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In this 10th edition of Coach Carey’s blog, ‘The Way I See It,’ the former coach shares his thoughts on last week’s playoff action and also takes a look ahead at this week’s games.
SOS.com: Pennridge came back and won a thriller with a field goal at the buzzer in its Thanksgiving Day game against Quakertown. Comment on that annual showdown between the neighboring SOL schools.
Coach Carey: It really shows how great a rivalry that game is and how special Thanksgiving Day games are. It’s something I really miss as a fan and as a coach. They were just so special. They bring communities together. People come home from school, they travel home for Thanksgiving, and they always come to that game.
I was up there for a short period and actually listened to the last part of the game on the radio. It was just a fabulous win for Pennridge. It could have gone either way, and I think it’s a feather in the cap of coach Cuthbert, his staff and the players to go out with a victory against a team that was in the playoffs two weeks prior.
SOS.com: How big is that win over Quakertown to a Pennridge team that returns many key players next year?
Coach Carey: It’s a real great motivator for the offseason. Pennridge, under coach Cuthbert, is very close to breaking out and having a playoff and banner year. With the people he has coming back – the quarterback (Kyle Peters) and his brother (Carter Peters), there’s Jesse Knepp and arguably their best offensive and defensive lineman in (Cory) Cowdery and a bevy of others. This is a team that will probably be ranked number two in the preseason in the Continental Conference next year.
SOS.com: On the flip side, how does this impact Quakertown?
Coach Carey: That’s the shame of the way things are in our society. People normally remember what you did last. I’m the first one to have lived that at C.B. West – winning 14 straight games in 2000 and taking a win streak to 59 games but losing that state playoff game in overtime to Erie. When I reflect back – I know it’s not the right thing to do, but my personality is that I always look at that last game we lost and not the great things we did throughout the season.
That’s the problem with Quakertown. They ended up losing two games in a row but really had a great year. Their coaching staff has built a heck of a program, and I think that’s the next challenge for coach John Donnelly.
The challenge for coaches in high school sports today is to build a consistent program, not be a good team for one or two years but then be down for two years. Good programs are the teams that reload every year. There are a lot of factors that go into that.
That will be the next question for coach Donnelly and his staff. Yes, they lose a lot of guys, but there’s the next crop coming up, and his challenge is to get them back in the playoffs.
SOS.com: Your thoughts about Ridley’s 28-7 win over Downingtown East in last Friday’s semifinal?
Coach Carey: Ridley had a huge win. It’s going to be a great test for the Green Raiders against North Penn. They came out ready and just smashed Downingtown East. Ridley is a team that’s very young at certain positions. At the beginning of the year when I saw them on film, I thought they were good but they’ve really gotten a lot better. I saw them on film recently. They have some real good receivers. Coach Dennis Decker in his first year really has them hitting on all cylinders offensively, and coach Ralph Batty - the defensive coordinator who has been there for 15-plus years - is absolutely one of the top defensive coordinators, maybe the top defensive coordinator in District One. He’s that good. He makes a huge difference for their program.
Ridley’s defense is the key. The Green Raiders held Downingtown East under 125 total yards, and they were a very explosive team. They held a Unionville team that had just beaten Pennsbury to very little yardage. Coach Batty has great schemes, they’re very fast defensively, and they have a lot of tough kids. It’s going to be an interesting game on Friday night.
SOS.com: You had the opportunity to broadcast North Penn’s big win over Avon Grove. Comment on the Knights’ performance in that win.
Coach Carey: I think North Penn was very prepared. They had gotten some good film on Avon Grove and really made them look like a middle school team. Some of that was coaching. Dick Beck knew exactly how he was going to attack the Avon Grove defense from the get-go and that was to line up in double tight with a tight wing, run off tackle and get to the edge on the veer. It was the first time I’ve seen North Penn really come out with a game plan that ‘We’re just going to power football you’ in a while. That was because of what Beck saw on film.
Avon Grove countered with a defense that really – it was like stealing offensively - was not prepared for North Penn’s schemes or its athletes. Of course, once North Penn gets up on you two scores, it puts a lot of pressure on you, and it allows North Penn’s defense – which is very fast and athletic – to just cut loose. I really don’t think Avon Grove is that bad. I just think North Penn put together a great game plan. Their kids are excited and are really coming out of the chute very quickly. That’s the sign of a team that’s very hungry. This team isn’t waiting for the second quarter. They’re exploding very fast, and they’re putting a lot of points on the board in the first quarter. That changes the opposing team’s game plan and puts them back on their heels.
One of Ridley’s biggest tasks Friday night is to get the game to halftime with a close score. If you get it close at halftime, then you have a shot against North Penn.
SOS.com: Comment on the play of North Penn’s offensive line in its win over Avon Grove.
Coach Carey: I think J.D. Dzurko has really stepped his game up from the middle of the season on. He and Ralph Reeves – when they put them side by side, they’re a formidable tandem. When you look at North Penn, they are either running off tackle, getting to the edge or sneaking a trap in every now and then. They don’t run that often between the tackles.
Ralph Reeves is one of the best blocking tight ends in the Delaware Valley. He’s up there with the best, and he’s only a 10th grader, and Dzurko is a very solid, strong tackle. North Penn is athletic at the guards and center position. Combine that with a strong wing back and Mike Culbreath at fullback who also blocks – you’re putting three or four very good blockers in front of Craig Needhammer, and that’s a formula for success.
That’s exactly what we did at CB West – put more blockers at the point of attack than they have defenders, and that works a lot of times.
SOS.com: Looking at Friday night’s district title game against Ridley, what do you see as the key for North Penn?
Coach Carey: Really, the key to that game is going to be how Ridley’s defense matches up against North Penn’s offense. Nobody has really been able to slow North Penn’s offense down or shut it down. When you get to this point, Ridley’s defense is going to have to play one of its premiere games in the last couple of years to give its offense a chance to put some points on the board.
It’s the age-old question – can anybody beat North Penn? I think anybody out there can be beaten with the right game plan. It’s how you execute it. If North Penn’s offensive line has a great game, that will negate the front seven of Ridley, which is very tough, very quick. They’re going to see a lot of looks, a lot of different schemes defensively.
Ridley has been here before. Ridley upset North Penn 21-17 in the district semifinals in 2006. I was at that game, and Ridley really won the game with a great defensive effort, and the Green Raiders will need that again.
On the flip side, I see North Penn as the best team in the state right now. It’s an early prediction, but I think they have a great shot to win the state title.
To beat North Penn and take pressure off its defense, Ridley is going to have to move the ball, and I’m not sure they’re the type of team – in my opinion – that has what it takes to beat North Penn. The game plan to beat North Penn is very similar to what Liberty executed last year in the Eastern Final, and that’s to play smash mouth football – line up, have a big offensive line and some power backs and be able to run at North Penn, chew up the clock and score points. That’s the recipe for success against North Penn.
Is there anybody out there that has that kind of talent this year? I’m not sure. I don’t really see it in District One. Ridley is more of a finesse team offensively, which plays into the hands of the great athletes on North Penn’s defense.
SOS.com: Your thoughts on the other teams that are remaining in the East?
LaSalle, which is playing Easton in the other part of Eastern Semifinal, throws the ball often, so they’re more of a finesse team. I watched Easton this past Saturday night against Parkland at Easton Stadium, and they (the Red Rovers) really get after you, both running and throwing. It will be interesting to see which team (LaSalle or Easton) comes out the winner in that one. There are four very good teams left in Eastern Pennsylvania, but in my opinion, North Penn is the team to beat.
I watched LaSalle/George Washington on TV, and LaSalle has a real nice program, very explosive offensively. I think it’s pretty obvious that LaSalle’s defense gives up too many points to take the Explorers to the promised land, but they have the best passing quarterback in District One – Drew Loughery - and the best bevy of receivers around. Plus Coach Drew Gordon does a phenomenal job down there. I think LaSalle is close to being a powerhouse in District One but needs to take the next step as a program.
Unequivocally, there’s no football from a fan’s perspective like District 11. There were probably 12 or 13,000 people at Easton Stadium on Saturday night for the Easton/Parkland game, just rabid fans. The atmosphere up there is electrifying.
Easton was just phenomenal coming off one day’s rest after playing Phillipsburg on Thanksgiving and then coming back Saturday night and beating a very good Parkland team. Easton is just a physical, physical team and is very tough with a nice defensive package. They ran the ball well (good “O” line). I was very impressed with Easton’s quarterback. They ended up winning 21-14.
After looking at all four teams, I really like North Penn to be the representative from the East in the state final. Ridley may be their toughest game until the state final game, and it might be the toughest the whole way out.
SOS.com: Comment on the outstanding job North Penn does of protecting the football.
Coach Carey: I told (WNPV broadcast partner) Kyle Berger on Friday night that I couldn’t remember the last time North Penn had turned the ball over. I can’t remember the last time the Knights fumbled it or threw an interception. That is so huge in the course of a season.
Needhammer is their main running back who gets most of their carries, and he just does not put the ball on the ground. He runs so low to the ground, and he’s got such an incredible burst. He has great balance, good flat-out speed. Quarterback Todd Smolinsky, of course, is the straw that stirs the drink in that offense.
They’ve just had a dream year where week after week their players are getting better. North Penn is a smart team, and you can see it with Coach Beck – he continues to put in more sets and more formations, and the kids just eat it up. That combined with their athleticism is a tough combination to beat.
That’s it for now…keep the e-mails coming to SuburbanOneSports@comcast.net. I’ll answer all your questions with an honest answer. Until later...keep the hits coming. There’s no game in America like High School Football.
COACH CAREY