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: Pennridge defeated Council Rock South in one of last week’s marquee SOL games. You were at that game – your comments.
Drew Markol: “You had a Council Rock South team that won the Continental Conference last year, finished 11-2 and had a really, really good season. Then you had Pennridge, which won the SOL National Conference regular season title and then went to the district final where they lost to North Penn. But that Pennridge team lost a ton of seniors. Pennridge dominated its game against South. Their defense has only allowed two touchdowns in three games, and the touchdown that Souderton scored on them was aided greatly when the ref didn’t blow the whistle on the Souderton kid on a running play. He was heads up enough to keep going, and then the play sort of stopped, and he took it deep into Pennridge territory, and they were able to score.
“If the whistle blows there, they may have kept Souderton out of the end zone two weeks ago, but they fly around on defense. Blake Landherr, the junior linebacker, is outstanding. He made an interception on a tipped ball that was remarkable – he tipped it, and he caught it, and he ran about thirty yards down inside the five, and Pennridge scored a few plays later. But he’s one of those kids who just finds the ball, or the ball finds him. And Sean Leuthe, the defensive back, runs that secondary. He’s a three-year starter. They’re just making plays. Trevor Picciotti, the junior running back, had a career high of 127 rushing yards and got a couple touchdowns on the ground and receiving. Junior receiver Nate Derstine got a little banged up late in the first half against Council Rock South, but he is legit. He’s a legit receiver who gets open, he has good hands, and Aiden Tetkowski, the junior quarterback, makes smart decisions. He throws a nice ball. Pennridge is doing a lot of things right.
“Plus, they have a senior kicker, Austin Keller, who he had four touchbacks in the game against Council Rock South on balls that were driven deep into the end zone. He would have probably had a fifth, but Pennridge got hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct, so they had to kick off from the 25 instead of the 40. But if you have a kicker like that in high school football, that’s another weapon.
“Someone told me they only have three senior starters, which I found a little hard to believe, but it might be true. There is only a handful of them, and here they are sitting at 3-0 and playing CB West this week. So, is Pennridge in that tier with CB West and North Penn? I I don’t think they’re quite there, but we’ll find out a lot on Friday when they play West.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: CB West beat Souderton 35-14, and the big game in the SOL this week is Pennridge/CB West. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at Souderton, and they’re off to an 0-3 start this season. They lost to West 35-14 last week, a game that was 35-0 at one point. Souderton hosts Council Rock South this week, and that’s basically a must-win for Souderton because they still have Plymouth Whitemarsh in a game which Souderton is an underdog, and if you lose to Council Rock South, that’s five losses if you lose to Plymouth Whitemarsh, which has been playing super. Five losses is unlikely to get you into the playoffs, so Souderton needs to win. I’ve seen them play. They’re not a bad team, but they played Pennridge, they played Spring-Ford, and they played CB West – three teams that are a combined 9-0. Now you’re playing a Council Rock South team that’s 2-1 and coming off a loss to Pennridge. That’s a brutal schedule. And they lost running back Caleb Moyer to injury against Spring-Ford in week one, so it’s just been piling up against them.
“CB West is off to a 3-0 start. They had a 21-0 lead at the half against Souderton. Senior Braylen Cape, who transferred over from CB South, had two touchdowns, and Nick Miletto, who’s also a really, really good linebacker, had two rushing touchdowns. West is number two in the the district rankings for the power points, just behind Pennridge, who’s number one, and they play each other Friday at Pennridge in the game of the week and one of the biggest games in the area. It’s two of the best teams, not only in the SOL National or the Suburban One League, but in the in the district. I give West a little bit of an edge just because of their experience with seniors like Louie Cipollo and Nick Miletto and Braylen Cape. Whereas Pennridge is a younger team, but like I’ve talked about earlier, Pennridge has looked awfully good too. I think that game is a one-score game. Either way, I give West the edge, but that’s two pretty good teams, and we’ll learn a lot.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Plymouth Whitemarsh upped its record to 3-0 with a 33-0 shutout of Central Bucks South. Your comments.
“We talked before the season about how the addition of Plymouth Whitemarsh was going to really help beef things up in the SOL Continental, and we are probably right. You look at what they’ve done – they’re 3-0 with wins over Coatesville, Kennett, and they shut out CB South last week, 33-0. Mike Giangiulio had another big game rushing. He had close to a hundred yards and scored two touchdowns. They’ve scored 109 points already, and they’re using lots and lots of players, so they’re not even taxing their main people that much, which is going to pay off down the line. They are right now, in my mind, the clear-cut favorites to win the Continental.
“Standing in their way, they play Quakertown this week. Quakertown’s off to an 0-3 start. PW is going to be a tough out. The toughest games are going to be Council Rock South and probably Souderton. So, again, we talked about this before. They were the 16th seed last year in the district and went to Pennridge and took Pennridge to overtime, so Dan Chang has had that program good for a really long time. He’s been there a long time, and you know he’s got another really, really good team.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Abington – which improved to 2-1 with a rout of Council Rock North – is hosting an 0-3 Central Bucks South squad. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “It’s a nice start for Abington at 2-1 with shutouts over Norristown and Council Rock North. Senior quarterback Caleb Smith had over 200 yards rushing against Council Rock North. He scored four rushing touchdowns and threw for another one, and they won 38-0. They’re just getting things done. They play CB South this week, and CB South is kind of reeling. They’re 0-3, and they’re coming off the 33-0 loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh, and Abington comes in sky high.
“You look at the power rankings. Well, Abington’s number 11, and if the playoffs started Friday, they’d be in since the top 16 get in. Bruce Fleming is the coach over there, and he’s doing a good job. That’s a tough place to be because Abington loses a lot of kids to La Salle and to St.Joe’s Prep and Germantown Academy. A lot of that is just geography, but they’re producing right now, and they’ll be favored to beat South. They’re off to a 3-1 start if they win this week, and that’s pretty good.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks East upped its record to 2-1 with 63-19 win over Bensalem. Your thoughts about the Patriots heading into SOL National Conference play against a Neshaminy team that rallied from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Quakertown 28-21.
Drew Markol: “We talk a lot about CB West being 3-0 and everything, but CB East is 2-1. They put 63 points on Bensalem last week in a 63-19 win. Senior running back Mike Price is healthy this year. He had five rushing touchdowns. I believe he also returned a punt for a touchdown, and he finished with 247 rushing yards. We’ve said this before – when he’s healthy, he’s the best running back in the SOL and one of the best in the district. They have to go to Neshaminy this week.
“Last week, Neshaminy beat Quakertown 28-21, a game they were trailing 21-0. Brock Williams, the converted receiver to running back, had a really big game. He had over two hundred yards rushing and also returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown, so that’ll be a good test for both teams. They’re both 2-1, and East is seventh in the district power rankings, and Neshaminy is ninth, so they’d almost play each other if it was the first round – the seven plays ten, but again, we’re probably getting a little premature looking at the district rankings, but these things all matter.
“Now we’re starting up conference play, and you want to be in that second tier behind Pennridge, CB West and North Penn, and the winner of East and Neshaminy is in that second tier and banging on that door.”
Drew’s Picks
(Winners in bold)
Abington at Central Bucks South
Bensalem at Council Rock North
Bristol at Springfield Twp
Central Bucks East at Neshaminy
Central Bucks West at Pennridge
Council Rock South at Souderton
Hatboro-Horsham at Upper Dublin
Lower Moreland at William Tennent
Penn Wood at Upper Moreland
Pennsbury at North Penn
Pine Grove at New Hope-Solebury
Plymouth Whitemarsh at Quakertown
Wissahickon at Chichester
Harry S Truman @ South Philadelphia
About the Author
