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In this 12thedition of Coach Carey’s blog, ‘The Way I See It,’ the former coach takes a closer look at some of the coaching vacancies that have occurred since the final week of the season and also takes a look at the state’s semifinal and final games.
SOS.com: A lot has happened in the SOL since the end of the football season, and three major programs – Central Bucks East, Central Bucks South and Council Rock North – are looking for head coaches. What are your thoughts?
Coach Carey: There are five or six job openings in District One, and the Palisades coach resigned after taking that team to the playoffs four or five years in a row. I think it’s unusual to have so many openings at once.
I don’t think anybody saw the Council Rock North situation changing. I personally thought Tom Coates did a very, very good job. He took the team to the playoffs and ran into a juggernaut in North Penn, but Tom had a real bevy of good players coming back for 2010 and probably would have been picked number one or number two behind Neshaminy in the preseason rankings for the SOL National Conference. That was a real big surprise to me. Having coached with Tom on my staff at CB West – he’s a fantastic coach, one who, in my opinion, deserved better and deserved more time. His program was going in the right direction, and I’m shocked by that. Whoever picks up Tom as an assistant will get a winner.
As far as the Central Bucks schools – the situation in Central Bucks is really kind of disheartening. You have a lot of talent in the school district. I believe it’s the second biggest school district in the state. I know Central Bucks South is sixth largest school in District One, and CB East is not far behind. They both get great numbers out for the program. Both schools need to get the right person who is a top flight football coach. I’ve heard that Rod Stone the CB South principal will hand pick the new coach...and that’s a good idea by Rod. Rod’s been around the game and sports in general for a long time (having been AD and head wrestling coach at West) and now Chairman of District One and member of the PIAA board. He will, in my opinion, make a great choice for new coach at South. Best of luck, Rod! This is a school that is crying out for a great football coach. With the right staff they could be a District title contender year after year! This is no joke!
SOS.com: Looking back at the SOL season – were there any surprises in the Continental Conference?
Coach Carey: I think the season kind of went the way I thought it would in the preseason. There was no doubt that North Penn was loaded. I did say from the beginning that I thought 2010 was North Penn’s year. When I looked at them two years ago, I believed that in 2010 they would have a great shot at winning the state title. Here comes 2010…
North Penn had such a great year this year, and you start getting greedy as a team and staff, but they had a great run. Unfortunately, they suffered some injuries in that final Ridley game, and that was a factor. They’re going to be loaded next year.
Quakertown had a great year, but it ended on such a dismal note, losing to Pennridge and Avon Grove the way it did.
I thought Pennridge got better as the season went on, and it’s time for Pennridge to break out and become an 8-3 or better team and make the playoffs. I think that’s a realistic goal for coach Randy Cuthbert next year with the personnel he has coming back.
Looking at Hatboro, I thought they were going to be a middle of the pack team, and they kind of ended up there. They were hurt by injuries, but coach Dave Sanderson does a real nice job down there. He’s hurt with number problems, and if you lose one or two key guys, that really hurts you.
Probably the biggest disappointment was CB South, in my opinion. That’s a program that has to win with the type of talent they get there.
You have the disappointment at CB East with the resignation of Tim Michael during the season but I thought the staff, led by Mike Barainyak, did a real good job. They won some nice games. Beating Pennridge was a huge win for them, and they also beat CB South. The team rallied around that staff.
I thought Brian Hensel did a pretty good job at CB West. The Bucks only had one win, but their numbers are up. He started five or six sophomores and has some key guys coming back. Next year will be a critical year for Brian and his program. They’ve got to win five games, and that may be tough.
SOS.com: You were in attendance at the Ridley/LaSalle state playoff game. Were you surprised that LaSalle won by such a decisive margin?
Coach Carey: I thought going in it was going to be an evenly matched game. I had actually seen LaSalle play St. Joe’s Prep twice during the season, and then I went up and saw LaSalle play at Easton the weekend before in just brutal weather. I came away from that game realizing that LaSalle was peaking at the right time and was a lot more physical than I thought they were. They truly out-hit an Easton team that is known for its physicality.
I went to the Ridley/LaSalle game, and there were two factors. One was Ridley seemed spent from the efforts its players gave the week prior vs. North Penn. The other factor was Ridley’s inability to hold onto the football. They turned the ball over five times in the game, and LaSalle’s offense is just so explosive. You can’t put the ball on the ground and win….especially in the playoffs.
Ridley fumbled a punt. Its young sophomore running back broke a 30-yard gain and got down to the 15-yard line of LaSalle but got tackled and fumbled it right back to LaSalle. They fumbled a quarterback-center exchange. They fumbled a pass completion that was for a first down. All five times LaSalle recovered the football.
Ridley just did not seem to have the energy, and a lot of that is from turnovers. The defense was on the field the whole day, and LaSalle’s offense is very, very strong.
SOS.com: Comment also about LaSalle’s 24-7 win over State College in the state championship game.
Coach Carey: Going into the game, I had talked to Drew Gordon, LaSalle’s coach, probably three or four times in the two weeks – prior to the Ridley game and prior to the State College game. I had seen State College on film once when they played McDevitt during the year, and I truly thought LaSalle had an advantage going into the game. They just had more skills guys, and low and behold, you had that BAD weather front that moved through and dropped a lot snow out there, but it did not deter LaSalle. LaSalle was just hitting on all cylinders. Moving Sam Feleccia from the H-back into the wildcat position – he had a career game running the football, and Drew Loughery threw real well considering the elements.
LaSalle got up quick on State College, and State College has an offense that’s not really built to make comebacks. It was a great win for Drew Gordon, for the program, for the Philadelphia Catholic League and for Southeastern Pennsylvania.
SOS.com: If you had to rate the teams for next season, who – besides North Penn – would be at the top of the class, and which programs might be in for a rough time next season?
North Penn will be pre-season #1 in the State. Neshaminy and Council Rock North return a nice group of players. Ridley again will be loaded as will Downingtown East. Pennsbury with Brandon Pepper at QB will be in the hunt. In District 12…..St Joes Prep is absolutely loaded, and LaSalle will be strong again.
SOS.com: Wins and losses aside, which coach – in your opinion – did the best job last fall in the SOL?
Of course Dick Beck and his staff did a fantastic job taking a young team to the District One AAAA finals. I also thought Tom Coates did a nice job with CR North. They were 6 and 4 with two losses (Neshaminy and Council Rock South) that could have been wins. CR South coached by Vince Bedesem was a very tough team with not a lot of stars. Other teams that had great coaching moments were Q-town (nice record), Souderton (again a good coaching job by Ed Gallagher) and Pennridge (great win by Randy Cuthbert over Q-town).
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