For hoop-heads like myself, it's always good to see a story like the one that appears in Friday's Daily Times.

Sports editor Rob Parent takes a look at Chester's Laquan Robinson and Mo Nelson (pictured) - basketball players at heart who are suiting up for their school's football team, too. Robinson and Nelson, who represent the backcourt for Clippers coach Larry Yarbray, are expected to carry Chester High beyond the PIAA Class AAAA basketball quarterfinals.

Parent also caught up with Penn Wood junior Shawn Oakman, a huge (and we mean huge) piece of football coach Sam Mormando's team. Oakman, who measures to 6-9, was the starting center on hoops coach Clyde Jones' PIAA Class AAAA state-championship team last winter. On the football field, he lines up at tight end and defensive end.

It's an interesting look at how, in an era that pushes student-athletes to specialize in one sport, several players are taking a pass on the norm. ...Only in Friday's Daily Times.

It's here. Almost.

The high school football season is less than three days away, with almost every team in Delaware County kicking off Friday. (The others get into the action Saturday.) And the Daily Times is on top of everything.

Here's what you'll find in this year's High School Football Pullout section:

• Team-by-team breakdowns.
• Informative preview capsules.
• Schedules, both weekly and by team.
• The latest on Cardinal O'Hara's Corey Brown (above), the two-way back who is getting more than his share of mail lately from prospective colleges.
• And more...

The Daily Times' 2009 preview section hits newsstands Thursday.

Steve Lewis is back. It's not like he went anywhere; he still lives in Swarthmore. But the former Strath Haven boys basketball coach has been installed as an assistant at Penn Wood.

After heading the Panthers for four years, Lewis (pictured, with Haven 1,000-point scorer Calvin Newell) was removed from the team's top spot March 30 after recording a 34-65 record. He directed the Panthers to a 15-12 record last season, which featured a District One Class AAA runner-up finish and a berth in the second round of the PIAA tournament. It was their deepest postseason run in 12 seasons.

Lewis joins a talented coaching staff at Penn Wood, where he will serve under Clyde Jones. The others on Jones' PIAA Class AAAA championship-winning staff are Matt Lindeman, Derek Jones, Con Kirkaldy, Dwight Maness and school AD Rap Curry.

In case you didn't believe it to be true, it's finally here - the fall sports season. Pinch yourselves, people. In less than three weeks, school will be in season and our county's teams will be on the field playing games.

Yesterday, Daily Times staff writer Matt Smith and I ventured out to get the early scoop on the first day of practice around Delco.

ON THE GIRLS SIDE... Matt caught up with a Cardinal O'Hara volleyball team that feels like it has something to prove. After winning eight consecutive Catholic League championships, the Lions stumbled last season and allowed Archbishop Wood to take top billing.

ON THE BOYS SIDE... I headed over to the Inter-Academic League boys soccer camp, a weeklong voluntary workout at The Haverford School. There, I caught up with Fords keeper and reigning All-Delco Max Kurtzman, who has done everything imaginable that a 16-year-old soccer player could achieve. And he still wants more. He doesn't want to settle for being No. 1 in just his league or this county.

Keep an eye on the Daily Times for the latest on all of your favorite fall sports. Because remember: this is only the beginning.

On your drive to work this morning, did you pass by any of Delaware County's many high schools? Did you spot any of the occupied ball fields? Student-athletes in jerseys?

The fall season is upon us.

I don't know about the Delco readership, but my summer was a fantastic one. It's a shame to see it creeping toward a close. On the other hand, it brings us to the opening of the fall sports season.

At the Daily Times, we've already got the wheels in motion on our annual high school football preview section. With the other sports, however, they will be highlighted in Tuesday's newspapers.

Harry Chaykun was out and about covering the girls side and I was at The Haverford School for the Inter-Ac Boys Soccer camp, where reigning All-Delco goalkeeper Max Kurtzman (pictured) was putting on a display.

Pick up a copy of the Daily Times to read more about the fall sports season.

There's a scar on Rocco Carzo's left wrist. No larger in circumference than a pencil's eraser, it easily could be covered by a standard wrist watch.

It's Carzo's battlescar. It reminds the gritty, hard-nosed Cardinal O'Hara graduate of the work ethic that has gotten him this far - and what will get him even further - in professional hockey.

I caught up with Carzo Thursday in Stone Harbor, N.J., where he was spending one day in his weeklong prospects camp with the Philadelphia Flyers. They had their rookies participate in a triathlon, during which Carzo ran four miles.

He doesn't expect to get a contract out of it - considering he's only 19 and has a full scholarship to the University of Massachusetts. But in order to get back, to gain another invite to a pro camp, Carzo acknowledges he needs to improve.

Carzo's answer was humbling, when asked to complete this sentence: "To be in this same position with the Flyers next summer, I need to work on...

"Everything," he said. "I have to improve my overall game. People have always said I skate well. I need to pass better. I need to move the puck faster. Because when you're up here, you have to make decisions like that (snaps fingers)."

He's a determined individual. Read about his journey only in the Daily Times.

(Photos of Carzo by Bill Guerro, Special To The Times)

Even with school out for the last four weeks, there have been some goings-on with the high schools scene:

BOYS BASKETBALL

Strath Haven's Avatar Jones and Monsignor Bonner's Brian Boyle, pictured, joined the incoming class at the University of the Sciences. The backcourt duo will join seven others in coach David Pauley's 2009 crop of recruits.

Pauley, a Ridley alumnus, found some talent in his own backyard.

****

Elsewhere on the boys hoops front, Delaware County Christian hired a new head coach -- Erick Woods.

A Saint Joseph's alumnus and a native of St. Louis, Mo., Woods takes over the Knights in what will be his first venture into head coaching. He had served as an assistant at Bayard Rustin, Imhotep Charter and at Penn Wood, under Rap Curry.

****

GOLF

Jackie Calamaro did not have a banner day at the U.S. Junior Girls Championship this week at Merion West, but her finish is something she hopes to build on.

The rising senior at Radnor, and a 2009 All-Delco selection, Calamaro placed 13th out of an international field of 36. She went eight-over on the back nine, after posting an impressive one-over on the first nine holes.

STAY CLOSE TO GETTIN' SCHOOLED ALL SUMMER FOR THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON THE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS SCENE.

Summer - when the school days are as infrequent as blog posts.

My apologies for not blogging as regularly during the spring season. I think the heat got to me. And the rain. And the exceptional (but exhausting) road to State College during the basketball season.

In either case, please bookmark Gettin' Schooled and check back throughout the summer. While there is not nearly as much going on in the high school sports scene, there will be exceptions to those rules. Like the Carpenter Cup Classic.

Pictured above, Nick Mascioli of Delco Christian, made several diving, run-saving grabs in the Phillies-sponsored all-star tournament. He made one of them Wednesday, when his SOL National/Bicentennial team lost the championship game to Burlington County, 2-1. Staff writer John Kopp gave us an item following the title game.

I had a chance to catch up with Mascioli after the SOL/BAL team's 3-2 win Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. His star is certainly on the rise.

So don't be a stranger (even if your estranged blogger has been) at Gettin' Schooled.