Back for its fifth season, the popular Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features high school football beat writers Drew Markol and Dan Dunkin. Markol covers schools in the Intelligencer area while Dan Dunkin covers teams in the Courier Times area. Both share their perspective on the teams in their coverage area. Scott Huff, football writer for SuburbanOneSports.com, shares his thoughts about the American Conference squads. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer/Courier Times web site http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/
SuburbanOneSports.com: Neshaminy is coming off an important win over Abington, and the Redskins will travel to Pennridge to face a Ram squad that lost to North Penn. Your thoughts about that game.
Dan Dunkin: “It’s a huge game for both teams. Neshaminy has gotten back off the mat after that terrible 0-2 start. They’re riding some momentum now, winning two in a row. They played well, especially defensively, against Abington in an impressive victory that surprised me.
“Pennridge is coming off a mistake-laden drubbing by North Penn. Mistakes have really plagued Pennridge, which is complicating things because they’re replacing a whole lot of people this year, including the great Mike Class at running back. Still, they’ve got some good players. They came into that game against North Penn 3-0, so while no one is shocked that North Penn beat them or by a lot, it was a wake-up call for them.
“I think this game is a fairly even matchup physically. I like the way Neshaminy’s passing game has progressed steadily through the season. Mason Jones just gets better every game. He was terrific against Abington, making a bunch of clutch throws. He’s got an excellent group of receivers, and kind of a subtlety about Neshaminy is while they’re off to a so-so – for Neshaminy – 2-2 start, they won the last game without D’Andre Pollard having a big game. He’s only got one 100-yard game so far, which shows their offensive line was basically rebuilt this year.
“Neshaminy has gained some confidence, and I’m going to take Neshaminy in a fairly close game. With their defense starting to get its act together and their offense gaining some balance, I like Neshaminy in this game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: A Pennsbury team that is looking unstoppable will travel to Abington on Saturday. Your comments.
Dan Dunkin: “Abington will certainly be a more athletic team than Pennsbury has played the last couple of weeks, but Pennsbury is just off to the best start I’ve seen for a Pennsbury team for as long as I can remember. They’re playing up to the level they should be playing at this early in the season. They’re just pounding people. Their offense is so good now that their defense is almost by comparison underrated. Their defense is terrific also. They’re just blowing teams out.
“Abington - with their creativity and their skill people and the way Tim Sorber approaches things and how well he knows Pennsbury -and Pennsbury obviously knows the Abington system very well too – I think Abington can stay in it a little while, but they’re not going to be able to stay in it for four quarters. No disrespect to them, but I just see Pennsbury being too big, too powerful and plenty fast enough. Abington has always had good team speed, but Pennsbury has more. You add it all up – Pennsbury is going to win this one going away.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Truman fell to Council Rock South after opening up a 14-0 halftime lead. The Tigers will travel to Central Bucks West Friday. Your thoughts?
Dan Dunkin: “Truman is playing a team that has also done that, blown a lead, and they did that last week. CB West had a come-from-ahead loss to Norristown, and Truman had a come-from-ahead loss to Council Rock South. I see Truman being a lot closer to being a consistent team and the team they think they can be than CB West. CB West’s defense has given up a lot – over 30 points a game thus far, and Truman’s defense has played pretty well for the most part.
“This is a huge game for both teams. If either one is going to make a serious claim to be a conference contender, they’ve got to win this game. CB West has a good running game to contend with. I like the way Truman’s quarterback – Mark Lopez-Shefcyk – has become a run-pass threat. Just overall, I think Truman is further along. Those are tough losses for both teams to come back off of, so we’re going to learn a lot about both teams in this game, but I like Truman by a nose in this game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock North will be travelling to William Tennent on Saturday. Your comments about those two teams.
Dan Dunkin: “That’s an interesting matchup. I see it again fairly even. It plays to my theory that the Continental Conference is going to be very competitive and close all year. On paper, it’s a very even matchup.
“Bob Rosenberger, the Tennent coach, has Council Rock North as the league favorite, primarily because they have one of – if not the best - players in the state in Brandon McIlwain. This game is at Tennent. I was out at Tennent last week. I was impressed with what the players were saying and with what coach Rosenberger was saying – and that was before they lost a very tough game that they could have won against Quakertown. I think this Tennent team’s forte now is they’re more physical. They have a very strong, physical offensive line. Nik Banks, their quarterback, has improved much as a passer. He’s an excellent runner. Sam Collazo has given them an excellent running game as well.
“North has really put teams on their heels a lot with their hurry-up spread offense, and with such a terrific quarterback running it and they also have some terrific receivers, it’s tough to defend against that for four quarters. I just think Tennent is going to be more physical, and they’ll be able to keep up enough and run some clock – even if McIlwain makes some big plays, I think Tennent will control the clock to a degree with their running game. I like Tennent.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock South came back from a two-touchdown deficit to defeat Truman. The Golden Hawks will travel to Central Bucks East Saturday. Your thoughts about the Hawks.
Dan Dunkin: “That was a very quality win for South last week – a credit to their staff and their kids coming back from a 14-0 deficit. They’ve gotten their triple-option honking again. Vince Alimenti is having a fine season. He had his third straight game over 100 yards. They’re starting to get back to the kind of physical overall play on both sides of the ball that's been a CR South trademark. They’re playing with some confidence, and they should be. It’s been a tough two years. I think they’ve in a better place right now than CB East, which has really been struggling. I’m impressed at how Council Rock South has really shown some resiliency early on in the season. I think that bodes well for them in this conference. I like CR South in this game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn will travel to Central Bucks South for one of the SOL’s marquee matchups. Your thoughts about that game.
Drew Markol: “I’m leaning a little towards CB South there. I think CB South can throw the ball a little better than people think. They haven’t done that yet. I don’t know if they were kind of hiding and trying to ride Josh Adams, but they have a huge offensive line. When you have Adams, you have the best player on the field, and that’s never a bad thing. That’s a good game.
“North Penn was impressive against Pennridge. Pennridge outgained them, but North Penn was very opportunistic. Pennridge made mistakes and North Penn didn’t. You can’t take anything away from North Penn.
“North Penn grinds you down – that’s what they do. That’s their deal. Will it come back to haunt them? If they fall behind, it will. If you fall behind, it’s awfully hard to catch up four yards at a time, but they’ve proven in the Suburban One League that what they do works, and it seems to work every year. Until it stops working, it’s hard to change.
“Last year, this was the game where Adams got hurt when they played North Penn, but until he got hurt, he wasn’t doing much. North Penn was slowing him down considerably. As simple as it sounds, I think he’s the key. If he breaks free one or two times, those are touchdowns. He’s not like a lot of kids when they break free, it’s a 20-yard gain. When he breaks free, it’s a 60-yard scoring run. You do that two times in a game, and there’s your difference. I think he’s the key. North Penn was able to stop him last year. Can they do it again?
“You look at the National Conference – it’s North Penn, it’s CB South and it’s Pennsbury most likely in some order. This will be very interesting.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: You covered the Central Bucks West at Norristown game that saw Norristown come back and win in overtime. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “It was unbelievable. Central Bucks West had a 20-7 lead with just over six minutes to go. Norristown’s quarterback was 0-for-9 in the second half, and then he threw four completions to Khalif Sinclair – he made some great catches. When they threw the winning touchdown that led to the two-point conversation (in overtime), he was all alone.
“Norristown is getting better. The discipline is back, they’re not getting all the penalties they used to get. Plus, you win a game like that – the confidence is great for them. Their quarterback (Desmond Gorski) isn’t bad, and all of a sudden this kid (Sinclair) turned into Jerry Rice, and it worked. They had guts – they went for two, and bang, they scored.
“A week ago if you had said – who’s going to win the Continental Conference? You may have said Council Rock North, maybe CB West, maybe Truman. Now here we are a week later. West loses to Norristown, Truman loses to Council Rock South. Now I guess Council Rock North is the favorite until next week when something else happens.
“You looked at those West kids – it was a shocking loss. When the game first started and West drove the ball pretty quickly and kicked a field goal, you’re thinking in the back of your mind – ‘This game could be a blowout, and we might be heading to even a mercy rule.’ Then all of a sudden, West seemed content to sit on their lead. When Norristown scored and converted the two-point conversion to win it, there was the proverbial giant balloon on the West sideline – their faces were ‘I can’t believe this just happened to us.’ So now if you’re West, you’re 1-3, and you need to turn it around very quickly.
“You look at the Continental Conference – is Council Rock North going to lose in the conference? Maybe, but if you’re a Continental Conference team looking to get a district playoff spot, you need to win as many as you possibly can. West was a playoff team last year but now finds itself 1-3 with six games to go – you better start stringing some wins together.
“If I had to pick, I’d pick West over Truman in a close one.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton will travel to Bensalem in a battle of the two smallest National Conference schools. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “When you go by enrollment - which I’m in favor of – until the PIAA adds more classifications, you’re going to have big discrepancies, especially at the highest level because you have the behemoth schools like North Penn, Pennsbury and Neshaminy. Would I like to have more classifications? Sure, but until the PIAA does it, this is what we’re stuck with. Those schools like Souderton and Bensalem – which are the smallest of the biggest – sort of get stuck, but what are you going to do? It’s the hand you were dealt. When it was done by geography and had Quakertown playing schools with 1100 more boys, the odds are pretty good they’re going to have a lineman or two that could knock the Quakertown kid on his butt.
“When they do those things, somebody comes out ahead and somebody comes out behind. When you go by enrollment, the smallest schools in the biggest conference pay the price.
“Bensalem hasn’t shown a lot. It’s hard when the losses pile up, and the season is getting away from you. Souderton has shown a spark here and there. I would think you would have to lean pretty heavily for Souderton to right things.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Tennent – after falling to Quakertown – will host Council Rock North. Comments?
Drew Markol: “Tennent is better than I thought. They’re pretty good. Their quarterback – Nik Banks – hurt his ankle. If he can’t play, it will be very difficult for them, but with him there, he can run it, he can throw a little bit. That game with Quakertown was a pretty good game. Tennent is improving, but with Council Rock North, Brandon McIlwain – minus Josh Adams, he might be the best player in the Suburban One League. Teams aren’t used to facing that dynamic a quarterback. If he also pulls it down and runs, they’re in trouble. You have to give the edge to Council Rock North in just about every game they play in the Continental Conference because of McIlwain.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Abington hosts a Pennsbury team that is rolling. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “You look at Abington – its first two games in the new conference are Neshaminy and Pennsbury, teams they have played before being in that same conference, but that’s a tough one-two punch. Now you need to bounce back because two losses in that conference might be one too many to have a chance to win it. It’s a tall order against a Pennsbury team that has dismantled every team it’s faced.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Moreland had a big win over Hatboro-Horsham. Your thoughts about those two teams.
Drew Markol: “Upper Moreland is rolling along. Upper Moreland is good. Tyler Whitmore is an absolute stud. I’m sure if you’re Upper Moreland – you’re looking at the American Conference saying ‘We’ve got a shot here.’ Upper Dublin is there, Plymouth Whitemarsh is there and Wissahickon and Springfield, but right now, they must be thinking ‘Why not us?’
“As far as Hatboro is concerned. They just seem to be in a little bit of disarray. If you’re the Hatters, you’re playing Upper Merion. Neither team has won a game, and you’re thinking, ‘Let’s get this thing figured out. Let’s get a win, and we’ll try and build from there.’ This is the kind of game Hatboro needs to win, or it could be staring at a very bleak rest of the way.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge will host Neshaminy. Your thoughts about that game.
Drew Markol: “We had kicked dirt on Neshaminy after the second week of the season, and then they go and beat Council Rock South and they go and beat an undefeated Abington team. Pennridge was undefeated before they lost to North Penn. This is Pennridge’s first game at the new stadium under the lights at the high school on Friday. I think that game’s a toss-up. I give Neshaminy a slight edge based on what they did last season, but that will be a tight one. That’s another good one. That’s right there with North Penn-CB South, a very good game with implications.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks East will host Council Rock South on Saturday. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “You have Council Rock South – which had a nice win over Truman last week, and now they have a chance to go to 2-0 in the conference and get off to a good start in the Continental. East needs a win. You have a surging team against a desperate team. That usually makes for a pretty good game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Quakertown will take its undefeated record to Norristown on Saturday. Your comments about that game.
Drew Markol: “That will be a good test for Norristown. Now they have to come back and do it again. Can they do that? As excited and pumped up as Norristown is, Quakertown is just the same because they’re 4-0. They’ll never say it, but when you’re 4-0, you’re starting to think – maybe we can get into the playoffs, who knows if we win a few more games. It will be interesting because both teams are coming in sky high from what they’ve done. I would give a slight edge to Quakertown.”
SuburbanOneSports: Norristown has gotten off to a 3-1 start but really hasn’t received the ‘Respect’ from so-called area experts. How good are the Eagles?
Scott Huff: “A lot better than the last two years when Norristown lost 18 straight games. The Eagles have shown the ability to come up with big plays that turn games in their favor. Khalif Sinclair and Corey Davenport are two of those game changers – and both have done so in recent weeks to secure wins for the underdog Eagles. Norristown will once again fit into that underdog role when it takes on unbeaten Quakertown this week. If that Sinclair-Davenport duo comes up with another game changing week – the Eagles could soar to another victory.”
SuburbanOneSports: Upper Moreland is undefeated so far – can the Golden Bears make an undefeated run through the American Conference?
Scott Huff: “Not likely. Upper Moreland will have to contend with both Upper Dublin and Plymouth Whitemarsh in order to do that – and that will be a huge task. Plus Wissahickon is no push over. Still, I would love to take my chances with having the elite back in the league in Tyler Whitmore – and an improving quarterback in Josh Abrams. The Golden Bears continue to impress and must not take Cheltenham lightly this week.”
SuburbanOneSports: Plymouth Whitemarsh trailed Upper Merion at the half last week before cruising to a 34-10 win over the Vikings. Why?
Scott Huff: “Plymouth Whitemarsh had a brutal non-league schedule and entered the game with winless Upper Merion thinking it might have an easy game. Wrong. Upper Merion played hard and made the Colonials ‘snap out of it’ in the second half to secure the win. The biggest asset in the PW portfolio is the size and strength of its offensive and defensive line. The Colonials will have to win the battle at the line of scrimmage to contain an explosive Wissahickon offense this week.”
SuburbanOneSports: What would Wissahickon have to do to end the PW conference winning streak?
Scott Huff: “Wissahickon is a deceiving 2-2 losing games to a pair of teams – Souderton and Norristown – that could have been wins. The Trojans have proven to be able to put points on the board and showcase one of the premier backs in the area in Josh Smith. Wissahickon is going to have to win this game on the defensive side of the ball and limit the number of long drives by a PW team that wants to use a ball control offense.”
SuburbanOneSports: Upper Dublin opened the conference season 1-0 with a win over Cheltenham. Any reason why the Cardinals won’t be 2-0 after this week’s game with Springfield?
Scott Huff: “No. Upper Dublin has perhaps the best quarterback in the conference in Ryan Stover – and he should be able to have a nice game against a feisty – but limited – Spartan team. The Cardinals – along with Upper Moreland and PW – should be in a battle for the conference championship and cannot afford a loss to any of the ‘other’ teams in the conference.”
SuburbanOneSports: Hatboro-Horsham plays Upper Merion this week – both teams are looking for it’s first win – who gets it?
Scott Huff: “Hatboro-Horsham. Casey Walsh is a good quarterback and is most likely the best player on the field. The team with the best player wins – most of the time.”
SuburbanOneSports: Who wins in week 2 of the SOL American season?
Scott Huff: “How about – [Plymouth Whitemarsh 24 – Wissahickon 21]; [Upper Dublin 38 – Springfield 20]; [Upper Moreland 31 – Cheltenham 13]; and [Hatboro-Horsham 27 – Upper Merion 20]?”
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