Intelligencer/Courier Times: "Let's Talk Football" (9-11-15)

Back for its sixth season, the popular Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features Kevin Cooney and Drew Markol.  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. Both are regular contributors on the weekly Game On show, and 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/Courier Times web site http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Your thoughts after week one of the football season?

Drew Markol:  “There were six mercy rules and one game was two points away from a mercy rule in week one. A lot of the coaches, not all of them, are so intent on trying to get wins  - you could almost compare it to some colleges playing a cupcake preseason just to get a win. You need to challenge yourself. No one will play North Penn because they don’t want to lose, but North Penn will play La Salle, they’ve played Wood, they’ve played Prep.

“You look at a team like Pennsbury that would play Easton, and most years, Easton would beat them, but you talk with Galen Snyder – he’d be disappointed, obviously, but he knew in the long run, those are the teams you have to play because come playoff time, loading up on cupcakes is not a good way to do it. What do you gain from a mercy rule game when you blow out somebody, but then when you play somebody that punches you back in the nose, you have a problem.

“North Penn played what is supposed to be a pretty good La Salle team a lot closer than they normally do. It was only a few goofy plays away from making it a really good game, so maybe we learned something about North Penn. And Council Rock South – they faced defending district champion Pennsbury and gave them a fight for four quarters.

“We’re really early in this thing, but you look at the National Conference in the SOL, and you have your usual teams – the Pennsburys, the Neshaminys and the North Penns. I think Pennridge is a bit of a sleeper for now, but they’ll lose that tag shortly. We’ll learn more about CB South when they play CR North this week. They may be in that mix also, but Pennridge is enormous up front on both sides of the ball. They have plenty of weapons, so they’re a team to watch, for sure.

“On the flip side of that, (the Rams) played Hatboro-Horsham in their opener, and Hatboro’s numbers are dreadful. I’ve been told they’re below 40, and for a Quad A school to be dressing such a small roster – we’re talking week one. What’s going to happen week six with injuries? That’s just a bad sign. I don’t know how you remedy it in the second week of September. You can’t really do anything about it because what are you going to do. You have what you have. That’s kind of alarming.

“It’s hard to determine a whole lot after such a small sampling size, but it’s interesting.

Kevin Cooney:  “Some teams, quite frankly, are going for the softer non-league games. I thought the trend from last week wasn’t so much that – I didn’t find the mercy rules to be that abnormal. I thought it was the teams that, at least on paper, kind of struggled.

“Abington struggled (in a 21-14 loss to Northeast) – there’s no two ways about it. They scored on a 60-yard touchdown pass on their first drive and then managed only seven points the rest of the night. That’s a struggle, especially when the other team turns the ball over as much as Northeast did.

“You look at Pennsbury (a 13-6 winner over CR South). They struggled. Maybe CR South is better than we’re giving them credit for, but for them to be living on the edge, that – to me – was telling.

“North Penn had their chances against La Salle (in a 24-12 loss). Not that North Penn played badly, but North Penn doesn’t usually waste opportunities.

“I think those are the things that stood out to me about week one. Just the overall parity and the overall tone of play this year – there’s really not that dominant team. The teams that had the beat-up games – Quakertown, Pennridge, CB South. In each of them you say – is it because of them or is it because of the team they played. I think with Quakertown you say, all right, it was them. The others there are some issues with who they were matched up with.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Council Rock North struggled in a loss to Perkiomen Valley, falling 56-35. Your comments about Rock North heading into Friday’s game against Central Bucks South.

Kevin Cooney:  “Council Rock North is getting a nasty rep of being a one-man band, and whether they want to admit it or not, this is an alarming, alarming development. No matter how good your quarter back is, and we can talk about Brandon McIlwain until we’re blue in the face – if he has to score 50 points a game or 60 points a game, they’re going to win three games. No quarterback can count on doing that. They’re going to have to learn to make some stops. If they come back and play well defensively against CB South, you say, ‘Okay, it was week one jitters.’ If you have that type of performance in week two, now you’ve got real problems. You’re kind of already pinned with a label, fairly or not, that this team has real defensive issues, and before you get into your league season, that’s a bad thing to have at this time of year.

“The other question is – every time you put pressure on your quarterback to score a ton of points, you’re opening him up to injury, and you’re opening him up to a point where it’s going to be too much for him to overcome. It is imperative they get this straightened out right now. This can’t linger to week three and have this hanging over your head. If you give up another 40 or 50 this week, the same questions will be there, only louder.”

Drew Markol:  “CR North may have the same problem it had last year. We know they can score, but you need to be able to stop somebody. CB South had the problem for a long time. I’m not sure they’ve cured it – they may have. Their defense looked pretty good against West, but you can’t just load up all your best players on offense. You’ve got to stop somebody.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Neshaminy defeated a Montclair (N.J.) team that was the reigning sectional champion. Talk about the Redskins.

Kevin Cooney:  “There was so much negativity about the program last year, and to start off the season on a high note and to get your offense going, I thought that was a good sign.

“I’m speaking out of both sides of my mouth – I’m saying week one tells you a lot, and I’m saying week one tells you nothing. I think week one showed that Neshaminy maybe has a little more balance, a little more focus with the way they won that game. I also caution because this is a big week for them too. For a school like them, if you go 2-1 in your non-league season, it gives you so much more margin for error when you get to your league schedule as far as districts. If you’re Neshaminy, you have North Penn and Pennsbury on your schedule. If you go 1-2 and lose those two league games – and I’m not saying they’re going to, you’re 6-4 and on the bubble. If you go 2-1 and lose those two games, you’re 7-3 and you’re probably – with your strength of schedule points – in the middle of the pack in districts this year. Maybe you’re 10 or 11. 

“These first three weeks are big. I look at the rest of the landscape in the National Conference, and it’s the big three. CB South can make things a little interesting, and maybe Pennridge is better than everybody thought, but until further notice, it’s 1-2-3 as usual. I think Abington is down this year, so if you want to tell me that Pennridge and CB South are better than Abington – after what I saw last week, I could believe it because of their inexperience.

“The one thing at this time of year that drives me crazy – and my colleagues are guilty of this too - people will say, ‘Oh, look how wide open this is.’ No, it’s not wide open until week five. If it’s week five and we have a sense that – this team, this team and this team are moving into the next class, that’s fine. That means they probably beat one of the teams in the upper class. Until I’m shown otherwise, I’m gong to take one of those three to win the National Conference. I’ll give you the field, and you tell me who wins.

“If you prove me wrong, fine, but this idea that all programs are created equal is nonsense.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Council Rock South gave Pennsbury a battle last week in a 13-6 Falcon win. Your thoughts?

Kevin Cooney:  “I’m not having second thoughts about Pennsbury yet. There were a couple of factors at play. One, I undersold CR South. I’ll come out and say it. I thought it would a three-touchdown game.

“Pennsbury lost a lot to graduation. Would I put them in a class with Downingtown East and Coatesville and all of that? No, probably not yet, but when you get to the end of the road, I’ll still pick them. They’re still going to be there. Mike Alley is too good a weapon, and he’ll find different things.

“Last week were there some chinks in the armor? Yes, maybe, but do I think that could get corrected beyond week one? Absolutely, and I think playing La Salle helps them. Pennsbury has played good non-league schedules in the past – they’ve played Parkland, they’ve played Easton, and this will help them. I don’t doubt that.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Upper Dublin will host a Truman team that is coming off a big win over West Chester Rustin. Your thoughts?

Kevin Cooney:  “It’s a maturity in the Truman program. Everybody felt last year was a one-year flash, but the fact that they were able to come out and beat Rustin is pretty good. I think they step up in class this week. Upper Dublin with (quarterback) Ryan Stover – there’s way more at play when you face Upper Dublin than when you face Rustin. Having to play the pass, having to play against that line. I’m not ready yet to put Upper Dublin as elite, but I believe they have a chance to get there. They have to keep their quarterback healthy – that’s a big deal.

“But this is a major step for Truman. If you play well against this Upper Dublin team, that bodes real well for you in the Continental Conference. It really does. Quakertown is, in my mind, number one, but everybody else – you can toss them in a hat because they all have a degree of a flaw.”

Drew Markol:  “With Truman, you can see the progression. A couple of years ago, you’d see glimpses, and then last year, you saw – hey, this team is not bad, and now the momentum is building. When that happens, kids come out for the team, and all of a sudden, it’s cool to play football. They’re a serious contender for the Continental title.

“With Upper Dublin, who I think might be the best team in the Suburban One League regardless of conference, you look at it at first glance and say, ‘Oh, this is not much,’ but now it’s a pretty interesting game. I think Upper Dublin is better, but this is not going to be 38-6 either.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Abington lost its opener to Northeast. Your comments about the Ghosts heading into Friday’s game against PW.

Drew Markol:  “Last year Abington barely got by Northeast. If you start a season 0-2, and you know you still have North Penn, Pennsbury and Neshaminy and you can’t leave Pennridge out either still ahead of you, the desperation comes in. Instead of having to go 7-3 to try and get into districts, now you have to go 7-1, and that’s hard to do. An 0-2 in high school, college, the pros – it doesn’t matter. You start to question what you’re doing. Your confidence level has been shot down pretty low.

“It this a must win? No, but is it close to a must win? Yes, it is.”

SuburbanOnesports.com:  North Penn, coming off a tough loss to La Salle, will face West Catholic. Talk about that game.

Drew Markol:  “North Penn is playing West Catholic, and again, it’s the problem North Penn runs into. They can’t get anybody in the district to play them. They had to play West Catholic last year, and that’s a very, very good program but a AA program. West Catholic takes them to overtime last year, and maybe (the North Penn) kids look at the size of the school and say, ‘They’ve got 200 kids and we’ve got 2,000, and we’re going to walk all over them.’ Maybe they’ll look at it a little bit differently.

“For West Catholic, that’s a great game because if you happen to beat North Penn, you’re beating a Quad A program that’s going to win a lot of games. If you’re North Penn and you lose to West Catholic, now you’ve lost to a Class AA school, albeit one that’s going to win a lot of games. Now you’re 0-2, and one of those losses is to a AA school. You talk about your must wins like we did with Abington – I think North Penn has to look at it that way also as a must-win, and then they have Downingtown East the week after this one.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Souderton will face Central Bucks West in a contest featuring a pair of teams that dropped their openers. Your thoughts.

Drew Markol:  “This apparently was going to be a pretty good year for Souderton, and they opened up with a double overtime loss to PW. You lose a game in double overtime – that hurts. You win a game in double overtime – it’s a huge boost. You lose it, and it’s a kick right in the shins. Now you have to come back.

“CB West against South could have rolled over and lost by 60 – I was there and, instead, they kept fighting, they scored a couple of touchdowns, recovered an on-sides kick.  They played hard the entire way, which is kind of telling. Sometimes teams will quit, and they didn’t do that. I think both of these teams are looking at this as a game they could win. I know that sounds silly because high school kids look at every game as a game they can win. I think they’re realistically looking at it as a winnable game.

“Again, you run into the same thing. If Souderton is going to turn it around and show that they’re better, 0-2 is not doing that. They need to go out and do it and start piling up some wins.”