Back for its 14th 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 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: Upper Dublin defeated Council Rock South 17-10 in a key Continental Conference game. You were there – your thoughts?
Drew Markol: “Let’s start with the first game of last week when Upper Dublin beat Council Rock South 17-10. Council Rock South scored first on a beautiful throw from senior quarterback Chase Ennis to Jake Hemple. It was about a 40-yarder that hit the receiver in stride. Just a beautiful play you don’t see high school quarterbacks make. He’s going to go to Penn State to play baseball – he’s already decided to do that. I’m sure if he said he was going to play football there would be a lot of colleges looking his way for a 6-4, 220-pound quarterback, but baseball is going to be his thing.
“In that game, Shyne Roberts from Upper Dublin had a nice long touchdown run. It just seemed like it was a matter of time. We talk every week about home run hitters, and Shyne Roberts gives Upper Dublin just that. He’s a player that can score from anywhere, and that’s something Council Rock South doesn’t have, and when you don’t have that, you have to have longer scoring drives. The more plays you run, the more apt you are to make mistakes. It’s hard to do. Having that dynamic player makes it easier, for sure. The teams were slogging away between the 30s, but then Upper Dublin got a long score from Roberts and was able to keep winning the field position battle. Upper Dublin was winning 17-7. Rock South kicked a field goal in the last minute and then hoped to get an on-sides kick back to try and get a score, but they couldn’t.
“In that Continental Conference, your teams to beat are Souderton, Upper Dublin, Quakertown and now Council Rock South has put itself in that mix. They beat Quakertown earlier in the season, and they kind of needed this one, but it didn’t happen. If they want to win the Continental Conference or get a share of it, they play unbeaten Souderton this week, and that’s a tall task for them. Souderton just continues to roll right along.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge edged Pennsbury 15-14 in a key game. You also were at that game – your comments.
Drew Markol: “That loss didn’t hurt Pennsbury as much as I thought. Pennsbury entered the game as the 12th seed for the District 1 6A Tournament, and they fell down to 14. I thought they might have a further drop, but that did not happen.
“You look at the first half of that game – in the first half, Pennsbury ran 37 plays to 12 for Pennridge, but the half ended at 8-8 because Pennsbury had costly penalties, they lost three fumbles in the game deep in Pennridge terriitory, which really hurt them. Pennridge is getting better. Sophomore quarterback Noah Keating is getting better. Pennsbury just left Pennridge hang in the game, and to Pennridge’s credit, they never trailed. They had it tied a couple of times, but even when Pennsbury scored, Pennridge blocks the extra point. It might have been a team effort on the block – I think Sam Kuhns tipped it, and another kid may have tipped it, and it had no prayer.
“That was just a huge win for Pennridge coming off the double overtime loss to East and a loss to Neshaminy in a game that it looked as though Pennsbury would dominate, and Pennsbury actually did dominate if you look at the total offense and that kind of thing, but again, Pennridge just made enough stops and made the bigger plays when they had to. They’re still number 20 in the district rankings. Now they have to play CB West, and West is undefeated and the top seed in the district. Pennridge at 3-4 basically has to win out. Can they beat West this week? That’s a really tall order. They’re going to need a lot of help, and they’ve got a tough road ahead of them, but it was a nice win for them. Those are the kind of wins that Pennridge recently has not had. They’re three years removed from the district final during the COVID season, which was kind of an odd season with smaller playoff fields and everything. They’ve been rebuilding and going through coaching changes. This is the kind of win that can perk a team up, and Pennsbury has to bounce back against North Penn this week.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn travels to Pennsbury on Friday night. Both teams are battling for a district playoff berth.
Drew Markol: “You have number 14 Pennsbury versus number 16 North Penn. At the newspaper, we beat this to death how North Penn had beaten Pennsbury 15, 16, 17 straight times – whatever the number was, and Pennsbury finally beat them last year in the regular season. North Penn turned around and beat them in the playoffs. North Penn had a nice win over CB East last week. They couldn’t afford a loss, and they beat East 14-7. Now they play Pennsbury, and if you’re North Penn, you look at Pennsbury coming off a loss to Pennridge and you beat them the last time you played them – you’ve got to be full of ‘All right, we’re back in this thing.’ Pennsbury is seeded ahead of them, so that’s another incentive for North Penn – ‘If we can beat Pennsbury, we can move up a little further, and we can avoid that first round matchup most likely against CB West, which already beat us.’
“It’s funny because all season we’ve been wondering ‘What’s up with North Penn?’ They sort of hung around, and now they’re hanging around some more. We’ll see what they can do. If they can win this one against Pennsbury, they’ve put themselves probably right back in the mix. We talked about North Penn, but if you look at CB East, there’s a team in the preseason – I expected them to be in the fight for the SOL National Conference title, but they’re just 3-4 now. They still haven’t played CB West – they’ll play them in the final week of the regular season. They’ve just found ways to shoot themselves in the foot, and it’s cost them. Now they’re on the outside looking in at the playoffs, which is something I wouldn’t have believed in August. You hate the dreadful cliché – that’s why they play the games, but that is why they play them.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks West defeated Neshaminy last week, and Central Bucks South rolled to a win over Abington. Your thoughts about those two undefeated teams.
Drew Markol: “You look at CB West and CB South. In seven games, they both only allowed 64 points each. That’s nine points a game – you figure you’ll score more than that, and they have two good offenses that are doing it. For South, Anthony Leonardi had another big game in its 42-0 win over Abington, and what South also has in addition to Leonardi is Corey Moore, who’s another good running back who spells him. That’s like a two-headed attack they have. Their quarterback, Owen Pinkerton, who we haven’t talked about much at all, is having a really nice season. Jack Mauz, the receiver is probably his best target. They’re just getting it done. Here we are at 7-0 for CB South, which plays Neshaminy this week at home.
“Neshaminy lost to West 31-7 last week, but Neshaminy right now is number 18 and the top 16 get into the playoffs. If you’re Neshaminy, you’re looking around and saying – ‘If we can beat South, we play Pennsbury, which is our archrival.’ They’re doing the math at Neshaminy. They’re at a spot now where it’s a must-win, and their must-win is against a 7-0 team on the road. That’s not an ideal spot, but that’s the spot Neshaminy is in. Neshaminy’s got to win. They play South this week, they play East in week nine and then they have Pennsbury. Right now, they’re looking at it – ‘If we can beat South, why can’t we win the last two and we finish at 6-4.’ You do that and you’re in. A lot of this happens every year because those teams are fighting for the 14th, 15th and 16th spots.
“You look at the district rankings. Pennsbury at 14, North Penn at 16, Neshaminy at 18, CB East at 19 and Pennridge at 20. They’re all looking at it and saying ‘If we can beat B, and C loses to D, we can maybe find our way in.’ It’s a big thing for these programs to get in – you can say you were a district qualifier. I say all the time – too many teams make the playoffs, but for those teams, that’s sometimes their goal.
“For South, if form holds and they beat Neshaminy this week, you’re going to have 9-0 South versus 9-0 CB West in week nine. West and South are going to get a high seed because one’s likely to be 9-1 and one’s going to be 10-0, so maybe it’s the difference between the one seed and the fifth or fourth seeds but still, that one’s shaping up to be pretty good too.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Any comments about the upcoming District 1 Tournament?
Drew Markol: “How often has the 16 beaten the one – I think North Penn did it one time, but nine-and-a-half times out of 10, that first week of the district playoffs – everybody plays. One plays 16, two plays 15, whatever, but the top team wins. Maybe in that eight versus nine game, the nine beats number eight. I had something in the paper the other day – I’d rather see the 12-team field with the top eight teams getting a first round bye.
“If districts started today, Hatboro-Horsham and Upper Moreland would be in. You look at a school like Hatboro in 5A. I’m the first one to say – you got into a field of 16, and it’s watered down, but that’s an exception. That program was on some thin ice. If they were to get in, that would really help that program that was 1-21 the past three season. They just won the one game last year. If they could get in – and right now they’re 13th – that would be nice. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, that is an exception to the rule, for sure.”
Drew Markol’s picks
(Winners in bold)
Central Bucks East @ Abington
Hatboro-Horsham @ Bensalem
Neshaminy @ Central Bucks South
Central Bucks West @ Pennridge
Upper Moreland @ Cheltenham
Council Rock North @ Quakertown
Souderton @ Council Rock South
Harry S Truman @ Upper Dublin
New Hope-Solebury @ Harriton
North Penn @ Pennsbury
Plymouth Whitemarsh @ Springfield Twp
Wissahickon @ William Tennent
Thomas Edison HS @ Lower Moreland
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