Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier: "Let's Talk Football" (10-23-20)

10/23/20 9:55am Posted by Lets Talk Football

Back for its 11th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writers Drew Markol and Todd Thorpe. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (https://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school) and Courier Times (https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/) web sites, which will feature a live blog on football Fridays.

SuburbanOneSports.com: Neshaminy rebounded from its loss to Pennridge to hand Abington its first loss. Talk about that game as well as the other highlights from that conference.

Todd Thorpe: “That definitely was a bounce-back game for Neshaminy. They felt like they had something to prove coming off the Pennridge loss, and as we’ve learned, nothing is really engraved in stone this year. There’s no super power team that is just going to beat everybody easily and that’s that. Abington looked pretty good through the first several weeks, and defensively, they ran into a determined Neshaminy team coming off a shutout loss a week earlier. The way that conference is – obviously, Pennridge looks like the team shooting for that 5-0 and maybe a spot in the abbreviated playoffs. I think that’s a league that could have three 4-1 teams – it’s that good a league. It’s very balanced. I don’t think a ton separates Abington and Neshaminy. On Monday night, Neshaminy had the extra that it took to put that game away, and really, the difference in the game was about a minute stretch at the end of the first half when it went from 14-7 to 28-7. Really, that set the tone, and Abington has to play catchup. Abington got within a touchdown, but Neshaminy could always go back to Chris James. They did a really good job of finding ways to get him the ball, whether it was handing the ball off to him or the wildcat offense or whatever it was. When he got a little space, he went. He’s a 30-carry a game guy, and there just aren’t that many of them out there right now. I’m sure Abington would love to run Oreck Frazier 30 times if they could too, but he’s obviously a very focal part of their defense as well. That game was two pretty good teams. Neshaminy established they still are the team that beat North Penn in week one. Abington just ran into a team that is pretty good last week. If they bounce back this week, which I suspect they will, they’ll be in line to play Pennridge in a pretty important game in week five of the regular season. That’s a game of the week type game.

Nunzio Zydzik is a junior, and he’s a guy who played quarterback on Neshaminy’s freshman/jayvee and that level. He got beat out, so he moved to wide receiver, and what he’s got is athleticism. He can run the ball, and he completed four or five passes so he showed a little bit of an ability to do that, but I think it’s his athleticism that really is the difference maker. You thought you were watching Abington play with the way he was running on Monday night because Abington’s had a running quarterback for a while, and even this year with Johnny Dzielawa there, he runs the ball real well. It brings a different dynamic to the Neshaminy offense when you have a quarterback that can run the ball like he does. They’ve had a long history of athletic quarterbacks, but he’s the first real running threat they’ve had in a while. It brings a different dimension. I think Neshaminy is in pretty good shape to finish the season strong, and you never know. The number of undefeated teams in Class 6A is shrinking, so some one-loss team will probably make the playoffs. It’s just a matter of which one. That formula is for mathematicians, not for mere mortals like us, but it could be Neshaminy. I think any team playing somebody in that National Conference is going to get a lot of power points because that’s a good league.

“Central Bucks South at Pennridge is a good game this week. South can score. They’ve shown the last couple of weeks they can put points on the board. I think this is the first time they’ll be facing a real disciplined defense. We’ll see. It will be the old irresistible force/immovable object theory. We’ll see how it goes. South’s offense looked great last week against Pennsbury, but that’s a Pennsbury defense that is very young and inexperienced and learning on the job, and South took advantage of the chances they had and put a lot of points on the board. I think they’re still scoring.

“Pennridge is coming off back-to-back shutouts. Who knows what to think about Pennridge. Is this the juggernaut that’s going to come out of this area and the Suburban One and be a force come the postseason? It certainly looks like they could be. They really haven’t faced serious adversity yet. Could this be the week? If South puts some points on the board, especially early, it could be the week, but they’re feeling that aura of invincibility. I remember a couple of years ago when Neshaminy had that great defense, and their first team defense went for four or five weeks without being scored on, and it brought them right into the playoffs. They won a playoff game and then lost in the quarterfinals to North Penn in a close, low-scoring game. When you get on that kind of defensive roll, it feeds off each other, and it goes from week to week. That’s where they are now. I’ll be curious. I would still say Pennridge is the favorite there, but that’s a really interesting game because I was impressed with how South could move the ball and score points last week.

“Watch out for CB West against Neshaminy this week. They could be a live dog. West has played okay, but they’ve just had a brutal schedule to start the year. I would think Neshaminy is favored in that one, but that could be an interesting game.”

Drew Markol: “In the National Conference, Abington had gotten off to a 2-0 start, and they were way up in the power rankings as far as the district playoffs, and only four teams get in. Monday night they had to play Neshaminy, the game was pushed to Monday because of rain last Friday. Neshaminy goes out and hands it to them, 49-28. Every time Abington would try and muster a little bit of a comeback, Neshaminy would score a touchdown and answer right back. They pulled away at the end, and it’s a nice win for Neshaminy coming off the loss to Pennridge. It moved Neshaminy to 2-1.

“Neshaminy senior Chris James has been a proven commodity going on this third year. He’s maybe 5-6 or 5-7. He’s not very big, but he’s quick, he’s muscular, and he knows how to play, he knows how to find the holes and follow his linemen. If he gets a little bit of a hole, he has plenty enough speed to break it. He ran wild against Abington on Monday night, and in the season opener against North Penn, he did the same thing and ran for over 200 yards. After being held to under 40 by Pennridge, I think that tells you how good Pennridge’s defense is.

“Pennridge took care of CB East last week. East quarterback Anthony Giordano got hurt late in the game against CB South two weeks ago. He wasn’t able to play against Pennridge. He’s a two-year starter at quarterback and a three-year starter on defense. He’s a very good football player. They played him on defense – a lot of teams do play their quarterback on defense out of necessity, and he got hurt playing defense. That’s one of the risks you run.

“Pennridge plays CB South this week. It could be a good game. South will have to play its absolute best. That Pennridge defense with Phil Picciotti, Shane Hartzell and Fabian Padin in the secondary - it’s just awfully good. Is there a key to beating Pennridge? You’ve got to score early and play the best defensive game you can. Pennridge has a very good ground attack. One SOL coach told me that Pennridge is just enormous on the offensive and defensive lines, and then you have Shane Hartzell running behind that line. If you remember back two years ago, Hartzell was a fullback, and he was dangerous as a sophomore. He can move. He might be 230-235 pounds, but he can run. If he gets into an opening, he’s hard to catch. Pennridge will just pound you, and South has to score early and score often. When it’s fourth-and-one on your own 40, you have to go for those because you have to limit the possessions for Pennridge and try and score as much as you can. You almost have to try anything. You go into a game and think, ‘Okay, we’re down 14-0, what do we need to do?’ That would be just taking some chances. Just trying to beat them straight up looks like it’s going to be awfully difficult.

“We were looking ahead to what we thought might have been two 4-0 teams the Friday before Halloween with Pennridge and Abington, but Abington went and lost to Neshaminy. Pennridge, in the National Conference, controls its own destiny. They win the next two games and they’re 5-0 and win the conference title and likely get a playoff spot. They hold their fate in their own hands.”

“If anybody saw North Penn play last year, as a sophomore Khalani Eaton was a bruising back. You looked at him and said, ‘Boy, this kid is only going to get better if…’ That if was – maybe he turns some of his weight into muscle. Well, he has. He’s put on weight, but he looks thinner when you watch him. Now when he gets into the clear, he’s gone. He ran all over CB West – he had 272 yards and scored four touchdowns. He’s over 600 yards in three games. He’s only a junior. CB West coach Rob Rowan said he’s one of the top three or four backs in the state. I’d like to see who number one and number two are because Eaton is just legit. North Penn coach Dick Beck said he wanted to use him more in the passing game. He caught a screen pass and got some nice yardage. He is an absolute stud.

“Speaking of studs, sophomore quarterback Ryan Zeltt took over last year when then senior Kolby Barrow got hurt and started eight or nine games. You could tell there was a lot of promise there. Well, he’s gotten better. He just knows how to run an offense. He doesn’t panic. There’s nothing rushed about what he does. He has a great arm. He’s 6-4, 6-5, about 180 pounds. He’ll get even bigger, and he’s the kind of kid – he’s only a sophomore – the colleges are going to love.

“Looking ahead at this week’s game, I think CB West/Neshaminy is going to be a good game. West has played Pennridge, North Penn and Abington, and they’re not bad. They could beat Neshaminy.”

SuburbanOneSports.com: Your thoughts about the Continental Conference after week three.

Todd Thorpe: “Souderton has definitely proven that they’re the team to beat right now, and they might have clinched the league title with that week one win against Quakertown. Quakertown might be the next best team in that league, and Upper Dublin is right there too, but Souderton handled Upper Dublin last week. If Souderton does their job, they’re going to finish 5-0, and they’ll probably be a playoff team. Are they hurt by the fact that there are going to be teams in their conference without very good records? I think that could be a factor. I think if they go 5-0 they’re definitely in, and who knows – Souderton was that team that slipped underneath the radar going in. No one really expected a lot. They lost a lot of good players, but that’s what they do – when you have a program and when you have a coach that’s been there a long time, those guys are ready to go, and that’s where they are. The realignment of the Continental Conference has definitely helped them because they’re playing against schools their size, and they’re faring very well. It will be interesting to see if they do make the playoffs how they match up as a team against some of the other teams out there.”

Drew Markol: “Souderton is 3-0 in the Continental. Ed Gallagher’s team is doing a really nice job. He lost 17 or 18 starters to graduation, and this new group has come in, and they’re off to a 3-0 start. You can’t do better than that, so good for them too. It’s hard to believe that Pennridge and Souderton are the only undefeated 6A teams in the SOL. Everybody is beating up on everybody else. That kind of shows you that this new alignment with the conferences this year is working. With 21 teams, only two of the 6A teams are undefeated, so that tells you something is working.”

“I saw Souderton a couple of weeks ago against Quakertown, and they struggled early, and it looked like they were going to lose. They just roared back in the second half. They found their sea legs. Again, it was the first week of the shortened season, but Upper Dublin last week was a good litmus test for Souderton, and they beat them by three touchdowns, 28-7. Good job by Souderton. If they keep this up, they’ll find themselves in the district playoffs. They made the district playoffs last year, but it was a 16-team field. To get in as a four-team field is pretty good. When you only let four teams in, and you have teams beating up on each other – Neshaminy beats North Penn, and Pennridge beats Neshaminy, you go back and forth, and that’s what happens. You can’t fault Souderton – they’re just playing who they told them to play.”

SuburbanOneSports.com: Your comments about the SOL American Conference.

Todd Thorpe: “The Wissahickon/New Hope-Solebury game last week had a really crazy ending. Wissahickon scored 10 points in the final minute to tie the game and then won it with a field goal in the first overtime. I think there’s some balance in that conference, I think teams are matched pretty evenly in that conference. Upper Moreland is the team that’s undefeated right now, and they haven’t beaten everybody by 40 points. It’s a league with a lot of balance and a lot of teams that are evenly matched. Isn’t that the idea when you’re doing a league by enrollment – to give games like this week to week. Give Wissahickon a ton of credit to come back and not give that game up because just looking at the box score – it certainly looked like New Hope thought they had that one in the hand. Wissahickon is another program that’s had some bad years, and it’s starting to show signs of peeking back to life. Again, it’s a lot of being competitive, being in a competitive league.

“You see William Tennent go out and beat a PW team that finished second to Class 5A state runner-up Cheltenham in the American Conference last year. That’s a Tennent team that I’m sure didn’t expect to be 0-2. I know their coach, Rich Clemens, has been out for personal reasons, so I’m sure there’s been some shake-up there. Good for them – I’m glad they got their win. In this type of abbreviated schedule, no one wants to go too long without a win. I know they have to be relieved with that because I spoke with Rich Clemens in the preseason and he was pretty optimistic playing in the league that they are that they were ready to turn the corner a little bit.

“It’s going to be hard to evaluate if anyone has turned the corner in a five-game season or however many non-league games these teams end up playing, but this year isn’t just a lost cause. This year is obviously to give the seniors a chance to play football but also to give some younger guys a chance to really catapult themselves into the offseason and towards the future. That’s part of the equation too. Obviously, everyone wants to get their seniors out there and give them as many games as they can. I’m hopeful that all these teams do strive to go beyond five games that they all look to play six-seven games. They’re giving you a whole month to do it, so there’s not excuse not to do it.

“I’m with Drew (Markol), and he’s been pretty outspoken about it. This would have been the perfect year just to play for league titles and not worry about the playoffs. The PIAA went in another direction, and District One is abiding by that and going from there. I certainly think it will make things interesting in November, but just play football, let’s see how it goes. We’re only two weeks away from November right now.”

Drew Markol: “In the American Conference, you’re not seeing many blowouts, you’re just seeing good games. That was a concern – how would New Hope fare in that league. They got a win two weeks ago over Springfield, and last week, they were leading Wissahickon by 10 points with 90 seconds to play, and Wissahickon tied the score and won it in overtime. New Hope coach Jim DiTulio will tell you they should never have lost to Wissahickon the way they did, but give Wissahickon credit. Talk about not giving up – to recover an on-sides kick, these are things you don’t think about. How many times do you see a high school team recover an on-sides kick? And then after they recovered the on-sides kick to go and score when you don’t have much time – that just doesn’t happen.

“There’s been a lot packed into a five-week pandemic fueled season, and it’s not a bad thing. I’m just glad the kids are playing.”

Pick the winners:

Todd Thorpe (picks in bold)

Pennsbury at Abington

Neshaminy at Central Bucks West

Bensalem at Quakertown

Central Bucks South at Pennridge

Council Rock North at Upper Dublin

CR South at Springfield Township

Souderton at Hatboro-Horsham

Academy of the New Church at New Hope-Solebury

Plymouth Whitemarsh at Upper Moreland

Wissahickon at William Tennent

North Penn at Central Bucks East

Drew Markol