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6A State Playoffs (64 Teams): Group 2- Cross District Seeding

Stalker

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Oct 13, 2001
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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 2

1 Coatesville 13-2

2 Downingtown East 10-2

3 North Allegheny 8-4

4 LaSalle College 7-4

5 Pennsbury 10-3

6 Mount Lebanon 6-5

7 Erie High 9-3

8 Williamsport 7-4

9 Northeast 8-3

10 Nazareth 6-5

11 Central York 6-4

12 Red Lion 8-3

13 Seneca Valley 5-6

14 Quakertown 7-4

15 Scranton 6-5

16 South Philadelphia 7-4

Pairings and projections

1 Coatesville 13-2 vs 16 South Philadelphia High 7-4.

Nice season for Southern who was edged by Central in the Pub semifinal 20-12. Knowing grad losses were evidently well managed (DT Casey Williams Temple), the Rams had a good year. Two 1000 yard rushers in Zaki Samuels and Dwayne Parks with dual threat Qb Sheriff Jones had them competitive in most games except Bartram (11-1) and Penn Charter (9-1), losing to Bartram 28-0 and PC 35-6. As a city team taking on the burbs, they’ll come out with a lot of pride that won’t be enough against the juggernaut that is Coatesville. The Raiders offense is beyond anything the Rams have seen at 44ppg with an explosiveness that maxed out against St. Joseph’s Prep where they rolled up 562 yards of offense in a losing 53-49 effort. Otherwise they defeated Downingtown East 38-27 and 61-42, then Pennsbury 42-2 and Garnet Valley in the district final 35-28 before going toe-to-toe with the Hawks in the state semifinal. Heck of a year and a heck of a team with a pile of starters returning for next year. Here are season ending totals for some of the starters. Qb Ricky Ortega (3298, 192/304-63%, 42/4), running back Aaron Young (1699) and receiver Dapree Bryant (1344). It goes without saying Coatesville names it here verses South Philly sitting starters by the 2nd quarter.

8 Williamsport 7-4 vs 9 Northeast 6-5

Now this looks interesting with two productive offenses and both tested, especially D-12’s Public champ Northeast with games against Imhotep, St. Joseph’s Prep, Neumann Goretti, et al. Williamsport played a less competitive schedule that included Berwick, Wyoming Valley West, Hazelton and Delaware Valley. Right, not exactly ICS, SJP, Neumann, Gratz and Springside-CHA. And they play D at Northeast, good D that is their strong suit at 15ppg. The front of DeShawn McCarthy 6-4 215, Osmond Isom 6-3 240, Aziz Kaba 6-2 235 with LBs Carlos Davila 6-2 200, Kyle Morasch 5-9 210 and Marlon White 5-9 185 are versatile to play a few positions and tough enough to get after the Millionaires best, TE Ethen Stryker 6-5, 230, 52/546 and Marcus Simmons 5-9, 150, 72/960. The offense is at 28ppg keyed around Daniel Scott, Sameen Thompson and FB Ivan Green in their single wing. But the Millionaires Qb Joe Fagano at 56% for 2466 yards and their overall team speed will test Northeast. Their diminutive receivers Marcus Simmons (5-9, 150, 944) and Colin Esposito (5-5, 140, 368) can FLY! And at 6-3, 200 pounds, Qb Fagano sees the field well and is hard to bring down. The offense at 36ppg is nothing like last year’s 12-2 team that scored 47ppg but the weapons are there. It won’t be easy for Northeast hoofing it to Williamsport but this looks like it would be a high scoring exciting game.

4 LaSalle College 7-4 vs 13 Seneca Valley 5-6

Seneca Valley’s young group won their last two games of the season on the road by a cumulative score of 94 to 20. But that won’t save them here against a LaSalle group seasoned by the wars with North Penn, McDonogh, Archbishop Wood and St. Joe’s. SV is well tested too with games against Pine Richland, Pittsburgh Central Catholic, North Allegheny, Bethel Park and Peters Township. And look out North Allegheny and Pine Richland with the growth in Harmony-Cranberry Township saying Seneca is a sleeping giant. But as Robert DiNero said in The Deer Hunter….”this is this”….and despite the injury to quarterback Isiah Jones against McDonogh that dramatically changed LaSalle’s fortunes, Danny Solecki (1485, 63%) and the entire team stepped up to finish 6-3 and field their most productive offense in terms of points scored averaging 34ppg, in 19 years. They also had tremendous defensive improvement this year going from 25ppg allowed to 15 thanks in part to special talent like DL Garrett Zobel and linebackers Liam Trainer and Austin Lemke. All in all, a successful 4th year for Coach Steinmetz. Hard seeing the Raiders getting past LaSalle’s defensive front in this one. Explorer’s BIG.

5 Pennsbury 10-3 vs 12 Red Lion 8-3

A 29-20 loss to North Penn and a 21-20 loss to Neshaminy shows how close Pennsbury was to a perfect regular season before the Coatesville debacle. This was especially impressive knowing they went 5-5 last year with an anemic offense scoring 12ppg that improved to 28ppg in the rugged SOL-National. But then, they are changing gears going from their historic Ground & Pound to the Spread If they ever get that together, look out as Pennsbury is a sleeping giant just waiting for their wake-up call. The heart and soul of the Falcon attack is Qb Zach DeMarchis who passed for 1172 yards while rushing for another 1444! Meanwhile Red Lion was losing 3 of their last 4 to Central York, Dallastown and Wilson, allowing just over 35ppg in the process. The highlight of the year was defeating York-Adams Conference co-winner York High (9-2) 31-14, Coach Ortega’s old team before Coatesville (04-08 going 37-18). Look out next year as the Bearcat are loaded with underclassmen. Subsequent losses to Central and Dtown dropped them to 2nd in the YA. They had an exciting quarterback in Zach Throne who passed for 1358 yards while rushing for 1523. They’ve seen some diverse attacks but not the quality level needed here as evidenced by their 42-7 loss to Wilson. Last year was their chance with 10 Y-A All Stars and a 10-1 record. And they haven’t faced a dominant O-Line like Pennsbury’s that features Matt Russo (Rutgers) and averages 285 pounds. As their 2nd year Coach Dan McShane has demonstrated, he is far from predictable, reverting to Ground & Pound against Neshaminy after installing the Spread this year. Talent and pedigree makes the difference here with the SOL trumping the York- Adams big time.

2 Downingtown East 10-2 vs 15 Scranton 6-5

Scranton’s 5-0 start fizzled out to a 1-5 finish while Downingtown blew past 10 opponents with their only losses coming against Coatesville in an otherwise outstanding 10-2 campaign. Their opponent Scranton was a veteran group that just didn’t get there despite 8 returning to the offense and 9 to the D. The offense was fine at 29ppg but the D collapsed, allowing 32ppg. For the Cougars, this was their best offense since the split in 2003 scoring 41ppg. Unlike fellow Ches Mont-National member Coatesville, East manhandles teams with a trio of backs throwing fresh legs at you in Bassir Stocker, Garvey Jonassaint and Tim Aivado (all +700 yards). Then they punch you with fullback Spencer Umberger and catch you with play action from Qb Bryce Lauletta. Nice line featuring Carter Regitz (6-2, 260) and Connor Noble at TE. At 23ppg allowed, the defense was statistically their worst since 2006’s 7-4 team. Still a nice D-front with Nica Hesel, Connor Munnelly, Joe Janick, Trent McNally, Jack Hayward and others that were stiff against the run excepting games against Coatesville. Like Red Lion above against Pennsbury, Scranton hasn’t seen anything like Downingtown East. The closest was Delaware Valley who handled twice, 40-7 and 49-28.

7 Erie High 9-3 vs 10 Nazareth 6-5

Erie High is the result of a merger this year of Strong Vincent and East High at the building that was formerly called Central Tech. Too bad they are losing the name Strong Vincent. He was a highly regarded young Colonel in the Civil War who commanded a brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg where he was mortally wounded. He is given credit for the defense of Little Round Top, the high ground that was key to the Federal position on the field. It was at LRT where his brigade threw back Longstreet’s attack on July 2nd, 1863, thwarting Lee’s initiatives to turn the left flank. Colonel Strong Vincent was mortally wounded at the head of his men defending the hill and is buried in Erie. Sorry, I digress talking about events in my hometown, but interesting.

Back to the game; Erie was an interesting bunch with a high-flying offense averaging 39ppg. Not bad on a merger hitting that level getting 9 wins. Losses to Cathedral Prep 38-0 and State College 48-12 were sobering but they were exciting and young. With 3 running backs returning next year, at 1145 yards in Tony Foster, Jgannon Williams at 1110 and super exciting soph Danny Blue with 844 yards, they’ll again challenge. Meanwhile Naz was scaring hell out of people after a 1-3 start (2nd year in row) and a 5-2 finish that included wins against Freedom, Liberty and Easton. Heck of a season losing a quality Qb in Travis Stefanik (Offensive-POY) and replacing both lines. With an offense scoring 32 and a D allowing 30 they were a visual treat that should give Erie fits despite a sophomore at Qb in Anthony Harris. And good luck covering WR Jahan Dotson (68/892 yards) with his 4.4-40 speed. But if they can win at Liberty and Easton, they could win in Erie. Upset Special?

3 North Allegheny 8-4 vs 14 Quakertown 7-4

Mixed bag here with NA stumbling out the gate at 1-2 with the 35-15 disaster at Bethel Park followed by a 14-7 home loss to Central Catholic. Thereon they went 7-2 with a win against Penn Hills and two against Mt. Lebanon. The only losses came against Pine Richland. The O-Line clearly developed as the season progressed with only 2 returning starters, Virginia commit Derek Devine 6-6, 280, sr, and Dylan Wall 6-1, 240, sr. As always, the Tigers were one of the best teams in the West and a Top 10 team in most corners. For the third straight year they averaged over 34ppg. Defensively, having Pine Richland on anyone’s schedule skews stats but there was the 35-15 road loss at Bethel and wins against Hempfield 63-28 and Lebo 44-27 where the D was un-Art Walker like. The impact of spread offenses is also affecting historic norms. NA’s yield of 22ppg may soon be the new norm!

Q-town’s schedule didn’t have a Luke Truman duel threat at Qb (+1428 passing +1021 rushing) with running back Turner White kicking in another 1000 yards or anything close save Central Bucks West (6-5) and Pennridge (11-3) twice where they lost by a combined score of 78-6! Throw in Upper Moreland (10-2) for a 113-20 combined score for all losses. But they were young and will return their Qb, two leading rushers (Christian Patrick 1025) plus most of the defense that allowed 21ppg. Junior linebacker Nick Levinski (6-1, 225) was a bright spot with 116 stops (21 in Pennridge games). So look for improvement next year especially with Upper Moreland, Upper Dublin and improving Hatboro coming to them.

6 Mount Lebanon 6-5 vs 11 Central York 6-4

Mt. Lebanon is coming in ice cold with a so-so running game and a banged up but decent Qb in James Stocker (57%, 1954 yards), losing 3 straight where they allowed 115 points. But Aiden Cain gets your attention setting WPIAL records for receptions and yards catching 101 for 1749 yards. Wow! Unfortunately, the defense is woeful, allowing 28ppg, their worst year ending yield in over 20 years. This, with a decent returning front of Coleman Coco (6-4, 250) and Ryan Grughan (6-2, 260) who had 57 and 38 tackles respectively? For the Central High Panthers at 31ppg, that’s their opening, especially with a dual threat junior Qb in Cade Pribula (6-1, 190, 1754 passing, 510 rushing), knowing Lebo didn’t fare well against NA’s dual threat losing 44-27 and 38-14. Unlike James Stocker for Lebo who has a 12 to 10 Td to Pick ratio, Pribula is at 17 to 5. Central York lost their last two games against quality conference rivals Dallastown (8-3) and York (9-2, 5A). York-Adams competition is not the same as a proven WPIAL-Northern team who would likely win this one in a high scoring, exciting game.

2nd Round projections
Coatesville vs Williamsport
LaSalle vs Pennsbury
Dtown East vs Erie High
North Allegheny vs Mount Lebanon
 
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