- Log in to post comments
Back for its eighth season, the popular Intelligencer/Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features Drew Markol, Todd Thorpe and Jen Wielgus. Markol is the football beat writer for the Intelligencer area while Thorpe is the Courier’s football beat writer. Wielgus is a video sports reporter for the Intelligencer and Courier. Markol and Wielgus are contributors on the weekly Game On show. To view this week’s show, click on the following link: http://www.theintell.com/videos/hsgameon/ To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (http://www.theintell.com/sports/) and Courier Times (http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/) web sites.
Check out the picks by our panel of experts: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/football-forecaster
SuburbanOneSports.com: The first round of the tournament went pretty much as expected. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “The first round of districts – I don’t want to call it a bye week for the higher seeded teams, but there are too many teams in the tournament. There are 33 6A schools in District One, and 16 of them get 
into the tournament, which is ridiculous. The top eight seeds all won. Four or five of the games were decided by 20 or more points. The field is just way too big. What they need to do is push the season back so we’re not playing before Labor Day, get rid of this round of 16 and just have a round of eight. If you’re not in the top eight, chances are really slim that you’re going to win the district title. Just stop, but they won’t stop. If you predict football games, you love the first round of the district tournament because you look like a genius, and all you’ve got to do is pick the top eight seeds and you’ll go 8-0.
“Again, they want the playoff money, and what better way to do that than add a useless layer of the tournament. We’re stuck with it, and nothing’s going to change. That’s unfortunately the way it is. Were there any surprises? No. You look at the games, and you say, ‘This team hung with Team X for a while,’ but they didn’t. At the end, the game was over. The game that I went to was Garnet Valley/CB West, and Garnet Valley called off the dogs after three quarters. They could have put 50 up, they put up 32. Sure, it’s a nice accomplishment for teams to say they got into the district tournament. Truman gets in, but then they go down to Coatesville, and Coatesville puts 51 points on them. That’s just the way it goes. This week it gets real because you have Neshaminy versus Pennsbury again.”
Todd Thorpe: “You can kind of call it when all top eight seeds won, and quite frankly, they deserved to be the teams that won. Everybody knew that those were the best eight teams, and it would be a pretty big upset if one of those teams were to lose. None of them did.
“Sometimes when you’re following things on Twitter, it’s not as easy to pick things up. I heard Perk Valley was behind in their game, and some teams had some slow first halves, but by the second half, in most of those games, the better team had emerged. Seeding is never perfect, and certainly, the way they seeded the top eight, in my opinion, wasn’t perfect, but the power points figured out in terms of which eight teams they were. I think they’re the best eight teams, and they’re the ones playing this weekend.
“We could talk about what the matchups were – I certainly wouldn’t want to see three rematches in the second round of the playoffs, but that’s the way the ball bounces. North Penn and Garnet Valley played in the district final last year, so if you really want to go back, you could say four rematches. It’s just an interesting quirk this year.
“Last week wasn’t very much of a surprise. I was out at Truman versus Coatesville. Truman gave them some anxious moments early, took an early lead, had a big kickoff return, and they only trailed 12-8 after a safety late in the first quarter, but Coatesville just, in the end, was too talented all over the field for them, and that’s why they pulled away. Coatesville is going to be a real tough out in this tournament. I think a disciplined team, a team that’s sound defensively against the pass and a team that, quite frankly, takes advantage of a Coatesville team that committed 17 penalties against Truman – five personal fouls - you’re going to get some opportunities if they play like that. I’ve not heard that they play like that – it was just one of those games. They looked very talented.
“Neshaminy won easily over Spring-Ford. Pennsbury 17-0 over CB South, but apparently, they took their foot off the throttle in the second half and cruised home from there. CB West goes home after losing to Garnet Valley. Nice season for West, getting to the playoffs. That was a little over their heads – Garnet Valley is legit. North Penn’s game against Haverford was a little closer than you might have thought, but they pulled away. Really, there were no huge surprises.
“I give Upper Moreland a ton of credit. They keep on rolling in 5A, and all signs point to that showdown with Springfield-Delco in a couple of weeks, but they have some business to take care of too.”
Jen Wielgus: “I chose to go to the Quakertown/Pennridge game last week, and as much as that’s a rivalry, Pennridge completely dominated that game. I have to give Quakertown credit for keeping it to 6-0 in the first half. They played their hearts out on defense. Pennridge looked like they were going to score multiple times, and Quakertown kept it to 6-0. That game brings up a point. The teams that don’t have the ability to kick points after touchdowns or to convert after touchdowns are eventually going to get themselves in trouble.
“Pennridge is playing Perk Valley this week who they famously shut out earlier in the season, and that was a huge statement win by everyone’s estimation. It was a big shutout. I don’t think anybody thinks it’s going to be that way again. Perk Valley put up a ton of points – they had to in order to beat Penn Wood last week. Obviously, Pennridge has a really tough defense, and I think Pennridge will win the game, but when you cannot kick an extra point and you struggle so hard to convert those gimme points after touchdowns, that has got to bite you in the butt at some point when you get in these tough playoff games. That is definitely something that stood out in the Pennridge/Quakertown game. Quakertown didn’t get on the board, and Quakertown is not as good a team as Pennridge, I think that showed. I watched Pennridge play against Neshaminy at Heartbreak Ridge earlier this year. They lost and they didn’t have their kicker that night, so they didn’t even have that opportunity. That is a definite weakness for Pennridge going forward.
“I’ve seen that for other teams too. The first game between Pennsbury and Neshaminy came down to one point. Well, Pennsbury missed their first PAT. You can point to a lot of things in that game, but it’s extremely important that teams convert the points after touchdowns in these playoff games because you know it’s going to come down to that at some point.
“Teams like Neshaminy and North Penn that have kickers that are really good and proven that cannot only kick PATs – they kick field goals and they’re skilled at kickoffs – that is a big advantage, and I have definitely seen that this season. That’s my tangent.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennsbury travels to Neshaminy for a rematch of the SOL National Conference title game between the two teams two weeks ago. Neshaminy won that one 21-20 with a fourth quarter rally. Your thoughts about Friday’s contest between the neighboring rivals.
Todd Thorpe: “The first time these two teams played was a classic, put it in the history books. Great finish, great game, two good teams. It was a classic. For a rivalry like that, this game is just a classic, and now you have to turn around and play them two weeks later. I think the sentiment coming out of both teams was – there’s really not much we haven’t seen from them, so it’s not going to be a lot of surprises.
“My personal take is that Neshaminy did a pretty effective job against quarterback Zach Demarchis the first time around. They forced a couple of turnovers on fumbles, he didn’t break any long touchdown runs, and despite that, Pennsbury 20, Neshaminy 7 in the fourth quarter. It took a kick return for a touchdown by Joel Stills and then the first three-and-out of the game for Pennsbury and a trick end-around play by Neshaminy on fourth-and-two. So it took Neshaminy everything they could get to pull that game out because Pennsbury outplayed them. Neshaminy had two effective drives the whole game – the first and the last. Everything in between was pretty much all Pennsbury.
“Pennsbury didn’t dominate. Demarchis didn’t get 250 yards and they didn’t beat them 42-6.It wasn’t like that, but if you’re Pennsbury, you still have to think – we were the better team the first time around, and we let it get away from us. I don’t think confidence is an issue for them going into that game. Does Neshaminy have a little mental edge? They might. A lot of times in emotional games like this, if they do play a rematch, usually it’s not quite as close as it was the first time. One of the teams sees something they can exploit. I’m not sure about that for this game.
“Joel Stills, the running back, had a big game running the football for Neshaminy last week. Running the football against Pennsbury is no treat. Give Neshaminy the credit for their linebacker and secondary play two weeks ago, and they’re going to need to do that again. Neshaminy probably is the team that needs to see the game at 21-20 or 21-14. It’s at Neshaminy, and that’s a huge home field advantage for them. I can see a lot of different scenarios, but I think this could be another good game. I think Pennsbury probably reverses its fate, but something also tells me that Neshaminy having that win over them in the first game gives them a little bit of an edge. It’s interesting - these teams have played 70-some times, and they’ve have never played in the playoffs before. Consider how good they’ve been in the last two decades, and they’ve never met in the playoffs. Something’s got to give here. I think for all four of these second round game – I think the four winners are all going to be a little banged up after this week. I think this is just four tough quarterfinal games, and by the time we get to the finals, these teams are going to have beaten each other up pretty good because it’s that competitive. There are no soft touches here. If I had to pick the winners out of this week, I’d go Pennsbury, Coatesville, North Penn and Pennridge, but I think all four of those games are coin flips. We’ll see. I’m anxious to see when the results start piling in.”
Drew Markol: “What a juicy matchup that is – two weeks after Neshaminy scores in the last minute on a trick play to beat them in what is a huge rivalry game, and lo and behold, two weeks later, Pennsbury gets a shot at redemption. If Pennsbury wins, Neshaminy can argue, ‘We won the big one. We won the conference title,’ but Pennsbury can argue, ‘Yeah, but we won the district game.’ To me, I wouldn’t have a district tournament at all. I would rather win my league – I’m a dinosaur – because unless you win the district title, does anybody really care? Hey, we got to the district quarterfinals. What happened? Oh, we lost by 25. I like league titles, I like Thanksgiving Day games, and those things don’t seem to matter too much anymore.
“Like it was two weeks ago, you basically flip a coin. Does Neshaminy have an edge because they won? I don’t think so. Pennsbury can say – we hung with them. They had the game, and Neshaminy gets a kickoff return for a touchdown. That doesn’t happen everyday, but it happened then. In the picks for SuburbanOneSports, I took Neshaminy. Did I flip a coin? I did. I really don’t know. It’s a great matchup. Now it’s back at Neshaminy this time. Does that matter in high school football when the team you’re playing is a 20-minute bus ride? I don’t think there’s a home field advantage. Both stands will be packed. How cool would it be if there was no district tournament – they wouldn’t have played two weeks ago, and the conference title was being decided on Thanksgiving morning? They’re never going to do it, I know. I’m like a turkey, my days are numbered.”
Jen Wielgus: “We talked about this a lot the last time they played – Pennsbury had that game won and basically let their guard down. You’re up 20-7 in the fourth quarter, you give up a kickoff return the length of the field, you let them get to where they have the confidence to run a trick play and then you throw an interception. Think about that – they still had a chance to do something at the end of the game after all of that, and it wasn’t a big chance, but they throw an interception. Pennsbury left a lot on the table the last time. Unlucky for them, Neshaminy is tough on their home field.
“Nobody coming into this thinks Pennsbury can’t win that game. I’m picking Pennsbury this time. It’s such a toss-up to me that I ran a Twitter poll. I literally put it out there and I said, ‘Vote for Pennsbury or Neshaminy, and I will pick based on that.’ More people voted for Pennsbury – 64 percent to 36 percent out of 309 votes. It’s not a scientific poll, it’s Twitter, Pennsbury’s kids got ahold of it, but how big would it be for that program - which lost to Neshaminy 35-0 last year and missed the playoffs – to come in to Heartbreak Ridge and beat them. Just because I’m picking Pennsbury does not mean Neshaminy is not the favorite on the home field. They put up a lot of points last week in a win over Spring-Ford. I’m going to be there, and I’m looking forward to it.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge travels to Perk Valley for a rematch of an early season game between the two teams. Pennridge won the first meeting 29-0. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Another good game is Pennridge/Perk Valley. People look at it and say, ‘Pennridge shut them out in week two, beat them 29-0.’ I don’t want to say that’s an anomaly – you have to give Pennridge a lot of credit. Pennridge has gotten better and better as the season has gone along, which is a good thing. They play good defense, which is what you need. You look at Perk Valley – I’m sure Pennridge coach Jeff Hollenbach is telling his team this – they’ve beaten some good teams. They beat a Spring-Ford team that – okay Neshaminy beat them up last week, but they shut them out. They beat a good Upper Dublin team that can hang with most 6A teams. Perk Valley has some good wins, and their only loss was that one to Pennridge, so you talk about revenge – holy smokes, if you’re Perk Valley and you’re playing at home – I’m not a big fan of home field advantage, but when you saw that matchup, you’re saying, ‘Wow, I get another shot at them.’ You give the edge to Pennridge because they beat them and the way they beat them, but that’s going to be a lot closer than a lot of people think.”
Todd Thorpe: “Pennridge at Perk Valley is a rematch of a game Pennridge won 29-0. A year earlier, Pennridge went to Perk Valley and just got hammered (38-20). Earlier in the year, it was the first game of Zak Kantor starting at quarterback for Pennridge, and he had a great game – 10-for-14, 161 yards and a touchdown. They picked off Perk Valley’s quarterback twice in that game. The running game at the time was Josh Pinkney (136 yards, two touchdowns). They just dominated that game. They got a safety from the defense early.
“When you look at last week (a 24-0 win over Quakertown), Nick Tarburton was an offensive threat. They’re one of those teams you look at it and you say – Tarburton does so much defensively. He’s the most dangerous defensive player around. When you throw in 13 carries and 108 yards from the fullback position, that’s tough to stop. Last week, Kyle Schetter had a big game – 97 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Pennridge has to be extremely confident going on the road and playing Perk Valley in the second round. You can’t just turn around 29-0 that quickly, but that being said, that’s the only game Perk Valley lost, so it’s not like Perk Valley has any reason not to be confident. They’ve beaten everybody. The Pioneer Athletic Conference is what the Pioneer Athletic Conference is. You’re talking about a league that has a playoff team in Spring-Ford, a league that has an Owen J. Roberts that was a playoff team, so you’re not talking a horrible league. You’re talking about a pretty competitive league. I don’t know – to me, that’s a little bit of a pick ‘em game. Despite the 29-0 Pennridge win the first time around, I think this game could go the other way. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was decided late.”
Jen Wielgus: “I’m going to be very Suburban One-biased in all of my picks this week. If you look at all of the top seeds that have the home games, that’s nice for Perk Valley and Garnet Valley, but I have confidence that coming out of that SOL Continental that both Pennridge and North Penn will prevail. Pennridge with its defense and its offense has looked good. Zak Kantor has played well. He had a touchdown pass against Quakertown to Tucker Chaikin that was beautiful. He’s good, and Pennridge’s defense creates scoring opportunities. That happened a lot against Quakertown, and I think they’re going to need to do that against Perk Valley because clearly Perk Valley is a team that can score points. I don’t think they’ll shut them out again. They’ve got a reputation of playing down to competition, but if they play Pennridge football, they’ll win that game.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn will travel to Garnet Valley for a rematch of last year’s district title game that the Knights won 48-38. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “You look at North Penn/Garnet Valley – I really believe North Penn can roll them. Garnet Valley sets up the run with the run. That’s what they do, and I’m sure Dick Beck at practice this week is doing the old CB West Mike Pettine thing of – we’re not even going to practice with the ball. You’re just going to practice your assignment. You stop the fullback, you stop the quarterback. I think a problem for a team that runs the option like Garnet Valley – if they fall behind, they play the four and five yards a pop game, and every once in a while, somebody breaks one for 60. Well, if North Penn goes up two touchdowns on them and they have to throw, they’re not used to that. Size-wise, they’re not very big either. I think if North Penn plays like they can, North Penn could win that one going away.”
Todd Thorpe: “North Penn/Garnet Valley is a rematch of last year’s district final. Garnet Valley has a good program. They’re always there, and that’s a tough place to play. North Penn, despite being a lower seed, is a favorite to go in there and get a big win, but you know what – Garnet Valley might be a team that’s tired of losing to the likes of North Penn in the district playoffs. I think that’s a competitive game. I think North Penn wins. I think it’s high scoring. I think you’re probably in the 30s, but I think North Penn wins, and they pull away late. North Penn’s weapons have emerged late in the year. KJ Cartwright had a huge game last week against Haverford – 249 yards and three touchdowns rushing. Earlier in the year, you weren’t seeing that. You were hoping Justis Henley made a few plays during the course of the game, and he’s still doing that, but KJ Cartwright, Anthony Andrews, the quarterback, Steve DePaul, Khan Jamal is a very productive running back. It’s by committee, but that’s a pretty talented committee. North Penn’s doing what they have to. I think they win that game, but don’t be surprised if that’s a game in the fourth quarter and North Penn has to do some business to put it away late.”
Jen Wielgus: “North Penn has hit its stride. Their defense was kind of a question mark earlier this season. Like I said, these teams that have a higher seed – that really doesn’t seem to mean much. Looking ahead – North Penn and Pennridge are on a collision course to face each other again.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: In Class 5A action, Upper Moreland will host Marple Newtown and Upper Dubin will travel to Academy Park. Your thoughts.
Todd Thorpe: “Academy Park played Pennsbury earlier in the year, and Pennsbury won that game 27-20. Academy Park is usually one of those teams that figures into the mix this time of the year. I know they’ve lost to Archbishop Wood a few times in that first round of states after winning District One. I would think this would be a pretty competitive game for Upper Dublin for a second round game, but Upper Dublin was real impressive last week. Good for them. If they play their game, I like them to win this game.
“I think Upper Moreland is definitely favored to win that game against Marple-Newtown. Right now Upper Moreland is just a little bit of a machine. You can’t slow them down. Upper Dublin held them to 21 points, and aside from that, their next lowest was 34 all season. Marple Newtown has quite a task to take care of them.
“I like Upper Moreland and Upper Dublin to both advance this week, but Academy Park/Upper Dublin will be a good game. I think that will be very competitive.”
Drew Markol: “Academy Park won the 5A championship last year. That’s a good matchup for Upper Dublin. Academy Park won the district title last year and is having another good run this year. The SOL does well in this tournament though. I think Upper Dublin is pretty seasoned. Perhaps you give an edge to Academy Park. Would I be shocked if Upper Dublin beat them? No, I wouldn’t. Again, we’ve talked about this. Upper Dublin is no longer just having a good season. Bret Stover has built a program. They know how to win, they know how to play in the postseason, and so does Academy Park, but Upper Dublin is not the Johnny-come-lately to the tournament, so they’ll be in any game they play. That will be a good one.
“Upper Moreland playing Marple Newtown – the way Upper Moreland is going, they’re heading for a collision with Springfield in the district final. They just have it rolling with Sterlen Barr and Caleb Mead. To have that in your backfield, to be able to send one of them or both of them out wide to catch passes, they just present a lot of problems for teams. They’re still undefeated. How much more confidence could they have? Their test comes in two weeks with Springfield.”
Jen Wielgus: “What those two teams had to go through in the regular season – they are not going to be intimidated by anybody. Upper Moreland definitely is the more likely team to advance there. Academy Park always has so much talent and so much speed, but Upper Dublin has played against Upper Moreland and Hatboro-Horsham. Both of those teams have speed. I picked Academy Park, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see Upper Dublin win. We’re not there yet, but I think Upper Moreland is going to play for a district championship.”