Are you ready for some football?
Welcome to the official forum on high school football for the 2018 season.
During the off-season let’s talk about players, recruiting news, teams and everything about high school football.
During the season each week let’s talk about match-ups and how teams did. Let us know what player(s) stood out each week.
881 Responses
Also, and you C’Ville folks feel free to jump down my throat or set me straight, but I was not impressed last night with the Red Raiders, at least from the middle of the second quarter after the muffed punt. He should have never been near that punt. Then the penalties. And the run defense. Ortega’s mid to long range passing accuracy. Does make the games against the two Downingtowns’ in October a lot more intriguing.
Why didn’t CV attempt an onside kick in the middle of 4th qtr after their 3rd TD?? That was the only way they had a chance to win that game if they got the ball back right then. That made no sense to me.
Watched the Coatesville/CV game. Coatesville had a ton of penalties — not sure how many were legit (some seemed ridiculous). 3 holding plays in a row? Maybe. Not sure CV had any penalties (even though an end left early on half a dozen plays). A win is a win, but with all the talent C’ville has they need to clean it up. I’ll give C/V credit for not folding after the initial onslaught.
Derrick, this comes from someone who has seen Simon play, he’s the real deal and will you will probably be watching him on TV on Saturday’s in a few years. He will probably wind up at a school like Pitt or Wisconsin and tear it up.
Jeff H Berks Catholic 14-13 over McDonough BC led 14-0 with a little over 2 minutes to go, McDonough scored twice and went for 2 but was stopped. Then they recovered an onside kick but BC held. Fantastic game. Gives District 3 some cred, was surprised Manheim Township beat Central Dauphin. 6A up for grabs in D3
Coatesville uses big first quarter to defeat Cumberland Valley.
Coatesville 35 Cumberland Valley 19.
After falling behind 28-0 to one of the top 6A programs in the state this year, CV showed signs of grit, determination, and growing up a little with several nice long drives over the last three quarters. CV closed to 28-13 late in the third quarter but Coatesville sealed the victory with an impressive drive culminating in a touchdown with just over 10 minutes left. CV answered with a TD drive of their own but time was running out and Coatesville was able to run out the clock. CV hung in there and battled back after the initial Coatesville onslaught but D1 players Aaron Young and Ricky Ortega for Coatesville were just too much for the CV defense to handle. Coatesville improves to 3-0 while CV starts the season with an un-CV like 0-3 record.
Thank You Evan Simon’s dad. Nice touch adding a couple smaller opinions on other boys to throw us off.
Really nice to see some of the crossover games in the early season in D3, Berks has been criticized on this board and elsewhere in years past for having a cupcake schedule in the regular season, which I think clearly hurt them in the state playoffs when it came time to take on Erie Prep. To their credit they’ve significantly upgraded their schedule this year, will have their hands full with McDonogh tonight and will do well to keep it within 2 scores, but playing teams like CD and McDonogh and Malvern Prep in a couple of weeks will get them better prepared for the playoffs.
Also nice to see McDevitt play Middletown, expect this game to be a battle but think McDevitt with Chase Diehl and company have too much firepower and will end up winning by a couple of scores.
Game of the week among big schools in the WPIAL is Pittsburgh Central Catholic travelling to North Allegheny, those 2 along with Pine Richland have won the last 8 WPIAL titles at the largest classification, and one of those 3 will win again this year, there’s a very large gap between them and the rest of the 6A schools. I like NA at home tonight in a slugfest, they mercy ruled Norwin last week in a game I thought was going to be pretty close, as Norwin has a good QB and some nice skill players, but NA dominated in the trenches.
Mike A and Jeff H – Thanks for the feedback and also the update on your area schools. Let’s try to make this an informative forum as much as possible.
I would encourage everyone to try to see Evan Simon of Manheim Central before he graduates. He is a Jr this year. He will definitely be a starting QB for a Power 5 college and has a chance to go further. I believe he is more advanced at this age than some other D3 QB’s that have played on Sundays. Doesn’t mean he will surpass them, but he is a complete player. An actual passing QB not a high school / college running QB He beat Mifflin in the D3 final with a shoulder fake that froze the corner and then threw a perfect ball for a TD……Game Over! I am not from Central either so I don’t want to hear that. He is special.
Adam Burkhart from CD is incredibly physical. Probably won’t get D1 offers because of size but he is awesome to watch. Against BC he was the most physical LB for both teams. Watch his HUDL video for that game. He literally knocks people over to get to the ball. Amazing!
Nick Singleton is a Freshman at Mifflin and is their best player. He will become their FB and his ceiling is very high. Amazing athlete.
And another reminder that Wilson is at Manheim Central next Firday 9/14 @ 7pm. These schools have not played each other in about 5 years due to different classifications, but they have had some epic battles over the years. Two amazing programs that have been the standard in D3 along with McDevitt, CV and CD. Great fan bases and it will be a sellout. Amazing long tenured coaching staffs that have mutual respect for each other. Complex defensive schemes and players finish tackles. They have progressive offenses that have grown legendary QB’s such as Nagy, Smoker, Collins and Henne. This will be the best atmosphere at a high school game in Central PA all year……. and again next year at Wilson.
@District 3 Commish – great summary, I’m from the Pittsburgh area but follow football statewide, my impression from afar when I saw CD handle Wilson and then beat BC 7-0 was they were the team to beat in 6A. Also agree with your assessment Coatesville will be in Hershey in December barring something totally unforeseen, if I was making a state poll I would have them #1 followed by SJP and Pine Richland,
Regarding 5A I think Manheim Central has a good chance of making it to Hershey, appears they are better than any of the D1 teams in 5A, out here in the west the WPIAL is loaded in 5A this year with Gateway, Penn Hills, and McKeesport the top 3 in no particular order, and several other solid teams like Bethel Park and West Allegheny, whoever survives the WPIAL playoffs will likely play AW in the semi-finals, but early indications and the talk out East is this is not the same vintage AW team we’ve seen the last several years, time will tell, they are obviously still the team to beat in 5A until someone knocks them off.
Hi guys. I am enjoying all the football talk on here. If anyone is interested in helping us promote high school football let me know. I am always looking for more reporters and if you want to send me a weekly recap of games in your district let me know.
You can reach me at Dave@easternpafootball.com
Thank you!
@District 3 Commish Nice summary…pretty much right on the mark.
Cumberland Valley Outlook for 2018:
CV had 4 turnovers against Central York but the reality is this is probably the weakest and most inexperienced team CV had fielded in the last 20-30 years. They were hit very hard by graduation of some very good players.15-16 starters this year are basically JV players with little to no varsity experience. The pass defense has been nonexistent and the offense is inconsistent and mistake prone. There are several very skilled players and as the younger players get some experience they should improve but they lack the overall team speed and athleticism of past teams. A 5-5 record would be a successful season but 4-6 is more likely from what I have seen so far and the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. They will be very large underdogs (probably 3-4 TD’s) to Coatesville (mercy rule is possible) and considerable underdogs as well to CD and Harrisburg in the following weeks.
My humble opinion on district 3 big school classifications:
– Central Dauphin is the team to beat in 6A. Have not seen a front 8 that strong in D3 in a long time. Plus they are all seniors. BC saw that first hand this week on their new home turf. I believe
they will beat Manheim Township soundly this week.
– CV is having a down year. Not enough team speed to win consistently at the 6A level this year.
– Is this the year York County has a contender in D3 playoffs? Central York beat CV and is 2-0 and Red Lion is also 2-0.
– Cedar Crest is a confident team. Will be interesting to see how that offense performs against MT, Hempfield and Wilson this year.
– Wilson is very young, only starting 2 seniors on defense. A solid team this year but will not peak until next year. But keep an eye on Elijah Morales as he ran away from a very fast Mifflin
secondary multiple times.
– Warwick has two D1 beasts on their Lines in Rucci and Coomer. Not sure who can block these two?
– MT has a nice QB in Kirk and some tall athletic players. If their line play is solid they will be strong again. Not CD strong, but a battle for the silver medal in D3.
– No D3 team will beat Coatesville this year. Put Coatesville in the State Final….. Book It!!!!
-5A is all about Manheim Central. D! QB and a beast of a line! Mifflin, Cedar Cliff, Cocalico, Warwick are all playing for 2nd.
– Next weekend Wilson is at Central in a mandated LL crossover game. Central QB against Wilson running game!!!!!!! Central is the favorite in this game for sure.
Good Day Good Sports!
Looking for high quality videographer for highschool games in eastern pa area for the rest of the season. Professional quality.
Anyone know if the SJ Prep/St. Frances game will be televised or streamed live anywhere tonight?? Looking for a “Plan B” if going to be overly wet this evening.
Why no squawking about how MCA is going to get pummeled by SCA tomorrow? I remember years when Mount Carmel supporters wouldn’t keep their traps quiet. Can’t wait to go sit in the “Toilet Bowl” and watch another SCA beat down!
Maybe its a Chester County thing, these Thursday night games before Labor Day weekend. I count 5 games in Chester County this evening…….
Thanks guys!!! Saw it initially slated for 6p, but more recently @7p. Trying to motivate myself for a little road trip this evening. Figure I’ll be down there next week for CV, so might be tough to head out there two weeks in a row. We’ll see.
A few games today. Believe follow Ches Mont folk WC Rustin and WC Henderson are going at it as well, plus a few others. Middletown has a bit of a ride, easier to make I suppose on a Thursday then the Friday before a long 3-day summer holiday weekend. Makes for a short week for C’Ville coming off a Sat. road game in Harrisburg. But I believe this is M-Town’s fist game, so at least C’Ville got some work in. Yeah, guessing C’Ville might of had to take what was offered to them for an opponent this weekend. I see that Wood is idle this weekend. No takers there either. Oh well, would of loved to have seen that match-up.
As far as Garnet and North Penn, both will be there high in the rankings I am assuming when all is said and done. GV, of their 10 games, 6 are against 5A schools. Their schedule is OK, not overly tough. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them run the table. All of NP’s games are against 6A competition, and a tougher schedule. If they can escape the next 3 unscathed (or even drop one of the games), good chance they will run the table as well and probably a top 4 seeding (and minimum of 2 home playoff games). Wild card in all of this IMO is Pennridge. A good team with an all 6A schedule against fairly decent teams (similar to NP) and who made the D1 6A semi’s last year. Let the fun and games continue!!!!!
Coatesville’s game time is 7pm…they just moved it back last week.
I think they heard alot of feedback and pushed it back last minute.
First home game of the season, should have a decent crowd before the holiday weekend.
2018 ratings?
Where are the 2018 Rankings?
I am working on them, Cobra01
PastorZack
I would assume they would be classified as a 6A team. NJSIAA has them as a Group IV classification (Group V is the highest) in the state with an enrollment of 1,096.
I agree they need all the bonus points they can get for playoff seeding. Hurts having only Dtown East & West and Avon Grove as the only 6a schools in the Ches-Mont National. They will be losing points every week against the 5A West Chester schools (East, Henderson and Rustin) and 4A Shanahan.
Kevin X,
Game tomorrow is 7pm!
Does anybody have a clue as to why they are playing on a Thursday night? Believe last year they played at Cumberland Valley the Friday of Labor Day weekend. Not sure if Jersey has some weird rule not allowing teams to play on a day that schools are closed or if it. Could also be because this was basically the only team that showed any interest in playing them this week.
@PastorZack, et al……What time is the C’ville game tomorrow, 6p or 7p??? I’ve seen it listed at both times.
Does this work?