6 Valley View 160.21, D2, 4A, 13-1
Valley View cruised through the regular season largely unchallenged in District-2’s Lackawanna FB Conference, Div-2. Then they took apart Abington Heights, West Scranton and Dallas in the postseason by a combined score of 134-39 before encountering Imhotep. These were the same three teams they beat in the regular season 101-7. Not much challenge there! A schedule read shows they played one 6A team, one 5A, six 4As and two 3A teams in the regular season. The 6A was Scranton (1-10) who they defeated 42-7. The 5A was Wallenpaupack (9-4) who they beat 27-14. Imhotep, who at times is criticized for playing a weak schedule was playing five 6As, two 5A teams and a 4A. This included DeMatha (8-3), St. Joseph’s Regional (10-2) who were counted as 6A teams, LaSalle (5-6) and Northeast 8-4. All were non-conference games except Northeast. For Valley View, instead of being “shocked” every year as we so often read about another team’s speed they and others could upgrade to area teams like Wyoming Valley West, Delaware Valley, or an hour south to Stroudsburg, et al. They go to Berwick now and only play five division games. Maybe a little farther to Mount Carmel, Southern Columbia and Williamsport. Sooner or later you have to face a McDevitt, Cathedral, Thomas Jefferson, Bethlehem Catholic and others so why not ramp it up, playing Williamsport and a well-coached team like Delaware Valley. The season ended when they were (shocked) crushed by Imhotep 37-9 in the quarterfinals. For 2019, they have to replace a senior line (averaged 6 1-1/2, 264) but return others in the rotation including Noah Voglino (6-1, 285) and Pat Murphy (6-2, 265). Qb Janassah Boone (6-0, 180, sr) who in his first year completed 60% for 1220 yards while rushing for 826 yards is also back. FB/LB Zack Manchak (5-11, 200, 48/496) is back with TJ Noto (32/157, 5-11, 200, RB/LB), LB Ryan Turlip (5-11, 200) and DE Logan Burns (5-11, 205) and DT Johnny Snipes (6-3, 265), QB/S Jordan Conserette (6-0, 180) and a pile of receivers. They are loaded again to take on powerful Scranton Prep (83-19, last 8) for league honors and make a deep run in the playoffs.
7 Nazareth 155.39, D11, 6A, 5-6
This was a young team last year trying to replace their best player ever in Jahan Dotson (PSU) as well as Zak Keifer who were outstanding receivers with Dotson at 889 yards on 62 receptions and Keifer at 550 yards on 59. Never easy replacing hands like that! But they managed to mimic last year’s production of 32ppg and were a better team than 2017’s unit despite that not showing up in the win column. The upset to Allentown Central Catholic (3-8) 23-13 was the culprit, revealing something of their growing pains. This is the same team that lost to Emmaus the week before by a point and would go on to beat Bethlehem Catholic four weeks later at their place 31-21. Excepting Quarterback Anthony Harris’s penchant for throwing too many interceptions, three against the Golden Hawks, they did a number on BECA, scoring 24 2nd half points with Harris throwing for 339 yards. The Hawks had no answer for Nathan Stefanik either as he caught 11 receptions for 176 yards. Both Harris and Stefanik are back for 2019. Harris threw for 2696 yards at 60% with a 27 to 15 Td/Pick ratio, while Stefanik pulled in 63 receptions for 801 yards. Harris also rushed for 405 yards. He had decent outings against the best team played, Emmaus, Freedom, BECA, Parkland, Easton and Emmaus again in districts, throwing for 1318 yards at 57% (131 of 229, 14/9 ratio). With Harris, Stefanik, most if not all of the O-Line returning plus a slew of receivers, look for significant improvement from the Blue Eagles. And keep an eye on last year’s sophomore kicker Matt Bugbee who has quite a leg, egs….splitting the uprights from 21, 28, 34 and 41 against Liberty, then booming a 45 yarder to help bring BECA down. They should improve a few pegs from last year’s 7th seed, enough to get to the 7 win level IF they negotiate a tough schedule that sees them on the road for Emmaus, Freedom and Parkland. Since going 12-2 in 2011 under Coach Rob Melosky (08 to 11, 30-17), they’ve gone 35-43 with one winning season. But they should be a mild surprise in 2019 if they can manage that tough road schedule. Easton and Bethlehem Catholic are home.
8 Liberty 148.39, D11, 6A, 5-6
What happened to the team that wowed us from 2004 to 2008 with three 4A state finals appearances and a state title in 2008?....stringing together five double digit winning seasons for a 62-9 won-loss. The 2005 team (13-2) got rocked by McKeesport 49-10 while the 2006 team (14-2) was thumped by Upper St. Clair 47-13. But it all came together in 2008 (15-1) when they beat Bethel Park (15-1) in overtime 28-21, 10 years ago! I guess you’d have to say it started unraveling after the 2009 season when their outstanding head coach Tim Moncman retired following an 11 year run where he compiled an 88-36 record. From there the reins passed to Dave Brown for three years then John Truby from 2013 to the present. About Coach Moncman; he decided to devote time to his family before returning to the profession at Wilson (Easton) for two years and Parkland as DC for 4 years. He remained on the staff as DC until Jim Morgans retired after the 2015 season with a 112-33 in 11 seasons and an overall career record of 262-137-1. About Liberty; like Easton they’ve had great difficulty beating the better teams on their schedule, going 5-16 against winning teams the last three years; 2-5 in 2016, 2-6 in 2017, 1-5 last year. Presently they are in the midst of three consecutive losing seasons. The highlight of last year was giving arch rival Bethlehem Freedom their first loss of the season, beating them in the regular season final 29-10 for the second year in a row. The Patriots then defeated them in districts, barely, winning 14-7. A glance at lineups says they have big losses almost across the board, especially at their key positions with Qb Todd Erney graduating along with running back Nasir Legree and receiver Javonte Haynes. Legree is their All-Time leading rusher with 4121 yards.
9 North Schuylkill 146.78, D11, 3A, 11-2
Solid programs here that fell surprisingly short verses Conwell Egan (13-1) in the PIAA first round, losing 28-14 after trouncing Notre Dame (10-2) in the district final 36-0. The Spartans are one of the coal region’s bad asses, along with Mount Carmel and others. Talk about a program and area on fire; NS is located in Ashland, 2 miles from Centralia. They’ve played great football for years, going 94-26 the last ten years. Last year’s team was one of their better editions making the loss to CEC all the more puzzling. They had a lot of depth with four of their linemen going one-way in their two back system and are known for their physical style of play. Their lines averaged 6-2, 255; egs….Jack Kemsey 6-5 280, Danny Tomishen 6-1 260, John Harhigh 6-4 260 et al. DL egs NG Jason Lipshaw 6-0 255, DE Jesse White 6-1 220, DT Jack Green 6-0 280. But CEC had their number that day, shutting them down to seven first downs. You might remember North Schuylkill (13-1) battled West Catholic’s great 2009 team (12-3) tooth and nail, losing 19-14. Both were two of the best teams in the state with West Catholic losing to LaSalle (14-1) 16-14 and Archbishop Wood (9-3) 28-21 in the regular season, then losing in the semifinal to Lancaster Catholic (15-1) 23-21 who won the title. LaSalle’s only loss was to St. Joseph’s Prep (9-3) 24-17. But they went on to dominate State College (12-3) in the 4A final, winning 24-7. Back to the future, NS returns a lot of bodies for 2019, including OT John Harhigh 6-4 250, OT/DT Jack Green 6-1 270, NG Jason Lipshaw 6-0 255, DE Jesse White 6-1 220, RB/LB Zack Chowansky 5-11 210, FB/LB Tyler Eldson 6-3 210 and quarterback Jaden Leiby 6-0 175. With a senior Qb and all the experience returning from last year’s run, they’ll put another strong team on the field, as they’ve done for years. They played a lot of juniors as well. Coach Hall has been there six years with a 51-20 record.
10 Delaware Valley 146.29, D2, 6A, 9-4
Considering the Warriors graduated their best team in 2017 that went 12-1, last year’s 9-4 outing wasn’t all that bad. But it wasn’t 2017! That group tore through their first 12 games unchallenged except for the opener at Disney World playing Fort Pierce Central-FL, winning 19-14. Then onto the playoffs winning districts before losing to State College 21-14 in the 2/4/6 sub-regional. The offense was rolling at 37ppg, their best since another outstanding team in 2012 that went 11-2 scoring 41ppg. But the D was unmatched at 13ppg, their best in over 20 years. The 2018 edition fell in all the major categories, notably the offense that dropped to 28ppg and the defense that allowed 21. Still, they won 9 games, finishing with a flurry, winning 7 of their last 8 until running into State High in the sub-regional. Although they survived a substantial rebuild, they still had issues as shown in scoring and in particular, winning on the road. They lost the road games to Pennridge, Wallenpaupack, North Pocono and State College by an average score of 40-17. Road games won came against struggling teams such as 1-10 Scranton who they beat 26-0, Williamsport 41-0 at 5-6 and Abington Heights 31-0 who finished 2-9. A few years back from 2008 thru 2013 Abington Heights was a power, going 56-16. But now? In fact, great swaths of the area are depressed with West Scranton having their first winning season in 8 years, Scranton going 16-27 the last 4, Abington Height 20-35 the last 5 years including 1-10 and 2-9 campaigns the last 2 years, Hazelton 33-63 the last 9 years, Wyoming Valley West with back to back .500 seasons, Williamsport acting disinterested this year and listless the previous ten with only five winning seasons to name a few of the major teams. Skill wise, DV returns nearly all their people; Qb Zack Scillia (1397, 53%, 16/15 Td/Pick ratio, sr), running backs John Balcarcel with 1248 rush yards and Jason Henderson at 404 yards plus receivers Jawon Foushee, Hunter Klein and Mark Callanan. NG Shane Boone (5-10, 245) is back with both DEs, Jason Henderson (6-0, 210….140 tackles!) and Hunter Klein (6-0, 190, 42 stops), and most of the secondary including hard hitting Preston Machado (5-6, 160, 80 tackles) and Joe Casella (5-6, 210! 43 stops). Next year could be their year especially with State College (D6) rebuilding key areas.
Valley View cruised through the regular season largely unchallenged in District-2’s Lackawanna FB Conference, Div-2. Then they took apart Abington Heights, West Scranton and Dallas in the postseason by a combined score of 134-39 before encountering Imhotep. These were the same three teams they beat in the regular season 101-7. Not much challenge there! A schedule read shows they played one 6A team, one 5A, six 4As and two 3A teams in the regular season. The 6A was Scranton (1-10) who they defeated 42-7. The 5A was Wallenpaupack (9-4) who they beat 27-14. Imhotep, who at times is criticized for playing a weak schedule was playing five 6As, two 5A teams and a 4A. This included DeMatha (8-3), St. Joseph’s Regional (10-2) who were counted as 6A teams, LaSalle (5-6) and Northeast 8-4. All were non-conference games except Northeast. For Valley View, instead of being “shocked” every year as we so often read about another team’s speed they and others could upgrade to area teams like Wyoming Valley West, Delaware Valley, or an hour south to Stroudsburg, et al. They go to Berwick now and only play five division games. Maybe a little farther to Mount Carmel, Southern Columbia and Williamsport. Sooner or later you have to face a McDevitt, Cathedral, Thomas Jefferson, Bethlehem Catholic and others so why not ramp it up, playing Williamsport and a well-coached team like Delaware Valley. The season ended when they were (shocked) crushed by Imhotep 37-9 in the quarterfinals. For 2019, they have to replace a senior line (averaged 6 1-1/2, 264) but return others in the rotation including Noah Voglino (6-1, 285) and Pat Murphy (6-2, 265). Qb Janassah Boone (6-0, 180, sr) who in his first year completed 60% for 1220 yards while rushing for 826 yards is also back. FB/LB Zack Manchak (5-11, 200, 48/496) is back with TJ Noto (32/157, 5-11, 200, RB/LB), LB Ryan Turlip (5-11, 200) and DE Logan Burns (5-11, 205) and DT Johnny Snipes (6-3, 265), QB/S Jordan Conserette (6-0, 180) and a pile of receivers. They are loaded again to take on powerful Scranton Prep (83-19, last 8) for league honors and make a deep run in the playoffs.
7 Nazareth 155.39, D11, 6A, 5-6
This was a young team last year trying to replace their best player ever in Jahan Dotson (PSU) as well as Zak Keifer who were outstanding receivers with Dotson at 889 yards on 62 receptions and Keifer at 550 yards on 59. Never easy replacing hands like that! But they managed to mimic last year’s production of 32ppg and were a better team than 2017’s unit despite that not showing up in the win column. The upset to Allentown Central Catholic (3-8) 23-13 was the culprit, revealing something of their growing pains. This is the same team that lost to Emmaus the week before by a point and would go on to beat Bethlehem Catholic four weeks later at their place 31-21. Excepting Quarterback Anthony Harris’s penchant for throwing too many interceptions, three against the Golden Hawks, they did a number on BECA, scoring 24 2nd half points with Harris throwing for 339 yards. The Hawks had no answer for Nathan Stefanik either as he caught 11 receptions for 176 yards. Both Harris and Stefanik are back for 2019. Harris threw for 2696 yards at 60% with a 27 to 15 Td/Pick ratio, while Stefanik pulled in 63 receptions for 801 yards. Harris also rushed for 405 yards. He had decent outings against the best team played, Emmaus, Freedom, BECA, Parkland, Easton and Emmaus again in districts, throwing for 1318 yards at 57% (131 of 229, 14/9 ratio). With Harris, Stefanik, most if not all of the O-Line returning plus a slew of receivers, look for significant improvement from the Blue Eagles. And keep an eye on last year’s sophomore kicker Matt Bugbee who has quite a leg, egs….splitting the uprights from 21, 28, 34 and 41 against Liberty, then booming a 45 yarder to help bring BECA down. They should improve a few pegs from last year’s 7th seed, enough to get to the 7 win level IF they negotiate a tough schedule that sees them on the road for Emmaus, Freedom and Parkland. Since going 12-2 in 2011 under Coach Rob Melosky (08 to 11, 30-17), they’ve gone 35-43 with one winning season. But they should be a mild surprise in 2019 if they can manage that tough road schedule. Easton and Bethlehem Catholic are home.
8 Liberty 148.39, D11, 6A, 5-6
What happened to the team that wowed us from 2004 to 2008 with three 4A state finals appearances and a state title in 2008?....stringing together five double digit winning seasons for a 62-9 won-loss. The 2005 team (13-2) got rocked by McKeesport 49-10 while the 2006 team (14-2) was thumped by Upper St. Clair 47-13. But it all came together in 2008 (15-1) when they beat Bethel Park (15-1) in overtime 28-21, 10 years ago! I guess you’d have to say it started unraveling after the 2009 season when their outstanding head coach Tim Moncman retired following an 11 year run where he compiled an 88-36 record. From there the reins passed to Dave Brown for three years then John Truby from 2013 to the present. About Coach Moncman; he decided to devote time to his family before returning to the profession at Wilson (Easton) for two years and Parkland as DC for 4 years. He remained on the staff as DC until Jim Morgans retired after the 2015 season with a 112-33 in 11 seasons and an overall career record of 262-137-1. About Liberty; like Easton they’ve had great difficulty beating the better teams on their schedule, going 5-16 against winning teams the last three years; 2-5 in 2016, 2-6 in 2017, 1-5 last year. Presently they are in the midst of three consecutive losing seasons. The highlight of last year was giving arch rival Bethlehem Freedom their first loss of the season, beating them in the regular season final 29-10 for the second year in a row. The Patriots then defeated them in districts, barely, winning 14-7. A glance at lineups says they have big losses almost across the board, especially at their key positions with Qb Todd Erney graduating along with running back Nasir Legree and receiver Javonte Haynes. Legree is their All-Time leading rusher with 4121 yards.
9 North Schuylkill 146.78, D11, 3A, 11-2
Solid programs here that fell surprisingly short verses Conwell Egan (13-1) in the PIAA first round, losing 28-14 after trouncing Notre Dame (10-2) in the district final 36-0. The Spartans are one of the coal region’s bad asses, along with Mount Carmel and others. Talk about a program and area on fire; NS is located in Ashland, 2 miles from Centralia. They’ve played great football for years, going 94-26 the last ten years. Last year’s team was one of their better editions making the loss to CEC all the more puzzling. They had a lot of depth with four of their linemen going one-way in their two back system and are known for their physical style of play. Their lines averaged 6-2, 255; egs….Jack Kemsey 6-5 280, Danny Tomishen 6-1 260, John Harhigh 6-4 260 et al. DL egs NG Jason Lipshaw 6-0 255, DE Jesse White 6-1 220, DT Jack Green 6-0 280. But CEC had their number that day, shutting them down to seven first downs. You might remember North Schuylkill (13-1) battled West Catholic’s great 2009 team (12-3) tooth and nail, losing 19-14. Both were two of the best teams in the state with West Catholic losing to LaSalle (14-1) 16-14 and Archbishop Wood (9-3) 28-21 in the regular season, then losing in the semifinal to Lancaster Catholic (15-1) 23-21 who won the title. LaSalle’s only loss was to St. Joseph’s Prep (9-3) 24-17. But they went on to dominate State College (12-3) in the 4A final, winning 24-7. Back to the future, NS returns a lot of bodies for 2019, including OT John Harhigh 6-4 250, OT/DT Jack Green 6-1 270, NG Jason Lipshaw 6-0 255, DE Jesse White 6-1 220, RB/LB Zack Chowansky 5-11 210, FB/LB Tyler Eldson 6-3 210 and quarterback Jaden Leiby 6-0 175. With a senior Qb and all the experience returning from last year’s run, they’ll put another strong team on the field, as they’ve done for years. They played a lot of juniors as well. Coach Hall has been there six years with a 51-20 record.
10 Delaware Valley 146.29, D2, 6A, 9-4
Considering the Warriors graduated their best team in 2017 that went 12-1, last year’s 9-4 outing wasn’t all that bad. But it wasn’t 2017! That group tore through their first 12 games unchallenged except for the opener at Disney World playing Fort Pierce Central-FL, winning 19-14. Then onto the playoffs winning districts before losing to State College 21-14 in the 2/4/6 sub-regional. The offense was rolling at 37ppg, their best since another outstanding team in 2012 that went 11-2 scoring 41ppg. But the D was unmatched at 13ppg, their best in over 20 years. The 2018 edition fell in all the major categories, notably the offense that dropped to 28ppg and the defense that allowed 21. Still, they won 9 games, finishing with a flurry, winning 7 of their last 8 until running into State High in the sub-regional. Although they survived a substantial rebuild, they still had issues as shown in scoring and in particular, winning on the road. They lost the road games to Pennridge, Wallenpaupack, North Pocono and State College by an average score of 40-17. Road games won came against struggling teams such as 1-10 Scranton who they beat 26-0, Williamsport 41-0 at 5-6 and Abington Heights 31-0 who finished 2-9. A few years back from 2008 thru 2013 Abington Heights was a power, going 56-16. But now? In fact, great swaths of the area are depressed with West Scranton having their first winning season in 8 years, Scranton going 16-27 the last 4, Abington Height 20-35 the last 5 years including 1-10 and 2-9 campaigns the last 2 years, Hazelton 33-63 the last 9 years, Wyoming Valley West with back to back .500 seasons, Williamsport acting disinterested this year and listless the previous ten with only five winning seasons to name a few of the major teams. Skill wise, DV returns nearly all their people; Qb Zack Scillia (1397, 53%, 16/15 Td/Pick ratio, sr), running backs John Balcarcel with 1248 rush yards and Jason Henderson at 404 yards plus receivers Jawon Foushee, Hunter Klein and Mark Callanan. NG Shane Boone (5-10, 245) is back with both DEs, Jason Henderson (6-0, 210….140 tackles!) and Hunter Klein (6-0, 190, 42 stops), and most of the secondary including hard hitting Preston Machado (5-6, 160, 80 tackles) and Joe Casella (5-6, 210! 43 stops). Next year could be their year especially with State College (D6) rebuilding key areas.
