District 3 Final
#1 Harrisburg 11-1 vs #3 Central Dauphin 9-3….7.01 Harrisburg
A glance across the state shows this is one of three rematches in 6A that includes Pine Richland against Seneca Valley and Freedom playing Emmaus. History says these are often great games where reverses are not rare, especially at this point where the quality ramps up often exponentially the deeper a team gets in the playoffs. Central Dauphin experienced such a reversal last week defeating Manheim Township 27-0 as payback for an early season loss in Harrisburg 22-12, where they blew a 12-0 lead. Talk about attitude; the Ram’s defense that has really come on of late dominated the Streaks in Lancaster, holding them to 5 yards rushing. 5! Meanwhile, Harrisburg was pulling the curtain down completely on the Lancaster Lebanon League-Section One’s presence by sending Wilson packing, 36-12. DEs Brian Yates 6-0, 215 and Dionte Nichols 6-2 235 were in the backfield all day when DTs Tony Patterson 6-2 230 and Jeff Chisolm 5-11 260 weren’t, forcing multiple three and outs, shanked punts, 2 picks, one a Pick-6 and a fumble while running all over the Bulldogs for 274 yards. Seven weeks ago saw Harrisburg beat Central Dauphin in a defensive struggle 20-5. Total offense had Harrisburg up 258 to 238. For Central Dauphin to win, they’ll have to stop Qb Kane Everson who has thrown for 1984 yards while rushing for 828. CD is always run first with tandem backs Adam Burkhart’s (5-11, 220) 1254 yards and Tyler Leisher’s (5-10, 165) 562 yards rush with a vastly improved passing attack with Noah Hoffman at 65% for 1194 yards. Rest assured CD will get in their face, with super quick DTs Cam Sansoni (6-1, 235, 54 tackles) and his 9 sacks, immovable Jaden Baylor (6-3, 305, 45 tackles), DE Amir Walton (6-2, 220, 35 tackles, 5 sacks) and a solid line backing corps heading by Adam Burkhart (5-11, 220, 67 tackles)
District 1 Semifinal
#1 North Penn 12-0 vs #4 Downingtown West 11-1….5.9 North Penn
North Penn comes in off slugfests defeating Ridley 26-16 and nemesis Neshaminy 13-7 in the postseason where the rematch did not reverse. They also have the knack of consistently winning tight games, beating Neshaminy by 1 and 7, Council Rock South by 3 in overtime and Souderton by 2. LaSalle is rarely a piece of cake at 21-13 and the Central Bucks West win at 20-6 and rival Central Bucks South 21-10 were competitive games. Receiver Jon Hynes combining with running backs Shamar Edwards and Julian White give them multiple athletic weapons, compounded by a dual threat quarterback in Solomon Robison. Their average output a game is 29, down by 12ppg over last year’s. But the defense is improved allowing 16 a game compared to 27 last year.
For Downingtown West, despite losing QB Will Howard 4 games ago, Ryan Wetzel stepping in effectively, completing 64% (same as Howard) for 502 yards. They have 5 strong receivers and a swift back in Tyriq Lewis (5-8, 160) at 1186 yards rushing, and are on a 5 game winning streak scoring 35ppg and allowing 17 for the year. And that’s against a diverse schedule of Perkiomen Valley, Central Bucks South, Neshaminy and Truman in last week’s 24-22 playoff win. Interestingly, they’ve played 3 SOL teams, notably Neshaminy who they crushed 35-14, the same team North Penn struggled with. A big positive of this season is their emergence from the shadow of consecutive non-winning seasons, when they went 4-6 in 2016 and 5-5 in 2017. What a turnaround.
#2 Coatesville 12-0 vs #3 Garnet Valley 12-0….18.32 Coatesville
Here’s another rematch of sorts except it’s a year old when Coatesville went to Garnet Valley in the district final to come away with a 35-28 victory on an Avery Young 72-yard Pick 6 in the final minute of the game. Both come into this year’s game vastly improved on both sides with Coatesville scoring 47ppg against 11 allowed verses last year’s team (13-2) that scored 44 a game while allowing 17. They’ve become a juggernaut with an array of experienced talent beginning with quarterback Ricky Ortega. He’s completed 67% of his passes for 1972 yards with an outstanding Td-Pick ratio of 34 to 3 while running for 720 yards to make him one of the more talented quarterbacks in the state. His primary receiver is Dapree Bryant with 952 yards on 48 receptions. Dymere Miller is next at 424 yards on 27 catches. Frankie Sherman has 17 receptions for 240 yards. Like Ortega, running back Aaron Young is also a dual threat, rushing for 1208 yards or 9.3ypc while catching 14 passes for 258 yards, a 18.42 yard per catch average. With an offense even more explosive than last years and a defense 6ppg improved on last year’s average, it’s hard finding an opponent who can match their attributes.
Garnet Valley is also significantly improved, scoring 41ppg with a yield of 12ppg, compared to 2017’s team (12-2) that scored 30 points a game on average against 17 allowed. Quarterback Cole Palis (5-11, 175, 55%, 322 yards) is the whole package according to Coach Ricci with 411 rushing yards on 52 carries. Colin Robinson is their #1 rusher in the option attack with 962 yards followed by Danny Bradley at 674, Dom Labricciosa at 631 and Ryan Gallagher with 482. The D is anchored by lineman Cade Brennan (6-4, 255, 37 tackles) with 8 sacks and Max Bruette (5-10, 190, 29 tackles) their enforcer at linebacker, supported by a veteran secondary that returned 3 starters. Haven’t seen them platoon but can still hit you with sizeable lineman, Joe Marrone 6-4, 270, Jake Colelli 6-0 250, Kyle McCullough 5-11 250 or go with more prototypical smaller, quicker lineman as per their option offense. It will be interesting seeing how their secondary holds up to Ortega and company and if they can slow things down. Unlike last year’s game, this one is at Coatesville.
District 6/8/10 vs District 2/4 champ
#1 State College 11-1 vs #1 Delaware Valley 9-2….24.48 State College
Schedule difficulty alone says State College should rout a Delaware Valley team that began the season 2-3 with losses to Pennridge 54-21, Wallenpaupack 24-13 and North Pocono 27-14, while needing double overtime to dispose of Honesdale (3-8) 21-20. Since then, they’ve gone on a tear, winning seven straight, averaging 35ppg against 10 with 3 shutouts. Except for Pennridge, they didn’t stray far, staying close to home playing Wyoming Valley and Lackawanna League opponents. They’re young in a number of positions but well coached by Keith Olsommer. Apart from their recovery of a 2-3 start, little stands out (look undersized) except sophomore linebacker Jon Henderson (6-0, 210) who has 136 tackles. Like Coatesville-Garnet Valley, this is a rematch of last year’s D-2/4/6 sub-regional won by State College 21-14. Opposite them is a talented and experienced group, led by a senior quarterback in Tommy Friberg (67%, 1884, 21/6), with dual threat receivers Keaton Ellis (272r, 678p) and Cohen Russel (284r, 686p). Their lead backs are Dresyn Green with 866 yards and Isaiah Edwards with 720. This is a big, multi-talented offense at 37ppg, far larger than Del Val’s at 28 who played a much weaker schedule. SC’s stats came against teams like St. Augustine-NJ, Central Dauphin, Harrisburg and Chambersburg from the rugged Mid Penn Commonwealth while DV played District-2 teams.
District 7 Final
#2 Pine Richland 9-2 vs # 5 Seneca Valley 9-3….. .41 Pine Richland
Standout quarterback Phil Jurkovec may be gone from last year’s 16-0 6A state champ but they still have a powerful team AND a quarterback with the season long performance of sophomore Cole Spencer completing a respectable 59% of passes for 1088 yards. And he can run, gaining 544 yards on 134 carries, making him the #2 rusher on the team. Four receivers have over 200 yards in receptions each. Luke Meckler leads the team with 1017 yards rushing, 837 of those since the Central Catholic game with his further integration into the offense. He had a 128 last week against Mount Lebanon in a 46-16 rout to help get them back to Heinz against surprising Seneca Valley, the upset winner over North Allegheny 31-14. The Raiders seem on a quest to avenge their 3 defeats of the regular season (PCC, NA, PR), with the rare opportunity of playing each again in the playoffs, beating two of them the last 2 weeks. They’re led by junior QB Gabe Lawson, running back Jacob Mineweaser (144 yds, 2Tds vs NA) and receiver Jake Stebbins. The real strength of the team is defense, allowing 10ppg. At 21ppg the offense is almost a liability in terms of support for the defense. But if they can get 2 scores from their offense and one from special teams or defense, you’re in trouble. Thing is, Pine has a good defense too, allowing 15ppg with special line-backing, especially Anthony Cerminara (5-11, 215) and Tyler King (6-1, 220) who’ve been playing together since at least their sophomore year and beyond. Offensively they have more weapons than Seneca Valley by averaging 36ppg. With seniors dominating both lines and the fact that they’ve been there and done that, look for Pine Richland to advance but only after a bitter struggle against a fired up Raider bunch. Overtime would not surprise.
District 12 Final (PCL champ vs PPL champ)
#1 St. Joseph’s Prep 9-0 vs #1Northeast 7-3….22.87 St, Joseph’s Prep
After winning the state title 3 of the last 4 years, the Hawks hit a road block against Pine Richland last year, losing in the final 41-21. A lot of that team returned to propel them to an 9-0 slate thus far, fueled by a high powered offense that’s hitting big numbers at 38ppg with a defense allowing 13. This comes against a challenging schedule including St. Peter’s Prep and Our Lady of Good Counsel with a team that is still young. Qb Kyle McCord (6-3, 195) is a sophomore who has thrown for 1958 yards and 23 touchdowns. Another sophomore, Marvin Harrison (6-3, 175, LS Transfer), is one of McCord’s primary targets with 545 yards on 33 receptions. Senior John Freeman is #2 at 604 yards. Their leading rushed is junior Kolbe Burrell (5-7, 190) with 548 yards on 98 attempts. Standout linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr (6-1, 205) is only a sophomore with offers piling up plus Liam Johnson (6-1, 205), a junior, gives them an outstanding corps along with Kim Cooper, Myles Tallon and others. The lines are stocked with youth featuring juniors Matt Lombardi (6-7, 265), RJ McKee (5-10, 245), Casey Stephenson (6-1, 310) and Matt McGeary (6-1, 210), etc, etc, etc! Since the opening games against St. Peter’s (35-27) and OLGC (34-27), the defense hasn’t allowed more than 17 points in a game. With a 1-2 punch of Burrell and Mason plus a speedy receiver corps, the Hawks will be difficult to defeat.
Northeast has a big physical team with a under rated quarterback in Charles Britt but will have to play the game of their life to hang with these Hawks, knowing they lost to them in last year’s final 31-0 and the year before 44-6. The 2014 team that seemed potent at 12-0 was blown out by Gratz in the PPL final 54-18. Gratz went on to lose to LaSalle in the district final 42-15 after losing to Imhotep 36-6 and Wood 44-30 in the regular season. The trend is clear that while the PPL can field exciting and talented teams, they can’t hang with the PCL, especially the upper tier blue bloods. Back to their quarterback, Britt can sling it, completing 66% of his throws for 1344 yards with a 9/3 Td/Pick ratio. But they just don’t have the talent of a team like St. Joe’s, and consistently come up short against high caliber teams, losing this year to Imhotep Charter School 22-6 and St. Francis Academy-MD 35-0, the IMG clone from Baltimore.
**** I got St. Joe’s stats, sizes, etc from Ted Silary’s site. Thank you Ted.
District 11 Final
#1 Freedom 11-1 vs #2 Emmaus 11-1….8.12 Freedom
Here’s a rematch of a game played earlier in the season where Freedom made a comeback in the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter to tie the game on a 2-pt conversion, then scored a 2-pt conversion in overtime to defeat Emmaus 32-31 at Emmaus. All this after Emmaus took a 14-9 lead into the 4th quarter. Emmaus’s quarterback Ethan Parvel (Whitehall transfer) had a decent outing completing 14 of 22 for 270 yards and a score with running back Lubens Myers contributing 152 yards on 22 carries. Freedom has a quality quarterback as well in Jared Jenkins who completed 17 of 30 for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns while tossing the 2-pt conversions. Their 35-21 playoff win over Parkland last week snapped the Trojans streak of 6 consecutive District-11 titles. Freedom’s only loss was fittingly to their arch rival Liberty in the regular season finale, when after taking a 10-0 lead, they were shutout as Liberty responded with 29 unanswered points for the win. They atoned for that loss, but barely, surviving a second encounter with the Canes the following week in the playoffs, winning 14-7. Tough way for Freedom to end the regular season but a nice bounce beating Parkland says all is well. Freedom is big stuff this year averaging 37ppg in a wildly competitive conference. The offense was rebuilt well (line, running backs, receivers) as evidenced by their 37ppg average. Quarterback Jared Jenkins is coming off a sophomore year where he got a lot of attention throwing for 2664 yards at 51% with a 17/10 Td/Pick ratio. Good numbers for a sophomore on a 7-6 team in the competitive EPC-South. And they have a solid 1-2 punch in Marty Russin and Jalen Stewart. The defense is reliable at 18ppg, rebuilt around a decent nucleus on their front seven. A rebuilt secondary has survived a number of tests including Emmaus’s Parvel 5 weeks ago.
Emmaus is also coming off a disappointing season going 6-5 last year with three seven point losses. But what a turnaround going unscathed their first seven games to resemble 2016’s 10-2 team before losing at home to Freedom in overtime on two successful 2-pt conversions. Their offense is huge at 44ppg average (532 points), in part because of Ethan Parvel’s skills under center, a veteran receiver corps and fine running backs in Sone Ntoh and Lubens Myers. Ntoh went down against Nazareth Aug 31st but is back, rushing for 111 vs Parkland, 205 against Naz and 60 last week defeating Easton 31-24. He ran for 1111 yards last year and 905 as a sophomore. He and Myers are a strong 1-2 punch like Russin-Stewart at Freedom. Nice job rebuilding the lines this year and defensive front supported by a veteran secondary. The defense is not as stubborn as Freedom’s but has shown a resiliency and determination when stressed in recent “stands” against Bethlehem Catholic in a 50-49 win and Parkland, a 35-31 win that allowed them to pull out those games. With Ntoh back at full strength plus Myers who was nicked and out a few games ago the Hornets appear to be at full strength and looking to avenge their only loss of the year. Neither Emmaus or Freedom has ever won a District-11 title.
Last week’s games not posted
SJP 26.30 over LaSalle
Northeast 12.35 over Central
Emmaus 13.52 over Easton
Freedom 17.55 over Parkland
