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Welcome to the official forum on high school football for the 2025 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.
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My D2 Notes For Week 6. I was 9-1, just missing Wilkes-Barre over Hazleton.
1. Saturday Showcase In Clarks Summit: You have to give it to DV for spoiling us with a great showdown in divisional play. Only this time it’s a winning outcome. A tough hard fought victory over Abington Heights might not put them in the lead in 5A, but it surely helped prove that they’re still the king of D2 5A until further notice.
2. North Pocono Gives Dallas A Scare: There’s an old saying that everyone’s entitled to one good scare at Halloween, but North Pocono was willing to give Dallas a good scare a month earlier. That was the case in Friday’s game. It seemed like the moment Dallas gained momentum in the game, North Pocono had found ways to fight back. This was a good test for both of the 4A foes & it wouldn’t shock me if we get a rematch, if things go a certain way.
3. Crestwood Squeaks Past Pittston: Seeing Crestwood without their starting QB, Jaden Shedlock, for the remainder of the year is worrisome, especially against divisional competition, however they seem to have not missed a beat, as they came through in a tough battle over the Patriots. It was a neck & neck game, but Lincoln Bibla put together a quality game to set them over the top. This was a game I think I could’ve put in my picks (Citzen’s Voice made it their game of the week, actually). I just have a system with a bigger emphasis on games that might are playoff implication worthy.
4. Valley View Stock Keeps Rising, Scranton’s Is Falling: We all know that Lackawanna Division 1 is a gauntlet & we learned a bit about how close Valley View & Scranton are in the league. Scranton’s early undefeated record has a mirage-y feel to it, since most games were against weaker opponents. Losses to Prep & the Cougars set them back. They are a more middle of the road team for the time being. As for Valley View, it feels like they’ve turned the corner after a demoralizing loss to Prep. The Cougars are in a great position for the 1-seed & I could see them as district favorites. It wouldn’t surprise me if Week 13 sees a rep from the Archbald area.
5. The Tale Of LFC 3: I still have a question or two about this division. Friday gave us a bit of an idea of who might be a sleeper. Let’s start with the 1A battle. I think we see that Trail is as good as they’ve been. Old Forge? Well, it’s a down year for them, but I give them an incomplete grade in division play. Back to back dominations by Western Wayne & Trail put them on the bubble for the playoff. They’re the last team in, but they need to be very careful. Riverside & Susquehanna are on the ledger in coming weeks, with the latter playing next week. Speaking of which, the first half looked to be dominated by the Vikes & demoralizing for the Sabers, but Susquehanna became resilient & chipped away to get back to even. It wasn’t enough, but I wonder if they can defeat Old Forge. I’ll leave it on the table (spoiler: one of next week’s picks). Trail is far out of the question. Carbondale & Holy Cross’ games were predictable & I think we know exactly what we get out of those two. They feasted on the indies. We won’t see them compete for the division, but who knows what happens. It seems like District 2 has had more twists than a M. Night movie.
6. Playoffs/EC Battles
1A: Lackawanna Trail & Nativity seem to have their spots locked in & may stay 1-2. Trail still has Riverside to go & that could affect things in a few weeks. Nativity has yet to play Schuylkill Haven or Minersville, which absolutely can help or hurt them! Tri-Valley & Old Forge will battle for the #4, but Marian is right there in a great spot if Old Forge stumbles. None of the three have an easy schedule & it might come down to Marian vs. Nativity in Week 10 as a de facto elimination game for Marian. I think the loser will play Holy Cross in the EC, but a D4 or D11 team could sneak into the race, if they’re on a run. I seriously doubt that, however.
2A: We know the teams in the running. Riverside probably gets to 9 wins & locks up the #1 seed. I think Susquehanna holds the #2, even with the tough teams to go. Dunmore probably takes the #3, due to the win, while the loser (Lakeland) gets the #4. It may come down to power rating points, which’ll depend on who played who. Dunmore has the edge there, I would believe.
3A: Barring total chaos, Western Wayne will get the #1 & run the table. Scranton Prep should find their way to the #2. Wyoming Area & Mid Valley are in a race for the #3 seed, the former having the easier schedule. Depending on divisional play, Lake-Lehman might be a lock for #5. The big question is spots 6-8. Tunkhannock locked themselves in by winning over Hanover Area. It’d take a lot to change that. The question is, how will Berwick & Carbondale do, & what seed will they get? I feel Berwick has the easy road & should get the #6. Carbondale & Tunkhannock can flip/flop & that settles the playoff.
4A: Valley View seems to have locked up the #1, but they still have DV to go. Dallas jumped up to the #2 with their win over North Pocono. This is the part that gets very, very interesting. We have Paupack currently at #3, but on a losing skid at the moment & no signs on the schedule to really turn it around. Crestwood is #4 & even without their QB, the division is weak enough to at least lock themselves in. The two are actually really close apart (.541 to .538). North Pocono has a loss to Paupack in Week 4. It might loom large. But don’t look now, Honesdale possibly has the best chance to get in but are #6. How? The LFC 2, outside of Mid Valley & Western Wayne is not competitive. Assuming Wallenpaupack loses out or gets a win over Pittston & North Pocono loses out each week. I think Crestwood & Honesdale lock in & we get an epic rematch for the EC 4A game, assuming Hamburg’s in the D3 playoffs (feels likely). This is the same class that came down to the last game to figure out the final 8-team field. It may happen again.
5A: I think the seeding is set for #1 to #3. All we have left is DV flipping spots with AH. Pittston is seems to be stuck in the #3 spot. West Scranton & Valley West are in a race to see who has the strongest winless schedule (both are closer & closer to being 0-10). I think West Scranton gets the nod, but WVW isn’t fully out of this yet.
6A: Well, don’t look now. With both Scranton & Williamsport losing in consecutive weeks, there is now a threat of Hazleton making the battle for the #1 much more appealing. In fact, it caused a shakeup. Hazleton stole the lead after winning convincingly over Wilkes-Barre. I think all three are in a tight battle from here to the end. Don’t forget that Williamsport does have to still play Wilkes-Barre & it’s also worth noting that the Millionaires have a head to head over Hazleton, if power ratings do come down to the wire that might help them (plus a stronger schedule, if it means anything). As for Wilkes-Barre, a win or two & more struggling from the Big 3 may make the #1 seed completely wide open, but it’s fairly unlikely. I said in the preseason how I felt this was going to be that way, but I never expected things to get this tight or this chaotic.
EC
– 1A/2A: Barring chaos, the two that miss out on the 1A Subregional will play here. I don’t think the D4 & D11 2As are close. There’d have to be opt outs from district play.
– 3A: District 2 vs. District 11 here. Montrose, Hanover Area, & Pine Grove are in a similar position. I’m not sure who gets it, but the EC battle here is not intriguing, yet also tightly contested. I’d make a big school & small school class for this year, just to add flavor, but if you had 3A, I’d assume it’s an even-ish matchup with Montrose & Pine Grove. You might even argue Pequea Valley finds a way to be a part of this & the team with higher rating pts matches up with them in a competitive-ish game.
– 4A: I think it’ll be between the trio of North Pocono, Honesdale, & Wallenpaupack with a combination of the three being the game. My gut also says it might be part two at the Lake. It wouldn’t be shocking to say that it also could include CMVT, which opens up a big can of worms. I assume they have some sort of chance to play in this because I think they’d prefer to go with that game than lose 56-0 to Shamokin or any 4A team. Wilson Area & Jim Thorpe would need anarchy. We also have to keep an eye on Hamburg, because of who makes Top 10 in D4 4A.
– 5A/6A: I believe it comes down to whoever misses D11 6A. That likely goes to Dieruff, PM West, & Allen. That trio will at least be worthy of a representative.
State observations coming soon.
I don’t think you will see Pine Grove in the 3A Eastern Conference game. Only 4 teams from District 11 make the playoffs so there will be a lot of candidates before you get down to Pine Grove.
@Foleman, Also impressive for Bonner Prendie was their win over the Haverford School. At least the score suggests it was a comfortable win.
You’re right that at least in eastern PA crowds for high school football are small compared to OH, FL, and TX but maybe not in comparison to attendance in most places around the country. I’ve travelled around upstate NY and New England where high school football seems to get very little attention. Same for the upper Midwest, according to friends.
Interesting that in the Philly area, none of the colleges has drawn many fans–even when they’ve had good teams, e.g. Villanova, even when they won a national championship, and Temple when they were pretty good maybe 10 years ago. Hard to believe that Penn once routinely drew 30,000 or more, but that was before pro football took hold.
Phillys not a football town….it’s an Eagles town. Aside from the birds, the appetite is tepid at best. Go up to the LV or coal country & youll see good crowds.
True, an Eagles town. And Phillies, and pro sports in general, as is just about every other major city in the country. This is what these small towns have, high school sports, with the exception of towns with a big college presence (State College/Penn State). It’s fairly easy to understand. And the blanket idea of small crowds, or not as good as atmosphere for games in the Philly area is ludicrous. Yes, Philly city proper games have issues (many) but District One for the most part is doing just fine thank you. Even a few Fridays ago when we were being told by some that high school football will never be the same when the Eagles played on Friday night. I was down in Ridley, 90% capacity with a great atmosphere, you’d never known there was an Eagles game being played that night. Other games that I have attended (granted they were cherry picked for better match-ups) this year and in years past have been very well attended. The issue maybe with the Q-Town game that was mentioned was that the weather, for the first time this year on a Friday night, was iffy at best and Q-Town has a nice free YouTube stream of their home games. I will be going to two games this weekend in the Philly ‘burbs, and outside to the annual P-Burg/Easton and DTW/DTE games (and maybe a few other hard core rivalry games), I expect these two games to have the best crowds and atmosphere of any games in eastern PA this season.
Just to clarify or stand corrected, I don’t know if the mention of the Q-Town/Soudy game and attendance figs are tied together or that just led to a general observation that attendance for HS football games in eastern PA pale in comparison to these select areas of the country where it is a late summer/fall Friday night Rite of Passion or simply compared to local game attendance in a bygone era. Anyways, the mention did give me reason to check out the replay of the game on YouTube one evening this week 🙂
Looks Like Bonner Prendie is the 4A favorite in the East after their win over Roman Catholic, PJP, if they make it past Springfield won’t have several starters available due to the transfer rule. Michael Smoll, the Souderton game is what makes HS football great! I wish more people were interested, I don’t know why in Texas, Florida and in Ohio, they get several thousand in attendance and in PA many top schools get a hundred people in attendance, mostly friends and family. 5A in District 1 will be one of the most competitive playoff races in PIAA History! I have seen Rustin and Chester this year, Rustin has a better defense, Chester a better offense, if they meet up, Rustin will have a chip on its shoulder as they feel they should have beaten Chester last year.
Ditto for WPIAL 5A, the depth this year is outstanding, there are going to be some big time heavyweight battles in the district playoffs. There are 19 teams in the WPIAL in 5A, and only 3 are really bad, a few are mediocre, and you have at least 10 teams that are good to excellent, the quarterfinals will likely have 8 of the top 15 teams in the state in 5A.
I agree Bonner is a threat in 4A and I could see them getting to the state final to likely play the WPIAL winner.
Go to a southern Columbia game, go to a Mt. Carmel game, go to a north Schuylkill game. The attendance is great. Philly people don’t care about attending a hs football game because they might get shot or in st. Joe’s case the families may live a few states away. Speak for your own area on attendence if you don’t know. When the locals know the kids they support the kids.
When I was in Scranton last fall, people in the area told me that, on average, attendance at hs football games was way down from where it was a decade or two ago. Maybe they were wrong and maybe there are other parts of eastern PA where that isn’t true. My friends in Schuylkill County say attendance isn’t nearly what it was decades ago, but their memories may be playing tricks on them.
Certainly we hear lots from District 1 fans that attendance is down quite a bit. As for District 12, public league teams never drew many, with the exception of a school like Frankford when they had pretty good teams. But their crowds were never more than so-so, except when they played North Catholic. Has IMHOTEP ever had more than 500 of its own fans at a game? PCL games have sometimes been well-attended. I remember being at several SJP games at Plymouth-Whitemarsh and at Villanova where there were well over 5,000 people. Good crowds for some games at Northeast too over the years. But the lack of a regular home field and the history of changing times and locations–this year being no exception–has really hit attendance hard. Upper Dublin (where they play LaSalle next Saturday night) is probably an hour’s drive from where most Prep families live–and none of them live “a few states away.” One thing for sure: there will be lots of LaSalle fans there.
And to be frank: people generally aren’t very inclined to go to a game that isn’t likely to be competitive, and there have been lots of lopsided SJP games over the last many years. But it seems there are more lopsided games generally. Certainly a quick scan of the scores on this site would suggest that’s the case.
MCA attendance has taken a hit over the years with the population decline of the area and since we started live streaming the games but is still generally pretty good. Especially with big games like NS, Southern and Shamokin. I lived in the Philly suburbs for almost 30 years and can count on one hand how many times someone brought up the subject of HS football. In the coal region and similar areas it is a main topic of conversation.
Tune into to the Coal Bucket rivalry game week 10 to see a large and raucous crowd.
As technology advances, artificial intelligence is becoming more integrated into various aspects of sports. How could AI impact player assessments, coaching strategies, and game tactics in high school football? Will this lead to a more competitive environment, or could it create an uneven playing field for smaller programs?”,
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Never saw a HS team run the 2-minute drill better than Quakertown last week in defeating Souderton 35-34 last week. Down 28-0 after 1 quarter, down 34-15 at Halftime, kept chipping away. Got the ball back with 17 seconds left, at the 19-yard line with no timeouts, and proceeded to go 81 yards to win the game on the final play. 1st play 16 yd out, then personal foul for hitting the receiver, well out of bounds, next play 41 yd, heaven help us to the 10 yd line with 3 seconds left. The impressive part was no confusion, Quakertown went down, got everyone set, as the refs set the ball and chains, they immediately spiked the ball. Next play a 10 yd TD for the win. For a HS team to not lose their composure, get everyone lined up & ready, while the refs set the ball & chains for play, was truly outstanding coaching and awareness of the Quakertown Offense. Kudos on a great win!
As college football continues to evolve, could a radical overhaul of the playoff system lead to a more equitable and exciting championship? What innovative formats or structures could be implemented to better serve players, fans, and the integrity of the game?”,
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Gotta love it!!! The top 3 5A teams in the state per Penn Live all go down in defeat. Does this make Chester #1 in 5A??
I was at the USC vs. Peters game and USC was pretty impressive, they dominated Peters in the trenches, great O-Line and D-Line, and punishing rushing attack, their weakness is a mediocre passing attack, as they had 0 yards passing against Peters. USC also has a very good kicker and punter and excellent special teams. I have not seen Pine Richland yet but plan on seeing them this week against resurgent Penn Hills.
I thought Roman was the favorite going into the season, but their loss against DeMatha last week was much worse than I expected, and then they got beat by Bonner, who is definitely a threat in 4A, is Roman dealing with injuries, or anyone know what’s going on, seems like the wheels have come off the last few games.
What about Strath Haven over Chester, Haven had an impressive win against Garnet Valley a few weeks ago.
Roman will be fine. I do understand they are dealing with some key injuries. Not very concerned about going on the road and getting throttled by the current #26 team in the country. The 5A PIAA bracket for the first 3 weeks will basically be bye weeks for them. First test will probably be Cathedral Prep in the quarters. Guess you would know more about them this year.
What do you mean by “Strath Haven over Chester?” Still like Chester to win D1 5A. Strath Haven had a little bit of an unexpected tussle with Marple this past Friday.
I meant in terms of current state rankings, Haven is undefeated, while Chester has a close loss to Imhotep, I was wondering how you thought those schools compared. I did see the Marple score last week and was surprised the game was that close, possible letdown after their big win over Garnet Valley?
Regarding Erie Cathedral Prep, they lost by 2 TD’s to a decent but not great St Francis of NY last week, I don’t think they are much of a threat to Roman assuming Roman is healthy come the playoffs.
My District One 5A top 5…….drum roll please……..1. Chester, 2. West Chester Rustin, 3. Strath Haven, 4. Garnet Valley, 5. Springfield Delco. The sneaky team in all of this fun chaos……..Penncrest.
Chester has a QB that can do a lot of things. SH has a running game.
The last few weeks have been nice as I’ve been able to pay cash at the gate at both TJ and Penn Hills. Cash at the gate is also an option at USC tonight, but I expect that game to be sold out so for convenience I decided to buy a ticket online ahead of time to make sure I got in, and much to my surprise there was no service charge included, just $5 for a ticket through the USC athletic dept website. So, if a wealthy suburban school district like Upper St Clair can offer online tickets without a service charge, why can’t other schools do the same thing. I’m not a USC fan and usually root against them, but I applaud them for giving fans the option of either online or cash at the gate, and no service charge for online tickets.
Meant to bring up a similar situation I had last week at Strath Haven. Yes, they are one of many District One schools transitioning to on-line ticketing only, but at least they held the line for a $5 ticket, and like you, I was surprised that there were no service charges or added fees. Also, like you mentioned, there is the one situation that I’m OK with the on-line ticketing only (still want a cash option at the gate regardless, even if it’s just one booth selling tix), is for games that may potentially sell out. This will be my situation Saturday night for the St. Joe Prep/LaSalle game at Upper Dublin. Unfortunately, the tix are not $5 w/o a service fee, but $10 and almost a $2 service fee. Oddly, I’m somewhat OK with that, for a game of that magnitude, it should be worth it.
If this what we need to accept for attending games going forward, one thing I would like to see (in addition to the one cash booth option mentioned above) is an option to pay via PayPal and/or some other third party payment option instead of having to enter you credit card info for each transaction (I have not come across this option so far in my ticket buying experience). I’ve seen options of making an account when purchasing tix, but not interested in that nor do I know if that would solve the issue for me. Like you, I jump around to different games/venues, so that option I’m guessing is more for people going events at the same school.
I totally agree the SJP vs. LaSalle game is worth $12 this year, may not be worth it every year, but I am anticipating a very competitive game that could go either way this weekend, these may be the 2 best 6A teams in the state.
Apologies for not keeping up on my end with state observations or D2 playoffs. Might as well break it down after this week is done (I’m still willing to share non-D2 observations, if there’s interest). Last week, I was 9-1 in D2, 47-16 in states (56-17 overall). Here are my predictions & highlight games across the state for Week 6. This is a sneakier week for games. The best games are the best, but there are some teams I don’t normally throw in on a regular basis. Also, if I missed anything, I’d be willing to prognosticate it.
For the record, I had this ready before Westinghouse played. I got distracted by the NFL.
District 4
– Southern Columbia vs. Danville: Danville 35, SCA 21
– Shamokin vs. Selinsgrove: Shamokin 24, ‘Grove 23
– Loyalsock vs. Lewisburg: Sock 25, Lewisburg 24
– Muncy vs. Montgomery: Muncy 31, Monty 20
District 11
– Freedom vs. ES South: Freedom 35, ES South 10
– Stroudsburg vs. Easton: Easton 38, S’burg 14
– Northwestern vs. North Schuylkill: NW Lehigh 34, NS 19
– Northern Lehigh vs. NDGP: NDGP 38, NL 24
– Williams Valley vs. Sch. Haven: WV 39, Haven 27
District 1
– Nehsaminy vs. CB West: CBW 30, Nesh 20
– D’town West vs. Rustin: DTW 26, Rustin 22
– Strath vs. Marple-Newtown: SH 36, M-N 24
– PJP vs. Upper Perkiomen: PJP 49, UP 8
– Norristown vs. OJR: OJR 31, Norry 15
– Springfield (Montco) vs. Upper Moreland: UM 27, Montco 19
– Shoutout to Upper Perk for having a rare winning record at this point.
District 12
– La Salle vs. O’Hara: La Salle 38, O’Hara 13
– Roman vs. Bonner-Prendie: Roman 33, B-P 25
– Father Judge vs. SJP: SJP 38, All Rise 20
– Edison vs. Kipp-DuBois: K-Dub 20, Edison 10
District 3
– Cumberland Valley vs. CD East: CDE 31, CV 24
– Central York vs. Dallastown: CY 39, Dallastown 23
– East Pennsboro vs. West Perry: WP 34, EP 25
– Ephrata vs. Exeter Twp.: ET 41, Eph 22
– Eastern York vs. West York: WY 34, EY 27
– Biglerville vs. Bermudian Springs: Berm. Springs 29, Biglerville 17
District 5/6
– Berlin vs. Meyersdale: B-Bros 33, Meyersdale 24
– Conemaugh Twp vs. Penns Manor: PM 34, Cone. Twp. 20
– Northern Cambria vs. Marion Center: NoCam 33, Marion Ctr 23
– Glendale vs. Mt. Union: Mt. U 30, Glendale 19
District 9/10
– Central Clarion vs. Karns City: CC 48, KC 13
– McLane vs. Ft. LeBoeuf: Ft. Leb 20, GM 13
– Corry vs. Mercyhurst Prep: Mercy 33, Corry 11
– Sharon vs. Meadville: Sharon 28, Meadville 23
– Reynolds vs. Cambridge Springs: CS 35, Reynolds 13
– Wilmington vs. Farrell: Wilmy 29, Farrell 26
WPIAL/City
– North Allegheny vs. Central Catholic: NA 35, PCC 21
– Peters vs. USC: Peters 36, USC 21
– Moon vs. Bethel Park: BP 28, Moon 24
– Latrobe vs. Woodland Hills: WH 24, GL 23
– New Castle vs. Aliquippa: Quips 37, NC 10
– Belle Vernon vs. Thomas Jefferson: TJ 28, BV 19
– Central Valley vs. Avonworth: Cent. Val. 28, Avonworth 27
– South Park vs. Washington: Prexies 40, S. Park 14
– Jeannette vs. Clairton: Clairton 36, Jeannette 23
– Monessen vs. South Side: SS 30, Mon 22
– Chartiers-Houston vs. Canevin: Canevin 30, C-H 17
– Westinghouse vs. Allderdice: Westy 31, TA 12
Crossover/Non-PIAA
– Central Dauphin (3) vs. State College (6): State 34, CD 18
– Line Mountain (4) vs. Steel-High (3): S-H 33, Line Mtn. 24
– Hollidaysburg vs. Fort Hill (MD): H’burg 26, Fort Hill 24
– Hickory (10) vs. McKinley (OH): Hickory 28, McKinley 20
– Villa Angela/St. Joseph (OH) vs. McDowell (10): McDowell 25, VA/St. Joe 23
– Cath. Prep (10) vs. St. Francis (NY): ECP 27, St. Francis 24
– Malvern Prep vs. Gonzaga (DC): Malvern 31, Gonzaga 25
– Lawrenceville (NJ) vs. Springside Chestnut Hill: L’ville NJ 30, SCHA 16
I agree with most of your WPIAL picks, but I’ll differ with a few, I think PCC beats NA tonight, just like they did in the regular season last year, some polls have NA #2 or #3 in the state in 6A, which in my opinion is way off and based on reputation, they are barely in the top 10 and not nearly as good as their state runner-up team last year.
I think South Park beats Washington, and if they lose it will be a lot closer than what you predicted, I think this is a 1 score type of game. I will also be shocked if Jeanette scores 23 points against Clairton’s defense, Jeanette was shut out last week by Leechburg, and there’s a good possibility they get mercy ruled and perhaps shut out again by Clairton’s dominant defense.
I am going to the Peters vs. USC game, that should be a slugfest, I’ll pick Peters in a close one, but would not be surprised at all if USC upsets them, they are going for win #500 in school history, which is not too bad considering they started playing football in 1958.
Here’s a mid-season WPIAL report for those that have in interest in what’s going on in the western part of the state
6A – NA plays PCC this week at Baldwin, winner will be the #1 seen in district playoffs, loser will be #2, every other team in 6A is mediocre or worse, it would take a stunning upset in the playoffs for NA not to play PCC for the WPIAL title for the third year in a row, I think the WPIAL winner loses to the District 3 winner this year in the state semi-finals.
5A – it starts getting real this week in 5A, with Peters Township travelling to Upper St Clair. In the eastern conference Woodland Hills travels to Latrobe, I think those 2 schools and Franklin Regional will battle for the conference title, Franklin beat Latrobe 3-0 a couple of weeks ago, so they have a leg up in the conference standings. Pine Richland and a resurgent Penn Hills are by far the best teams in the north. Peters is the favorite to repeat, but the WPIAL 5A this year is a gauntlet, and their conference is brutal, with the top 5 teams a combined 23-1 in the first half of the season (Peters, USC, Bethel and South Fayette are undefeated and Moon is 3-1, now they get to all start beating up on each other).
4A – Aliquippa had won 29 games in a row against WPIAL opponents dating to week 2 in 2021 against Central Valley, ironically both teams that year went on to win state titles. The Quips are still the favorite, but as I mentioned in an earlier post they are not as good as the last few years, and I don’t think they win the WPIAL without RB Tikey Hayes at full strength.
3A – preseason WPIAL and state #1 Central Valley lost 3 tough games to open the season against quality 4A opponents, but have since won 2 in a row against 3A schools, they have a big conference game this week against Avonworth, I think CV will win that game, and stamp themselves as co-favorites with Imani Christian, who is voluntarily playing up to 3A this cycle
2A – Seton LaSalle has emerged as the best team thus far, lot of balance in this class, and no great teams, district playoffs could be pretty wide open, I doubt the WPIAL 2A winner gets to the state final, Seton plays at Waynesburg this week, who upset Washington a few weeks ago before getting handled by Steel Valley last week.
1A – Clairton is rolling this year, their defense has been dominant and has not given up an offensive TD, with 4 straight shutouts after beating preseason 2A #1 Steel Valley 30-7 in their opening game, SV scored on a fumble recovery for the only points Clairton has allowed thus far, so they are giving up an absurd 1.2 points/game through 5 games. Defending champion Fort Cherry is also rolling, and all state QB Matt Sieg got the cast off his throwing hand last week and had a big night passing against previously undefeated Monessen, sure seems like these 2 teams are headed for a showdown in the WPIAL final, and winner will be a definite threat to win 1A state title.
Danville vs. Southern this week…should be a decent game.
Have to think that Danville wins by at least two scores.
Is Shamokin for real this year? Not sure if Jersey Shore is as good as they have been in recent years. An away test at Sealinsgrove should be a good test for them. Have to think the coal bucket could be changing hands after nearly 30 years.
Southern Columbia is not very good offensively. They may get mercy ruled. Selingsgrove is nowhere near as good as jersey shore. I can see shamokin mercy ruling them.
Yeah definitely could see those two scenarios playing out.
You can post a new comment, is at the bottom of the page. I will ask to have them move that to the top of all the post. New theme and we are working through some bugs.
Cool, thanks. That would be most helpful and appreciated. If the forum is still a work in progress and being tweaked, one thought……..
I do like the new direct reply option, but is there a way to move those replies to the top of the forum?? Put them (and the corresponding thread being responded to) in a time stamped reverse chronological order with any new posts?? If you reply to a comment a few days old or longer, good chance it will be buried down in the body of the forum, and probably not be seen or read.
Let me see if we can do that. The site looks much better on phones.
Ahhh, the phone peeps. 99.5% of the time that I am on the website and forum I’m on my MacBook.
Me too…..LOL
The second half of the season starts…now. D2 has some good games this week. Here’s my mix.
– Delaware Valley vs. Abington Heights (LFC 1): You can’t beat this game on Saturday. DV is looking to get win #2 on the year, but Abington Heights wants to go 4-2. I expect DV to take this, but “The Pit” hosts a team that can better challenge them than in recent years.
– Dunmore vs. Lakeland (LFC 2): How is this a marquee division game? Well, if Dunmore wins, they might have a puncher’s chance at the #2 or #3. It’s not an easy path, but winning this game goes a long way to the tight 2A seeding battle that needs to be sorted. You don’t want to play Riverside in the semis. I’ll go with Dunmore, as they get another helpful win to add more & more momentum.
– Susquehanna vs. Riverside (LFC 3): Riverside & Susquehanna are #1 & #2 in D2 2A. The Vikes have had a fairly easy schedule. Susquehanna just has one loss to Western Wayne & wins over teams like Lakeland & Dunmore. A win here for the Vikes shows they’re best in 2A (which they are). A Saber win throws the entire classification landscape & puts a potential fourth challenger for a division crown, although I don’t believe Old Forge is up to either’s level. Vikes win fairly convincingly, but I wouldn’t be at all shocked if this is close.
– Wilkes-Barre vs. Hazleton (WVC 1): Risky game to put here, but we have a delight of a playoff impact game here, when it comes to the 6A battle. Although Hazleton is ahead in power rankings, Wilkes-Barre can catch up in WVC 1 play. I think the Pack will take it here, but a win for Hazleton means there is a chance at the #2 seed (& possibly the #1) in what could be a slightly wide open battle.
– Berwick vs. Wyoming Area (WVC 2): This isn’t the headliner matchup we all thought it could be. Curry got a big first win last week against Hanover Area. I don’t see win #2 here, but if Berwick can play with the Warriors on their turf, that’s a win!
– Valley View vs. Scranton (LFC HM): Sure, both have better records than the feature, but the game I chose for LFC 1 has bigger implications in the 5A race. This is more for divisional seeding’s sake. You can assume this battle is for #3 & 4 in LFC I. Valley View looks to be better. Scranton got humbled, to say the least. Expect it to be tight, but the Cougars are the better team.
– Tunkhannock vs. Hanover Area (@ Wilkes-Barre) (WVC HM): Ridicule me all you want for featuring two nobodies, but this game has more importance due to seeding. Somehow, Montrose is #8 (ineligible) but you expect these two to play for #8 seed. Neither team has a true statement to tell. I think Tunk gets win #2, but this is a 1-star game on paper. Playoff deciding games mean more to me than 2-3 vs. 3-2 with no purpose (Crestwood/Pittston) for both teams (Crestwood only positions in 4A).
– Lackawanna Trail vs. Old Forge (D2 HM): A quality showdown out in Pizzatown, but it might not be as marquee level as I hoped it’d be. Trail was kept honest by Mid Valley last week, while Old Forge wants to forget whatever last week was. A win for Trail means a healthy lead in the #1 seed race. A loss may make the battle with Nativity that much more challenging. A win for Old Forge helps their case for the playoff, while a loss might give Marian the shot in the arm it needs to have a chance. Trail looks like the better team here.
– Marian Catholic vs. Minersville (1A Subregion): While Old Forge & Trail are playing their subregion implication game, Marian is playing theirs, but in a strength of schedule sense. The Colts travel to Minersville in a game that will easily impact the race. An Old Forge loss means Marian jumps with a win. I don’t see it, but this is a game to keep a very close eye on. Nativity & Tri-Valley have valley cakewalks with games against Shenandoah & Panther respectively.
– Williamsport vs. Jersey Shore (6A Subregion): Next door neighbors meet up for the first time in a bit. Shore hosts the Millionaires in a game they might need to win in order to keep the #1 seed over Scranton & their LFC 1 gauntlet schedule. Shore takes this, but if Williamsport does what they did to the Seals, then pay more attention to them in districts.
Scores
– DV 31, AH 16
– Dunmore 28, Lakeland 20
– Riverside 35, Susq. 13
– WBA 23, Hazleton 16
– Wyo Area 42, Berwick 17
– VV 29, Scranton 20
– Tunk 40, Hanover Area 6
– Trail 35, OF 17
– Minersville 33, Marian 12
– Shore 34, Billtown 14
How do you post a new/initial comment/post instead of a reply??
Some D2 Notes, as we reach the halfway point. There isn’t much to talk about.
1. Back To Regularly Scheduled Programming: DV got their first win over rival Wallenpaupack. Paupack made it a game in the first half, but they have nothing for DV. Same story, different year. I’d make a case for Game of the Week next week being DV/Abington Heights at “The Pit”, but it’s likely VV/Scranton. Paupack has Prep next week & I expect more of the same for the Purple & White.
2. Susq./Lakeland: Susquehanna makes a statement in the 2A race, defeating Dunmore & Lakeland in the same season. I don’t believe this has happened, & if it hasn’t, it has to be have been since the ’90s. The Sabers may not be a quality team compared to area small school powerhouses, but this is a great run out of them. If they play spoiler to Riverside soon, then all bets are off.
3. Underappreciated WVC Game: I’ll take flak for it. I should’ve given Dallas/Pittston more love. This was a game that Dallas might’ve been lucky to escape from. They haven’t looked anywhere close to the #1 team in the 4A bracket & they escaped in a 30-22 dub. Dallas has a showdown with North Pocono, which should go in the Mounties’ favor.
4. We Almost Saw Rarified Air: Carbondale led against Dunmore for most of the game, but in the end, we saw the hopes & dreams of a rare win for the Chargers go away in the 4th. Giving credit where it’s due. They kept Bucktown honest. C’dale gets a sure win against Montrose next week but has a gauntlet & a half to end the season.
5. Subregional Results Matter: Scranton gets very lucky, even with a loss. While they got destroyed by Prep, Williamsport came close to upsetting Selinsgrove. Both are going to be in quite the battle for the #1 seed. Tri-Valley lost to Williams Valley, which means they could be in a very precarious situation come playoff time in 1A. Marian & Nativity won their games, while Old Forge got destroyed in Wayne County. These battles are far from over.
6. Blowout City, USA: It’s an epidemic that’ll never be completely eradicated, but we need to talk about high school blowouts. The closest game was 1 pt between (checks notes) Dunmore & Carbondale (7-6). The next closest? Pittston/Dallas at 8 (only other game within a TD). 3rd? Susq./Lakeland & CMVT/Cross by 10. Mid Valley/Trail was within 2 scores. I combined all 17 games in D2 & saw that the total margin of victory by all the teams was 471 pts. That means teams won by an average of 27.7 pts this week. Take away the within 10 pt games (1, 8, 10, 10) & it would be a borderline mercy rule. 5 games were decided by more than 40 pts. Times like these are where I wish football would solely be independent to where you play teams that match up to your strengths & have at least 2-3 games against your rivals, just to keep common opponents together. There has to be a way to fix this. It doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t help Montrose to play Riverside, as does Berwick/Hanover (or Selinsgrove/Central Mtn, who put up at least 70 in that one).
I’ll have some state observations later & maybe dissect D2 playoff battles at the halfway point this week.
Another been meaning to situation to reply. Your comments on the blowouts. Couldn’t agree more. One of my pet peeves with PA high school football (and some other high school sports, mainly girls basketball). What to do about them, good question. Maybe I’ll follow-up with a thought or 2 later this week.
Marian lost
I looked at the wrong team &/or game. My bad.
@ District 2 Football – I am a public school guy and always root for a public school against a private, regardless of which schools are playing, with that being said I am adamantly opposed to splitting publics and privates into separate conferences and playoffs. I have not seen anyone propose a solution that would be workable statewide, because there are not enough private schools is most state districts to form their own conference. I am certain the WPIAL would be against splitting publics and privates because it would not be practical for all the member schools.
You whine and complain about Scranton Prep and all their advantages, but they are irrelevant statewide, having never made a state final, let alone won a state title. You seem to think the public schools “own” all the kids in their district with your ridiculous suggestion of players wearing their “home” district helmets, last time I checked this was still a free country and parents are allowed to send their children to whatever school they think is best, for both academics and sports, period. This subject gets beat to death every year on this board, and I think most of us are tired of the same old complaints, why don’t you put your time and effort into coming up with a solution and propose it to the PIAA instead of just bitching about how unfair they system is.
Maryland does it very easily. Private school states and public school states. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out. Why should an all-star team be able to play against kids that are living in the same area. Open your eyes
Maryland is a much smaller state, so travel at playoff time is less of an issue. Also. I’m not sure if separating publics and non-publics has done anything to even the playing field. Year in and year out, the top teams in the state seem to be the non-publics, as is the case in Jersey. Because of the difference in the quality of public and non-public teams it seems the latter can much more attention in Jersey.
PA isn’t the only state that combines public and non-publics. Ohio does as, I think, Florida does as well. My impression is that people in both states are happy with the situation.
Would you still be as keen on separating public schools and non-public schools if it weren’t for SJP? What about schools like Imhotep which can draw from the whole of Philly?
Yes for sure, I look back to the days of Mount Carmel in AA where they made the state quarters only to lose to Lancaster Catholic which was essentially a Lancaster county all-star team.
Last year every champion 2/6 champions were a private school (Imhotep, SJP). I understand the situation with Aliquippa having to move up due to transfers, success, while still being a public school.
I have no issue with a kid going to a private school, by all means it is their choice, and will quite frankly prepare them better if they want to play in college. However, I don’t understand how anyone can view it as fair when a team who has to draw from within the kids who live in a certain area compared to a team that can essentially recruit the kids that come to their school.
I seem to remember Mt Carmel won quite a few state titles back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, and other than District 12 (Philadelphia) catholic/private schools were part of the PIAA playoffs at that time. Yes, Lancaster and West Catholic won 3 in a row from 2009-2011, with LC winning in 09/11, and West lost a 2 OT thriller to Wilmington in 2008, so for a 4yr stretch the Catholic schools dominated 2A. Since then there has been exactly 1 catholic school to make the 2A final, and that was Serra Catholic in 2020 who got crushed by Southern Columbia. Outside of SJP history has proven that the best public schools can compete with and beat the best catholic schools in most classifications.
MCA lost to LC in ’08 and ’11 in the State playoffs with 2 pretty good teams. Had to go through both LC and West Catholic in the AA playoffs at the time.
In my opinion the distinction can be simple. If a school is operated by a public school district, then it qualifies as a public school for the purposes of playoffs. If not, then it qualifies as a non-public school. Though charter schools are “public”, they are not operated by the School District of Philadelphia, so they would compete in the non-public bracket.
Could it make the difference between public and non-public schools? Perhaps, it might. But you would have schools competing against other schools that are operating under the same limitations as them, so you could see more year-to-year variance (especially at the top level of the public bracket). Plus, you could interpret this as the non-public schools being able to reach their full potential if the PIAA stops trying to cram them in with everyone else.
@D2 Fan – I see you picked against Easton again this week, they are rolling after their opening week loss to CB West and I think they keep it going tonight and beat Emmaus
As for your WPIAL picks I agree with almost all of them, although I really like Central Valley to beat Beaver at home, now that CV is playing schools their own size I see them running the table and going into the playoffs on a 7 game winning streak, they still may be the team to beat in the WPIAL 3A, along with Imani Christian.
I’m going to see Aliquippa vs. Penn Hills, I don’t think that game will be as close as you predicted, I’ll take the Quips 34-14, the other game I was considering tonight was UCS vs. McKeesport, but I saw McKeesport play already and I’m going to USC vs. Peters Township next week
One intriguing game you didn’t mention is 4-0 South Fayette vs. Belle Vernon, South Fayette has not played anyone of note yet, and they are kinda flying under the radar in 5A, if they beat Belle Vernon and then hapless Baldwin they will be 6-0 heading into the gauntlet in 2 weeks when they play USC, Peters and Bethel Park in 3 straight weeks.
@ D2 Fan
Since I believe I regained my District One credibility with picking Perk Valley over Coatesville last week, I am going to take Garnet Valley to hang the first loss of the year on Strath Haven, in a battle of Delco unbeatens. Ironically, that is the game that I will be at tonight. Only halfway thru the regular season and 3 trips down to Delco for me already this year for games. Can I find a Suburban One game please?? Looks like North Penn and CB South are on an unbeaten collision course in a match-up in a few weeks.
And for an honorable mention pick, I’ll take Haverford to beat Marple Newtown. Less conviction with this pick.
@ Frank G
Thanks for the info. Hoping the RC/SJP game will be at Norristown, basically for selfish reasons, Norristown in fairly convenient for me. Wissahickon works even better, where I see that a handful of PCL games are being played at this year as well.
You missed on your Garnet Valley pick as bad as I did with my pick of Aliquippa to beat Penn Hills by 3 scores! Penn Hills has improved significantly since I saw them in a week 1 loss to Woodland Hills in the game that was suspended in the fourth quarter due to a shooting outside the Wolvarena.
Speaking of Aliquippa, they looked very flat against Penn Hills, and the offense clearly missed all state RB Tikey Hayes, who sat out his 2nd game in a row with a strained hamstring. The game was scoreless until Penn Hills scored a TD on the last play of the first half to take a 7-0 lead, which increased to 21-0 at the end of the third quarter before the Quips mounted a comeback in fourth. This Aliquippa team is not as good as the last few years, and I don’t think they will win the WPIAL, let alone a state title, without Hayes at full strength, and even then TJ and Montour will give them a run. I haven’t seen Montour in person, but I have seen TJ and I think they match up well this year with the Quips, particularly if Hayes is hampered by his hamstring injury. The Quips numbers are down this year, they dressed at most 40 players against Penn Hills, as good of a program that they have I don’t think they could withstand the rigors of playing WPIAL 5A opponents every week and would would lose the war of attrition by the end of the season.
@ Jeff H
Indeed I did!!! Funny, Garnet received the opening kickoff, and I’ve seen this quite often at all levels of football, that the team that gets the opening kickoff marches right down the field for a TD, then the offense goes into hibernation until late in the game, doesn’t score until the 4th qtr., if at all. Yep, game turned into the “James Fisher Show.” See article above. Saved a little District One face with my honorable mention pick. Think I’ll sit this weekend out with any predictions and just enjoy another live battle of undefeated teams tomorrow night with D-Town West visiting WC Rustin.
@ Frank G
Saw that the SJP/Roman game will be at Franklin Field. Also saw that the SJP/LaSalle game has been moved from Norristown to Upper Dublin.
Prediction
Scranton public High School ( 24 )
Scranton Preparatory Catholic High School
From a Try- County Region Area ( 20 )
Final
Bit of an upset on the mountain Thursday night as ES North took down PM West 22-18. West is down this year, dealing with graduations and injuries, but still great progress for an North program that hasn’t won more than 1 game in a season since 2016. They have scored double-digits in every game so far, and the defense is starting to catch up. 8 of the 10 teams in D11 4A qualify for the playoffs, so North is very much in playoff contention.
I just listened to a high school football game where I must assume the starting QB and his back up were injured but I can’t know for sure because they never mentioned it ,just that new qb’s were in. The starter only accounted for about 7 touchdowns and probably close to 500 total yards so you think maybe they would mention something. Why even cover a game
@D3 and whoever
Listen I get it lots of you support a private school
And your point of view is definitely different
But from my side of the fence why is it so bad to want change when private schools have such a greater athletic advantage because of taking them from all over their geographical region rather than a public school who has to use the athletes that they have how is that so hard to understand everybody is saying that I am nonsensical. How can you not understand what I’m trying to say, is it because you support the private schools most likely
To be honest, if they don’t want to play in their own league, they should send all the student athletes back to their public schools where they are from to play sports that solves everything if they are just there for academical purposes
It’s a win-win situation
If they don’t want to do that, at least have them identify the players from their school districts and ware their public school helmets where they would have played just like they do in the dream game and all star games that would be great just to see exactly where they drained all the talent from
@Maynard Plumm
Hey, to be very honest, I do not ever root against any athlete, even if they are from a private school
And that I answer no, I did not root against
The one and only Gmac representing Scranton well and the rest of the region I think he did great at Syracuse and is doing great as a coach. If he still is, I don’t keep up with basketball too much.
But like I said, I don’t root against the athletes, no matter the school
I just think change is definitely overdue. In the way things are run. I’m not even gonna get into it but that’s how I feel and many others do as well The only difference is their afraid to speak up because of Being chastised because of it.
To your respective school I hope you have a good rest of your season and beyond
@ MAYNARD PLUMM
Finally a gentlemen who recognizes and understands what this is truly about. Thank You so much for your intelligence and providing an amazing perspective on this situation.
@Maynard Plumm & D3 Fan – very well stated gentlemen, thank you
Rest Of State Picks For Week 5. I think I’ve got all of the intriguing games. A lot there this week, since I saw a lot of 4-0s & 3-1s going head-to-head.
District 11
– Nazareth vs. Parkland: Naz 23, Parkland 19
– Easton vs. Emmaus: Emmaus 28, Easton 19
– Northampton vs. Whitehall: N’hampton 20, Whitehall 16
– ACC vs. Becahi: Becahi 20, ACC 16
– Liberty vs. Dieruff: Liberty 24, Dieruff 7
– Tamaqua vs. Salisbury: Tamaqua 36, Salisbury 10
– Notre Dame vs. Catasauqua: NDGP 38, Catty 10
– Schuylkill Haven vs. Minersville: SH 35, Minersville 12
District 4
– Lewisburg vs. Warrior Run: WR 26, Lewisburg 14
– Montoursville vs. Mount Carmel: MCA 35, Montoursville 13
– Montgomery vs. Canton: Canton 28, Montgomery 6
District 1/12
– CB West vs. CB South: CBS 27, CBW 23
– Pennridge vs. North Penn: NP 31, Pennridge 22
– Perk Valley vs. OJR: Perk 30, OJR 7
– Shanahan vs. Unionville: U’ville 35, Shanahan 25
– Phoenixville vs. PJP: PJP 37, P’ville 14
– Strath Haven vs. Garnet Valley: Strath 29, GV 24
– Ridley vs. Springfield Delco: Delco 33, Ridley 19
– Haverford HS vs. Marple-Newtown: M-N 29, HHS 17
– Lower Moreland vs. Springfield Montco: Montco 31, LM 19
District 12
– Palumbo vs. Frankford: Frankford 20, AoP 15
– Simon Gratz vs. Northeast: N’east 27, Gratz 26
– Arch. Wood vs. Neumann-Goretti: N-G 21, Wood 14
District 3
– Harrisburg vs. Cedar Cliff: H’burg 30, Cedar Cliff 21
– Cumberland Valley vs. Central Dauphin: CD 27, CV 23
– Susq. Twp. vs. Steel-High: S-H 35, Susq. Twp. 33
– Warwick vs. Cocalico: Cocalico 30, Warwick 17
– Manheim Central vs. Conrad Weiser: MC 34, CW 18
– West York vs. Kennard-Dale: West York 37, K-D 17
– Upper Dauphin (3) vs. Line Mountain (4): LM 26, UDA 18
District 5/6
– Bedford vs. Chestnut Ridge: CR 27, Bedford 20
– NoBedCo vs. Berlin: Berlin 29, NBC 21
– Windber vs. North Star: Windy 31, NS 16
– Cambria Heights vs. Northern Cambria: NoCam 21, CH 13
– Central vs. Guilfoyle: BG 21, Central 18
WPIAL/City
– Aliquippa vs. Penn Hills: Quips 24, PH 20
– Beaver vs. Central Valley: Beaver 28, CenVal 22
– Franklin Reg. vs. Gateway: FR 27, Gateway 24
– Peters vs. West A: Peters 34, West A 12
– USC vs. McKeesport: USC 34, McK 24
– South Park vs. South Allegheny: SP 35, SA 27
– Waynesburg vs. Steel Valley: Steel Val 28, WBG 19
– Canevin vs. Cornell: Canevin 28, Cornell 7
– Carlynton vs. Seton LaSalle: SLS 35, Carlynton 10
– Fort Cherry vs. Monessen: FC 39, Mon 14
– Leechburg vs. Jeannette: Jeannette 28, Leechburg 12
– USO vs. Perry: USO 17, Perry 14
District 9/10
– Karns City vs. Punxsutawney: Punxsy 28, KC 15
– Union/A-C vs. Port A: Port A 44, U/A-C 22
– Cameron Co. vs. Otto-Eldred: CamCo 37, O-E/OV 19
– McDowell vs. Meadville: McDowell 33, Meadville 24
– Hickory vs. Erie: Hickory 30, Erie 16
– Farrell vs. Sharon: Sharon 25, Farrell 23
– Fort LeBeouf vs. Grove City: GC 32, FL 20
– Lakeview vs. Reynolds: Lakeview 20, Reynolds 15
– General McLane vs. Corry: GM 25, Corry 17
Crossovers
– Westinghouse (8) vs. Butler (7): Westy 42, Butler 8
– Juniata (6) vs. Camp Hill (3): Juniata 31, Camp Hill 22
– Canisius (NY) vs. ECP (10): ECP 24, Canisius 23
– Haverford School vs. Bonner-Prendie (12): HS 24, B-P 23
– Episcopal vs. La Salle (12): La Salle 34, Episcopal 22
– DeMatha (MD) vs. Roman (12): DeMatha 30, Roman 27
– St. Joe’s (12) vs. Our Lady Of Good Counsel (MD): SJP 38, OLGC 23
Lastly, what would’ve been my WVC 1 & WVC 2 picks this week, if they were more intriguing.
– Dallas vs. Pittston (WVC 1): Dallas 34, Pittston 14
– Wyoming Area vs. Tunkhannock (WVC 2): Wyo Area 49, Tunk 6