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2024 Too Early State Champions Predictions

I'm not too educated on 1-3, but ill go-

1A- same- Fort Cherry- QB is a freak stud
2A-SC-winner- no reason to not
3A- no idea- but I agree Avonworth from D7 vs- not sure, winner not sure
4A- agree- winner- Aliquippa
5A- Yes, Imotep is 6 now- so I will go--
Pine Richland over Roman Catholic
6A-
St Joes over PCC
 
1A - Westinghouse... can't beat Southern Columbia so move down
2A - Southern Columbia... will 8 in a row make people realize they are filthy cheaters?
3A - does Avonworth have a lot of kids back? if so I will pick them, Central Valley moved down right?
4A - Mckeesport has a lot back so they can win it, but Aliquippa had a great recruiting class coming in so...
5A - Peters they have a lot of kids back and Imhotep is moving up
6A - that college team with all the kids from Jersey
 
5A Peter’s loses to whoever comes out of Philly or Harrisburg because they are still too soft.
 
BradlyPitt said:
how are they soft?
Click to expand...
My observation. Watched lots of teams from south hills play in recent years. USC is soft. Peters is soft. South Fayette is soft. Bethel was tough but lacked talent. Moon has a good group one year but similar to Bethel. Lebo was tough one year, but before and after - soft. I miss anyone of consequence? Baldwin just sucked. Maybe the smaller classes are better, but I don't watch them.

North and East teams tougher: NA, PR, NH, PCC, PT, Woody, PH, McKeesport == Not Soft

(SV and Gateway are exceptions - soft)

Those south hills suburban teams talk a good game but won't fight back when smacked in the face on a constent basis (Lebo one year being the exception). Even when its done by other suburban kids,
 
new2pa said:
My observation. Watched lots of teams from south hills play in recent years. USC is soft. Peters is soft. South Fayette is soft. Bethel was tough but lacked talent. Moon has a good group one year but similar to Bethel. Lebo was tough one year, but before and after - soft. I miss anyone of consequence? Baldwin just sucked. Maybe the smaller classes are better, but I don't watch them.

North and East teams tougher: NA, PR, NH, PCC, PT, Woody, PH, McKeesport == Not Soft

(SV and Gateway are exceptions - soft)

Those south hills suburban teams talk a good game but won't fight back when smacked in the face on a constent basis (Lebo one year being the exception). Even when its done by other suburban kids,
Click to expand...
So when Pine Richland ran through PCC like a hot knife, that supports your theory.

However, did you see what Peters Twp did to PR a few weeks later when all the marbles were on the table??

Cocalico ran the ball better vs PR in 2022 then they did vs Peters in 2023.. Strohl hadn't seen a defense like Peters ever in his tenure as a HC at Cocalico. Cocalico ain't soft.
 
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P-R now is meaningless to me if that’s where you are going. Not a surprise though. Plack knows what he’s doing and has talent now. That group of sophomores could invalidate my softness theory.

Saw Cocolico twice and wasn’t overly impressed but I’ll take your word.
 
new2pa said:
P-R now is meaningless to me if that’s where you are going. Not a surprise though. Plack knows what he’s doing and has talent now. That group of sophomores could invalidate my softness theory.

Saw Cocolico twice and wasn’t overly impressed but I’ll take your word.
Click to expand...
P-R might not be as good as they were 4-5 years ago, but they had a potent downhill running attack. They went through PCC like shit through a tin horn.

Peters locked them down.

I'm not saying PT are world beaters but they're pretty tough.

You won't find 5 teams in the state over the past 40 years who run the ball better then Cocalico. They are w/out a doubt the best flexbone team in the state and have been for awhile. They aren't loaded with athletes but they're a nasty group of kids who routinely beat people up and they couldn't do squat vs PT.
 
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steelcurtain55. said:
P-R might not be as good as they were 4-5 years ago, but they had a potent downhill running attack. They went through PCC like shit through a tin horn.

Peters locked them down.

I'm not saying PT are world beaters but they're pretty tough.

You won't find 5 teams in the state over the past 40 years who run the ball better then Cocalico. They are w/out a doubt the best flexbone team in the state and have been for awhile. They aren't loaded with athletes but they're a nasty group of kids who routinely beat people up and they couldn't do squat vs PT.
Click to expand...
Peters ran the table but you can't criticize a public school for losing to prep or Imhotep.
 
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BradlyPitt said:
1A - Westinghouse... can't beat Southern Columbia so move down
2A - Southern Columbia... will 8 in a row make people realize they are filthy cheaters?
3A - does Avonworth have a lot of kids back? if so I will pick them, Central Valley moved down right?
4A - Mckeesport has a lot back so they can win it, but Aliquippa had a great recruiting class coming in so...
5A - Peters they have a lot of kids back and Imhotep is moving up
6A - that college team with all the kids from Jersey
Click to expand...
Roman appears to have a lot back also in 5 A.
 
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new2pa said:
P-R now is meaningless to me if that’s where you are going. Not a surprise though. Plack knows what he’s doing and has talent now. That group of sophomores could invalidate my softness theory.

Saw Cocolico twice and wasn’t overly impressed but I’ll take your word.
Click to expand...
wow- New- little harsh? PR is not meaningless- won state title just last year.

PT not soft, their system is "good not great" their spread was good, but they need to ALSO have a strong run game

Two main reason they whooped PR was 1- we did not have a balanced Off- needed a better pass game, 2- not much known but we were very injured- 2 of three of our D-line were hurt, Cory was playing w seperated shoulder- Penn Hills wpial semi got us banged up, was a real battle

Not sure they are gonna win a state title- but PR might surprise some- if we face Peters again this year, I'd pick PR

I agree on Cocalico- good not great
 
The quote was: “meaningless to me”

I was in the LeDonne camp but bringing in kids (QB, etc) and sending kid to Oakland Catholic, while hyping up being from “The Gib” doesn’t sit great with me.
 
new2pa said:
My observation. Watched lots of teams from south hills play in recent years. USC is soft. Peters is soft. South Fayette is soft. Bethel was tough but lacked talent. Moon has a good group one year but similar to Bethel. Lebo was tough one year, but before and after - soft. I miss anyone of consequence? Baldwin just sucked. Maybe the smaller classes are better, but I don't watch them.

North and East teams tougher: NA, PR, NH, PCC, PT, Woody, PH, McKeesport == Not Soft

(SV and Gateway are exceptions - soft)

Those south hills suburban teams talk a good game but won't fight back when smacked in the face on a constent basis (Lebo one year being the exception). Even when its done by other suburban kids,
Click to expand...
I’d like to agree with this but I have some issues

I don’t think PCC is tough at all. For the most part they’re good due to their talent alone. They were classic front runners when Totten was there. That’s why they were never close to beating SJP when it mattered, even when they went up 10-0 at half in the 2013 state final

I don’t see how North Hills is any tougher than the South Hills teams. They’ve been pretty bad the last decade and got demolished by USC and Bethel last year

I think Woodland Hills reputation has been coasting of their 2000s runs for a while now. Ever since Novak left, they’ve been the epitome of average
 
PCC needed better schemes to better compete. And some years SJP just had more talent.

Don’t really feel like debating this.
 
new2pa said:
The quote was: “meaningless to me”

I was in the LeDonne camp but bringing in kids (QB, etc) and sending kid to Oakland Catholic, while hyping up being from “The Gib” doesn’t sit great with me.
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Interesting that you bring up LeDonne bringing in kids and sending his own to Oakland Catholic. To my knowledge, there are two new impact transfers:

Dajour Webb (So.) Seneca Valley: DT/OL
6'0", 320 lbs.

Dayne Wilden: (So.) The Kiski School: OLB/RB 5'11", 190 lbs.

Recruiting? Who knows. Yet, using "The Gib" like everybody was born and raised in Gibsonia is hogwash when kids are coming in from the outside.
 
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I'm a "PR guy" but i agree w all of these comments- actually tho a brother- there's 2 Webb kids, other is very good, named is DeJuan i think

New- i agree the Gib thing is weird, but the kids like it, idk
 
Crazy to see where PR was 5-6 years ago to what it is today. I believe the administration didn't want a high profile program, they didn't like the attention it was getting, and cleaned house. Hard to believe 6 years ago PR was playing on ESPN every year including a game with img. The administration definitely got thier wish. I do think PR is a few years away from being completely irrelevant. First 4 years dejohn took over a top notch program with Kasper's kids.
 
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Eh, I don’t think it’s fair to cliticize ledonne for any kid coming onto the team. PR was almost gonna have to play a transfer loaded aliquippa super team this year. Teams like Penn hills, pcc, and Woodland Hills the previous offseason have all quietly added impact transfers as well. Penn hills got a QB-WR transfer from shady side academy, one has D1 offers already. And then this isn’t even getting into the what the teams out east get year to year that the wpial winner could potentially face in the state final.

The best teams/programs in the area always have kids wanting to play for them and transfer in, this isn’t new. Keep in mind that there was multiple kids brought on during coach k’s regime, and there would’ve been more if not for some bad blood between the coaching staff and school admin. Onto my next point, the school board and HS administration is completely different from even 3 years ago, it’s not far off to say they have a better relationship with ledonne than coach K did with the previous admin, making it less likely for the football program to have any internal issues/objections about these kids coming in. “Recruiting” or not I think it’s just keeping up with the trend to compete imo, and the wpial has their own rules for anything too egregious.
 
DripDrop said:
Crazy to see where PR was 5-6 years ago to what it is today. I believe the administration didn't want a high profile program, they didn't like the attention it was getting, and cleaned house. Hard to believe 6 years ago PR was playing on ESPN every year including a game with img. The administration definitely got thier wish. I do think PR is a few years away from being completely irrelevant. First 4 years dejohn took over a top notch program with Kasper's kids.
Click to expand...
This would’ve been a great take in 2021. Imo all the school/senior admin did was start the beginning of the end of the school board they were in lock step with. PR took their lumps in the 2021 season (still made the wpial semi finals) and now has the 1B coaching staff instead of a 1A and still is one of the better programs in the wpial, while most of those in the administration and school board involved with canning the old staff are all gone. That’s also pretty silly to say when they’ve already won a title after all this lmao. PR has a good, young squad this upcoming season and has been to the championship 7 times in the past ten seasons including this upcoming one. I wouldn’t count out an eighth either.
 
Miller and Pasquinelli are still there because the last board gave them 5 year contract extensions.

Ledonne won with kids who were coached more by Coach K than him.

PR is leaning hard right. Transfers who take key positions on the football field aren’t gonna help - unless they win big.

Shoot - they can even beat Peters….
 
new2pa said:
Miller and Pasquinelli are still there because the last board gave them 5 year contract extensions.

Ledonne won with kids who were coached more by Coach K than him.

PR is leaning hard right. Transfers who take key positions on the football field aren’t gonna help - unless they win big.

Shoot - they can even beat Peters….
Click to expand...
New- these points are spot-on accurate- the "skapegoats" who fired the staff are gone, but the people with real power are still there- Central Admin. The current PR staff is good not great. Personally LeDonne is great- but i disagree with many of his "program decisions."

Jacky- many programs are "good" but we used to be great- no longer, imo. PR now has a major "number problem- these are the varsity roster #s over the last 5 years- our program is "dropping kids" left and right. I'm talking about grades 10, 11 and 12 total

2020-78
2021-68
2022-65
2023- 63
2024- likely 55-57

one of the main reasons we lost to Peters was injuries and lack of depth
 
bummer01 said:
Interesting that you bring up LeDonne bringing in kids and sending his own to Oakland Catholic. To my knowledge, there are two new impact transfers:

Dajour Webb (So.) Seneca Valley: DT/OL
6'0", 320 lbs.

Dayne Wilden: (So.) The Kiski School: OLB/RB 5'11", 190 lbs.

Recruiting? Who knows. Yet, using "The Gib" like everybody was born and raised in Gibsonia is hogwash when kids are coming in from the outside.
Click to expand...
bummer- check out Twitter- "pa today" is a local media guy was at our practice yesterday- really kinda bizarre for several reasons
 
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2020sports said:
New- these points are spot-on accurate- the "skapegoats" who fired the staff are gone, but the people with real power are still there- Central Admin. The current PR staff is good not great. Personally LeDonne is great- but i disagree with many of his "program decisions."

Jacky- many programs are "good" but we used to be great- no longer, imo. PR now has a major "number problem- these are the varsity roster #s over the last 5 years- our program is "dropping kids" left and right. I'm talking about grades 10, 11 and 12 total

2020-78
2021-68
2022-65
2023- 63
2024- likely 55-57

one of the main reasons we lost to Peters was injuries and lack of depth
Click to expand...

2020: I had no idea about those numbers - that is pre-COach K level #'s...
 
PA Today Interviews:

Wilden is a PR Kid that left for reasons unknown. Has older siblings. Family has money. Needs weight room.
Wentz is a PR kid - older brother played on the 2019 team
Curran is a PR kid - bigger, strong kid. Not real athletic.
Timmons - no idea how long he has been in P-R. Not a popular player.
Webb1 - Transfer. He's tiny!!!!!
Webb2 - Transfer. He's not tiny!!!!
Oobi - Transfer.

Bizzarre:
1. Racial breakdown among transfer
2. None of those kids except maybe Wentz look like championship level 5A football players.

As I said, P-R is going hard right. If those kids start taking P-R kids spots, it could get interesting for ex-Quip, ex-PH HBC LeDonne.
 
new2pa said:
PA Today Interviews:

Wilden is a PR Kid that left for reasons unknown. Has older siblings. Family has money. Needs weight room.
Wentz is a PR kid - older brother played on the 2019 team
Curran is a PR kid - bigger, strong kid. Not real athletic.
Timmons - no idea how long he has been in P-R. Not a popular player.
Webb1 - Transfer. He's tiny!!!!!
Webb2 - Transfer. He's not tiny!!!!
Oobi - Transfer.

Bizzarre:
1. Racial breakdown among transfer
2. None of those kids except maybe Wentz look like championship level 5A football players.

As I said, P-R is going hard right. If those kids start taking P-R kids spots, it could get interesting for ex-Quip, ex-PH HBC LeDonne.
Click to expand...
yes and yep- 4 of these 7 are "transfers." EK prob had 4-5 over 8 years, LeDonne has 4 in 24 months??

New- your IF, is already happening- spots have already been "given" to these kids and some kids are quitting. Same thing happened last yr, he brought in new kids, and kids in the "program" walked away. Most of these kids would not have played much 2018 to 2020 and now these are starters.

Here's the last bizzare thing- to answer tiger- none of these kids were "key players" last year. And these kids get "hyped?" Oh- and they all said stupid things. The big Webb said "I feel big."
 
2020sports said:
yes and yep- 4 of these 7 are "transfers." EK prob had 4-5 over 8 years, LeDonne has 4 in 24 months??

New- your IF, is already happening- spots have already been "given" to these kids and some kids are quitting. Same thing happened last yr, he brought in new kids, and kids in the "program" walked away. Most of these kids would not have played much 2018 to 2020 and now these are starters.

Here's the last bizzare thing- to answer tiger- none of these kids were "key players" last year. And these kids get "hyped?" Oh- and they all said stupid things. The big Webb said "I feel big."
Click to expand...

The fact they are interviewed tells me something. PS: The one larger white kid that was interviewed - Curren I think - is a coaches kid that barely played last year - and he ain't like Miller, Jochem x2, Neff, etc. So there you have it. LeDonne is basically trying to make ultra-suburban, bubble city P-R like his beloved Quips or PH.

Maybe the Wentz kid could have played on those earlier teams but that's about it. The best looking one is Timmons and he's an a$$hole from everything I've heard. Now, 16 yo kids can be that way, so maybe he's better this year. But I've literally never heard of any of them making huge contributions. Maybe Oobi a little last year particluarly as a runner, but that's about it.

Anyway, thinking :

Week 0: ?
CC: L
SV: W
NH: W
FC: W
PH: W
Latrobe: L
Quips: L
NA: L
Shaler: W

5-4 pending Week 0. I can see them bearing Latrobe as well. We will see. 7-3 max upside IMO.
 
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