As fun as it might be to watch entertaining non-league soccer, it significantly pales in comparison when the “real” games begin.

A historic event highlighted Wednesday’s Catholic League openers. Brand new to the landscape after being a key member of the Bicentennial League, Devon Preparatory School stunned its new adversaries when the Tide blanked Archbishop Ryan, 2-0.

“It was definitely fun winning our first PCL game,” said Devon Prep senior Nick Bello. “We didn’t know what to expect. We knew this league would be a challenge, and we were happy to be able to walk away with the win.”

Junior Alex Hardie became the answer to a trivia question when he banged home Devon’s first-ever Catholic League goal seven minutes into the first half. Midway through the second half, Bello doubled the lead. Senior goalie Luke Grycewicz and a staunch defense made it stand up.

Devon Prep senior Alex Furtek played for Carroll until his sophomore year.

“I had an idea of what to expect,” said Furtek. “It was so awesome winning our first PCL game for Devon. The energy we gained from that win is really going to push us through the season. 

“It’s been fun anticipating to play the league games. We are aware that the PCL isn’t going to be easy, but the team is willing to come together and give it our best shot to show that we belong. 

“I think that our first win against Ryan really helped show that we can hang with the bigger schools.”

According to Devon Prep coach Brian McKinney, the Tide players won’t suddenly become overconfident despite defeating a juggernaut like Ryan. 

“It was an awesome experience for the boys to get that first win and show that we can compete in such a prestigious league," said McKinney. 

“They are a close group, and they played hard for each other the entire game. We have a long way to go, but these kids will surely have success and make our school proud."

“I went into the game thinking of only to win the game, and so did my teammates,” said Fofana. “When I scored those goals, it felt great at that point.   

“The win was very important to us. We learned an important lesson in the loss to Devon Prep to never take any team lightly. The Catholic League is unpredictable and there’s no room to be cocky at any time. When we lost to Devon, we decided we are going to use that loss as a motivation.”

Ryan senior Chris Rola agreed.

“It was definitely an important win for us,” he said. “It was good to get our first win out of the way so they can keep on coming. To win the game in that way was also a plus, too. Our mindset was right coming into the game, because it was definitely important to bounce back from our first defeat in the league. The team played really well and all we have to do now is to continue our form for games to come.”

Senior goalie Owen Ranck notched the shutout. 

“They had one solid chance near the end of the game, but our defense didn’t allow much else,” said Metzler, who joins Cole Hammel and Dave Steinbach as La Salle’s only returning starters.  

The Explorers won another close one on Friday, edging Lansdale Catholic, 2-1, on two second-half goals.

Steinbach redirected a free kick by Hammel from near midfield; Steinbach scored again on a penalty kick for what proved to be the game winner.

Aforementioned Matt McDonald scored late for the Crusaders.

“Obviously we are happy with any positive result, especially to open the PCL,” said Roman Catholic coach Ray DeStephanis. “We wanted to build off our two wins in Wildwood (the weekend before), and for the most part I’m happy with the victory.  

“We were able to realize a few things we’ve been working on offensively and we were able to get everyone involved. Credit McDevitt, though. They’re a very young team with a lot of fight in them.”

After collecting three goals in a 6-0 Wednesday win over Conwell-Egan, senior Koty Taylor tallied yet another hat trick in a 7-0 victory over Cardinal O’Hara two days later. 

“We knew coming into this season that we need to take every game seriously, and that's exactly what we did,” said Taylor. “We started off slow in the beginning, but once we found our rhythm we all began to play as a team. It was a good team win for us.”

The Vikings again struggled to find their offense against O’Hara, but when they did, they produced an avalanche, scoring six of their seven goals in the second half.

“We all knew something needed to change,” said Taylor. “We played more as a team and possessed the ball more.”

In addition to Taylor, senior Bob Hennessey scored two goals while sophomore Ricky Eisele and junior Ryan Morgan added one apiece. 

“We connected a lot of passes and had great combination in the offensive third,” said Morgan. “We did not put away a lot of the chances we had. During the second half, that changed and we finished our chances.”  

Archbishop Carroll and Lansdale Catholic battled to a 1-1 tie on Wednesday. Sophomore Sean Bruce gave Carroll a 1-0 lead late in the first half; LC senior Matt McDonald tied the game halfway though the second. 

St. Joseph’s Prep squeaked past Cardinal O’Hara, 1-0, on a first-half goal by senior Charlie Falcone and a shutout by senior goalie Aiden Hartey.

“It was a huge confidence booster to our entire team,” said Falcone. “They were a tough, talented team and we knew it was not going to be an easy game. We hope to carry the momentum from the big win into our game Friday (at Temple University) against Roman Catholic.

“Playing at Temple is extremely exciting for our team as we are very close to our high school and attract a large student section to our games at Temple."

Monday Games:

TBD due to weather. 

Friday Games: 

Roman Catholic vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (at Temple University), 7:00

Archbishop Wood at Bonner-Prendergast, 3:45

Archbishop Ryan at Archbishop Carroll, 3:30

La Salle at Conwell-Egan, 3:45

Devon Prep at Bishop McDevitt, 3:45

(John Knebels can be reached at Jknebels@gmail.com or on Twitter @johnknebels.)