Duke 28-7 over "Little ole" Clemson

[Stalker]

Wow, nothing against Clemson but what a great win. A friend of mine graduated from Duke and I know he was partying hard last night.
And with the ACC and PAC schools kicking butt across the college landscape, maybe Paul Finebaum who knows nothing about football will finally shut up. South Central PA typically hates Duke but that's hoops, with Maryland back in the day making quite an impression with some great teams.

I'm probably in the minority but feel much of PA HS FB is also up in the air, including 6A.

 

[paul from philly]

Wow, nothing against Clemson but what a great win. A friend of mine graduated from Duke and I know he was partying hard last night.
And with the ACC and PAC schools kicking butt across the college landscape, maybe Paul Finebaum who knows nothing about football will finally shut up. South Central PA typically hates Duke but that's hoops, with Maryland back in the day making quite an impression with some great teams.

I'm probably in the minority but feel much of PA HS FB is also up in the air, including 6A.

How 'bout them Dukies. Agree about Finebaum.

 

[BradlyPitt]

I'm probably in the minority but feel much of PA HS FB is also up in the air, including 6A.

i don't think it is

we will have many repeat champs this year, especially 6A

 

[Stalker]

i don't think it is

we will have many repeat champs this year, especially 6A

You're right, there are a number of teams that look to repeat returning veteran teams. My thought poorly expressed is at this point things are up in the air because it's early. Every team is a twisted ankle, ACL or hamstring away from being completely redefined.
Players have already missed time. State College's great back was hobbling playing sparingly last week against D-East and I believe SJP's Qb was nicked and on and on.
So yes, if everyone stays healthy it could happen.
1A Steel High
2A SCA
3A Belle Vernon
4A McDevitt
5A Pine
6A SJP

 

[Fletchster1]

SJP could put their 4th QB out there and roll to the title.

 

[northalleghenytiger]

I could be SJP quarterback and still win states easily. (You could time my 40 yard dash with a calendar)

 

[2020sports]

off the rails here- but maybe Stalk was saying, maybe other than SJP, the top teams are not clear yet- cuz it is early

 

[Stalker]

off the rails here- but maybe Stalk was saying, maybe other than SJP, the top teams are not clear yet- cuz it is early

WAY early. I've seen more than a few seasons go south with the reasons mentioned above; i.e., in a heartbeat. And the thought of upsets seems to have escaped most people's minds on this board.
SJP, SCA may be machines but everyone has a bad day. And come game day, an ankle is still an ankle!

Am I the only one who thinks you haven't lost a game until the final whistle?

 

[tulla]

WAY early. I've seen more than a few seasons go south with the reasons mentioned above; i.e., in a heartbeat. And the thought of upsets seems to have escaped most people's minds on this board.
SJP, SCA may be machines but everyone has a bad day. And come game day, an ankle is still an ankle!

Am I the only one who thinks you haven't lost a game until the final whistle?

Stalker,

You're not the only one. Can't we all think of lots of games that just about everyone expected to be one-sided but that were won by the underdog--especially in high school where turnovers often play a larger part than in college or professional games? And you're right about injuries. I remember lots of talk on here a few years ago (and more recently) that Wood would might not have won their last state championship if a player from a western team hadn't been sidelined by an injury. Even the weather can play a big part. I'm convinced LaSalle would have beaten George Washington by 3-4 TDs in 2008 but they wound up losing a close game because the very strong winds nullified their passing game, which was by far their greatest strength.

 

[BradlyPitt]

Stalker,

You're not the only one. Can't we all think of lots of games that just about everyone expected to be one-sided but that were won by the underdog--especially in high school where turnovers often play a larger part than in college or professional games? And you're right about injuries. I remember lots of talk on here a few years ago (and more recently) that Wood would might not have won their last state championship if a player from a western team hadn't been sidelined by an injury. Even the weather can play a big part. I'm convinced LaSalle would have beaten George Washington by 3-4 TDs in 2008 but they wound up losing a close game because the very strong winds nullified their passing game, which was by far their greatest strength.

upsets are far more rare in high school than college and NFL

everybody at the next level is big, fast, strong, athletic etc while in high school teams are often men against boys that they would beat 100 out of 100 times

Wood winning in 2019 isn't what i would call a "surprise" considering they dominated most of the decade, and I'm pretty sure you are referring to Derrick Davis and Gateway, a team that has not lived up to their rankings for most of the last 20 years including this year so far, for whatever reason people always expect more out of them than what we get

the weather these days isn't as big of a factor because most games are played on turf

the only team at this point that i would be suprised to see repeat as state champs is Pine Richland, I don't know what Southern Columbia brought back but they are always there and have won 6 and a row and so how do you bet against them even knowing nothing about their current roster?

everybody else I will be shocked if they don't repeat, Neuman Goretti probably should've won 3A last year maybe they recruited some studs to win it this year, but Belle Vernon should be better than last year they lost 2 or 3 starters

yeah injuries are a factor, as of right now the defending champs are heavy favorites

 

[Stalker]

off the rails here- but maybe Stalk was saying, maybe other than SJP, the top teams are not clear yet- cuz it is early

I don't know 2020. Everyone is making Pitt CC King Kong so maybe the Hawks should go run and hide!

 

[tulla]

upsets are far more rare in high school than college and NFL

everybody at the next level is big, fast, strong, athletic etc while in high school teams are often men against boys that they would beat 100 out of 100 times

Wood winning in 2019 isn't what i would call a "surprise" considering they dominated most of the decade, and I'm pretty sure you are referring to Derrick Davis and Gateway, a team that has not lived up to their rankings for most of the last 20 years including this year so far, for whatever reason people always expect more out of them than what we get

the weather these days isn't as big of a factor because most games are played on turf

the only team at this point that i would be suprised to see repeat as state champs is Pine Richland, I don't know what Southern Columbia brought back but they are always there and have won 6 and a row and so how do you bet against them even knowing nothing about their current roster?

everybody else I will be shocked if they don't repeat, Neuman Goretti probably should've won 3A last year maybe they recruited some studs to win it this year, but Belle Vernon should be better than last year they lost 2 or 3 starters

yeah injuries are a factor, as of right now the defending champs are heavy favorites

I recall Wood's 2019 team as nowhere near as good as their earlier state championship teams.

Very bad weather--heavy rain, strong winds, snow or ice--can make for more turnovers than usual. The more turnovers, the greater the chance of an upset.

I agree that there are fewer upsets in hs football than in college or the NFL during the regular season. A quick look at scores for any given week shows a great number of blowouts. But in the playoffs, especially beyond round one, there's usually more parity. One thing I didn't mention was the impact of bad refereeing. On another thread I mentioned the awful PI call at the end of the LaSalle-Parkland game in 2015. LaSalle likely would have won. Last year a couple of really bad calls kept the LaSalle-SJP championship game much closer than it otherwise would have been. I'm not talking about one-sided refereeing (though I think that's more likely at the hs level than at other levels) but just bad refereeing. A game can turn on a single call.

As for upsets, all of us at SJP remember the 2006 game against LaSalle for the PCL championship. SJP had beaten them by, I think, 4 TDs in the regular season (and beat much the same LaSalle team by the same margin the next year). But in that championship game they lost 14-7 because of two plays, one being a goal-line fumble by Chris Whitney which was returned for a TD by LaSalle. I think LaSalle had negative run yardage and not all that much passing yardage.

 

[northalleghenytiger]

I don't know 2020. Everyone is making Pitt CC King Kong so maybe the Hawks should go run and hide!

If PCC is King Kong then SJP is Mechagodzilla

 

[BradlyPitt]

I recall Wood's 2019 team as nowhere near as good as their earlier state championship teams.

Very bad weather--heavy rain, strong winds, snow or ice--can make for more turnovers than usual. The more turnovers, the greater the chance of an upset.

I agree that there are fewer upsets in hs football than in college or the NFL during the regular season. A quick look at scores for any given week shows a great number of blowouts. But in the playoffs, especially beyond round one, there's usually more parity. One thing I didn't mention was the impact of bad refereeing. On another thread I mentioned the awful PI call at the end of the LaSalle-Parkland game in 2015. LaSalle likely would have won. Last year a couple of really bad calls kept the LaSalle-SJP championship game much closer than it otherwise would have been. I'm not talking about one-sided refereeing (though I think that's more likely at the hs level than at other levels) but just bad refereeing. A game can turn on a single call.

As for upsets, all of us at SJP remember the 2006 game against LaSalle for the PCL championship. SJP had beaten them by, I think, 4 TDs in the regular season (and beat much the same LaSalle team by the same margin the next year). But in that championship game they lost 14-7 because of two plays, one being a goal-line fumble by Chris Whitney which was returned for a TD by LaSalle. I think LaSalle had negative run yardage and not all that much passing yardage.

2019 was definitely their weakest champ, but their down year is still better than most best years for other schools

Parkland is a perennial power, them winning against Lasalle isn't a huge upset and I don't recall hearing back then that Lasalle was unbeatable

i can't speak for any 2006 PCL game, but in 2017 Penn Trafford beat Gateway 28 - 0 in the regular season, then Gateway won a close game in the rematch in the WPIAL title game

Gateway made some roster changes like playing freshman Derrick Davis and that made a huge difference, though i would still consider that result a rare exception in high school football