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Back for its 12th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writer Drew Markol. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/) and Courier Times (http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/) web sites.
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn defeated Upper Dublin last week and will take on Pennridge this week. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “The North Penn/Upper Dublin game – a very good 6A against a very good 5A - kind of went to form. North Penn has just too much. They just wear 
you down, and that’s their goal, and they’ve been able to do it. I’m not surprised it was a 15-point game. Upper Dublin is legit, but that’s one of the differences between a 6A and a 5A. Plus you’re looking at a 6A in North Penn that’s a serious District One title contender along with Coatesville, Garnet Valley and Downingtown East. In order to win a district title at the 6A level – you can get away with it at some of the much lower levels, but you need to have both options of a running game and a passing game, and they do with Khalani Eaton, the senior all-state running back from last year who’s well on his way to all-state again this year, and quarterback Ryan Zeltt, who is a three-year starter and is a very good player. Then you have senior Levi Carroll, the senior receiver - maybe North Penn isn’t as tight on defense as they have been in past years, but they’re better in offense, so that can make up for it.
“In SOL National play, Pennridge comes to North Penn on Friday. Pennridge has won three in a row since losing to a really good Downingtown East team. There’s no shame in that loss. Pennridge’s offense is basically a one-trick pony. They can’t throw the ball. Their head coach Cody Muller uses a whole bunch of different running backs who have been successful, but North Penn will slow down that running game, take away what they do best and make them beat you with something else. Pennridge switched quarterbacks in its win over Council Rock North. I don’t know if it was for an injury. They moved Logan McGowan, who’s a linebacker, to quarterback for the second half. He only threw one or two passes. They have trouble with the passing game and rely virtually on a really good defense and a punishing running game, but I don’t think that’s enough to beat North Penn.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: For the second time in as many games, Truman put up a lot of points, this time in a win over Pennsbury. Your thoughts heading into Truman’s game at Bensalem this week. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Terrell Delp for Truman is a pretty good quarterback, and he has plenty of targets in Rondell Bradley, the junior wide receiver, and Makai Jackson, the senior running back. Truman has an interesting game this week. After outlasting Pennsbury 39-29, they go to play at Bensalem for Bensalem’s homecoming on Saturday. You could make a decent argument that Bensalem might be the story of the first month of the season because they’ve played Upper Dublin tough, they played CB East tough. They lost both, but they’re 2-2. If they can find a way to beat Truman – which I wouldn’t be surprised if they did – they’re making things interesting. First-year coach Alex Houston went to Bensalem, and he looks like he’s got things going in the right direction.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Moreland is 4-0 but needed another late-game comeback to defeat Wissahickon 35-31. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Upper Moreland’s been walking a tightrope. They’re 4-0, and when they get to the 4A playoffs, they’re going to be tough to beat, but they won their last three games by a combined 10 points. They had to come back late against Wissahickon. I’m not sure how sustainable this is. They really need to lay it on to somebody and just close it out because it’s hard to keep winning by three or four points. Those become three or four-point losses. They’re a 4-0 team, but they’re a very interesting 4-0 team.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Springfield Township defeated William Tennent to improve to 3-0. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “When you look at Springfield, just a couple of years ago, they weren’t even fielding varsity football because they didn’t have the numbers. They slowly worked themselves back and were able to get some kids out for the team. Now they’re playing very well. They beat a 6A team in William Tennent the other day, and it had to be an enormous shot in the arm for them. To go from almost dropping the sport to now you’re back. Especially in this climate where so many schools – regardless of 6A, 1A or 2A – to get kids out for football - they’re building something and they’re getting better. It’s just a remarkable story.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Quakertown has quietly won its first four games. The Panthers will host Upper Dublin in a key Continental Conference showdown. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “A good one on Friday that will go a long way towards the Continental title will be Upper Dublin at Quakertown. Quakertown is undefeated and has scored a ton of points. They have three-year starting quarterback in Will Steich, a senior running back in Tyler Woodman who has been running crazy and a stout defense. Quakertown looks like they’re for real, but they get an Upper Dublin team coming off a loss to North Penn that really wants to win the Continental. Junior quarterback Colin O’Sullivan is having a nice year for the Cardinals. He actually started for Hatboro-Horsham as a freshman two years ago, but he’s over at Upper Dublin and he’s doing a really nice job leading that offense. That should be a good one. I think that one goes down to the wire.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks East has won three straight games. Your comments about the Patriots.
Drew Markol: “You look at CB East – we probably draw too much importance from week one. When a team loses, you don’t want to say you’re scratching them off. CB East lost to undefeated Ridley in a tight game (34-29), and it’s not a bad loss at all. Since then, East has won three in a row. They had a win over Neshaminy and last week they opened up a 35-6 lead over Bensalem and got the win there against an improving Bensalem team. Head coach John Donnelly has a pretty good team on his hands that is quietly doing pretty well.”
Drew Markol’s Picks (Winner in bold)
Central Bucks East at Abington
Upper Dublin at Quakertown
Pennsbury at Central Bucks West
Cheltenham at Upper Moreland
Council Rock South at Souderton
Hatboro-Horsham at Council Rock North
Morrisville at Lower Moreland
New Hope-Solebury at Wissahickon
Pennridge at North Penn
Plymouth-Whitemarsh at Springfield Township
Father Judge at William Tennent
Harry S Truman at Bensalem
Central Bucks South at Neshaminy