Intelligencer/Courier Times 'Let's Talk Football' (Wk12)

Back for a third season is the popular Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football,’ featuring high school football beat writers Kevin Cooney and Dan Dunkin.  Cooney, the Phillies beat writer, covers schools in the Intelligencer area while Dan Dunkin – who has been covering sports at the high school and professional level for 25 years - will cover teams in the Courier Times area. Both share their perspective on the teams in their coverage area. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the web site http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/

SuburbanOneSports.com:  What are your thoughts after last weekend’s opening round district games?

Kevin Cooney:  “Obviously, Wissahickon taking out Downingtown East knocked the whole tournament on its ear. I don’t know if we should have been that surprised because, in a sense, this has been a weird season, and we’ve seen it happen twice before that a 16 has beaten a one seed, but I think the surprising part was that the 16 seed was an American Conference team. The history of the American Conference doesn’t lend itself to the upset more than the history of the 16 seed, but give Wissahickon credit. Obviously, they put a lot of points on the board the last couple of weeks, beating Upper Moreland two weeks ago to get into the tournament and then having to put 38 up to beat Downingtown East at home. That’s a huge, huge accomplishment. I would say it doesn’t get much easier for them this week because they end up going to play Coatesville. At some point, you think the run’s going to end, but hey, they should be commended for what they’ve done to this point. That team has played pretty much elimination games for a couple of weeks and has found a way to get it done.

“As far as the rest of the tournament, I think Plymouth Whitemarsh was a good matchup for Neshaminy, and I say that because you’re talking about a Neshaminy team that’s always there against a team that’s making it’s second straight trip, but they didn’t exactly have a great experience the first time around last year (in a 52-24 loss to Central Bucks South). Neshaminy has played well every week since they lost to Tennent. They lost to Pennsbury, but that’s a battle royale game. That’s a slobber-knocker, so really, I don’t think anyone was all that surprised by it. I think Pennridge looked good, CB South looks good on paper, and Pennsbury is Pennsbury. Pennsbury, again, is probably the team in this tournament that is viewed as a sleeper because of their seed, but I think is much better than their seed indicates. I know they’re six right now, but if you’re ranking the teams left, they’re second or third. Ridley would have to be one, and Pennridge and Pennsbury would probably be two, three in some order.

“This weekend you have the third seed playing the six seed, and in one sub-bracket, you have two, three and six, so three of the top four teams left in the tournament are in the same sub-bracket. It almost creates a district final atmosphere this week up at Poppy Yoder and next week at Ridley, assuming Ridley wins, before you ever get to the final. That’s the bizarre thing.

“In the other half of the bracket – CB South/Neshaminy is pretty good, and you have Wissahickon and Coatesville, and most people would say that half of the bracket is not as strong as what you’re seeing in the bottom of the bracket.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Wissahickon will travel to Coatesville on Friday night. Your thoughts about that game.

Kevin Cooney:  The toughest part for a team that has pulled an upset like that is trying to get it back together for the following week because you’ve gone from nobody believing in you to now everybody wanting to be your best friend. You’ve gone from having almost no media attention because we all thought you were pretty much the sacrificial lamb to – I’m sure they had people crawling over them all week. You also have Wissahickon going back on the road.

“It’s a different circumstance, but how many times have you seen in the NCAA Tournament, the 12 seed winning the 12-5 game and then having to try to get it together two days later. That’s very tough, plus Coatesville is arguably one of the better seeds in the tournament anyway. They were a nine seed, but talking to (WNPV football broadcaster) Kyle Berger when we did the bracket show, people thought it would be interesting to see Coatesville playing Downingtown East. If you’re Coatesville, you can see a path to the final, kind of like it opened up for North Penn last year. I think they view it almost the same way.

“It will probably be a shootout. It will probably be a big number game, but I think Coatesville will probably win by seven or ten.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Neshaminy travels to Central Bucks South on Friday night. What are your thoughts about that game?

Kevin Cooney:  “You’re talking about two teams with vastly different philosophies. CB South is able to run the football, they’re able to throw the football effectively, but they haven’t quite been able to prove that they’re able to stop anybody else from running or throwing the football. Whereas Neshaminy can score, it’s a little more of a grind-it-out offense, and they seem to be winning these lower-scoring games. It’s all going to come down to tempo and who imposes their will. The big thing for Neshaminy – I would imagine they’re going to take the game plan Dick Beck used against Josh Adams and probably assign someone almost as a spy. Where they would hope to learn the lesson is to play tougher pass coverage than North Penn did. John Pileggi was able to throw over the top in that game. I think they have to find a way to prevent that.

“I think this is a game where, if South wins, no one can dismiss them anymore. They went to North Penn and they won. They only really didn’t answer one challenge all year and that was Pennridge the week after North Penn. It’s kind of tough to expect them in two straight road games like that to get fired up. Only Pennridge has really stopped them offensively.

“This is the hurdle game for South. After losing in this round last year (a 52-48 loss to Garnet Valley), they want to establish themselves as an every-year program in the postseason. To do that, I think they have to win their second home game, and that is obviously this week.

“Neshaminy has been there every year, and this team has battled through a lot of stuff already. I think we’re looking at a very interesting game that goes to the wire in probably the 20s or 30s. In that case, I would like Neshaminy. If the game goes north of 35, South will win. It’s all going to be determined by tempo. This is a toss-up game. People who pick Neshaminy in this game are picking by reputation – Neshaminy has been there, Neshaminy is a power, and Neshaminy will naturally find a way. People who pick South in this game are probably basing this off South beat North Penn at North Penn, South is 10-1 and this South team scored a lot of points early in the season. In reality, I’m not sure either of those things fits. Is South scoring as much as they did early in the season? No. Is Neshaminy your traditional pound-your-face-in kind of team? I’m not sure I’d go there either.

“Teams that look really good in one week – that can flip real quick. I really don’t know what to think of this game. What we will learn about that game we will learn in the first 15 minutes.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  In another National versus Continental showdown, Pennsbury will travel to Pennridge. Comment about that game.

Kevin Cooney:  “You look at the numbers Mike Class is putting up, and you’re amazed, but then you realize – is he going to throw 200 up against Pennsbury? I kind of doubt that. The key for Pennridge is that Crawford, Bigam, Krivda and Stutzman – these other players  - are gong to have to make big plays. I think what Galen Snyder and that coaching staff is going to do is try and take Class away and dare anybody else to beat them. They have decent weapons around him, and that’s what this time of year is going to prove. At some point, you’re going to have to show that you’re not totally reliant on one player. Pennridge has done a pretty good job of that, but I think this is where the biggest test is going to be.

“The next question would be – can Pennsbury keep effectively running the football against a Pennridge team that has done a pretty good job of stopping the run. You look at the job they did on Josh Adams. They did a decent job against North Penn’s backs. They’ve done decent defensively. They’re not awe-inspiring, but they play effective defense. Can they stop Daquan Mack, Shawn Pepper and that whole crew? Basically, can they bottle them up from breaking the big play? Pepper has broken a ton of big plays this year. Can Pennridge stop that? I said before the playoffs that I thought Pennsbury was going to the district final. I thought they were tough, I thought they ran the football well. You look at their non-league schedule, and I thought it prepared them for a deep run, and I’m going to stick by it. I think this is a great game. It wouldn’t stun me if Pennridge won it, but since I picked Pennsbury to go to the district final, I’m going to stick with the Falcons in this one.

“This will settle the Continental/National argument for once and for all. You’ve taken Abington out of the mix, and the Continental never got a third team in, which is surprising this year that we have a district tournament without a North Penn or a Souderton. Now you’re up to the big boy level. Are Pennridge and CB South as good as Pennsbury and Neshaminy? It’s the great unanswered question we’ve had all year. Most of the year, we thought the Continental Conference was right there. Now it seems like the National has come back. Time will tell. We may get a split decision, and we may have to wait to see if the survivors end up meeting each other in the district final. It’s a fascinating thing to watch how the season has come down to this general argument we’ve had all season.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  In the only game without an SOL team, Spring-Ford will travel to second-seeded Ridley. Your comments about that game.

Kevin Cooney:  “I have to pick Ridley. They have to know right now that they’ve assumed the mantle of the favorite. They obviously struggled against Downingtown West last week. They didn’t exactly blow the doors off of them, but Ridley plays tough defensive football. They were tops in District One among the Class AAAA teams in defensive yield.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  After watching Neshaminy defeat Plymouth Whitemarsh 42-21, what are your thoughts about the Redskins?

Dan Dunkin:  “To do what they did was very impressive. They were coming off a disheartening 7-0 shutout loss to their archrival (Pennsbury) at Neshaminy, to boot, and they were held to under a hundred yards rushing. That was a humbling. You could look at it and say, ‘Wow, they really shut down Pennsbury’s running game to the very end, and they held them to seven points.’ You look at the other side of the coin, and they were really discouraged with how poorly they played offensively against their archrival heading into the playoffs.

“To turn around in one week against a higher-seeded team – a four seed in Plyomuth Whitemarsh – and to really just dominate the game from start to finish said a lot about the kids, the coaching staff and the program. They got it right in one week. They ran the ball very well and played defense very well. They had a couple of special teams botches. Otherwise, that’s a 49-7 game probably. It was not even close, and it confirmed what I was thinking. While Neshaminy has had some dips here and there during the season, they really want to make a statement in these playoffs, and they’re very capable of doing that. I think they’re hitting their stride. While you can’t take full stock out of one game, they’ve proven that they can do a lot of things on both sides of the ball throughout the season. Now it’s just a matter of consistency and confidence, and I think they have that now.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Neshaminy is traveling to Central Bucks South for Friday night’s quarterfinal game. Comment on that game.

Dan Dunkin:  “I think Neshaminy will go into this game – certainly their biggest challenge of the year against a truly dynamic offense – doing what they do and believing in themselves and each other. I give CB South a lot of respect. To do what they’ve done, to lose just one game, to beat North Penn and to put up the numbers they have offensively, rushing and passing, they’re a handful. Neshaminy is going to have to play their best game, and I think they will, and I think they’ll beat CB South and shock a lot of people but not themselves.

“The thing is, people look at Neshaminy in the large context – Mark Schmidt’s 18 years. No, this isn’t one of his top two or three teams, but his teams have often grown and really gotten better and better and better. That’s all about coaching, and Neshaminy has a great staff. I see it happening again. They’re getting better when the games mean a lot more. People make a mistake, especially from the other conference. They’ll look at Neshaminy and say, ‘Well, they’re not the Neshaminy of three or four years ago or the early 2000s.’  There are still some tough hombres on that squad, and it’s a really good program. When you look at 7-3 and a loss to Tennent and a shutout to Pennsbury, if you just look at that stuff, you’re making a huge mistake, because it’s one week at a time, and this team is ready to play some football. They can do it. They have a lot of good kids and a lot of depth, so CB South is in for a fight.

“CB South’s defense is pretty good, but they’re not as good as they think they are. When it gets down to a nastiness and really getting physical, I think CB South is in for a big shock. I really do. Josh Adams is terrific, but he’s just a sophomore, and I don’t think he likes to get hit, and he really doesn’t that much.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  Pennsbury beat Rustin and will now travel to Pennridge. Your thoughts about Pennsbury heading into that game.

Dan Dunkin:  “I haven’t seen Pennridge, but in a street fight, I’d pick Pennsbury. This is a great matchup between two teams that somewhat mirror each other. Both teams have really good defenses, really strong running games and wing-t elements. Really, it’s just an ideal matchup. It’s going to be extremely physical. I think this could be the most physical game I’ve seen this year. Both teams bring it.

“Mike Class is such a key for Pennridge, but they can throw it. Their quarterback (Alex Krivda) is pretty efficient, but they really lean heavily on Class. He has 2200 yards – give the kid and the offensive line a lot of credit. Teams know what’s coming, but a lot of teams just haven’t been able to stop it. I think Pennsbury will be able to slow them down quite a bit. Pennsbury has got a terrific defense led by its front seven, which is quick, runs to the ball and they swarm, they’re disciplined, and they love to hit, they love to play defense, and they love to make a statement. This is their kind of game.

“The same thing could be said for Pennridge and their defense. When you hold CB South to 10 points, that’s good on your resume. They got a lot of tough kids too, but I just think Pennsbury has more depth in their backfield, and I think that’s really going to pay off for them. Daquan Mack and Shawn Pepper together are load. Pepper can break the big play. Tommy Hose and Chuck Snorweah can run the ball for them, and I just think they have more weapons in their backfield. While Pennridge deserves a lot of credit for what they’ve done, I think Pennsbury has the quickness and toughness to deal with Pennridge. Then there’s Breon Clark, the ‘X’ factor. The kid is making a lot of big plays as their sophomore quarterback. Playing with a lot of experienced guys around him, he’s developed a lot of confidence. He’s been the difference on the scoreboard the last two weeks with TD passes. It’s going to be a tight, extremely hard-fought game, but I think Pennsbury wins it.”

SuburbanOneSports.com:  How does Wissahickon sending top-seeded Downingtown East home for the season impact the tournament?

Dan Dunkin:  “Every team that’s left – if they didn’t 100 percent believe it before, they should now that they’ve got a chance to win the district. It’s wide open as proven by that shocking upset of Downingtown East. I think it proves too that while Downingtown East had a great year – they throw the ball and that spread offense is tough to defend, but they just weren’t a physical enough traditional football team in the cold months, and that’s what you’ve got to have. The weather changes and teams change a little bit, and the playing field got leveled some. You have to play some defense to win the district. You have to. The team that wins districts – it isn’t going to be a 41-36 finish. There are some defensive teams left, and I think anybody that wins this week has got to think they have a great chance to win the district. 

“Regarding Pennsbury and Neshaminy, it’s wonderful for all of us because you have the National against the Continental and the cross-county stuff. These teams kind of eye each other from afar and think they’re better than the other conference, and that makes this a lot of fun. They’re both great matchups.

“I think Neshaminy and Pennsbury are very good. Neshaminy has been a little overlooked because of their hiccup against Tennent. Pennsbury is a little bit under the radar. They’ve been good but not spectacular. To Pennridge and CB South’s credit, they took over the Continental Conference this year. I think North Penn was still a very good team. They played a ridiculously hard pre-conference schedule, which I give Dick Beck a lot of credit for. They put up almost 500 yards against CB South, and they lost 36-29. Plus they had injuries. The Continental was a more balanced conference than the National, but when you get right to the top, I think it’s a toss-up with Pennsbury/Neshaminy and Pennridge/CB South. That’s what we’re going to find out.”