Scott Huff recaps some of the highlights and lowlights of the 2014 season in a year-end column.
By Scott Huff
In 1966 Clint Eastwood starred in a masterpiece film called The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – and the 2014 Suburban One League football season reminded me of that classic movie title.
Not that anyone really cares what I think – but here is what I think anyway.
The Good…
Pennsbury had a terrific run this season getting to the PIAA Quad-A Eastern Final – along the way winning both a District One championship and a SOL National Conference co-championship. The expectations going into the season were extremely high for the Falcons – and the Black & Orange were up to the task.
Senior running back Charles Snorweah had an incredible season and was equally incredibly humble during post-game interviews. The Rutgers University-bound student-athlete always shared his wonderful accomplishments with his teammates – a class act. Coach Galen Snyder was true to his ‘ground and pound’ approach, and Pennsbury achieved the success that was predicted preseason. Snyder was dealt a good hand and played it out extremely well.
Upper Dublin proved to District One that the Cardinals were not just the big fish in the small SOL American Conference pond. Head coach Bret Stover directed Upper Dublin to an unbeaten conference championship and a pair of victories in district play against the ‘big boys’.
Junior quarterback Ryan Stover – son of the head coach – showcased his talents and proved that he was one of the elite quarterbacks in the area. It might be difficult for the Cardinals to repeat the performance that they had this year – but with the tandem of Stover and Stover back in 2015, don’t be too surprised.
Quakertown was another feel good story last year as the Panthers won the SOL Continental Conference. Quakertown thrived in its new digs in the ‘new’ SOL Continental – but the Panthers proved it wasn’t just a shift in conference alignment that was the reason for success. Quakertown won a district playoff game against Pennridge – a member of the larger enrolled SOL National Conference – and then beat the Rams again on Thanksgiving.
Senior Hunter Nice was without question the most impressive defensive player that I have seen all season. The Panther linebacker literally seemed to make every tackle in the games that I saw – and that was against the best competition that Quakertown saw over the course of the season. Nice has made no college commitments yet – and he is a gem of a player.
The realignment of the SOL had its good and bad points – in my humble opinion. The good was evident in the revitalization of the programs at both Truman and William Tennent who moved from the SOL National to the SOL Continental.
The absence of Pennsbury, Neshaminy, and Abington helped both the Tigers and Panthers become far more competitive in games. Although neither made the playoffs – lopsided defeats were not on their resumes this season. In fact, the SOL Continental was the most competitive top to bottom of all three SOL conferences.
The Bad (situations, that is)…
Bensalem did have those lopsided defeats in its resume that was not supposed to happen with realignment. The winless Owls were outscored 340-53 in SOL National Conference games – an average loss of 41 points per game. At the end of the season, its fine head coach Kevin Kelly decided to hand in his resignation.
Also, the realignment also didn’t do any favors to either the Abington or Souderton programs.
The Ghosts had been a staple in the district playoffs for years – but Abington could not run the SOL gauntlet and finished with a 2-6 conference record and was on the outside looking in on the district playoffs. By the way, the Ghosts were the only team to beat Upper Dublin during the regular season.
And then there was Souderton with a total enrollment of 882 male students. The powers to be in the SOL concluded that Souderton is ‘too big’ to compete with Truman (857 male students), CB East (824) and Norristown (818) in the SOL Continental Conference – but ‘big enough’ to compete with North Penn (1861 male students), Pennsbury (1384), and Neshaminy (1080) in the SOL National Conference.
The Ugly …
In the ‘I just don’t get it’ category is the whole PIAA private school-public school debate about competing for state championships.
How is it fair for a public school – such as a Pennsbury which is restricted to who can attend its school by geographical boundaries – to compete against a private school – such as St. Joe Prep who has no geographical restrictions? The simple answer is – it isn’t fair.
Is it any surprise that St. Joe Prep of the Philadelphia Catholic League – which routed Pennsbury 37-7 in the PIAA Quad-A Eastern Final – is attempting to repeat as state champions? Is it any surprise that Archbishop Wood of the PCL – which routed Somerset 63-20 in the PIAA Class AAA Eastern Final – is attempting to repeat as state champions?
New Jersey competes for separate private school – and public school – state championships. Why can’t the PIAA figure it out?
Another ugly was the whole Central Bucks West hazing ‘scandal’ that cut short the season for the Bucks this year. Nobody condones hazing – especially if the victim was someone from your family – but you have to wonder about how the whole matter was resolved.
In my humble opinion, CB West head coach Brian Hensel is a fine and honorable man – no question. Was he perfect in the way he ran his program? No – is any one of us perfect in all that we do? He lost his job – the Central Bucks School District administration had to have someone pay the price for what happened.
The shame of the matter was that the story actually became national news and gave an unwanted black eye to the proud Central Bucks West football program. Legendary CBW head coach Michael Pettine Sr. was very vocal in his support of Hensel – and I value what ‘Senior’ had to say on the matter.
Good luck next year to both Coach Hensel and the CB West football program – both will need it.
The last uglywas the proposed exit of Norristown from the Suburban One League.
First year athletic director Anthony Palladino – who came to Norristown by way of Phoenixville – presented a plan for Eagle athletics to abandon the SOL for the Pioneer Athletic Conference beginning in the fall of the 2016-2017 season.
The Norristown Area School Board voted 7-0 to ‘table’ the issue and Norristown will remain in the Suburban One League for the foreseeable future.
I guess sometimes – in my humble opinion – a school board can get it right.
Suburban One Sports.com
Final 2014 Football Rankings
1. Pennsbury Falcons (13-2)
2. Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals (11-2)
3. Quakertown Panthers (11-2)
4. North Penn Knights (7-4)
5. Central Bucks South Titans (7-4)
6. Pennridge Rams (7-5)
7. Council Rock North Indians (6-5)
8. Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials (7-3)
9. Abington Ghosts (6-5)
10. Council Rock South Golden Hawks (6-4)
11. Truman Tigers (7-5)
12. Neshaminy Redskins (4-6)
13. Central Bucks East Patriots (5-5)
14. Cheltenham Panthers (6-6)
15. Upper Moreland Golden Bears (8-4)
16. Souderton Indians (4-6)
17. William Tennent Panthers (5-6)
18. Springfield Spartans (6-7)
19. Norristown Eagles (4-7)
20. Hatboro-Horsham Hatters (3-9)
21. Central Bucks West Bucks (2-8)
22. Wissahickon Trojans (2-8)
23. Upper Merion Vikings (2-9)
24. Bensalem Owls (0-11)
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