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Back for its ninth season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features the ‘Game On’ crew: Drew Markol and Todd Thorpe. To view this week’s show, click on the following link: http://www.theintell.com/videos/hsgameon/ To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer http://www.theintell.com/sports and Bucks County Courier http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-schools web sites.
Check out this week’s picks by our panel of experts: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/football-forecaster
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn – which kept it close for one half - fell to Coatesville 42-13. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “This is a different Coatesville team than even the team from last year that lost in the state semifinals to St. Joe’s Prep. They’re a year older, and they basically do it with a good running back, a good receiver and a good quarterback, and those are really their only three options. Give North Penn credit. They threw a scare into them for a half, and Coatesville does what it does in the second half, and it gets a long return and plays good defense. Its defense gets overlooked, and boom.
“North Penn had a great season, and they thrived in those close games. I think Coatesville is the best public school team in the state. They play Harrisburg – a team they’ve already clobbered – in the semifinals, so they will likely see St. Joe’s Prep again. We’ll see.
“Again, give North Penn credit. It’s hard to be 13-0, it’s hard to get to the district final, and they did all those things. Everybody thought this was a special Coatesville team, and it was – who is Coatesville going to play in the final? We were talking about this before the seedings came out – would it be Garnet Valley, would it be one of the Downingtowns? I don’t think many of us thought it would be North Penn. We thought North Penn might make it to the quarters or whatever, but that might be it. But, no, give them credit. In the semifinals, they were supposed to play at home, and they had to drive to Downingtown West and they beat them.
“That’s one thing I don’t like about the playoffs. You hope this doesn’t sour what was a really good season. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen. Again, nice job by Dick Beck to get there. They didn’t really have a star on that team like they sometimes do. They didn’t have a Reece Udinski or Ricky Johns. Shamar Edwards was a very good running back, and just a nice job by North Penn. They should be commended.”
Todd Thorpe: “This game really wasn’t a surprise, and that’s not a knock against North Penn. Coatesville is 
really, really good. This is their year and last year was their year, and I’m not sure next year’s not going to be their year. Give North Penn a ton of credit for sticking around in the first half. They’re driving for the tying score late in the first half. North Penn had a great season. I really think Dick Beck got everything out of that team that he could this year. To go 13-1 is a huge accomplishment. They just ran into a better team. Coatesville was just a dominant, dominant team. I think there’s a very good chance they’re going to be playing for a state championship in another week. They play Harrisburg this week. There’s been a lot of talk about Harrisburg getting the week off since District 3 arranged a bye for their champion, which is kind of funny how that worked, but I remember District 12 used to do that too. I certainly think Coatesville is going to end up playing in the state title game, whether it’s against St. Joe’s Prep, who everybody thinks it’s going to be against, or Pine Richland, which beat St. Joe’s Prep last year in the final.
“To North Penn’s credit, to get to the state quarterfinals and district finals is a huge accomplishment for them. I know they do have some pretty significant players coming back next year, and Dick Beck is going to have them ready to go. That’s what North Penn does. They’re good every year, and this year was no exception. Just because they didn’t blow teams out, it doesn’t mean they weren’t good and they weren’t dominant because that defense was tremendous this year. Coatesville is really, really good. You’re not going to find too many better high school quarterbacks than Ricky Ortega, and obviously, they have a running back, Aaron Young, who’s going to Michigan State. They’re really loaded, and there’s no shame being North Penn after that game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Dublin defeated West Chester Rustin 35-28 and will face undefeated Manheim Central in Friday’s PIAA 5A semifinal. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “At this point of the season, you’re down to four teams in each class. When it was just the four classes, Upper Dublin won a district title. Now, with two more classes being added and them falling into the 5A, it’s been a great thing for Upper Dublin. Now they’re not playing the behemoth schools to win a district title where they needed to have everything go right. With Bret Stover and the program they have, they can be in contention every year for a district title. This year, they’re one win away from playing in a state title game for the first time ever.
“Upper Dublin only has one loss to a pretty good Penn Charter team, and that was a long time ago. Good work by them, and the way it falls with District 12 being sent to the western part of the bracket for the semifinals, they don’t get Archbishop Wood until the finals. So they get to play Manheim Central at Wissahickon, right around the corner from them. None of us has seen Manheim Central play, but you don’t get this far being lucky every week. Let’s see what happens.
“One of things that makes Upper Dublin good – and this is something Coatesville has and Archbishop Wood has – is they can throw the ball with their junior quarterback, Mike Slivka. I say this all the time – high school defenses have a very, very difficult time defending the pass. That’s been the case forever because they rarely come up against a team that can throw the ball that well. When you can, which Coatesville does, which St. Joe’s Prep does, which Wood does, that’s one of the big reasons you’re still playing in late November. With Slivka for Upper Dublin, he gives them that weapon, that option of being able to throw the ball. It’s just another headache for a team to worry about because it’s not like, ‘Okay, we’re playing team X, and they have a running back who’s rushed for 1500 yards and we’ll key on him.’ Look at what happened to Conwell Egan last week. Middletown just stacked the deck against (Boston College commit) Patrick Garwo, and the kid had three yards on 10 carries because they just took it away. With a team like Upper Dublin, it’s pick your poison. You can try and take away the passing game. Okay, fine, then you get run on. You try and take away the running game, and they’ll throw it. Saturday’s weather doesn’t look good, but it doesn’t matter. They’re playing on Friday. Give a throwing team a dry day, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That will be interesting. State semifinals should be close, and I think that will be close, and they’ll go from there. For Upper Dublin, you’re in the state semifinal, and win or lose at this point, that’s just a great season.”
Todd Thorpe: “I really thought Penn Wood was going to be in that (district title) game, but Rustin obviously can play. Similar to North Penn, Upper Dublin has just gotten the job done all year. You look at them, and are they really a state championship caliber-type team? You’re like, ‘Not really,’ but no, they get it done. They beat everybody. Earlier in the year when they were in a tough game against Cheltenham, they found a way to win. They were down two scores at halftime to Quakertown, and they found a way to win. That’s just what they do, and through these playoffs, they’ve been extremely efficient. I think they could have lost either one of these last two games, and they found a way to win them. Now they’re moving on and they’re playing Manheim Central. Covering Archbishop Wood and knowing them – a lot of people are saying that the next team to beat not named Archbishop Wood in 5A is Manheim Central. They’re undefeated, they’ve been ranked in the top two or three spots in the state all year. I think Upper Dublin has a really tough game, but you never know how teams match up either. Maybe District One 5A is much better than District 3 5A, and maybe Upper Dublin will be the better squad, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about Manheim Central. I think this is a really, really entertaining state semifinal.
“Good for Upper Dublin that it’s being played at Wissahickon too. I saw in 3A Middletown played at Hershey, and they were like 10 minutes away. I think when you don’t have to make that long trip, that’s an advantage. Give Upper Dublin a little bit of an advantage to play that game at Wissahickon. If Upper Dublin wins, they’ll probably play Archbishop Wood, and I’m not sure those programs have ever met. I’m sure there would be a chip on the Upper Dublin kids’ shoulders to go play Wood, the two-time defending state champion. They’re a team that’s playing very, very well right now. Wood destroyed Hollidaysburg, and they looked very much like a team that’s going to be a three-time state champion, but you never know. They could run into a tough team this week. I say this about Manheim Central too and the same thing about Penn Hills. Unless you’re really doing scouting on them, it’s tough to know what you’re going to run up against. We don’t see these teams play, and they’re not matched up against the same quality of competition. When you get to this level, I think either of these games could be close. An Upper Dublin-Wood final might be interesting in another week.”