Here are the final PRs of 18’s better teams from the Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton area and District 2; those making the playoffs and others having a year that made the ratings, crunching numbers for 147 teams across the state. Used year ending points for/against, home/away, classification values, wins, etc. Pretty basic stuff to arrive at an
estimate. Added some thoughts, comments and will try to do a Mid-State and Western review/preview. Flawed for sure but if nothing else it’ll give some stats and grad/return info for ’18 and ’19. As always, feel free to jump in or on.
1 Freedom 173.45, D11, 6A, 12-2
Freedom jumped out the gate on fire, winning their first nine games before losing to arch rival Liberty 29-10 the last game of the regular season, then evened the score a week later in districts winning 14-7. Thereon they crushed Parkland and Emmaus in dangerous rematch games. Proving the adage
third time’s a charm, they finally found success in the district final after consecutive losses in 2016 and 2017 by defeating Emmaus 49-17 for their first district title in school history. The week before they beat Parkland 35-21 to end their six year string of district titles. That was a huge win for Freedom being a rematch of a regular season 21-20 win that ended the Trojans dominance over Freedom and the district as the Pats hadn’t defeated them since 2009. 2009 was quite a win, beating then 34-14 at 5-5 over the Trojans at 10-3. Maybe all the expended emotion mentioned above was too much for the young Patriots who were a no-show the following week against St. Joseph’s Prep, getting mercy-ruled 42-14 in the quarterfinals. This was the 5th time in 6 years SJP eliminated the D-11 champ and 9th time in the last 10 years the PCL eliminated the D-11 rep. So while they weren’t ready for prime time or maybe just overwhelmed by the Hawks, they are getting there with a cast of young talent that will be a year older and wiser with valuable game experience from their final five games. They return Qb Jared Jenkins (6-1, 190, 2205, 29/4), Rb Jalen Stewart (6-1, 220, 949), Matty Russin (5-8, 135, 934), a few receivers and almost all their lineman, Kaden Moore 6-3 300, Jacob Schwind 6-2 250, Eloge Kalubi 6-6 245 et al on both sides putting them in a position to defend their EPC-South title and district crown. Last year’s team ramped up the offense by 12 points, averaging 36 a game and will likely be as potent in 2019 with so many returning starters. Be nice to tighten the D up some from 19ppg allowed, although the loss of LB Tristen Wheeler (Richmond) doesn’t help there. Still, they could be significantly improved in 2019 with a larger offense. But Freedom is one of those teams where what’s on paper doesn’t always materialize on the field….and vice versa (!), reminding you of the scene in Forest Gump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C89u535IMbk.
2 Emmaus 170.78, D11, 6A, 11-2
Emmaus had a memorable year bouncing back from a 6-5 season to go 11-2 and reach the District-11 final. That was their highest win total ever. It was also a record setting offense averaging 42ppg! No one held them below 31 until Freedom beat them in the district championship game. What a year it was tearing through the EPC-South defeating everyone except their recent nemesis Freedom, who beat them in the regular season 32-31 in ot and districts where they were drubbed 49-17 in the final. The year before they also lost twice to the Patriots. Otherwise, the Hornets have fared well with third year coach Harold Fairclough going 10-2, 6-5 and 11-2 to bring his career total to 76-36. Along the way he won a state title at Allentown Central Catholic (16-0) in 2010 beating Bishop McDevitt 28-27 in an epic comeback, scoring with just over two minutes left in the game. Last year’s success was impressive knowing they were replacing both lines while plugging in Whitehall transfer Qb Ethan Parvel, making them something of a North Penn clone knowing they also returned good skill people. They further mirrored North Penn by winning the close ones, beating Nazareth 43-42, Easton 30-28, Bethlehem Catholic 50-49 Parkland 35-31 and Easton again in districts 31-24. Offensively, while they were explosive at 42ppg they allowed 26ppg. Hence the number of shoot outs above including the one that got away from them in the regular season losing to Freedom 32-31 in ot. Few played defense in the EPC-South last year! The big question entering 2019 is who is going to replace Qb Ethan Parvel, who threw for 1818 yards and rushed for 582. And while they lost mainstays in the backfield in Sone Ntoh (662) and Lubens Myers (1082), they return last year’s exciting sophomore Brandon Camire. Not big at 5-10, 165 but he’s a hitter, gaining 639 yards on 71 attempts while also playing linebacker. The lines look to return a few starters with both sides replacing considerable skill people.
3 Bethlehem Catholic 169.98, D11, 4A, 11-4
Since Head Coach Joe Henrich’s arrival in 2012, the Hawks evolved to an explosive, winning machine, going 64-29. Take away the breaking in years of 1-9 and 8-5 and you’re looking at 55-15 from 2014 through last year, a 78.5% winning percentage. From 2014 through 2018, they ended the season with a 42ppg, 40, 33, 40 and 41ppg average, making them one of the more consistently explosive offenses in the East. But last season saw them with a particular problem….winning at home, losing to Freedom, Nazareth and Emmaus, while allowing East Stroudsburg South to almost steal one, rebounded from a 35-0 half time deficit (mercy rule) to lose 41-28? A review of that game and others shows difficulty
finishing. Bottom line, they lost to the top two teams in the EPC-South, Freedom and Emmaus. But they breezed through unchallenging 4A playoff competition defeating Blue Mountain (3-8) 45-13, Pottsville (7-5) 40-28, Saucon Valley (10-3) 73-14 and Pottsgrove (12-2) 58-20 by an average score of 54-19 before being crushed by Imhotep Charter School (11-3) 41-6. This is the same Imhotep who beat them 34-14 in 2017 and 24-13 in 2016. Saucon Valley saved them the embarrassment in 2015 beating BECA 14-6 before themselves being annihilated by ICS 72-27. Back to Saucon Valley-2018 for a moment; BECA’s win over the Panthers secured their third consecutive district title where they rolled up a 529 to 133 total yard advantage with 28 fourth quarter points. Evidently the 45-14 3rd quarter lead wasn’t enough but wow Coach, talk about emptying the entire mag! For 2019, they’ll look to replace transfer Zamar Brake (2219) possibly with Brian Taylor. But they return quality backs in Tavion Banks (2850) and Malik Thomas, plus good numbers on the O-Line that will open things up for the new Qb, diminishing the loss of Zaheer Seabrooks’s 1493 rush yards. The D looks like a partial rebuild. Allowing 23ppg even in a “Spread” world says it needs to be rebuilt at a school like Bethlehem Catholic.
4 Easton 167.71, D11, 6A, 9-4
The problem with Easton over the last few years is their inability to beat teams in the upper echelon of the EPC-South. That’s quite a statement when talking about Easton! But that’s how it shakes out looking at their won/loss against EPC-
South teams only during the
regular season who ended conference play at
.500 or better. Their record is a startling 4-13 the last four year. Conversely, their won/loss against teams finishing below.500 was 13-2. This explains their lackluster records going 9-4, 7-6, 8-5 and 9-4 from 2015 through last year. Lackluster by Easton standards. It also coincides with their six year (2009-2014)
double digit winning season streak coming to an end when it did. The nine wins came against three teams with winning records and a collective won loss of 47-53. So there it is. When you’re struggling with wins against Allentown Central Catholic (3-8) 31-24, Liberty (5-6) 28-21 and Nazareth (5-6) 34-31, while destroying Parkland (7-5), 41-14, something is off. And that was with an experienced quarterback in senior Nate Nimeh having a strong year throwing for 1944 yards at 59% with a Td/Pick ratio of 22/6. Not bad! Add in senior Rbs Harold Reynolds at 1064 yards and Makhi DeSilva at 632 plus senior receivers Michael Dunlap catching 39 for 804 yards and Damion Smith at 390 on 22 receptions to see the offense was there, averaging 33ppg. All of those players will graduate this year. Unfortunately the defense did not match the offensive output, allowing 22ppg, their worst
year ending points allowed average in over 20 years. For 2019, it looks like a pretty serious rebuild on both sides particularly the secondary that graduates five with 219 tackles; Makhi DeSilva, Chris Williams, Michael Dunlap, Danny Hynes and Damion Smith. They were breaking in some sophomores with a few standing out; MLB Tamir Jackson (5-9, 185) with 108 tackles, OLB Dominic Falcone (5-6, 165) with 49 tackles, CB Nahjee Adams (5-10, 170) at 46, and DT Derek Frinzi (6-3, 230) with 25, sophomores all. That was Coach Jeff Braido’s second year at the helm, going 8-5 his first. Not bad, but it does mask their shortcomings verses quality competition.
5 Parkland 162.81, D11, 6A, 7-5
It was a difficult season for Parkland essentially rebuilding the entire team (17 starters grad) while breaking in two new quarterbacks. Senior Andrew Lee and junior Tanner Lewis (6-1, 190) vied for the position as co-starters until Sept 21st when Lewis took over. The season began with routs of Northampton 41-0 and Allentown Central Catholic 52-0 that had to be a tremendous boost to the team. What followed was two revealing yet heartbreaking losses to Freedom and Bethlehem Catholic. They lost to Freedom 21-20 after blowing a 14 point lead and allowing 21 straight points! The following week saw another collapse against Bethlehem Catholic, losing 24-16 by blowing a nine point lead and again, allowing 17 unanswered points. As the season unfolded, both would become the EPC-South’s best teams along with Emmaus. And Parkland missed their chance after leading both games. The following four weeks saw them win easily, defeating Liberty, Nazareth, Whitehall and Stroudsburg by a combined score of 137-59. At 6-2, things were looking up, but then came Easton. The Rovers had lost seven straight to the Trojans counting playoff games going back to 2014. And they were coming in off bad losses to Freedom 35-7 and Bethlehem Catholic 28-7 to set the stage. They came in with a real bad attitude looking to
get some as we used to say. And did they ever, scoring on five of their first six possessions to score 31 unanswered points in the first half! How about winning the coin toss, electing to receive
(in your face!) then driving it down for a score on your first possession. Four turnovers and 11 penalties for over 100 yards speaks to Parkland’s frustration at so thorough a pounding, losing 41-14. The following week saw them fumble on Emmaus’s 18 yards line while driving for the winning score in a 35-31 loss to end the regular season.
As the 5th seed, they pummeled Stroudsburg 35-0 before top seeded Freedom ended their
six year consecutive district title run winning 35-21, owning the stat sheet, 468 to 272 in total yards. So it was a tough year for them, with an unfair share of injuries piling up even through the final game. For 2019 they return Qb Lewis (6-1, 190) who completed 64% for 921 yards with a 6/3 Td/Pick ratio and 414 rushing yards. The top 3 backs, Dominic Nelson, Joey Guida and Colten Peischi graduate, taking 1129 yards. But they return Angel Santos (5-10, 210, 39/181, fun tackling!) and Isiah Rico (5-8, 180, 25/151) with three of their top four receivers giving them a good skills core. And the D returns a pile, at least 263 tackles, looking strong at both linebacking and the secondary. I believe the DL returns two, Zion Johnson (6-0, 270) and Jalon Perkins (6-2, 225), probably at DE. Bottom line, it’s Parkland. So you know they’re going to bounce back, especially with Freedom, Emmaus and Nazareth coming to them this year.
