DISTRICT 11 NOTES (week 2):
RUNNINGBACKS:
Terrence McDowell of Tamaqua rushed for 337 yards and 6 td’s in their win over Schuylkill Haven. The 337 yards are the 3rd highest single game total for a Blue Raider. Nate Boyle holds the record with his 391 yards he had vs Notre Dame in 2019. Tyler Hope racked up 350 yards vs Schuylkill Haven in 2013. Tyler’s uncle Jim drops to 4th highest with his 331 yards he had vs Shenandoah Valley in 1989. McDowell’s 6 td’s is a modern-day school record besting 5 former players that scored 5 td’s in a game. They were Jim Hope in 1990, Dalton Nunemacher in 2012, Bud Moyer in 2015, Nick Breiner in 2016, and Nate Boyle in 2019. In old day Tamaqua lore, a player named McNulty scored 9 td’s in the infamous game against St. Clair in 1915. Tamaqua won the game 194-0. His Teammate Burke scored 6 td’s and kicked an incredible 19 extra points in the game. McDowell, a junior, also went over 2,000 yards rushing for his career and has scored 25 td’s. TJ Lawrence of Parkland rushed for 255 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Freedom. Lawrence went over 50 td’s for his career and currently has scored 52 which ties him with Jason Figuara of Jim Thorpe (2001-04), Joey Flail of North Schuylkill (2020-23), and Caden Henritzy of Northampton (2021-23) for 67th place all-time in the District. Fletcher Thompson of Williams Valley also went over 50 td’s for his career when he scored 2 in their loss to Southern Columbia. Thompson, just a junior, has 51 career td’s and is currently tied with Brett Snyder of Northwestern (1993-95), Komlan Lonergan of Central Catholic (1995-97), Scott Lavalva of Bangor (2007-10), and Kyle Boney of Emmaus (2013-15) for 71st place. Tyler Price of Marian Catholic rushed for 250 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Panther Valley. Evan Garrett or Pocono Mountain East rushed for 226 yards and 4 td’s in their win over Bangor. Junior Christian Stiehler of PM West went over 2,000 yards rushing in his career in week 2. Stiehler has 2,004 yards rushing.
QUARTERBACKS:
Cohen Kirby of Blue Mountain threw for 310 yards and 3 td’s in their shootout loss to Southern Lehigh. Colton Sams of Southern Lehigh in the same game threw for 304 yards and 4 td’s and is nearing 7,000 career passing yards. Sams has thrown for 6,968 yards and 87 td passes in his career. His yardage moves him into 11th place all-time in the District and his 87 td’s moves him into a 4th place tie with Tyler Smith of Wilson (2006-09). T.K. Gursky of Palmerton threw 5 td passes in their win of Greater Nanticoke Area. Matt Machalik owns the school record when he threw 6 td’s vs Pine Grove in 2022. Bethlehem Catholic’s Axel Burkart threw for 223 yards and 4 td’s in their win over Central Catholic. Cooper Madson of Nazareth threw for 246 yards and 5 td’s in their win over Whitehall. Jackson Mitchell of Stroudsburg threw for 262 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Wilkes-Barre. Ethan Bench of Shenandoah Valley threw for 248 yards and 4 td’s in their win over Pine Grove. Bradyn Diehl of Schulkill Haven threw for 222 yards and 3 td’s vs Tamaqua. Iovani Lopez of Salisbury threw for 242 yards and 4 td’s in their loss to Roxborough. The 4 td passes seen elsewhere are not a school record. Brian Ernst holds the school record when he threw for a Colonial League record 406 yards and a school record 5 td’s vs Southern Lehigh in 2007. Burkart, Bench and Madson all went over 2,000 yards passing for their careers and all 3 have thrown 20 career td passes. Just behind them, Michael Stofanak of Freedom is nearing 2,000 career yards and has also thrown 20 career td passes.
RECEIVERS:
Kole Luckenbill of Blue Mountain caught 9 passes for 200 yards and 2 td’s in that shootout vs SL. His 9 catches is one catch short of the school record of 10 held by Nate Calderone vs Muhlenberg. Luckenbill’s 200 yards breaks Calderone’s school record of 179 yards that he had on his 10 catches vs Muhlenberg. Luke DiPietro of Nazareth caught 6 passes for 114 yards and 3 td’s vs Whitehall. Another big game for Carter Vassa of Bethlehem Catholic vs CC when he caught 5 passes for 90 yards and 2 td’s. Vassa is now tied with Paryss Marshall of Catasauqua for 13th place all-time in the District with 2,541 receiving yards. His 148 receptions move him ahead of Jeff McGeehin of CC (144 from 1971-73), Jacob Del Priore of SL (144 from 2011-13), and Talon Dogmantis of Whitehall (144 from 2023-25). Five new players joined the chart for the 2nd week in a row, including another player leapfrogging over 9 players on the chart. That would be Luckenbill of BM who now has 646 career receiving yards as a junior. The other 4 players are Teshon Gaynair of Allen (554 yards), Colton Reber of S. Haven (549 yards), Omar Pacheco jr of Catasauqua (545 yards), and Gene Sinkus of Shenandoah Valley (539 yards). Jadiel Gonzalez of Salisbury had 143 receiving yards and 2 td’s in the loss to Roxborough. Jayden Rapoli of Wilson caught 5 passes for 138 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Palisades. The 3 td catches ties the schol record held by 8 other players.
TIDBITS:
1st recorded 200-yard receiver(s) for a game:
Bill Pilconis of Panther Valley vs Parkland in 1966 (200 yards on 7 catches) lost 33-26.
2025 single-game highs: ( ) is the week the player accomplished the stat
Single Game Touchdowns (4)
6 (2) Terrence McDowell (Tamaqua) *Modern Day School Record*
Single Game Rushing Yardage (200)
337 (2) Terrence McDowell (Tamaqua)
Single Game Passing Yardage (200)
363 (1), 304 (2) Colton Sams (Southern Lehigh)
237 (1) Michael Stofanak (Freedom)
Single Game TD Passes (4)
5 (2) TJ Gursky (Palmerton)
Single Game Receptions (10)
Single Game Reception Yardage (140)
202 (1) Carter Vassa (Bethlehem Catholic)
Single Game Reception TD’s (3)
3 (2) Luke DiPietro (Nazareth)
Field Goals (40 yards)
52 (2) Jordan Bowers (Minersville) *School Record*