Thought I’d take a stab at The State to get more info out as the main purpose of the rankings has always been about that. The real challenge was not to slot teams based simply where they are now in the playoffs. So you’ll see teams ranked high that have been eliminated. But again, the real purpose is to get some info out so here goes. Put this together quick so please excuse overlooked typos.
1 Pine Richland 12-0, D1; I guess the question is what can you say about this team and their spectacular quarterback that hasn’t already been said? How about….he did it again. Last week saw quarterback Phil Jurkovec top the 500 total yardage mark in a single game, rushing for 108 yards on 12 carries while passing for 434 yards on a near perfect outing, completing 18 of 20 passes for 5 scores to eliminate 5th seeded North Allegheny (8-4) 49-25. This followed their opening round rout of 8th seeded Norwin 49-14. To date, six receivers have over 300 yards in receptions led by Jason DeFrancisis and Raymond Falcone at 902 and 745 yards respectively. Two outstanding running backs in Jordan Crawford with 989 yards and Kenny White with 568 yards are their led backs not counting Jurkovec who has 815 yards rushing, giving them tremendous diversity and balance. They average 50ppg with a vastly under rated defense allowing 13ppg. Considering the load put on the defense, 13ppg is even more impressive. As the Northern-7 champ with the top seed, they’ll play last year’s WPIAL champ and State runner up Pittsburgh Central Catholic (10-2, 3rd seed) Saturday for the Wpial crown. They beat the Vikings 7 weeks ago 47-17 in Gibsonia.
2 St. Joseph’s Prep 10-0, D12; The Hawks are on a 24 game winning streak, having won the inaugural PIAA 6A State title last year with a 14-0 slate by rolling over Pittsburgh Central Catholic (14-2) 42-7. This was their 3rd state title in 4 years (!) with previous wins against Central Catholic in 2013, 35-10, and Pine Richland the following year 49-41. This year’s edition hasn’t skipped much of a beat with an offense averaging 33ppg to the previous year’s 40. Making up for that short fall is a relentless defense that has improved from last year’s 16ppg to 8ppg. How impressive is that knowing the schedule included Jesuit out of Tampa, St. Peter’s Prep from New Jersey, Archbishop Wood who they defeated 27-7 and two wins against their bitter Red rival LaSalle. They have great balance and explosiveness with duel threat Qb Marquez McCray throwing for over 1000 yards at 60% and rushing for 432 yards. His primary receivers are all strong runners after the catch; Johnny Freeman, Brandon Sanders and James Cherry who account for 58 receptions totaling 748 yards. Running backs Marques Mason and Kolbe Burrell have 171 carries for 918 yards. See Ted Silary’s great site for details. The District-12 final is this week where St Joe’s faces Northeast High (7-2), the 6A Public League champ who they defeated 44-6 last year.
3 Coatesville 11-1, D1; Like Pine Richland, Coatesville came into the season the odds on favorite to win the district and advance. And except for the stumble at Cumberland Valley early, they haven’t disappointed, winning their last 10 games while averaging 45ppg. As impressive is the defense that allows on average 15ppg while corralling most offenses except for Downingtown East who they defeated twice, 38-27 and 61-42. Looking at the game with 8th seeded Pennsbury this week; you have to respect the Falcon’s Suburban One pedigree but wonder if they can keep up with the biggest and best team they’ve played to date….on the road! But, they’ll come to play.
4 Parkland 12-0, D11; At 38ppg, Parkland has their highest scoring offense since 2012’s 11-3 team. But what really stands out is what often stands out with a Parkland team, defense. This year’s allowed 10ppg, their lowest yield since the 2007 team that went 15-1, allowing 8ppg before losing to Pittsburgh Central Catholic (16-0) in the 4A final, 21-0. So who’s surprised they’ve won 5 consecutive D-11 titles? Once again and despite a ton of grads they’re gunning for another one. As is the case with all Tim Moncman teams, they did it with great line play, a power running game and superb defense. Add in a great staff and the unending supply of talent that flows into the program to see this is one of the very best programs in the state. Considering they did this year’s rebuild in the face of highly veteran teams at Easton and Emmaus (where did they go?) makes a statement. They’ll meet the 6-seed Freedom (7-5) for the second straight year in the district final. Freedom got here beating disappointing Emmaus 26-15 (3 seed) while Parkland was taking apart 4th seeded Easton 52-10.
5 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 10-2, D7; 3rd seeded Central Catholic beat Peters Township 27-20 and Penn Hills 17-8 to advance to the WPIAL final where they’ll play Pine Richland again. With a scoring average of 29ppg, they are a shadow of last year’s team that averaged 46ppg. The defense has contained lower octane offenses but not the big boys losing to Cathedral Prep 40-7 (Game-1) and Pine Richland 47-17. But hey, it’s Central Catholic and they have a pile of talented players. Just not as ,many as Pine Richland.
6 Garnet Valley 11-1, D1; 7 Garnet Valley 11-1, D1; Garnet Valley overcame a 28 point 3rd quarter deficit to shock North Penn in 2nd round action and advance to the district semifinal against Pennridge. North Penn came into the game smokin hot, winning their last 9 games after a 0-2 start, then blowing out to a 35-7 lead here before the crash. Interestingly, the Knights ended Garnet Valley’s great season last year in the district final 48-38. So here’s G-Val again, with their best defense, allowing 15ppg, since 2013’s #1 seed that was upset by Abington, 26-21. That one was as shocking as this one! That team ended the year with a 12ppg yield and a 11-1 record. Going back farther….it was one of their best defenses since the ’07 group that lost in the 3A PIAA final to Thomas Jefferson’s Jaguars, 28-3. Ok I’ll stop. 7th seeded Pennridge is next. How exciting will that be with Garnet Valley’s great defense hosting the Rams 10-2 team featuring their outstanding defense featuring DE/LB Nick Tarburton (6-4, 245, sr). The Jags play some defense too!
7 Downingtown East 10-2, D1; Too bad this bunch isn’t playing somewhere after fielding one of the most exciting and explosive offenses in the Ches Mont-National; shades of the Big-12, them and the PAC. They had their moments, opening with an eye catching 61-44 win over North Penn at Kottmeyer. But the timing was all wrong, with the Cougars fielding one of their best teams at the same time Coatesville was in the midst of a football renaissance under Coach Matt Ortega, fielding some of the best teams to ever come through the school. The Red Raiders were the only team to beat Downingtown this year, 38-27 in the regular season then again last week, 61-42 in the 2nd round.
8 Manheim Township 10-1, D3; What a year for the 2nd seeded Streaks who’ve won 8 straight including last week’s 28-0 rout of Central Dauphin! They are a big attack at 41ppg with a bad ass D allowing 13 a game. They have a rematch this week with 3rd seeded Wilson who they beat a month ago in Lancaster 38-14. So they’ll face one pissed off Bulldog as prideful Wilson tries to settle a score against the newcomer! Big rivalry, big emotion so sit back and enjoy what should be a special game.
9 Cumberland Valley 9-2, D3; Top seeded “Big Red” looked recovered from the Harrisburg beating routing Central Dauphin East 62-9 in the 1st round of district action. All 4 top seeds advanced so it could get interesting with 2 and 3 facing off in Lancaster with Wilson visiting Manheim Township and the other Lancaster Lebanon Section One team, 4th seeded Hempfield playing CV. How about the LL-1, with 3 of the final 4 teams in disricts! They’ve got some players including a duel threat quarterback but no game experience against a Wing-T this well develpoed.
10 State College 9-2, D6; Averaging 47ppg makes this SC’s highest scoring offense in over 20 years! And they are the only team to hang for most of a game with highly touted Harrisburg. The other loss was to their nemesis Cumberland Valley on the road, 36-21, so they can be had. But they have skill, size and speed everywhere making them a handful. They ended the regular season beating Cenral Dauphin 31-10 then routed a decent Erie High team last week 48-12. Undefeated Delaware Valley is next for a game in Danville.
