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Back for a second season is the Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football,’ featuring high school football beat writers Kevin Cooney and Dan Dunkin. Cooney, who recently was named the Phillies beat writer, will continue to cover schools in the Intelligencer area while Dan Dunkin – who has been covering sports at the high school and professional level for 25 years - will cover teams in the Courier Times area, filling in the spot vacated when Dom Cosentino relocated in New York City. Both beat writers share their thoughts about some of the opening week games and also look ahead to this week.
To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the web site http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Kevin, you were at Friday night’s Council Rock South-Central Bucks South game. Talk about the performance of Rock South senior quarterback Brian Donnelly in his varsity debut and the impact he could have on the fate of the Golden Hawks this season.
Kevin Cooney: Donnelly doesn’t give them the same dimension as Fleming, but he gives them something that really could work well going forward. The thing that impressed me most was the way he read coverages, the way he read the gap. That’s an instinct that you can’t teach somebody, and he has that instinct. That was a pretty big revelation. The quarterback still has to be able to throw the football, and his exposure could be somewhere down the road.
They have a base here they can use to make a run. Their division is very tough. Neshaminy proved last week that they are still a pretty big factor to contend with. I think Pennsbury is better than they played last week. Abington is probably in contention there too, but CR South is going to be right in the hunt, especially in a District One that is down. I think they’re a playoff team.
SuburbanOneSports.com: The Golden Hawks jumped out to a 35-14 halftime lead but scored only seven second-half points. Do you attribute that to CB South’s defense making adjustments or CR South’s game plan?
Kevin Cooney: It looked like the game plan for Council Rock South changed. I thought it was more pound it out with the backs than just having the quarterback run options all the time. That was the big change in my mind.
I also think there’s a human element when you’re up by that amount - you ease off the throttle. I thought CR South eased a little bit off the throttle but not a lot. They’re a pretty good football team.
The problem with CB South is they have to really learn how to focus on a defensive game plan. They were just really caught off guard early on, and it came back and bit them. This isn’t a new trend. I didn’t see them last year, but all you have to do is look at the point totals – you can’t exist if you don’t play defense. I think CB South has to get back to a point where they commit themselves to defense.
That game, to me, was more about the progression CR South has made to becoming a year-in and year-out program, and it showed how far CB South still has to go. Even with their top-flight quarterback (Matt Johns), they have some work to do.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton lost a tough game to Neshaminy that coach Ed Gallagher had called almost a ‘must-win.’ What are the implications of that loss for the Indians?
Kevin Cooney: It’s week one. Souderton played very well, but they have to cut back on the turnovers and giving up the big plays. That was the one thing that killed them last year against North Penn and Neshaminy – they had too many instances where the big play killed them. If they ever find out how to cut out the big play, they’re not just a playoff team, they’re probably a top five seed.
To me, the storyline to the weekend was – Souderton is good, but Neshaminy is better. North Penn is still the team to beat in the Continental Conference even with the way they looked in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against La Salle.
There were two teams from the Continental Conference that won last weekend. One was Hatboro that beat a Public League team and the other was Central Bucks West, which struggled. If we want to start nitpicking here – it’s week one. You’re never as good or as bad as you look in week one. Now we will kind of settle into more of a normal pattern of things.
SuburbanOneSports.com: You also covered Saturday night’s North Penn-La Salle game. What was your assessment of that contest?
Kevin Cooney: Honestly, you could take all three of the games from the last 12-plus months between those two teams and sum it up – it’s just a bad matchup for North Penn. It really is. I think in sports sometimes we look for goats and scapegoats, and Dick Beck’s comments after the game about conditioning – he was right. They didn’t have a lot of players go both ways, but they were cramping.
North Penn may be the third best Quad A team in the state. Unfortunately for them, the first best team is five miles down the road. La Salle as gotten to that point.
Talentwise – North Penn can play with them, but the matchup of what La Salle does so well just picks on areas where North Penn is not as strong. There’s a similar pattern to all these games. North Penn gets worn down at the end. The other part of that pattern is they get beat by pretty big wide receivers.
If you think back to the Eastern Final game last year, it was the same way. North Penn got gashed across the middle by La Salle’s bigger receivers. I don’t know how that changes. There are a few options, and wiser people than me can say this – maybe you focus more on controlling the ball and the ground game and all that to try and keep their offense off the field. That’s all honky dory, but in the end, that’s what North Penn has to look at if those two meet again down the road. That one aspect is not a good matchup. They cannot seem to match up late in games against taller receivers.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Comment about the performance of some of the other teams in your coverage area.
Kevin Cooney: My story this week is going to be that Central Bucks West (which defeated Upper Dublin) has got to try to keep building. For the program to say it’s back, it has got to put together a second straight playoff season. They have a shot. They play Tennent this week, and if they beat Tennent, they’re 2-0. No matter how ugly week one was they’re still 2-0. Brian Hensel has something going. They would have lost a game like Friday night’s game against Upper Dublin a couple of years ago. They’re taking steps here. We weren’t sure how they would deal with the loss of Rashaad Williams, but they’re taking steps.
Pennridge’s loss to Haverford Prep is baffling to me. If that program is going to move forward, they have to stop doing this. They really have to stop doing this. I’m trying to say that as nicely as possible. I don’t think it’s a real controversial position to think Pennridge should beat Haverford. If you’re going to play in a conference with North Penn and Souderton and be a big boy and make the playoffs, you have to beat Haverford. A loss like that will do one of two things – it’s either going to kick in a sense of embarrassment, for lack of a better term, and guys will focus, or it goes the other way and you feel as though your season is lost in week one. If that’s the case, it’s going to be a long fall.
Central Bucks East lost to Abington, but they have some pieces, and I think they could actually have a pretty good year. Are they a playoff team? Maybe not, but I think they’ll be okay.
Upper Moreland (which lost to Strath Haven) has a new coach, new names everywhere, and the way the division is looking – Norristown goes and beats Pottsgrove and PW is pretty good. Upper Moreland could be in for a long year.
SuburbanOneSports.com: You covered the Neshaminy-Souderton game on Friday night. Share your thoughts on that game.
Dan Dunkin: Souderton totally controlled the first half. I was amazed – Neshaminy only had the ball for 10 plays. Souderton has a terrific three-pronged running game. Neshaminy definitely had the size advantage on both sides of the line, but Souderton and their scheme outsmarted them and out-quicked them, and it obviously took Neshaminy a half to get its bearings.
The big plays bailed Neshaminy out. Their quarterback, Joe Bianchino, in his first varsity start did a good job and got some help from his big-play wide receivers. Bobby Marterella and especially Ron Smith with the 87-yard touchdown in the second half gave Neshaminy the lead. Sean Ulmer made a terrific adjustment in the end zone and made a diving catch for a touchdown. Bianchino threw for three scores, but when that game ended even Mark Schmidt was a bit surprised that they won. You have to give Neshaminy credit for bouncing back strong in the second half both in terms of physicality and scheme – their coaches did a good job adjusting. It was amazing they came back and won that game because they were so dominated in the first half.
To me, the first half did set off some yellow flags if not red flags about Neshaminy early in the season. A lot of times you learn so much about a team in the first game, and I think they did. They were a little nicked up. Schmidt said they kind of had to piece together their offensive line later in the week, they didn’t have a couple of their running backs ready to go because they were nicked up, and that was a problem getting ready, but as a whole, Neshaminy is not as experienced as last year. Their lines on both sides of the ball and their linebackers are a little bit inexperienced. They have really good players there, but they’re learning.
I think Souderton will be very good. Ed Gallagher was very distraught that they ran out of gas. They had guys cramping up, guys they couldn’t get back on the field. It wasn’t hot, and he was surprised. He said they have to get in better shape, which was surprising to him and surprising to me. Their secondary was exposed in that game. They got burned for three big plays, and their secondary is supposed to be their strength, so that was surprising. Tanner Allen, their quarterback, is good, but Neshaminy – to their credit – really chased him around in the second half and really made it difficult for him as well as for their running game.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Share your thoughts about Pennsbury’s loss to Easton.
Dan Dunkin: Pennsbury lost for the second straight year to Easton, more disturbingly this year because they got blanked. They have a new offensive coordinator, and they’re very high on Shawn Pepper, their junior quarterback, and their skills people. That loss knocked them on their heels, I’m sure, and this is a huge bounce-back week against Harrisburg, which is always talented. They did lose nine starters on both sides of the ball, and they were rocked last week themselves by Parkland. They need this game just as badly, and it’s at Harrisburg. To me, it’s almost a must-win for Pennsbury just in terms of setting a tone for their season.
I’m curious how their offense is going to be this year. That was not a good sign last week. Pepper got sacked four times. One problem was J.J. Denman, who is bound for Penn State, was out with a knee infection. They expect him to be back, so that should make a difference.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Bensalem beat Overlook pretty handily. Your comments on that game.
Dan Dunkin: It was a great opening win for Kevin Kelly and his program. They have two small running backs running behind what could be a pretty impressive offensive line. Kevin Hopkins and C.J. Lebesco both had over 100 yards in that game. Kevin is trying to establish something in a program that just hasn’t won in years, and that was great for them.
They do have skill people at Bensalem. I think with this offensive line they have, Bensalem will be interesting to watch this year. They’re in that second tier of their conference. They have a long way to go to get up with Neshaminy, Rock South and Pennsbury, but Kevin Kelly coached in the PCL for nine years. He knows what it’s about. He knows how to compete and build a team. I’m real interested to see how this works out in the first year.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Truman struggled in its opener against Cheltenham. What are your thoughts about that program?
Dan Dunkin: Truman has twice the number of kids playing this year compared to last year, but that doesn’t always equate to better results, as we saw in the opener. They’re just not physical enough or across the board deep enough on their lines right now to take another step, and that kinds of negates the speed they have.
They still have quite a number of kids playing both ways because a lot of kids are freshmen and sophomores. They only have four juniors in that program. It’s going to take awhile. They’ve got to solidify the lines, they’ve got to build depth and continuity in the program, which happens over a three or four-year period. When you get kids back in the weight room every year, they’re used to the commitment from one season to the next. This is new to a lot of the kids.
Ed Cubbage said to me a couple of weeks ago that what used to happen at Truman was kids after their freshman year were done with football. Now they’ve kept a lot of freshmen in there, which is a good sign, but we’ll see how they’re going to be when they’re juniors and seniors.
Suburban One: Thoughts on the Central Bucks East-Abington game?
Dan Dunkin: The thing about Abington is Tim Sorber has really brought that program a long way in the past decade. They’re getting to the point now where they can reload a little bit. An example is their quarterback Ken Cropper, a transfer from Cheltenham. He had TD runs of 34 and 43 yards and threw a 53-yard touchdown. They smoked CB East – they were explosive.
Abington could be the best team in the National Conference. It’s possible. I do expect them to be in the playoffs again. They’re going to score on people. Their defense has some new people, so that’s going to be interesting to see how they come along. If their offense is clicking like that early on, that’s a great sign.
SuburbanOneSports.com: William Tennent lost its game to Wissahickon despite holding a statistical advantage over the Trojans. Your thoughts on that game?
Dan Dunkin: Depth is the annual concern there. They have a good linebacking corps and they usually have good DB’s. They can keep the scores reasonable. I just don’t know if they’ll be able to score enough points.
Tennent is at CB West this week, and I think CB West is a good barometer for Tennent because CB West is certainly going to have a lot more bodies, and I want to see if Tennent can compete with them over four quarters and give them a sense of where they’re at. They’ve just been stuck in that 3-7 and 4-6 place that’s hard to get out of. When you’re playing kids two ways, it’s just difficult.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock North had a big come-from-behind win over Haverford. What are your thoughts about the Indians this season?
Dan Dunkin: Any win for Rock North is reason for celebration after one win last year. They beat Haverford in a nail biter, but who cares about beauty points – they were just happy to start off the season like that. Now it’s going to be a great test this week, and it’s going to show a lot more about them going against CB South with Matt Johns and that passing attack spreading the field.
CR North was able to run last week with Cal Parker, who had well over 100 yards. CB South is very susceptible to the run as exposed by CR South and its wishbone. I’m sure CR North is going to want to run at will on them, and that’s really what they’re about. They’re going to have to be a more run-oriented team anyway early on because their quarterback is inexperienced.
I think that’s a very interesting test. It’s going to be one of my games of the week to see if they can score with CB South and then slow Johns down. He was picked off three times by CR South last week. If North can go 2-0, that would be huge in a momentum sense for them.