By Joe Mason
Times Sports Editor
Chris Edwards didn’t have to think very hard to recall his final game of the 2006 season.
Edwards, now a senior on the North Catholic High School basketball team, remembers walking into La Salle University with high hopes for his team’s first-round playoff game against Cardinal Dougherty.
After the game, he also remembers walking out of La Salle’s Tom Gola Arena with puffy red eyes. The Falcons’ first-round loss to the Cardinals hit him that hard.
"I felt bad for me, but I felt really bad for the seniors," Edwards recalled. "I knew I was coming back, I knew I’d have a chance at a championship, but those guys put so much into this program, so much work into making us a better team, and they lost. It hurt pretty bad for me, but I can’t imagine how tough it was for the seniors."
Still, Edwards, by virtue of his own experiences, has a pretty good idea.
"I lost my sophomore year in the first round when I was at Dobbins," added Edwards, who transferred to North prior to his junior year. "And then I lost last year in the first round. I really didn’t want to lose in the first round all three years."
But Edwards will never have to experience falling out of the playoffs during the first round as a senior. He and his teammates made sure of that on Feb. 24 when the Falcons defeated Archbishop Ryan, 53-48, in the first round of the Catholic League playoffs.
With the win, the Falcons prepared to go into the semifinals on Feb. 28, when they were scheduled to meet Southern Division top seed Saints Neumann-Goretti at the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania. This will be North’s first trip to the semifinals since 1994. (The Times went to press this week before the game.)
The first-round game was played at Ryan, despite the fact that the Falcons finished in second place in the Catholic League Northern Division regular season, while the Raiders claimed third place in the division. But because Ryan had the largest gym in the Northern Division, that’s where all of the first-round games were slated to take place.
Early on, it looked like the Raiders were going to ride home-court advantage into the second round of the playoffs. But the Falcons overcame a 16-6 disadvantage early in the game, and with the help of great rebounding, especially from Edwards.
"Rebounding is about work," said Edwards, the 6-foot-6, 190-pound center who collected 11 rebounds in the win over Ryan. "I might be skinny, but I’m skinny and strong. So I just try to outmuscle the guy, box him out, block him from the path and then jump up and get it. I look at that like it’s my role."
Edwards’ biggest rebound came with 19 seconds remaining in the game.
With the Falcons clinging to a 49-48 edge, North point guard Velton Jones missed both ends of a double-bonus foul shot. But Edwards found his way to the ball and floated home a lay-up to give the Falcons some breathing room.
After Ryan turned the ball over, Billy Dolan converted a fast break to round out the scoring.
North was led by Jones, who scored 15. Edwards contributed 14, while senior swingman Andrew Pomager added 13.
All year, the Falcons have lived and died as a team. A lot of the time, they were winning, but they also had a reputation. Sometimes, Jones and Edwards would yell at each other on the floor.
Edwards isn’t denying that it happened. But he does think that it was misunderstood.
"We’re a family, and anyone who has brothers knows that you yell at your brothers," Edwards said. "We weren’t mad, we weren’t angry, we were pumped. We grab each other, we yell at each other, we shove each other. We also all love each other and we’ll do anything for each other."
The Falcons are probably the most talented team in the Northern Division, but they did experience some growing pains this year. Those pains have seemed to disappear down the stretch, which means the Falcons are now one of the more dangerous teams still standing.
"I think we’re playing our best basketball of the year, and our chemistry has improved quite a bit," said North coach Mike McCarron, who won his first playoff game in his fifth year at North. "This was a great win for the program, and it’s really good for the seniors because they’ve been here and helped build this from the ground up.
"I’m really happy about this, I think whenever you can beat a team like Ryan that plays great team basketball, it’s a great win," he continued. "I think by playing teams like Archbishop Ryan, you become better because you see how they play as a team. That’s the reason they’re successful, and it will be the reason we’re successful . . . we just have to keep playing that way.
Edwards can now finally say he knows what it’s like to win a playoff game. But he’d like nothing more than to tell everyone how it feels to win a championship, something North is just two wins from accomplishing.
Next year, Edwards will likely attend prep school to improve his SAT scores, but his distant future will likely include a basketball. Right now, that will have to wait.
"I want a championship," Edwards said. "I really feel we have enough to get it done, but we’ll see.
"Next year, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I want to study either business or sociology. I love talking to people, and I love money, so that’s what I’m looking at. But that stuff will be there in two weeks. Hopefully I can start thinking about my future after we win a championship." ••
Sports editor Joe Mason can be reached at 215-354-3035 or jmason@phillynews.com