In the second edition of the Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football,'* high school football beat writers Kevin Cooney and Dom Cosentino share their insights about some of last week’s key games and also look ahead to some of this week’s key games.
Cooney and Cosentino – who boast a combined 23 years covering high school football – are two of the area’s most respected and knowledgeable football writers. To stay on top of all the latest high school football news in the area, visit the web site http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/sports_now.html
SOS.com: What’s your take on the LaSalle-North Penn game?
Kevin Cooney: It’s strange. Like I said last week, I thought we were going to make too much of it one way or another coming in. And maybe I’m doing that now, too. However, I think the one thing that was made pretty clear is that the route to Hershey right now probably goes through Erdenheim.
LaSalle looked really good, especially in the second half with quarterback Matt Magarity throwing the ball very well. I thought this game spoke more about what LaSalle is capable of than the flaws North Penn has.
That being said, North Penn has to tighten things up. They never were able to get to the corner on their run plays, and that’s one thing we’ve seen North Penn do over the years. When they do that, they’re very tough to beat. They didn’t do that on Friday night, but I think you have to give LaSalle some credit for that because they played really well getting into the backfield and cutting that off.
North Penn has to take better care of the football too. There were four turnovers, and that’s something that’s going to have to get better as the year goes along. I can’t imagine that they’ll have a game like that again.
In a way, I would hate to be Lansdale Catholic this week. I can imagine a lot of frustration is going to be taken out on them. It will be interesting to see how North Penn bounces back.
Dom Cosentino: I think every coach in the area will tell you that there’s no such thing as a good loss, but at the same time, when a team reads all summer that they’re going to be number one in the state and top 50 in the country – I didn’t see the game, so I don’t know if this is true, but there may be a tendency to overlook some things.
The LaSalle game with LaSalle being the defending (state) champs coming into Crawford Stadium – it could have the effect of knocking North Penn into reality that they really have to work hard to achieve a district championship or a state championship.
We will get to see how North Penn bounces back against Lansdale Catholic this week. It’s a rivalry game. I realize LC has dropped down to 2A, but it’s still a rivalry, and North Penn has something to play for.
SOS.com: Share your thoughts about Central Bucks East’s overtime win over Abington.
Dom Cosentino: Early on, it’s just a good win for East. They had such a rough season a year ago, so much turmoil with the resignation of Tim Michael three games into the season. They bounced back and won three of their final seven games and then got a new coach, a veteran coach in John Donnelly. To get a win begins to establish them for the season going forward. With Council Rock South on the schedule this weekend, they have a chance to keep that going. It’s just good to win when you’re a new coach like that, especially in that situation – given what East has dealt with the last couple of years, particularly last season.
Kevin Cooney: East really needed a win like that to get the Donnelly era going. The fact that they won the game with defense, shutting down the Ghost in overtime — that’s huge. It gives them such a boost, and if they go 2-0, that momentum will keep going.
SOS.com: Talk about Council Rock South’s convincing win over Central Bucks South.
Dom Cosentino: I think that was a good win for Council Rock South in that they were able to rush for 340 yards, which is something you don’t see every day. They have a two-way threat in Billy Fleming at quarterback, and Mark Dirmigian really stepped up and had a great game running the ball. It was a dominant win, which is obviously a great way to start.
Certainly that was not the way Central Bucks South wanted to get started. Now the question is – how do they respond to a loss like that?
SOS.com: What are your thoughts at Saturday’s Council Rock South/Central Bucks East game?
Kevin Cooney: CB East beat Abington with its defense. The only touchdown they had in regulation was on a defensive score on an interception return. I think you’re going to learn a lot more about Central Bucks East and Council Rock South after this week. The winner of that game is going to be 2-0 and in a prime spot to make the playoffs.
Look at CR South and the rushing yards they racked up last week. They had 340 rushing yards. That’s pretty tough. CB East needs to get Justyn White going. He only had 46 yards last week. That has to improve.
This game is interesting because I think the winner will take a huge step towards possible playoff contention. The winner goes 2-0 and is probably feeling pretty good about themselves. You win this game and then you’re starting to think you have some pieces together.
Dom Cosentino: I think it’s a matchup of CB East’s speed and Council Rock South’s power that they displayed last week and how those matchups sort of fit with one another. Council Rock South won this game easily last year, but CB East seems to be an improved team from a year ago.
SOS.com: Central Bucks West lost its star running back early in last Friday’s game against Upper Dublin but still came away with a convincing win. What was your read on that game?
Dom Cosentino: Losing Rashaad Williams (Williams had 115 yards on 12 carries) and still being able to score 42 points, no matter the opponent, is important. Remember, this is a West team that ended last season with a loss to a winless Archbishop Ryan team. They were really at the bottom, so to speak.
Brian Hensel had said during the offseason that they improved, and they came out and showed that right away. They have a terrific quarterback in Ward Udinski, who has really flown below the radar because of the team’s lack of success, but we now begin to see what he’s capable of and what this team now is capable of going forward (Udinski was 14-of-22 for 196 yards, 2 TDs). It’s hard to judge whether or not it’s a quality win, but when you’re in the situation West was in where you were real close to being winless last year, any win is a big win.
SOS.com: William Tennent rallied from a 13-0 deficit to defeat Wissahickon. Comment on that big win for the Panthers.
Dom Cosentino: Here’s a Tennent team that won two games over the course of the last three seasons. They fall behind 13-0 on the road and come back and win. It’s a huge credit to Tennent and what they may or may not be capable of this season.
We’re looking at a West-Tennent game this week where one of those two teams is going to come out 2-0, which is pretty neat for the area. No one wants to see teams stay down for very long, and one of them after this weekend will be 2-0, which is kind of cool.
Kevin Cooney: It’s funny because you end up now with CB West and William Tennent, and one of them is going to be 2-0 by the end of this week. Everybody forgets that Tennent was a playoff team in ’06, ’05 and ’04, and West used to be a pretty good program.
For either one of them to start 2-0 is a good stepping stone for the program to return in some form – maybe not to level it was once at – and just to get some momentum built heading towards the league season.
SOS.com: Do either West or Tennent have a chance to make some waves in conference play?
Kevin Cooney: If you look at the National Conference – is Tennent going to beat Pennsbury and Neshaminy? Probably not. But look at the rest of the conference. Council Rock North might not have (Brandon) Cottom or John Raymon back healthy for a few weeks. Truman only has 25 kids. Bensalem just got beat by Overbrook. All of a sudden, you sit there and think maybe Tennent could get to four or five wins. Are they going to make the playoffs? Probably not, but at least they will compete, which is a lot more than you could say the last couple of years.
West has a little trickier problem because West has to play North Penn, it has to play Souderton and Pennridge, and those three look decent. Central Bucks East is interesting as well. The road in the Continental is a lot trickier than the National right now. But there's no doubt that West has improved.
SOS.com: What did you take from Neshaminy’s 21-19 win over Souderton?
Dom Cosentino: That game told me two things. Number one is that Neshaminy is legitimately one of the better teams in District One this year, and I also think Souderton proved that it can contend and hang with some of the best teams in the district as well. That was a very physical and very well-played game on both sides, particularly for the first game of the season.
SOS.com: Which player or players stood out to you in that game?
Dom Cosentino: Number one obviously was Corey Majors of Neshaminy. He finished with 17 tackles and did a couple of other things, particularly two stops on fourth down – including a big one toward the end of the game with 1:20 to go that basically clinched the win. I thought from his linebacker spot – some of the hits he made – he was pretty much all over the field.
For Souderton, Joe Stolfi, a defensive tackle, also made some big plays from his position. (Neshaminy coach) Mark Schmidt commented he would have liked to have seen him blocked more, but I think Stolfi has shown he’s one of the top two-way linemen in the area. Those two guys particularly impressed me.
I also thought Neshaminy quarterback Charlie Marterella – it’s his first year as a starter, and he really did a great job commanding the offense. He had an early fumble, which he made up for, and Neshaminy was able to turn a 6-0 deficit into a 21-6 lead.
Souderton’s offensive line for what it did in the third quarter - keeping Neshaminy off the field – really played well also.
SOS.com: With the return of projected starting quarterback Anthony Sergio, does Souderton coach Ed Gallagher have a tough decision to make after Tanner Allem’s strong debut against Neshaminy?
Dom Cosentino: He certainly does have a decision to make. Tanner seemed to play very well. We don’t know what the dynamic is like in practice as to whether or not Anthony Sergio, who was out with mono until early last week, gets a shot this week. That’s a decision you have to make, and it’s not going to be an easy one, obviously.
I thought Allem had a very good command of the offense. Souderton mixed a lot of their plays and used several backs that carried the ball. He completed 12-of-17 passes, which is impressive for a first start at the varsity level for anyone but especially so going against a team as formidable as Neshaminy.
SOS.com: Talk about Easton’s 34-13 win over Pennsbury.
Dom Cosentino: I thought it would have been closer. One thing about Pennsbury is they have an entirely new defense. Interestingly, for a team that likes to run the ball as much as they do, they did get over 200 yards passing from Jeff Prine, which could be a sign of things to come in terms of how dynamic their offense can be with Brandon Pepper moving over to running back, but certainly, they’re going to have to shore up their defense.
This weekend, they’re playing a very good Harrisburg team that scored 39 points against Parkland last week, so it’s not like they get a chance to catch their breath this week either. I think they will be okay even if they go 0-2 just because they’re still one of the favorites in the National Conference. When 16 teams make the playoffs, you almost have to lose five or six games to miss the playoffs.
SOS.com: Truman seemed to come through the first week of the season unscathed. Can they make it through the entire schedule?
Dom Cosentino: With 23 players, it seems as though they have the personnel to compete. They’re obviously facing long odds to win. The numbers they have versus the numbers of their opponents – when they play the bigger schools in their league season that are throwing out 60-70-80 guys, it could be that much tougher.
They’re going to be okay on Friday when they play a team like Ben Franklin that has a smaller roster, but once the league schedule starts, they’re going against the Pennsburys and Neshaminys with the big rosters. It’s going to be interesting to see where they go from here. It’s obviously going to be a chore for them to win with just 23 or so players.
SOS.com: Upper Moreland earned a tough 14-7 win over Strath Haven – how big was that win?
Kevin Cooney: That was a nice win for Upper Moreland last week. Obviously, those are two teams that made a mark in 3A. This year Pottsgrove is the team everyone is in love with, but this was a big win for Upper Moreland against a team that can probably make the playoffs just like they can. This win will look bigger in week eight or week 10 than it does right now.
Dom Cosentino: It was a good win in that Strath Haven – although they’re not the team they were 10 years ago when they were winning back-to-back state championships – has been on the cusp of the PIAA 3A playoffs. For an Upper Moreland team that plays in a Quad A league, this was a chance to match up against a team outside the league that’s a 3A school and a possible playoff team, so it is a good win for Upper Moreland from that standpoint. It was a close game they lost last year, so it was also good for that reason as well.
SOS.com: Hatboro, under first-year coach Gary Pagliaro, defeated Frankford – how significant was that?
Dom Cosentino: For Hatboro, that was huge. Here was a team that was unable to really have organized passing scrimmages all summer with a playbook or any coaching supervision until the middle of the summer. They finally hired a coach in the middle of July, and they had to think it was an uphill battle for them.
No, they didn’t beat Neshaminy, who they play this week, but a win is a win. One thing at this level getting victories can do is what it does for the players’ confidence. It’s one thing to go out there and try to convince players to practice when the results aren’t showing on the field, but I think a win against anyone, especially the circumstances Hatboro was dealing with – with a brand new coach in the middle of summer – will do wonders for their confidence as they head into this week’s game against Neshaminy. That should be a good matchup. It was only a 13-6 game a year ago.
SOS.com: What are your thoughts about Council Rock North and Central Bucks South after their opening week losses?
Kevin Cooney: Honestly, that’s not the way you draw it up for CR North. Brandon Cottom and John Raymon get hurt for a decent portion of the season. They lose to a Judge team that — while decent — won’t be confused with LaSalle or the Prep in the PCL Class AAAA division. That’s very discouraging.
And in a way, I think that some of the comments that (athletic director) Dan Griesbaum made on SuburbanOneSports.com - honestly, I thought he took an unnecessary shot at former coach Tom Coates. They’ve started fresh, and I don’t think it helps the program for the AD to bring up last year right away. I understand the point that Dan is going for, and it is fairly noble, but I don’t think it’s realistic. He also made a point about how wins and losses and making the playoffs are not the main thing. While I agree in principle, there is something important about winning and competing that should be emphasized.
Should we treat high school sports as pro or major college sports? No. But I also think that it is important to point out that there are a lot of opportunities that come along to improve one’s standing through athletics. And honestly, as much as we don’t like to say it, programs that win get more attention from coaches at the next level. And if you don’t emphasize winning in some form and college coaches believe you don’t care about the wins and losses, they quickly will look at other places where winning does matter.
As much as I think everyone has to realize sports are not life or death, I’ve always kind of cringed at the participation trophy model that we give to youth athletics these days. And in some of Dan’s comments, I almost believe that is the direction that he wants the sports’ programs to go in.
As far as Central Bucks South is concerned – the run defense has to be a concern if they’re allowing 340 yards to Bill Fleming and the crew at South. They catch a break with Cottom not playing. I think we all agree that it’s going to be a process for South – new coach, new staff, trying to rebuild. Stuff like last week is going to happen.
SOS.com: Your thoughts going into the second week of the season?
Kevin Cooney: This week doesn’t have quite the sizzle of week one, but it will be an interesting week because I want to see how a couple of these teams that won last week do. You’ll get a better feel for teams after this week. It’s easy to lose your perspective when there’s only one game to judge teams on. This week we start judging teams on a different scale.
*The opinions expressed in 'Let's Talk Football' are not necessarily those of www.SuburbanOneSports.com.
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