What happened to Arch Bishop Wood

[RCH13co18]

Previously a dominant force in Pennsylvania, the team's current record stands at 1-3 with three consecutive losses, two of which were against public league teams. It wasn't too long ago that any public league team would eagerly arrange matches against Wood. However, upon examining their schedule, it appears that these schools are now eager to face them. In the recent past, Wood competed in the highest classification, providing St. Joseph's Prep with challenging games and achieving victories against formidable opponents such as Roman and La Salle. However, after observing their performance against Germantown Academy, I have genuine concerns regarding their safety when facing teams in the PCL red division.

 

[Concretechuck]

I believe a couple things happened and I do agree with your assessment. When I moved into the Philadelphia area they were a very formidable team, even playing SJP on espn if I remember correctly. One of the things that happened is teams around them got better. Including northeast and now Lincoln, Roman, NG, and schools like CB west are making a return. They are no longer getting those kids.

The other thing unfortunately has to do with administration. I think they genuinely do not want to win or from my understanding it is not a priority. An administration can sink a program but that’s no secret. Devlin seen the writing on the wall, same for the coach that replaced him.

 

[tulla]

I believe a couple things happened and I do agree with your assessment. When I moved into the Philadelphia area they were a very formidable team, even playing SJP on espn if I remember correctly. One of the things that happened is teams around them got better. Including northeast and now Lincoln, Roman, NG, and schools like CB west are making a return. They are no longer getting those kids.

The other thing unfortunately has to do with administration. I think they genuinely do not want to win or from my understanding it is not a priority. An administration can sink a program but that’s no secret. Devlin seen the writing on the wall, same for the coach that replaced him.

My comments are more general since I have observed Wood only from a distance.

Several people who are much closer to the Wood situation have, in the last few years, said on here that the admin doesn't support football in the way it (or previous administrators) did. What's interesting to me is that Wood has continued to have a very strong basketball program that has benefited from some transfers. So it doesn't seem that the admin there is antagonistic to strong / high-profile sports programs. It's possible that some things happened in the football program in past years that made the administration take a second look or apply some guidelines or rules that kept tighter reins on the football program. It also seemed that the coach before the current coach was seen by just about everyone as not nearly as good as Devlin. Remember also that Carey coached there in the Devlin era.

 

[bucks_montgomery_counties]

Wood has a hard time getting the kids they used to get from Northeast area, especially the Somerton area which Devlin recruited heavily. Wood's staff has lost a lot of experienced high school coaches while replacing them with guys who have no or little high school experience. With the CYO football programs falling apart I think has also hurt them. The admin is not behind football anymore and Wood is now a basketball school. They were lucky against Ryan and have been controlled every game since Week 0.

 

[lilromeo]

Previously a dominant force in Pennsylvania, the team's current record stands at 1-3 with three consecutive losses, two of which were against public league teams. It wasn't too long ago that any public league team would eagerly arrange matches against Wood. However, upon examining their schedule, it appears that these schools are now eager to face them. In the recent past, Wood competed in the highest classification, providing St. Joseph's Prep with challenging games and achieving victories against formidable opponents such as Roman and La Salle. However, after observing their performance against Germantown Academy, I have genuine concerns regarding their safety when facing teams in the PCL red division.

I believe the real downfall began when coach Walp said he was returning and then was offered a position with Rutgers. prior to that , Coach Watkins who came over to Wood when Mcdevitt close was to become the head coach . With Walp returning ,Watkins left to Pennington. There was a lull at the HC position ,and then the transfers began. These included 5 D-1 players and a few other starters including their first 2 unit QBs ,one to Neumann/Goretti and the other to Archbishop Ryan. Several players decided to attend the CB schools instead of Wood even though their older brothers played at Wood. I Hope their current coach can rejuvenate the once highly successful program ,but i have my doubts.

 

[Soup13]

I believe the real downfall began when coach Walp said he was returning and then was offered a position with Rutgers. prior to that , Coach Watkins who came over to Wood when Mcdevitt close was to become the head coach . With Walp returning ,Watkins left to Pennington. There was a lull at the HC position ,and then the transfers began. These included 5 D-1 players and a few other starters including their first 2 unit QBs ,one to Neumann/Goretti and the other to Archbishop Ryan. Several players decided to attend the CB schools instead of Wood even though their older brothers played at Wood. I Hope their current coach can rejuvenate the once highly successful program ,but i have my doubts.

Lil- I agree that was the big blow to the program. Prior to that the young kid took over and won the whole thing, left quick to go coach with Devlin. Man they were rolling with Devlin and his staff were getting the top notch kids from all over the place, was a well oiled machine. The games between LaSalle, SJP, Wood were great and any could beat the other any night. I’m not sure if Armstrong is still there but I know several kids went back to bucks schools because it was not organized and run to to prior standards, numbers down and no depth.

 

[FJ78]

The first thing that happened was in the late Devlin years, after Carey left, they cracked down on allowing transfers. At first rumor was it was an Archdiocese rule, then it was a Wood rule, but finally heard directly from few people close to program that it was football specific. The coaches of the other teams were not aware of that rule. That obviously played a big role in Devlin leaving.

When Adkins took over in 2018 I was told he wanted to do two things - get the alumni involved, and get back to recruiting the local CYO and youth programs. They put a ton of work in and felt like they were making big strides. But then the financials would always fall apart. LaSalle and Prep would match tuition, parents wouldn't hear back from administration, or administration would be difficult. Adkins left because he was all in but the alumni and admin couldn't be bothered.

Walp took over and I think the McDevitt closure was just a band aid and it was always going to be a temporary fix. I know the timing makes it look like kids left bc Walp went to Rutgers, but a few of those kids were kicked out of the school for disciplinary issues and tuition. I don't think people realize how many kids would go to Wood or other archdiocese schools for a year and then leave because they never made a single tuition payment.

There has to be buy in from the admin and support from the alumni. Wood had neither for years, and it caused them to lose their best coaches. It might seem like it happened fast, but this has been coming for a while.

 

[BradlyPitt]

so they stopped winning because they can't be as dirty as they used to be... that's what i thought

 

[RCH13co18]

so they stopped winning because they can't be as dirty as they used to be... that's what i thought

You claim every team that wins dirty. How so?

 

[Vikingofpittsburgh]

You claim every team that wins dirty. How so?

He's never won anything. so in his mind a team that does win, cheats

 

[BradlyPitt]

You claim every team that wins dirty. How so?

it's called common sense

it's the same teams in the state title games almost every year, the same teams in the district finals almost every year

if you want to think they all have some magic formula of "working hard" you are free to feel that way, some people like myself have more common sense than others

 

[BradlyPitt]

He's never won anything. so in his mind a team that does win, cheats

surprise surprise a guy from tea bag high school that gets their players from all over western PA has a major guilty conscience LOL

 

[Vikingofpittsburgh]

surprise surprise a guy from tea bag high school that gets their players from all over western PA has a major guilty conscience LOL

I'll try and break it down since you might be slightly slow. I'm going to assume you went to a high school with a losing attitude. Before the start of each season, you'd cultivate a culture of losing. You'd probably look at the schedule and see a winning team, and say "We have no chance against against that team". And sure enough, you would get crushed by the winning team, all because you manifested it. Now, some teams are able to break out of this cursed self-defeated attitude. These are the teams you see winning at Hershey (Or Cumberland Valley)

This world is filled with more "have nots" than "haves". The "haves" are the ones you see winning constantly. The "Have nots" well, they are OK being OK.

 

[BradlyPitt]

I'll try and break it down since you might be slightly slow. I'm going to assume you went to a high school with a losing attitude. Before the start of each season, you'd cultivate a culture of losing. You'd probably look at the schedule and see a winning team, and say "We have no chance against against that team". And sure enough, you would get crushed by the winning team, all because you manifested it. Now, some teams are able to break out of this cursed self-defeated attitude. These are the teams you see winning at Hershey (Or Cumberland Valley)

This world is filled with more "have nots" than "haves". The "haves" are the ones you see winning constantly. The "Have nots" well, they are OK being OK.

yeah i'm well aware you have to know you are good and be full of confidence

but my confidence or lack thereof makes no difference in how Central plays against SJP, so i can have a more realistic view of how the game will play out... and i see SJP beating them easily

 

[bucks_montgomery_counties]

Can you believe Wood people are complaining about playing Prep. Saying it's not fair that they have to play them and PIAA should step in and do something. I hope they aren't serious. If memory serves correct, they were one of the schools that benefited from open enrollment for many years and their basketball and baseball teams still benefit from it. The guard who just commitment to Miami is a kid from Northeast Philly. I don't think you should be able to complain about an opponent when you have teams in your own school doing the same as the Prep in football.

 

[RCH13co18]

Can you believe Wood people are complaining about playing Prep. Saying it's not fair that they have to play them and PIAA should step in and do something. I hope they aren't serious. If memory serves correct, they were one of the schools that benefited from open enrollment for many years and their basketball and baseball teams still benefit from it. The guard who just commitment to Miami is a kid from Northeast Philly. I don't think you should be able to complain about an opponent when you have teams in your own school doing the same as the Prep in football.

Word is those complaints were heard from the higher ups. Prep will not play many starters (if any) in tonight’s contest.

 

[lilromeo]

Can you believe Wood people are complaining about playing Prep. Saying it's not fair that they have to play them and PIAA should step in and do something. I hope they aren't serious. If memory serves correct, they were one of the schools that benefited from open enrollment for many years and their basketball and baseball teams still benefit from it. The guard who just commitment to Miami is a kid from Northeast Philly. I don't think you should be able to complain about an opponent when you have teams in your own school doing the same as the Prep in football.

I assume you are correct with this ,and if so I hope Prep clocks em good which they will. I followed Wood for many years since my 3 kids played sports there. What a joke . Suck it up !!! It serves the administration right if they get whipped all year. I feel for the coach and the players who are the victims of their own schools demise due to the leadership there.

 

[lilromeo]

I assume you are correct with this ,and if so I hope Prep clocks em good which they will. I followed Wood for many years since my 3 kids played sports there. What a joke . Suck it up !!! It serves the administration right if they get whipped all year. I feel for the coach and the players who are the victims of their own schools demise due to the leadership there.

Prep 62-0

 

[tulla]

Prep 62-0

And to think that two years ago the regular season game between the two was fairly close and the semi-final game was very close, with the Prep winning 10-7 on a last minute field goal.

 

[northalleghenytiger]

who is the 2nd best team in PCL

 

[DripDrop]

who is the 2nd best team in PCL

Roman Catholic

 

[RCH13co18]

who is the 2nd best team in PCL

Roman/lasalle never know til we play. We’re undefeated but our SOS isn’t similar to lasalle’s. malvern , mcdevit, and tough win against calvert Hall. Our toughest opponent was Dematha , which we won in a close one.

 

[2020sports]

Can you believe Wood people are complaining about playing Prep. Saying it's not fair that they have to play them and PIAA should step in and do something. I hope they aren't serious. If memory serves correct, they were one of the schools that benefited from open enrollment for many years and their basketball and baseball teams still benefit from it. The guard who just commitment to Miami is a kid from Northeast Philly. I don't think you should be able to complain about an opponent when you have teams in your own school doing the same as the Prep in football.

what does this mean? "benefited from open enrollment"

 

[RobberLucky]

Roman/lasalle never know til we play. We’re undefeated but our SOS isn’t similar to lasalle’s. malvern , mcdevit, and tough win against calvert Hall. Our toughest opponent was Dematha , which we won in a close one.

Roman didn’t beat Dematha. They lost in OT.

 

[Bighead75]

I hear Roman had a hard time against Judge this week.

 

[Concretechuck]

I hear Roman had a hard against Judge this week.

Roman struggled with Judge at times. Judge also played well. Felt like Roman left a lot on the table and had way too many penalties. That PCL league is interesting because any week things can go one way or the other, except for when one of them have to play St joes prep.

 

[Concretechuck]

Roman didn’t beat Dematha. They lost in OT.

5 overtimes.

 

[Concretechuck]

Roman Catholic

I can make a case that Lasalle is the 2nd best team. But I think that game can go either way. Lasalle seems to be getting it back on track and Roman appears to be closing the gap on them. I think Lasalle will give Roman all kinds of issues on offense and Roman can give Lasalle’s defense all kinds of issues.

 

[Concretechuck]

Roman/lasalle never know til we play. We’re undefeated but our SOS isn’t similar to lasalle’s. malvern , mcdevit, and tough win against calvert Hall. Our toughest opponent was Dematha , which we won in a close one.

I think DeMatha is better than Calvert Hall and Malvern. That mcdevitt team is really good.

 

[RobberLucky]

I can make a case that Lasalle is the 2nd best team. But I think that game can go either way. Lasalle seems to be getting it back on track and Roman appears to be closing the gap on them. I think Lasalle will give Roman all kinds of issues on offense and Roman can give Lasalle’s defense all kinds of issues.

LaSalle is dealing with a lot of injuries. They don’t have the depth needed to play the schedule they play. Friday will be ugly for them.

Roman has played 1 team and should’ve/could’ve won. Most of their schedule is weak.

They will probably beat LS due to that reason alone. LS is limping into conference play.

 

[tulla]

Roman/lasalle never know til we play. We’re undefeated but our SOS isn’t similar to lasalle’s. malvern , mcdevit, and tough win against calvert Hall. Our toughest opponent was Dematha , which we won in a close one.

Didn't DeMatha beat Roman?

LaSalle is dealing with a lot of injuries. They don’t have the depth needed to play the schedule they play. Friday will be ugly for them.

Roman has played 1 team and should’ve/could’ve won. Most of their schedule is weak.

They will probably beat LS due to that reason alone. LS is limping into conference play.

Roman beat LaSalle by, I think, three TDs last year, so it seems they are likely #2 in the PCL Red again this year. Because there are only three PCL teams in 6A (SJP, LaSalle, and Judge), the championship game will almost certainly be SJP and LaSalle yet again. (Has Judge moved to 5A--with Roman and Wood?)

Also, Calvert Hall is a lot weaker than DeMatha.

 

[Concretechuck]

LaSalle is dealing with a lot of injuries. They don’t have the depth needed to play the schedule they play. Friday will be ugly for them.

Roman has played 1 team and should’ve/could’ve won. Most of their schedule is weak.

They will probably beat LS due to that reason alone. LS is limping into conference play.

Wilson was supposed to be a quality opponent, are they not good or did Roman make them look not good? The score of Imhotep and Lincoln was very similar to the score of Roman and Lincoln. Episcopal Academy supposed to be loaded, Roman dismantled them.

I think Lasalle similar to St Joes Prep is just ahead of Roman but in regards to Lasalle, Roman is closing the gap on them dramatically.

 

[RobberLucky]

Wilson was supposed to be a quality opponent, are they not good or did Roman make them look not good? The score of Imhotep and Lincoln was very similar to the score of Roman and Lincoln. Episcopal Academy supposed to be loaded, Roman dismantled them.

I think Lasalle similar to St Joes Prep is just ahead of Roman but in regards to Lasalle, Roman is closing the gap on them dramatically.

I haven’t heard anyone say EA was supposed to be loaded this year - last year was their “loaded” team.

Roman gets a lot of shit for their schedule from almost everyone I talk to which includes a dad on their team who son plays defense and claims his son doesn’t get good film because they like to find poor competition.

Let’s not forget last year they played West Catholic and Trinity. Two AA teams.

This year they scheduled a school that hasn’t played football in 3 years too.

 

[Steve_pitt64]

Let’s also not forget last year they ALSO played Malvern and Perk Valley & had a date with Imhotep in the City championship which will happen once again this year. So to make the statement “they like to find poor competition” sounds pretty ridiculous. I’m pretty sure DeMatha, Episcopal, Lasalle, St Joes and Imhotep will be more than enough “good” film.

 

[tulla]

I haven’t heard anyone say EA was supposed to be loaded this year - last year was their “loaded” team.

Roman gets a lot of shit for their schedule from almost everyone I talk to which includes a dad on their team who son plays defense and claims his son doesn’t get good film because they like to find poor competition.

Let’s not forget last year they played West Catholic and Trinity. Two AA teams.

This year they scheduled a school that hasn’t played football in 3 years too.

The PCL is unique in having so many member schools that don't have their own fields. Nearly all the North Jersey Catholic powers (Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, St. Joe's Montvale, etc.) have quite nice home fields on campus--as do the DC Catholic schools--St. John's, Gonzaga, Good Counsel, etc.) But SJP, Roman, LaSalle, NG, West Catholic, etc. have to go begging. This makes it hard to schedule home and homes with good teams from other areas. Anyone think Bergen Catholic or St. John's wants to play at the Germantown "supersite"? And of course, the PCL schools have to wait to see when and if public school sites are available.

SJP tried Widener but that didn't work out. Franklin Field works when the weather is good and the other team can bring a crowd--which is why it has worked so far for LaSalle-SJP, but if it rains Friday night ... SJP played Gonzaga there in '21 and Erasmus in '22 but I have to assume SJP took a financial hit each time since neither opponent brought a lot of fans.

So it's tough. You can see why Archbishop Spalding wants SJP to come down later this month. It's a program on the upswing and wants more of a profile, so they benefit as long as they don't get blown out. But after their experience coming north to play IMHOTEP in September, I doubt they'll want to come to Philly to play SJP next year.

 

[RobberLucky]

Malvern is legit. Too bad they didn’t keep them on.

Perk valley though?

Top to bottom their schedule isn’t that hard. I’ve said all I can say about it.

 

[Steve_pitt64]

They don’t have the budget to go out of state as frequently as Lasalle and Prep since they are an archdiocesan school that doesn’t charge 20k + a year for tuition, so who are they supposed to schedule … pretty sure Perk Valley wins their league every other year and makes noise in the D1 6A playoffs but to quote you I’ve said all I can say about it. Should they have to travel over an hour every week to play since good teams won’t come to Philly like Tulla just mentioned? How is that fair to the kids?

 

[RobberLucky]

They don’t have the budget to go out of state as frequently as Lasalle and Prep since they are an archdiocesan school that doesn’t charge 20k + a year for tuition, so who are they supposed to schedule … pretty sure Perk Valley wins their league every other year and makes noise in the D1 6A playoffs but to quote you I’ve said all I can say about it. Should they have to travel over an hour every week to play since good teams won’t come to Philly like Tulla just mentioned? How is that fair to the kids?

If you are going to take a two hour bus ride to Harrisburg, don't schedule 2A Trinity. Schedule McDevitt, Harrisburg or Central York. Roman is a 5A school.

If you're going to take a 2.5 hour bus in a few weeks to MD - don't schedule NCA who hasn't played football in 3 years, schedule ANYONE else.

But I do get how not having fields can be somewhat of a problem for getting schools in here. So, I'll concede somewhat there.

I'll give them credit on Dematha and they played them really well. They represented our region well that weekend.

 

[Concretechuck]

If you are going to take a two hour bus ride to Harrisburg, don't schedule 2A Trinity. Schedule McDevitt, Harrisburg or Central York. Roman is a 5A school.

If you're going to take a 2.5 hour bus in a few weeks to MD - don't schedule NCA who hasn't played football in 3 years, schedule ANYONE else.

But I do get how not having fields can be somewhat of a problem for getting schools in here. So, I'll concede somewhat there.

I'll give them credit on Dematha and they played them really well. They represented our region well that weekend.

Serious question, do you know how the PCL red scheduling works? They have to find 5 non league games.

The game against national Christian academy is on October 13th or 14th at Upper Dublin. Another question, do you think that was the only school they asked to play or is it more likely that no schools have bye weeks on 10/13 except the PCL and the ones who were open said no to playing Roman so they chose to have a game scheduled instead of a bye week? I’m not a fan of that game either but it was a scheduled bye week for them.

 

[RobberLucky]

Serious question, do you know how the PCL red scheduling works? They have to find 5 non league games.

The game against national Christian academy is on October 13th or 14th at Upper Dublin. Another question, do you think that was the only school they asked to play or is it more likely that no schools have bye weeks on 10/13 except the PCL and the ones who were open said no to playing Roman so they chose to have a game scheduled instead of a bye week? I’m not a fan of that game either but it was a scheduled bye week for them.

Wilson, Lincoln, EA, Dematha, and Cheltenham. I know that’s 5.

I wasn’t aware the game is in PA but why schedule it? Roman doesn’t have a bye week for that game?