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: North Penn pulled off one of several first round upsets, defeating a Pennridge team that was number one in the District 1 6A power rankings for much of the season. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Looking at last week’s first-round playoff game between North Penn and Pennridge, they had played during the season, and Pennridge beat them 20-8. Pennridge had lost its regular-season finale to CB South the week before, which I think took a lot out of them. It cost them the number one seed in the tournament and the outright National Conference title. They looked despondent after that loss. Pennridge allowed three touchdowns in that game, including the last drive by CB South. Instead of getting that one seed and playing Harry S Truman in the first round, they had to play North Penn.
“North Penn came in as a 14th seed, with Pennridge a third seed, and had nothing to lose. North Penn had moved senior wide receiver Sal Colella to running back in its Week 10 game against Abington, and he started at running back against Pennridge in the playoff game. He provided a lot of tough yards. On third down, he threw a touchdown on a halfback option to Wil Rittenhouse. He had about a 50-yard touchdown run at the end that sealed things. Quarterback London Evans, a senior for North Penn, had the game of his life. He threw three touchdowns. They won 38-21, but it wasn’t that close.
“North Penn took a 10-0 lead, and fortunately for Pennridge, Michael Ferguson returned a kick 93 yards for a touchdown. That swung momentum and kept Pennridge in it. If he doesn’t do that, with the way North Penn was stopping Pennridge’s offense, it could have been worse. North Penn could have blown it open. Ferguson helped stop the bleeding for a while, but North Penn played a really good game. They got Jamal Bell back, their junior two-way lineman. We’ll be talking about him next year going to a big-time college program. He made tackle after tackle on defense. They still don’t have Rylei Gray, their star running back and defensive back, who’s been out since the Neshaminy game. But these other guys stepped up, and now North Penn is playing Council Rock South on Friday.
“Pennridge could not play catch-up. It does not have an explosive offense, and that was underscored in this game. They’re not a quick-scoring offense, and North Penn was scoring on chunk plays. They realized they had to get Pennridge’s safety – Sean Leuthe – out of the middle of the field because he was coming in and making tackles. Leuthe is a very good defensive back and a three-year starter at safety, and he was killing them in the first game, making play after play because there wasn’t much threat of the pass. They picked on that area. North Penn went to play-action passes, hoping to get him to commit and have its receivers get behind the secondary. Evans threw some really nice balls, and Wil Rittenhouse had three touchdown catches. That was a passing clinic. Passing is hard to defend, and they looked lost. Duke Horgan had around 150 receiving yards, including a 62-yarder.
“That was a tough matchup for Pennridge because I think psychologically, they thought they were going to be in a better spot. They hadn’t had to play catch-up all year because their defense hadn’t allowed many points. Then, when they had to play catch-up, they weren’t built for it offensively. They’re built for six- or seven-minute drives, not the quick strike. When you fall behind and are asked to do something you’re not used to doing, that’s hard.
“North Penn is always a scary team come playoff time. Dick Beck coaches them up. Looking at the way Pennridge walked off the field after the CB South game, they looked done. They’re high school kids. They might have been better off losing when they were 5-0. You get to 9-0 and think you’re unbeatable. Then you get beat, lose to North Penn, and you’ve got a problem.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock South upset sixth-seeded Downingtown West on the road. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Council Rock South pulled off what didn’t look like an upset because they dominated that game. Downingtown West was the sixth seed. Council Rock South had lost to Quakertown and Souderton and was on the brink of not making the tournament. They came up with a big win over Plymouth Whitemarsh late in the season that cemented their status. Then they had to go to Downingtown West and play on a Saturday night because Downingtown East uses the stadium on Friday night. They went down there, ran all over them and beat them 28-7. Jerry Rogers, a junior running back, has come out of nowhere late in the season. I think he had 164 yards rushing and a couple of touchdowns. Quarterback Cannon Benzio, who’s going to play at Navy, also had a touchdown run.
“That game was probably more of a shocker to me. South going down there and being able to do that was a surprise. With North Penn defeating Pennridge, there was still that psychological edge. The last time those teams met on Pennridge’s field, in last year’s district final, North Penn beat them. Council Rock South and Downingtown West have very little in common. They’re separated by an hour or an hour-and-a-half ride. Give South and coach CJ Szydlik credit. This is two years in a row now. They won the Continental Conference last year and won a district playoff game. They didn’t win the title this year, but they won another district playoff game as an 11 seed.
“Now Rock South gets to host the game. They’ll play at Council Rock North, but it’s right down the street. In comes North Penn, a team they played early last season and gave a good battle. I’m always one to say the tournament is too big and has too many teams. I was wrong because you had a 14 seed win, you had an 11 seed win, and 10th-seeded Coatesville beat CB South. Maybe it’s an anomaly, but it was for the best this year that that many teams got in. I was wrong about that.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks West defeated Perkiomen Valley 56-42 in a wild one at War Memorial. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “West was winning 35-14 at the half, and you’re thinking maybe West will pull away. Each team scored a touchdown in the third quarter, making it 42-21. Perkiomen Valley scored three times in the fourth quarter to make it interesting. West scored a pair of touchdowns. It’s a win at 56-42, but that’s a lot of offense you’re giving up. Ninety-eight points in a high school football game is a lot of points. Braylen Cape had a couple of touchdowns for West. Nick Miletto had a 41-yard touchdown run. Louie Cipollo, a senior, caught a touchdown pass from senior quarterback Josh George. Cape also caught a touchdown pass from George, about a 36-yarder right before the half. West was scoring all over the place, but Perkiomen Valley hung with them.
“Miletto also had an 80-yard touchdown run that made it 49-28 and helped put an end to things. It has to be a little concerning to West that it allowed that many points. They have a ton of offense, and maybe, as the second seed, you’re looking past the 15 seed a little bit. Now they get 10th-seeded CB East for the second time in three weeks. That’s their rival, whom they’ve beaten nine straight times. If they win, they’ll play the winner of Council Rock South and North Penn in the semifinals. There will be a lot of SOL flavor in this round and the next.”
SuburbanOneSports: Plymouth Whitemarsh defeated Owen J Roberts 59-31after opening up a 42-10 halftime lead. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Fifth-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh smoked 12th-seeded Owen J. Roberts. This game was 42-10 at the half. PW only had 25 passing yards but had 432 rushing yards on 41 carries. That’s more than 10 yards a carry. If you do that, you’re going to be pretty successful. They ran over Owen J. Roberts. Their senior running back, Mike Giangiulio, who has been their leading guy for a while, had three touchdowns and nearly 200 rushing yards on only 19 carries. He averaged over 10 yards a carry. Those numbers are insane. When you can dominate an opponent like that, why throw the ball? If you’re going to get 10 yards a rush, your quarterback can just hand the ball off. Plymouth Whitemarsh was able to rest people in the second half of a district playoff game. They were able to put players on the bench and keep them healthy. They weren’t playing a 21-20 game, so now they can get ready for this week.
“That loss to Council Rock South late in the season has to gnaw at them. It likely dropped them from number three to number five. If form holds, which it didn’t last week, it could cost them a home game in the semifinals unless the higher seed gets knocked out.
“PW came up to Pennridge last year as the 16th seed and took them to overtime. I don’t think they’re fazed by having to play on the road. Just go and play. You bring a running game like that and an offensive line that’s opening enormous holes, that’s how you win. Those rushing numbers are remarkable—almost 11 yards a carry. Owen J. Roberts’ defense was getting gashed? That gets to you quickly.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks East travelled to Ridley for a rematch of the season opener for both teams. Ridley won the first one, and CB East returned the favor and won on Friday night. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Number 10 CB East went down to play Ridley. That’s never an easy place to play down in the Central League. They had played at Ridley in the opening week of the season and lost 28-7. They went down there last week for the first round of the 6A playoffs and beat them 28-7 to advance. Now they have to play CB West again, a team they lost to in the regular-season finale. What a nice job by East to turn around a score like that—a mirror image. That turnaround is fabulous.
“It had been over 20 years since East had won a district playoff game, and they got that out of the way. Mike Price, the senior running back, was excellent. He didn’t play in the second half of the first game because of an injury, but in this one he had close to 200 yards on the ground, two rushing touchdowns and a touchdown catch. It was an all-around really good effort by East that gets them into the quarterfinals against West. Congratulations to coach John Donnelly.
“East led 20-0 in this game. It wasn’t one of those 7-7-at-the-half games. They were up 14-0 at the half and 28-0 in the fourth quarter. The game was over. Ridley scored in the last minute to avoid getting shut out. That’s a credit to East. The tournament can be cruel, though. Now they have to play West, which has beaten them nine straight times. West beat them pretty good a couple of weeks ago, but at least they get the chance.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: In 5A, Upper Moreland and Wissahickon both were both sent home. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Upper Moreland was the number five seed. They were 9-1, had a really good year and won the American Conference title. They had to play West Chester Henderson, the 12th seed. The only team that beat them all season was West Chester Henderson. That’s just a bad-luck situation. Henderson put 30-plus points on them in the regular season and then beat them 34-14. Of all the teams they could have played, West Chester Henderson was probably the last one they wanted, and that’s who they got stuck playing. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the way things bounce. It’s a good Upper Moreland team, but there’s always somebody out there who has your number. For them, it was Henderson.
“Wissahickon was number six and hosted number 11 Unionville. They had an early lead on a Ryan Kim touchdown run and had a 14-7 lead at halftime. Evan Dixon scored on a seven-yard run. You’re thinking maybe they’re going to hang on for the win, but Unionville came out, scored twice in the second half and pulled out a 21-14 win. Wissahickon had a good season. They finished second in the American Conference, with their only conference loss to Upper Moreland, and went 8-3. But anytime you’re the higher seed in the first round, you feel like you should win.”
Drew Markol’s picks
(Winners in bold)
#9 Coatesville @ #1 Downingtown East
#5 Plymouth Whitemarsh @ #4 Spring-Ford
#10 Central Bucks East @ #2 Central Bucks West
#14 North Penn @ #11 Council Rock South
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