Southern Lehigh-Quakertown is a game that makes total sense - those schools essentially border each other, with Quakertown just over the District 1 line in Bucks County. Southern Lehigh has turned themselves into a very good program, and they'll have the best player on the field in wide receiver Andrew Olesh, who announced a final eight in his recruitment of Alabama, Michigan, Florida, Florida State, Penn State, Missouri, Ole Miss and Pitt. He's a 6'5 220 pound wideout (he'll play tight end in college) who is the #130 overall player in the 247 Composite and the best receiver prospect from the Valley since Jahan Dotson. They also bring back their quarterback and three linemen, including rising junior Carter Giberson (6'5 315) who will be a three year starter already and should be a solid FBS player, from a team that went 10-2, with their only losses coming to Northwestern Lehigh (state finalists in 3A) and Whitehall (5A champs, won a state playoff game). I don't know what Quakertown has, but Southern Lehigh is pretty good.
Northampton has been difficult to gauge the last few years, they program has stepped up a ton in the last few years, but they've also been in the much weaker North division of the EPC, so they have been able to play one of the softest schedules in Pennsylvania in 6A (the Pocono schools are really bad). They haven't made a postseason run against the best teams in the Valley, but the games have been close, and they've been putting a solid handful of kids in FCS schools, so they have real talent. The bump in schedule with Pennsbury is a healthy step forward for them.
Emmaus has been humming the last few years. Don't have a championship to show for it, but Harold Fairclough is going to get them one at some point, they've been to consistently competitive not to break through at some point. They graduated their stars in Mario Landino (Indiana) and Ben Mercado (Sacred Heart) who caused a lot of havoc on the defensive line last year. Their big returenee is recent Kent State commit Raffy Terraro (linebacker/safety, 6'4 215). Not sure what else they'll have, but I'm assuming they'll be in the top half of the league.
Liberty stinks. Really hard to fathom just how stuck that program seems to be.
I try not to write a treatise on Easton, but I have no idea what to expect. They essentially bring back their whole roster from last year, as they played a ton of sophomores and a handful of freshmen. But they also went 3-8, and the question is were they bad because they were young or bad because they were bad. Running back Will Day broke his foot in the second week of the season and missed almost the whole year after leading the team in rushing as a sophomore. He's got some Patriot League attention and could make a significant difference as their main offensive weapon. They've got big receivers in Jasir Frutchey (6'4 200) and JC Wilson (6'3 195) and I'm assuming they'll move Dorian Thomas to slot receiver after he was their primary ballcarrier last year following Day's injury. Cole Ordway played quarterback last year as a sophomore and I'd imagine he returns under center, but they also rostered freshman Sean McPeek on varsity last year, who has next level measurables (6'4 195 going into 10th grade) and was a major contributor on their D11 lacrosse championship team, so there is real athleticism there. They bring back four of five offensive lineman, three of whom will still just be juniors, plus both tight ends. Defensively, rising junior Kurtis Crossman is probably the headliner at defensive end (6'3 215) who was a state qualifier in wrestling as a sophomore and is a Division I baseball recruit in addition to leading the team in sacks as a sophomore. Mehki Grant (rising senior) and Algee Macon (rising junior) were their two leading tacklers last year and both come back, as well as Thomas, Frutchey, and Wilson in the secondary. Rising sophomore middle linebacker Justin Cosover also could be a breakout star after seeing a ton of snaps at tight end as a freshman. He was also a wrestling state qualifier (at 170 pounds) and is an early top 100 recruit nationally as a wrestler.
Point is, Easton is either going to benefit tremendously from having a ton of experience and taking their lumps in 2023 and they'll be the breakout team in the Valley this year, or they just aren't very good and aren't going to be very good for the foreseeable future. We'll see how good of a coach Matt Senneca is. But CB West will be a huge litmus test right away. I don't expect them to win, but if they're competitive that will bode really well. And, historically, very glad they're playing this game. While they haven't met a ton, they do have the 1991 and 1993 state playoff games (the '93 game at Goodman Stadium being a classic, and the '91 game was a de facto title game that year), then had a really fun home-and-home series in 2003 (War Memorial) and 2004 (Cottingham) when both programs were still very competitive (Easton won both of those to gain some measure of revenge). As a program that values history and tradition, good to get games like that back on the schedule with the new EPC rules - I'd take Pennsbury and Neshaminy too, who the Rovers have a MUCH longer history with.
