Champ for all seasons

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Jimmy Porreca envisioned a great senior year at St. John Neumann High. He believed all three of the teams he played on — football, ice hockey and baseball — had a real shot at winning championships.

The titles didn’t materialize, but the 18-year-old’s year was hardly a letdown.

Porreca earned First Team All-Catholic honors in both football and baseball, and set Neumann’s single-season rushing record. The recent graduate, of 11th and Morris streets, can now add the Review‘s Male Athlete of the Year Award to his list of achievements.

Of all Porreca’s individual honors, breaking the school’s rushing record came as the biggest surprise. The running back had great timing: He set the record with 177 yards in the annual Thanksgiving Day game against South Philadelphia High. The Second Team All-City selection finished the season with a team-best 1,667 rushing yards and 162 points.

"I am just happy to have the record," said Porreca, who keeps the football that he carried to glory on his windowsill. "Hopefully [the record] will stay up there for a couple years."

Although the Pirates lost the Blue Division semifinal game to West Catholic, 55-48, it was another successful day for the athlete. Porreca tied city records for most points in a playoff game (26) and touchdowns in a playoff game (4).

"That was one of the greatest games I ever played in," said Porreca, who spent his junior year on the sidelines recovering from a torn ACL.

When the Pirates took the field on Aug. 31, Porreca immediately showed he was back to good health with 173 rushing yards and three touchdowns. It was the first of nine 100-plus-yard games for the athlete, who also scored at least one touchdown in each of his team’s 13 games.


When winter arrived, Porreca turned in his football cleats for ice skates.

The Catholic League doesn’t recognize school ice hockey squads due to the high insurance costs involved with the sport. Neumann’s club team competes against South Jersey club teams in the South Jersey High School Independent Ice Hockey League.

Porreca got acquainted with the program even before starting high school; he went out for Neumann’s middle-school club team in eighth grade, and went on to enjoy five successful seasons with the Pirates.

The starting center finished second on his team with 19 points and, more importantly, his contributions helped Neumann finish second in the Tier II standings behind only Cherry Hill East, who eliminated the South Philly squad in the playoffs.

Porreca still had one more chance at a championship in March, when the Pirates opened baseball season with high expectations. The Third Team All-City selection, who grew up playing in the South Philadelphia Sabres organization, thought Neumann finally had enough talent to make a serious playoff run. But the Pirates finished the season in fifth place with an 8-10 record, missing the playoff cut.

"It was a real disappointing season," said Porreca, a first baseman on the squad. "Everybody thought we had a good enough team, but we were just too inconsistent."

In Neumann’s final regular-season game against Monsignor Bonner, the home team still had a chance to make the cut. The Pirates didn’t, but Porreca had made his season’s marks: .367 with 20 hits, 12 RBI and 15 runs scored. The efforts didn’t go unnoticed by coach Gaeton Lucibello.

"He is just a great kid with good leadership skills," the coach said of the honors student. "If I could coach with 20 of him, it would be the easiest job."

As his former teams look to replace his contributions, Porreca will head to Division III Widener University, where he plans to play football and baseball.

He expects he might have to wait a while to get the kind of recognition he enjoyed at Neumann.

"Just like high school, it might take a couple years to make a name for yourself, and before you know it, you become the main guy," he said.

This time around, Porreca knows what it takes.


Runners-up

Akeem "Feathers" Green,
Bok football and basketball
This senior running back played a key role in helping the Wildcats win their third Division D title in four seasons. Green also earned some notice by becoming the first rusher in Bok history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. His 223 rushing yards against Mastbaum set a school single-game record, which he broke later in the season with 227 yards against Edison. Green, a First Team All-Public and Third Team All-City selection, also led the 7-2 Wildcats with 68 points. The versatile athlete helped the basketball team finish with an 8-5 record by averaging 12.2 points per game.

Mario Malatino,
GAMP baseball
In a perfect world, the First Team All-Public selection would’ve finished his high-school career with another Public League championship, but a quarterfinal loss to Northeast High ended those hopes. The senior still managed a standout season, which included tossing a no-hitter in the opening round of the playoffs. Malatino pitched a number of regular-season gems, including a three-hit, 15-strikeout performance against Washington, and an 11-strikeout win over Northeast. The recent GAMP grad, who played in last week’s Carpenter Cup Tournament at Veterans Stadium, plans to continue his baseball career at Division III Gwynedd-Mercy.

Richard "Tabby" Cunningham,
Neumann basketball

The junior point guard did his best to lead the Pirates to their third straight Catholic League title, but a 70-60 semifinal loss to Cardinal Dougherty halted those championship hopes. However, Cunningham averaged 15 points in both of Neumann’s playoff games. During the regular season, the junior averaged 8.3 points, more than four assists and two steals a game, helping the Pirates finish second in the Southern Division with a 12-2 record.

Antoine "Doo Dirty" Brown,
Southern basketball
The 2003 season ended on a down note for this junior point guard, as his Rams had to forfeit all but one of their victories due to having an ineligible player. Brown, who is drawing his share of Division I interest, still put together another solid season by averaging 11.9 points per game and scoring Philadelphia Daily News Honorable Mention All-City and Third Team All-Public honors.