LaSalle-SJP
- Thread starter Relayer
- Start date
In the words of Rihanna, b*tch better have my
money.
Seriously, not a line high enough against anybody in the state. Rest of the season is a formality.
As a Prep guy, I wish there was much less of a gap--a canyon really--between the Prep and the rest of the PCL.
Am I right in thinking LaSalle can play much better than they're playing tonight? The odd thing is that the refs seemed to be giving LaSalle every break.
Tulla
Correct on both accounts. If LS QB connects on 2 easy slants there are 2 TD's. Also, refs know the mismatch and are calling a ls game big time. Then again, if prep catches wide open TD and makes a few better passes in bounds to wide open wr's, but prep still scored on all those possessions.
Bottom line is an average LS team that beat a down NP team and down MP team, a 3-3 TEP team, and one of the best Prep teams we have seen.
Glad Sam Brown is not injured and glad to hear the great LS prep band, highlight of the night....
Correct on both accounts. If LS QB connects on 2 easy slants there are 2 TD's. Also, refs know the mismatch and are calling a ls game big time. Then again, if prep catches wide open TD and makes a few better passes in bounds to wide open wr's, but prep still scored on all those possessions.
Bottom line is an average LS team that beat a down NP team and down MP team, a 3-3 TEP team, and one of the best Prep teams we have seen.
Glad Sam Brown is not injured and glad to hear the great LS prep band, highlight of the night....
Amen, and what a sad state of affairs that we know who this year's 6A champ is, ok, maybe Pitt CC and next year's too. Isn't this exciting!?
Isn't it at least partly a case of a general weakening in the level of play in the area? SJP gets very few players from school districts like North Penn, Pennsbury, Neshaminy, and Ridley, yet it seems the public schools from those districts are a good bit weaker than they were--without other really strong public schools emerging. The Inter-Ac also seems a bit weaker and, based on last night's performance, LaSalle's team this year is not one of their strongest from the last 12 years or so. The DC area, by contrast, has several top tier level teams. Don't mind being told I'm missing something important or obvious.
IMO SJP would mercy rule any team this year from the Wpial including PCC. SJP would easily shut down PCC’s pedestrian offense, and SJP probably has the best OL in the state, I think they would match up well against PCC’s front 7. PCC’s secondary is young and it definitely showed against Pine Richland, they looked like they were having trouble lining up every play and getting into position. PR could do nothing though because PCC was getting constant pressure.
To me it seems like to beat SJP you need a jurkovec or Pryor type of player with a lot of really good peices around. I guess in other words match the talent they have, which is a lot.
Not just talking this year. There are numerous reasons as teams ebb and flow in and out of talent levels. What you find is it takes an exceptional 6A public teams (Pine 14, 17)....not just a very good ones (Hburg 16 vs Wood,18 vs SJP), to even stay on the field with some of the all star teams that come in from SJP, Wood at time and Cathedral.
That's not to put any down, just an observation. An exceptional Pine team could hang in 2014, Parkland in 2015, but they were extremely talented teams which is the exception, rather than the rule. Flip that for SJP where the rule (rather than exception) is that they are extremely talented almost annually.
I get your point, but I don't think the disparity in recent years has been as great as you suggest. Neshaminy, for instance, was on the verge of taking the lead against SJP late in the third quarter when the 99 yard fumble return happened. In '14 the Prep may not have beaten Parkland if there hadn't been a blown motion call late in the game. In '16 there was the very close North Penn game and in '17 I'd argue that it was at least as much the case that Coatesville lost as SJP won that game.
I get it that the one near-constant in the last six or seven years is that the Prep gets to the championship game and usually wins while the opponents who come closest to beating them (occasionally succeeding) keep changing, but my impression is that in the last couple of years it's less a case of the Prep getting better than of all the rest of the teams (from LaSalle to Parkland/Freedom to PR) getting weaker.
This is going to come off like me bitching, but this would be a really fun year statewide in 6A without SJP. I don’t have the slightest clue who the second best team is, or really how to rank teams probably 2-13 or so. But Manheim Township, Harrisburg, Wilson West Lawn, Central Dauphin, State College, North Allegheny, Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Downimgtown West, Coatesville, LaSalle,Freedom, Nazareth, Easton all probably would have a shot at beating each other any given Friday - and some combination of those teams is going to be the state bracket. But there’s just no intrigue who the champ is going to be. That’s not SJP’s problem, but as a fan, it’s not particularly interesting.
I was at that debacle. Great crowd, great atmosphere. And then they started the game. St. Joe basically did anything they wanted. Two of their first half scoring drives were over 90 yards. They have name talent like Trottier and Harrison but the talent they have beyond that is really something. The OLine, the receivers the QB!!!
Hate to say it but there aint no chance in the rematch!!
Hate to say it but there aint no chance in the rematch!!
I'm not at all certain SJP's route to another state championship will be a cakewalk. For one thing, they showed some vulnerabilities in the first three games. Of course, the competition was at a very high level but maybe not as high as it first appeared. (Just noticed over the weekend that Marietta has lost twice to other Georgia public schools since their victory against SJP and that St. John's has lost three times--though, it should be noted, to IMG, Mater Dei, and a big-time Texas school--since their loss to SJP in a close game.) I expect LaSalle to be much better in the next game, and there are lots of factors (weather, injuries, and the peculiarities of high school football, e.g. the ending of the Harrisburg-CD game over the weekend) that make an easy path to a big chocolate bar less than certain.
Stop it Tulla. The only way La Salle beats St. Joe in a rematch is if the Prep bus breaks down going to the game!! I understand how you want to allay people's fears but the fact of the matter is St. Joe's has created a monster that will need to be fed. The only question is do they keep going in that direction with a national program or do they come back to earth. La Salle was on their way too but took their foot off the pedal a few years ago and have rejoined the regulars of the PCL.
Tulla
Everyone has admitted talent down across the board in PCL and disrtict 1 except for a few great players here and there, but the cluster of 10-12 college players sprinkled with a few stars is not there excpet for Prep. LS, WOOD, TEP, NP, Coatesville had this for most of this decade, but do not have that this year, add in the struggles of Nesh, Pennsbury and the Ches mont league have with talent and depth and it is a one horse race.
Also, Prep has the size in the trenches, the skill players, and for the first time a 5 star QB. Nothing against Martin or Quez, but McCord with his size and the time he has to throw to Harrison is almost unstoppable, check that, it is unstoppable, unless they stop themselves.
Hopefully, this is just a down cycle, from a nice peak 2009-2018, but could be the new normal with PA football.
Everyone has admitted talent down across the board in PCL and disrtict 1 except for a few great players here and there, but the cluster of 10-12 college players sprinkled with a few stars is not there excpet for Prep. LS, WOOD, TEP, NP, Coatesville had this for most of this decade, but do not have that this year, add in the struggles of Nesh, Pennsbury and the Ches mont league have with talent and depth and it is a one horse race.
Also, Prep has the size in the trenches, the skill players, and for the first time a 5 star QB. Nothing against Martin or Quez, but McCord with his size and the time he has to throw to Harrison is almost unstoppable, check that, it is unstoppable, unless they stop themselves.
Hopefully, this is just a down cycle, from a nice peak 2009-2018, but could be the new normal with PA football.
How soon before St Joes becomes an independent-like an IMG-or the league puts the reins on them? They are looking at a string on 1st half mercy rules which helps no one really. Kids are presumably paying top dollar to play competitive football. The starters will barely see the field the 2nd half of games for the next month or so.
Paul and Salvucci,
I admit to being of two minds. On the one hand, I still can see Whitney fumbling the ball on the LaSalle goal line while making a second effort to get the TD and then the LaSalle guy running 99.5 yards for the TD--a 14 point turnaround. That Prep team was 4-5 touchdowns better than LaSallle, but we know how the game ended. In '15 the disparity wasn't as great, but the Prep was still much better than LaSalle that year but lost the championship game. So taking a Prep win for granted doesn't come easily. I also think the Prep, especially the offense, was less than I expected in the first three games--even though the opposition was obviously of a different order from what they'll see the rest of the way.
On the other hand, I thought LaSalle looked much weaker the other night than the LaSalle team of '15 or even '16 and '17. Unless they play much better in six weeks, I agree they don't have even a remote chance of winning.
Tulla, La Salle may have looked weaker than in years past but look at the present. Last year I think La Salle was 4-4. This year, before the Prep game, they were unbeaten, against some teams that in years past were the be all and end all. North Penn, Imhotep and to a lesser extent Malvern Prep.
Agree guys, and 15 was a great game..big turnovers by both teams, ls had one of their best lines of all time, and ferguson proved to be solid, continuing today. But the Rinella catch was an all-timer. All that said, what stuck out to me that year with prep was their QB choice, not sure if there was a touch of nepotism, but to me that was the equalizer and the ls guys were all DG guys for 3 years prior.
Ok hot take here. Is it time to evaluate the playoff system here. Probably pie in the sky as now everyone is stuck in with the PIAA system. The question is, has it been worth it to vacate the thanksgiving games and league championships for the current playoff setup. All this playoff fever may be routing parents to schools with the best chance to have playoff glory (as fleeting and stupid as that is) Is it worth it for the PAC to give up what could be a great playoff culminating with something like a PV vs SF (or manybe a PJP shocks the world) final in front of thousands, for a playoff game vs. Souderton. Case can be made that the league that doesn't care about any playoffs or the other leagues is getting stronger.
Prep kind of screwing up my romance, but take them out and I'd gladly take one league PCL and a playoff system with a final early december with thanksgiving games.
Prep kind of screwing up my romance, but take them out and I'd gladly take one league PCL and a playoff system with a final early december with thanksgiving games.
I completely agree...there was a buzz in the air right up to the point where SJP drove the ball straight down the field and scored in 1:21. You got the sense the game was over. All things considered I get the impression LaSalle is pretty good. SJP is just phenomenal.
A couple things I want to comment on:
How about those LaSalle kids playing rugby at halftime? Got the W.
The SJP player repeatedly screaming to the crowd "let's f***ing go!" when they took the field. A little classless, but maybe I'm just getting old.
The parent, proudly wearing his son's number on his back, chanting "it's too easy" before the end of the first quarter. A little classless, but maybe I'm just getting old.
The dozens of kids climbing the fence behind the visitor's stands. Especially the father with the two pre-teen boys catching his wallet and keys before he followed them over. It's $5, c'mon. A little classless, but maybe I'm getting old.
Of all the talent on that field, and most of them we've heard about plenty, number 22 for LaSalle stood out to me. A sophomore listed at 6' 3" and 210 pounds, he's going to be a beast. He ran a Prep ball carrier down in the second quarter and it was impressive.
