Back for its 14th 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 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: Central Bucks West won the eagerly-awaited showdown with Central Bucks South 40-29. You were at that game. Your thoughts?
Drew Markol: “West got off to such a fast start – they scored the first four times they had the ball. South did cut into the lead before the half, and they scored on their first possession of the third quarter to make it close (27-21), but then West answered that score the first time they got the ball in the third quarter with a score. Rob Rowan, the West coach, after the game said it was one of the most important possessions of the season because the momentum had shifted to South, but West was able to answer it.
“For West, there’s a guy like (Devin) McGowan who doesn’t get the attention but picks up an enormous first down on fourth-and-four. Whenever a play was needed, West just made it. Junior running back Ryan Clemens is a little guy, but he always falls forward. Cooper Taylor, the quarterback, also played safety, and he had some big plays on defense too. He’s an excellent runner. They’re the number one seed, so they should be good obviously, but they’re going to be a really tough out because that CB South team is pretty good. They had only allowed 64 points in eight games, and West goes and puts 40 on them. I didn’t think it would be high scoring – I didn’t think the two teams would score 69 points in that game. I didn’t think the two teams would have 45 points total.
“South made some uncharacteristic mistakes – they had a bunch of penalties. If they meet again in the playoffs, I think it will be a closer game. 40-29 sounds pretty close, but it really wasn’t. Conor McFadden is such a difference maker for West. He scored one of the early touchdowns where he turned the corner and a couple of South players had the angle on him, and he just outran them down the sideline because he’s so fast that he was able to do that. One time when a South running back broke into the clear and looked like he was going to run for a touchdown – McFadden came from across the field and just ran him down like it was nothing. Ran him down and made the tackle, and South ended not scoring on that drive.
For South, junior quarterback Owen Pinkerton ran for over 200 yards in the game, and a lot of that was in the second half when they just basically went to him as the ground game. He did a great job. South may have found something there – another weapon – because he ran hard, and West couldn’t stop him.
“West is 9-0 now, and they play East on Friday. If they beat East, they’ll be the number one seed, and they’ll host every playoff game they play in the district. I would not be surprised if a couple weeks from now we see them playing each other again in the district semi or district quarter, depending how the bracket falls.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton defeated Upper Dublin 31-6 in another game with conference title implications. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Souderton has unbelievable confidence at home. I think it’s 18 straight home wins now going back to 2019. I think CB South was the last team to beat them on their home field in the final regular season game of 2019, which – in the life of a high school kid – that’s forever ago. Souderton’s players weren’t in high school then – they were in seventh or eighth grade. Souderton with the number two seed is going to host every game until the final. If form holds, they would be playing West in the final on the road, but if you’re Souderton and you get on a roll, you hope somebody beats West and you get to host the district final.
“Danny Dyches for Souderton had 10 catches for 160-plus yards and a couple of touchdowns. They have the ingredients – a stout defense, and they have a good enough passing game and a player like Dyches, who can score every time he gets the ball. You have Dyches in the passing game and Ryan Sadowski at running back, and sophomore quarterback Ben Walsh, who’s doing a great job. They don’t ask a lot of him, but he can throw the ball enough, and he runs the offense. It’s working. That’s not a bad mix at all. It’s also why they’re 9-0.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Neshaminy edged Central Bucks East and this week will travel to Pennsbury for its annual rivalry game. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “For Neshaminy, that East game was a must win. They beat CB East 28-27. Senior running back Travis Lavelah had a couple of touchdowns and had a huge game for Neshaminy. Their junior kicker, Kaden Nicastro, makes all four extra points. On one of them, there was a penalty on Neshaminy, and they moved it back, and he still made it. That was obviously the difference, and that one-point wins puts Neshaminy at 16 in the district rankings in 6A, and the top 16 get in, so being 16 is important. That game put CB East at 18. It moved Pennsbury, which beat Abington last week, to 17, so now you have Neshaminy at Pennsbury on Friday with the winner in and the loser most likely out.
“Pennsbury beat Neshaminy 35-0 last year, but that’s a great rivalry. Neshaminy leads the rivalry – I believe it’s 43-42-7. This is the 93rd meeting, and there’s a lot on the line here. If you want to get into districts, now you have to go beat your archrival. That’s for Pennsbury and that’s for CB East.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Any other thoughts about the upcoming district tournament.
Drew Markol: “Making the district tournament is something you can hang your hat on, and it does help in the offseason with getting the kids interested and getting them in the weight room and all that kind of stuff.
“You look at a team like North Penn, which has been up and down all season. Now I believe they’re 13th in the latest rankings, and if they win this week, maybe they jump up to 11th. I’m guessing because the math for the district tournament is always wacky when it comes out, but that’s what makes the last week of the season fun. When you allow so many teams in the district tournament – and we talk every week – there are too many of them, but it does keep a lot of teams alive, and it makes week 10 important, so instead of just playing out the string and turning in your equipment, you’re playing for a shot to get in the district tournament and practice another week, and who knows what can happen.
“We’ve talked before – for Council Rock South, it’s very important for them to be in. You look at their losses. They’ve lost to Upper Dublin, they’ve lost to Pennsbury and they’ve lost to Souderton – they’ve lost to pretty good teams, and they’re 6-3. It does add some intrigue to week 10 that we wouldn’t have without the district playoffs.
“You look at Cheltenham at number 17 – there has to be a cutoff, and it’s 16. Cheltenham has to win. What’s really helped Cheltenham and should be a blueprint for other teams is that they play a really tough schedule. They played Wilson from District 3, they played Roman Catholic, which is a superb 5A team in District 12. If Imhotep Charter wasn’t there, Roman Catholic might win a state title. Roman Catholic has a quarterback that has been offered by Alabama, and Cheltenham is out playing these teams. Some coaches look at it and say, ‘If I go and play a really good team, I might get clobbered,’ but that really good team might clobber other teams too, and that’s going to help you with the points based on the strength of schedule. Going out and beating up on Jerkwater Tech is not going to help you if they’re 1-9. Then when you get to the playoffs if you haven’t really played that many teams of substance and you run into a team that has – sometimes you have a problem. Good for Cheltenham. There are teams that do this – they go out and find good opponents – you learn more from losing, and in this case, you might lose the game. but you might win the war because of the points you’ll get playing those good teams. It’s all factored in. I wish all coaches would go out and challenge themselves and their team. Some do, some don’t.
“You look at the teams in 5A. Plymouth Whitemarsh is having a really good season, and Upper Dublin is the defending district champion. They’re at number seven now, but I don’t think they’re concerned one way or the other about their seeding. For Hatboro-Horsham, they were 1-20 in the past three seasons playing an independent schedule. Tom Butts, the first-year coach, said ‘Our goal is not to win X amount of games, our goal is to make the district playoffs.’ He said that in August, and we all kind of chuckled – ‘Okay, good luck.’ Well, they sit at number 14 with a really good chance of doing just that. Much like Council Rock South in 6A, for a team like that to get into the tournament – if you’re Hatboro-Horsham and you want to get back in the SOL next year and have a regular schedule, well, this is how you do it. Upper Moreland, after a rough start is at number 16. That’s precarious because only 16 get in, but if they can win, they’re in. If they get in during a down year, that tells you that your program is pretty good.”
Drew Markol’s picks
(Winners in bold)
Abington @ North Penn
Bensalem @ Souderton
Central Bucks East @ Central Bucks West
Pennridge @ Central Bucks South
Cheltenham @ Wissahickon
Council Rock South @ Council Rock North
Strath Haven @ Harry S Truman
Hatboro-Horsham @ Twin Valley
Lower Moreland @ New Hope-Solebury
Neshaminy @ Pennsbury
Upper Moreland @ Plymouth Whitemarsh
Upper Dublin @ Quakertown
William Tennent @ Springfield Twp
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