HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGER PENCE!

From Keith Groller

First of all, I want to wish my friend and colleague Roger Pence a very public happy birthday, his 50th!

If you have called in games and other information into our office over the past 3-4 years, chances are you've spoken with Roger who is one of the nicest guys and most dedicated workers we've ever had at The Morning Call. He's got a thankless job sometimes and the guy works as hard as anyone in the building.

If you have the chance to talk with Roger tonight, please make sure to extend happy birthday greetings to him. Remember, he needs some cheering up after what happened to his Eagles on Saturday.

KOPP COMMENTS

Because of the craziness of the day on Thursday, I didn't get the chance to get an official comment from Central Catholic athletic director Mike Kopp on the resignation of Kyle Kern.

But I was able to talk with Mike early Friday afternoon. He said, simply:

"I am disappointed it didn’t work out for Kyle because he put his heart and soul into Central Cathlic basketball and worked at it 365 days a year. He felt he couldn’t go on. He decided not to coach anymore and expressed some concern about his health. He was really getting stressed with how things were going. But the entire Central Catholic administration has a great deal of respect for him and appreciates the effort he put into the job. He was a good coach for us for the 11 years he was involved with the program. We're disappointed it didn’t work out for him, but hope that he will get another position and another chance to coach at some point."

I asked Mike if he was asked to resign, and Mike said "No. This was Kyle's decision."

ON THE CLOCK AT EASTON

Several people have asked me what I thought about the situation at the end of the Central-Easton game on Thursday night and I absolutely believe that time should have run out and the game should have gone to overtime.

As a way of keeping notes in a game-ending situation, I dictate play-by-play into my taperecorder and five seconds on my recorder elapsed as the ball was in the air on Brendan Nosovitch's long-range shot, well before Jack Sandherr got off his follow shot.

I believe the clock just stopped prematurely and timer Jim Butler sounded the horn.

But the officials were left with no recourse but to go with what the clock showed and it showed the Sandherr basket coming with at least 1.8 seconds still remaining.

Just an unfortunate situation that could cost Easton a district playoff spot, although I will say this, considering how Easton was playing there was absolutely no guarantee they would have won that game in overtime. CCHS had actually dominated most of the fourth quarter and had the momentum.

I also know this. Had this occurred at another gym, Easton coach Jim Hutnik might still be arguing and probably would have needed a police escort from the premises. Since it happened in his own gym, Hutnik, more frustrated than ever because of his team's inconsistency, could only shake his head in complete disgust.

BLOUNT MILESTONE

Becahi assistant Bob Wootsick has let me know that the Golden Hawks' senior guard Al Blount, Jr., is 10 points shy of reaching 1,000 in his career and will likely get the milestone tonight against Northampton.

Little Al has played at three different schools during his high school career and this is his second season at Becahi.

Keith Groller