school complied with the NCAA’s sanctions. It has further strengthened its compliance education, the spokesperson said.
Temple did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Khalif Wyatt was a standout player at Temple.
Who is Khalif Wyatt?
Wyatt, 34, grew up in Norristown and attended Norristown Area High School. He was a standout guard at Temple, where he helped the Owls earn two Atlantic 10 titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in four consecutive seasons.
He finishedhis career with 1,576 points, 295 assists, and 273 rebounds andwas named Atlantic 10 and Big 5 Player of the Year. He remains the program’s all-time leader for most 30-point games (seven) and is one of three Temple players to score more than 30 points in two NCAA Tournament games.
After his college career, Wyatt spent nearly a decade playing overseas in China (2013-14), Israel (2014-19), and the Philippines (2019-20).
Where has he coached?
Wyattwas named to Temple’s staff as its director of player development in July 2023, after previously having served as an assistant coach at West Chester.
Wyatt spent two seasons with the Owls before leaving for a job with the Brooklyn Nets’ G League team as a video coordinator this offseason.
Wyatt told The Inquirer in 2023 that he had hoped to be a Division I head coach or work in the NBA.
What is the NCAA gambling policy?
The NCAA bans student-athletes, coaches, and athletics staff members from participating in all sports betting activities, regardless of sport or division — includingprofessional sports.
In late November — after six college men’s basketball players had their eligibility revoked over allegations of sports betting — the NCAA rescinded a rule change that would have allowed student athletes to bet on professional sports.
Are there other local college betting incidents?
Former Temple guard Hysier Miller, who overlapped one year with Wyatt on the Owls’ staff, is permanently ineligible to compete in the NCAA after having placed dozens of bets, including some against his team, during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
The Neumann Goretti graduate placed 42 parlay bets totaling $473 on Temple games, and three of those were against his team.
Former Temple special assistant coach Camren Wynter and former graduate assistant Jaylen Bond also violated NCAA rules by betting on professional and collegiate sports. Their bets did not involve Temple.
According to the NCAA, both coaches received one-year, show-cause orders, a penalty in which any new hiring school would have to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions to state why it shouldn’t face discipline for hiring the coach, and a suspension of 10% of regular-season contests during his first year of employment.
In late November, Temple president John Fry and athletic director Arthur Johnson wrote in a statement that the NCAA found no evidence of point shaving or wrongdoing by the university.
When Kevair Kennedy saw Ernest Shelton enter his name in the transfer portal after spending two years at Division II Gannon University in Erie, Pa., the Merrimack College pledge texted his former Father Judge teammate about joining him in Massachusetts.
“I was just telling him, if me and him team up again, we could cause so much damage,” said Kennedy, now a 6-foot-2 freshman point guard. “He’s familiar with my game, I’m familiar with his game. He knows that I like to drive, he like to shoot, so we got a good one-two punch. I also was reminding him about all the good times that we had at Father Judge, and he bought into it.”
That he did. Shelton, a 6-5 junior shooting guard who led Gannon with 17.4 points last season, didn’t have any Division I scholarship offers in high school. But after proving himself in the PSAC, Shelton wanted to move up a level.
His name and background — being a Father Judge product coached by Chris Roantree — stood out to Merrimack head coach Joe Gallo, who heavily recruits the Philadelphia area and has built a relationship with Roantree. So with the push of a former teammate and the familiar ties to his hometown, Shelton landed with the Warriors, where he and Kennedy are the team’s leading scorers, averaging 14.6 and 15.2 points, respectively, for the 6-7 team.
The two have quickly emerged as impact players, and their addition to the program, which lost its top scorer last season in former West Catholic standout Adam “Budd” Clark, now at Seton Hall, has filled a large void.
“I knew Kev would probably have to carry a big load with us losing Budd, and we’re a pretty point guard heavy program,” Gallo said. “We always have a great guard, so I knew he’d have the opportunity to do it. He’s definitely exceeded expectations, and Ern the same thing. You never know when a player goes from Division II and transfers up a level if it’s going to translate. But they both hit the floor running right from the summer.”
Here’s a glimpse of their contributions so far: Shelton tied the single-season program record with 9 three-pointers against Boston on Nov. 15, where he finished with a career-high 33 points and was named MAAC Player of the Week. Kennedy also had his first career double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) against the Terriers. He’s been selected as Rookie of the Week twice.
A familiar face played a major part in their success. Shelton and Kennedy met while playing AAU together on Philly Triple Threat. Shelton spent his first two years of high school at Bishop McDevitt in Wyncote, before it closed down at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.
He considered going to Archbishop Wood, where Roantree was a longtime assistant under John Mosco. But once Roantree landed the head job at Father Judge, Shelton decided to follow his coach there. He was reconnected with Kennedy, then a freshman who saw minutes. He later became a stater on the varsity team.
The team took some bumps in those first two years as the program underwent a rebuild under a new coach. The Crusaders finished 4-9 in the Catholic League in 2021-22. They were 6-7 in 2022-23. But last season Father Judge made school history, earning a Catholic League and state championship.
Kennedy played a large role in that achievement.
Coach Chris Roantree of Father Judge raises the trophy after his team defeated Roman Catholic in the Catholic League championship. Kevair Kennedy is on the left.
“I feel like I grew a lot in leadership there,” Kennedy said. ”Somebody had to be the leader, be the voice, and get us going on days when they didn’t feel like it. I feel like [Roantree] trusting me at an early age helped me with my accountability, not just hold others accountable, but hold myself accountable too.”
Kennedy, who held one other scholarship offer from Wagner, had the chance to play at the Plaestra as a college player when Merrimack competed in the Cathedral Classic from Nov. 28 to Nov. 30. It wasn’t the same as playing in front of 10,000 fans for the Catholic League championship, but it was “a special moment” as the current Father Judge staff and team attended some of the games.
The Warriors were riding a four-game winning streak before falling to Vermont on Dec. 14, thanks in part because of Shelton and Kennedy. The two would consider themselves to be more reserved, but on the court, they always seem to know where each other are.
“It’s a lot more eye contact then words,” Gallo said. “Kev gets Ern a lot of unscripted three-point shots in transition, where we don’t even have to call a play, because [Kennedy] knows where [Shelton] is.”
They aren’t the only Philly-area players on the team, either. Graduate student Jaylen Stinson is a former Archbishop Wood guard, senior forward Brandon Legris attended Perkiomen School, and next year, Rocco Westfield, a senior at Father Judge, intends to play for Merrimack.
Gallo likes to recruit the area because of the the high-level competition in the Catholic League, and earlier in the season, when Merrimack faced Auburn and Florida, Kennedy and Shelton looked unfazed.
“They’ve just been Philadelphia battle tested,” Gallo said. “Neither one of them blink at any of the competition we played against. I think that’s just going to continue to pay dividends.”
So would Shelton and Kennedy say their time at Father Judge is helping them now?
“For sure, definitely,” Shelton said. “It means a lot to have someone that you grew up with in college.”
Kennedy added: “Having him here, it made me break through the ice even easier than it would have been if he wasn’t here. It was easier for me to get out of my shell, knowing that if I don’t know anybody at least I have Ern.”
The NCAA’s early signing period began Wednesday, which means high school seniors across the nation can sign letters of intent and make their commitments to college football programs official.
In the Philadelphia area, a number of talented recruits in the class of 2026 are heading to FBS programs.
Eight players from the Philly area plan to join coach Fran Brown in Syracuse, while Temple coach K.C. Keeler landed nine local signees in his first full recruiting year. Amid uncertainty at Penn State, which has yet to name its next head coach, it had just two signees — and lost a four-star commitment from Coatesville linebacker Terry Wiggins.
Here’s more about where the area’s prospects are heading:
Top prospects
La Salle College High School’s Joey O’Brien, a two-way star at wide receiver and cornerback, is the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania, according to 247Sports. He signed his letter of intent to Notre Dame after his commitment in June.
The five-star pledge plans to play both positions for the Fighting Irish, and he’ll have a familiar face joining him next year in South Bend, Ind. His teammate, Grayson McKeogh, a 6-foot-8 left tackle, also made his commitment official after announcing his pledge on the same day as O’Brien.
McKeogh, who began playing offensive tackle just last season, is considered among the best in the nation at his position in the class of 2026.
Explorers quarterback Gavin Sidwar signed with Missouri, a school he’s been committed to since April, and tight end/linebacker John-Patrick Oates decided Wednesday to flip his pledge from James Madison to James Franklin’s Virginia Tech.
This is cool. His dad (without knowing each other) sent me a video of him throwing when he was 10 and asked for advice. I said “just let him be he’s super talented”—congrats @Gavin7Sidwarhttps://t.co/9vnxrYHa04
St. Joseph’s Prep’s Alex Haskell, a 6-4 defensive tackle, initially planned to play for the Nittany Lions, but the coaching change — and “uncertainty surrounding the program,” he wrote on X — led Haskell to withdraw his pledge.
On Oct. 22, a day after reopening his recruitment, Haskell, who’s ranked No. 10 among all players in the state, announced his commitment to Syracuse. The four-star recruit is one of the top signees in the Orange’s 2026 class.
On Wednesday, Malvern Prep edge rusher Jackson Ford, who’s ranked No. 8 in the state, became the one of the two signees for the Nittany Lions during the early period.
4⭐️ Malvern (PA) DE Jackson Ford has signed with Penn State. He will likely be the only 2026 recruit to do so in the early signing period.
The biggest twist came when Wiggins, ranked No. 4 in the state, flipped his commitment from Penn State to sign with Virginia Tech.
The 6-3, 210-pound linebacker made his pledge to Penn State in May, but told 247Sports on Wednesday that “me and Coach Franklin built a very strong relationship.” He added that when he visited the Hokies, “it felt like Penn State 2.0.”
Other FBS signees
Imhotep Charter offensive tackle Jesse Moody to Maryland
Neumann Goretti tight end/defensive end Carter Bashir to Syracuse
Kennett Square kicker Shay Barker to Syracuse
Burlington Township linebacker Gemaus Sackie to Syracuse
Camden offensive lineman Jojo White to Syracuse
Camden safety Ibn Muhammad to Syracuse
Chester offensive tackle Shemaj Henry to Syracuse
Haverford School defensive tackle Walt Frazier to Syracuse
Chester safety Daron Harris to Temple
Roman Catholic receiver/defensive back Eyan Stead Jr. to Temple
Roman Catholic receiver Ash Roberts to Temple
Roman Catholic quarterback Semaj Beals to Akron
Lower Merion tackle/defensive tackle Kechan Miller to Temple
Salem defensive end/tight end Antwuan Rogers to Temple
Bonner-Prendergast receiver/defensive back Dylan Abram to Temple
Bonner-Prendie defensive lineman Chibuzo Amobi to UMass
Pennsauken running back Randall Blount Jr. to Temple
Upper Moreland punter Luke Sword to Temple
Penn Charter tight end Tom McGlinchey to Northwestern
Malvern Prep linebacker Max Mohring to Northwestern
Malvern Prep running back Ezekiel Bates to Minnesota
Winslow Township receiver Quayd Hendryx to Minnesota
Winslow running back Nakeem Powell to Delaware
Winslow receiver Nyqir Helton to North Carolina
Winslow cornerback Julian Peterson to North Carolina
Timber Creek offensive tackle Roseby Lubintus to Virginia Tech
Glassboro defensive lineman Brandon Simmons Jr. to Eastern Michigan
Springside Chestnut Hill receiver Aaron Clark to Buffalo
St. Joe’s Prep cornerback Simaj Hill to West Virginia
West Chester East offensive tackle Tyler Duell to Rutgers
Germantown Academy quarterback Xavier Stearn to Rutgers
Roman Catholic coach Rick Prete said it best: Every team in the state playoffs is good, and this is what each program has prepared all year for. What they’re playing for is different.
For the Cahillites, it’s getting back to the state final after making their first appearance in school history last season, when Roman Catholic fell in overtime to Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt for the PIAA Class 5A crown at Cumberland Valley High School.
The heartbreaker has been Roman Catholic’s fuel all season, and this time Prete believes his team is “in a good place” to reach the final.
The Cahillites (8-3) handed La Salle College High its first loss of the season, nearly beat St. Joseph’s Prep (in a 40-39 double overtime loss), and are riding a four-game winning streak entering a matchup against Whitehall of District 11 in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Friday night.
“We’re the only team that can get in our own way,” said Prete, who has been at the helm since 2019. “We have to stay focused and get better every day. … From the beginning of the year to now, it’s been about staying out of our way and understanding that if we play our best, we’re the best team in Pennsylvania.”
Roman Catholic is led by Akron-bound quarterback Semaj Beals, who has passed for 2,456 yards this season. His main targets have been Ashdan Roberts (12 touchdowns) and Eyan Stead Jr. (eight), who both recently committed to Temple.
Prete also credited center/guard Dom Ramos and defensive end Julian Enoch as the team’s vocal leaders. The two seniors “lead by example and try to hold guys accountable,” Prete said.
“We tell them to be where their feet are,” he said. “We’re not focused on coming off of four wins. We’re coming off of a loss in the state title game. We’re coming off a loss in essentially the PCL championship game. … Roman has been coming back from a loss. That’s been our mindset.”
Pennridge eyes history
Pennridge High has never won a district or state championship. The Rams (11-1) are having their best season under third-year coach Kyle Beller after going 3-7 in 2023 and 4-7 in 2024. They opened the season on a seven-game winning streak, with victories against conference foes North Penn and Neshaminy.
District 1 Class 6A includes top competition. Pennridge, which earned a Suburban One League title outright and was seeded No. 1 in districts, barely got past No. 16 Plymouth-Whitemarsh to open the district playoffs, 22-21.
Pennridge celebrates its victory over Neshaminy on Oct. 3.
“Plymouth-Whitemarsh is a very good program,” Beller said. “We’re talking about the 16th seed and their record is 7-3 — that’s a pretty darn good football team. When you’re looking at that top to bottom there, we knew we had our work cut out for us.
“We have three of the four teams left in District 1 right now, playing for the district championship. That’s how good the conference is [Suburban One National]. It’s the best conference in this side of the state and one of the best in the state.”
Pennridge has found ways to win — against schools it hasn’t beaten in some time. Beller has been building the program for this moment. Pennridge is one win away from a district final appearance, but first must take down Coatesville in the District 1 semifinal on Friday night.
“It’s about consistency,” Beller said. “We’ve had that for three years.”
Following in his footsteps
Cardinal O’Hara coach Michael Ewing reminded his team to stay level-headed entering its matchup with Bonner Prendergast in the Class 4A Catholic League final last Saturday.
“They’re our school’s biggest rival,” said Ewing, in his fourth season at the helm. “Any time we play them in any sport, both schools’ student sections, the alumni, everybody shows out. It’s a great atmosphere.”
The Lions (8-4) silenced the defending 4A state champions, 24-3, marking the first time that O’Hara has beaten Bonner in nine years. O’Hara will face West Philadelphia at the Northeast Supersite on Saturday in the District 12 championship with the chance — at least to Ewing’s knowledge — to win the program’s first district title.
There’s also a unique opportunity for Ewing, who is the grandson of Bob Ewing, the winningest coach at O’Hara and a hall of famer. Michael recalled when his late grandfather won a city title at Veterans Stadium in 1979.
Saturday is his chance to earn the team a city title, following in his grandfather’s footsteps, and he hopes “to do something that he was never able to do” in the state playoffs — win the school’s first PIAA crown.
“My dad coached on his staff as well,” Michael Ewing said. “I grew up at O’Hara — for the first nine years of my life I was on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the coaches’ rooms. They didn’t do the daycare thing back then. …
“The school has a special place in my heart. That’s why I came back to it. That’s why I wanted to try and bring them back to where they once were.”
Here’s a look at the full schedule of the local teams competing in the first round of the PIAA playoffs:
PIAA Class 1A
Belmont Charter at York Catholic, York County, on Saturday (1 p.m.).
PIAA Class 2A
Lansdale Catholic vs. Lakeland, Lackawanna County, at Germantown Supersite on Saturday (1 p.m.).
PIAA Class 3A
Neumann Goretti will play in the quarterfinals next weekend against the winner of Berks Catholic and Trinity High School. Time and location to be determined.
PIAA Class 4A
North Pocono, Lackawanna County, at Bishop Shanahan on Friday (7 p.m.).
Cardinal O’Haravs. West Philadelphia at the Northeast Supersite on Saturday (11 a.m.) for the District 12 title.
PIAA Class 5A
Roman Catholic at Whitehall on Friday (7 p.m.).
Strath Haven at Springfield (Delco) on Friday (7 p.m.).
West Chester Rustin at Chester on Saturday (1 p.m.).
PIAA Class 6A
La Salle vs. Imhotep at Northeast High on Saturday (3 p.m.) in the District 12 championship.
Shay Barker wouldn’t describe his relationship with his older brother Ryan as instant best friends. They fought as children and were competitive with each other, but Shay secretly wanted to do whatever his big brother was doing.
“I was kind of like a crybaby as a kid, and he was the one who just found that super annoying,” said Shay, three years younger than Ryan. “We would get in a lot of fights and stuff. But I’m a lot more mature now. I don’t really get upset about things. I think that’s probably the biggest reason why we’re so close now: We connect on a different level than we used to.”
Part of their connection also stems from the bond that the two Chester County natives share in the same sport.
Ryan is the starting kicker at Penn State. The redshirt sophomore, once a preferred walk-on, is now on scholarship. Shay, a senior at Kennett High School, will also head to a high-major program to kick and punt next fall. He earned a scholarship offer to Syracuse and made his pledge in June.
Ryan is considered one of the best to come through Kennett’s program. He holds the school record for longest field goal (45 yards) and was the first in program history to play Division I football. With the Nittany Lions this season, Ryan’s longest field goal is 49 yards, and he ranks eighth on Penn State’s all-time list in extra-point percentage (98.6%), while carrying the top percentage (86.7%) in field goals made in program history.
Shay felt he had high expectations to live up to. He has been compared to Ryan before. But Shay brushed those comments to the side because the only way to silence those remarks is on the gridiron.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder is ranked among the top 10 high school kickers in the country, according to 247Sports. He has kicked field goals as far as 63 yards in practice, and his in-game career-long is 44 yards. So far, Shay has made 8 of 10 field goal attempts for a 7-2 Kennett team.
“Kicking has brought us closer than I ever thought we would be,” Ryan Barker said. “It’s such an individualized thing that we’re both trying to work just as hard as each other to get better at whatever we need to improve on, and to be able to have each other there for the mental and physical aspect, it’s just awesome. I love helping him. I love coaching him, and I can see that he’s listening.”
Soccer turned football
The Barkers grew up in a soccer family.
Their mother, Sally, used to visit her parents’ native England during the holidays. In the early days of their relationship, her future husband came along. The two decided to go to a championship match a tier below the Premier League, and “my jaw hit the floor,” Chris Barker said.
From the atmosphere to the game itself, Barker was hooked and became a supporter of Manchester United. The Barkers even named Ryan after Ryan Giggs, one of the most decorated footballers of all time, who spent the majority of his career with United.
And it didn’t take long for Ryan Barker to pick up the sport.
Shay, Sally, Ryan, and Chris Barker together on the field at Penn State.
“We have video of Ryan barely walking but kicking a soccer ball,” his father said. “Ryan went on to achieve a lot of success in soccer. We thought that was going to be the pathway. We thought that soccer would be their ticket to maybe a scholarship in college. But little did we know that there’s an influx of Europeans now in the American collegiate soccer system, and it became pretty clear early on that it was going to be a lot more competitive for our boys to earn a scholarship, let alone play at a high level.”
Both brothers started soccer around age 3. They played for the Delaware Rush Football Club in Hockessin and the Southern Chester County Soccer Association in Kennett Square. However, before Ryan entered high school, he sat on the idea of kicking in football.
One day in the summer, he asked his father to drop him off at Kennett’s football field. He brought a football and tried to kick a field goal. After each attempt, he would jog over to the ball to do it again. A custodian at the school saw Ryan and went to find coach Lance Frazier to tell him, “‘There’s a freshman on the field kicking 50-yard field goals,’” Frazier recalled.
“I’m like, ‘Get out of here, that’s not possible,’” said Frazier, in his eighth season as Kennett’s head coach. “I go up there and I see this tall, slender kid. I can hear him before I can see him, because he’s kicking the [stuff] out of the ball. … I knew he was going to have to make a really big decision here in the future: Is he a soccer player or is he a football player?”
Through three years, Ryan played on Kennett’s soccer team and kicked for the football team. In his senior year, he decided to put his full commitment into kicking. He had some interest from smaller soccer programs to play collegiately, but he wanted to go Division I.
Football could give him that opportunity.
“That was probably one of the most difficult decisions that I ever had to make for myself,” Ryan said. “Just in terms of soccer being my first love and playing it for 17 years. … When I realized I could potentially play Division I football, that was kind of the main factor in my decision.”
Kennett’s Shay Barker kicked his longest field goal of 41 yards last season.
Shay’s journey was a bit different. He started to fall out of love with soccer in the eighth grade. Due in part to a growth spurt, Shay had patellar tendinitis in his knees, which made it painful to run. He decided to try kicking as a freshman while learning alongside his brother, then a senior.
“He had seen how fun it was for his brother to play on Friday nights and to be part of the football team at school,” their mother said. “I think he was really excited to join [Ryan] and kind of be his understudy.”
Kicking came naturally to Shay, but he was uncertain what he wanted from the sport. Then, something changed.
Carving his own path
During his junior year, Shay competed in a few camps and showcases through Kohl’s Kicking, a program for athletes who play specialized positions of kicker, punter, and long snapper to gain exposure to college coaches. He had a rough showing during the January showcase, which led him to question whether this was what he wanted to do.
“Growing up, Shay always wanted to go to hang out with his friends,” his mother said. “He wanted to play this sport, this club. Last winter, he said, ‘I think I’m going to try to play basketball my senior year.’ [Chris and I] would look at each other like, ‘What is he talking about?’ He just could not say no. … The biggest question mark was maybe not whether he could do it, but whether he would choose to do it because of the sacrifice.”
Shay and Ryan Barker shown together while they played at Kennett High School.
That performance fueled his desire to get better.
Shay began seeing a personal trainer to get stronger and sought out advice from Ryan, who reminds his younger brother that “the only kick that matters is the next one.”
In June, Shay attended a camp at Syracuse, where he won the field goal competition and backed up to about 58 yards. He also was a finalist in the kickoff competition.
A few days later, Syracuse came calling to offer Shay a full ride.
“They saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself,” Shay said. “I was kind of an underdog a lot of my career. I just got in the right mental space and did what I needed to do. … I’m honored to have this opportunity, especially coming from a small school like Kennett, where not many kids get these kinds of opportunities. I just want to make the most of it.”
And even when Ryan and Shay aren’t together, they are still competing.
Last year, when Penn State faced Southern California on Oct. 12, Ryan hit the game-winning field goal in overtime to secure a 33-30 win for the Nittany Lions. Later that evening, Shay hit a career-long 41-yard field goal against Unionville.
Ryan and his younger brother Shay during a Penn State football game.
“That was probably one of the proudest and special moments for us as parents,” their father said. “Both our boys, at their various levels, did something quite remarkable on the same day.”
Shay has hopes of surpassing Ryan’s program record. Last weekend, he broke his career-long with a 44-yard field goal against Avon Grove. He told his big brother about those aspirations and has his support.
“Ever since I went to college, Shay is finally able to find his identity and what he brings to the table in terms of football,” Ryan said. “It’s great seeing him succeed. He, without a doubt, has the capability to beat that record, so I hope that he gets that opportunity.”
Frazier believes Ryan and Shay could be the next brother duo to kick in the NFL.
The two already have Sept. 4, 2027, circled on their calendars, when the Nittany Lions host the Orange at Beaver Stadium. This journey isn’t what Shay would have expected, he said, but kicking has given him the chance to play college sports, while forming a lifelong bond with his brother.
“It’s definitely something I don’t take for granted,” he added. “I wouldn’t be here without Ryan.”
