Scott Huff features the four SOL teams who earned wins in the district playoffs and also highlights the weekend's top performances.
By Scott Huff
And you thought the Democrats had a bad week after the midterm elections.
The Suburban One League lost four of seven PIAA Quad-A District One playoff games last week – and the well-respected SOL National Conference finished with a surprising 1-3 won-loss performance. Only SOL National Pennsbury survived the first round – and the co-champion Falcons were forced to hang on to a ‘wild and crazy’ 63-55 victory over Downingtown West (Ches-Mont National).
Jettisoned from the tournament from the SOL National were North Penn – who was thumped 40-13 by West Chester Henderson (CM-N); Central Bucks South – who was thumped 35-15 by Garnet Valley (Central League); and Pennridge – who was edged 14-10 by Quakertown (SOL Continental).
Also shown the Quad-A playoff exit door was Council Rock North (SOL-C) who was thumped 48-14 by Upper Dublin (SOL-American). Upper Moreland (SOL-A) was shown the Class AAA playoff exit door by Bishop Shanahan (CM-N) who thumped the Golden Bears 37-7.
There was some good newsin the Quad-A playoffs for the SOL as Pennsbury, Quakertown, and Upper Dublin all advanced – and Springfield (SOL American) advanced to the Class AA District One finals with a 39-15 victory over New Hope-Solebury.
In the Quad-A District One bracket, all eight higher seeded teams advanced – Coatesville (CM-N), Pennsbury (SOL-N, West Chester Rustin CM-American), Quakertown (SOL-C), Downingtown East (CM-N), Upper Dublin (SOL-A), Garnet Valley (CL), and West Chester Henderson (CM-N).
In the Class AAA District One bracket all four of the higher seeded teams advanced – Springfield Delco (CL), Great Valley CM-A), Bishop Shanahan (CM-N), and Pottsgrove (PAC-10). And in the Class AA District One bracket the top two highest seeded teams advanced – Bristol (Bicentennial League) and Springfield (SOL-A).
How about that?
And the beat goes on…
SOL Continental Conference ‘Snapshot’
Quakertown Panthers
There is still plenty of room on the Quakertown bandwagon.
Quakertown captured a Suburban One League Continental Conference championship – but some observers were not all that impressed. And when the Panthers opened the PIAA Quad-A District One playoffs against Pennridge – then the wheels would surely fall off the bus for Q-town.
Quakertown (10-1) made school history with its 14-10 victory over the archrival Rams (7-4). The Panthers captured their first ever playoff win and will host dangerous Downingtown East (8-3) this Friday at Alumni Field.
“When you go through life, you always set new goals,” said Quakertown head coach George Banas. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win a conference championship – and we accomplished that.
“Then we set a goal of winning the first ever playoff game in Quakertown history – and we accomplished that,” added Banas. “Now we reset our goal and want to win a district championship.
“We don’t want to be happy just being in the second round of the playoffs,” continued Banas. “The first week of the playoffs proved how good our district is – and we want to continue our commitment to our school, our community, and our league and play the best we can against Downingtown East.”
SOL Continental Conference ‘Honor Roll’
Alec Vera of Quakertown threw two touchdown passes as the Panthers captured a 14-10 PIAA Quad-A District One playoff victory over archrival Pennridge.
Brandon McIlwain of Council Rock North completed 17 passes for 111 yards as the Indians were defeated 48-14 by Upper Dublin in a PIAA Quad-A District One playoff game.
Trysten Hunt of Truman rushed for a team-high 99 yards and a touchdown and also caught a touchdown pass as the Tigers were defeated by Cheltenham 28-27 in a non-conference game.
Shane Hammer of Norristown set what is believed to be a school record with a 45-yard field goal as the Eagles were defeated 38-10 by Methacton in a non-conference game.
SOL Continental Records/Schedules
Quakertown Panthers 10 1 Next: Host Downingtown East in Quad-A playoff game on Friday
Council Rock South 6 4 Season Over
Council Rock North 6 5 Season Over
Truman Tigers 6 5 Next: Host Conwell-Egan on Thanksgiving Morning
Central Bucks East 5 5 Season Over
William Tennent Panthers 5 6 Season Over
Norristown Eagles 4 7 Season Over
Central Bucks West Bucks 2 8 Season Over
SOL American Conference ‘Snapshot’
Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals
There is still plenty of room on the Upper Dublin bandwagon.
Upper Dublin captured a Suburban One League American Conference championship – but some observers were not all that impressed. And when the Cardinals opened the PIAA Quad-A District One playoffs against Council Rock North – the wheels surely would fall off the bus for Upper Dublin.
Upper Dublin (10-1) made school history with its 48-14 victory over the Indians (6-5). The Cardinals captured their first ever playoff win and will travel to meet dangerous West Chester Rustin (10-1) this Friday.
“We just had a team meeting and we talked about staying motivated,” said Upper Dublin head coach Bret Stover. “We don’t want to be satisfied with what we accomplished – we want to prepare hard and do more. We could set a school record with 11 wins – and right now we have 10.
“Winning the championship, and winning that playoff game are great accomplishments,” added Stover. “But we can’t think that is all we want to accomplish this season. We have to find a way to get ready for the next game – and we want to go there with the thought of winning the game.
“West Chester Rustin is a terrific football team,” continued Stover. “We’ll get on the bus and focus on what we have to do to win the game.”
SOL American Conference ‘Snapshot’ – Part 2
Springfield Spartans
Springfield is right where it hoped to be at this time of year – playing for the PIAA Class AA District One title game.
The Spartans (5-6 overall) earned its date with Bristol (8-3) with a 39-15 victory over New Hope-Solebury. Top-seeded Bristol advanced with a 39-12 victory over Valley Forge Military Academy. Springfield followed a difficult road to get to the title game – but it is a journey that head coach Chris Shelly knew his club would have to make.
“The goal from the get-go was to get to this title game,” said Shelly. “We knew playing in the Suburban One (American Conference) we were going to have some very tough games against schools that were larger than us. But I thought we competed hard in those games.
“We go into the game with Bristol with a win – and you can never be that upset with a win,” added Shelly. “We got up 21-0 in the first half against New Hope, and then we got a little sloppy in the second half defensively. We can’t afford to do that against Bristol.
“(Quarterback) Chris Stone played a really nice game – more Joe Montana and less Johnny Manziel,” continued Shelly. “And both Martin Worgan and Brett Righter both made some tough runs.
“We have some things to clean up,” added Shelly. “This is where we want to be this week – but we still have some bigger plans.”
SOL American Conference ‘Honor Roll’
Kaleif Lee and John Lee of Upper Dublin each had fine outings as the Flying Cardinals soared to a 48-14 PIAA Quad-A District One victory over Council Rock North. Kaleif Lee rushed for 156 yards and scored four touchdowns, while John Lee rushed for a game-high 170 yards.
Chris Stone of Springfield threw two touchdown passes and ran for a TD as the Spartans marched to a 35-19 PIAA Class AA District One playoff win over New Hope-Solebury.
Tyler Whitmore of Upper Moreland ran for a team-high 121 yards and scored the lone touchdown as the Golden Bears lost a 37-7 PIAA Class AAA contest to Bishop Shanahan.
Antonio Mumford and Greg Morris of Cheltenham each played outstanding games as the Panthers edged Truman 28-27 in a non-conference game. Mumford scored three touchdowns for the winners, while Morris ran for a game-high 110 yards.
Kori Smith of Upper Merion returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown as the Vikings sailed to a 27-13 non-conference victory over Bensalem.
Casey Walsh of Hatboro-Horsham completed 15 passes for 129 yards as the Hatters were topped by West Chester East 14-7 in a non-league game.
SOL American Conference Records/Schedule
Upper Dublin Cardinals 10 1 Next: @ West Chester Rustin in Quad-A playoff game on Friday
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7 3 Season Over
Upper Moreland Bears 7 4 Next: Host Hatboro-Horsham on Thanksgiving Morning
Cheltenham Panthers 6 5 Next: @ Abington on Thanksgiving Morning
Springfield Spartans 5 6 Next: @ Bristol in Class AA playoff game on Friday
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters 3 8 Next: @ Upper Moreland on Thanksgiving Morning
Wissahickon Trojans 2 8 Season Over
Upper Merion Vikings 2 9 Season Over
SOL National Conference ‘Snapshot’
Pennsbury Falcons
There might be a little room on the Pennsbury bandwagon.
Pennsbury captured a Suburban One League National Conference co-championship with North Penn – and the observers were impressed. With the exception of a 24-21 loss to the Knights, the Falcons soared to huge wins over the competition. And when Pennsbury hosted Downingtown West in the first round – the bus would continue to roll for the Falcons.
The bus did move on to the second round – but Pennsbury had to survive an outrageous 63-55 victory over the visiting Whippets. The Falcons will host dangerous Garnet Valley (9-2) on Friday – the Jaguars whipped CB South 35-15 in a first round contest.
“The whole idea is to move on to the next round, and we did that,” said Pennsbury head coach Galen Snyder. “I have never seen a game like that, but we did what we had to do to win the game.
“I knew going into the game that we had to shift to the ‘I’ formation and give Charles Snorweah the ball a lot,” added Snyder of his transformed tailback who gained an astounding 433 yards and an equally astounding seven seven rushing touchdowns. “I felt that we were going to be able to move the ball – but that performance was a little unexpected.
“Plus he had a 50-yard touchdown run called back on a holding call,” continued Snyder. “That would have gotten him close to 500 yards and eight touchdowns.
“I was a little surprised to see that North Penn, Pennridge, and CB South did not move on,” added Snyder of his fellow Suburban One League National Conference competitors. “But North Penn and Pennridge played without their starting quarterbacks, and South didn’t have (Notre Dame bound – Josh) Adams at 100 percent. It’s tough to win in the playoffs without your best players playing healthy.”
SOL National Conference ‘Honor Roll’
Charles Snorweah of Pennsbury had a more-than-spectacular game with 433 yards and 7 touchdowns as the Falcons soared to a 63-55 PIAA Quad-A District One playoff victory over Downingtown West.
Joe Unangst of Pennridge rushed for a game-high 231 yards and a touchdown as the Rams were defeated 14-10 by Quakertown in a PIAA Quad-A District One playoff game.
Josh Adams of Central Bucks South rushed for a team-high 66 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Titans were defeated 35-15 by Garnet Valley in a PIAA Quad-A District One playoff game.
Nyfease West of North Penn rushed for a team-high 61 yards and scored a touchdown as the Knights were defeated 40-13 by West Chester Henderson in a PIAA Quad-A District One playoff game.
Devante Porter of Bensaelm stripped a runner and rambled 58 yards for a touchdown as the Owls were defeated by Upper Merion 27-13.
SOL National Conference Records/Schedule
Pennsbury Falcons 10 1 Next: Host Garnet Valley in Quad-A playoff game on Friday
Pennridge Rams 7 4 Next: @ Quakertown on Thanksgiving Morning
North Penn Knights 7 4 Season Over
Central Bucks South 7 4 Season Over
Abington Ghosts 5 5 Next: Host Cheltenham on Thanksgiving Morning
Neshaminy Redskins 4 6 Season Over
Souderton Indians 4 6 Season Over
Bensalem Owls 0 11 Season Over
Suburban One Sports.com
Top Ten
1. Pennsbury Falcons (10-1)
2. Quakertown Panthers (10-1)
3. Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals (10-1)
4. North Penn Knights (7-4)
5. Central Bucks South Titans (7-4)
6. Pennridge Rams (7-4)
7. Council Rock North Indians (6-5)
8. Abington Ghosts (5-5)
9. Council Rock South Golden Hawks (6-4)
10. Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials (7-3)
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