Friday night’s Souderton-Abington contest will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on WNPV 1440 AM and www.WNPV1440.com. Saturday night’s North Penn-St. Joe’s Prep game also will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on WNPV 1440 as well as the internet. Friday night’s Pennsbury at Pocono Mountain game will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on WBCB 1490 AM, and the Council Rock South-Pennridge game will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on the internet at www.WBCB1490.com. Check www.SuburbanOneSports.com for all the SOL scores as well as a game story about this week’s SOL Featured Game pitting Cheltenham against Quakertown.
CHELTENHAM at QUAKERTOWN
Friday, Sept. 16, 7 p.m.
2011 Record: Cheltenham 2-0, Quakertown 2-0
2010 Record: Cheltenham 9-3, SOL American Conference co-champions, Quakertown, 4-8
Last year: Cheltenham 25, Quakertown 12
Quakertown head coach George Banas’ keys to the game: “The keys to the game for us will be definitely winning the battle up front with our offensive and defensive lines. The second key will be to contain their skill players. We got some rain, so it’s going to be a muddy track and might not be a fast field, so it’s going to come down to who will be able to pound it down and score.”
Players to watch: “Zac Gravelle will be key because he’s going to be opening things up for a lot of other kids on the team like Mike Potynski, who had the punt return last week because we faked it to Zac and we had some people bite on that. Justin Wieder is a powerful running back who catches the ball well. If we’re running the ball well, then you’re able to hit someone like Matt Roberts who has been catching the ball very well for us and has scored in both games with TD receptions of 20 yards or more. Being balanced and having a quarterback that you can move around like Zac – it really helps out with the other players and even with Erik Jones in there getting some touches and receptions as well.
“Straight across the board on the offensive line – Brodey Wambold at right tackle, Chris Varichione at right guard, Nate Flath at center and Graham Fox, who was a tight end and moved to left guard, and at left tackle is Ryan Cosgrove. Our next guy in is Nick Miller at three different spots.
“Defensively on the line, we have Brandon Mirarchi. Tyler Ross is at one D-end, Graham Fox is at the other D-end. We mix a lot inside with Mirarchi, but we have Ryan Dunn in there as well and we have Ron Kraus mixing in at the middle.
“Ryan Coleman, a linebacker, is often overlooked. Both the Upper Perk and Pocono Mountain East coaches actually called me and talked to me about that kid and how we’re using him on defense.”
Coach Banas says: “There’s a huge difference between being 2-1 and 3-0 because you go into a Downingtown West game (next week) with a little more confidence. Last year’s game against Cheltenham was back and forth, and they kept hitting us with big plays over the top. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen again this year. Hopefully, we’re a little bit wiser this year. A lot of those kids played in that game, and they understand what’s at stake. Last year was a little different – we were 1-1. This year hopefully we won’t get caught in what coaches call the trap game with everybody telling you how good you are. We’re trying to keep ourselves grounded.
“We knew in the offseason we had bunch of skill kids coming back. They worked hard, they were in the weight room and they looked really good. The big question was the line. Expectations are still to make district playoffs. It’s going to come down to how well we play up front and then if our skill position players can take advantage of what they do up front and make the plays.”
Cheltenham coach Joe Gro’s keys to the game: “We can’t turn the ball over, and we have to defend better than we did last week. I don’t see us controlling their quarterback (Zac Gravelle), but we have to contain him. Hopefully, we will be able to run the ball a little bit. I’d like to think we should be able to.”
Players to watch: “Aquil Reed is our most experienced player, and he’s a two-way player. (Running back) Mark Thompson has had some very nice games. We need something out of our line. Dwayne Bowser is an offensive and defensive lineman. Tyreek Woods is an offensive lineman/linebacker. We’ve got to get real stuff out of them. Hyneef Dockery is our quarterback, and he has been running beautifully, but I think we’re going to have to throw the ball some against them in order to have a chance for success.”
Coach Gro says: “Our relationship with Quakertown goes back 25 years. We’ve always played them – I don’t remember ever not playing them. They know us, and we know them.
“Anybody who has spoken to me – and I’ve told the kids – we’re more talented this year than last year. I imagine if I were coaching against us I would say there’s a lot of really talented kids on this team. The fact that I brought back two-and-a-half starters is the scary part. What has been a real positive is that the young, inexperienced guys have played pretty responsible football. Quakertown is certainly going to be a different challenge for us, but we’ll find out how we handle it. If we handle it the way we have been, that will be a good thing. We want to get better, we want to improve, and we want to become better every week. This week we’re going to be playing a pretty good football team that we know, and we want to make sure we take care of things. That’s our goal – to improve some, defend a little better, and hopefully, it will be positive.”
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