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Back for its 10th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writers Drew Markol and Todd Thorpe.
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SuburbanOneSports.com: Abington defeated Pennsbury 49-28 to clinch sole possession of the SOL National title. Your thoughts about that conference.
Todd Thorpe: “You’re got to give credit to Abington. They’re a team that constantly has had to prove themselves to everybody all year – they’re not going to beat Neshaminy, they’re not going to beat Truman, they’re not going to beat Pennsbury. Well, not only have they beaten these teams, they’re thumping these teams. Abington is the real deal. They have explosion at the quarterback and the running back positions that nobody else in that league has, and that’s the difference. Andrick Wesh, in the last two weeks, has been one of the best running backs around. He is an explosive one-play, home run hitter at running back. Last week, Pennsbury gave Abington everything they had. Pennsbury had some really impressive drives where they just ran the ball right down Abington’s throat, and every single time Abington would answer with a huge play. Pennsbury never really was able to make it competitive after the first quarter. That’s a credit to Abington and what they’ve done. I think Abington has clearly established themselves as the best team on this side of District One.
“What that means come playoff time, I think it’s going to come down to who they draw, who they play. Right now, you look at District One, and Coatesville just got a big win over Downingtown West. Downingtown West is the second best team, I would say. Downingtown East is right there, and they play 
Coatesville this week, and then you have Garnet Valley, who every year seems to make a run in that tournament. Clearly, it’s a district that is stronger on the other side, but on this side, Abington looks like your best team. They’re going to get a real challenge this week against CB West coming off a loss, but even still, West has played two close games in a row the last two weeks, and going 1-1 probably would be what you’d expect. Abington has had a really tough schedule, and I give them all the credit in the world.
“The counter to that is it puts Pennsbury at 5-4 and it puts Neshaminy at 5-4. Truman fell out of the playoff race last week losing to Pennridge, so they’re not going to make the playoffs. Which means there’s a lot at stake for the Pennsbury/Neshaminy game, sitting at number 17 and 18. At 16 right now is CB East. The way the math works is a mystery, so you can’t say anything for sure, but if Pennsbury wins this week, they should be able to surpass CB East no matter what CB East does and get in as the number 16 team and East would be out. Pennsbury is very close to East right now points-wise. Pennsbury is playing a team that’s 5-4, and East is playing a team that’s 2-7, so by virtue of that game, Pennsbury should be able to pass East and take that 16 spot. Neshaminy is significantly behind CB East, so if Neshaminy wins and CB East wins, my guess is that CB East would be 16 and Neshaminy misses out. If you’re Neshaminy, you’re hoping that Pennridge can pull another upset this week and beat CB East. The magic word is Neshaminy has to beat Pennsbury, and Pennsbury needs to beat Neshaminy as well.
“There are other factors that go into it. Neshaminy and Pennsbury have both played Abington and lost to Abington. CB East has lost to CB West and Pennsbury. How much would a CB West win affect CB East this week, and would that little point margin based on what their opponent did be enough to knock them over the top? It looks like the scenario I just presented is accurate and that’s how it’s going to play out, but there’s no guarantee because you don’t really know how the points are going to be affected by what other teams do. The goal for all three of those teams would be to win. We know one of them is not going to. It makes for a couple of interesting games for the 16 seed. I won’t say it’s a booby prize, but the reward for that is probably making a trip to Coatesville or making a trip to Downingtown West.
“Downingtown West really put a hurting on Neshaminy earlier this year, and I have trouble believing the other teams could do much better. Downingtown West is a really, really good team, and aside from Coatesville, Downingtown West is the best team in the district, but you want to get in. It’s good for your program, and for programs like Pennsbury and Neshaminy, they’re used to getting in. A year without the playoffs is almost unfathomable to programs like that, and you look at it, and CB East has made the playoffs three of the last four years, so it really would be a feather in their caps. Especially since a couple of weeks ago they lost a few games in a row, and everybody kind of wrote them off. East does have a big win over CB South, so give them credit for doing what they did.
“I do think all this power point stuff is over complicated a little bit. I think there’s probably an easier way to do it. I think they put a lot of significance on winning football games rather than who you play. I put this in print earlier this week – I think the system should be geared more toward what you do in league games. I’d say use your non-league games as bonus points, not necessarily hurting you, but they’re not the most significant part of what you’re evaluating because the way it works now – they’re evaluating a non-league game whether it’s against a very good team or against a not very good team. Let’s face it, the way some teams schedule and the way other teams schedule is pretty drastic. If you’re a Pennsbury, they went 0-3 in their first three non-league games, but then they beat CB East (in a non-league game). CB East won their games early in the year, but they didn’t play the schedule Pennsbury did. Head to head, Pennsbury won the game between the two teams.
“I’m not saying CB East doesn’t deserve to get in, but the discrepancy in the way some of the schedules work in the non-league games is such that it creates a really big imbalance, and it doesn’t encourage you to schedule the best opponents. So you have teams like Pennsbury and Neshaminy who are scheduling tough non-league opponents with the idea of getting better for the league. I think it does make them better for the league, but you’re staring at a hole. It might not make them better, but Pennsbury might be staring at 7-2 right now instead of 5-4, and you’re probably in the playoffs. I think that’s something that needs to be evaluated at the district level because you’re not going to encourage teams to schedule strong. We’ve seen what some teams have done in scheduling this year. It is a big difference.
“The counter to that is if you win some of these tough non-league games it really does help you. It’s a catch-22. If Neshaminy had beaten Downingtown West, look how many points they would have gotten for scheduling that game, but they didn’t. That’s what happens, but that’s me on my District One power ranking soapbox. I would like to see the rankings altered a little bit so you place more emphasis on the league games. Not quite like baseball where you only emphasize the league games but just more emphasis because league games are really where your emphasis should be.”
Drew Markol: “You look ahead at the district field, and you could have five teams from the Continental. West is in, North Penn is in, Souderton is in, CB South is in, and maybe East gets in. We wondered about Abington at the start of the season, but here they are – they clinched the conference title last week, and they’re sitting with a chance to get a top three seed coming out of the National. It all depends on the math. I think it will just be two teams from the National, but we have to see all the scores from all over the place. There’s a lot riding on the Pennsbury/Neshaminy game, and there are a lot of calculations still to be made. Next week this time we’ll be talking about playoff matchups.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton handed CB West its first loss, 28-27 in double overtime, and CB South edged North Penn 36-35. Your thoughts about the Continental Conference.
Drew Markol: “When you look at the Souderton/CB West game, it just looked to me – not to take anything away from Souderton, but West looked a little flat to me. They were coming off that enormous win to North Penn. Then they had to bounce back against a really good team in Souderton, and that’s hard to do. They weren’t tackling like they normally tackle, they weren’t finishing their blocks like they normally do. I was talking to Rob Rowan, the CB West coach the other day, and he said the same thing. The fact that they still went to double overtime against a good team like Souderton shows you how good West is.
“It was a very entertaining game. Souderton has a lot of weapons and put themselves in a great spot. They can get a share of the Continental title if they beat CB South, which won’t be easy. If they want to share the Continental title with West, they have to beat South that had a bit of a clunker against East 
and then they come back and beat North Penn, and they do it by scoring 28 unanswered points, which is unheard of against a North Penn team. People have said, ‘This is not a vintage North Penn team, blah, blah, blah…’ Well, North Penn’s only losses were to La Salle, probably the second best team in the state, and to CB West by a point. Then they lost to CB South by a point. It’s not like North Penn is 2-7 and getting mercy-ruled every other Friday. That’s not the case. Is it a vintage North Penn team we’ve seen many, many times? No, it’s not, but it’s still a pretty good team. That’s a huge job by South to put themselves right in the mix. I believe they’re 12th in the power point rankings, which you need a PhD to figure out, but if they go and beat Souderton, who knows? Do they jump ahead four spots to that eighth spot and get a home game? A lot of things would have to happen, but regardless, that will be a good game against Souderton. I give South a lot of credit, and I also give Souderton a lot of credit for beating West. It was pretty good stuff. I’m not a big one for home field advantage. It’s nice for districts to get a home game – it’s nice for the home crowd. I don’t think home field really plays the kind of role it does in college where you have 70,000 people in the stands. I’d call the Souderton/South game a coin flip. How flying high is South right now after beating North Penn, knowing that North Penn beat Souderton and also knowing if you beat Souderton you can take away a share of the Continental title from them. On the flip side, how excited would Souderton be? They beat an 8-0 West team to give themselves a shot at a share of the title. Instead of sharing it three ways, South beats North Penn and opens the door for Souderton to just share it with West. It’s hard to keep all of this straight, but both of those teams – and you don’t see it too often in the last week of the season, but there’s a lot to play for. We have some new faces.
“Staying in the Continental, you look at CB East, and they have to beat Pennridge on Friday and then have to have a couple of things fall for them. There’s a lot of things that could happen. They have to win. How about Pennridge losing seven in a row, and they come out and knock off Truman. Pennridge and CB East – they battle. I’ve covered a lot of those games over the years, and those teams always go at it, and they’ll go at it again because now Pennridge has some momentum beating Truman, and now they know they can keep East out of the playoffs, and those teams don’t like each other.
“How many years have we talked, and the last week of the season has just basically been keeping your players healthy for districts. The way the Suburban One League has its crossover games, you have Abington going to CB West, which is basically the number two seed in the district versus the number three seed in the district. This is basically a district semifinal. If you’re those two teams, how do you approach that game? Do you go all out and try and win it, which most coaches – that’s their MO. Or do you throttle back and say, ‘I don’t want this kid to get hurt, I don’t want that kid to get hurt. Even if we lose, it’s not going to kill us to the point where we’re going to lose a home game or anything like that.’
“You have Souderton playing CB South or CB West playing Abington – you could see these teams again in the playoffs, you don’t know that. It will be interesting. Do Abington and CB West both play it close to the vest? Do they both just play their games?
“Abington ran all over a good Pennsbury team. Their quarterback, Tamir Berthau, and their running back, Andrick Wesh, combined for over 300 rushing yards against a good Pennsbury defense. That’s really something. Abington and CB West were both 4-6 last year and didn’t even make the playoffs. It makes for an interesting last week of the season, which a lot of times it’s not.
“I don’t claim to be the District One points guru that Kyle Berger is – District One is very lucky he’s around to do it because he figures out all these things. My math skills are way, way lower than that. There are formulas out there. Downingtown West is playing a team with a poor record, and if West beats Abington, maybe West could be number one, and maybe you could have West versus CB East or West versus Pennsbury in the first round. It’s all possible. This is the first last week of the season that has all this drama to it, which is nice.”
Todd Thorpe: “Our instinct is to say – ‘Wow, look at CB West’s win over North Penn. They’re obviously a great team, and they’re going to finish undefeated and maybe be the number one seed in the district.’ Well, slow down a little bit. A week earlier, you would have said that Souderton is right in the mix with those teams. I don’t think anybody two weeks ago would have been all that surprised if Souderton pulled off a very narrow win over CB West, but I think because of what West had done against North Penn, people were a little surprised. Throw in CB South with a huge upset of North Penn, and I think what we found out is those top four teams in the Continental Conference are really balanced. I think all four of those teams belong in the playoffs. You wonder all year – is this just another year where everybody is measuring up with North Penn and playing for second place? The answer to that this year is no. Those teams are as good as North Penn.
“North Penn beat Souderton in a game that was close at the half, and then they lost two close games to West and South. West handled CB South pretty easily but then lost to Souderton. Souderton beats CB West and this week plays CB South. A week ago, you looked at that game and said CB South is going to be playing for their lives, but then they beat North Penn, so CB South is probably pretty securely in. The one scenario I saw is that even if they lose to Souderton, CB South would be in as the 14th or 15th seed. Beating North Penn is no small potatoes. Forget what it means for the playoffs. It’s a huge thing for a team’s season to beat a North Penn. Great credit goes to CB South because aside from the kids in that locker room, I don’t know if anybody really would have considered them a factor in that game, and they were and they proved it. Good for them.
“These are the first league games North Penn has lost since the year Mike Class brought Pennridge to the district semifinals, and CB South beat North Penn that year too. North Penn is building for something special going forward. Coach Dick Beck is playing a lot of young guys – they’re playing for a bigger prize down the line. Not to say that he’s given up on this year, I don’t think he has. They’re going to make the playoffs, and they’re going to have a chance to do something in the playoffs because they’re North Penn and they do have some very good seniors.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Cheltenham wrapped up a share of the SOL American title last week with its 34-6 win over Upper Moreland. Your comments about that conference.
Todd Thorpe: “This is Cheltenham’s year. If they do what they’re expected to do this week, they’re going to be the number one seed in districts, and they’re going to have the league championship. It looks like they have a team of playmakers to do something in 5A. I’m sure they’re looking at it as – why not us? They won the league, which I think has proven throughout the years that it’s not a pushover with how good PW has been all year. Upper Dublin, prior to all the injuries, was a pretty good team too. Good for Cheltenham. They need to take care of business this week and go for that league championship because that means something. All these teams should focus on that first. Focus on that league championship and do whatever it takes. I think sometimes you get caught up a little bit in – ‘Where are we going to be seeded?’ and ‘How are we going to do in districts?’ type of talk. For a team like Cheltenham where league championships don’t come around that often, worry about districts next week. I think I saw that this is the first since 2010. Take care of business this week, do what you have to do and celebrate that. Then worry about the playoffs. I think Cheltenham can be a factor. They certainly do have some pretty good playmakers like Adonis Hunter, Jamir Barnes, TJ Harris and Nate Edwards, and that’s a huge factor. It would be very interesting if somewhere down the line they’d play Archbishop Wood in the state playoffs. They have a couple of transfers from Wood on that team, so it would be interesting to see that game. That’s a long way down the line, and I’m not even sure what side of the bracket they’d be on. Good for them. I hope for their sake they take care of business this week and take that trophy home.
“PW is in the playoffs again, and that’s huge. Dan Chang is a good coach - he proved that earlier in his career when he took over the PW job. It’s not the easiest place to coach – sometimes the numbers can fluctuate, and you have to go with what you have. This year they’ve had a good year, and I don’t think anybody expected it coming off a down year, but they’ve taken care of business. The interesting thing about that is right now they’re in the mix to possibly play North Penn in the first round. Dan Chang went to North Penn, and I’m not sure he’s coached against Dick Beck yet. I think that would make for a very interesting first round matchup because he’s a guy who – when we first heard his name, you’re like, ‘This could be a guy who could be Dick Beck’s successor at North Penn one day.’ But he’s now built something at PW and he’s been there a while. That would be a very interesting game if they would play each other, but regardless, just like we were saying about Cheltenham - take care of business this week. A one-loss season is pretty significant heading into playoffs.”