Back for its 13th 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.
Join Jeff Nolan and Kevin Cooney for the WPHT High School Football Scoreboard Show as they recap the night of high school football on Friday at 10 p.m. on 1210AM/WPHT and the Audacy app.
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn fell to La Salle in one of opening night’s marquee matchups. Your thoughts since you were at that game.
Drew Markol: “A good opener although the end result wasn’t what North Penn wanted, but that was two really good teams playing each other. Obviously, I haven’t seen all the teams across the state, but if those aren’t two of the top 10 in the state, I’d like to see the ones I’m missing because they were both really good.
“North Penn held the lead into the fourth quarter. They did end up losing 37-28. Senior quarterback Ryan Zeltt, who is now a four-year starter, looked really good passing the ball- he threw for 264 yards and a touchdown. North Penn got beat up a little bit up front on the defensive side by a pretty big and experienced La Salle line, and they’ll have to address that. I give them credit for playing a La Salle team that recruits players. A lot of schools won’t play the private schools that recruit, especially when they recruit kids from your area. Credit North Penn coach Dick Beck – come district playoff time, he doesn’t care if he’s the top seed or the last seed. He just cares about his team being ready to go. That’s what playing games against really, really good teams like La Salle does, so good for him. They’re going to be a tough team to beat from here on out.
“This week, they play Quakertown, which was a district semifinalist last year They had a great 13-win season, and they won last week over Southern Lehigh, but North Penn comes in to Quakertown on Friday after losing to La Salle, so that will be a very, very tough test for Quakertown to see where they stand. It’s going to be an angry North Penn team coming in. We’ll see.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: In a rematch of last year’s District One 6A quarterfinal game (a 41-13 Garnet Valley win), CB West travelled to Garnet Valley for Friday night’s opener and lost on a late Jaguars’ touchdown. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “West coach Rob Rowan doesn’t schedule any pushovers. He goes and plays the defending district champs. Last year, West played Coatesville in its season opener. West took a little bit of pounding in the playoffs when it played Garnet Valley, but this time around, they had the lead. That game was one of those – you’re at another game, and you hear the partial score that West is beating Garnet Valley, you kind of step back. Eventually, they did lose, but again, you’ve got a Garnet Valley team that’s the defending district champs. They have a new coach, and that team is all fired up to give that coach his first win. They’re playing at home – West goes all the way down there and nearly knocks them off. That’s a tough spot. I didn’t see that game, but that showed a lot of people something. It looks like West is for real.
“West is playing Upper Dublin this week. Upper Dublin has a tremendous quarterback in Colin O’Sullivan, who’s a four-year starter. He threw for 283 yards last week in their win over Kennett - Griffin Pensabene had eight catches for 152 yards. Upper Dublin is always good, so West is getting another good game. Then next week they play Pennridge with the start of divisional play in the SOL.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Neshaminy – after winning just two games last year – picked up an impressive 21-0 win over Ocean City in the Battle of the Beach. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Another impressive team last week was Neshaminy. You’re coming off a 2-8 season, which is very uncharacteristic. Last year, they beat Souderton, and they beat Pennsbury, their archrival, by a point in the last game of the year. They go to Ocean City which is hosting early season high school games. It’s pretty cool the way they do it, and Neshaminy has to play Ocean City. That was an 11-win team last year with a really good quarterback, Riley Gunnels, and Neshaminy beats them 21-0. Senior running back Markus Barnett ran for 274 yards. What a season debut! Coach Steve Wilmot said in the preseason they were pretty good on both lines. That was one of his team’s strengths. Well, he wasn’t lying. That’s a huge boost for Neshaminy – which started 0-3 last year - to get that win and get that confidence.
“Now they have Council Rock South this Friday. They didn’t play last year, but Council Rock South, which was also 2-8 last year, beat William Tennent last week. William Tennent led into the third quarter of that game, but Rock South shut them out in the second half and went on to win 21-7. I put a whole lot of stock in opening week wins on the high school level just because of the whole confidence thing – they say they begin practice in August, but most of them begin lifting weights and getting ready for the next season about 10 minutes after their previous season ends, so you’re working months and months and months, and then you come out and lose – that’s tough. You have to go through another week of practice, and then you’ve got that – ‘Oh, we don’t want to be 0-2.’ You win that first game – it kind of validates a lot of things you’re doing.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton opened up a 27-0 lead in its way to a 27-7 win over Haverford. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Souderton’s offense is led by senior Shaun Purvy, and their defense has all their starters back from a year ago – they played an always good Haverford High School team and beat them 27-7. If you hold a team to seven points, chances are you’re going to beat them. A good defense will do that, and Souderton went out and did it. They put up 27 points, and that’s what you like to see.
“This week they play a Pennridge team that is one of their rivals – it’s the 309 Bowl and all that stuff. Pennridge is coming off a loss to a pretty good Downingtown East team at home, so they’re going to want to bounce back in a hurry under first-year coach Chuck Burgy and give him that first win. Brennan Fisher, an Army West Point commit, had a pretty big game for Pennridge, but Pennridge got kind of overwhelmed by the Downingtown East offense.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks South took on defending SOL American Conference champion Plymouth Whitemarsh and won 21-7. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “CB South – which was 6-5 last year and the last team in the district playoffs – opened the season again like it did last year against Plymouth Whitemarsh. They beat them by eight points last year (35-27), but this year beat them by two touchdowns. Brett Szarko, the quarterback, had a pair of touchdown passes. That’s a solid win. PW was a 10-win team a year ago, and after PW lost its opener to CB South last year, it went on to win 10 in a row. That’s a good game for both teams. You have a 5A Plymouth Whitemarsh playing a solid 6A in CB South. It’s a game that could go either way, and the last couple have gone CB South’s way. That’s good scheduling for both of those programs.”
Markol’s Picks (winner in bold)
Abington @ Council Rock North
Cheltenham @ Northeast HS
Central Bucks East @ Bensalem
Central Bucks South @ Harry S Truman
Central Bucks West @ Upper Dublin
Neshaminy @ Council Rock South
Lower Moreland @ Bristol
Academy of the New Church @ New Hope-Solebury
North Penn @ Quakertown
Pennridge @ Souderton
Pennsbury @ William Tennent
Methacton @ Plymouth Whitemarsh
Harriton @ Springfield Twp
Archbishop John Carroll @ Upper Moreland
Owen J Roberts @ Wissahickon
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