As always, feel free to jump in or on.
Power Ratings 6A
District 12 champ vs District 11 champ
St. Joseph’s Prep 10-0 vs Freedom 12-1….7.92 St. Joseph’s Prep
St. Joe’s breezed past Northeast 49-14 to win their 3rd straight District 12 championship, making short work of the PPL champ by racing out to a 28-7 halftime lead. Kyle McCord was awesome, completing 15 of 20 passes for 186 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Hawk defense had another dominant performance, holding their 8th consecutive opponent to two touchdowns or less. None have done more since St. Peter’s Prep and Our Lady of Good Counsel at the top of the season.
The Vikings will play Phila. Central Thanksgivng Day while the Hawks move on to play Freedom who also cruised to an easy win, disposing of a good Emmaus (11-2) team 49-17. Emmaus’s Ethan Parvel inflicted acceptable damage, completing 14 of 27 for 192 yards, with an active Freedom defense intercepting two, holding him to 32 yards rushing and the team to 68. Freedom rushed for 295 yards with Jalen Stewart getting 182 on 18 carries. Scoring 38ppg, Freedom will score points, but will it be enough and can they keep up with a Hawk team averaging 44 a game with a better defense?
District 7 champ vs District 2/4/6/8/10 champ
Pine Richland 10-2 vs State College 12-1….8.14 State College
Like St. Joe’s, Pine Richland has a special sophomore quarterback (again!) in Cole Spencer who completed 11 of 18 throws for two scores and 160 yards while rushing for 95 where he got another two touchdowns as the Rams defeated Seneca Valley (9-4) 34-7. Luke Meckler added 118 yards. The D also stood out, holding Seneca Valley to 48 yards rushing, in large part on the strength of three picks, one a Pick-6, and two fumbles recovered. The win secured their third WPIAL title in five years. They advance to play State College who had no trouble defeating Delaware Valley. The Lions scored almost every way possible when Dresyn Green went 63 yards for a touchdown on their first play, then added 63, 75 and 81 yard kickoff returns (!), a 52 yard Pick Six and a fumble recovered in the end zone as they hammered Delaware Valley 56-19. State has more weapons to throw at Pine and faced a tougher schedule but this still looks like a war. Both are well coached, suggesting it will be decided by aspects of the game that are always decisive; blown coverage, missed tackles, special teams/field position, etc.
District 1 Final
Coatesville 13-0 vs North Penn 13-0….27.52 Coatesville
Coatesville blew out to a 28-0 halftime lead on the strength of a power running game that produced 328 yards with Aaron Young leading the way, getting 228 yards on 20 carries. You know the O-Line is dominating with a stat like that! They threw 5 passes the entire game. Their defense also dominated coming away with a fumble recovery and two interceptions, one a Pick-6 as the big Coatesville offense rolled to a 42-7 win over previously undefeated Garnet Valley. Scary when you make a good team look bad. With no Thanksgiving Day game that ends it for the Jaguars (12-1) as Coatesville moves on to North Penn in the District Final-Quarterfinals. The Knights are in the district final for the third time in four years after beating Downingtown West 35-21 in a hard fought game at Kottmeyer. Weather influenced the game, being switched to Downingtown’s home field instead of a “home” game for North Penn at Wissahickon. Like Coatesville vs G-Val, it was a dominating performance by North Penn’s O-Line that sprung running back Shamar Edwards (5-9, 190, sr) for a record setting 318 yard performance and scoring three touchdowns. Hats off also to Downingtown (11-2) surviving the loss of Qb Will Howard week-6 by plugging in LB/TE Ryan Wetzel whose performance was stellar. The Coatesville-North Penn game is at Pennridge giving the Knights some advantage although Coatesville travels well. The power rating says Coatesville BIG, but stats don’t play football. And this one looks like a special encounter between two fine teams.
District 3 champ Harrisburg 12-1…bye
Harrisburg beat Central Dauphin last week 16-6 in another war the two are famous for (like SC-CV) and get a bye this week. To make it more fair for all and fun for participating schools, they need to expand the 8 team District-3 field to 12, with the top four getting byes. That would have roped in Dallastown, Cumberland Valley, CD East and Carlisle.
Power Ratings 5A
District 1 Final
Upper Dublin 11-1 vs Rustin 10-2….8.65 Upper Dublin
Upper Dublin halted Unionville’s late season surge, scoring on all four of their first half possessions in an easier than expected 40-7 win over the 11th seeded Indians. Following the 0-3 start, no one expected to see U-ville (6-7) here in the district semi. Nice job. Even fewer felt the Cardinals would be here in their second district final in four years. Maybe they snuck up on some of us but here they are with a 62-12 record the last five years! This is their best offense at 31ppg since the 14-1 district champ that scored 41 a game. The defense is solid as most have been over the years at 11ppg. They have not allowed over 18ppg year ending average in the last 6 years. The win advances them to play Rustin who defeated Penn Wood at Rustin’s field 10-8 on the strength of a Tommy Powers 32 yard field goal with 5: 16 left in the game. The game was supposed to be on Penn Wood’s grass field but had to be moved with the field essentially under water. Come on! You have to wonder how that field goal would have gone on a wet, sloppy field? The Patriots end the year at 11-2 with both losses coming against Rustin.
District 3 Final
Manheim Central 12-0 vs Cocalico 10-2….21.29 Manheim Central
Manheim Central defeated Cedar Cliff 42-20 in a battle royale where the Barons got three third quarter scores to pull away from the Colts with the score at 21-20 MC. It was quite a game with Cedar Cliff’s Qb Chris Dare going down in the first half, replaced by Bobby Whalen (128 rush yards). Jaheim Morris had 102 on 22 carries but Central had more. Qb Evan Simon went 7 of 19 for 239 yards throwing three touchdowns to two picks. The Colts 5-3 did a number on MC’s great back Tyler Flick, holding him to 22 yards. With no Thanksgiving Day games in the district, Cedar Cliff calls it quits at 10-3. MC moves on to their 22nd finals appearance (!) for a rematch with fellow LL-2 member Cocalico, who they defeated 41-23 Sept 28th. The Eagles are here after pasting York High 61-35. They held York’s super back Dayjure Stewart to 138 yards, with Stewart becoming the 9th player in Pennsylvania history to go over 3000 yards in a season. Cocalico exploded for 33, 2nd half points, pounding the ball for a season high 474 yards rushing behind their massive line of Colin Hall 6-0 280, Brock Gingrich 6-3 275, Chase Ochs 6-2 240, Jose Hoover 6-0 230, Evan Dunn 6-6 230 and TE Ben Sola 6-1 190. Garrett Longenecker had 234 yards with qb Noah Palm getting 116 and 5 Tds.
District 12 champ vs District 2/6/8/10/11 champ
Archbishop Wood 8-3 vs Hollidaysburg 9-4….21.16 Archbishop Wood
Wood had no trouble with Simon Gratz, erupting for 22 first quarter points with a healthy Jack Colyar back under center in his second game since the injury. He threw for 158 yards and four touchdown. It was a balanced offense, getting 211 yards rushing, bolstered by an overwhelming defense that stymied Gratz, holding them to 18 yards rushing. Heck of a year for Coach Kyle Adkins in his first year and for the team in bouncing back from opening losses to McDonogh (Coylar inj’d) and Bergen Catholic that could have sunk a lesser team and staff. The win was also their third straight district title and tenth in the last eleven years. But the bigger prize is the quest for their third straight state title if they get past Hollidaysburg. The Golden Tigers shutdown Wallenpaupack (9-4) 31-0, frustrating the Buckhorns into 13 penalties for 140 yards, just short of their total yardage of 162 yards. The Tigers crafty quarterback Brady Walters had them guessing, rushing for 148 yards and 2 scores while completing 9 of 12 passes for 102 yards. Nate Fisher had 96 yards. The Tigers have been around. Not like Wood but they’ve played the big boys, losing to State College 49-22, Cedar Cliff 41-31 and Fort Hill-MD (11-0) 19-7. Both are road warriors so the trip to Hershey at Milton Hershey High shouldn’t influence.
District 7-WPIAL Final
Penn Hills 13-0 vs West Allegheny 10-2….9.65 Penn Hills
Terry “Tank” Smith’s touchdown with 3:32 left in the game iced Penn Hills comeback from a 14-0 deficit against Peters Township to pull out a 22-14 win in the WPIAL semifinal. Heck of a year for Peters ending 10-3. Qb Hollis Mathis threw for 138 yards (9/28?), two touchdowns and two picks while Tank Smith had 78 yards rushing. Dante Cephus caught five passes for 86 yards. West Allegheny engineered one of the shockers of the season stunning previously undefeated Gateway 42-28. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Gator Qb Brendan Majocha completed 21 of 31 for 338 yards but that was all they had as West Allegheny’s defense was suffocating, holding them to 46 yards rushing. Wow! West A rushed for 342 yards with Nico Flati getting 132 rushing and four touchdowns as Kam Kruze completed 6 of 10 passes for 144 yards and three scores. Renown coach Bob Palko who will retire at the end of the season gets at least one more game and a shot at another Wpial title. This is a nice comeback for both teams following decent but disappointing seasons. Penn Hills (8-4) lost to Central Catholic in two tight games and to North Allegeny and Pine Richland where they were handled, all on the road. West Allegheny went 7-3 with two 1 point losses and a 7 point loss. If defense wins games, this one goes to Penn Hills.
Power Ratings 6A
District 12 champ vs District 11 champ
St. Joseph’s Prep 10-0 vs Freedom 12-1….7.92 St. Joseph’s Prep
St. Joe’s breezed past Northeast 49-14 to win their 3rd straight District 12 championship, making short work of the PPL champ by racing out to a 28-7 halftime lead. Kyle McCord was awesome, completing 15 of 20 passes for 186 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Hawk defense had another dominant performance, holding their 8th consecutive opponent to two touchdowns or less. None have done more since St. Peter’s Prep and Our Lady of Good Counsel at the top of the season.
The Vikings will play Phila. Central Thanksgivng Day while the Hawks move on to play Freedom who also cruised to an easy win, disposing of a good Emmaus (11-2) team 49-17. Emmaus’s Ethan Parvel inflicted acceptable damage, completing 14 of 27 for 192 yards, with an active Freedom defense intercepting two, holding him to 32 yards rushing and the team to 68. Freedom rushed for 295 yards with Jalen Stewart getting 182 on 18 carries. Scoring 38ppg, Freedom will score points, but will it be enough and can they keep up with a Hawk team averaging 44 a game with a better defense?
District 7 champ vs District 2/4/6/8/10 champ
Pine Richland 10-2 vs State College 12-1….8.14 State College
Like St. Joe’s, Pine Richland has a special sophomore quarterback (again!) in Cole Spencer who completed 11 of 18 throws for two scores and 160 yards while rushing for 95 where he got another two touchdowns as the Rams defeated Seneca Valley (9-4) 34-7. Luke Meckler added 118 yards. The D also stood out, holding Seneca Valley to 48 yards rushing, in large part on the strength of three picks, one a Pick-6, and two fumbles recovered. The win secured their third WPIAL title in five years. They advance to play State College who had no trouble defeating Delaware Valley. The Lions scored almost every way possible when Dresyn Green went 63 yards for a touchdown on their first play, then added 63, 75 and 81 yard kickoff returns (!), a 52 yard Pick Six and a fumble recovered in the end zone as they hammered Delaware Valley 56-19. State has more weapons to throw at Pine and faced a tougher schedule but this still looks like a war. Both are well coached, suggesting it will be decided by aspects of the game that are always decisive; blown coverage, missed tackles, special teams/field position, etc.
District 1 Final
Coatesville 13-0 vs North Penn 13-0….27.52 Coatesville
Coatesville blew out to a 28-0 halftime lead on the strength of a power running game that produced 328 yards with Aaron Young leading the way, getting 228 yards on 20 carries. You know the O-Line is dominating with a stat like that! They threw 5 passes the entire game. Their defense also dominated coming away with a fumble recovery and two interceptions, one a Pick-6 as the big Coatesville offense rolled to a 42-7 win over previously undefeated Garnet Valley. Scary when you make a good team look bad. With no Thanksgiving Day game that ends it for the Jaguars (12-1) as Coatesville moves on to North Penn in the District Final-Quarterfinals. The Knights are in the district final for the third time in four years after beating Downingtown West 35-21 in a hard fought game at Kottmeyer. Weather influenced the game, being switched to Downingtown’s home field instead of a “home” game for North Penn at Wissahickon. Like Coatesville vs G-Val, it was a dominating performance by North Penn’s O-Line that sprung running back Shamar Edwards (5-9, 190, sr) for a record setting 318 yard performance and scoring three touchdowns. Hats off also to Downingtown (11-2) surviving the loss of Qb Will Howard week-6 by plugging in LB/TE Ryan Wetzel whose performance was stellar. The Coatesville-North Penn game is at Pennridge giving the Knights some advantage although Coatesville travels well. The power rating says Coatesville BIG, but stats don’t play football. And this one looks like a special encounter between two fine teams.
District 3 champ Harrisburg 12-1…bye
Harrisburg beat Central Dauphin last week 16-6 in another war the two are famous for (like SC-CV) and get a bye this week. To make it more fair for all and fun for participating schools, they need to expand the 8 team District-3 field to 12, with the top four getting byes. That would have roped in Dallastown, Cumberland Valley, CD East and Carlisle.
Power Ratings 5A
District 1 Final
Upper Dublin 11-1 vs Rustin 10-2….8.65 Upper Dublin
Upper Dublin halted Unionville’s late season surge, scoring on all four of their first half possessions in an easier than expected 40-7 win over the 11th seeded Indians. Following the 0-3 start, no one expected to see U-ville (6-7) here in the district semi. Nice job. Even fewer felt the Cardinals would be here in their second district final in four years. Maybe they snuck up on some of us but here they are with a 62-12 record the last five years! This is their best offense at 31ppg since the 14-1 district champ that scored 41 a game. The defense is solid as most have been over the years at 11ppg. They have not allowed over 18ppg year ending average in the last 6 years. The win advances them to play Rustin who defeated Penn Wood at Rustin’s field 10-8 on the strength of a Tommy Powers 32 yard field goal with 5: 16 left in the game. The game was supposed to be on Penn Wood’s grass field but had to be moved with the field essentially under water. Come on! You have to wonder how that field goal would have gone on a wet, sloppy field? The Patriots end the year at 11-2 with both losses coming against Rustin.
District 3 Final
Manheim Central 12-0 vs Cocalico 10-2….21.29 Manheim Central
Manheim Central defeated Cedar Cliff 42-20 in a battle royale where the Barons got three third quarter scores to pull away from the Colts with the score at 21-20 MC. It was quite a game with Cedar Cliff’s Qb Chris Dare going down in the first half, replaced by Bobby Whalen (128 rush yards). Jaheim Morris had 102 on 22 carries but Central had more. Qb Evan Simon went 7 of 19 for 239 yards throwing three touchdowns to two picks. The Colts 5-3 did a number on MC’s great back Tyler Flick, holding him to 22 yards. With no Thanksgiving Day games in the district, Cedar Cliff calls it quits at 10-3. MC moves on to their 22nd finals appearance (!) for a rematch with fellow LL-2 member Cocalico, who they defeated 41-23 Sept 28th. The Eagles are here after pasting York High 61-35. They held York’s super back Dayjure Stewart to 138 yards, with Stewart becoming the 9th player in Pennsylvania history to go over 3000 yards in a season. Cocalico exploded for 33, 2nd half points, pounding the ball for a season high 474 yards rushing behind their massive line of Colin Hall 6-0 280, Brock Gingrich 6-3 275, Chase Ochs 6-2 240, Jose Hoover 6-0 230, Evan Dunn 6-6 230 and TE Ben Sola 6-1 190. Garrett Longenecker had 234 yards with qb Noah Palm getting 116 and 5 Tds.
District 12 champ vs District 2/6/8/10/11 champ
Archbishop Wood 8-3 vs Hollidaysburg 9-4….21.16 Archbishop Wood
Wood had no trouble with Simon Gratz, erupting for 22 first quarter points with a healthy Jack Colyar back under center in his second game since the injury. He threw for 158 yards and four touchdown. It was a balanced offense, getting 211 yards rushing, bolstered by an overwhelming defense that stymied Gratz, holding them to 18 yards rushing. Heck of a year for Coach Kyle Adkins in his first year and for the team in bouncing back from opening losses to McDonogh (Coylar inj’d) and Bergen Catholic that could have sunk a lesser team and staff. The win was also their third straight district title and tenth in the last eleven years. But the bigger prize is the quest for their third straight state title if they get past Hollidaysburg. The Golden Tigers shutdown Wallenpaupack (9-4) 31-0, frustrating the Buckhorns into 13 penalties for 140 yards, just short of their total yardage of 162 yards. The Tigers crafty quarterback Brady Walters had them guessing, rushing for 148 yards and 2 scores while completing 9 of 12 passes for 102 yards. Nate Fisher had 96 yards. The Tigers have been around. Not like Wood but they’ve played the big boys, losing to State College 49-22, Cedar Cliff 41-31 and Fort Hill-MD (11-0) 19-7. Both are road warriors so the trip to Hershey at Milton Hershey High shouldn’t influence.
District 7-WPIAL Final
Penn Hills 13-0 vs West Allegheny 10-2….9.65 Penn Hills
Terry “Tank” Smith’s touchdown with 3:32 left in the game iced Penn Hills comeback from a 14-0 deficit against Peters Township to pull out a 22-14 win in the WPIAL semifinal. Heck of a year for Peters ending 10-3. Qb Hollis Mathis threw for 138 yards (9/28?), two touchdowns and two picks while Tank Smith had 78 yards rushing. Dante Cephus caught five passes for 86 yards. West Allegheny engineered one of the shockers of the season stunning previously undefeated Gateway 42-28. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Gator Qb Brendan Majocha completed 21 of 31 for 338 yards but that was all they had as West Allegheny’s defense was suffocating, holding them to 46 yards rushing. Wow! West A rushed for 342 yards with Nico Flati getting 132 rushing and four touchdowns as Kam Kruze completed 6 of 10 passes for 144 yards and three scores. Renown coach Bob Palko who will retire at the end of the season gets at least one more game and a shot at another Wpial title. This is a nice comeback for both teams following decent but disappointing seasons. Penn Hills (8-4) lost to Central Catholic in two tight games and to North Allegeny and Pine Richland where they were handled, all on the road. West Allegheny went 7-3 with two 1 point losses and a 7 point loss. If defense wins games, this one goes to Penn Hills.
Last edited:
