Just saw that SJP will be opening its season at St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) on ESPN on August 27.
SJP Opener
- Thread starter tulla
- Start date
There is a chance that we might be on ESPN this year as well. So does anyone know whats that like working with them. We have multiple D1 kids and there are several teams we play that also have multiple D1 kids
Sammy,
I have no inside knowledge, but my impression is that they like games that involve teams from different states and even, preferably, different regions.
That’d be great Sammy. Keep us posted. I’d love to check you guys out. Best of luck.
More information on SJP's schedule:
After St. Thomas Aquinas
This Prep team could be a great one but that's quite a line-up of opponents.
After St. Thomas Aquinas
- St. Peter's Prep at Rutgers
- Buford (many times Georgia state champion) at home (Franklin Field?)
- Gonzaga (in DC)
This Prep team could be a great one but that's quite a line-up of opponents.
It's to the point where playing a D1 school in a state semi-final will be a "middle of the road" opponent compared to that schedule. Who would have thought this 20 years ago?
A whole lot has changed, not just in relation to SJP, in the last 20 years,
Great strategy Roken/sjp is using. Take tough non league games that’ll be beneficial in the long run. I’ve seen another soph wr adding a few offers this wk. That would make 3 returning d1 wrs.
they'll lose all 4 of these games, and then easily win the PIAA
You obviously have little appreciation for PA high school football, especially for the WPIAL, to make that statement.
Can’t speak on all but they beat the zags convincingly last yr and with most starters returning I can’t see them not beating them again.
so because i think other teams might be better?
who in the WPIAL do you expect to beat the defending state runner ups who were only sophomores last year?
The Prep was hardly an all or even a mainly sophomore team last year. Only three of the guys (Shamir Johnson, Agard, and Richard) who played much time on defense were sophomores. They have lost Nelson, Daly, Nicholl, and Klick to graduation and Heard to transfer. On the O line they lost Harris and Treadway to graduation as well as Bunch, Barlow, Picoriello in the backfield. There were also several key juniors on defense (Trotter, Dumond, and Nilles) and offense (Garwood, DiTrolio, Cervantes, McMahon, and Woods). The kicker (Chadha) also graduated.
My point is that saying Prep was the "defending state runner ups" (a strange term) with a team of sophomores--and by implication that they are shoe-ins for state championships the next two years--is just wrong and seems to be a way of diminishing in advance whatever they achieve in the '22 and '23 state playoffs.
Just saw on Wink James's Twitter account that he is transferring, like Heard, to The Big Picture Learning Academy and will be playing for Camden High School. Welcome to the new world of high school football..
so who are you picking to be champ in 2022?
they were young last year and always seem to reload, they have been in the title game for most of the last decade, so who would you be confident picking over them?
who else would be preseason number 1?
I don't know enough about teams outside District 12 to say if any should be ranked ahead of SJP. My guess is that SJP would be #1 ahead of the season, but there are so many uncertainties. A few weeks ago I expected Heard to be the #2 player (after Trotter) on SJP's defense and James anchor the D-Line (along with Heard). Now both are gone. Much will depend on who is wearing the jersey once games begin and who's healthy in the postseason.
As for competition in the PCL, I'm not sold on Roman (who will be in 5A in any case). LaSalle is always a big-time rival and they have a pretty good group of guys returning. The PPL champ has only occasionally been competitive with the PCL champ but Northeast (which just got a couple of good transfers from Wood) could raise the level of their game.
Bethlehem Freedom was quite competitive against the Prep. Do they return much? Next year the District 12 winner will have to travel to District 11 to play its champion.
I will give D11 credit for one thing, BASD Stadium is the best HS venue in eastern PA, bar none!
The big losses for Freedom are Braelin Moore, their All State defensive end who is headed to Virginia Tech (he was a 3-year starter at offensive and defensive line). They also lose EPC Offensive Player of the Year Deonte Crawford, their running back who I think is East Stroudsburg bound. Juan Feliciano was an All Conference lineman going both ways who is also going to East Stroudsburg. They also graduate their quarterback.
Returning is their whole secondary, three of whom were all league kids, and two all league linebackers. They also bring back their top three receivers, though one of them will play quarterback next year (he started as a sophomore at QB when Taylor was ineligible and is like 6’4 215). Colin Lutz at right tackle (will probably flip sides and replace Moore at LT though) is an FCS level kid (6’5 280) is the big guy back on the O-line. Tristan Wheeler’s “little” brother Tanner is a sophomore and I’d assume gets snaps on the D-line vacated by Moore (he’s 6’5 250 and his brother is an FCS All American and national defensive player of the year finalist, so I’m assuming through genetics he’s good). They also had a freshman offensive lineman last year who was like 6’3 220 as a ninth grader, I’m assuming he’s filled out even more and will be more of a force. The big hope they have is at running back, where Crawford ran for 1,600 yards and was All State, and there does not seem to be an obvious replacement (or at least one I know about). Freedom is also a really well run program, longtime readers know I respect the hell out of Jason Roeder, who will fit his pieces together nicely.
I’d assume they’re the favorites in D11, though Emmaus gets back their quarterback who tore his ACL last year, and Nazareth brings back 2,000 yard passer Sonny Sasso under center (assuming Penn State, Ohio State, or Virginia Tech’s wrestling coaches don’t ask him to stop playing football when he gives his wrestling commit). Sasso would be a Patriot League type football recruit at QB, but is a 5 star prospect as a wrestler if such things exist. Freedom is probably the favorite, but those are the next two contenders. But I don’t anticipate any big, FBS talents in D11 next year.
That's a bold statement BP! Why do you think they'll lose 'all 4'....then 'easily win the PIAA?'
SJP is that bad this year going up against other well respected teams? If so, how is it they'll easily win states which is to say no other school out there has a good team.
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tulla, who does District 1 winner play before the Eastern championship game ? District 3 ?
It's the lopsidedness of PA high school football. District One has so many more large schools than all the other districts on the eastern side of the state. That includes District Three which has the second highest (though I know most would not for a moment consider D3 as in the eastern part of the state). I'm curious why none of the big schools in District Two (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, or Delaware Valley) ever does much. It's not as if the area doesn't have a strong football tradition going all the way back to the Blakely Bears.
Just a couple of years ago the PCL had Roman, Judge, SJP, and LaSalle all in 6A. Now it's just the latter two. In the PPL Northeast has more than double the number of boys as any other school. George Washington had good teams 15 or so years ago. What happened?
As many have noted, the six classifications make no sense when it comes to basketball--at least in SE PA where, because of all the transferring and absence of boundaries (in many cases) a really small school like West Catholic (2A) is really not at any particular disadvantage when playing against a much larger school like SJP, LaSalle, or any 6A school in District One.
just because they might lose to out of state powerhouses that are often essentially college teams playing high school football doesn't mean St. Joe's is a bad team, or that the teams in PA are bad
who are you confident can beat them in PA? Mt. Lebanon graduated most of their team, they said St Joes was easily the best team they played last year
St. Joes is bringing back most of their team right so they should be better than last year
i don't understand why me saying they should win the state title but possibly lose to out of state "high school" teams is so controversial, there has been a few times they lost out of state games and then easily won the PIAA
i remember in 2013 not knowing much about them, they had 3 losses to out of state schools and then they easily beat an undefeated Central Catholic team
Central Catholic was ahead in that game at the half. I know the final score looked lopsided. The PCC coach showed amazing stubbornness in sticking with a game plan that stopped working in the second half.
Also in 2013 SJP beat Frankford by three points in the District 12 championship and had a very close game against Neshaminy in the state semifinal. That game turned on a 99-yard fumble recovery TD mid-way through the 3rd quarter. And SJP not only lost some out-of-state games that year but also lost to Ryan and Malvern and had two very close wins over LaSalle.
I could go through all the subsequent years when, except for 2020 (a very odd year because of Covid), they never simply rolled over all their in-state competition.
Looking across 6A, I’d make SJP the pre-season favorite to win the state championship. I don’t know if they’ll win it “easily” like others suggest, but they’d be my pick for number 1. That’s remarkable considering they lost two Divsion 1 players this offseason. Most boundary schools don’t have two D1 players in a class; but, if they lost them in an offseason, they’d be in serious trouble. I’m confident they would not be a favorite to with the state championship. SJPs ability to reload is striking. (Note: this isn’t to stir up an argument about boundary v. non-boundary. It’s simply an observation).
Well put BP. But I have to argue Buford, St. Peters and Zaga in no way fit your characterization as essentially being (often) college FB teams playing HS teams. STA maybe.
I’m not sure who can hang with the Hawks as its WAY too early. Right now SJP is a favorite but things change in a heartbeat as you know per recent transfers. And Northeast got some transfers that can transfigure while LaSalle returns impact players in Rb Stevie Davis, DL/DE Darold Dengohe and WR Ryan Sorge. Looked good against McDevitt!
As a D3 guy, you know where I’m looking and there are teams of interest to look at this season as always; Harrisburg and Manheim Township specifically. But who knows what emerges as the season developes. Harrisburg has a lot of young talent up and a school you never hear anything about, 2A Trinity, has a freshman Texas A&M has offered. Hasn’t played a varsity down. You never know what’s lurking!
According to SJP’s Twitter
They’ll return their Qb w/ several d1 offer
4 Wrs w/ d1 offers
2 rbs w/d1 offers
TE
3 linemen not including the freshmen who won the state HW title in wrestling.
2 Dbs w/ several d1 offers but return all but 1
3 lbs w/ several d1 offers
Biggest hit is their dline which lost the 2 transfers recently and 2 to graduation.
They’ll return their Qb w/ several d1 offer
4 Wrs w/ d1 offers
2 rbs w/d1 offers
TE
3 linemen not including the freshmen who won the state HW title in wrestling.
2 Dbs w/ several d1 offers but return all but 1
3 lbs w/ several d1 offers
Biggest hit is their dline which lost the 2 transfers recently and 2 to graduation.
Looks good! The offense looks to have real potential to be more explosive than last year's anemic offense, anemic by SJP standards with a season ending 31ppg average, their lowest since 2013. That should give the D time to mature........or simply outscore opponents. That's quite a quarterback you have there. And I'm sure a school like SJP can find a few DLs. Even here, an experienced back end of vet LBs and DBs will give the front end a lift.
* STA; nice 'reveal' right up front. I don't think people should sell the Hawks short just because it's big bad Aquinas! This is a big deal for STA too with Hawks having 'street cred' even in sunny Florida. BIG game for both.
* St. Peter's Prep; look set for a breakout season with decent returns both sides but beatable if last year's schedule means anything. Playing at “neutral” site Rutgers is ‘advantage SPP’ who play there a few times a year early in season.
* Buford; bunch of athletes but may catch them wide eyed at Franklin coming off severe opener vs North Cobb (10-2), another GA power looking for some after last year’s 35-27 loss.
* Gonzaga; these guys are also looking for payback but with a group that got it handed to them last year. Same/similar personnel this year for both suggests similar results but with a stiffer test from the Zags.
LOL who in Pa can compete with this?
spoiler alert: St Joes is going to win another state title in 2022
Mt. Lebanon should thank God they played them when they were young, timing is everything in life and they had the perfect timing to be state champs, better teams weren't so lucky
If you don't mind me asking, who is the freshman who won the state HW title in wrestling? Like, was the PJW state champ as an 8th grader? Because that kid lives out by Clearfield - that'd be a hell of a transfer. Or are they getting the Boyertown kid who won 212?
In actual high school, Sean Kinney from Nazareth won states as a sophomore in 3A, I'm pretty sure he's not transfering to SJP - he's a top 5 heavyweight in the country and wouldn't leave one of the best wrestling programs in America. The 2A state champ was Riley Robell, who has a bunch of FBS football offers, but he goes to Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg and is a rising senior.
Let's see who's in uniform in September and then at playoff time.
As far as I can tell, none of the guys on either the O-Line or the D-line have D1 offers. In fact, the D-Line, without Heard and James, will be very inexperienced. Also, I think Trotter is the only LB with several D1 offers. Nilles has one--Air Force. I see that Turner has an offer from BC, but I don't think he's played in one varsity game. Clearly D1 offers aren't the same as they used to be.
