Back for its 16th 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: One of last week’s biggest wins was Pennridge’s 31-21 win over a Liberty team that defeated the Rams 40-14 last year. Your comments.
Pennridge: “Kyle Beller is in his third season, and they’re getting established with what he wants to do. Liberty is always a solid program, and Pennridge comes away with the win. I didn’t think they would win. Pennridge has some weapons in Ryan Rowe, the linebacker/running back who’s going to Princeton, and Noah Keating’s a four-year starter at quarterback. They were coming off - their last game was their fourth straight loss to Quakertown last Thanksgiving.
“And, boy, if ever a team needed an opening season win, it was them just for a confidence booster. And they went to Liberty and did it. Now, again, it's week one. We always talk about this every year, so you don't know. You don't know how good Liberty is. You don't know how good Penridge is, but you know 1-0 is a lot better than 0-1 when you're trying to build some momentum.
“In that win, Pennridge got close to 400 yards of offense – 294 yards on the ground with Rowe (112 yards) leading the way. So that bodes well. If you can get a lead and you can run the ball, you can run the clock out.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks West and Upper Dublin will do battle this week, and both are coming off opening week losses. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “CB West went up to Easton. That’s another tough Lehigh Valley school like Bethlehem Liberty with a rich tradition, and they fell behind 19-0. Then they fought back, and they came all the way back. Easton led 26-7, but quarterback Louie Cipollo scored a touchdown to make it a 26-13 game, and then West recovered an onside kick and Nick Miletto scored to make it 26-20. West then held Easton to a three-and-out inside of two minutes, but Easton’s defense held.
“Wissahickon beat Upper Dublin for the first time in 13 years. Upper Dublin scored a late touchdown to make it closer with about 10 seconds to go. Maybe Wissahickon's that good. It could be, and maybe West ran into another Easton juggernaut. Easton has had juggernauts before, but now they play each other this week, and when you only play 10 games, you probably have to win six of them to get into the playoffs.
“Okay, well, now if you lose the first two, you’ve got a problem, and you haven't even started league play yet. I'm sure Bret Stover at Upper Dublin and Rob Rowan at West both are telling their teams – ‘These are must-wins. We have to win or else we're staring at 0-2, and it's not even Labor Day.’ So, that’s a big game for both teams.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Neshaminy put a 30-0 beating on Emmaus to give Nick Felus a win in his first game at the helm. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Michael Eckhart, Neshaminy’s two-year quarterback, had a big game. He threw for a couple of touchdowns, and he ran for one. Carter Clee, the running back, had a rushing touchdown and also caught one of Eckhart's touchdown passes. He had over 140 yards rushing. That was a good win because Emmaus came in, and some preseason statewide polls had them in the top ten in the state. They were number six in one poll I saw, and Neshaminy goes and shuts them out at Emmaus.
“Nick Sassano, a very good defensive back, had two interceptions. That’s a great job by Neshaminy to shut out a team that has such high hopes. Neshaminy had beaten them last year in overtime, so you still had that revenge thing for Emmaus, and now they get them at home. Well, Neshaminy comes up and thumps them, and for Nick Felus, the first-year head coach - what a great way to start.”
SuburbanOne Sports: North Penn had a big win over Downingtown East. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “For North Penn, senior Matt Pownall and junior Rylei Gray both went over 100 yards rushing. What a nice win for North Penn on the road. Downingtown East was a playoff team last year, and they're always good. That's a good first game. I think I said this last week that I think North Penn is the best team in the district. You go down to Downingtown East, and your three-year starting quarterback, Matt Bucksar, who is excellent, isn't even asked to do much, and you just let your ground game and your defense do it – North Penn coach Dick Beck will take that every time. What a good statement win for North Penn, for sure.
“On Thursday, North Penn plays Council Rock South, which has 10 starters back on offense and defense. Their quarterback, Marley Emerson, is only a junior. He's a nice player, and Shane Myers is a nice back. One problem for Council Rock South is that Nate Szydlik, the senior linebacker who was all-state last year, got hurt early in the game against Frankford. Is he going to play? He not only is a tackling machine, but he's also used on offense as running back and wing back, so they need to have everybody at full strength. I don't know. Can they go to North Penn and give them a game? I think they can, but now you're playing a team that’s probably going to win a district title.
“But I do think Council Rock South is in that mix in the Suburban One League Continental. They weren't tested - they played Frankford last week and beat them 50-8. That’s not the kind of game you need to play. That's just a bad Philadelphia Public League team that didn't test you. Now you're going to go from that game to play North Penn. We’ll see what happens there, but you’ve got to give North Penn the edge.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks East escaped with a 20-14 win over Ridley, Your comments.
Drew Markol: “That’s a really good win for CB East. You always think of Ridley as a tough team, and they are. Mike Price, the junior running back for East, had about 160 yards rushing and a couple of touchdowns. That’s a good game for East to open up with against a tough team, and I like to see that in these non-league games. Now they go to Cheltenham Friday with confidence.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennsbury will face Quakertown this week. Both teams lost on Friday. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “We don't know how good Northampton is. We don't know how good Pennsbury is. Northampton is another Lehigh Valley team. We have all these Lehigh Valley teams playing Suburban One League teams, and we don’t know enough yet to figure it out, but Pennsbury’s got to bounce back. You don’t want to go 0-2. You’re looking at the SOL National, and Neshaminy looks like perhaps they’re definitely for real. We know North Penn’s for real. Then you still have to play CB West and CB East and CB South. You've got to get some wins. “Jordan Brensinger, the really good running back for Pennsbury, scored a touchdown in that game against Northampton, but Pennsbury can be one-dimensional. We all know that with the ground and pound, so we'll see if it works.
“Quakertown lost Southern Lehigh on Friday, and they need a win as well. This is a big game for both teams.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton led by three at halftime and went on to win 31-7 over Spring-Ford. Souderton will face a Central Bucks South team that is coming off a loss to Archbishop Wood. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Souderton was sluggish in the first half, and they're only up by three. But in the second half, they blew out Spring-Ford, which is another good program. Ben Walsh, the quarterback, didn’t throw for anything outrageous, but he had a couple of touchdown passes. Tim Meehan, the receiver/defensive back, had seven catches. Hunter Smeltz, also an outstanding receiver, had four or five catches. Mike McCormick, the fullback, had a good game. Jared Higginbotham, the transfer in from Cheltenham, was solid. Maybe it was just a case of - they found their footing and figured it out, and that's what they did.
“So, now they play at CB South this week. CB South played Archbishop Wood and lost 39-28. Last year, South beat Wood 35-0 in a mercy rule game and just put them away early. But this time around, Wood just threw the ball all over them, and they couldn't stop the passing game. Well, if you're Ed Gallagher over at Souderton, you're saying, ‘Well, I got a pretty good quarterback in Ben Walsh, and I’ve got some good receivers in Tim Meehan and Hunter Smeltz. I'm going to throw the ball around a bit against CB South and make them try and stop me.’ So, the question is - can they?
“Tom Hetrick, the South coach, said after the game, ‘We just have to play better, and we have to put this one behind us. We've established ourselves as a good program and we need to get to that level and we're not there yet.’ Now they have Souderton coming in, and that's a tough test. Granted, South lost a lot to graduation, and they're a young team with not a lot of seniors, but nobody else cares if you don't have a lot of experience or depth. They're just out to beat you. So, I expect Souderton to put the ball up a lot, even for a Souderton team that doesn't really do that, but I think they will this week.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: “Bensalem defeated Upper Darby and faces Pennridge this week. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “With Bensalem with Aidan Mayfield, who may well be the best running back in the SOL, I think they can give Pennridge a game. Size-wise, Pennridge has them up front, but not by that much. Bensalem has some big guys up front, and they're another one of my sleepers.
“I love Mayfield. He's tremendous, and he’s a touchdown waiting to happen every time he gets the ball. So that's an intriguing game. Both teams are confident. coming in off wins. I give a slight edge to Pennridge. Maybe that's just on reputation more than anything, but I expect Bensalem to be a sleeper in the SOL Continental. If you look at my picks from last week, I wasn't very good (12-9). I give an edge to Pennridge, but I'm wrong a lot.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: PW staged a remarkable comeback but lost by five to Henderson in a crazy game. This week, PW plays Wilson. Your thoughts?
Drew Markol: “Wilson's a nice team. Plymouth Whitemarsh played Henderson, which is a good team, and now they’re playing Wilson from District 3, another good team – a perennial playoff team from that district. You lose a 40-35 game to Henderson, but I think PW will be okay. They benefit from their conference where they're better than a lot of the teams, and they get a lot of wins when they play their conference games. That's why they play tough games at the start. They're trying to test themselves. That's what you need to do.”
Drew’s Picks
(Winners in bold)
Pennridge at Bensalem
Neshaminy at Council Rock North
Council Rock South at North Penn
WC Henderson at Hatboro-Horsham
Quakertown at Pennsbury
Upper Moreland at West Chester East
Wissahickon at Upper Merion
Abington at Harry S Truman
Central Bucks East at Cheltenham
Souderton at Central Bucks South
Upper Dublin at Central Bucks West
Lower Moreland at Samuel Fels
Wilson at Plymouth Whitemarsh
Overbrook at Springfield Twp
William Tennent at Methacton
Kensington at New Hope-Solebury
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