Are you ready for some football?
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.
1,631 Responses
6A Easton, Parkland or Nazareth
5a Whitehall
4a southern lehigh
3a North schuylkill, nw lehigh or notre Dame
2a schuylkill haven
1a tri valley or Marian catholic
4a, 3a and 2a I think are very strong and have some of the best teams in the state. Pottsville will be good, minersville, williams valley and northern lehigh in 4a and 2a I just don’t think they have any chance of beating southern lehigh or schuylkill haven. North schuylkill could be 10-0 or 4-6 that’s how tough there schedule is. They may have the toughest schedule in the state. Mt. Carmel, southern lehigh, nw lehigh, notre Dame, pottsville and blue mountain all on the schedule.
JCo it seems like we agree on most of D11 or at least close. Just a couple of notes on why I didn’t pick Nazareth, I know they have the skill positions and weapons, but I am not sure if they have the line or defense to beat a Parkland, Freedom etc in the playoffs when thats the name of the game. They would be my second pick behind parkland just for that reason. Easton had a great season and may have overachieved, they will be competitive but not sure they are ready to win the EPC.
I usually have trouble predicting ACC and Beca because of more moving parts but always contenders in 4A.
I was shocked when SH lost in districts last year and agree they have a deep run. 2 and 3A will be awesome, I think most classifications will be very intriguing this year, very excited for the season!
As we close in on 2 weeks from the start of the season, I would be curious to hear who people have coming out of D11 for the different classifications and the leagues.
I’ve got to think that Parkland is the favorite for 6A and the EPC with Nazareth, Emmaus and Freedom coming in behind them.
5A will per usual be down to ESS and Whitehall but not sure who to give the edge to.
4A will be really intriguing, I think Pottsville was rather young last year and will be improved, BM should be tough again, ACC and Beca are always favorites given their EPC schedule but I think SL wins the CL top division and 4A.
3A may have 3 of the top 15 teams in the state, with my Tigers, ND and NS. I tend to give the edge to ND here though, they bring a lot back but it should be a great race.
2A has 4 teams that should compete for the title between Minersville, NL, WV and SH. Its tough to pick one now but I think SH breaks through this year.
1A I can’t say I have much info on but with only 3 teams, Tri-Valley has been the one to beat recently.
Easton will be in the conversation for 6A and the EPC crown. They had a major bounce-back season last year and indications are that numbers are up overall. Freedom lost a lot of seniors so I am not sure they will be in contention, Parkland also lost a good amount but not as much so I think they stay in the mix. Nazareth are my favorites between Falzone and Wimberly both returning. That offense will be hard to stop.
ESS loses a lot of firepower but keeps Laubach so they may still be the favorites in 5A. Whitehall will be right up there with them like usual.
Becahi and ACC both have new coaches, it wouldn’t shock me if either won 4A but I think it’s Solehi’s to lose. I’m predicting a Solehi-Pottsville final here.
Agree with 3A, hard to see any other team measuring up to the big three but the games between the three will be a lot of fun. NW may not be state favorites to repeat but D11 is theirs until they lose it.
SH returns so much, hard for me not to see them as the favorites in 2A. In my mind they are a sleeper for the state title, they could be that good. However this class should still be very competitive, WV and Nolehi return some very good players and Dante Carr of Minersville is the best player in the whole class. Between this class and 3A, small-school football in D11 is in great shape.
Agree with 1A, T-V historically has been the best of the three, though Marian has some interesting players back. Nativity lost a lot so it looks like a rebuilding year for them.
Agree. Northern Lehigh should be very good in AA. They will lose to NWL and maybe NDGP but I see 8-2 or 7-3 at worst for them playing mostly 3A schools. They return a lot of junior starters (7) who have been playing since freshmen (2023). They should compete for AA this year but next year NL should be pretty elite in AA. I could see a SH NL final this year. Good luck to all teams and football is almost here!
. Only Pennsylvania full-time residence should be allowed to play for a Pennsylvania Championship.
It will never happen. Our Catholic High School has kids from NJ because there is no local Catholic High School in their area and their parents send them to our school or another Catholic High School a few minutes down the road from us. They won’t change that.
100% agree, honestly should be common sense.
Who cares where they live as long as they go to school in PA.
Week one matchup between PCC and LaSalle should be a great game . Both are loaded.
Indirect courtesy from Bob Greenburg out in District 10 via Twitter/X……….
“Bob Greenburg
@BobGreenburg
District 10 and PIAA will accept cash at the gate for playoff ticket sales moving forward.”
David Mika…Thanks for reply about Perk…..Do you know if there even a KSFL anymore?? Did Maryland Deaf also drop out?
So funny seeing this since when I saw the shot clock thing I was going to send a comment to you since I know you follow hoops after football as I do.Im not sure how I feel about it I go back and forth on it. I’m not a fan of 8 man football, I know it’s big in states like Nebraska, I wouldn’t want to see it become a big deal in Pa. I think it would be too tempting for some schools that may be struggling to just give up on rather then work to improve and maintain regular 11 man football programs.
Somewhat agnostic myself with the shot clock issue. If I was force to choose yes or no, I’d go the yes route. Think it’s just time for PIAA high school hoops to move on from the peach basket era and join 2025.
I’ll jump back on here, and see if I can take some liberties and push through a non football question (but still PA high school sports related), since it is still the off season. Do have some recent good talk about 8 man football, maybe I’ll chime in with some thoughts about that later in a separate post. Spoiler alert, if I do, you pro 8 man guys probably won’t like it. Anyways…..the topic du jour with the PIAA is the shot clock in PA high school basketball. For those of you who follow PA HS hoops, any thoughts?? Yes, long over due, PA needs to join 2025; no, don’t need it, bigger PIAA issues to fry; don’t care, shut up dude, this is a high school football forum……..
I have no problem if your against 8man…thats why I put forward the question. I’m assuming it would not happen anyway. I just thought it would help programs with low numbers….but now I really wanna hear your opinion…lol
To clarify, I have no issue with 8 man football. I was referring to in my post about not liking my thoughts, is that I do not see it becoming a PIAA sanctioned sport, which was your original question. I thought it might gain some traction a few years ago when numbers were low and a few schools gave it a try. It never caught on. There seems to be less 8-man teams playing now than a few years ago. In fact, I don’t see one traditional public PIAA boundary school playing, and one or two PIAA schools overall. The rest are non PIAA private schools. And D2 Fan answered his own question, the PIAA requires 100 schools participating in a sport to become a PIAA sanctioned sport. Looking like there are around 6 schools overall in PA playing 8 man football. I see schools with lower participation numbers going the tried and true co-op route, assuming they can find a suitable dance partner, hitting the pause button until things improve, or just disbanding football all together.
Good insight……and unless Perk School is putting a schedule in at the 23rd hour looks like it’s down to 2 PA schools…not counting Kennedy Catholic since they seem to be playing 8man Ohio schools…….Yeah truly a bust!
Hi Mike D.
I was told they aren’t carrying football this season.
I was thinking of schools like Oley, Tulpehocken, NE Bradford, Oswayo Valley, North Clarion and with all the Christian based schools in many districts…possibilities are endless….lol plus would love to see Shade & Turkeyfoot Valley back on the scoreboards. Great insight BTW…wasn’t sure anyone would of responded
I don’t usually rant or become too negative about HS Football on a public forum, but I need to share this news because today is a very sad day when it comes to National HS Football information.
HSRatings.com (formerly known as CalPreps) has broken away from its free content & is now going to a tiered subscription-based model for the season. With Tier 1 ($15) for 5 page views a day, Tier 2 ($40) for 20, & Tier 3 ($140) for unlimited viewing.
As someone who uses the website regularly to project theoretical matchups & use it as a guide to help me understand teams outside of where I pay attention to, this is a disappointment. I was actually a quarter of the way into doing a theoretical PIAA Week 1 schedule using their simulator to showcase quality matchups that’d be competitive for most schools before finding out the news this afternoon. I loved using their site to see how the national football landscape was. They are going to price themselves out of business &/or lose a lot of people because there’s no way many people outside of CA or are coaches & insiders will want to sign up for this. A fan like me would not be justified to spend $140 on something that doesn’t need. I get this is how society is & running a site like theirs does need some source of income, but this is a mistake.
Looks like HSRatings lost a user.
Any thoughts on whether PIAA would consider an 8-man football class? I know there are a few non-PIAA schools that have it but just wondering if it would solve the low number issue at some schools and open opportunities for the few smaller non-football schools to start football since I’m assuming you won’t need as many players? Just a thought.
I’ve always wondered why the PIAA doesn’t have 8-man football. I feel many of the rural districts should petition for this. A 7th classification for 8-man or 5 classes + 1A being 8-man would be super useful. I feel like 40-50 schools would benefit from this. I don’t see many 2A & higher schools taking advantage of this & I’d feel it should be voluntary, rather than setting it by size of school (I think NY does it by size, but I could be wrong). Would teams like Clairton, Steel-High, Old Forge, etc. want to turn into 8-man teams, when they had so much success in 11-man? I doubt it. But teams like Springdale, Shenandoah Valley (even if they are 2A), Bucktail, & Fairfield (if they didn’t merge) would be perfect fits for this. With it being voluntary, schools like CMVT, Midd-West, Montrose, & Holy Redeemer could be able to play potentially a more competitive level of football than being shut out 49-0 by better teams & play for a championship they can actually compete in.
And as you said, new schools could be added. I’m surprised Sullivan County in D4 hasn’t had at least a co-op. They’d be a good fit for a new school. I can even see Weatherly & MMI Prep doing a co-op at that level & a few Bicentennial schools doing the same. Faith Christian probably could with the way their sports program is having success, but they’d probably go 11-man. Delco Christian is back to 11-man, but they could be a good founding team for 8-man. It’d also potentially allow for some more crossover in New York itself. Some Section 4, 5, 6, & 9 schools could travel to nearby teams & help promote 8-man football in the Northeast (that aren’t private prep schools in New England & Virginia).
I need to look at some of the smaller classes & weaker teams to get an idea of what teams should make the jump, but I feel 40-50 at least would express interest. PIAA probably needs 100 to sanction it & I wouldn’t rule out most 1A & a few 2A schools making the transition to get to that number.
I was thinking of schools like Oley, Tulpehocken, NE Bradford, Oswayo Valley, North Clarion and with all the Christian based schools in many districts…possibilities are endless….lol plus would love to see Shade & Turkeyfoot Valley back on the scoreboards. Great insight BTW…wasn’t sure anyone would of responded
Thanks! I’ve always thought that someone at some point would’ve posed this question. I’ve wondered it myself.
I was thinking all of those schools as well. With Oswayo & Otto-Eldred being a co-op team, I feel they’d be good fit, too. North Clarion, I’d probably say they’re more than content staying with Central Clarion, especially if they continue to do what they’ve done since merging.
Do schools have to pay the schools that have the football team for each kid to participate? If so, why co-op and not put the money your willing to give the other school into your own team? Guess it may not be as simple as it sounds. Anyway I hope more 8-man will happen
With regard to the potential separation of publics/privates for the playoffs phillyboy just wanted to give his two cents. I get the temptation to want to separate; seeing Prep go up 35-0 or so by halftime against Parkland in the quarterfinals every year is getting massively old, then the final ends up being 42-14 or some such, a totally fugazi score (meaning it could have been like 77-0 or so if they had pressed it). On the other hand though, I tend to agree with Jeff H., when you get down to brass tacks the motivation for all this essentially comes down to one school, SJP. I just think it’s way too much upheaval to justify it, the cure may be worse than the problem.
Despite the privates’ obvious and apparent advantages though there’s something else phillyboy would like to point out. Look, don’t mean to come across as negative or anything but honestly the quality or level of play for publics in the higher classifications in PA in recent years has been pretty crummy (save a few exceptions in the WPIAL). Interestingly, last year’s Ohio Division 1 state champ was a public school, Olentangy Liberty. Liberty beat St. Eds by 2 TDs. Didn’t that same St. Eds beat the Prep last year by 2 TDs as well? Not only that, St. Edward lost to two or three other public teams in the regular season. Those boys out in Ohio can . Maybe PA needs to step up their game a bit.
Let the crummy schools play for a state title then.
Any league membership/division changes in District 1-2-3 or 11 for the upcoming season?
Yes, JCo is correct. No changes in the Colonial & Schuylkill until next year. I wonder if they’ll still do crossover games within the leagues & see some more Colonial League teams play outside the area. Outside of the merger & playoffs, I don’t know the last time it’s happened.
One other change this year: Fairfield from the YAIAA has merged their football program into a co-op with Gettysburg. Much needed for a small school that struggled mightily in football.
Anyone else know of any other new co-ops this year or a new school? Outside of Sheffield closing down & Kennedy Catholic (I think) not fielding football, I don’t believe anything else changed.
Thanks for the update!
You’re welcome! And I did forget to bring up in that comment that Delco Christian did jump back up to 11-man. Not really a new school, but a returning team that probably will help improve a weaker 1A District 1.
Delco Christian’s path to districts will be Pequea Valley, Archbishop Carroll, Red Lion, Morrisville, Lansdale Catholic, Tower Hill, ANC, & Montrose. (as well as 8-man Girard College HS).
I believe this is year 2 of the 2-year cycle for most conferences so most things are staying the same. 2026 will bring more changes, most notable on the D11 side is the end of the Schuylkill/Colonial football merger.
Thanks JCo for clearing that up. I was wondering if this year was the cycle change
Man, been a long time since I posted here. Life comes fast with kids and work. I do have a question for the group though. If the PIAA does move forward and separate boundy and non-boundary schools do we think it makes it more likely that boundary schools have a shot ro “keep” their players or less likely? I could see it either way. But I wonder if an opportunity ro compete for a state title, knowing you don’t have to get through a St Joe’s pe La Salle increases the chance of a player staying “home.” Also, for years I was against separating because I saw how it looked in NJ but I cannot argue it anymore. It needs to happen. There’s some good public school teams that deserve to have a chance.
First, welcome back FKL.
Second, to your questions, and without doing a deep dive of my thoughts and opinion on if this will actually come to fruition (whole other topic), but assuming that it does, the short answer is a longish no. Meaning, I don’t believe that an 8th grade kid is looking at a high school to attend and to play football at, is making his (and more likely, his parents) decision at all if he/they will win a football state championship. Maybe it does happen, and if it does, it is far and few between in my opinion, very much the exception than the rule. There are some other nuances that bother me with this issue, but I’ll steer clear of them, at least for now.
I think it’ll mostly be a wash. Players will still go to those programs to try to get a leg up on the college pipeline, and the number of SJP alumni in the NFL keeps growing. I don’t think that’s going away. However it would certainly be nice for the state title angle to no longer be part of the equation.
Above all I think it will make the semifinals and finals more interesting as a whole. It is easier to get excited about two local communities playing each other, or two Catholic schools playing each other. Public school vs. private school games work in conferences or districts because there’s geographic overlap, but at the state level, there is nothing they have in common.
It’s really hard to say what effects the change will have–if it happens. Will there still be six classifications for boundary schools? Will Philly public schools be considered boundary or non-boundary? Will the larger non-boundary schools (SJP, LaSalle, Roman, PCC, and maybe a couple of others) decide–or be required–to participate in PIAA playoffs? How will this work for smaller non-boundary schools, especially those that are a real distance from other non-boundary schools that are in their classification?
How much of a push for this change would there be if SJP were not in the picture? My sense is that making a change that affects all six classifications because one school has been dominant in one classification doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Of course others will disagree.
I’m skeptical separating public and non-public schools in the playoffs will result in much larger attendances, at least in certain parts of the state. Do “communities” in most school districts attend games in numbers comparable to the numbers of 20-30 years ago?
The huge changes that have affected the college game will probably mean that playing for a high profile high school team will continue to have lots of appeal to kids and their families–maybe even more than now.
Many of your questions will only be answered with time. However I think SJP was an inevitability in the current climate. If it wasn’t SJP, it would be some other team. The talent would get picked up somewhere.
Regardless, I don’t think it’s a football-only issue. Basketball and wrestling have been asking for this as well.
It would have been nice to have known about the Phila All star game before it was played
A bullet point buried in the summary of Wednesday’s PIAA Board meeting. All that was mentioned, that I saw, regarding ticketing. I have no idea what this means going forward…..
• The Board approved on suspended protocol the PIAA Ticketing Policy for regular and post season.
I know its early but does anyone have a handle on how PJP football will be this season? Do they have a coach?
The new PJP head coach is Darrell Scott who was a part of Reeds staff the last few yrs.
The new coach was on Scott Reeds staff the last several yrs. I have heard but not sure if its true that Reed plans on staying on as an assistant coach . . Reed did great job not sure why he stepped down as head coach. But if Reed stays on as an assistant that would be great. They will graduate alot of talent at the skilled positions and in the trenches. They have some talent coming back but figure to be inexperienced at several spots. Its a winning program so that should help Tough early schedule with N-G, Shawnee NJ and Rustin.
Kevin beat me to it, but the PIAA Public vs. Private bill advances out of the house committee. This is a massive positive step right here!
One of the big supporters (or at least highlighted in reference in one article I read) of public vs. private separation was out of Pike County. The brother of Keith Olsommer (DV’s coach) is a representative from Pike & Wayne Counties. He indirectly referenced super teams like Imhotep Charter (who they played in 2023) as to why he supports the bill.
Objectively speaking from the football fan angle (avoiding bias since I’m in the general area of the district Olsommer serves), I think referencing a respected & recognizable powerhouse team like Delaware Valley is probably one of the better schools to share an argument for. A lot of these have come from smaller schools like Laurel or (I think) District 6. We haven’t heard as much (although correct me if I’m wrong) from notable “regional” powerhouses in District 1, 3, 11, or even the WPIAL names of notoriety yet, so this is the first truly notable school I’ve heard referenced or at least has stood out in the public/private debate (Correct me if I’m missing something from the past).
Now, if the full chamber passes it, then I hope the PIAA isn’t stubborn. It’s not the reform Laurel came up with that mandated it, but it should be changed once it’s completely passed.
Speaking of PA state legislation, for you public v. private peeps…….
https://www.abc27.com/sports/changes-proposed-to-pennsylvania-high-school-sports-playoffs-pass-house-committee/
North schuylkill, northwestern Lehigh and Notre dame of green pond may be 3 of the top 6 AAA schools in the state this year out of district 11. Should be a great year.
NW does lose 4 of the starting 5 offensive lineman and all on defensive line I believe. It is going to be interesting as they will have a few really good WRs and a TE with a great QB. I think we will see more a Deven Bollinger type year where they air it out more opposed to a pound the rock. They do have an amazing freshman class that will be sophomores next year and I anticipate to see those guys start to mix in.
On the PIAA’s Wednesday meeting agenda……….
8. Ticketing Policy- Post and regular season contests:
PIAA has utilized electronic ticketing for district and inter-district events since 2020. Auditors and business managers encourage the use of electronic ticketing because it ensures accountability and eliminates the prospect of theft and provides safety for staff. For district and inter-district competition, PIAA will assist customers who may have challenges with electronic ticketing by offering a support person and alternate forms of entry which may include the use of credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and cash. If cash is used, it must be paid for by exact payment. Regular season contests hosted at local schools are not impacted by this policy, thus, the local school’s administration and school policy will dictate means of entry into any regular season contest.
In other words mostly staying the same. Dont think we are winning this battle.
I actually think they are cracking. There is some PA state legislation out there with specifics about not accepting cash for payment for high school activities (making it illegal not to accept cash for payment). See what comes out of their meeting Wednesday. What I am reading into this is that it only applies to PIAA state and district events/playoffs, and you will have to use exact change with cash to enter the respected event (I can see them pulling out the spite card and charging something like $6.94 for a game, just to make it more difficult). Now if local, regular season events/games follow suite, I’d consider it a win. But trying not to get too far ahead of myself here.
I would rather have cash option even more for the regular season football and basketball games since there are more. Its just a pain to have go online and do all that then the actual expense. If I have to do all that for a district or state game I dont mind as much as I do for having to do all that for a random Friday night game during the season. Will see what they do.
Does anyone know If Lower Moreland is back playing football in the Bicentennial League for ’25?
They are listed as an independant on here, but they are playing all the bicentennial teams. Its tough for the smaller schools to schedule these days so that might not mean they are in that league.
They should be
Hi Mike D. They are an independent this year.
Thanks…was just wondering since they play all the BAL teams this year
And NH-Solebury plays all except Bristol. It would make sense for both LM and NHS to be BAL affiliates and get the league up to 6.
Totally agree with that…any maybe add Delco Christian now that they’re 11 man to the BAL fold
Looking forward to the season. But first a nice long spring/summer
I agree Irish1 let’s definitely enjoy spring summer. It goes by way too fast just like the football season does let it get here slowly so that we could take the time to enjoy each week. No rushing it. God permitting..
Also, at this time I would like to congratulate
CJ DEPPRE former Lakeland Chiefs District 2 AA
Quarterback and tight end , who went onto Maryland and then finished his collegiate football career at the University of Alabama
CJ recently was accepted by the New England Patriots through free agency.
CJ is the second player from Lakeland to enter the NFL.
The first player was Jerry Boyarski .
Jerry graduated Lakeland in 1978
He played for the …..
Green Bay Packers
Cincinnati Bengals
Buffalo Bills
New Orleans Saints
He was an ALL – STATE defensive tackle in high school.
Agree!!!
Good morning. Finally, I had my web person make some updates. Leave a Reply is up top now and seems like it’s loading better. Let me know if it’s better. We have one more thing we can do to help it.