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Back for its sixth season, the popular Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features Kevin Cooney and Drew Markol. Cooney, the Phillies beat writer, will handle the Bucks County Courier Times coverage area and also is part of a panel each Friday night on the WNPV/Intelligencer Scoreboard Show. Markol is the football beat writer for the Intelligencer area. Both are regular contributors on the weekly Game On show, and to view this week’s show, click on the following link: http://www.theintell.com/videos/hsgameon/. Scott Huff, the football beat writer for SuburbanOneSports.com, also offers his perspective on the SOL American Conference.
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/
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SuburbanOneSports.com: Your thoughts heading into the second week of the SOL season.
Kevin Cooney: “The wild card in this weekend coming up is going to be the weather. Because you have so many teams now that run a more passing-style offense, I wonder if we get the rain that is being called for – how are they going to react. This is a strange kind of setup, and I don’t think we’ve had it in a couple of years, maybe since (Hurricane) Sandy where weather could play such a huge, huge factor in games like that.
“It’s tough. You had a couple of schools that had to push their schedules around because of the Pope’s visit, and now suddenly you’re looking at a pretty complicated circumstance this weekend with the weather. We don’t normally have this kind of issue the first week of October. Usually you have some games early in the year that get pushed back because of thunderstorms. Now we’re looking at the Pope and a tropical storm in back-to-back weekends, and that kind of messes things up. It’s going to create some interesting scenarios if you’re looking at short weeks next week as you get into a better schedule. Next week looks on paper like a better schedule than this week.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock North upset previously unbeaten Central Bucks East. Your comments about those two teams.
Kevin Cooney: “That was almost a do-or-die game for CR North. North needed to win a game like that and just grind it out. They’re never going to play good defensive games, they just aren’t. They’re not built that way. What they have to do is grind it out, and I think you saw that last week against CB East.
“It creates an interesting scenario for CB East at Council Rock South this week because – I called it when we filmed ‘Game On’ – it’s almost an elimination game. It feels a lot like an elimination game because quite honestly you don’t have that much margin for error if you’re these two teams. Both teams still have Quakertown on the schedule, and if you’re South and you go to three losses and still have Quakertown, that’s not good. If you’re East, all the momentum you built after the non-league schedule is gone after an 0-2 league start, so this is a huge, huge game for them coming up.
“You look at CR South’s non-league schedule, and they were tested. You can’t undersell what being tested in the non-league means. I’m a big believer that for a team like Rock South playing Neshaminy and Pennsbury the way they did will pay big dividends down the road, I just do. You look at some of these teams that we’ve mentioned that got jolted or struggled or whatever. Well, take a look at their non-league schedules. Sorry, some teams didn’t step up, but Vince Bedesem did, and I give him a lot of credit because he put his neck out on the line early. What that tough non-league schedule does – it toughens you up for the league, but on the flip side, it leaves you very little margin for error, so in a game like this week – could CB East lose this game, maybe have one more loss, go 7-3 and still make the playoffs. Yes, absolutely, but I would advise them – this is not the way you go because you start really playing with some fire because you still have Quakertown up ahead.”
Drew Markol: “I don’t know if (CB East) got overconfident or what. They had some nice wins, but when you come up against a player like Brandon McIlwain, it’s just a different thing you’re dealing with. Count up all the great quarterbacks we’ve had – who’s the last really good quarterback? You have Matt Johns from CB South at Virginia, but they are rare, rare birds. You look at the University of South Carolina and all the quarterback troubles they’ve having – they’d love to have McIlwain there now. That’s how good he is, and you’re not used to seeing that.
“You look at that game last weekend – we always pick on North’s defense, but East had over 400 yards of offense and over 200 yards rushing with most of it going to senior Alex Gibson. What killed East was they fumbled four times, and they lost all four of them. Whatever level you play at – you lose the turnovers and you likely lose the game. If you’re East, you’ve got to be thinking, ‘My gosh, we’re going up and down the field and we keep fumbling it away and we end up losing.’ That hurts.
“The true test is can East bounce back from that against CR South? You go from McIlwain with the running and throwing, and then you go play South with that totally different option attack which you don’t ever see anymore with Vince Bedesem. It’s something that’s hard to get used to, and you’re going opposite ends of the spectrum within a span of six or seven days, so that’s a little scheduling quirk that’s really going to test East. If Rock South gets going with that offense, they can be pretty tough, and you look at their defense, which gets overlooked. They only allowed 14 points to Pennsbury, and that’s not easy to do, so they’re pretty good there too. They’ve got to be thinking, along with Quakertown – as we stand right now, maybe they’re the two best teams in the Continental.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Quakertown continues to roll, and you covered Quakertown’s SOL opener against William Tennent. Your thoughts about the Panthers.
Drew Markol: “Quakertown is just loaded. George Banas said they hadn’t really been tested with their schedule because the three teams they had played in the non-league were a combined 1-8. They did nothing fancy against Tennent. It was just Rob Burns left, Rob Burns right and Rob Burns up the middle, and he averaged over 20 yards a carry and scored five touchdowns in the first half. The numbers are remarkable. What Quakertown didn’t have to do – they only threw three passes, but with Tom Garlick, they can throw, but if you’re Quakertown, there’s no need to show anybody if your running game is working. Why tip your hand? They can run it, and they haven’t shown it, but they can throw it, and their defense is very good. They’re not huge, but they’re fast. The confidence they gained last year winning the conference and winning a district playoff game – it has carried over. They were ready to go from the whistle, and that game was over in 10 minutes. Quakertown looks really good. The test this week - Norristown is coming off a loss in overtime to West, and they better be ready for a lot of Rob Burns and a pretty fired up and pretty good Quakertown team.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Abington is off to a rough start, and things don’t get any easier this week when they play Pennsbury. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “In the past two weeks, they’ve given up 109 points. Granted, those games were against Upper Dublin and Neshaminy – two district powerhouses, but still, giving up 100-plus points has got to be very depressing and now you have the district champions (Pennsbury) coming off a shutout (against Souderton). That little run of Upper Dublin, Neshaminy and Pennsbury is a tough road. You’re 0-4 now, and it’s a very difficult road.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Looking at this weekend’s slate, do any games catch your eye?
Kevin Cooney: “The most interesting game to me on the week in the National is Pennridge at Neshaminy. It’s interesting because Neshaminy has shown that they can play with the big boys while Pennridge is in the middle of this brutal stretch, this murderer’s row stretch. They got pretty beat up last week by North Penn, and suddenly, you’re looking at 2-3 at the midway point and your season is over.
“For Pennridge, this is do-or-die. We’ve entered week five, and there are so many teams where it feels like must-wins. Everybody has talked about the parity that’s going on. I don’t think it’s shown up. Maybe I’m wrong – Upper Dublin, yes, and then you have Quakertown and the big three in the National (North Penn, Neshaminy and Pennsbury), and who else, really? You could have put CB East in the argument until last weekend, and now you have a little bit of concern about that.
“It’s tough making rash decisions after one week of league play, but this week feels like there are some elimination games from district consideration. Teams can perhaps not make the district playoffs and still have what they’d call good seasons, but if you want to make it into that tournament and if you’re sporting two or three losses after week five, you’re in deep trouble. Everybody has talked about the parity – this is the week it better show up.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: What was the biggest surprise after the first week of SOL play?
Kevin Cooney: “One thing that really stunned me – and nothing against Hatboro, but Upper Moreland is a team we all kind of said, ‘Maybe they’re not Upper Dublin, and maybe they’re not PW, but they look at least on paper like a potential (Class) AAA playoff team,’ and then all of a sudden you go and lose a game like that. That just really, really hurts.”
Scott Huff: “Most local prognosticators didn’t feel that winless Hatboro-Horsham had much of a shot against unbeaten Upper Moreland. And those predictors would have been wrong as the Hatters topped the rival Golden Bears 20-13.
“Hatboro-Horsham played a brutal non-conference schedule that included losses against National Conference power Pennridge (55-29); defending Continental Conference champion Quakertown (38-19), and a good Lansdale Catholic (45-20) team from the Catholic League. And in all of those games, the Hatters proved that they could put points on 
the scoreboard – it was a question of whether or not they were going to be able to stop anyone defensively.
“The passing combo of senior Casey Walsh and sophomore Calvin Broaddus has been tremendous all season. Walsh brings a wealth of varsity experience to the quarterback position and Broaddus may be diminutive – but he is very explosive and has racked up some impressive receiving totals in receptions, yards, and touchdowns.
“This is not to take anything away from Upper Moreland. The Golden Bears came into the game with nice wins over Penncrest (28-15), Archbishop Carroll (27-7), and Conwell-Egan (20-10). In all three of those wins – senior running back Rodney Morgan was the most remarkable back in terms of stats – and Morgan did not play the first quarter against the Hatters, nursing an injury. Morgan did finish the HH game with 147 yards and a touchdown.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Would you consider Springfield’s 34-20 win over Wissahickon an upset?
Scott Huff: “I felt that going into the game that it was a coin flip.
“Springfield is a Class AA school – a very good Class AA school – that swims in the very deep waters of the SOL American Conference that features five Quad-A schools (Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin, Cheltenham, Wissahickon, and Hatboro-Horsham) – and two Class AAA schools (Upper Merion and Upper Moreland).
“The Spartans began the season with a huge win over Lower Moreland (42-0) and a huge loss to Lansdale Catholic (49-7). Springfield had a bye week before the start of the conference season – and the non-conference schedule did not tell much of a story about the Spartans.
“Senior quarterback Justin Hill had one of the most remarkable games in recent memory for Springfield with a brilliant 332-yard total offense performance that included five touchdowns - Wissahickon simply had no answers.
“Wissahickon is a Quad-A team in disorder right now with the suspension of its head coach. The Trojans won their first game over Central – but lost the next two prior to the Springfield game. It is a team that is still desperately trying to find its way this season.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: What are your thoughts on defending champion Upper Dublin after its opening conference game 42-6 victory over Cheltenham?
Scott Huff: “With the exception of Plymouth Whitemarsh – and maybe Upper Moreland and Hatboro-Horsham – there could be a bunch of lopsided victories for the Cardinals in conference play.
“The obvious is that Upper Dublin has an explosive offense that is fueled by senior quarterback Ryan Stover – but just as obvious should be the outstanding play of the Cardinal defense. After four games that offense has averaged 46.3 points per game while the defense has allowed just 8.5 points per game.
“Cheltenham is still in search of finding a way to sustain drives and score points. Senior quarterback Brandon Mack has generated some long-distance touchdown passes, but the Panthers have not been competitive in most of the games.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: What are your thoughts on unbeaten Plymouth Whitemarsh so far this season?
Scott Huff: “PW had been the team to beat for years in the conference – but now the Colonials have given up that favorite’s role to Upper Dublin.
“Head coach Dan Chang will use that as motivation for this 2015 team – and don’t even think about counting PW out of the conference champion conversation. Running back Nyfeese Nasir is one of the elite backs in the entire SOL – and the Colonials have October 16th circled on the calendar when they host Upper Dublin.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Who wins this week in the SOL American Conference?
Scott Huff: “How about – {Upper Dublin 55 – Springfield 14}; {Plymouth Whitemarsh 49 – Wissahickon 13}; {Upper Moreland 34 – Cheltenham 14}; and {Hatboro-Horsham 38 – Upper Merion 13}?”