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Now in its second season, the Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football,’ features high school football beat writers Kevin Cooney and Dan Dunkin. Cooney, who also is the Phillies beat writer, continues 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. Cooney and Dunkin are joined by Scott Huff, football writer for SuburbanOneSports.com. All three share their perspective on the teams in their coverage area. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the web site
SuburbanOneSports.com: Neshaminy’s upset of Pennsbury changed the dynamics of the playoffs. You were at that game – and also picked Neshaminy to win. What are your thoughts about that game?
Dan Dunkin: With Neshaminy backed up against the wall and in the rare spot of missing the playoffs if they didn’t win, that coupled with all the emotion that’s in that game, their talent and the flashes they’ve shown – I thought it was a game they could get. They really grabbed it. Their passing game was the difference, their defense was exceptional, and I was impressed with how they made use of several weapons. They had guys in motion, they had some other guys running the ball, and quarterback Joe Bianchino used four different receivers and was very effective. The kid has been lights out the last three weeks. Basically, Pennsbury was chasing them all night.
Neshaminy was really in control of that game from the outset, so it didn’t look like an upset. Neshaminy played their best game of the year. From their standpoint going forward, I think they’ve really built some momentum. It think it was a huge psychological as well as a mathematical victory to get them in the playoffs. They have versatility on offense and they've solidified some things on both lines – they’ve developed some depth. They don’t have as many guys playing both ways now. They’ve built a lot of confidence. That one game – even though it’s late in the season – can be a launching pad for them, and I do think they’re going to upset three seed Unionville on Friday night.
Neshaminy should have no angst now because they’re playing with house money. Winning a must-win game can really spur them on. The district top to bottom is good, but there are no dominant teams. There aren’t two or three that stick out that are head and shoulders above everybody else. Unionville can score a lot of points. They’ve averaged 27 a game, but they give up a lot too, and that plays into Neshaminy’s favor. I see a relatively high scoring game that Neshaminy can win if they utilize a lot of weapons and different looks like they did against Pennsbury. They did a really good job against Pennsbury. They schemed them really good. Justin Andrews is a really dangerous player at wide receiver, and they got him in position to make some plays.
Neshaminy – even with its faults early in the year – has some really tough kids on that team. I think the SOL National collectively is a hell of a lot tougher than the Ches-Mont. I think they will punch Unionville in the mouth on their field. They have enough speed and athletes that they can do it.
SuburbanOneSports.com: That loss was costly to Pennsbury in terms of playoff seeding. Comment on that as well.
Dan Dunkin: The fact that Pennsbury could not establish its running game consistently surprised me, and it hurt them because they passed only out of necessity when they got way behind. That’s no way for them to play, that’s just not their style. Offensively, Neshaminy had them guessing a little bit, and Neshaminy’s offensive line definitely won the battle of the trenches. It’s going to be interesting to see if Pennsbury can shake that off and make a run. That was a costly loss because they slipped four spots in the power rankings to 15th, and now they have Abington in the first round.
The first Abington-Pennsbury game was not nearly as bad as the 20-7 final said. That was a 17-0 game in the first quarter, primarily due to two turnovers and the short fields. It wasn’t like Abington was stampeding them. The rest of the game was even.
Again, I’m going out on a limb and picking Pennsbury. Pennsbury’s problem in that game was that they had some trouble with Abington’s quickness on defense, and they couldn’t establish their running game on the edges or even inside that much. I think in this game – if their defense can keep them in the game early, Pennsbury protects the ball and power runs like it can behind a physical line that's bigger than Abington, this is going to be a tight, white-knuckle game that the Falcons can win. Pennsbury is more physical. If they can get Daquan Mack going between the tackles and especially if they can get Adam Lewis going on some perimeter and misdirection stuff .. the quarterback Bruce Campbell can run the ball – they can win this game.
They slowed down Abington star running back Ray Schreiner. He did not do a lot of damage to them, but their quarterback – Ken Cropper – did on keepers. I think they learned from that game. The question is – can they shake off the Neshaminy loss after a couple of days and really look at this as a new season. A share of the league title got away, but they have everything to play for. They can walk into Abington against a team they know they can beat, and suddenly, boom – they’re alive and well. I think it plays to their favor that they’re playing a team they know really well, and that they competed well against them for three quarters.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock South closed out the season with a shutout of Council Rock North and earned the top seed. What are your thoughts about Rock South facing Upper Dublin in the opening round?
Dan Dunkin: I don’t see Council Rock South as a team that does letdowns. Upper Dublin is not to be taken lightly. They have a very potent passing game, but they can really be run on. Listen, Council Rock South hasn’t messed around this season. They could easily be undefeated. They lost a tough rain-aided game with Pennsbury. Give Pennsbury credit, but this team is clearly deserving of the top seed. This is a very good team that got better all season. To me, they run the ball better and they defend better than anybody in District One. That’s a lethal combination in the playoffs. I don’t care that they don’t pass the ball very much. I think they will take care of business like they always do.
One eye-popping thing lately has been Anthony Alimenti. The kid has been unbelievable. He’s got five touchdown runs of over 50 yards in the last four weeks, averaging nearly 14 yards a carry in that span. They've got it all going on, and they have a lot of seniors who are very hungry to go all the way this year, taking the next big step after losing to North Penn in the playoffs last year. They’re ready to rock and roll.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Comment on Council Rock North’s turnaround this season.
Dan Dunkin: Council Rock North has a chance to be a solid program now if they can replace the great senior leadership they had this year. To bounce back from 1-9 to go 5-5, to beat Neshaminy and to play CR South, Pennsbury and Abington tough said a lot about Adam Collachi and his staff and players. I think it was a nice comeback story for them.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Talk about the district playoff picture after last week’s games.
Kevin Cooney: It was strange because it clarified, in a way, what is taking place. We all knew if Pennsbury won they were going to be in, but it now totally messed up the bottom of the bracket with Pennsbury having to go play Abington again.
I think what we've seen is just a continuation of what we expected all year - that this is a wide open field, this is a field that does not have a super team but a lot of balanced teams, and realistically, there were a few little upsets last week. You look at West Chester Henderson over Downingtown East. There's a lot of parity which is going to make this first round pretty interesting.
SuburbanOneSports.com: What are your thoughts about the Pennsbury-Abington rematch?
Kevin Cooney: You're looking at two teams that 1) have a history with each other playing in the same conference and 2) Pennsbury played Abington very well and lost the first time around. I don't think Pennsbury is afraid of Abington, by any stretch of the imagination. Abington played well for most of the year and played well last week against William Tennent but had the hiccough against CB South two weeks ago, so there's a little question of how they're coming into this game.
It's all about how you react. If Abington is disappointed that they're just a two seed, then they're going to be going home. If Pennsbury is disappointed that they got beaten pretty badly by Neshaminy, then they're going to go home. There's no room for carryover. It's a whole new season - you start off fresh.
I view that game as intriguing.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks South will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh for an all-SOL matchup. What are your thoughts about that game?
Kevin Cooney: I think the CB South/PW game is interesting. It's what we talked about last week - PW may be the most dangerous team that nobody talks about. They have the speed, they have the great skill position players, but CB South can match up. South has Dan Brown, South has Matt Johns, South has Chris Veal. Both defenses are capable of being exposed, but both can play very well.
For all the offensive weapons that we see, that game is going to be decided on the defensive side with whatever team does a better job of just shutting the other team's main offensive weapons down.
CB South is an interesting case because it's an offense you don't see that often, and here we go with - how is PW going to solve that offense? That's going to be the major, major factor on what's going to take place here.
I think PW is probably more prepared for a playoff setting. I would pick PW, but that's going to be a close game. That's a 50-50 game. There are a couple of those games this weekend.
Unionville and Neshaminy is another one. You have Unionville that's played very well all season long, and you have Neshaminy that played well last week, gets in the tournament and has a lot of momentum.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Which team do you think will be standing at the end of the tournament?
Kevin Cooney: The favorite in the tournament, in my mind, is North Penn. They're going to be coming out of the 11 seed, and they're going to have to go to Rustin on Saturday. North Penn's big question is what's the injury situation with Corey Ernst. It's his non-throwing shoulder that was injured. Dick Beck was talking last week on the WNPV Scoreboard Show that it may be two or three weeks.
North Penn's defense is playing the best right now. Their defense is playing better now than it has at any point in the year.
It's an interesting weekend. It's not chalk. You look at CR South - they should beat Upper Dublin. You look up and down the bracket and find different mismatches, but I really do think this is a tournament that ultimately comes down to who can execute the best. That's what this time of year is all about.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Which non-SOL team do you think poses the biggest threat?
Kevin Cooney: Probably Downingtown East. You're talking a program that has had success in the past, played in a tough league and may not have to go through a meat grinder of beating one SOL team after another after another.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Are the SOL teams the best teams in the tournament?
Kevin Cooney: Yes, I think so. You look at North Penn, you look at Council Rock South, you look at Abington. Factor PW in there. If you're giving me those four and you have the rest of the field, I'll feel comfortable with that.
North Penn’s defense is playing a lot better. They’re playing defense now better than they have at any point this year. The matchup I think they would have problems with is a team that can throw two or three wideouts at them, who has some size and a quarterback that can throw. That’s the St. Joe’s Prep model, that’s the La Salle model. I don’t see that in Rustin. If you take that and project it forward, I think North Penn has a good shot here, and once you start cutting away, I’m not sure there’s a team in District One that will fit that mold. Defensively, that’s the big key. They’re going to score enough points to win. With Kyle Mayfield, Corey Ernst, James Fielder, Dan Gevirtz, and Ralph Reeves, they have enough weapons to score 24-28 points a game. There’s no ironclad favorite in the tournament, but if you’re making me pick one, I’m picking North Penn.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Plymouth Whitemarsh won the conference title and is the tournament’s number four seed How far will the Colonials go in the playoffs?
Scott Huff: The Suburban One League American Conference is not known as one of the power conferences in District One, but there are few doubters as to how talented the Colonials are this season. Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Dan Chang played one of the best non-conference schedules, and the Colonials split a pair of games against impressive opponents. PW gave Abington a tremendous game and lost by a more-than-competitive 18-7 score. And the Colonials gave notice to the rest of the district when they whitewashed West Chester Henderson 20-0. PW opens up the playoffs against Central Bucks South – the runner-up from the SOL Continental Conference. It should be the most entertaining game of the opening round as the Titans showcase an explosive offense that features quarterback Matt Johns and running back Dan Brown. CB South head coach Dave Rackovan shared with me how PW’s speed is a tremendous weapon on both sides of the football. Russhon Phillips and Xavier Ellington in the Colonial backfield and Kavon Johnson on the offensive and defensive line are among the fastest in the area. A win in the first round for PW would give the Colonials a second round date with the winner of the Garnet Valley/Ridley game. But you can bet that Chang and his coaching staff will be 100 percent focused on Central Bucks South.
Suburban One Sports.com: How do you think Upper Dublin will fare this week against top-seeded Council Rock South in the opening round of the playoffs?
Scott Huff: Upper Dublin is the #16 seed in the bracket and is the longest shot in the field. The Flying Cardinals will have the unenviable task of attempting to knock off the #1 seed in the bracket. Rock South was the co-champion of the SOL National Conference and showcases a punishing running attack led by senior quarterback Brian Donnelly. Donnelly is an accomplished runner and rarely throws the football. Upper Dublin has a passing first quarterback in senior Andrew Derr, and he is one of the very best in the district. Can Upper Dublin slow down the Rock South running game? I don’t think so. If the Flying Cardinals could pull the huge upset they would play the winner of the West Chester Henderson/Downingtown East game next week.
Suburban One Sports.com: How do you think Upper Moreland will close out its season?
Scott Huff: Upper Moreland lost its first nine games of the season, but don’t be shocked if the Golden Bears close out the season with three straight wins. Upper Moreland got the first of those three wins last week with a 21-7 win over Upper Merion, and the Bears will travel to Owen J Roberts this week. OJR is currently 1-9 this season with its lone win coming against Reading in a non-conference game. The final game of the season will be much more difficult for the Golden Bears as they will travel to play rival Hatboro-Horsham on Thanksgiving Day. That game will be played on the brand new turf at Hatboro-Horsham.
Suburban One Sports.com: Cheltenham will travel to Hatboro-Horsham this week. What are your thoughts about that game?
Scott Huff: Cheltenham seems to have a team that is built for the turf. The Panther backfield of Aquil Reed and Mark Thompson is extremely quick and should be able to take full advantage of the good footing. The key to a Cheltenham victory may be how well the Panthers slow down the Hatters.
Suburban One Sports.com: Norristown will surely not get to play on a fast field when the Eagles play Pennridge. What happens on ‘Swampy’ Yoder Field in Perkasie?
Scott Huff: Poppy Yoder Field is a disgrace - according to most – to play high school football on. But the home of the Rams is still a home – the facility at Norristown doesn’t even exist. The Eagles have been road warriors for all but one game this season, and that in itself is a disgrace of sorts. Pennridge is used to playing on its sub-par surface, and it will take an ‘upsetting’ effort by the Eagles to come away with a win. It would be great to see two quality running backs – Brandon Shippen of Norristown and Mike Class of Pennridge – play on a decent playing surface. But that ain’t happening.
Suburban One Sports.com: Upper Merion is still looking for its first win. Do the Vikings get it this week?
Scott Huff: Unfortunately, no. Upper Merion plays an Upper Perkiomen team that has claimed four wins in 10 games this season. The Vikings have Hassan Gardner running up some impressive rushing numbers, but most of those numbers have come in the second half of games. This week will be another tough assignment for the young Vikings.