The West:
District 2/4/10 finalist vs District 6/8/10 finalist
#1 Williamsport 11-1 vs State College at Selinsgrove HS
Williamsport smashed 2nd seeded Delaware Valley 55-21 last week in a rematch to avenge their only loss of the season. Their huge offence averaging 51ppg (!) racked up 544 total yards of offense. It was a balanced attack as well with quarterback Isaiah Hankins completing 9 of 13 passes for 190 of those yards. Williamsport had lost at Delaware Valley on Oct 8th 49-42, making this an especially satisfying win. Last week saw Mid Penn co-champ State College beat a familiar foe in McDowell of Erie, dispatching the District-10 power 35-14. It was a typical SC-McDowell slugfest, with the Lions battling for 242 yards of offense and the Trojans with 287. I believe everyone came out healthy in a game that is often a head banger. That’s the one thing Williamsport won’t be used to, the physicality SC brings to this game. There is no doubt the Millionaires have a fine and fast team. But most of the wins came against smaller classification teams that were experiencing down seasons like Berwick, Wyoming Valley West and Abington Heights. Weaker schedule or not, they’ve put together quite an offense with a super quick back in Treyson Potts with 1892 yards rushing. State High has no issues with their schedule showing a powerful slate of opponents every year, defeating teams like Cumberland Valley, Harrisburg, CD East and now McDowell (9-2) whose only loss coming in was to their rival Cathedral Prep 31-15. If Williamsport can keep their wits about them at the beginning, it’s a game….but it could get out of control like State’s game with the quick Cougars of Harrisburg where the Lions won 35-28. State High by 1.79!?
District 7 Final
#1 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 11-1 vs #6 Seneca Valley 8-3 at Heinz Field
In yet another district of nothing but rematches, Central Catholic routed 5th seeded Pine Richland 63-34 to open the 2016-2017 basketball season in the WPIAL. They beat the Rams earlier in the year 48-35, taking the total points scored against Pine Richland’s defense, if it can be called that, to 111. Talking about big points, Central Catholic is scoring at a torrid pace, 47 a game and allowing a meager 14 so good luck figuring a way to slow this freight train down. For those unfamiliar with some of the Vikings personnel, check out their offensive line as a sampling and reason why they are crushing the opposition; LT CJ Thorpe 6-5 310-PSU; LG, Jake Trautman 6-4 270-Fordham; C Donovan Slater 6-3 285-Yale; RG Jacob Hinish 6-3 280…also Yale and RT “cuz” Hurt Hinish 6-3 290, going to Notre Dame. Their opponent in the district final, Seneca Valley comes in off a significant upset, beating the 2 seed North Allegheny 28-27 on a blocked extra point. Once again, special teams reared its head to decide a game. Looking at Seneca Valley is something like seeing a mirror image of Pine Richland, all offense and no defense, scoring 35ppg while allowing 27 on average. Their problem has been against quality teams, losing to North Allegheny 49-14, Pine Richland 51-20 and Central Catholic 42-14. Prior to beating NA last week, they escaped Mount Lebanon, winning 49-43. That’s a total of 185 points in 4 games and that’s way too much against these guys. Vikes by 25.57.
District 3 Semi Finals
#1 Central Dauphin 10-1 vs #4 Cumberland Valley 8-3 at CD
Central Dauphin beat 8th seeded Manheim Township 34-14 in the quarterfinal while Cumberland Valley beat star struck and 5th seeded Warwick out of the Lancaster-Lebanon Section-1, 35-7. The Rams were expected to beat Manheim, another LL Section-1 team, having defeated them in the opener 31-9. But you never know with the Streaks and their “balls to the wall” offense fueled by transfer quarterback Luke Emge (13/24/176). Of note for Central Dauphin this year is the development of their passing game with AJ Millar completing 60% of his passes. It isn’t Pine Richland but they at least show a threat at 1168 yards passing, an element sorely missed last year. At 32ppg, it’s modest with the D taking up some of the slack at 12ppg.
Across the field is their old nemesis and Mid Penn Commonwealth fellow member Cumberland Valley, fresh off another pounding of an area conference team. The Eagles have owned the Rams of late, winning the last 4 games including last year’s 7-overtime win and this year’s 25-24 win. Of issue is their last 6 games where they’ve gone 3-3 with no consecutive wins. Interestingly, all this started after the CD win and included a 15-10 loss to Lower Dauphin (5-5) and a pounding by Harrisburg 35-14. Beating Warwick last week was strong tonic. But for a team that hasn’t put back-to-back wins together since September, they could be in for a difficult time on the road at Landis against the Rams who the math says will win it by 7.72 points.
# 2 Wilson 10-1 vs #6 Central Dauphin East 7-4 at Wilson High
At the risk of irritating the home crowd, I’d like to see Wilson get the hardware so the rest of the state will know what an excellent program they are. Many of the enthusiasts on this board know that but like Central Dauphin in 2011 (15-1, beat North Penn 14-7), until you bring home the gold, you are just another good football team. So here’s Wilson again, having gone 127-19 since Coach Doug Dahms took over in 2006, gunning for a 3rd consecutive district title after downing 7th seeded Central York last week 55-23. This is pretty much a typical Bulldog team although they are somewhat younger in spots than other years, featuring juniors at running back and quarterback. Here they have solid quarterbacking in Connor Uhrig (64%, 1335 yds) with great skill (RB Ignacion Reynoso, 1335 yards) and a lighter but quick team, scoring 38ppg. The defense at 16ppg is their worst since 2009’s allowed the same and only the second time a Coach Dahms team allowed more than 12 ppg (year-end average). It’s good stuff but wait til next year!
Their opponent Central Dauphin East beat previously undefeated 3rd seeded Red Lion 13-7. That was a nice win for the East High Panthers but LL-Section-1 powerhouse Wilson will bring a lot more to the table than the York-Adams rep. Plus, East has been vulnerable relying on their defense to support a youthful offense, often breaking down late in the game. That showed up against the heavy weights, losing to Harrisburg 28-10, State College 33-14, Cumberland Valley 19-12 and Central Dauphin 34-18. This one could get a little ugly with CD East ending Wilson’s postseason drive last year, upsetting the Bulldogs at West Lawn in overtime, 20-14. The math says Wilson by 9.22 points but the feeling here is the Bulldogs will be one pissed off puppy, taking it to the East High guys in a big way to avenge last year’s painful ending.
District 2/4/10 finalist vs District 6/8/10 finalist
#1 Williamsport 11-1 vs State College at Selinsgrove HS
Williamsport smashed 2nd seeded Delaware Valley 55-21 last week in a rematch to avenge their only loss of the season. Their huge offence averaging 51ppg (!) racked up 544 total yards of offense. It was a balanced attack as well with quarterback Isaiah Hankins completing 9 of 13 passes for 190 of those yards. Williamsport had lost at Delaware Valley on Oct 8th 49-42, making this an especially satisfying win. Last week saw Mid Penn co-champ State College beat a familiar foe in McDowell of Erie, dispatching the District-10 power 35-14. It was a typical SC-McDowell slugfest, with the Lions battling for 242 yards of offense and the Trojans with 287. I believe everyone came out healthy in a game that is often a head banger. That’s the one thing Williamsport won’t be used to, the physicality SC brings to this game. There is no doubt the Millionaires have a fine and fast team. But most of the wins came against smaller classification teams that were experiencing down seasons like Berwick, Wyoming Valley West and Abington Heights. Weaker schedule or not, they’ve put together quite an offense with a super quick back in Treyson Potts with 1892 yards rushing. State High has no issues with their schedule showing a powerful slate of opponents every year, defeating teams like Cumberland Valley, Harrisburg, CD East and now McDowell (9-2) whose only loss coming in was to their rival Cathedral Prep 31-15. If Williamsport can keep their wits about them at the beginning, it’s a game….but it could get out of control like State’s game with the quick Cougars of Harrisburg where the Lions won 35-28. State High by 1.79!?
District 7 Final
#1 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 11-1 vs #6 Seneca Valley 8-3 at Heinz Field
In yet another district of nothing but rematches, Central Catholic routed 5th seeded Pine Richland 63-34 to open the 2016-2017 basketball season in the WPIAL. They beat the Rams earlier in the year 48-35, taking the total points scored against Pine Richland’s defense, if it can be called that, to 111. Talking about big points, Central Catholic is scoring at a torrid pace, 47 a game and allowing a meager 14 so good luck figuring a way to slow this freight train down. For those unfamiliar with some of the Vikings personnel, check out their offensive line as a sampling and reason why they are crushing the opposition; LT CJ Thorpe 6-5 310-PSU; LG, Jake Trautman 6-4 270-Fordham; C Donovan Slater 6-3 285-Yale; RG Jacob Hinish 6-3 280…also Yale and RT “cuz” Hurt Hinish 6-3 290, going to Notre Dame. Their opponent in the district final, Seneca Valley comes in off a significant upset, beating the 2 seed North Allegheny 28-27 on a blocked extra point. Once again, special teams reared its head to decide a game. Looking at Seneca Valley is something like seeing a mirror image of Pine Richland, all offense and no defense, scoring 35ppg while allowing 27 on average. Their problem has been against quality teams, losing to North Allegheny 49-14, Pine Richland 51-20 and Central Catholic 42-14. Prior to beating NA last week, they escaped Mount Lebanon, winning 49-43. That’s a total of 185 points in 4 games and that’s way too much against these guys. Vikes by 25.57.
District 3 Semi Finals
#1 Central Dauphin 10-1 vs #4 Cumberland Valley 8-3 at CD
Central Dauphin beat 8th seeded Manheim Township 34-14 in the quarterfinal while Cumberland Valley beat star struck and 5th seeded Warwick out of the Lancaster-Lebanon Section-1, 35-7. The Rams were expected to beat Manheim, another LL Section-1 team, having defeated them in the opener 31-9. But you never know with the Streaks and their “balls to the wall” offense fueled by transfer quarterback Luke Emge (13/24/176). Of note for Central Dauphin this year is the development of their passing game with AJ Millar completing 60% of his passes. It isn’t Pine Richland but they at least show a threat at 1168 yards passing, an element sorely missed last year. At 32ppg, it’s modest with the D taking up some of the slack at 12ppg.
Across the field is their old nemesis and Mid Penn Commonwealth fellow member Cumberland Valley, fresh off another pounding of an area conference team. The Eagles have owned the Rams of late, winning the last 4 games including last year’s 7-overtime win and this year’s 25-24 win. Of issue is their last 6 games where they’ve gone 3-3 with no consecutive wins. Interestingly, all this started after the CD win and included a 15-10 loss to Lower Dauphin (5-5) and a pounding by Harrisburg 35-14. Beating Warwick last week was strong tonic. But for a team that hasn’t put back-to-back wins together since September, they could be in for a difficult time on the road at Landis against the Rams who the math says will win it by 7.72 points.
# 2 Wilson 10-1 vs #6 Central Dauphin East 7-4 at Wilson High
At the risk of irritating the home crowd, I’d like to see Wilson get the hardware so the rest of the state will know what an excellent program they are. Many of the enthusiasts on this board know that but like Central Dauphin in 2011 (15-1, beat North Penn 14-7), until you bring home the gold, you are just another good football team. So here’s Wilson again, having gone 127-19 since Coach Doug Dahms took over in 2006, gunning for a 3rd consecutive district title after downing 7th seeded Central York last week 55-23. This is pretty much a typical Bulldog team although they are somewhat younger in spots than other years, featuring juniors at running back and quarterback. Here they have solid quarterbacking in Connor Uhrig (64%, 1335 yds) with great skill (RB Ignacion Reynoso, 1335 yards) and a lighter but quick team, scoring 38ppg. The defense at 16ppg is their worst since 2009’s allowed the same and only the second time a Coach Dahms team allowed more than 12 ppg (year-end average). It’s good stuff but wait til next year!
Their opponent Central Dauphin East beat previously undefeated 3rd seeded Red Lion 13-7. That was a nice win for the East High Panthers but LL-Section-1 powerhouse Wilson will bring a lot more to the table than the York-Adams rep. Plus, East has been vulnerable relying on their defense to support a youthful offense, often breaking down late in the game. That showed up against the heavy weights, losing to Harrisburg 28-10, State College 33-14, Cumberland Valley 19-12 and Central Dauphin 34-18. This one could get a little ugly with CD East ending Wilson’s postseason drive last year, upsetting the Bulldogs at West Lawn in overtime, 20-14. The math says Wilson by 9.22 points but the feeling here is the Bulldogs will be one pissed off puppy, taking it to the East High guys in a big way to avenge last year’s painful ending.
