#1 Parkland (9-1; EPC South Champs) vs. #8 Pocono Mountain West (6-4)
Born Index Line: Parkland favored by 35.5
The Trojans are a heavy favorite after a 9-1 regular season – their lone loss coming to 4A Allentown Central Catholic back in week 4. The Trojans have been a defense and run first team – running back Dahlir Adams has 1,063 yards and 13 touchdowns in nine games, and Parkland has 27 sacks on the year, led by Brock Boyer’s six. Parkland has not been dynamic in the passing game – no receiver has more than 285 yards and they’re averaging barely over 100 yarsd per game. That said, Ty Tremba got hurt in the season opener against Easton and missed eight weeks of the season. He’s back now, and the senior three-year starter could add an extra dimension. For PMW, Jaden Bowens posted his second straight 1,000 yard season, going for 1,003 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. But the Panthers lost their crossover games by a combined score of 97-7 agianst Bethlehem Catholic and Whitehall, who finished in two of the bottom three slots in the EPC South. Parkland is a lot better.
#4 Nazareth (7-3) vs. #5 Emmaus (7-3)
Born Index Line: Emmaus favored by 6.5
The Blue Eagles will host Emmaus in a rematch of their week eight matchup, moved to Saturday and played without fans due to a bomb threat from a Nazareth student, and won by Emmaus 35-7. In that contest, the Green Hornet defense suffocated Nazareth, and pairs of touchdowns from Jared Groller and Josiah Williams.
Nazareth is the two-time defending D11 6A champ, but almost completely replaced their 2020 lineup. Junior quarterback Sonny Sasso has been one of the best in the Valley, throwing for 1,735 yards and 15 TDs while completing 57% of his passes. His favorite target is sophomore Mason Kuehner, who has 42 catches for 654 yards and six scores. Nolan Lobb has been out with injury, but has 416 yards on 23 catches and five scores, including a 13 catch, 264 yard performance in a shoot out loss to Parkland. Tyler Rohn has given them a steady hand at running back, and the senior has 866 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. The defense is led by three year starters Broc Bender and Chase Levey at linebacker, and a dynamic duo of huge defensive linemen in Matt Burton (6’3 275) and Sean Kinney (6’2 300).
Emmaus has been the best defense in the Valley, giving up 8.6 points per game, with three shutouts and five other games yielding a touchdown or less. Jared Groller and Aiden Garrett have been the best linebacker duo in the conference and Trevor Gitski has emerged at defensive end in his first year as a starter. Offensively, they’ve gotten a little from a lot in the run game, wher Tylik Jarvis ran for over 100 yards in their first three contests, but has been slowed by injury, and Groller and Sam Moratori have picked up the slack, combining for 952 yards and 14 touchdowns. Josiah Williams has filled in admirably at quarterback after incumbent starter Jake Fotta was lost for the season to an ACL tear in camp. Williams has thrown for 1,353 yards and 12 TDs, leaning heavily on senior receiver Jaiden Robinson (28-435-5). Robinson also has a pair of return touchdowns on the season.
This one feels like it will be very different than Emmaus’s regular season win, which came under highly unusual circumstances. The Green Hornets have dropped a pair of games to finish the season, while Nazareth bounced back quite nicely. The match up will be the Nazareth offense against the Emmaus defense, and if the Blue Eagles can take better care of the ball and get a little bit going in the passing game to take the pressure off of Rohn, Meanwhile, Emmaus got the ball rolling with some wrinkles to Groller (throwback screen to the fullback, quick hitter trap plays) and got the Nazareth defense on its heels. Then a muffed punt and it was off to the races. Look for Harold Fairclough to get creative on offense to open things back up for Emmaus.
#2 Northampton (10-0; EPC North Champs) vs. #7 Pleasant Valley (5-4)
Born Index Line: Northampton favored by 24
This is a rematch of a 35-12 win by Northampton in week 7. The Konkrete Kids have been the class of the EPC North under first year head coach John Toman, and are the only EPC North team that won any crossover games with the EPC South – beating Whitehall and Bethlehem Catholic.
The Konkrete Kids run a variation on the Wing-T, which Toman has been operating since his highly successful run at Southern Lehigh. Cooper King has thrown for 1,087 yarsd and 14 toucdowns on the year, while Caden Henritzy leads all rushers with 593 yards and 9 TDs. Their only tight games have been their opener with Bethlehem Catholic (17-14), 5A top seed East Strdsoubrug South (21-20) and their cement rivalry with Whitehall (7-0 last week in a monsoon). By no means are they the #10 team in the state (as they’re ranked by Pennlive), but they’re solid and should win handily here.
Pleasant Valley has done a nice job coming back from the abyss, going 3-27 from 2017-19. Quarterback Rob Papaleo leads the Bears with 797 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns as he directs their triple-option attack, while also throwing for 435 yards and six scores, nearly all to wideout Ryan Blass (18-370-4). They are sliding into districts losing three of their last four, but clinched a spot with a regular season finale win over Stroudsburg, 14-10, needing a Blass interception in the end zone to seal their playoff spot late in the fourth quarter.
#3 Freedom (7-2) vs. #6 Easton (5-3)
Born Index Line: Freedom favored by 8.5
This is a rematch of Freedom’s 31-17 pasting of Easton in week 3. The Patriots went up 31-3 at halftime, despite a pair of red zone turnovers that could have had things in mercy rule. Easton bucked up in the second half, but the game was already in hand. Braelin Moore dominated the game with four sacks and two forced fumbles. Freedom also did that without EPC leading rusher Deonte Crawford.
The Patriots lead the EPC South in scoring at 32.1 points per game, and actually have the highest Born Rating in D11 despite being the #3 seed. They’re riding a six game winning streak since a 2-2 start with losses to Emmaus and Parkland. Brian Taylor is probably the first team All EPC quarterback, throwing for 1,229 yards and 13 touchdowns while rushing for another 356 and five TDs. Crawford is a lightning fast scatback, who has 1,206 yards and 19 touchdowns while averaging nearly six yards per carry. Jalen Fletcher, Ethan Neidig, and Owen Johnson is the best receiver trio in the Valley, and they’re really good up front, led by the Virginia Tech bound Moore and three year starter Juan Feliciano. Defensively, Moore is the likely defensive player of the year in the Valley and his a wrecking ball as a combo defensive end/tackle (where he’ll likely play in college). Safety Owen Johnson is elite on the back end, a 215 pound junior who can really come down and hit. Freedom’s defense has long been a chaos agent under Jason Roeder, and this group is no exception – they’ll give up some big plays, but in turn for a lot of turnovers and make plays in the backfield.
Easton has played significantly better since getting embarrassed at Freedom. The biggest question Friday will be the health of running back Marcus Williams, who left their week eight win over Liberty at halftime with a high ankle sprain. Williams is the best offensive weapon in the Valley by a longshot – he averages over nine yards per carry and is still fourth in the league in rushing despite missing two and a half games with his injury and Easton getting two games cancelled for COVID. In his absence, junior Aiden Hutchinson has 493 yards and a pair of scores, while more has fallen on senior quarterback Cole Transue. Who has 803 yards and 8 TDs on the year, including a 203 yard performance in their win over Emmaus. Defensively, they’re looking to get healthy, with leading tackler Michael Hynes being in and out of the lineup with injury, plus Williams is their top defensive back. Javon Frutchey and Sean Wilson have been the strength of the defense from their defensive end spots, with the 6’5 265 pound Wilson looking more and more like an FBS recruit.
Other Classifications
5A: East Stroudsburg South should be a heavy favorite, drawing sub .500 Whitehall, Southern Lehigh, and Wyoming Valley West as the other three teams in the field. This is the most acute sign of way too many classifications. Not a lot of intrigue here.
4A: The age old question – can a Colonial League team knock off one of the Catholic schools from the EPC South. Giving it a try this year is Northwetern Lehigh, 10-0 for the first time in school history and ranked #4 in the state behind superstar quarterback/linebacker Justin Holmes – who has the first 1,000/1,000 season in school history. They get a tough first round matchup with Wilson – who defeated Notre Dame (GP) in their rivalry game last week and features all four legs of the 3A state finalist 4x100 relay team at their skill position spots. On the other side, Pottsville spent a lot of year in the state top 10 - until a week 8 22-14 loss to Northwestern Lehigh where Holmes had 159 yard rushing and the strip sack to clinch it- and is fresh off of a mud soaked win over previous 3A state #1 North Schuylkill. They’ll host the ACC Vikings, who are the only team to beat 6A top seed Parkland, but have stumbled against other top tier competition in 6A. They’ve played the toughest schedule, and have the best player in all state defensive tackle Lavon Johnson (6’4 320).
3A: The bloom is slightly off of the rose with both top seeds losing their season finale – North Schuylkill to Pottsville in double overtime, and Notre Dame (GP) to Wilson in a shoot out. North Schuylkill also blew the doors off of ND in the regular season, which takes some of the drama out of the rematch. They also killed the Crusaders for the 2020 D11 title. Those teams should walk over Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua this week, however.
2A: The top seed is Northern Lehigh, whose only losses came to Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame, and North Schuylkill. They won’t see any of those schools in the playoffs, and have throttled all of the 2A competition they’ve seen, including a 43-14 win over #2 seed Palmerton in the regular season finale. Matt Frame and Trevor Amorim are having all state years at running back and receiver, respectively, and Dylan Smoyer’s 19-5 TD/INT ratio is a harbinger of playoff success. They should roll into their first state playoff appearance in years, and given the layout of the brackets, could make a run to the Final Four – their deepest run since the 2003 state finalists.
1A: Tri-Valley is the favorite as the #3 team in the state, and cemented that with a 14-0 shutout of second seeded Williams Valley (#10 in the final PA Football News rankings) last week. They should rematch for the D11 title.
Born Index Line: Parkland favored by 35.5
The Trojans are a heavy favorite after a 9-1 regular season – their lone loss coming to 4A Allentown Central Catholic back in week 4. The Trojans have been a defense and run first team – running back Dahlir Adams has 1,063 yards and 13 touchdowns in nine games, and Parkland has 27 sacks on the year, led by Brock Boyer’s six. Parkland has not been dynamic in the passing game – no receiver has more than 285 yards and they’re averaging barely over 100 yarsd per game. That said, Ty Tremba got hurt in the season opener against Easton and missed eight weeks of the season. He’s back now, and the senior three-year starter could add an extra dimension. For PMW, Jaden Bowens posted his second straight 1,000 yard season, going for 1,003 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. But the Panthers lost their crossover games by a combined score of 97-7 agianst Bethlehem Catholic and Whitehall, who finished in two of the bottom three slots in the EPC South. Parkland is a lot better.
#4 Nazareth (7-3) vs. #5 Emmaus (7-3)
Born Index Line: Emmaus favored by 6.5
The Blue Eagles will host Emmaus in a rematch of their week eight matchup, moved to Saturday and played without fans due to a bomb threat from a Nazareth student, and won by Emmaus 35-7. In that contest, the Green Hornet defense suffocated Nazareth, and pairs of touchdowns from Jared Groller and Josiah Williams.
Nazareth is the two-time defending D11 6A champ, but almost completely replaced their 2020 lineup. Junior quarterback Sonny Sasso has been one of the best in the Valley, throwing for 1,735 yards and 15 TDs while completing 57% of his passes. His favorite target is sophomore Mason Kuehner, who has 42 catches for 654 yards and six scores. Nolan Lobb has been out with injury, but has 416 yards on 23 catches and five scores, including a 13 catch, 264 yard performance in a shoot out loss to Parkland. Tyler Rohn has given them a steady hand at running back, and the senior has 866 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. The defense is led by three year starters Broc Bender and Chase Levey at linebacker, and a dynamic duo of huge defensive linemen in Matt Burton (6’3 275) and Sean Kinney (6’2 300).
Emmaus has been the best defense in the Valley, giving up 8.6 points per game, with three shutouts and five other games yielding a touchdown or less. Jared Groller and Aiden Garrett have been the best linebacker duo in the conference and Trevor Gitski has emerged at defensive end in his first year as a starter. Offensively, they’ve gotten a little from a lot in the run game, wher Tylik Jarvis ran for over 100 yards in their first three contests, but has been slowed by injury, and Groller and Sam Moratori have picked up the slack, combining for 952 yards and 14 touchdowns. Josiah Williams has filled in admirably at quarterback after incumbent starter Jake Fotta was lost for the season to an ACL tear in camp. Williams has thrown for 1,353 yards and 12 TDs, leaning heavily on senior receiver Jaiden Robinson (28-435-5). Robinson also has a pair of return touchdowns on the season.
This one feels like it will be very different than Emmaus’s regular season win, which came under highly unusual circumstances. The Green Hornets have dropped a pair of games to finish the season, while Nazareth bounced back quite nicely. The match up will be the Nazareth offense against the Emmaus defense, and if the Blue Eagles can take better care of the ball and get a little bit going in the passing game to take the pressure off of Rohn, Meanwhile, Emmaus got the ball rolling with some wrinkles to Groller (throwback screen to the fullback, quick hitter trap plays) and got the Nazareth defense on its heels. Then a muffed punt and it was off to the races. Look for Harold Fairclough to get creative on offense to open things back up for Emmaus.
#2 Northampton (10-0; EPC North Champs) vs. #7 Pleasant Valley (5-4)
Born Index Line: Northampton favored by 24
This is a rematch of a 35-12 win by Northampton in week 7. The Konkrete Kids have been the class of the EPC North under first year head coach John Toman, and are the only EPC North team that won any crossover games with the EPC South – beating Whitehall and Bethlehem Catholic.
The Konkrete Kids run a variation on the Wing-T, which Toman has been operating since his highly successful run at Southern Lehigh. Cooper King has thrown for 1,087 yarsd and 14 toucdowns on the year, while Caden Henritzy leads all rushers with 593 yards and 9 TDs. Their only tight games have been their opener with Bethlehem Catholic (17-14), 5A top seed East Strdsoubrug South (21-20) and their cement rivalry with Whitehall (7-0 last week in a monsoon). By no means are they the #10 team in the state (as they’re ranked by Pennlive), but they’re solid and should win handily here.
Pleasant Valley has done a nice job coming back from the abyss, going 3-27 from 2017-19. Quarterback Rob Papaleo leads the Bears with 797 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns as he directs their triple-option attack, while also throwing for 435 yards and six scores, nearly all to wideout Ryan Blass (18-370-4). They are sliding into districts losing three of their last four, but clinched a spot with a regular season finale win over Stroudsburg, 14-10, needing a Blass interception in the end zone to seal their playoff spot late in the fourth quarter.
#3 Freedom (7-2) vs. #6 Easton (5-3)
Born Index Line: Freedom favored by 8.5
This is a rematch of Freedom’s 31-17 pasting of Easton in week 3. The Patriots went up 31-3 at halftime, despite a pair of red zone turnovers that could have had things in mercy rule. Easton bucked up in the second half, but the game was already in hand. Braelin Moore dominated the game with four sacks and two forced fumbles. Freedom also did that without EPC leading rusher Deonte Crawford.
The Patriots lead the EPC South in scoring at 32.1 points per game, and actually have the highest Born Rating in D11 despite being the #3 seed. They’re riding a six game winning streak since a 2-2 start with losses to Emmaus and Parkland. Brian Taylor is probably the first team All EPC quarterback, throwing for 1,229 yards and 13 touchdowns while rushing for another 356 and five TDs. Crawford is a lightning fast scatback, who has 1,206 yards and 19 touchdowns while averaging nearly six yards per carry. Jalen Fletcher, Ethan Neidig, and Owen Johnson is the best receiver trio in the Valley, and they’re really good up front, led by the Virginia Tech bound Moore and three year starter Juan Feliciano. Defensively, Moore is the likely defensive player of the year in the Valley and his a wrecking ball as a combo defensive end/tackle (where he’ll likely play in college). Safety Owen Johnson is elite on the back end, a 215 pound junior who can really come down and hit. Freedom’s defense has long been a chaos agent under Jason Roeder, and this group is no exception – they’ll give up some big plays, but in turn for a lot of turnovers and make plays in the backfield.
Easton has played significantly better since getting embarrassed at Freedom. The biggest question Friday will be the health of running back Marcus Williams, who left their week eight win over Liberty at halftime with a high ankle sprain. Williams is the best offensive weapon in the Valley by a longshot – he averages over nine yards per carry and is still fourth in the league in rushing despite missing two and a half games with his injury and Easton getting two games cancelled for COVID. In his absence, junior Aiden Hutchinson has 493 yards and a pair of scores, while more has fallen on senior quarterback Cole Transue. Who has 803 yards and 8 TDs on the year, including a 203 yard performance in their win over Emmaus. Defensively, they’re looking to get healthy, with leading tackler Michael Hynes being in and out of the lineup with injury, plus Williams is their top defensive back. Javon Frutchey and Sean Wilson have been the strength of the defense from their defensive end spots, with the 6’5 265 pound Wilson looking more and more like an FBS recruit.
Other Classifications
5A: East Stroudsburg South should be a heavy favorite, drawing sub .500 Whitehall, Southern Lehigh, and Wyoming Valley West as the other three teams in the field. This is the most acute sign of way too many classifications. Not a lot of intrigue here.
4A: The age old question – can a Colonial League team knock off one of the Catholic schools from the EPC South. Giving it a try this year is Northwetern Lehigh, 10-0 for the first time in school history and ranked #4 in the state behind superstar quarterback/linebacker Justin Holmes – who has the first 1,000/1,000 season in school history. They get a tough first round matchup with Wilson – who defeated Notre Dame (GP) in their rivalry game last week and features all four legs of the 3A state finalist 4x100 relay team at their skill position spots. On the other side, Pottsville spent a lot of year in the state top 10 - until a week 8 22-14 loss to Northwestern Lehigh where Holmes had 159 yard rushing and the strip sack to clinch it- and is fresh off of a mud soaked win over previous 3A state #1 North Schuylkill. They’ll host the ACC Vikings, who are the only team to beat 6A top seed Parkland, but have stumbled against other top tier competition in 6A. They’ve played the toughest schedule, and have the best player in all state defensive tackle Lavon Johnson (6’4 320).
3A: The bloom is slightly off of the rose with both top seeds losing their season finale – North Schuylkill to Pottsville in double overtime, and Notre Dame (GP) to Wilson in a shoot out. North Schuylkill also blew the doors off of ND in the regular season, which takes some of the drama out of the rematch. They also killed the Crusaders for the 2020 D11 title. Those teams should walk over Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua this week, however.
2A: The top seed is Northern Lehigh, whose only losses came to Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame, and North Schuylkill. They won’t see any of those schools in the playoffs, and have throttled all of the 2A competition they’ve seen, including a 43-14 win over #2 seed Palmerton in the regular season finale. Matt Frame and Trevor Amorim are having all state years at running back and receiver, respectively, and Dylan Smoyer’s 19-5 TD/INT ratio is a harbinger of playoff success. They should roll into their first state playoff appearance in years, and given the layout of the brackets, could make a run to the Final Four – their deepest run since the 2003 state finalists.
1A: Tri-Valley is the favorite as the #3 team in the state, and cemented that with a 14-0 shutout of second seeded Williams Valley (#10 in the final PA Football News rankings) last week. They should rematch for the D11 title.
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