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Back for its 13th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writer Drew Markol. 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.
Join Jeff Nolan and Kevin Cooney for the WPHT High School Football Scoreboard Show as they recap the night of high school football on Friday at 10 p.m. on 1210AM/WPHT and the Audacy app.
SuburbanOneSports.com: In one of the week’s marquee games, Central Bucks East defeated North Penn 42-35 in a high-scoring game. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “CB East was 5-0 and lost to Pennsbury last week, and one of their nemesis – North Penn, who’s been a nemesis to a lot of teams – was next. CB East hadn’t beaten them in 20 years, and they hang on and beat them 42-35 in a defensive struggle. It would have been a bigger win for North Penn as far as 
district seeding goes, but it was a nice bounce-back by East. Ethan Shine, the running back, had 290 yards and four touchdowns. North Penn has had a lot of trouble stopping the run all season, and then you get Shine who is right there among the top running backs in the area, and he just hammers away for 290 yards and had 39 carries, which is an awful lot of carries, and he was basically averaging seven yards a carry. That’s why you give it to him 39 times. You do the math, and it adds up to a lot of damage. North Penn’s senior quarterback Ryan Zeltt had over 300 yards passing in the game. It was just basically a shootout. It’s odd to think of North Penn being involved in a shootout. That’s not really their usual MO. They normally don’t have to outscore teams. They play good defense, they score a couple of touchdowns and then they win, but this year it’s a different story for them.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge extended Pennsbury to the limit before falling 27-24. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “With Pennridge under first-year coach Chuck Burgy – they’re 2-5, four of their most recent losses have been by a total of 10 points, which is almost hard to believe. They played Pennsbury who was coming off a very big win over unbeaten CB East. They probably looked at the Rams’ record and said, ‘Oh, Pennridge is only 2-4,’ but it was a 27-24 game that Pennsbury wins. Was there a letdown? I don’t know. Was it Pennridge just playing very well, which is very possible? Whatever it was, if you’re Pennsbury, you have to win those games because you’re thinking, ‘If we win this, we’re 6-1. Every win helps us as far as district seeding goes.’ The difference in the game was Pennsbury’s kicker, Dan Zalenko, who had a pair of field goals in the closing seconds of the first half.
“Pennsbury is not getting the turf in their new stadium until next year, but they haven’t played at home yet. They’re hoping to before the regular season ends. How nice would it be to not only do that but to also host a district playoff game or two? Coaches always tell you – win the day or win that week, which is fine, but I’m not always sure the kids buy that. The kids look ahead, but that’s something that would be nice for Pennsbury. If they finish 9-1, they’re going to likely be a top four seed in the district. Pennsbury needed that win to keep the ball rolling.
“Now they play North Penn, and North Penn is 3-4 – they’re in a spot where they have to win. I couldn’t tell you the last time Pennsbury beat North Penn. Dick Beck, who’s been coaching at North Penn since 2001, has never lost to a Galen Snyder coached Pennsbury team. Galen was there for a long stretch until 2015, and now he’s back. It just adds an interesting twist to the one. You have a 6-1 Pennsbury team, a 3-4 North Penn team that really needs a win. It just adds up to a pretty good game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks South is at Neshaminy this week. CB South is ranked 12th in the latest District One 6A rankings while Neshaminy is 15. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “CB South hasn’t found a running game, but they’re in the thick of things, and they’re playing a Neshaminy team that got shut out by CB West 22-0 on Friday. You have Neshaminy team that’s 4-3 and CB South that’s 4-3. South lost three in a row to CB East, Pennsbury and North Penn, and the Titans were down 12 points to Abington at the half and they had to come back and win that one. This is a game – the winner goes to 5-3, and now you’re thinking, ‘If we win our last two, we’re 7-3 and probably get a home game at districts,’ which is always nice because it’s a really big district and you can be sent very far away, and that’s never a fun bus ride on a late Friday afternoon to get to these places. If you look at comparative scores, Neshaminy shut out Abington 27-0 when they played. CB South was trailing 19-7 and they had to rally. I don’t put as much stock in that as a lot of people do. Again, it’s week eight of the season. If you’re thinking playoffs, you’ve got to win. There are no excuses. That’s what makes it fun.”
Markol’s Picks (Winners in bold)
(Last week: 11-1)
Abington @ Central Bucks East
Upper Darby @ Bensalem
Central Bucks South @ Neshaminy
Pennridge @ Central Bucks West
Cheltenham @ Upper Moreland
Quakertown @ Council Rock North
Council Rock South @ Souderton
Upper Dublin @ Harry S Truman
Hatboro-Horsham @ Marple Newtown
Harriton @ New Hope-Solebury
Pennsbury @ North Penn
Springfield Twp @ Plymouth Whitemarsh
William Tennent @ Wissahickon
Lower Moreland @ George School