Ok, here’s the usual, some stats, thoughts, archival notes of interest with apologies for typos rushing to get it out. Looks like there are a number of great games so it should be fun.
1 St. Joseph’s Prep D12-6A, 12-0
The Hawks are looking good in the postseason beating Parkland last week 38-17. D’Andre Swift had one for the record books rushing for a career high 322 yards on 19 carries. Talk about statements; quarterback Marquez McCray made a powerful one completing 12 of 16 passes for 144 yards and two touchdown tosses. Using a term that is often overused, they’ve become a balanced team, leaving opponents in a quandary defensively while striving for their 3rd title in 4 years with wins over Central Catholic 35-10 in 2013 and Pine Richland in 2014, 49-41. Offensively, this is their most productive offense at 38ppg since 2002’s outstanding team that went 13-0 with the same stat. That was one of the first if not the first to gain nation recognition with the USA-Today ranking them at #15, four slots below Parkland’s 14-1 team that beat Woodland Hills in the AAAA-Final 34-12. Defensively, they’re at 16ppg, their best since 2012’s 10-1 team allowed 10. Hey, 10-1 but quite a team beating Cocoa, North Penn, Archbishop Wood, LaSalle and who knows who til losing to LaSalle in the Red Final 28-27. Another balanced attack is up this week in North Penn who will test them.
2 Pittsburgh Central Catholic D7-6A, 13-1
The Vikings are going for a repeat and making it look easy so far routing everybody including Williamsport last week 62-21. The feeling here was they may have been a little star stuck but they earned it, beating State College the week before. So here’s Catholic doing what they always do, pursuing another PIAA “Big School” title having won gold in 1988, 2004, 2007 and last year, while getting silver in 2003 and 2013. Wow! Like D’Andre Swift of St. Joe’s, running back JJ Younger (5-8, 160) had a great outing, rushing for 214 yards against Williamsport. As much as Coach Terry Totten has been criticized for not having a passing attack, he’[s got one this year with Troy Fisher (6-4, 205, jr) throwing for 1624 yards at a 59% clip. Here’s something else to chew on; the Vikings won-loss since their last losing season in 1999 (3-7) is 190-30.
3 North Penn D1-6A, 14-0
North Penn looks like a serious challenge to St. Joseph’s being on a quest of their own searching for their first PIAA title since 2003’s 15-0 juggernaut that pounded Pittsburgh Central Catholic 37-10. More recently, they lost in 2011 to Central Dauphin 14-7. This year’s edition is taking no prisoners with a 42ppg average on offense and a defense allowing 15. The offense is led by record breaking Reece Udinski with 331 completions on 205 throws for 3817 yards and 37 touchdown passes. Running back Nick Dillon gets most of the carries with receivers Ricky Johns (55/1220!), Justis Henley (47/835) and Jake Hubler (38/796) terrorizing secondaries. The DL is light but quick with the team strength at linebacker with the likes of Ricky Johns, Owen Thomas and Dan Drop. Topping all this off, they have the resume making all those stats even more impressive with wins against Downingtown East, LaSalle, Spring Ford, Garnet Valley and Coatesville. Nice! If they’re not dominated by the sheer force and power of St. Joe’s O-Line, it’s a game. Even if they are, it could be a shootout.
4 Archbishop Wood D12-5A, 9-2
Some fast history; Wood won AAA state titles in 2011, 2013 and 2014, with runner-up silver medals in 2008 and 2012. And here they are again after blowing out District-11’s Whitehall 56-13 last week. It’s easy taking these blowouts for granted but good remembering Whitehall was a decent team, with wins against Liberty and Freedom. Dumb me, I thought last year’s team was “the” team, but you have to like this group’s momentum, running off 9 straight after opening with losses to St. Joseph’s Prep and Bergen Catholic and whatever that was in Huber Heights-OH against Wayne (11-1). Anyway, the opponent this week is Academy Park who hasn’t played near the quality level of Wood’s schedule that included those above plus LaSalle. This one could get out of hand.
5 Imhotep Charter School D12-4A, 12-0
ICS is going for a repeat after disposing of Cathedral Prep 40-3 in last year’s final and beating North Pocono last week. That’s where we saw a balanced attack of two rushing scores and two passing touchdowns plus two gifts from North Pocono, a 65-yd fumble return and a 73-yd punt return for 6 making it look easy (32-7 at half) in their 38-7 win against the Trojans. They may have played a woeful schedule in Pub competition but had an eye catching win against Malvern Prep 48-7 and a 36-6 rout of Cardinal O’Hara in the postseason. I guess you’ve arrived when you’re beating teams that were considered good teams before you beat them….and it causes little attention when you do. The pedigree ratchets up a level this week taking on talented but inconsistent Bethlehem Catholic. Home losses to Emmaus and Freedom get your attention but their size will allow them to bang with the Panthers while the defense at 20ppg average will likely have them playing catchup real early, looking at the backs of a lot of jerseys.
6 Wilson D3-6A, 12-1
How about Wilson winning their 3rd consecutive District-3 title with last week’s 28-14 win at Hershey Park Stadium over Cumberland Valley. They haven’t won gold yet but did win the silver back in 1989 losing to Upper St Clair 12-7, the first team in the WPIAL to win 15 games. Coach Doug Dahms is 129-19 from 2006 through last week’s 28-14 win over Cumberland Valley, making him one of Pennsylvania’s most successful coaches. This group ‘tho talented is young in spots, particularly the backfield with quarterback Connor Uhrig (6-0, 180, jr, 1768yds, 63%) and the bruiser Ignacion Reynoso (6-0, 210, jr) with 1635 rush yards. TE Leo Quigley (6-3, 220, sr) is a favorite target along with 5 others in an offense that really spreads it out. At 37ppg offense and 16 on D, this isn’t a statistical all star edition but they are fast and absolutely well coached, rarely defeating themselves as per Coach Dahms’ record above. That teams like Wilson, Beaver Falls and a few others haven’t won gold tells you how difficult that is. Like North Penn, it’s a game if they’re not beaten-up on the lines by Central’s superior size. Don’t put anything past the Bulldogs who are always difficult to beat.
7 West Allegheny D7-5A, 13-0
Here’s another historic power with a AAA state title in 2001 coming on the heels of state runner up teams in 1999 and 2000, all of them against Strath Haven who was on a 4 year run themselves with consecutive state titles in 1999 and 2000 followed by second place medals in 2001 and 2002. They’re back in the hunt this year with another power offense at 36ppg and a D that flat out gets after you, allowing 11ppg. Veteran quarterback Nick Ross (6-1, 190, sr) has a 66% completion rate for 2186 yards. Underrated running back Kenny White (6-0, 185, jr) has 1064 yards and 5 receivers, all sophomores or juniors, have over 100 receptions for 1678 yards. They have great strength at DL and LB with good history against quality opponents beating USC, Woodland Hills and McKeesport. They beat Meadville’s option last week 47-20 suggesting they’ll match Harrisburg’s speed. The Cougars can get up and run and they have outstanding DEs but West A is a load, with the diversity on offense to score on just about anyone.
8 Harrisburg D3-5A, 10-3
The Cougars are back with one of the better editions since the George Chaump years (2003-2010, 62-29 W/L) where they fielded good stuff on Market Street in downtown Harrisburg that were as good as any. 2007’s team lost a heartbreaker to Pittsburgh Central Catholic 14-6 after dominating, holding Central to 79 total yards and 5 first downs. Back in the day before William Penn and Harris High merged (1971) to form Harrisburg High, John Harris High was lead by….guess who?....Coach Chaump, from 1962 to 1967 where he compiled a 58-4 record with nationally ranked teams. He left there to put Marshall on the map after a stint with Woody Hayes at Ohio State then Navy before returning to the area to coach Central Dauphin for 6 years, arriving in 1997. Here he led the Rams to a 57-14 slate before returning to Harrisburg High in 2003. Where was I? This year’s team is rolling at 37ppg and a D to match the mentioned 2007 team (12-2) that allowed 13ppg. That’s excellent numbers against the likes of Bishop McDevitt, Central Dauphin and Cumberland Valley and playoff teams Exeter, Governor Mifflin and Manheim Central last week, 48-20.
