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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: Pennsbury defeated North Penn 44-34 in a high-scoring game. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “I went back and looked, and nobody did the math. Everybody wrote – ‘It’s been a long time since…’ So, I went and did the math and got the numbers. It’s amazing - I think North Penn won 21 in a row over Pennsbury. There were some years they didn’t play in the regular season, and there were some years they played them twice – in the regular season and districts. It’s a lot of games. The long streak of futility for Pennsbury against North Penn ended finally. Pennsbury won 44-34 for its first win over North Penn in close to three decades, the first time since 1996. Galen Snyder, who orchestrated this turnaround in his 
return as Pennsbury’s head coach, wasn’t there for all those losses, but he had lost a lot of games in a row to North Penn coach Dick Beck, so it has to feel good for him to finally break the streak and everybody can stop talking about it.
“More importantly, it gets Pennsbury to 7-1 with that win. You look at the numbers for that game – senior running back (Galamama)‘G’ Mulbah had 364 rushing yards and four touchdowns on close to 50 carries. I’ve been covering high school football for a long, long time, and I only remember one time where a running back had more than 50 carries in a game, and that was years ago, and it involved Lower Moreland and a team up in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. I’m sure Mulbah was very sore after that one. To go to him 49 times - if you ask me, that’s too much. Even getting into the 30s is a lot, but the high 40s – but North Penn wasn’t stopping him. You call a kid’s number, the kid’s not going to say, ‘No, I don’t want the ball.’ That’s a big workload, and I’m sure he slept well into Saturday.
“With that loss, North Penn is 3-5 with two games left. I know strength of schedule plays a role in the district points with who gets in and who does not. They’ve played CB East, they’ve played CB West, they’ve played Pennsbury, they’ve played CB South – all teams that are within the top 16. Last week they were on the outside looking in, but in the latest district power points, there’s a three-way tie at 15 with North Penn, Owen J Roberts and Upper Darby, so two of the three will get in. North Penn still has to play Pennridge and Abington, and on paper, they are winnable games that they should win. It’s all tied in together. Could North Penn get in at 4-6? They might, which tells you there are too many teams in the playoffs. I’ve beat on that drum for years before that the field is too big, but nobody listens. North Penn has to win out and take care of their business, and hopefully for their sake, they’re 5-5 and they’ll get in at 15 or 16. Who knows – they might play Pennsbury again. Wouldn’t that be something? It’s possible.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: CB South beat Neshaminy 21-7, winning it with their running game. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Good job by South. Neshaminy had some big plays, but South kept them out of the end zone. South is 5-3, and its losses have been to Pennsbury, CB East and North Penn. South – which has relied on throwing the ball all season - found a running game against Neshaminy which they haven’t had all season. Neshaminy isn’t the easiest team to run against. Their defensive line is pretty stout, but South found a way. Anthony Leonardi comes basically out of nowhere and runs for 119 yards. Maybe Neshaminy wasn’t ready for it – probably not. You’re watching the film, and you’re saying, ‘Okay, we don’t have to worry about the running game. We have to stop Brett Szarko, their quarterback, and their passing game, and South took advantage of it and rushed for 222 yards. On Friday, you’ve got a CB South team that’s 5-3, trying to keep its place in the district playoffs, and in comes CB West, a very good 5-3 team. They’re going to need to do the same thing against West. It won’t be easy. I think that’s the game of the week.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Quakertown won its third straight and is 4-4 and ranked 14th in the latest District One 6A power rankings after the Panthers defeated Council Rock North 49-19. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Quakertown has worked its way back. They had the big year last year, advancing to the district semifinal with 13 wins, which is a school record for wins in a season. They had a ton of graduation losses. George Banas, the head coach, has a young team this year, but now they’ve shown some life, and they’ve gotten back to .500 at 4-4, and they’re inside the top 16 in the district rankings. They still have to play Upper Dublin, but even a loss to an undefeated Upper Dublin team that might be the best 5A team in the state is not going to hurt them that badly. That’s a nice little turnaround – they were 1-4 at one point. They had won their opener against Southern Lehigh and then they lost a bunch, and now they’ve come back. That’s a sign of a team that hasn’t quit. At 1-4, a lot of teams quit, and to their credit and to the credit of George Banas and his coaching staff, that team didn’t quit.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Moreland defeated Cheltenham 14-10 in a key SOL American Conference contest. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at Upper Moreland – they are one of the smallest enrollment 5A teams in the district. They were a 4A team for a while, but they were moved up by just a few extra kids in the classes. The same with Cheltenham in 6A – they’re one of the smallest 6A schools. That was a big win for Upper Moreland. They haven’t had much success against Cheltenham over the years, and the teams they have played that they had beaten – of their six wins going into the Cheltenham game, I think the record of their opponents was something like 2-32. It was unbelievably bad. They lost to Interboro who is having a solid – but not a great season, so Cheltenham was a true test. Shawn Herbert had both touchdowns for Upper Moreland, and Stephen Broderick had another strong game running the football. That score opened my eyes among other people’s too about what Upper Moreland is doing. That was a test, and they passed it. It’s a great win for them.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton travels to Upper Dublin with the winner assured at least a share of the conference title. Your thoughts about that game.
Drew Markol: “You look at big games this weekend – you have CB West/CB South with playoff implications, but in the Continental Conference of the SOL, you have Souderton – undefeated in the conference – and Upper Dublin, undefeated overall, playing each other. The winner is going to win the conference title. Upper Dublin is a 5A school and Souderton is a 6A school, so they won’t meet in the postseason. Upper Dublin – led by senior quarterback Colin O’Sullivan – has just been rolling along. They got our attention when they beat North Penn, and they beat CB West. They’re playing up a class, and they beat two perennially very good teams. That says a lot about what you’re doing. That’s why they’re ranked number one in the state by a lot of different polls in 5A. That’s impressive.
“Souderton is 7-1, and their only loss a couple of weeks ago was to CB East. Ed Gallagher, the head coach at Souderton, said before the season they had 11 starters back on defense, which is unheard of in high school football. Senior quarterback Jared Zimmerman is a dual threat quarterback, and Chris Kerns has had an impact on both sides of the football. That will be a good one. That’s definitely worth checking out. I’ll flip a coin to pick a winner there.”
Markol’s Picks (Winners in bold)
(Last week: 11-3)
Bensalem @ Council Rock South
Abington @ Pennsbury
Central Bucks East @ Neshaminy
Central Bucks West @ Central Bucks South
William Tennent @ Cheltenham
Hatboro-Horsham @ Council Rock North
Harry S Truman @ Quakertown
Executive Education Academy Charter @ Lower Moreland
New Hope-Solebury @ South Hunterdon Regional HS
North Penn @ Pennridge
Wissahickon @ Plymouth Whitemarsh
Souderton @ Upper Dublin
Upper Moreland @ Springfield Twp