In this first edition of the Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football,’ high school football beat writers Kevin Cooney and Dom Cosentino take a closer look at the opening weekend’s marquee game between North Penn and LaSalle, which pits two of the state’s top-ranked teams. Both writers also address the situation at Truman where the school’s football program is in serious jeopardy. Cosentino has been following the situation since word came out that head coach John Iannucci had resigned, and the program was down to just 16 players.
Cooney and Cosentino – who boast a combined 23 years covering high school football – are two of the area’s most respected and knowledgeable football writers. To stay on top of all the latest high school football news in the area, visit the web site http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/sports_now.html
SOS.com: What are your thoughts about Friday night’s eagerly-awaited North Penn-LaSalle game?
Kevin Cooney: It’s strange because it’s one of those games that looks important and sounds important, but in the grand scheme of things probably isn’t as important as we’re going to bill it to be. If you’re LaSalle, this game doesn’t mean as much as you would think because the way the Catholic League playoffs are structured - they’re going to get in. They don’t have to worry about power points, they don’t have to worry about different variables taking place – they’re going to get in, so maybe you don’t see (Villanova-bound) running back Jamal Abdur-Rahman because he has a little bit of a knee problem.
If you’re North Penn, it’s a good statement game as to what could have happened last year if they had gotten past Ridley, but in the end, it doesn’t change last year’s results. All it would do is it would establish them as the top dog in this hunt. Right now North Penn is the clear number one in the state, but I’m not sure you establish that on Labor Day. We’ll see how much it means at the end.
Dom Cosentino: It’s very early in the season, and a lot can happen between now and Nov. 5 when the regular season ends and the playoffs begin, but you have the defending (PIAA Class AAAA) state champ in LaSalle, which still has a few of its skill players back from last year, and a North Penn team that reached the District One final in a year when coach Dick Beck thought they were in a building or rebuilding mode last year, so I think we are going to get a test of two of the better teams – at least on paper on Sept. 3. It’s a much more enticing matchup than North Penn and (then defending state champ) Liberty was last year because Liberty had lost so much from the year before. I really think it could be a good indication of what we might see in late November, early December.
SOS.com: If you’re coach Dick Beck, what will you be looking for in Friday night’s game?
Kevin Cooney: You want to see your players establish themselves along the line of scrimmage. North Penn – for all the skill position players they have this year – I get the feeling Beck really likes his defense. They will learn more about what they have for November this week and when they go against St. Joe’s Prep in two weeks than they will probably learn against any Continental Conference opponents. Beck will be looking to see what kind of defense works in these kinds of games and will go from there.
If you’re North Penn, you’re just looking to get through this healthy. I don’t know how much (Dom) Taggart is going to play, if at all. He still has Craig Needhammer, he still has Ralphie Reeves. He has enough. North Penn is going to be in good shape.
SOS.com: What are your thoughts on the Truman situation?
Dom Cosentino: Obviously, it’s a bad situation. Any program that loses its coach and its leader the week it’s supposed to begin the season after all the offseason workouts and everything else – it’s a huge blow for anyone, especially for the kids who have been working for this guy and doing what they had to do, and now all of a sudden the guy they sacrificed for has quit on them. It puts them in a difficult spot, and it creates some upheaval.
I think the bigger, more immediate problem facing Truman right now is simply the numbers problem. They had only 16 players at Monday’s practice, and we’ll find out later how many they have at the end Friday’s game against Cheltenham. They had 22 players that started camp, but obviously, the numbers being as low as they are now - it really puts them up against it. Class A schools usually field those kinds of numbers, but those schools might even have more than 22 on their teams. It’s almost impossible to have a Quad A team with 16 players, especially one playing in the National Conference and trying to compete at that level. The risk of injury is overwhelming with those kinds of numbers. Having a number of players playing every down of a game makes it really tough.
George Collins, the athletic director, was very careful to say that he’s going to look at this week to week. They do want to play Friday night. They want to see how things stack up going against Cheltenham. He was very clear yesterday that it’s a week to week situation whereas if they endure a few injuries tomorrow night or if too many kids are playing both ways and it’s just too much on them then they’re going to pull the plug on the season because it’s just not worth the risk.
Kevin Cooney: I think there almost has to be a deadline put on Truman. The reason I say this is this– they’re going to look at the situation week to week. It’s a unique situation because there are a lot of economic causes that hurt the program – kids having to go out and work a second job for their families.
I think the SOL has to step in here a little bit. If they think there’s a danger that Truman is not going to complete the season, I think then they have to establish that before week three. Let’s say they get to week five and then decide to drop out. Those teams that played them early will be penalized – they may have kids hurt in games that Neshaminy, Pennsbury and Bensalem or whoever gets them in the back end of the schedule may not have to play.
It’s a tough situation, but I think the league may have to step in and say by week three – are you going to play the whole season or not? If Truman gets to Oct. 8 and they say, ‘We can’t go any further,’ how fair is that to Abington if they had to play that game but then Council Rock North, Neshaminy and Pennsbury – teams that might be competing against them for a playoff spot – don’t have to play it. That’s why I think the league has to have an answer by Sept. 15, which is Truman’s final non-league game against Upper Dublin. You have to have a level playing field.
The whole dilemma speaks to the gravity of the situation there. It’s been chaotic for a while. It’s been chaotic since (former Truman coach and now Pennsbury coach) Galen Snyder left. They haven’t really found the answer as to what works. And you have to wonder if they ever will.
SOS.com: In your opinion, is there any way for Truman to salvage this season?
Cosentino: It sounds like it’s always been a tough sell to get players to come out at Truman for a variety of reasons. As George Collins pointed out to me, it’s just a different climate than a lot of the schools with kids from a different socioeconomic background. You have a lot of kids with after-school jobs, and the time commitment to play football is extraordinary, and it’s a very difficult thing.
There aren’t really any winners in this situation. You have the kids that have stuck this out - whatever that number may be - that have been sacrificing and working, and now they have to change gears and listen to someone else tell them what to do.
It’s a difficult situation for coach John Iannucci. In a lot of people’s eyes, it will look like he quit on his team just as the season was about to start. Some people will see that as a selfish act. He defended himself, saying it’s the right thing to do because he wasn’t going to improve the situation, and people can determine for themselves whether or not they agree with that.
Just for Truman in general – remember that George Collins for budgetary reasons already had to cut five programs. Now some may agree and some may disagree, but football is the sport that really has a hold in a lot of these communities. It’s a Friday night event. You have the marching band and fundraisers, and to lose that would really be a blow for not only the athletic department but also the community in Levittown and at Truman. There’s always the question of whether you can bring it back as well if they decide to pull the plug because in this day and age with the budget issues that a lot of school districts are facing, the school board down there may decide not to bring it back.
(Check on Dom Cosentino’s article that appeared in Thursday’s Intelligencer/Courier Times regarding the Truman situation at the following link) http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times/courier_times_news_details/article/119/2010/september/01/iannucci-out-as-truman-head-football-coach.html
SOS.com: Are there any other games featuring SOL schools that you find intriguing?
Kevin Cooney: In my column on Friday, I said that I think you’re seeing an increase of teams playing tough week one games. You’re seeing more teams playing more competitive games – you have North Penn/LaSalle. Neshaminy/Souderton will be a good game. Central Bucks East and Abington will be interesting, and Pennsbury/Easton, to me, is a tremendous game.
Part of it is that tough teams can only play against tough teams because the lesser teams don’t really want to step up and take the challenge. I think you’re seeing now that more teams see the benefit of playing a tough game out of the chute compared to just loading up on cupcakes. We’ve seen enough teams playing three cupcakes, going 4-3 in the league or even 3-4 and getting into the playoffs at 6-4 as the 16 seed and getting plastered when you get to November. Right now what you’re looking at is more teams realize that these games have value down the stretch, more value than they were given previously.
Dom Cosentino: The Neshaminy-Souderton game is a good crossover game for the Suburban One League, one of the premier crossover games you’re going to see all year. Neshaminy is Neshaminy. Neshaminy has been a powerhouse in the National Conference for some time now, and Ed Gallagher has gotten Souderton going. Souderton, in particular, endured significant losses at the skill positions last year to graduation. Neshaminy looks like it’s stacked up front, and Souderton has a pretty good line.
Pennsbury going up to Easton is interesting. Easton was another team that made a deep run in the playoffs and lost to LaSalle in a close game in the state quarterfinals. They lost a number of seniors, but they also have a lot coming back, including their quarterback (Justin Pacchioli who has made a verbal commitment to attend Lehigh). Pennsbury is going up there with Brandon Pepper making the move from quarterback to running back. It looks like that gives them a different dimension on offense, although it’s kind of the same dimension at the same time. The big test for Pennsbury in that game is going to be their defense because there are 10 or 11 starters that are new, so there’s a lot of inexperience on that side of the ball. I don’t think they’ll have any problem moving the ball against teams, but they seemed to have some trouble (defensively) in their scrimmage against LaSalle, so that’s an intriguing match-up there.
SOS.com: Any comments on the Abington-Central Bucks East contest?
Kevin Cooney: Abington is moving its running back (Julien Ireland) to quarterback, and East has one of the better running backs around that nobody knows in Justyn White. I think that will be an interesting game because (East coach John) Donnelly’s teams are usually pretty well prepared, so they’ll be ready for Abington. Are they good enough to beat Abington? I don’t know, but I think they’ll be ready. East is one of those teams that you could wake up in mid-November and realize that East made the playoffs at 15 or 16 because they have enough talent. A lot of the younger guys got experience last year, and I think that’s going to help them down the road.
Dom Cosentino: For CB East, you have John Donnelly coming in as the coach and Justyn White back at running back. East seems to have a big offensive line, so it’s a whole new (world) at East. Abington lost a lot. They’re moving Julien Ireland over the quarterback, so we’ll see what they have. Tim Sorber has put together a pretty good program the last several years, so it’s another interesting crossover game.
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