District 1: SOL
Hatboro Horsham 3-9; The Hatter faithful had to be disappointed seeing their team suffer a seventh consecutive losing season. What happened to the program that produced a 41-19 mark from 2003 through 2007? Last year’s team was barely competitive with a defense that didn’t give them a chance, allowing 42, 41, 40, 37, 35 and 34 points in six of their nine losses. All totaled, they allowed an average of 30ppg by year’s end. The wins came against AAA Upper Merion 34-18, Wissahickon 28-14 and Cheltenham 35-27. A 1-5 home record pretty much says it all. But all is not lost with the return of a fine quarterback in Casey Walsh (5-10, 160, sr…3rd team All SOL-Am Conf) who threw for just over 2000 yards. His totals with the Wissahickon and West Chester East games missing are 136 completions on 231 attempts for 1808 yards. And at 59% completion rate, that’s at least a lower case “wow” considering the team he played on. You don’t have to see film to know on a 3-9 team averaging 19ppg and allowing 30, he was hounded in most games, making his completion percentage that much more impressive. So, let’s make that an upper case WOW after all! Also, a lot of experience returns to the backfield plus TE Luke Gehihaus (6-1, 230, sr) and senior OL’er Nick Schuck (5-10, 245). Still, they took some hits with RB/DL Jeff Peronace, RB/LB Joe Albano, RB/LB Ryan Fitzpatrick ,WR/LB Charlie Obrecht and DLs Luke Kwon and Darian Khounxay graduating. The schedule mirrors last year’s meaning they have another difficult start opening at Pennridge and Quakertown, followed by the home opener against Lansdale Catholic. Upper Moreland, Upper Merion, Springfield and Wissahickon follow. Those last three look like toss-ups or a lean to the Hatters with Upper Moreland greatly diminished. Lansdale Catholic lost quarterback Joe Pinzka but return good stuff in running back Ryan Quigley (PCL-AA MVP, RB/FS), who rushed for 859 yards on 113 carries with over 300 yards in receptions and 7 interceptions at FS. Running backs Marlen Fenstermacher and Matt Casee also return, giving LC the look of a tough home opener. The schedule ends like it begins with stiff competition in Plymouth Whitemarsh and Upper Dublin, back to back, then Cheltenham.
Cheltenham 6-6; For the second consecutive year Cheltenham avoided a losing season by hitting the .500 mark with a 6-6 record. Considering the offense only gave them 16ppg on average to work with, the 18ppg D yield wasn’t all that bad. In fact, it was a 14 point upgrade from the year before. Too bad the offense couldn’t keep pace falling from 28 to 16ppg. Many of the key parts of that underrated defense graduated including DL/OL Jared Applegate (6-0, 220), DT/OG Francis Marinho (6-0, 230), SOL-All Am Conf 1st Teamer Jack Gordon (5-10, 215) at linebacker and OG along with fellow backers John Francois (5-10, 180) and Antonio Mumford (5-11, 185). Also gone are DE/TE Jamill Milligan-Bates (6-1, 210), OL Andrew Zevin (6-2, 225), P/PK Gene Han and SOL-1st Team All Am-Conf running back Gerg Morris, a four year starter. The bright spot is the return of quarterback Branden Mack (6-5, 205, sr). Branden was moved from receiver to QB last year and has a strong arm. Wide-out 2nd Team SOL-All Am Conf Matt Toszi (5-10, 180, sr) also returns. The schedule is favorable if it’s ever favorable playing Quakertown, Upper Dublin or Plymouth Whitemarsh the last few years if only because all three come to Wyncote. Many of last year’s games could have gone either way, in particular, Upper Moreland, Wissahickon, Hatboro and Truman, suggesting any issues rebuilding the lines, the defense and finding a back to replace Morris could see them drop below .500. Looking at these results measured against this year’s returns says things are precarious, that a “tipping point” (back to back 6-6 seasons) could be near.
Springfield 6-7; All things considered the Spartans are holding their own as a AA competing in a big school conference like the Suburban One-American. Gone are the days of playing Jenkintown, Morrisville and New Hope-Solebury since leaving the Bicentennial League. In their place are teams like Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin and Upper Moreland. Against the likes of these and others they’ve improved from 2012’s inaugural year of 1-6 to 3-4 the following and 2-5 last year with wins coming against Norristown twice, Upper Merion twice, Hatboro and Upper Moreland once each. The games against UM’s Golden Bears are some of the best games anywhere in the SOL with UM winning last year 25-20, losing the year before 18-16 and beating the Spartans in 2012, 17-14. Great games! This year’s team made history by winning the District-1 Double A title, beating Bristol (9-4) 15-14 before losing to District-12 champ Neumann Gorette (9-4) 32-7. The Saints went on to lose to state power Dunmore (14-2) out of District-2, 30-18. The Bucks then beat state power Wyomissing (13-2, 2012 16-0, 2A champ) 23-21 before losing to South Fayette (16-0, D-7), 28-16. Back to Springfield who graduated some valuable merchandise, namely quarterback Chris Stone (6-2, 170, 749py, 650ry) who returned after missing all of last year with an injury. Chris was also conference 1st teamer as a punter. RB/LB Martin Worgan (5-11, 190, 836ry) also graduates with DE/OG 1st Teamer (DE) Louis Hasse (6-2, 200) and OG Martin Vido (6-1, 240 honorable mention). Returning starters Brett Righter (6-0, 180, sr, 3rd team RB), WR George Baughan (5-11, 160, jr, honorable mention) and DL Nick Gajdos (5-9, 235, sr, honorable mention) will help with the rebuild. With only seven seniors graduating, the rebuild is largely an effort to fill the positions vacated by QB Stone, RB Worgan and DE Hasse.
Upper Merion 2-9; Upper Merion’s woes continued for the sixth straight year with another difficult season, giving them a 11-51 record from 2009 through last year. This includes back-to-back 0-10 outings in 2010 and 2011. While they’ve had intermittent problems scoring points, averaging 13ppg last year, they’ve consistently faltered on the defensive side, allowing 34, 38, 36, 31 and 32ppg since 2010. It’s not like there isn’t talent on the teams! Quarterback Isaiah Graham-Mobley is a dual threat and tough out at 6-2, 195 (476py, 442ry, sr) but throws way too many picks with a ratio of 4 to 8. Shannon Cunnard (5-8, 175, sr) is a tough little back, rushing for 998 yards, as is Kyle Smith (5-10, 190, sr, 28/122ry). As shown above, the defense is nearly non-exixtent, making porous sound like an understatement. Maybe things will improve with a few key seniors returning, namely linebackers Noah Stribrny (6-1, 190, sr, 29 tackles) and Kyle Smith at 27 stops, along with OL/DL Marcus Elliot (6-1, 250, sr, 15 tackles) and Tony Zevallos (6-0, 240, 22 tackles). Elliot is a legit lineman and Cunnard gets the tough yardage making it a head scratcher when reviewing 33 point losses to Cheltenham, 36 to Upper Moreland, 20 to AA Springfield and 21 to Norristown. The Norristown loss makes you wonder if they’d win a game in the Continental or National. It was a few years back but not that far when they were winning 45 of 60 games from 2000 through 2004 with impressive seasons going 8-4, 9-3, 11-1, 7-4 and 10-3 in 2004.
Hatboro Horsham 3-9; The Hatter faithful had to be disappointed seeing their team suffer a seventh consecutive losing season. What happened to the program that produced a 41-19 mark from 2003 through 2007? Last year’s team was barely competitive with a defense that didn’t give them a chance, allowing 42, 41, 40, 37, 35 and 34 points in six of their nine losses. All totaled, they allowed an average of 30ppg by year’s end. The wins came against AAA Upper Merion 34-18, Wissahickon 28-14 and Cheltenham 35-27. A 1-5 home record pretty much says it all. But all is not lost with the return of a fine quarterback in Casey Walsh (5-10, 160, sr…3rd team All SOL-Am Conf) who threw for just over 2000 yards. His totals with the Wissahickon and West Chester East games missing are 136 completions on 231 attempts for 1808 yards. And at 59% completion rate, that’s at least a lower case “wow” considering the team he played on. You don’t have to see film to know on a 3-9 team averaging 19ppg and allowing 30, he was hounded in most games, making his completion percentage that much more impressive. So, let’s make that an upper case WOW after all! Also, a lot of experience returns to the backfield plus TE Luke Gehihaus (6-1, 230, sr) and senior OL’er Nick Schuck (5-10, 245). Still, they took some hits with RB/DL Jeff Peronace, RB/LB Joe Albano, RB/LB Ryan Fitzpatrick ,WR/LB Charlie Obrecht and DLs Luke Kwon and Darian Khounxay graduating. The schedule mirrors last year’s meaning they have another difficult start opening at Pennridge and Quakertown, followed by the home opener against Lansdale Catholic. Upper Moreland, Upper Merion, Springfield and Wissahickon follow. Those last three look like toss-ups or a lean to the Hatters with Upper Moreland greatly diminished. Lansdale Catholic lost quarterback Joe Pinzka but return good stuff in running back Ryan Quigley (PCL-AA MVP, RB/FS), who rushed for 859 yards on 113 carries with over 300 yards in receptions and 7 interceptions at FS. Running backs Marlen Fenstermacher and Matt Casee also return, giving LC the look of a tough home opener. The schedule ends like it begins with stiff competition in Plymouth Whitemarsh and Upper Dublin, back to back, then Cheltenham.
Cheltenham 6-6; For the second consecutive year Cheltenham avoided a losing season by hitting the .500 mark with a 6-6 record. Considering the offense only gave them 16ppg on average to work with, the 18ppg D yield wasn’t all that bad. In fact, it was a 14 point upgrade from the year before. Too bad the offense couldn’t keep pace falling from 28 to 16ppg. Many of the key parts of that underrated defense graduated including DL/OL Jared Applegate (6-0, 220), DT/OG Francis Marinho (6-0, 230), SOL-All Am Conf 1st Teamer Jack Gordon (5-10, 215) at linebacker and OG along with fellow backers John Francois (5-10, 180) and Antonio Mumford (5-11, 185). Also gone are DE/TE Jamill Milligan-Bates (6-1, 210), OL Andrew Zevin (6-2, 225), P/PK Gene Han and SOL-1st Team All Am-Conf running back Gerg Morris, a four year starter. The bright spot is the return of quarterback Branden Mack (6-5, 205, sr). Branden was moved from receiver to QB last year and has a strong arm. Wide-out 2nd Team SOL-All Am Conf Matt Toszi (5-10, 180, sr) also returns. The schedule is favorable if it’s ever favorable playing Quakertown, Upper Dublin or Plymouth Whitemarsh the last few years if only because all three come to Wyncote. Many of last year’s games could have gone either way, in particular, Upper Moreland, Wissahickon, Hatboro and Truman, suggesting any issues rebuilding the lines, the defense and finding a back to replace Morris could see them drop below .500. Looking at these results measured against this year’s returns says things are precarious, that a “tipping point” (back to back 6-6 seasons) could be near.
Springfield 6-7; All things considered the Spartans are holding their own as a AA competing in a big school conference like the Suburban One-American. Gone are the days of playing Jenkintown, Morrisville and New Hope-Solebury since leaving the Bicentennial League. In their place are teams like Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin and Upper Moreland. Against the likes of these and others they’ve improved from 2012’s inaugural year of 1-6 to 3-4 the following and 2-5 last year with wins coming against Norristown twice, Upper Merion twice, Hatboro and Upper Moreland once each. The games against UM’s Golden Bears are some of the best games anywhere in the SOL with UM winning last year 25-20, losing the year before 18-16 and beating the Spartans in 2012, 17-14. Great games! This year’s team made history by winning the District-1 Double A title, beating Bristol (9-4) 15-14 before losing to District-12 champ Neumann Gorette (9-4) 32-7. The Saints went on to lose to state power Dunmore (14-2) out of District-2, 30-18. The Bucks then beat state power Wyomissing (13-2, 2012 16-0, 2A champ) 23-21 before losing to South Fayette (16-0, D-7), 28-16. Back to Springfield who graduated some valuable merchandise, namely quarterback Chris Stone (6-2, 170, 749py, 650ry) who returned after missing all of last year with an injury. Chris was also conference 1st teamer as a punter. RB/LB Martin Worgan (5-11, 190, 836ry) also graduates with DE/OG 1st Teamer (DE) Louis Hasse (6-2, 200) and OG Martin Vido (6-1, 240 honorable mention). Returning starters Brett Righter (6-0, 180, sr, 3rd team RB), WR George Baughan (5-11, 160, jr, honorable mention) and DL Nick Gajdos (5-9, 235, sr, honorable mention) will help with the rebuild. With only seven seniors graduating, the rebuild is largely an effort to fill the positions vacated by QB Stone, RB Worgan and DE Hasse.
Upper Merion 2-9; Upper Merion’s woes continued for the sixth straight year with another difficult season, giving them a 11-51 record from 2009 through last year. This includes back-to-back 0-10 outings in 2010 and 2011. While they’ve had intermittent problems scoring points, averaging 13ppg last year, they’ve consistently faltered on the defensive side, allowing 34, 38, 36, 31 and 32ppg since 2010. It’s not like there isn’t talent on the teams! Quarterback Isaiah Graham-Mobley is a dual threat and tough out at 6-2, 195 (476py, 442ry, sr) but throws way too many picks with a ratio of 4 to 8. Shannon Cunnard (5-8, 175, sr) is a tough little back, rushing for 998 yards, as is Kyle Smith (5-10, 190, sr, 28/122ry). As shown above, the defense is nearly non-exixtent, making porous sound like an understatement. Maybe things will improve with a few key seniors returning, namely linebackers Noah Stribrny (6-1, 190, sr, 29 tackles) and Kyle Smith at 27 stops, along with OL/DL Marcus Elliot (6-1, 250, sr, 15 tackles) and Tony Zevallos (6-0, 240, 22 tackles). Elliot is a legit lineman and Cunnard gets the tough yardage making it a head scratcher when reviewing 33 point losses to Cheltenham, 36 to Upper Moreland, 20 to AA Springfield and 21 to Norristown. The Norristown loss makes you wonder if they’d win a game in the Continental or National. It was a few years back but not that far when they were winning 45 of 60 games from 2000 through 2004 with impressive seasons going 8-4, 9-3, 11-1, 7-4 and 10-3 in 2004.