Thought I'd get the ball rolling on this topic.
In retrospect predictions or expectations that this year's Prep team would be close in quality to those of the last several seem quite unfounded and probably unfair to this year's players and coaches. Pretty much as a rule, the fate of high school teams depends largely on senior leadership and this year's Prep senior class happened to follow an extraordinarily talented senior class last year--not just the big names everyone knows (McCord, Harrison, Cooper, Hagans, and Trotter) but guys like Yagodich, Talley, Atkins, Fisher, Rooney, Nesbitt, etc. Last year the Prep was able to play only six games--and the JV and freshman teams only two or three each--so there weren't many underclassmen who got much game experience at any level--something that may have been evident in the second half of the Souderton game. Take away the only returning receiver with significant varsity experience (Clark, who seems to have left the school) and the guy expected to be their main running back and kick returner (Barlow, who seems to have been injured for all but three games), and you have an offense with only three returning starters (all interior linemen) and skill players with a handful of freshman or JV games as their experience.
The defense is more experienced, but I count six or seven starters who weren't starters last year.
The main unknown--to me at least--in the last two weeks is the reason for Samaj Jones not playing in the last two games. His name was scarcely mentioned in either Prep broadcast, odd since he was so much the focus of the offense. The team is under no obligation to disclose the status of any player, especially a 15-year old starting QB, but it all seems a little strange. Who would have thought a couple of months ago that Judge would be on the Prep's two yard line and a chance to tie the game with a TD and a two-point conversion in the game's last minute? I get it that the weather was awful, a factor that can even up teams quite a bit, but still ... The Judge QB was able to gain an awful lot of yardage against a Prep defense that knew he wasn't going to throw the ball. And against Wood the Prep's run game was almost completely shut down, at least in the first three quarters. Is there a key injury or two?
I watched about half of the LaSalle-Roman game and thought LaSalle looked very sound with a varied offense and a defense that had obviously fixed what needed fixing from the first Roman game. After LaSalle scored its second TD, it looked to me that Roman lost heart. They have a very big offensive line but couldn't protect the QB. The quickness and skill of the LaSalle defense of course had a lot to do with that.
As a Prep guy used to their being heavy favourites in PCL finals, I'm kind of glad some of the pressure is off the team and they can enjoy the advantage of being underdogs. Since I don't know if Samaj Jones can play or, if he can, what shape he'll be in, I won't make a prediction--especially since the game could be played on a wet field. My hunch is that the Prep defense has a very good game and the final score is close.
In retrospect predictions or expectations that this year's Prep team would be close in quality to those of the last several seem quite unfounded and probably unfair to this year's players and coaches. Pretty much as a rule, the fate of high school teams depends largely on senior leadership and this year's Prep senior class happened to follow an extraordinarily talented senior class last year--not just the big names everyone knows (McCord, Harrison, Cooper, Hagans, and Trotter) but guys like Yagodich, Talley, Atkins, Fisher, Rooney, Nesbitt, etc. Last year the Prep was able to play only six games--and the JV and freshman teams only two or three each--so there weren't many underclassmen who got much game experience at any level--something that may have been evident in the second half of the Souderton game. Take away the only returning receiver with significant varsity experience (Clark, who seems to have left the school) and the guy expected to be their main running back and kick returner (Barlow, who seems to have been injured for all but three games), and you have an offense with only three returning starters (all interior linemen) and skill players with a handful of freshman or JV games as their experience.
The defense is more experienced, but I count six or seven starters who weren't starters last year.
The main unknown--to me at least--in the last two weeks is the reason for Samaj Jones not playing in the last two games. His name was scarcely mentioned in either Prep broadcast, odd since he was so much the focus of the offense. The team is under no obligation to disclose the status of any player, especially a 15-year old starting QB, but it all seems a little strange. Who would have thought a couple of months ago that Judge would be on the Prep's two yard line and a chance to tie the game with a TD and a two-point conversion in the game's last minute? I get it that the weather was awful, a factor that can even up teams quite a bit, but still ... The Judge QB was able to gain an awful lot of yardage against a Prep defense that knew he wasn't going to throw the ball. And against Wood the Prep's run game was almost completely shut down, at least in the first three quarters. Is there a key injury or two?
I watched about half of the LaSalle-Roman game and thought LaSalle looked very sound with a varied offense and a defense that had obviously fixed what needed fixing from the first Roman game. After LaSalle scored its second TD, it looked to me that Roman lost heart. They have a very big offensive line but couldn't protect the QB. The quickness and skill of the LaSalle defense of course had a lot to do with that.
As a Prep guy used to their being heavy favourites in PCL finals, I'm kind of glad some of the pressure is off the team and they can enjoy the advantage of being underdogs. Since I don't know if Samaj Jones can play or, if he can, what shape he'll be in, I won't make a prediction--especially since the game could be played on a wet field. My hunch is that the Prep defense has a very good game and the final score is close.
Last edited:
