Just when you thought that the most shocking announcement in State College this week would be part of our lead story, no one in the Delaware Valley saw what was coming in the sleepy little hollow of a town called Wallingford. On Thursday night, the scrappy and up and coming team of Mike Furman and Jeff Shrager defeated The Nowlans.
The Nowlan’s win streak dated back to January 2010, as they took down everyone with and without Monkeys for almost 2 straight years. Unfortunately for Shrager and Furman, all of the news teams from NBC-10 were at Happy Valley covering the Penn State story that they felt their viewers would have greater interest in. The Philadelphia Country Club will have counselors on-site over the weekend for their members to discuss the tragedy that took place on Thursday night and the members will be holding candle light vigil Friday night at the site. Captain Hocker is calling for an emergency MAPTA Rules Committee Board meeting to discuss Wallingford’s recruiting practices over the past few seasons and determine if any rules were broken (hate to break it to him, but there are no rules to break). MAPTA did institute a policy many years ago that has never had to enforce, that in any loss of the Nowlans, the opposing team will have to undergo a blood test before they can be declared the winners. The results should be available before next Thursday.
As we all know the Nowlan’s are not only great players on but off the court, everyone fully anticipates the new streak to be started next week versus Waynesborough. We tracked down Captain Safford and his comment was “Shrager and Furman??? Vlatko and my fat A$s took them down no problem last week”. Teammate Gardner Walling stated, “The real tragedy was that no one saw this coming at all. It took us all by surprise and we could not prepare a proper celebration of their performances for the past 12 months”. Just who is Shrager and Furman, next week’s edition of the recap will include in-depth coverage of this duo and what indications where there, if any that they could perform at this level.
To add insult to injury, P-Country only mustered up a win on court #2 and lost the match 3 courts to 1, continuing Wallingford’s dominance of D1 this season. They have already defeated the top 4 teams from last season and it is only week 5. Rumor has it that Captain Derek is being recruited by the likes of Merion and is in the process of writing a book called Non-Money Cage Ball. Most clubs have banned Derek from stepping foot onto their facilities as he is now looking to build another D1 team for next season.
According to the on-line scoring system, Vic Mead earned their first point of the season against their down the block rivals, Greenville. On Court 1, Greenville’s Simon and Todd Marvin won all three sets over Justin and Michael Ashley. On Court 2, HG “Mr. Tomato Head” Haskel” and Bob Bolling won a tight three setter over Dana “The Gloved One” Walker and Chris Donoho. On court 3, Ben Zink and Shaw Taylor took all three sets over Jake Miller and Pete Morrow. On Court 4, VM’s Ed McQulillen and Whit Maroney won a tough third set to seal their victory and earn a Vic Mead point over the Marks (Centrella and Manning). Rumor has it that Buckley’s will be celebrating the point for the remainder of the month with drink and food specials to honor this historic event in D1. Be sure to stop by and tell them that Justin sent you.
Waynesborough bounces back from their loss last week and took three courts from Martins-1. On Court 1, Martins Scott Falatek and Greg Frigerio started quickly and ran off the first two sets over Vlatko and Bruce Sopko. V and B found their form and took the third set. On Court 2, no other than 45 time PA State Champion Tim McAvoy took the court with his son Tommy and won in straight sets over Fazel and Doc Goldberg (welcome to the other side of the net Doc). On court 3, perennial mudders Greg Donches and Paul Nofer pulled out the first set over Keith Studnick and Jim Ryan but during the lull in the rain, Studnick and Ryan won the next two 2 & 2. On Court 4, Hank Oberly teamed up with Paul Ridder and won in straight sets over Skip LaSpina and Jamie Stein.
Captain Falatek was real neverous about coming into WCC home courts after a loss.  “I think they (WCC) have a better winning percentage after a loss than the Eagles have after a bye week. We got no shot at a top six spot, if I can get Wheeler of this Pickle Ball addiction that he has gotten himself into”.
Martins-2 could not get their win streak for the season to #2 as they ran into a determined Aronimink squad that has just ran its third consecutive opponent into the ground. On court 1 Captain Dan and Aiden Busch pulled off a win against Andrew Sorrentino and Cliff Pijawka. On court 2, the world’s toughest #2 team consisting of Drew Friel and Brendan Kirk took all three sets off of Chris Packer and Jay Siegfried. On Court 3, Rick Craft and Cliff McLaughlin defeated Carter Devol and Jay Wright. On Court 4, two of the most feared forehands squared off with clearly no one knowing what part of the court their drives would land on as Gerry Farley partnered with Jay Jansen and Brian Aguilar playing once again with Jerry “Abba Cover Band Drummer” Beirne. Brian and Jerry took this one in three sets, earning Martin-2 a point for the evening and moving them ahead of Martins-1 in the standings.
P-Cricket showing once again this season that when they field their full squad, they can be the class of D-1 as they defeated Merion three courts to 1. On Court 1, Hyde and Redpath won the first two sets off of Greg Eger and Chip Morrow before dropping the third set. While Eger’s 2 and 3 record to start the season has to be disappointing considering the amount of “Free Agents” picked up this off season, President Crochiere has stated “I strongly believe that it was the right decision for the organization”. On Court 2, Dan Gallager and Jeff Lyon dropped the first set to Tom Harris and Jeff Rexford, but then ran off the next two sets giving Merion the only court of the evening. On Court 3 Ritesh and John Sabia, Jr. dropped their first set off of  Pascal and Brian Crochiere before they pulled out the next two tough sets. On Court 4, Ted Manges and Marc McKenna defeated Tim Kent and Marc McKenna to seal the victory for P-Cricket.
Overbrook earned its first win of the season with a victory against Kennett. Tom Burt and John Adams threw together a triple bagel over… and… (keeping the names anonymous to protect their families) on court 1. Steve Hall not to be outdone, teamed up with fellow Pro Eric Niesen and dropped a total of 4 games against… and…(once again keeping the names anonymous to protect their families). Kennett was able to win courts 3 & 4 but could not overcome the fetid start of their #1 and #2 courts but earned a point which could prove crucial towards the end of the season.
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Keith Studnick