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Back for its 11th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writers Drew Markol and Todd Thorpe. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (https://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school) and Courier Times (https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/) web sites, which will feature a live blog on football Fridays.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Your comments aftert week two in the SOL National.
Todd Thorpe: “I was at Pennridge/Neshaminy, and I didn’t see that one coming. It doesn’t necessarily surprise me that Pennridge won but the way it won – it was obviously a completely one-sided game. They beat Neshaminy physically, they beat Neshaminy athletically, they beat Neshaminy strategically. They had the best player on the field by far with Shane Hartzell, who 
completely shut down Chris James and the Neshaminy running attack. Neshaminy didn’t look like they were ready, they didn’t look like they had a plan B. The game was still relatively close at halftime, and you thought – maybe Neshaminy will regroup a little bit at halftime and come out and get a score, and it’s a ballgame again. Well, they didn’t. Pennridge came out and scored twice, and that was pretty much all she wrote. It was really a thoroughly dominant performance by a Pennridge team that’s now 2-0 along with Abington in what looks like an extremely competitive league.
“On the scoreboard when I saw the CB East/CB South result, I was very surprised. I was very impressed with what CB East did against Pennsbury the week before, but I understand there were some injuries, including to their quarterback, Anthony Giordano, and their running back, so I think there were some factors there. Give CB South some credit. They scored some points against Abington the week before. They fell behind, but they did score some points. To come back and win that game over East and kind of say, ‘We’re still having a season here. We’re not rebuilding, this is a season.’ Those rivalry games are crazy, those rivalry games are absolutely nuts. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Then you turn around, Pennridge has to go to CB East Saturday, and you’re like, ‘Well, Pennridge is maybe the team to beat, they’re going to run all over CB East.’ I’m not sure that’s going to happen. I don’t know, maybe it will, but you don’t know. With East at home in this crazy five-game season, you just don’t know.
“North Penn stomps on Pennsbury last week. You’ve got to think they’re still a factor here. Abington is 2-0 and beat West, but not handily. They had to come back and beat West after a slow start, so it’s really tough to get any gauge on who the best team is in definitely the best conference. It’s interesting.”
Drew Markol: “In the National Conference, Pennridge wins their first game over CB West, and we didn’t know much about them. They’re coming off a three-win season last year, but we knew the test would be at Neshaminy because Neshaminy beat North Penn in its opener. Pennridge goes down to Neshaminy and shuts them out. I didn’t see the game, but from what I heard, it was a domination from start to finish. This was no fluke or anything. Pennridge just shut down whatever Neshaminy tried to do. Neshaminy running back Chris James was held to about 40 yards. He 
was coming off a 150-yard game against North Penn. Pennridge has Shane Hartzell back. He’s their all-state linebacker from two years ago who missed most of last year with an injury, and when you see him play- and I’ve written this - he’s a tackling machine. He’s a leader, and he makes every play that needs to be made. He brings his teammates along and helps them, and they’re all trying to play to his level. I haven’t seen Pennridge yet, but from everyone I’ve spoken to, they’re legit. That win over Neshaminy was big. Pennridge doesn’t play North Penn in this shortened pandemic season, but their big game will be in a couple of weeks apparently against Abington.
“You look at the CB East/CB South game – it was truly the tale of two halves. CB East scored two touchdowns in the closing seconds of the first half, the second one after South did not field a kickoff after an East touchdown, and East took over inside the South five-yard line and scored to go up 21-7 at the half. You look at the halftime stats, and they were so in favor of East, but in the second half, South scored 34 points and beats them 41-21. They turned a game where it looked like they were going to get blown out into a game where they blew out East. It was kind of hard to believe. It was one of the strangest games I’ve seen. South was coming off a tough loss to Abington where they got banged around pretty good, and they looked like a team that was playing with not a lot of confidence, but then in the second half, once they had a little bit of success, something just clicked. Senior quarterback Carter Hallgren made some nice plays. Sophomore Tommy Donnelly, who I spoke to, is 5-6, 128 pounds. He looks like he doesn’t belong, but he intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown, and he caught a touchdown pass. South just flipped a switch and pulled away in what was a huge win for them against a rival. To add insult to injury for East, starting quarterback Anthony Giordano - one of the top quarterbacks in the area, let alone the Suburban One League, who also plays on defense - came off the field in the third quarter holding his right arm. He didn’t come back in the game. They lost a couple more running backs, so they were down to their fourth string running back by the time the game was over. It was just a tough second half for East. On the flip side, it was a pretty good half of football for South.”
SuburbanOne Sports.com: You thoughts about the SOL Continental after week two.
Todd Thorpe: “Souderton really manhandled Council Rock North, which was coming off a week one win, and Quakertown really manhandled Council Rock South, which was coming off a week one win. It’s just kind of interesting. Those are two pretty eye-opening games in that league. A lot of people thought Souderton was rebuilding this year. It’s just a sign of a school that’s a decent size, they’ve been playing against big schools like North Penn and the Central Bucks schools the last few years, and they have a coach, Ed Gallagher, who’s been there forever. They’ve got a program. Most years they’re going to be able to rebuild and come back and be ready to go. Give them credit for being 2-0, and obviously, Quakertown is no joke to be able to handle Council Rock South as easily as they did. Give Souderton a lot of credit. I’ve always liked Ed Gallagher as a coach. He really is a good coach, and he has built a great program at that school. I remember when he first got hired way back when, I was there the first day of his first practice, and I basically did a story based on his first day as coach. I guess it shows how long I’ve been doing this. I was always impressed with the type of program he wanted to build at Souderton, and he did. He’s had his ups and downs as far as record goes, but there’s a certain consistency there that you don’t get everywhere. You have a guy who’s a teacher at a school, he’s been there a while, and you don’t get that very often. It’s a sign of how good a program he does have. It would be fun if they were the type of team that could make some noise and get themselves right in the mix for one of those playoff spots.
“The team in that league you really have to point to is Upper Dublin. They’re 2-0, and we’ll see how they match up with those schools when they play. They’re at Souderton this week, and that’s a great game. That could be for the conference championship right off the bat. You don’t know. Obviously, Upper Dublin is a real challenge this week for Souderton.”
Drew Markol: “The game of the week in the Continental would be Souderton/Upper Dublin. Souderton is 2-0 with wins over Quakertown and Council Rock North. That Souderton team – and we talked about this last week – lost a ton of players to graduation. I think it was 17 or 18 starters. When you lose that many and then you couple in this wacky pandemic season where we weren’t sure we were going to play and what it was going to be like, you would think teams in that situation that didn’t really have the returning starters would be in a more difficult spot. Well, they’ve proven that’s not the case. Some could say – it’s only two weeks, but when you’re playing a five-week season, two games is 40 percent of your season, and they’re 2-0 with two impressive wins. Ed Gallagher, the Souderton coach said they have a lot of young talent, but there’s a big difference between young talent and young talent playing well on the varsity level. They’re playing well, but now they get the test with Upper Dublin, which is good every year. They’re not one of those teams that every couple of years when they have a bunch of seniors returning they have a good season – every season is a good season, so that is probably the game of the week in the entire league, let alone the conference.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Your thoughts after week two in the SOL American.
Drew Markol: “In the American Conference, we’ll talk about New Hope-Solebury. When head coach Jim Ditulio took over, he talked about the things he was going to try to do to get that program to respectability, and he went and did that, but there were always questions – how would they do in a better conference. Well, now they’re in the Suburban One League, and last week they beat a pretty good Springfield team. New Hope had a 70-yard touchdown right before the half when they went for it down 21-7 and only a few seconds before halftime. They were down two touchdowns, and a lot of coaches would have said, ‘Look, let’s get to the locker room and regroup.’ They went for it, hit a big play and scored a 70-yard touchdown to give them the momentum boost and the confidence you’re showing in your team. That’s the way Ditulio coaches. I’ve seen New Hope-Solebury play under him for years before they joined the SOL. They go after it all the time. Some years they have more talent than others, but it’s always the same attacking style, and they don’t back down. They opened the season with a 21-7 loss to Upper Moreland. In that conference, Upper Moreland might be the best team. They went and battled them, and now they knock off a good Springfield team. That was a huge win for New Hope-Solebury – their first win in the SOL and the confidence that comes with it.
“I was talking to Upper Moreland coach CJ Szydlik the other day about the American Conference, and he had nothing but praise for New Hope-Solebury and said that Springfield team Upper Moreland plays this week is legit. He knows it too, and for New Hope to go and beat Springfield was tremendous. That answered a lot of questions – did New Hope believe? Again, everything always revolves around the pandemic, and in a shortened season, the worst thing that could have happened to New Hope would have been an 0-5 record, and then you would have had more questions. You answer the question with a win. You get that win out of the way, and it’s full steam ahead. It’s a good job by New Hope. He’s developed a program at a small school. Most of the team plays both ways, but they’re used to it. They’re a tough out.”
Todd Thorpe: “From day one, Jim Ditulio was not ever going to let that program be known as ‘little New Hope.’ He took over right from the beginning of the program, and there was a year that they played Bristol. That’s where he’s from – he went to Bristol, and Bristol had just gone to states the year before and had an all-state running back. They had a big run at states – I think they got to the quarterfinals the year before. The running back was back. Bristol came up to New Hope, and New Hope beat them, and they expected to beat them. They have pretty much run the table in the BAL for years. He’s a good guy and a really good coach. They’re not a team with 15 assistant coaches. They only have a couple of assistant coaches, and they get a lot out of their players. They have a really good quarterback too. Phil Weinseimeir is a good quarterback. I think if he hadn’t gotten hurt last year in the first game of the season you would see him be a little more recruited than he’s been. He’s a kid who’s very athletic – he plays basketball, he’s about 6-3 and he can dunk the ball in basketball. He’s the most athletic kid on the team. He’s a really good quarterback, and he’ll give them a chance very week in that league. I can just imagine their opening loss to Upper Moreland was disappointing, but to come back and beat Springfield like that has to feel good.
“Upper Moreland is 2-0 – I give them credit. That’s probably a pretty competitive conference. You get Cheltenham out of the way, and nobody else is going to run away with that conference. It’s pretty competitive. We’ll see how it evolves.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Any other games catch your eye this week?
Drew Markol: “We talked about this before, and why they’re having any sort of playoffs is ridiculous, but they are. Kudos to District 11 for saying, ‘You know what, we’re not going to bother with the PIAA playoffs. We’re just going to have our own within our own district.’ They basically said, ‘The heck with the PIAA.’ I’ve talked with several Suburban One League coaches that wish District One would do the same thing.
“You look at that Abington/Neshaminy game – if you lose a game, which Neshaminy did last week, your playoff hopes are over. They’re only taking four teams for the District One 6A, which is the biggest school, tournament, so if you’re a one-loss team, you’re not getting in. That’s just the way it is because there are going to be so many undefeated teams, and trying to figure out which undefeated teams deserve to get in, that’s a whole other issue. It will be interested to see how that gets figured out, so Abington as a 2-0 team is thinking, ‘Okay, if we keep winning, we’ve got a shot to get in the playoffs.’ Neshaminy, after beating North Penn, had to figure, ‘Hey, we’re legit,’ and then they go and get shut out by Pennridge. The world has turned upside down, but if you’re Abington at 2-0 and you’ve beaten CB South and CB West, now you’re thinking, ‘If we beat Neshaminy, we have Pennridge down the road…’ and it’s a short road because it’s a five-game season. If you’re thinking about the playoffs, you can’t have a slipup. You need to be 5-0 when they determine the teams. If you’re 4-1, you’re out. If your goal is the playoffs – and for every 2-0 team, you would think that’s what it would be, although this whole thing with the playoffs is absurd. You’re going from a normal 16-team field for 6A down to four. If you’re going to have playoffs, you could almost argue you should have a larger district field than a smaller one, but they don’t ask me these things. The 2-0 teams are saying, ‘If we lose, we’re out.’ That’s a lot of incentive to keep winning. Abington – we’ll see. They beat a decent South team, they beat a West team that’s 0-2. We’re trying to judge everything on two games, and that’s difficult. Everything has to have an asterisk by it this whole season because of COVID, just like life.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Any other thoughts after two weeks of the newly aligned SOL?
Todd Thorpe: “I like the football that’s being played right now. You have a bunch of teams that aren’t unrealistically thinking of going to the state playoffs, you have a bunch of teams who are just happy to be playing. You have some teams that are thinking state playoffs, but most of the teams just want to get their games in, and they want to play as many as possible. They want to have fun, and they want to do what they do. You see that every week with the way these guys are. I mentioned last week when I covered Pennsbury – that was the only home game that they played, and those kids, even though they lost, they were happy to be playing. They had Senior Night afterwards, and you’re going to see that scene over and over the next several weeks where kids are just happy. Last week at Neshaminy, they had parents at the game. The home side had a sprinkling of fans almost perfectly socially distant. The visiting sidelines – the bleachers had the band all spread out, so it looked like there were a lot of fans too. It felt like a football game again. I think we’re going to see a little bit more of that. It’s a crazy time we live in. All these schools are very, very cautious, and you can’t blame them for that. A lot of parents want to see their kids play, and a lot of kids want to play. I just think cool heads have to work together, and they can make this a season you can remember for something more than COVID-19 and a month long delay to the start of the season.
Pick the winners
Drew Markol (picks in bold):
Abington at Neshaminy
Council Rock South at Bensalem
Pennsbury at Central Bucks South
Central Bucks West at North Penn
Hatboro-Horsham at Quakertown
Wissahickon at New Hope-Solebury
William Tennent at Plymouth Whitemarsh
Upper Dublin at Souderton
Upper Moreland at Springfield Township
Pennridge at Central Bucks East
Todd Thorpe
Abington at Neshaminy
Council Rock South at Bensalem
Pennsbury at Central Bucks South
Central Bucks West at North Penn
Hatboro-Horsham at Quakertown
Wissahickon at New Hope-Solebury
William Tennent at Plymouth Whitemarsh
Upper Dublin at Souderton
Upper Moreland at Springfield Township
Pennridge at Central Bucks East