SOL Football Notebook (10-17-16)

Central Bucks South is featured in this week’s notebook as well as the latest district power rankings and SOL standings.

With the regular season down to its final two weeks, teams are battling for positioning in the district power rankings. If the season ended today, eight SOL teams would be in the 16-team field in Class 6A with three SOL teams on the outside looking in at 17, 18 and 19. In Class 5A, Upper Dublin and Upper Moreland are in the top 16.

This week’s schedule includes several games with district seeding implications. Topping the list is the Abington at Pennsbury contest. Not only will the game determine second place in the National Conference standings, but Pennsbury – seeded 17^th – needs a win to keep its district playoff hopes alive. Central Bucks East, the ninth seed in this week’s rankings, will be at Central Bucks West, and the Bucks – seeded 19^th – also need a win to stay in the district playoff hunt. Pennridge – tied for 11^th – at sixth-seeded Central Bucks South is one of the week’s most intriguing matchups.

CB South looking to finish strong – Tom Hetrick knew his team was facing a gauntlet when weeks six and seven of the season rolled around. Staring at the Titans in back-to-back weeks were North Penn and Neshaminy, the district’s top two teams.
“You could sort of predict preseason that those two teams were going to be some of the elite teams in the district,” Hetrick said. “It’s almost the perfect spot to have those games appear in the middle of the season because you take the first part of the season and you work to get better every week, so hopefully, you’re in midseason form and what you put on the field is a reflection of where you are in the middle of the season.”
The Titans lost to both North Penn (42-13) and Neshaminy (42-14), but Hetrick knows his team benefitted from playing the best.
“I think both of those games gave us a sense of where we stand with the elite teams in district one,” the Titans’ coach said. “We were able to hang for a little bit, but I’m not a big fan of moral victories because ultimately it’s either a victory or it’s not a victory. When you play the elite competition, the things you need to get better at get exposed.
“I don’t think they exposed things we weren’t getting done, they exposed the fact that to be one of those elite teams you have to be able to play four quarters at an elite level. They were able to do that, and we weren’t.
“As you hit the last part of the season, I think the benefits of playing teams like that – if you can come out of it and restore confidence as you continue on with the rest of the season, that’s the first order of business to get whatever mojo you had at the beginning of the season back.”
In Friday night’s 14-7 win over Central Bucks West, the Titans’ defense – their ‘mojo’ in a 5-0 start – allowed just 145 total yards.
“We were able to get back to the things we were doing well defensively, and offensively, was there a bit of a hangover?” Hetrick said. “I don’t know. I think West is an improved team. We did not do things we were hoping to be able to do.”
–Titan difference makers: Stealing headlines for the Titans this season have been senior Nate Norris, sophomore Matt Norris and senior Tyler Watson. The Norris brothers have anchored the defense at linebacker, both regularly turning in double-digit tackles. Watson has excelled on both sides of the football as well as special teams, but the Titans, according to Hetrick, are much more than just three players.
“Most of our defensive success this year is the fact that our front four – we have a rotation of guys – are as good as any front four in our conference,” he said.
Junior Pat Fleisch (6-2, 260) and senior Sean Guida (6-1, 210) bookend the line at defensive end.
“Pat Fleisch is a player coaches see in film before games and talk about him after games,” Hetrick said. “He has been a force all season for us.
“Sean Guida is a sound and a savvy football player. You have to play that position with discipline, and he’s done that for us consistently all year.”
Rotating at defensive tackle are junior Noah Collachi (6-1, 250), senior Ken Hussein (6-0, 200) and senior John Madara (6-2, 261)
“I think Noah is one of the better defensive tackles in our conference,” Hetrick said. “He is a difference maker and has a couple picks and is our second leading interception guy.
“Those three guys rotate at two spots. They’re strong kids, they’re all athletic kids, and they all have motors. They deserve a lot of the credit for the success of our defense this year.”
Also making important contributions on the defensive side of the football are junior Ryan Watson, senior Corey Charnetski and sophomore Tom McLaughlin, who join Tyler Watson in the defensive backfield.
“Ryan Watson is undersized and people think they can take advantage of him,” Hetrick said of Tyler Watson’s younger brother. “Somehow he figures out a way to keep that from being a disadvantage.
“Corey Charnetski has been just been a solid kid in the back and so is Tom McLaughlin.”
Take away the 84 points scored by North Penn and Neshaminy combined in their two wins, and the Titans have allowed just 38 points in their other six games combined.
“We’ve been fielding all season a pretty solid and sound defense, one of the better defenses we’ve had in years, and I think they all deserve the credit for that,” Hetrick said. “Playing at this level, you can’t just have three guys and be able to stop teams. With the kind of competition we play, you have to be sound from 1-11, and I think we have been as a whole.”
–Titans showdown with Rams:  On Friday night, the Titans will host Pennridge in one of the SOL’s marquee matchups. Both teams boast identical 3-1 records in conference play.
“This is definitely a big one because despite the fact that they have three losses, those three losses have come to the top three teams in District One,” Hetrick said. “We know that they are one of the more elite teams in all of District One.
“This is a big game not only once again to test to see where we compare with the upper echelon teams in District One, but we have two regular season games remaining, and if we can get a win in both of those games, we would hope and assume that would get us a home playoff game. We’ve been to the playoffs, but we haven’t had a home playoff game in many years. We definitely have something to shoot for. It should be a very good game.”

That’s incredible – Darryl Davis-McNeil has put up the kind of numbers the last two weeks that would constitute an entire season for many players. After turning in a 336-yard, five-touchdown effort in the Ghosts’ win over Harry S Truman, Davis-McNeill had 272 yards and four touchdowns in Abington’s win over Council Rock North on Friday.
If you do the math, the Ghosts’ junior running back has 608 yards and nine touchdowns in two weeks.

2016 DISTRICT ONE SEEDING – Week 8 (Unofficial)
6A

5A

SOL Football Standings
National                                                                         Overall

Continental                                                                    Overall

American                                                                                 Overall

This week in the SOL:
Abington @ Pennsbury 7 p.m.
Council Rock North @ Bensalem 7 p.m.
Central Bucks East @ Central Bucks West 7 p.m.
Pennridge @ Central Bucks South 7 p.m.
Cheltenham @ Plymouth Whitemarsh 7 p.m.
Council Rock South @ Neshaminy 7 p.m.
Harry S Truman @ Souderton 7 p.m.
Upper Dublin @ Hatboro-Horsham 7 p.m.
North Penn @ William Tennent 7 p.m.
Wissahickon @ Upper Moreland 7 p.m.

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