ADVERTISEMENT

6A State Playoffs (64 Teams): Group 1-Cross District Seeding

Stalker

Well-Known Member
Gold Member
Oct 13, 2001
7,510
1,603
113
Here’s a picture what the 6A playoffs could look like doing state wide seeding with 4 groupings of 16 teams each. Fantasy Football! I seeded 64 teams which is the equivalent of picking a fight with the entire state….but hopefully they are at least reasonable with the object being to give a visual of potential matchups. I added write-ups (reviews-previews, some stats) how each of the match ups might play out to give it a real feel, using year ending stats, records, etc. Of course it could never happen but still interesting to consider.

Home team is higher seed.


Group 1

1 Pine Richland 16-0

2 North Penn 9-3

3 Manheim Township 12-2

4 Bethel Park 8-2

5 Delaware Valley 12-1

6 Haverford Township 9-3

7 Freedom 7-6

8 Perkiomen Valley 10-2

9 Central Bucks West 6-5

10 Owen J. Roberts 9-3

11 Liberty 4-7

12 Carlisle 5-5

13 Hazelton 7-5

14 Central Bucks East 4-6

15 Taylor Allderdice 7-4

16 M.L. King 6-4

Pairings and projections

1 Pine Richland 16-0 vs 16 Martin Luther King 6-4

Long day for MLK with losses to Northeast 47-20 and Bartram 56-18 who lost to Imhotep 33-0 linking you to how they’d do against this behemoth (no secret), knowing what the Rams did to St. Joseph’s Prep in the real world. You can take the linkage farther with St. Joe’s win against St. Peters Prep who beat Don Bosco, Paramus Catholic and SJR, and their win against Archbishop Wood who beat Bergen Catholic to see superiority over the North Jersey Super Conference which is quite a statement. About MLK, with little running game (fatal against this team) MLK would rely on their Dixon to Dixon connection where Qb Salim Dixon and Qaadir worked well in the Public League. But not here, running head on into one of the best defenses and top secondary in the state. Pine Richland returned starters at every skill position making for a lights-out season. Qb Phil Jurkovec (Notre Dame) set record upon record completing 73% of passes (39/6 ratio) for 3979 yards while rushing for 1212 yards. Jordan Crawford rushed for 1295 yards and caught 32 passes for 341 yards. 5 receivers had over 30 receptions led by Jason DeFrancisis with 1144 yard and Ray Falcone with 1042. The O-line featuring Andrew Kristofic 6-6 265, Michael Katic 6-3 280, Parker Boyd 6-2 260, Michael Dorundo 6-1, 260 and the sole senior, Grant Lemirande 6-0 250, was outstanding. Back to the D that was overshadowed by Jurkovec’s exploits. They allowed 13ppg against a rugged schedule especially when considering the linkage thoughts above. The following numbers reflect how well they held teams below their season average; Pitt CC 10 and 20 (played twice), North Allegheny 7 and 10, St. Joe’s 14, State College and Penn Hills 22. Manheim Township 29. The best part of this matchup would be the bus ride to Gibsonia, getting out of the city to see some great beautiful country side especially on the other side of Harrisburg.

8 Perkiomen Valley 10-2 vs 9 Central Bucks West 6-5

Based on PV’s scores against Pennridge and West’s against the same and North Penn says this is a great game. Dual threat Qb Cole Peterlin could be the difference for Rams at home in a super tight one knowing the only team to beat them was Pennridge, twice, 29-0 then 25-0 in the playoffs. But the Bucks have decent young talent on defense from a team that started the season 5-1 with a 28-14 loss to rival North Penn. Pennridge beat them 26-6 then the heartbreaking losses to Central Bucks South 21-20 (missed extra pt) and the upset to quirky Souderton 21-14 before losing to Garnet Valley 32-13 in the playoffs. This was the Bucks first winning season since 2013 (9-3) and the first time the defense allowed less than 20ppg average since 2004’s 9-2 team that allowed 12ppg. This year’s allowed 18 a game. They are 4-2 on the road and Peterlin is a sophomore so if they can get some pressure!

4 Bethel Park 8-2 vs 13 Hazelton 7-5

Bethel Park is much more with their veteran OL/DL headed by OT-NG James Gmitter (6-4, 305, WV) that returned all starters, and tandem running backs Jon Delano and Tanner Volpatti than youthful Hazelton who got their swag back this year with their first winning season in 7 years. Bethel had their best season since the 2009 team that went 10-2, losing to Woodland Hills (12-2) in the Wpial final 38-35. But it was the ’08 team that was memorable, beating Wilson (14-1) in the semifinal 38-35 in 3 overtime periods before losing to Liberty (15-1) in the final 28-21. About Hazelton; they were young in a lot of positions resulting in consistent inconsistency, losing to a decent Berwick (10-3) team, followed by a win against equally fluky Wyoming Valley West (7-7) and Williamsport (7-4), then the shocker, losing to a weak 4A Donegal (5-5, D3, LL-3) 20-14 at home. They struggled but got to 7-5 with a young group and a Qb in Ryan Wolk completing 57% for 2234 yards with a 38/7 Td-Pick ratio against a representative slate. Wolk returns next year along with their 3 leading receivers (110/1694yds) and the leading rusher. The youth would be an issue here traveling to the South Hills but they’re tough, tough hombres up there who will battle hard until the reality of Bethel’s big senior line wears them down.

5 Delaware Valley 12-1 vs 12 Carlisle 5-5

Few believed the Lackawanna-1 champ Warriors were the real deal until losing narrowly to State College in the postseason 21-14. Whereas The Thundering Herd showed they clearly could not hang with the big boys, losing to Central Dauphin 65-24 and State High 70-14 while transitioning (year-2) from an over the top passing team to a more balanced attack. It was bombs away with Billy Burger under center in 2014 throwing for 2410 yards then the lights out air attack of Eric Harris throwing for 3648 yards (68%!) the following year. Talk about going against the grain in the run centric Mid Penn Commonwealth. Little thunder from the Herd but a lot of lightening with those guys! Meanwhile Delaware Valley was beating up on people scoring 37ppg with a legit D (held SC to 21) allowing 13ppg. Ryan Obiso set the tone with 1818 yards rushing along with Qb Ryan Reilly who threw for 1652 yards. This was their best teams ever with a strong nucleus and 32 seniors. Head Coach Keith Olsommer graduated from North Pocono, started at PSU in 95 and 96 (Big-10 honors 96, tight end), before becoming HC in 99, turning down a career with the Ravens at TE. Big win here as DV likely smokes the Herd.

2 North Penn 9-3 vs 15 Taylor Allderdice 7-4

North Penn’s pedigree and schedule difficulty would put them in the driver’s seat here against Allderdice from the Pittsburgh City League (District 8) whose games outside the city resulted in losses to Altoona 35-34, Hollidaysburg 42-6, Wheeling Park 35-19 and the ot Homecoming win against Dubois 28-27. The Dragons play in beautiful Cupples Stadium (South Side) right on the Mon across from The Point. Nice! Too bad they can’t switch venues with the season the Knights had, giving them a bowl game of sorts after surpassing last year’s record setting offense that scored 40ppg by averaging 41. Once again the Knights seem to rebuild better than most teams and especially along the O-Line. It’s a big enough school (1564 males) where they actually can reload many positions rather than rebuild. Still heady stuff knowing what they lost last year measured against their performance this year. Their won/loss over the last 6 years was 57-19, then 72-13 the preceding 6 years and 63-15 from 2000 to 2005, winning gold in 2003, defeating Pitt CC 37-10 (Kevin Akins 210 ry, 2063 season) with a USA Today 12th ranked team at 15-0, and losing to Central Dauphin (15-1) 14-7 in 2011 with a 13-3 team, CD holding them to 192 total yards in a grinder. For this year, you can’t help noticing when they lost they allowed an inordinate amount of points, losing to LaSalle 41-28, Down East 61-44 and Garnet Valley 36-35. That averages out to 59-36 and that’s where they fell short this year, allowing a year-end average of 27ppg, their highest in 20 years of records I’ve kept.

7 Freedom 7-6 vs 10 Owen J. Roberts 9-3

Like the Perk Val-CB West game above, this would probably be an exciting match with the erratic Patriots consistent at home, beating Emmaus and Bethlehem Catholic, pitted against road tested OJR who had games against Spring-Ford and Downingtown East and a defense that on occasions (12ppg) asserts itself. Coach Rich Kolka brought the program back in his 3 years there, going 6-6, 7-5 and now 9-3 following a 10-39 run from 2001-2014. But like last year, they were again hammered by PAC powers Spring Ford and Perkiomen Valley. Freedom was young last year but still managed to get to the District-11 Final for the 2nd consecutive year, losing to Parkland. How about Freedom! All that youth with a soph quarterback equaled inconsistency and potential, potential that may be realized next year with a 3rd consecutive challenge for the EPC-South crown with a legit, more mature group.

3 Manheim Township 12-2 vs 14 Central Bucks East 4-6

This would be an interesting matchup pitting the Lancaster Lebanon against the Suburban One with the Streaks having a great year with one of the more underrated Qbs in the state. Luke Emge (Harvard) completed 62% of his passes for 1894 yards with a Td/Pick ratio of 24/7. 5 receivers snagged over 20 receptions each for 1662 yards with Grayson Sallade getting 1412 rushing. When that faltered, the D was usually there holding opponents to 15ppg with OLB linebacker Drake Puffenbarger cleaning things up at 6-4, 245 pounds. In support were DEs James Starer 6-4 245, Chuck Mikulka and Ethan Hurst, both 6-4 240. In handling Central Dauphin, Wilson and Cumberland Valley, Manheim showed they could play before the 28-7 loss to Pine Richland. Their other loss was to Governor Mifflin (11-2, 5A) 49-14. The same Governor Mifflin that handled Harrisburg 26-14. Township’s O-Line would likely dominate CB East the same way Mifflin owned Harrisburg’s D-Line (especially Micah Parsons!) so it could get rough. For the Patriots, following a 0-2 start they got it together and were always competitive with 4 of their losses by 1, 3, 4 and 9 points. Junior quarterback Evan O’Donnell was a threat completing 69% of passes for 1724 yards. When he got dinged late, freshman Anthony Giordano stepped in against Pennridge to complete 22 of 37 passes for 268 yards. Some kind of freshman! All those competitive losses in the tough SOL-Continental says Manheim wouldn’t want to look past these guys. But watch the Patriots next year where they return a lot of bodies and most of their skill people.

6 Haverford 9-3 vs 11 Liberty 4-7

One of the best 3 loss teams in the East went under the radar for much of the year battling hard before bowing to Garnet Valley, Springfield and North Penn while defeating Ridley and Marple Newtown. Disappointing for sure but no embarrassment losing to those three. The Fords have some nice parts in junior quarterback Jake Ruane who tore up North Penn rushing for 148 yards and passing for another 232! Wide out Jordan Mosley (MD) caught 8 for 126 yards. The talent level is definitely on the upswing at the school so look out next year when they get Marple Newtown, Ridley and Garnet Valley at home. Liberty’s losses to Easton, Parkland (twice), Whitehall, Beca and Emmaus suggest they’d have difficulty here although Qb Todd Erney will make it interesting if he duplicates the effort shown against Parkland (15/22/192/3 Tds) a few weeks ago where the Canes shook them up, forcing them to respond to a 23-14 4th quarter deficit before pulling it out 36-23. They returned a lot of bodies last year but in fairness were still very young. So, keep your eyes on them for 2018 as they should be a factor.

2nd Round projections:
Pine Richland vs Perkiomen Valley
Bethel Park vs Delaware Valley
North Penn vs Freedom
Manheim Twp vs Haverford
 
  • Like
Reactions: new2pa
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT