Back for its seventh season, the popular Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features Kevin Cooney, Drew Markol and Jen Wielgus. Cooney, the Phillies beat writer, will handle the Bucks County Courier Times coverage area and also is part of a panel each Friday night on the WNPV/Intelligencer Scoreboard Show. Markol is the football beat writer for the Intelligencer area. Wielgus is a video sports reporter for the Intelligencer and Courier. All three are regular contributors on the weekly Game On show. To view this week’s show, click on the following link: http://www.theintell.com/videos/hsgameon/ To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/) and Courier Times (http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/) web sites. Check out the picks by our panel of experts: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/football-forecaster
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn earned a 42-25 win over Coatesville in last week’s district semifinal. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: "North Penn had the fast start two weeks ago against Spring-Ford- but Spring-Ford comes back and has all the momentum at the half. In the second half, North Penn said, 'Enough’ and just shuts them down.
“On Friday, Coatesville nearly returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but it doesn't happen. Then they scored first and they missed the extra point, and you're thinking, 'That's going to end up hurting them.' It really didn't. To beat North Penn, you have to play the perfect game. I hate the cliche about 48 minutes and playing four quarters and all of that, but it's the truth because North Penn will keep coming at you. Look what they did the week before in the quarterfinals - Ricky Johns has 200 receiving yards and makes some huge plays on defense. Then in the semifinal, Nick Dillon has four rushing touchdowns - one of them on a nice hook-and-ladder, a beautiful play. That kind of sums up what North Penn can do on offense. They'll just keep coming after you, but their defense gets overlooked.
"Dick Beck said after the game that his starting defense hasn't had to play four quarters, even three quarters very often - this is why they're always so good every year because he gets his second team offense and defense some good playing time on the varsity level. When it's those guys turn to play with the first string, they're ready to go. If North Penn is in a tight game - with that defense, it doesn't allow anything. They have such speed at linebacker. Coatesville has a freshman quarterback in Ricky Ortega who's already very good and is only going to get better, but North Penn was just able to contain him. Yes, he threw for over 200 yards, but if you can have a quiet 200-yard passing game as a high school quarterback, he did. I just think North Penn's defense - if it has to go the whole game, they're going to be really, really hard to score against, and that's why they're so good.
“Looking at the Parkland/St. Joe’s Prep game, Parkland is obviously very good. They went to the state final last year, but they lost a lot from that team. I think we've been heading towards a North Penn-Prep showdown since last December, and we're going to get it next week. Prep played most of their season without D'Andre Swift, their running back who's going to Georgia, and they were able to because they didn't need him. They still steamrolled everybody they played, so basically, he was allowed to recover at his own pace from what I believe was a bum ankle. When you have a team that's steamrolling everybody, and then you add a Georgia running back recruit to that team, it doesn't hurt. They're going to be a very, very tough out."
Kevin Cooney: "I think part of the problem in Friday’s game was we had flag-happy officials. There are times when you throw flags to keep the game under control, and then there are times when you throw so many flags that you lose control. Judging from up the hill on the radio, that game stretched three hours, and it just created a situation where frustrations bubbled over. Both teams were a little annoyed by what was going on. When Coatesville got frustrated, there were a couple of penalties after the whistle for extra curriculars. The penalties absolutely ruined a game that should have been really good, and it's all because you're picking on the nit-picky things. Holding and that stuff happens, but if you're calling all them, there's a breaking point where everybody gets so worked up and frustrated that it creates chaos, and that's exactly what happened on Friday night.
"Look, North Penn is moving forward, but this is two straight weeks where they've had trouble with the flags, and this is something they better get bottled up quick, either against Garnet Valley or assuming St. Joe's Prep. You keep turning field position over, you keep doing all these little things that basically bail teams out - give them extra downs, give them first downs, push yourself back offensively, you're going to eventually pay the price for it. So far, they've been able to overcome it because they've been clearly the more talented team. I'm not saying that they're going to lose this week - I don't think they will. I think if they play a disciplined game they will win this game and, I think, win it fairly easily. But if they play the way they did the last two weeks and take penalty after penalty after penalty, they're inviting trouble because Garnet Valley is well coached, and they have shown that they are disciplined enough with their triple option offense, and that could be a big problem.
"Again, they should win. They have so many weapons with Reece Udinski, Justis Henley, Tommy Johns, and you're getting the running game going with Nick Dillon. It's tough to take one area away from them right now, but you've got to play disciplined football in this tournament, and the last two weeks, they have not played disciplined football. I would love to know how much Dick Beck is worried about that at this point. I'm sure it's got to keep him up at night.
"There was no flow in the North Penn-Coatesville game. The first hour of a game in real time - if there's no flow, guys can react. If you get into two hours and the game has been that choppy, frustrations are going to boil. Kyle (Berger) mentioned on the air that they add the extra official or two for the playoffs, and it's almost like these guys are justifying their paycheck. At a certain point, unless it's egregious, put the flag away. If everybody knows early, unless it means a scoring chance or it's so blatant – a facemask or safety issues, let them play. I don't mind that. That crew on Friday night was embarrassing.
"We've lost one of the great officials/official supervisors that I loved in Walt Yost. Walter would always protect his guys, and I always respected that, but if you went to Walter and said, 'That officiating stunk and here's why,' he would listen to you. If it was his guys, he would have protected those guys, but there's a certain point where you have to let them play a little bit. I think that's what we're missing here the last couple of weeks.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Garnet Valley continued with its string of upsets, accumulating over 400 yards and picking up eight sacks in its 44-27 win over undefeated Perkiomen Valley. Your thoughts about the Jaguars heading into Friday’s district final at North Penn.
Drew Markol: "If you're Garnet Valley, you've got to hope we keep picking against you because they keep winning every time we pick them to lose. You look at that team - their hardest playoff game and they're all hard, but the hardest one they had was CB South. That game looked like it was over. With four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, they're trailing 14-7. They're doing nothing offensively, and it looks like their season is over. CB South was the seventh seed and Garnet Valley was the 10th seed, and you’re thinking, ‘It's supposed to be a close game, the 8-9 and 7-10 games are the close ones, and this will be a close one. CB South wins and Garnet Valley goes home.' Lo and behind, Garnet Valley scored two touchdowns, the last one with 11 seconds to go, and they beat South. You're thinking, 'Good for them, nice win,' but then they go and play Neshaminy and Perk Valley, two of the three unbeatens in the district in 6A. Neshaminy was 11-0 when Garnet Valley stopped them, and Perk Valley was 12-0 when Garnet Valley stopped them. What they're doing as a 10th seed and all road games is remarkable.
"If you look at the enrollment numbers in 6A, they're one of the smallest enrollment programs in the district. They're about the same size as Quakertown enrollment-wise, and here they are - you talk about a team playing with house money, they've been playing with it for weeks. I'm an advocate that there are too many teams in the playoffs. If I had my way, there wouldn't even be the playoffs. I'd only have the top eight teams, so much to my chagrin, they kind of kill my argument, being a 10th seed and getting to the district final.
“Coming back at CB South - I was there, and it was 14-7 CB South, and it was the most comfortable 14-7 you could see. Then all of a sudden - boom, boom. The South kids are down on their hands and knees pounding the turf because they can't believe they lost, and you can't blame them because it was such a stunning comeback by Garnet Valley. After that, I guess they figured they had nothing to lose. They go and take care of Neshaminy and they take care of Perk Valley. Who's going to pick them to Beat North Penn? Nobody. Does that bother them? Apparently not. They're doing things with small numbers. You look at the enrollment numbers, and North Penn probably has close to 900 more boys in grades 9-11. That's 300 boys per grade, and it's remarkable that Garnet Valley - a Quakertown-sized enrollment school - is doing what it's doing. It really is a great story.”
Kevin Cooney: "Garnet Valley is going to create havoc for its opponents because they force you to be clean, they force you to play smart. For the most part this season, North Penn has been that.
"The way I see this game - I think Garnet Valley could land a haymaker early. It wouldn't surprise me if they took a lead into the half. Garnet Valley plays a completely different style than Coatesville. The one thing that I think benefits North Penn is Garnet Valley is going into its fourth straight week on the road, it's fifth out of six. I think that helps North Penn a lot in the fourth quarter. With North Penn's speed, especially defensively, I think they should be able to cover that triple option. As long as guys stay in their lanes, you won't see the 50 or 60-yard burst. You may see a 20-yard run, and North Penn may end up running some guys down from behind, which is something they can do. I think North Penn pulls away in this game late. It may end up being a 17 or 18-point game. Basically, I think North Penn will wear them down.
"In this tournament, North Penn has the experience and success in the past, and Dick Beck doesn't lose at home. He just doesn't. Coach Mike Ricci is the one guy - can he make it interesting? Can he scheme it close? I don't think you're going to out-scheme Beck, but when you're a head coach for 30-some years, there are going to be no surprises. Garnet Valley's staff has pretty much seen everything that can be thrown at them. I don't think it's going to be a pretty game, but I think it will be an endurance game. I think it will be one of those games where North Penn will grind them down and pull away at the end, and we'll all get to the only game that's mattered this year when North Penn will play St. Joe's Prep."
Jen Wielgus: "What I think is funny about the Garnet Valley situation is if you look back to the beginning of the district tournament, they started obviously on the road because they were a 10 seed, and they started at CB South. CB South is a team we haven't talked about in many weeks because they lost in the first round, but if you're CB South, you can hang your hat on the fact that you have - up to this point - played Garnet Valley tougher than anybody else in this district tournament and you almost beat them. Garnet Valley basically had to pull a rabbit out of the hat to beat CB South, and then somehow worked this crazy Svengali magic with their one-dimensional triple offense and hung 40-plus points on Neshaminy on their home field where hardly anyone ever wins and then went to Perk Valley and hung 44 points on them and didn't leave a doubt. Now Garnet Valley is going to North Penn, which is the number one seed, who everybody - from day one - saw getting to this point. If you're Garnet Valley, you don't care that you're going to Crawford Stadium, you don't care that North Penn has never lost there in the playoffs because look what you've done. You've got to be super, super confident, and everyone is like 'How are they doing this?'
"Kudos to CB South because they were as close as anybody has been up to this point of beating Garnet Valley. It really boggles my mind because in an age where there's so much information out there about teams - local sports coverage is at its height, you can get video on these teams on Hudl, and nobody can figure out how to stop this old school option attack. Give a lot of credit to Garnet Valley. People are always looking at us picking North Penn or picking the higher seed to win and think we're disrespecting Garnet Valley. That's not the case. Give credit to the coaching staff of Garnet Valley. They obviously knew what they had coming into the season because they haven't always run the option down there. They obviously have a good line that knows how to block, they have a senior quarterback who knows what he’s doing, which is a key in high school for running the option, and they're really taking it to people.
"When you've had to do that week after week after week on the road and then you're running up against a team like North Penn - who talent-wise, coaching-wise, speed-wise doesn't have a lot of weaknesses on paper and is playing at home - come on, who's going to pick Garnet Valley to win that game? You just can't.
"It wouldn't surprise me if the game was closer than you'd think just because you cannot disrespect Garnet Valley and you can't take a win for granted. Garnet Valley has earned the right to be here, no doubt about it. North Penn - I don't doubt - is going to win this game. The state semifinal matchup we've all been waiting for between North Penn and St. Joe's Prep – which we won’t know until Saturday - is going to happen.
"I was getting hate tweets last week from people at Spring-Ford. I don't know what position they're in to send hate tweets because we've been talking about North Penn-St. Joe's Prep for a long time because those are two very dominant teams who look like they're on a collision course to meet. All these other teams want respect - well, Coatesville came to North Penn last week, and I think they were given as much respect as they deserved. They're a good team, but even with a bunch of penalties - and there were a lot of penalties on both sides, North Penn was able to win 42-25. You look at a kid like Nick Dillon, who has been a little bit overlooked because there are so many weapons on that team, and he had a heck of a game. They're a deep team, and with their first string defense, they were able to fly around the ball late in the game. The game was interesting at first, but North Penn just wears you down because they're deep and they're fast. Coatesville is built around that speed and no huddle, and North Penn kept right up with them and beat them into submission.
"Drew Markol has been saying all along that Garnet Valley is too one-dimensional. I honestly think for once he's right. Dick Beck is going to be able to show how good of a coach he is. Clearly, North Penn can't have as many penalties as they've had the last two weeks, but with that talent, Dick Beck can scheme and prepare. They can beat St. Joe's Prep. I saw Wood hang around with St. Joe's Prep, but North Penn has to be smart and disciplined. They can't shoot themselves in the foot.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge will travel to Quakertown for its annual Thanksgiving game. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: "Quakertown has won the last three meetings, the last two on Thanksgiving and in the playoffs two years ago. You look at last year, and Pennridge has a 21-0 lead at the half, and again, you think the game is over, but Quakertown comes back and scores four touchdowns and wins 28-21 at Pennridge in just a remarkable comeback. You flip ahead to this year, and you have a Quakertown team that started 1-5 and just looked like it was headed towards a 3-7, 2-8 kind of season, but they've won five in a row. They played a contingency game against Norristown. Granted, Norristown is struggling a bit, but they blew them out. Quakertown has nothing to lose in this game ever. You look at the numbers, and Pennridge is a lot bigger enrollment-wise. With that in mind, you're not supposed to win if you're Quakertown. If you're Pennridge, you're supposed to win. If you have nothing to lose, like Quakertown does, I think that makes it easier. Then you look at Pennridge, which has been struggling towards the end. Granted, they've lost to some pretty good teams, but the last taste in their mouth is the first round playoff loss to Neshaminy in a game they led at the half 21-7. Neshaminy comes all the way back and beats them. Quakertown played the following week and has a two-week break, and Pennridge will be working on a three-week break. That all being said, I think Pennridge will beat them. I've been behind Pennridge all year. With all those factors, I still think they have enough to beat them. Will it be razor-close again? Yes, I bet it will be. It may come down to a field goal.
"It's just a credit to what George Banas has done at Quakertown because if Thanksgiving would be on Sept. 30 instead of Nov. 24, nobody would have an inkling of picking Quakertown to win, but now they're playing as well as they've been playing Their confidence is sky high. For Pennridge, you have to wonder about their confidence. Where is it? I expect a really good game again, and hopefully, it will be.”
Kevin Cooney: "George Banas has his team playing really well at the end of the year, I mean really well. For as close as Pennridge – which lost its last regular season game to CB East - played against a beat-up Neshaminy, you're still looking at a team under .500. I think every week people expect Pennridge to turn it on like a switch, and it hasn't happened.
"Has Pennridge played tougher opposition? Yes, that was one of the things Jen Wielgus brought up on our Game On show, but I don't know about that. Quakertown has played Upper Dublin, PW and Hatboro was good. I think they've played a pretty good level there. Is the Continental Conference deeper? Yes, but it's not like they played slouches this year. Banas also always gets his team incredibly focused and fired up for Pennridge. To be honest, that's been something that Pennridge has been lacking."
Jen Wielgus: "I had an argument with Kevin Cooney. He keeps saying Quakertwon has gotten better as the season has gone along, and I'm not going to dispute that. George Banas is a good coach. Coming into the year, they said, 'Temper your expectations, we don't know what we have.' They didn't have much varsity experience because a lot of these kids have been playing behind a lot of varsity talent, so he did what he had to do and he developed his kids. They took some lumps, but they did improve.
"Pennridge probably underachieved, but if you saw the effort they gave against Neshaminy in the playoffs, I don't think you can say, 'Oh, Quakertown is going to win this.' I absolutely don't think that. Kevin is saying they're teams going in opposite directions when you look at Pennridge's record, but you can't look at it that way. I absolutely consider Pennridge the favorite in this game, and that's not taking anything away from Quakertown. I just think Pennridge has more experience and talent and has played against better competition. If Pennridge doesn't win, I think that's a huge letdown for that program. Then they really underachieved."
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Moreland travels to Hatboro-Horsham for a Thanksgiving Day contest. Your comments.
Drew Markol: "I wish these two didn't play the regular season game. Hatboro won that one 35-14 in week five. There's no juice in a week five rivalry game. It's a shame. Abington and Cheltenham had to do the same thing. I'm a huge, huge advocate of Thanksgiving football. I really wish the district and state playoffs would go away, but unfortunately, that's not happening. These games are getting fewer and far between. I almost wish they would allow them to schedule other teams in that spot instead of having to play it twice. When that happens, you look at, especially this year - Hatboro beat Upper Moreland 35-14 in that game. Granted, that was two months ago.
“Hatboro didn't make the playoffs, and they haven't played since Halloween. You can get stale with that long layoff whereas Upper Moreland made it in the 5A playoffs as a low seed and did get a chance to play, so they've had one less week of practice without a game, they're only three weeks without a game. No one cares who wins in week five, they care who wins on Thanksgiving, but I think Hatboro just has too much for an Upper Moreland team that will get much better next season."
Kevin Cooney: "I picked Hatboro in this game - when in doubt, pick the team that won the first time around. I thought Mike Kapusta did a really good job this year. Remember, they started out 0-3, and you're thinking, 'Oh god, here they go.' They righted the ship really well.
"I think the best thing Upper Moreland has in this game - Upper Moreland has a head coach who has proven that they can somehow pull the rabbit out of the hat every so often.
"I'm on the record saying I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving games, but it is kind of nice to see that some have survived what is pretty obviously a PIAA attempt to purge these games from the record, whether they want to admit it or not. Your asking kids to wait four weeks to play, and even with provisional games, it's three weeks from the end of the season until Thanksgiving. I think you're going to see more and more of these games fade. Are Pennridge and Quakertown always going to play? Yes. Will Hatboro and Upper Moreland always play on Thanksgiving? I don't think that's a given now that they're in the same conference.
"They've been dealing with this for a long time in the Catholic League where it was Prep and La Salle. At a certain point, teams started looking at each other and saying, 'Why are we doing this for a second time?'
"This is actually the first year I've heard coaches complain - 'Why are we still doing the playoff thing?’ They feel so much has been made about the playoffs that it takes away from the regular season and that nothing you do before November matters. Here's where I disagree. All those years ago when we just did the poll and that's how we figured out who the best team in the state was - it felt hollow. I don't think the system now is all that broken except for the fact that there are too many teams that make the playoffs. If you want to say there's too much emphasis put on the playoffs, that's fine, and the way you can reduce that is to reduce the number of teams.
“Pennridge-Quakertown is special. Not every game is special. My alma mater, Father Judge, has played Lincoln all these years on Thanksgiving Day, and to be honest, it's not competitive.
"For years, North Penn and Lansdale Catholic met. If we had no playoffs, that would still be going, but you're talking a 2A school and a 4A school, and it's lopsided. Not every rivalry is worth keeping through the years because dynamics change. I'd rather have competitive games at this time of year.
"In college football this weekend, you're going to have Ohio State-Michigan, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Alabama-Auburn and all of that. Texas and Texas A&M used to meet every year, and they don't anymore. Do you think anybody in that group really cares? Has life in college football disappeared because Texas and Texas A&M weren't meeting?
"Those rivalry games mean something because something is on the line, not just something for a big trophy. Something tangible in the bigger picture is on the line. The winner of the Michigan-Ohio State is going on to the Big 10 title game if Michigan wins or going to the college football playoffs if Ohio State wins. If Alabama beats Auburn, Alabama is going to the college football playoffs.
"It's great if those games have meaning towards something down the road. Drew Markol would want Neshaminy-Pennsbury to be played on Thanksgiving Day. It doesn't work because for both of those schools, beating Pennsbury or beating Neshaminy during the regular season means you're going on to the playoffs or you're winning the National Conference, and I'd rather have that than some stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb game on a holiday weekend. I just would."
The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of SuburbanOneSports.com.
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