1. Parkland 4-0. As expected the Trojans had no trouble with Pocono Mountain West (0-4) winning 63-20. Excepting the 28-14 win against Central Catholic, the schedule has allowed Parkland’s offense to get into high gear. Through four games, they scored 177 points while allowing 47, a 44ppg to12ppg average. Keep in mind this was against one winning team (Catholic 3-1) and three others with combined records of 2-10; Pocono Mountain West, Dieruff and Northampton. Despite getting hammered 42-7 last week by Liberty, Whitehall (2-2) always presents a threat as their rival. Looking for some extra incentive? How about the Zephyr’s jumping all over Parkland last year, racing out to a 24-3 half time lead while taking Parkland completely out of their game, winning 38-24. Whitehall rushed for 230 yards, holding the Trojans to 65 so it wasn’t just Saquon Barkley, currently tearing things up at Penn State who rushed for 160 yards.
2. St. Joseph’s Prep 2-1. Coming off a big 35-6 win over St. Ignatius (3-2) two weeks ago and having last week off in a bye week had to be sweet with Malvern Prep (2-1) up this week. Both are old adversaries, with the Hawks having played Evangel, Don Bosco and St. Ignatius and the Friars St. Rita,, Holy Spirit and LaSalle last week, losing 21-14. Looks like Malvern is a lot better this year, with no resemblance to last year’s team that lost 49-28. They’re led by quarterback Nick Maras (6-2, 190, jr) and running backs Zac Fernandez and sophomore O’Shaan Allison. They and others weren’t enough to beat LaSalle last week and probably not the Hawks this week with D’Andre Swift, QB Kevin Shaw and company having that extra week of prep while the Friars slugged it out with LaSalle.
3. LaSalle 3-1. Do you believe it’s nearly the mid-point of the season? Anyway, that’s usually a good time to do some reassessing after getting a better handle on things. LaSalle moved ahead of Coatesville based on their performance against a more difficult schedule with wins against two of District-1’s marquee teams, North Penn and Pennsbury along with the Inter-Ac alpha, Malvern Prep.
This week’s game is another tough one, traveling to Owings Mills, MD to play MIAA power McDonogh. . They have back-to-back MIAA-A titles, outright in 2013 and shared with Gilman last year. This team had severe grad losses, particularly on defense where return three. But the offense is explosive, with one of the best lines in the Baltimore area. Quarterback Jansen Durham (6-2, 180) is in his fourth year as a starter with another returning starter in running back Mylique McGriff (5-10, 200, jr) who gained 1275 yards last year. Receivers Marquis Thornes (6-5, 215, jr) and BJ Ferrare (5-9, 170, so) return. The line is massive; Jordan McNair (6-5, 305, jr), PJ Mustipher (6-5, 285, so), Bart Kreiner (6-6, 285, sr), Chase Kirol (6-2, 275, sr) and Gavin Clark (6-4, 295, sr). Needless to say, they like to grind it out. Safety Eric Burrell (6-0, 175, sr), DE Alton Lacks (6-1, 265, sr) and LB Ricardo Lliano (5-11, 215, sr) are standouts on defense with Burrell the #1 Safety in the state according to Rivals. To date they beat Bishop O’Donnell (1-3) 38-0 and Franklin (3-1) 35-21, while losing to North Carolina power Mallard Creek (3-1) 28-7 and Mount St. Joseph (3-1) 36-33. Franklin, also from northwest Baltimore County was a great matchup, pitting the Eagles against the two time defending AAA public school power. Private vs Public! Mallard Creek is Mallard Creek. LaSalle won last year 31-20, keeping McDonogh guessing with players like Kyle Shurmur and Jordan Meachum who have moved on. Meanwhile, the McDonogh players that did damage are back; quarterback Durham who completed 12 of 20 for 200 yards and running back McGriff who had 33 carries for 133 yards.
4. Coatesville 4-0. Coatesville beat Henderson, managing their triple option enough to win 41-26. Allowing 26 points to Henderson jumps out since they present no passing threat, as did 16 fourth quarter points, cutting Coatesville’s lead to 34-26. They also committed 14 penalties for 125 yards!. Up next is another great contest with undefeated and 4th ranked Coatesville traveling to 7th ranked Downingtown West who is also undefeated. Last year’s game saw the scoreboard lit up for 80 points with the Red Raiders prevailing 47-33 in Coatesville. That will likely be the case again this year as both teams have far too much firepower to be contained. Heads up Downingtown, quarterback Jordan Young completed 12 of 22 passes for 268 yards against Henderson.
5. Upper Dublin 4-0. The Cardinals cruised again having an easy time in Cheltenham, winning 42-6. A glance at the schedule shows Springfield (2-1) up next at home. Springfield is 2-1 coming off a 34-20 win over Wissahickon but will find the going tough against the Cardinal defense allowing 8ppg! That’s the difference between this year’s team and last year’s. They also jacked the offense up to 44ppg but always put points on the board, averaging 36 and 34 a game the last two years. The centerpiece of the attack is again senior quarterback Ryan Stover (6-4, 210) with another uncanny season developing. Last year saw him complete 66% of his passes for 2210 yards, with a 22 to 9 Td to interception rate. This year sees him at 76% for almost 500 years with 7 Td’s and no picks. The back field and receiver corps are essentially a committee, headed by Stover carrying for 328 yards and Kaleif Lee (5-10, 205, sr) with 298 yards and a plethora of receivers.
6. Downingtown East 4-0. The Cougars got their first shutout of the year defeating Avon Grove (2-2) 38-0 with the defense dominating, holding the Devils to 64 total yards. But the D has been there all year, allowing 13ppg supported by a offense averaging 37. Last year’s defense ended the year with a 20ppg average. Saunders Healy had an outstanding game completing 10 of 13 for 150 yards along with four touchdowns. The win was number 100 for coach Mike Matta who is now at 100-18. Unionville (3-1) is next, coming off a 28-21 win at Rustin. The 37-13 win over a nicked Garnet Valley in the opener also stands out. as does the 31-13 home loss to Exeter (4-0).
7. Downingtown West 4-0. The schedule maker didn’t give Kennett any breaks did they scheduling the Whippets who ran roughshod in a Ches Mont crossover contest. Six first quarter touchdowns led to a 54-14 half time lead when the dogs were called off in a 61-20 win. Total yardage showed Downingtown at 444 to 275 for Kennett, who falls to 1-3. Quarterback Thomas Mattioni had a nice economic game, completing 5 of 7 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Conference competition gets off to an explosive start Saturday night with Coatesville bringing their act to town. Downingtown is averaging 41ppg to Coatesville’s 37. Defensively, the Whippets allow 13 while the Raiders allowed 14. With Neshaminy being Downingtown’s toughest game and Roman for Coatesville, this game promises to be the most difficult either played. Coatesville won last year 47-33 with a much different team while West returns many from that group. With the home field advantage and a more veteran team, the edge goes to Downingtown.
8. Easton 3-1. The Rovers dropped from 4 to 8th after losing to Allentown Central Catholic (3-1) 26-24. The week before saw ACC give Parkland a game, losing 28-14. Guess that tells us who the AAA power is in the region! Central Catholic won the game on engthy drives and a few quick strikes, scoring all their points in the middle quarters. Following easy wins against Pleasant Valley (1-3) 43-14, Emmaus (1-3) 49-7 and Northampton (1-3) 42-7, Central Catholic had to be a real wake up call. The home game against East Stroudsburg South (1-3) should straighten everything out this weekend followed by a road game in Whitehall where the Zephyrs should be licking their wounds following the Parkland game.
9. North Penn 2-2. The Knights moved up from 11th jumping Neshaminy based on schedule difficulty and performance. How many teams do you see scheduling LaSalle, West Catholic and Downingtown East as non-conference opponents? Unlike recent years where they seemed to emerge from these non-conference games compromised, this bunch looks energized, unscathed in terms of playoff potential with a load of points that will translate into something better than last year’s 9 seed. In a game many expected to be competitive, the Knights went on the road to just crush Pennridge 31-7. Anyone seeing them against Downingtown East the week before knows they are rounding into a force that looks capable of running out. Central Bucks South (2-2) is next with little separating them from a 3-1 mark and 4-0 with a little reach. It’s the same ole Titan team, big offense at 37ppg with a defense allowing 27ppg. You won’t be bored when the Titans come to town, they’re exciting! In a mild upset, they won last year 28-27, getting the 10 seed at 7-3.
10. Neshaminy 3-1. Neshaminy’s rebound from last year’s disappointing 4-6 season continued with their 47-7 rout of Abington. Six different players scored touchdowns with RB Will Dogba leading the way at 150 yards rushing. Most of us expected a win but maybe a little more from the Ghosts who are now 0-4. This is a program that hasn’t had a losing season since 2004. About the Tribe, all in all you got to say the Skins have put together a decent resume, beating Montclair, Council Rock South and now Abington, all on the road, especially the former two. And when your only loss was to Downingtown West by six points, how bad can things be? Pennridge is next. They won last year 21-14 and are a minor disappointment this year at 2-2, given the great schedule that provided for four consecutive home games. They were throttled last week 31-7 by a surging North Penn team.
