Back for its 17th 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.
SuburbanOneSports.com: A big game in the AOL American Conference was Wissahickon at Upper Moreland. You were there. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “When you look at the Upper Moreland-Wissahickon game last week, it has a lot of implications for the American Conference. Upper Moreland beat them 14-0, and they really dominated the game. Wissahickon had only 85 yards of offense in the first half. Upper Moreland also had a goal-line stand. Wissahickon had a first down inside the five, got down to the one-yard line and tried to run up the middle. Upper Moreland stopped them on fourth down.
“It was a really good defensive effort. Senior defensive lineman Connor Lennox had a really big hit and a big game defensively for Upper Moreland. Kyle Moore scored on a three-yard touchdown run on Upper Moreland’s first possession. Then he scored again on a 13-yard run late in the first half, and that was it. They just shut Wissahickon down.
“You knew it was going to be close. Last year, Wissahickon beat Upper Moreland in overtime. Two years ago, Upper Moreland beat Wissahickon in overtime. They’re two of the top teams in the American Conference. With Plymouth Whitemarsh no longer in the American Conference, it’s wide open.
“It’s only one win. Upper Moreland is 1-0 in the conference, and Wissahickon is 0-1. But it might mean a lot more than that because they’re probably the two best teams in the conference. Moore and Santiago Rodriguez combined for about 146 yards rushing, with Moore accounting for 88. It wasn’t as though Upper Moreland put up huge offensive numbers, either. A lot of the game was played between the 30-yard lines, but Upper Moreland was able to finish its drives. Neither team threw the ball effectively. It was a rainy, windy night, so that didn’t help.
“It was just a nice win for Upper Moreland and gives them a leg up in the American Conference, for sure.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge defeated Pennsbury and now finds itself in another marquee matchup on Friday night against North Penn. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at a Pennridge team that went to the district final last year. They are No. 1 in the district power rankings, and they went to 6-0 last week, beating Pennsbury 28-6. In that game, it was only 15-6 into the third quarter. So give Pennsbury credit for hanging in there with an undefeated Pennridge team that’s rolling, but you also think this might have been a trap game for Pennridge, where they have North Penn coming up and then they had just beaten CB West. It just didn’t look like a great effort from Pennridge. But again, good teams win when they don’t play as well as they can, and they did. Junior running back Trevor Piccotti had another 100-yard game with 132 yards and three scores on 20 carries. That’s six-plus yards a carry, and he’s just done a nice job for them.
“Pennridge is just winning. Sometimes they win ugly, but one thing that’s been showing up for Pennridge all season is the defense. I believe Souderton is the only team to score in double digits against them. They’ve only allowed five touchdowns through six games. Blake Landherr, the junior linebacker, has been really good. Sean Leuthe and Mike Ferguson, two senior cornerbacks, have been really good defensively for Pennridge.
“They have a big test this week at North Penn. North Penn was the last team to beat them. That was in the district final last year, so that’ll be our marquee game this week”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Your thoughts about the North Penn/Pennridge game.
Drew Markol: “North Penn is the last team to beat Pennridge. They beat them in the district final last year. Pennridge beat CB West on the last-second touchdown a couple weeks ago. CB West came back and held off North Penn, I believe it was two weeks ago, 28-26. North Penn had gone for two in the closing seconds and didn’t get it. I think this game is as close to a coin flip as you’ll ever see. I give a slight edge to North Penn. Maybe it’s because they beat them in the district final last year. But it should be really good.
“Rylei Gray, the senior running back from North Penn, has been tremendous. With Pennridge, junior quarterback Aiden Tetkowski has gotten better and better every week. That’s a good game. The loser and the winner of that game are both going to make long runs in the district playoffs, so this is probably more about who’s going to win the National Conference title, which Pennridge won last year.
“Again, Pennridge is the No. 1 seed in the district power rankings as we speak. When you do that, you play every game at home, including the district final, so that is nice to have. But as they say all the time with North Penn and Dick Beck, he doesn’t care. His thought process is you’re going to play good teams regardless. You’re going to get them, whether it be home or away. Of course, he’d rather play at home. Every coach would. But I don’t think either side is that concerned with home-field advantage for the district playoffs right now. They’re worried about the National Conference title.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: In one of the big games last week, Central Bucks South handed Central Bucks East a 35-6 loss. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at CB South. Their head coach Tom Hetrick had to step aside in July. He’s got some family health issues at home. They have Bart Szarko and John Cataldo co-coaching the team. They start out 0-3. You’re thinking, ‘All right, this is kind of a lost season for South.’ Well, they’ve now won three in a row, the latest one being 35-6 against Central Bucks East, which had a nice little run going itself. East was 3-1 at one point, but South has really turned it up. Gavin Graham, who’s an Army commit, is tremendous defensively, and he also had two rushing touchdowns and had about 75 yards rushing in that win. He also caught a touchdown pass.
“They have just turned it around completely. The sophomore quarterback, Trent Haviland — I saw him in Week 1 when they lost to Archbishop Wood. He looked like a sophomore playing his first game as a starting quarterback. But he’s a good athlete. He started last year as a freshman in the secondary for South, and now he’s growing into the quarterback spot. Now they’re a threat to anybody. They’re 3-3. They still have to play Pennridge. They still have to play West. But the way they’re playing, they could do some damage and maybe somehow find their way into the district playoffs. How many teams that start out 0-3 do that?
“When you look at CB East, they have to bounce back. They were 3-1, now they’re 3-3. You probably have to get to six wins, which is kind of the magic number to get into the district playoffs. They have to play CB West in the rivalry game in the last game of the regular season, and they need to get out of this little skid. They opened up with a loss to Ridley on opening night, then they won three in a row. Now they’ve lost two. So, you’ve got to win three of the next four to get in. They’ve got a really good running back in senior Mike Price. I would just keep feeding him the ball as much as possible and kind of live and die with him. He’s a pretty good player to hang your hat on.
SuburbanOneSports.com: CB South faces CB West this week. Your comments about that game.
Drew Markol: “If you were to look at the schedule after Week 3, you would have said, ‘Well, it’s going to be West and East battling it out for the Central Bucks Cup,’ which goes to the Central Bucks team that beats the other two teams. You wouldn’t have included CB South in that mix. But since Week 3, South has won three in a row. They beat up on East last week, and now they host West on Friday, and it’s become an intriguing game. I do give West the edge, but South has turned it on and flipped a switch, so that’ll be a good one.
“West has Braylen Cape, who transferred from South before this season. He had a couple of touchdowns and I believe 200 rushing yards for West last week against Abington. So, there are some subplots in this one, too. Again, I think West is the better team, but I’m wrong a lot. It’s become a better matchup than many expected. If North Penn-Pennridge is the best game of the weekend, West-South is a close second.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Plymouth Whitemarsh edged Souderton 17-14 last week. Your comments about that game.
Drew Markol: “We look at Plymouth Whitemarsh and Souderton last week. Souderton’s come alive after a slow start. They fall behind Plymouth Whitemarsh, which is undefeated and leading the Continental. PW goes up 17-0 in the second half, but Souderton fights back. Brett Pollock, Souderton’s senior quarterback, had a nine-yard touchdown run. Levi Lopez had a four-yard TD run, and all of a sudden, it’s 17-14, Souderton is right in it, but Plymouth Whitemarsh was able to run out the clock and finish off the game.
“Souderton has kind of figured things out. Ed Gallagher, the Souderton coach, after a couple early-season losses, was saying, ‘We still have a good team. It’s just going to take a while.’ Well, they’re starting to show that they are. Souderton is 2-4 now, so they have to win their last four. They play Quakertown this week. Quakertown beat Council Rock South two weeks ago, which was a nice win for Quakertown, and then really beat up on Bensalem last week, 56-13.”
SuburbanOneSports.com:.Your thoughtst about the Souderton/Quakertown showdown for the 309 Cup.
Drew Markol: “It is a big game. After playing Quakertown, Souderton has to go down to Delaware. They picked up a game against Appoquinimink from Middletown, Delaware. They had to do that because of the whole Cheltenham mess, where Cheltenham forfeited the season and left all the Continental teams with a bye. Souderton was able to schedule this game against a Delaware team that is 3-1. I’d be lying if I said I knew anything about the teams they beat, because I don’t, but Souderton has to go down there and win. Then they close out their season against Bensalem and Upper Dublin. You would think they would be favored to win over Quakertown, Bensalem and Upper Dublin. That gets them to five wins. It may well come down to how they play against this Delaware team, which is a team you wouldn’t think they’d play in a million years.
“All the Continental teams were scrambling for games, trying to find a fit because we didn’t find out about Cheltenham having to forfeit the season until May, so the schedules had already been made. It’s funny how Souderton could get into the District 1 playoffs if they beat a team from Delaware, and they just might.
“But they also have Quakertown sitting there. Quakertown’s coming off a big win over Council Rock South and then the 56-13 win over Bensalem. Quakertown started the season 0-4, and it looked like kind of a lost season. Well, they beat Council Rock South two weeks ago. Last week they beat Bensalem. Now, if you’re them, it’s kind of a similar situation. They’re 2-4. They need to go 4-0 the rest of the way. They’re playing Souderton in the 309 Bowl. They may be an underdog, but it wouldn’t really shock anybody if they won that game. Then they play Council Rock North, which is winless. Then they play Upper Dublin, which is playing better but is still a young team.
“In their last game, they have to play William Penn because of the whole Cheltenham mess again. Quakertown was supposed to play Cheltenham in Week 10, the final regular-season week, but that game got forfeited. They were able to add a game against William Penn of New Castle, Delaware. That’s their final game of the regular season. What do we know about William Penn? They’re 0-4, but I don’t know the quality of their opponents. The fact that Quakertown has to go all the way down there, that’s not easy. But again, they’re in the same situation as Souderton.
“That’s what makes this week’s Souderton-Quakertown game pretty much an elimination game. The winner can see a path to the District 1 playoffs. The loser is probably eliminated. When those two play, they’re so close together, and that’s always a good game. It’s a pretty good week. There have been some weeks where we haven’t had much as far as intrigue, but this week is pretty good.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Truman – in its first game as a member of the American Conference – edged Springfield Township 22-20 and is now 3-3. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Truman had a nice win last week in its American Conference opener. They got moved down into the American Conference this year when Plymouth Whitemarsh was moved up. They beat Springfield 22-20, and that’s a good win. They’ve been hot and cold. They’re 3-3. They lost the opener, then they won, then they lost, then they won, then they lost. Now they’ve won. Frank McArdle, the former Father Judge coach, hasn’t been there that long, and he’s got them going in the right direction. They have to go to Upper Moreland next. Then it’s Hatboro-Horsham, Wissahickon, which will be tough, and William Tennent. They’re a program that’s trying to get its footing, and being in the American Conference is going to help them do that. They’re in a spot where they lose a lot of kids to Conwell-Egan and other private schools, which makes it hard. But it looks like McArdle has them going in the right direction, which is nice to see.”
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