11 LaSalle 7-4, D12; The Explorers showed their mettle early in the season beating North Penn 41-28. From thereon it was rough sailing against the quality teams on the schedule losing to McDonogh-MD 21-9, St. Joseph’s 28-14 and Archbishop Wood in the regular season 31-17 before falling to St. Joe’s again in the Catholic League Red Final 17-3. Got a bad bit of luck early on losing Qb Isaiah Jones to injury for the year then Danny Solecki for the final against St. Joe’s. He really came through for them completing 63% of his passes for 1485 yards in 9 starts. Bad break but a game effort by the Explorers.
12 North Penn 9-3, D1; Here’s the SOL-Continental champ who got to 9 wins despite one of the more difficult schedules in the state and wholesale graduation losses. Good luck finding another team who opened the season with a more difficult slate facing consecutive road games at LaSalle, Downingtown East, Pennsbury, CB West and Pennridge. Uncharacteristically, defense was their Achilles Heel allowing 27ppg, the highest year ending average by them in over 20 years. We saw this at the top of the season losing to LaSalle 41-28 then Dtown East 61-44 before the 2nd half flame out at Garnet Valley last week where they could not hold a 35-7 lead, allowing 28 unanswered points in a 36-35 loss. But congrats to the players and coaches in another successful rebuild and season.
13 North Allegheny 8-4, D7; NA was rolling along at 7-2 before running into the buzz saw that is Pine Richland, losing at home 48-28 then beating Mount Lebanon handily, 38-14 at Lebo. Round 2 of the Wpial saw them again matched with Penn Richland who brought the curtain down on their season with a resounding 49-25 defeat.
14 Pennsbury 10-2, D1; The Falcons are the SOL-National runner up to Neshaminy with tight losses to North Penn 29-20 and the Skins 21-20. Otherwise they’ve put together a strong season with dominating playoff wins as the 8th seed against Central Bucks South 17-0 and Neshaminy in the rematch, 36-17. This week sees them on the road at 4th seeded Coatesville for a major challenge. Regardless of the outcome, it’s been a successful year bouncing back from last year’s dismal 5-5 season.
15 Pennridge 10-2, D1; The Rams are on a 7 game run as the 7th seed and SOL-Continental runner up to North Penn, lighting things up since early season losses to Neshaminy and North Penn. They’ll need to bring it this week as well at Garnet Valley after shutting out rival Quakertown 24-0 and Perkiomen Valley 25-0. At 13ppg yield, the D is a thing of beauty and match for G-Val. Could be a classic with the Rams maybe a slight underrate with that defense and an offense scoring 29ppg.
16 Neshaminy 10-2, D1; Beat 16th seeded Spring Ford 42-21 then lost to their old rival Pennsbury 36-17 (8th seed) in the 2nd round. Ok, disappointing at the end for a 1-seed but a bright future after a nice run and rebuild with a young group winning the SOL-National. Defeated teams like Pennridge and Pennsbury who are still playing so the talent is there. As always, keep an eye on them for next season.
17 Penn Hills 8-4, D7; Nice run by Penn Hills especially with the 30-28 upset of 2nd seeded Bethel Park in the Wpial opener. Aside from the Bethel win, they couldn’t hang with the big boys, losing to Pine Richland 43-6, North Allegheny 27-16 and Central Catholic in the regular season 21-0 and again last week 17-8. Still, it was a great rebound from last year’s 4-6 team.
18 Delaware Valley 12-0, D2; District 2 is having another strong year with all classifications represented and still playing in the postseason. 5A historic power Wyoming Valley West (6-6) got hot at the end winning 4 straight but are now at Whitehall (9-3); 4A storied Berwick (10-2) is home to fellow D2 Valley View (9-3, should be a good one!); 3A Scranton Prep (12-0) is at Williamsport taking on another historic power Loyalsock (8-4), while super historic power Dunmore (12-0) is in Harrisburg (Susquehanna HS) playing the Buffaloes of Newport (10-1), Bucks and Bufs!; Old Forge (11-1) is at Lehighton playing Williams Valley (12-0) while 6A Delaware Valley is in Danville to play State College (9-2) in the 6A Classification with the winner getting the Pine Richland-Central Catholic winner. Things happen but DV needs to bring it big time with nothing close on the schedule to match State High’s speed, experience and talent. SC should be focused after last year’s upset by Williamsport.
19 Wilson (West Lawn) 8-3, D3; After dominating the Lancaster Lebanon-Section One with 10 consecutive titles, mighty Wilson took a back seat to Lancaster rival Manheim Township who beat them convincingly, 38-14. Senior quarterback Connor Uhrig, record setting running back Iggy Reynoso (Buck Cty all time) and a hardened veteran playoff coach in Doug Dahms will make it a game. Let’s see if the Streaks can man up in the big role as favorite at home in a playoff game.
20 Hempfield 8-3, D3; How about the Black Knights, getting their act together later in the season. Pretty exciting team scoring 30ppg and allowing 28 but it makes for an entertaining game. Let’s see how they do against Cumberland Valley who will try to give them a bloody nose early then wear them out with 4 to 5 backs pounding away with their Wing-T.
Honorable Mention
Freedom 7-5
Northeast 7-2
Perkiomen Valley 10-2
Central Bucks South 7-4
Haverford Township 8-3
Unionville 12-1
Peters Township 7-4
Penn Hills 8-4
Bethel Park 8-2
Central Dauphin 6-5
Dallastown 8-3
12 North Penn 9-3, D1; Here’s the SOL-Continental champ who got to 9 wins despite one of the more difficult schedules in the state and wholesale graduation losses. Good luck finding another team who opened the season with a more difficult slate facing consecutive road games at LaSalle, Downingtown East, Pennsbury, CB West and Pennridge. Uncharacteristically, defense was their Achilles Heel allowing 27ppg, the highest year ending average by them in over 20 years. We saw this at the top of the season losing to LaSalle 41-28 then Dtown East 61-44 before the 2nd half flame out at Garnet Valley last week where they could not hold a 35-7 lead, allowing 28 unanswered points in a 36-35 loss. But congrats to the players and coaches in another successful rebuild and season.
13 North Allegheny 8-4, D7; NA was rolling along at 7-2 before running into the buzz saw that is Pine Richland, losing at home 48-28 then beating Mount Lebanon handily, 38-14 at Lebo. Round 2 of the Wpial saw them again matched with Penn Richland who brought the curtain down on their season with a resounding 49-25 defeat.
14 Pennsbury 10-2, D1; The Falcons are the SOL-National runner up to Neshaminy with tight losses to North Penn 29-20 and the Skins 21-20. Otherwise they’ve put together a strong season with dominating playoff wins as the 8th seed against Central Bucks South 17-0 and Neshaminy in the rematch, 36-17. This week sees them on the road at 4th seeded Coatesville for a major challenge. Regardless of the outcome, it’s been a successful year bouncing back from last year’s dismal 5-5 season.
15 Pennridge 10-2, D1; The Rams are on a 7 game run as the 7th seed and SOL-Continental runner up to North Penn, lighting things up since early season losses to Neshaminy and North Penn. They’ll need to bring it this week as well at Garnet Valley after shutting out rival Quakertown 24-0 and Perkiomen Valley 25-0. At 13ppg yield, the D is a thing of beauty and match for G-Val. Could be a classic with the Rams maybe a slight underrate with that defense and an offense scoring 29ppg.
16 Neshaminy 10-2, D1; Beat 16th seeded Spring Ford 42-21 then lost to their old rival Pennsbury 36-17 (8th seed) in the 2nd round. Ok, disappointing at the end for a 1-seed but a bright future after a nice run and rebuild with a young group winning the SOL-National. Defeated teams like Pennridge and Pennsbury who are still playing so the talent is there. As always, keep an eye on them for next season.
17 Penn Hills 8-4, D7; Nice run by Penn Hills especially with the 30-28 upset of 2nd seeded Bethel Park in the Wpial opener. Aside from the Bethel win, they couldn’t hang with the big boys, losing to Pine Richland 43-6, North Allegheny 27-16 and Central Catholic in the regular season 21-0 and again last week 17-8. Still, it was a great rebound from last year’s 4-6 team.
18 Delaware Valley 12-0, D2; District 2 is having another strong year with all classifications represented and still playing in the postseason. 5A historic power Wyoming Valley West (6-6) got hot at the end winning 4 straight but are now at Whitehall (9-3); 4A storied Berwick (10-2) is home to fellow D2 Valley View (9-3, should be a good one!); 3A Scranton Prep (12-0) is at Williamsport taking on another historic power Loyalsock (8-4), while super historic power Dunmore (12-0) is in Harrisburg (Susquehanna HS) playing the Buffaloes of Newport (10-1), Bucks and Bufs!; Old Forge (11-1) is at Lehighton playing Williams Valley (12-0) while 6A Delaware Valley is in Danville to play State College (9-2) in the 6A Classification with the winner getting the Pine Richland-Central Catholic winner. Things happen but DV needs to bring it big time with nothing close on the schedule to match State High’s speed, experience and talent. SC should be focused after last year’s upset by Williamsport.
19 Wilson (West Lawn) 8-3, D3; After dominating the Lancaster Lebanon-Section One with 10 consecutive titles, mighty Wilson took a back seat to Lancaster rival Manheim Township who beat them convincingly, 38-14. Senior quarterback Connor Uhrig, record setting running back Iggy Reynoso (Buck Cty all time) and a hardened veteran playoff coach in Doug Dahms will make it a game. Let’s see if the Streaks can man up in the big role as favorite at home in a playoff game.
20 Hempfield 8-3, D3; How about the Black Knights, getting their act together later in the season. Pretty exciting team scoring 30ppg and allowing 28 but it makes for an entertaining game. Let’s see how they do against Cumberland Valley who will try to give them a bloody nose early then wear them out with 4 to 5 backs pounding away with their Wing-T.
Honorable Mention
Freedom 7-5
Northeast 7-2
Perkiomen Valley 10-2
Central Bucks South 7-4
Haverford Township 8-3
Unionville 12-1
Peters Township 7-4
Penn Hills 8-4
Bethel Park 8-2
Central Dauphin 6-5
Dallastown 8-3
