Power Rankings
Big School
1. Freedom Patriot (7-0)
Remaining Schedule: Northampton, Easton, Liberty
Freedom controls their own destiny for the top seed in the D11 playoffs. Run the table, and they’re #1. It also would be the first undefeated regular season in program history. The only two nine-win regular seasons are 2015 and 2018. Freedom has the league’s leading passer (Chase Walker – 1,469 yards), leading rusher (Aaron Beete – 914 yards) and two players over the 20 catch mark (Shacre Colwell – 23 for 455 and six TDs and Amare DuBoise – 21 for 380 and 5 TDs). Most importantly, they look like the most physical team up front, with kids like Tanner Wheeler (who recently committed to Richmond), Dylan Hill, Dan Schiffert. This is a team playing great football coming down the home stretch.
2. Easton Red Rovers (6-1)
Remaining Schedule: Liberty, Freedom, Nazareth
Easton also controls their own destiny for the top seed. A win over Liberty this Friday would make Easton-Freedom the de facto East Penn Conference championship game and the #1 seed would go with it. Running back duo Dorian Thomas and Will Day each went over 100 yards last Friday against Northampton as they continue to establish themselves as one of the most productive running back tandems in recent conference history. Thomas has been the bell cow – carrying 108 times on the year, including a career high 28 last Friday against Northampton. Easton has used Day more sparingly – he missed almost all of 2023 with a foot injury – he’s only gone over 12 carries twice and has games of 6, 7, and 9. But when the chips were on the line against Emmaus, it was Day who had 23 carries for 163 yards and it would not surprise me if their workload flips as we get into the home stretch and the games get more important. If Day gets at least 10 carries in a game, he’s averaging 110 yards per game.
3. Parkland Trojans (6-1)
Remaining Schedule: Allentown Central Catholic, Whitehall, Emmaus
Parkland is likely locked into the third seed, thanks to the relative weakness of the Lehigh County schools this year and how it drags down the Trojans strength of schedule power points (Allen, Dieruff, Whitehall and ACC and no Easton or Liberty on the schedule is a relative weakness). Similar to Easton and Day, Parkland has eased off the TJ Lawrence button in games where they are simply outclassing their opponent. But when playoff time hits, expect Parkland’s offense to feature much heavier doses of the very talented sophomore tailback.
4. Nazareth Blue Eagles (5-2)
Remaining Schedule: Bethlehem Catholic, Northampton, Easton
Nazareth turned a 20-14 nailbiter into a 34-14 laugher in the final five minutes against Liberty, thanks to a 55 yard strike to tailback Marquez Wimberly and a 63 yard strip sack and score on Liberty’s first play of the next series by Lance Zuercher, who had maybe the best defensive game in the Valley this year (16 tackles, two interceptions, and the sack/fumble scoop and score to ice the game). It was encouraging for Nazareth to get Wimberly going in a big game – he’s the biggest gamebreaker in the Valley when he can get the ball in space, and 18 carries for 155 yards and three touchdowns, plus a 55 yard touchdown catch is more of what should be expected from the Blue Eagle star. They also got 224 yards passing and 106 yards rushing from quarterback Peyton Falzone and a 46 yard catch and run from receiver Caleb Newsome. Nazareth does not have the same interior line depth they had on their D11 winning team last year and they need the ball on the perimeter in the hands of their Big 3 with a chance to make a play. They did that against Liberty, and will need more of the same, particularly in the regular season finale with Easton and in whatever playoff match ups they see.
5. Liberty Hurricanes (6-1)
Remaining Schedule: Easton, Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom
Liberty fought valiantly against Nazareth, but fell from the ranks of the unbeatens. After going down 13-0 early, they clawed back to 20-14 with a touchdown right before halftime. They had their opportunities in the third quarter, but the offense stalled out and the defense finally broke with a deep Falzone to Wimberly connection blowing the game open. Gabe Green broke the 100 yard mark and Jake Pukszyn almost single handedly brought the Hurricanes back in the first half (7 catches for 91 yard) before cramping forced him to miss a lot of second half action. Liberty also controls their own destiny for the top seed and wins over Easton and Freedom would vault the Hurricanes to the top spot. Still a lot to play for, but they can also lose the opportunity for a home playoff game by dropping both of those contests. They’ll have Easton at BASD on Friday night in our game of the week.
Honorable Mention: Emmaus (5-2), Northampton (4-3), East Stroudsburg South (5-2)
Small School
1. Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (7-0)
Northwestern is #1 in the state per PA Football News an #2 by PennLive and has not faced much of a challenge so far this year, including blowouts of North Schuylkill (49-7), Blue Mountain (30-8), Pottsville (35-0), and Northern Lehigh (56-7). They should roll again with Jim Thorpe before a pair of on-paper tough games with Tamaqua and Southern Lehigh to close the year. Eli Zimmerman’s 17 touchdowns leads the area as he looks for a second straight All State season.
2. Southern Lehigh Spartans (6-1)
Southern Lehigh destroyed Tamaqua last week to knock the Blue Raiders out of the state top 10 and out of the #2 spot here in our power rankings. They opened the game with a shovel pass to Michigan recruit Andrew Olesh, who took it 83 yards for a touchdown and things devolved from there for the Blue Raiders. Colton Sams threw three touchdowns, while Olesh had over 100 yards receiving and emerging star running back Sean Stecker scored twice. Southern Lehigh still controls their own destiny in the Colonial League with Saucon Valley and Northwestern Lehigh still on the schedule.
3. Notre Dame (GP) Crusaders (6-1)
We said Notre Dame’s numbers would be silly down the stretch against a soft schedule, and Matt Bodnar threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns in the first half against Pen Argyl. He finished the day with 446 and 5 scores, giving him 2,615 yards and 27 touchdowns with three games remaining in the regular season. I don’t know if they can run the ball against good teams or get stops when they need to, but boy can they chuck it around.
4. Tamaqua Blue Raiders(6-1)
Tamaqua got blitzed early by Southern Lehigh and never recovered, and suddenly the 6-0 start doesn’t seem to guarantee them much, with remaining dates with Northwestern Lehigh and Blue Mountain. They’ve been the Cinderalla team so far, but these rankings are on alert for midnight.
5. Saucon Valley Panthers (6-1)
Welcome to the party Saucon Valley! The Panthers have been throttling their schedule since a 24-7 loss to Notre Dame in week four. Senior running back Jared Rohn is the bell cow here, with 102 carries for 700 yards and 13 touchdowns. Braden’s father Tommy set the Northampton rushing record back in 1999 and was a state finalist wrestler, and of course his grandfather is Don Rohn, a two-time state champ for Saucon Valley and an NCAA wrestling champ at Clarion before coaching Northampton to one of the biggest powers in the country. Saucon will have a crack at Southern Lehigh with a chance to get themselves a home playoff game in week 9 and is a great bet to finish at least 8-2 headed into the playoffs.
Honorable Mention: Blue Mountain (5-2), Northern Lehigh (5-2)
Big School
1. Freedom Patriot (7-0)
Remaining Schedule: Northampton, Easton, Liberty
Freedom controls their own destiny for the top seed in the D11 playoffs. Run the table, and they’re #1. It also would be the first undefeated regular season in program history. The only two nine-win regular seasons are 2015 and 2018. Freedom has the league’s leading passer (Chase Walker – 1,469 yards), leading rusher (Aaron Beete – 914 yards) and two players over the 20 catch mark (Shacre Colwell – 23 for 455 and six TDs and Amare DuBoise – 21 for 380 and 5 TDs). Most importantly, they look like the most physical team up front, with kids like Tanner Wheeler (who recently committed to Richmond), Dylan Hill, Dan Schiffert. This is a team playing great football coming down the home stretch.
2. Easton Red Rovers (6-1)
Remaining Schedule: Liberty, Freedom, Nazareth
Easton also controls their own destiny for the top seed. A win over Liberty this Friday would make Easton-Freedom the de facto East Penn Conference championship game and the #1 seed would go with it. Running back duo Dorian Thomas and Will Day each went over 100 yards last Friday against Northampton as they continue to establish themselves as one of the most productive running back tandems in recent conference history. Thomas has been the bell cow – carrying 108 times on the year, including a career high 28 last Friday against Northampton. Easton has used Day more sparingly – he missed almost all of 2023 with a foot injury – he’s only gone over 12 carries twice and has games of 6, 7, and 9. But when the chips were on the line against Emmaus, it was Day who had 23 carries for 163 yards and it would not surprise me if their workload flips as we get into the home stretch and the games get more important. If Day gets at least 10 carries in a game, he’s averaging 110 yards per game.
3. Parkland Trojans (6-1)
Remaining Schedule: Allentown Central Catholic, Whitehall, Emmaus
Parkland is likely locked into the third seed, thanks to the relative weakness of the Lehigh County schools this year and how it drags down the Trojans strength of schedule power points (Allen, Dieruff, Whitehall and ACC and no Easton or Liberty on the schedule is a relative weakness). Similar to Easton and Day, Parkland has eased off the TJ Lawrence button in games where they are simply outclassing their opponent. But when playoff time hits, expect Parkland’s offense to feature much heavier doses of the very talented sophomore tailback.
4. Nazareth Blue Eagles (5-2)
Remaining Schedule: Bethlehem Catholic, Northampton, Easton
Nazareth turned a 20-14 nailbiter into a 34-14 laugher in the final five minutes against Liberty, thanks to a 55 yard strike to tailback Marquez Wimberly and a 63 yard strip sack and score on Liberty’s first play of the next series by Lance Zuercher, who had maybe the best defensive game in the Valley this year (16 tackles, two interceptions, and the sack/fumble scoop and score to ice the game). It was encouraging for Nazareth to get Wimberly going in a big game – he’s the biggest gamebreaker in the Valley when he can get the ball in space, and 18 carries for 155 yards and three touchdowns, plus a 55 yard touchdown catch is more of what should be expected from the Blue Eagle star. They also got 224 yards passing and 106 yards rushing from quarterback Peyton Falzone and a 46 yard catch and run from receiver Caleb Newsome. Nazareth does not have the same interior line depth they had on their D11 winning team last year and they need the ball on the perimeter in the hands of their Big 3 with a chance to make a play. They did that against Liberty, and will need more of the same, particularly in the regular season finale with Easton and in whatever playoff match ups they see.
5. Liberty Hurricanes (6-1)
Remaining Schedule: Easton, Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom
Liberty fought valiantly against Nazareth, but fell from the ranks of the unbeatens. After going down 13-0 early, they clawed back to 20-14 with a touchdown right before halftime. They had their opportunities in the third quarter, but the offense stalled out and the defense finally broke with a deep Falzone to Wimberly connection blowing the game open. Gabe Green broke the 100 yard mark and Jake Pukszyn almost single handedly brought the Hurricanes back in the first half (7 catches for 91 yard) before cramping forced him to miss a lot of second half action. Liberty also controls their own destiny for the top seed and wins over Easton and Freedom would vault the Hurricanes to the top spot. Still a lot to play for, but they can also lose the opportunity for a home playoff game by dropping both of those contests. They’ll have Easton at BASD on Friday night in our game of the week.
Honorable Mention: Emmaus (5-2), Northampton (4-3), East Stroudsburg South (5-2)
Small School
1. Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (7-0)
Northwestern is #1 in the state per PA Football News an #2 by PennLive and has not faced much of a challenge so far this year, including blowouts of North Schuylkill (49-7), Blue Mountain (30-8), Pottsville (35-0), and Northern Lehigh (56-7). They should roll again with Jim Thorpe before a pair of on-paper tough games with Tamaqua and Southern Lehigh to close the year. Eli Zimmerman’s 17 touchdowns leads the area as he looks for a second straight All State season.
2. Southern Lehigh Spartans (6-1)
Southern Lehigh destroyed Tamaqua last week to knock the Blue Raiders out of the state top 10 and out of the #2 spot here in our power rankings. They opened the game with a shovel pass to Michigan recruit Andrew Olesh, who took it 83 yards for a touchdown and things devolved from there for the Blue Raiders. Colton Sams threw three touchdowns, while Olesh had over 100 yards receiving and emerging star running back Sean Stecker scored twice. Southern Lehigh still controls their own destiny in the Colonial League with Saucon Valley and Northwestern Lehigh still on the schedule.
3. Notre Dame (GP) Crusaders (6-1)
We said Notre Dame’s numbers would be silly down the stretch against a soft schedule, and Matt Bodnar threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns in the first half against Pen Argyl. He finished the day with 446 and 5 scores, giving him 2,615 yards and 27 touchdowns with three games remaining in the regular season. I don’t know if they can run the ball against good teams or get stops when they need to, but boy can they chuck it around.
4. Tamaqua Blue Raiders(6-1)
Tamaqua got blitzed early by Southern Lehigh and never recovered, and suddenly the 6-0 start doesn’t seem to guarantee them much, with remaining dates with Northwestern Lehigh and Blue Mountain. They’ve been the Cinderalla team so far, but these rankings are on alert for midnight.
5. Saucon Valley Panthers (6-1)
Welcome to the party Saucon Valley! The Panthers have been throttling their schedule since a 24-7 loss to Notre Dame in week four. Senior running back Jared Rohn is the bell cow here, with 102 carries for 700 yards and 13 touchdowns. Braden’s father Tommy set the Northampton rushing record back in 1999 and was a state finalist wrestler, and of course his grandfather is Don Rohn, a two-time state champ for Saucon Valley and an NCAA wrestling champ at Clarion before coaching Northampton to one of the biggest powers in the country. Saucon will have a crack at Southern Lehigh with a chance to get themselves a home playoff game in week 9 and is a great bet to finish at least 8-2 headed into the playoffs.
Honorable Mention: Blue Mountain (5-2), Northern Lehigh (5-2)
