DISTRICT 11 NOTES (week 1):
RUNNINGBACKS:
For the second year in a row Luke Miller of North Schuylkill and Rory Dixon of Marian Catholic are the top 2 rushers in week 1. Miller rushed for 237 yards and scored 4 td’s in their win over Mount Carmel and Dixon rushed for 226 yards and scored 5 td’s in their win over Hanover Area. Dixon’s 5 td’s ties the school record. Previous Colts to score 5 td’s in a game were Jim Agosti (1976), Bob Agosti (1987), Chris Perhonitch (1996), Justin Barrasso (1998), KJ Snerr (2015), and Seth Paluck (2017). Colton Reber of Schuylkill Haven rushed for 205 yards and scored 3 td’s in their win over Blue Mountain and Sean Steckert of Southern Lehigh rushed for 203 yards and scored 4 td’s in their win over Quakertown. Marquez Wimberly of Nazareth scored 2 td’s in their win over Hazleton to join the “40 td” club. Wimberly has scored 41 career td’s. Dante Carr of Minersville scored 2 td’s in their win over Halifax and also joined the “40 td” club with exactly 40 td’s scored in his career. Grady Newhard of Northern Lehigh went over 2,000 yards rushing for his career (2,010 yards) and has scored 20 career td’s. There are currently 8 QB’s in District 11 that have 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards passing in their career. They are Dante Carr of Minersville (2,239R – 4,204P), Caden Mengel of North Schuylkill (1,446R – 3,181P), Brady Shomper of Williams Valley (1,439R – 3,087P), Peyton Falzone of Nazareth (1,291R – 4,921P), Cole Lazorick of Jim Thorpe (1,278R – 4,197P), Wayne King of ES North (1,268R – 1,705P), Cayden Vassa of Bethlehem Catholic (1,205R – 3,015P), and Mason Soos of Pen Argyl (1,073R – 1,027P). There’s at least 5 more that should join them this year. Jeziah Gregory of Whitehall rushed for 165 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Wilkes Barre to earn a spot on the chart with his 1,073 career rushing yards.
QUARTERBACKS:
Ceejay Serfass of Pocono Mountain East was the District’s yardage leader in week 1 with his 285 yards he threw for in their win over Dieruff. The junior also threw 4 td passes in the win. Colton Sams of Southern Lehigh threw for 277 yards and a td in their win over Quakertown. Peyton Falzone of Nazareth threw for 257 yards and 3 td’s in week 1. Falzone needs 79 yards to reach 5,000 yards passing for his career. Antonio Fontanez of Liberty threw for 251 yards and 2 td’s in their loss to Pennridge. Fontanez joins the “4,000 yard” club with his 4,168 career passing yards. Cole Lazorick of Jim Thorpe threw for 231 yards and 2 td’s in their win over Palmerton to also join the “4,000 yard” club. Lazorick has 4,197 career passing yards. Matt Bodnar of Notre Dame threw for 247 yards and 2 td’s in their win over Garden Spot. Ironically that’s 360 yards less than he threw last year in their 71-64 win over Garden Spot. Brady Shomper of Williams Valley and Cayden Vassa of Bethlehem Catholic both went over 3,000 yards passing for their careers. Shomper has thrown for 3,087 career yards and 46 td passes while Vassa has thrown for 3,015 career yards and 30 td passes. Cole Ordway of Easton threw for 116 yards and a td while also leading the EPC in rushing in week 1 with his 170 yards and 3 td’s scored. Brody Breiner of Panther Valley, Mason Soos of Pen Argyl and Patrick Cahill of Central Catholic all threw for enough yardage in week 1 to go over 1,000 yards passing in their career and earn a spot on the chart.
RECEIVERS:
Justin Williams of Pocono Mountain East caught 8 passes for 137 yards and 2 td’s in week 1. Teammate Connor Triano also caught 2 td passes from Serfass. Zyaire Davis of Liberty caught 8 passes for 166 yards and 2 scores in week 1. The junior makes the chart with his 527 career yards. Also making the chart after week 1 are Kendrick Sympson of ESN (535 yards), Caden Meek of Lehighton (513 yards), and Triano with his 507 yards. Cayden Vassa of Bethlehem Catholic led the District with 10 receptions that netted 98 yards in their win over East Pennsboro. That gives the junior 94 career catches. He’s one of four players nearing the 100 career catch mark. Jake Puksyzn of Liberty (97 catches), Josh Louk of Jim Thorpe (95 catches), and Talon Dogmantis of Whitehall (91 catches) are the other 3 players. Vassa’s 10 catches is also 1 catch short of the school record (11) that Eric Wert had in 2021 vs Emmaus. Teammates, Luke Kawczenski and Darius Roman of Southern Lehigh both went over 1,000 yards receiving in their career in week 1. Kawczenski has 1,075 yards on 58 catches and Roman has 1,026 yards on 61 catches. Kawczenski had 8 catches in week 1 to match Williams and Davis for third best. The second highest total behind Vassa’s 10 catches was the 9 catches Lincoln Cook of Palisades had in a win over Bristol. The junior has 71 career catches.
TIDBITS:
I was able to bring together all my records of the 300 yard rushers in District 11 over the years and I found that it’s been done 115 times. Here’s some info on them with more to come as time permits.
1st recorded 300 yard rushers (1st 6):
Gil Strunk of Pen Argyl vs Bangor in 1934 (302 yards on 53 carries and 5 td’s scored) won 33-13
Maurice Schleicher of Slatington (NL) vs Lehighton in 1954 (300 yards on only 9 carries and 5 td’s scored) won 56-13
John Rosella of North Schuylkill vs Bloomsburg in 1968 (306 yards on 23 carries and 4 td’s scored) won 38-12
Tim Posivak of Liberty vs Allen in 1976 (309 yards on 32 carries and 4 td’s scored) won 41-14
Bob Agosti of Marian Catholic vs Pottsville in 1986 (306 yards on 27 carries and 2 td’s scored) won 37-14
Jim Hope of Tamaqua vs Shenandoah Valley in 1989 (331 yards on 30 carries and 3 td’s scored) won 28-21
There were no 300 yard rushers in 1990. So, that means (109 of the 115) 300 yard rushers have been since the 1991 season.
2025 single-game highs: ( ) is the week the player accomplished the stat
Single Game Touchdowns (4)
5 (1) Rory Dixon (Marian Catholic) *Ties School Record*
4 (1) Sean Steckert (Southern Lehigh)
4 (1) Luke Miller (North Schuylkill)
Single Game Rushing Yardage (200)
237 (1) Luke Miller (North Schuylkill)
226 (1) Rory Dixon (Marian Catholic)
205 (1) Colton Reber (Schuylkill Haven)
203 (1) Sean Steckert (Southern Lehigh)
Single Game Passing Yardage (200)
285 (1) Ceejay Serfass (Pocono Mountain East)
277 (1) Colton Sams (Southern Lehigh)
257 (1) Peyton Falzone (Nazareth)
251 (1) Antonio Fontanez (Liberty)
247 (1) Matt Bodnar (Notre Dame)
231 (1) Cole Lazorick (Jim Thorpe)
Single Game TD Passes (4)
4 (1) Ceejay Serfass (Pocono Mountain East)
Single Game Receptions (10)
10 (1) Carter Vassa (Bethlehem Catholic)
Single Game Reception Yardage (140)
166 (1) Zyaire Davis (Liberty)
Single Game Reception TD’s (3)
none
Field Goals (40 yards)
none reported