Teams presently on a run, having won at least 4 straight. There are some new ones of course and some that dropped off.
--------AAAAAA unless otherwise noted.
D11
Pleasant Valley 6A 7-1; The Bears had another fun game to go along with a season loaded with them beating East Stroudsburg North 66-26 after beating Dieruff 62-20 the week before. They laid 27 on Allentown Central Catholic in their only loss of the season and sure look like an “upset special” group come playoff time.
Allentown Central Catholic 4A 7-1; Here’s the team that beat Pleasant Valley 7 weeks ago 38-27. Since then they’ve run off 6 straight by an average score of 55-19. Allen is next, then Beca!
Bethlehem Catholic 4A 7-1; The Hawks face probably the best 4-4 team in the state who never goes down without a fight, particularly on the road where they’ve scored 35 and 28 in losing causes at Emmaus and Whitehall respectively. Buckle up Beca.
Pottsville 4A 7-1; The Crimson Tide is getting it down with a veteran quarterback, a lot of skill from last year, a rebuilt line and a veteran quick defense (little size anywhere) that’s able to keep it tight with all but the most athletic, eg, Harrisburg, where they suffered a 32-7 loss. Jim Thorpe is next then North Schuylkill, both at 5-3. The Tide is looking good knowing they are coming off a 2-8 season, sitting on top of the Schuylkill FB League Div-1, a game ahead of Blue Mountain and North Schuylkill.
Pen Argyl 3A 6-2; Great win by the Green Knights beating previously unbeaten Notre Dame convincingly last week, 35-14, to move up in the Colonial a game behind the leaders at 6-2, tied with Southern Lehigh. Notre Dame’s loss dropped them into a first place tie with last year’s titleist Saucon Valley who they play this weekend. Meanwhile Pen Argyl tries to maintain things at Palisades giving us another Streaker vs Streaker.
Palisades 3A 6-2; The Pirates are 6-2 overall and 5-2 in conference making this a decisive weekend in the Colonial with the games mentioned above, Saucon Valley at Notre Dame and Pen Argyl at Palisades.
Schuylkill Haven 2A 8-0; The Hurricanes are going to be a super tough out having defeated decent Triple-A’s Jim Thorpe and Lehighton. They’re not at Southern Columbia’s level ((few are) but are destroying other Double-A comp by an average score of 59 to 2. You’ll get a suggestion where Haven stands verses the likes of Southern, Dunmore, Wellsboro types in two weeks after the game with Blue Mountain (AAAA, 6-2).
Williams Valley 1A 7-1; Except for the loss to another Tri Val Conf foe Juniate (3A, 6-2) who almost upset undefeated Newport two weeks ago, they’d be undefeated themselves. They’re at Tri-Valley High (7-1) this week to see who stays a game behind Newport.
Tri Valley 1A 7-1; The Bulldogs (5-1 in-conf) are also streaking like Williams Valley (6-1) with 6 straight so something has to give between the two, with the winner as mentioned above staying a game behind Newport (8-0, 7-0) in the highly competitive Tri Valley Conference, (Juniata, Line Mountain 5-2).
D12
St. Joseph’s Prep 6-0; After opening the season in Mission Viejo against Oaks Christian then the game with Don Bosco Prep, I wonder if the Hawks are just bored!? Pretty heady stuff beating those two. They can’t be bored this week against LaSalle who is good enough to beat them, breaking the tie atop the PCL-Red with both presently 4-0. Here’s a scenario. The following week sees Wood catching the Explorers “down” after upsetting SJP and beats them to create a 3-way tie in the Red. Goodness!
Philadelphia Central 7-0; The curtain comes down on the regular season for the Lancers this week in a game against 1-6 South Philly where they should get a early lead then rest the troops for the postseason.
Imhotep 4A 7-0; Imhotep closes out the regular season against a Delaware Valley Charter group that sports a winning record at 5-3. Probably all you need to know about DVC is their loss to Haverford School, 43-6. ICS might equal that score by halftime. If I did the math right Imhotep has the second longest winning streak in the state at 22 behind Southern Columbia and Bishop Guilfoyle at 24.
Cardinal O’Hara 4A 7-0; Thought Egan might take this one but the Lions of Cardinal O’Hara prevailed for a nice 16-13 road win, benefiting on a 2-pt safety with 19 seconds left on the clock. Otherwise, the CE line, holder or kicker would have been stuck with the memory of a blocked extra kick. How about O’Hara, bouncing back from a 1-9 campaign last season? Too bad Imhotep is in the area; otherwise the Lions might have made a nice run in states.
LaSalle 5-2; Here’s another Streaker making the list after running off 4 straight against Carroll, Ryan, Judge and Roman. Doesn’t LaSalle seem like the quietest 5-2 team in the area despite being tied with St. Joseph’s (3-0) atop the PCL-Red? Early losses to North Penn and Malvern Prep didn’t help but that was a long time ago. Anyway, the rebuilt offense (egs….OL and QB) has evidently gone well with the returning skill supported by many starters and subs returning to make the defense a team strength at 14ppg. At 30ppg, the offense isn’t all that bad either. Everyone remembers last year’s games where St. Joe’s won the regular season game 49-24 with the Explorers then winning the PCL-AAAA Final 29-28….in the last 48 seconds.
Archbishop Wood 5A 4-2; Wood makes their initial appearance on the list after beating the same foursome LaSalle did, Roman, Ryan, Judge and Carroll. Up next is Upper Darby at 4-4 on a 3 game winning streak of teams (Stoga, Radnor , Lower Merion) with a combined won-loss of 6-17. Wood is all about LaSalle this week, pulling for their upset of SJP in hopes of returning the favor against the Explorers the following week giving us a 3-way tie in the Red Dvision.
John Bartram High 4A 6-1; How about Bartram, winning their sixth game in a row by defeating previously undefeated Boys Latin 30-22. Both are AAAA teams so look for a close one in the rematch after JB takes care of business against Olney this week.
Northeast 5-1; Philly Northeast also joins the list of streakers after winning their last 4 against Prep Charter, Gratz, Olney and West Philly by an average score of 45-13. The next opponent, Frankford at 3-5 looks like a cupcake but shouldn’t be taken lightly having been tested in games against Pennsbury, Perkiomen Valley, Central and Imhotep. Northeast won’t shake em up.
Benjamin Franklin 5A 6-2; Good ole Ben joins the list as well this week after beating GW, South Philly, MLK and Mastery Charter. To get a fix on them, the losses were to Imhotep 48-0 and Central 50-12. The postseason is next.
--------AAAAAA unless otherwise noted.
D11
Pleasant Valley 6A 7-1; The Bears had another fun game to go along with a season loaded with them beating East Stroudsburg North 66-26 after beating Dieruff 62-20 the week before. They laid 27 on Allentown Central Catholic in their only loss of the season and sure look like an “upset special” group come playoff time.
Allentown Central Catholic 4A 7-1; Here’s the team that beat Pleasant Valley 7 weeks ago 38-27. Since then they’ve run off 6 straight by an average score of 55-19. Allen is next, then Beca!
Bethlehem Catholic 4A 7-1; The Hawks face probably the best 4-4 team in the state who never goes down without a fight, particularly on the road where they’ve scored 35 and 28 in losing causes at Emmaus and Whitehall respectively. Buckle up Beca.
Pottsville 4A 7-1; The Crimson Tide is getting it down with a veteran quarterback, a lot of skill from last year, a rebuilt line and a veteran quick defense (little size anywhere) that’s able to keep it tight with all but the most athletic, eg, Harrisburg, where they suffered a 32-7 loss. Jim Thorpe is next then North Schuylkill, both at 5-3. The Tide is looking good knowing they are coming off a 2-8 season, sitting on top of the Schuylkill FB League Div-1, a game ahead of Blue Mountain and North Schuylkill.
Pen Argyl 3A 6-2; Great win by the Green Knights beating previously unbeaten Notre Dame convincingly last week, 35-14, to move up in the Colonial a game behind the leaders at 6-2, tied with Southern Lehigh. Notre Dame’s loss dropped them into a first place tie with last year’s titleist Saucon Valley who they play this weekend. Meanwhile Pen Argyl tries to maintain things at Palisades giving us another Streaker vs Streaker.
Palisades 3A 6-2; The Pirates are 6-2 overall and 5-2 in conference making this a decisive weekend in the Colonial with the games mentioned above, Saucon Valley at Notre Dame and Pen Argyl at Palisades.
Schuylkill Haven 2A 8-0; The Hurricanes are going to be a super tough out having defeated decent Triple-A’s Jim Thorpe and Lehighton. They’re not at Southern Columbia’s level ((few are) but are destroying other Double-A comp by an average score of 59 to 2. You’ll get a suggestion where Haven stands verses the likes of Southern, Dunmore, Wellsboro types in two weeks after the game with Blue Mountain (AAAA, 6-2).
Williams Valley 1A 7-1; Except for the loss to another Tri Val Conf foe Juniate (3A, 6-2) who almost upset undefeated Newport two weeks ago, they’d be undefeated themselves. They’re at Tri-Valley High (7-1) this week to see who stays a game behind Newport.
Tri Valley 1A 7-1; The Bulldogs (5-1 in-conf) are also streaking like Williams Valley (6-1) with 6 straight so something has to give between the two, with the winner as mentioned above staying a game behind Newport (8-0, 7-0) in the highly competitive Tri Valley Conference, (Juniata, Line Mountain 5-2).
D12
St. Joseph’s Prep 6-0; After opening the season in Mission Viejo against Oaks Christian then the game with Don Bosco Prep, I wonder if the Hawks are just bored!? Pretty heady stuff beating those two. They can’t be bored this week against LaSalle who is good enough to beat them, breaking the tie atop the PCL-Red with both presently 4-0. Here’s a scenario. The following week sees Wood catching the Explorers “down” after upsetting SJP and beats them to create a 3-way tie in the Red. Goodness!
Philadelphia Central 7-0; The curtain comes down on the regular season for the Lancers this week in a game against 1-6 South Philly where they should get a early lead then rest the troops for the postseason.
Imhotep 4A 7-0; Imhotep closes out the regular season against a Delaware Valley Charter group that sports a winning record at 5-3. Probably all you need to know about DVC is their loss to Haverford School, 43-6. ICS might equal that score by halftime. If I did the math right Imhotep has the second longest winning streak in the state at 22 behind Southern Columbia and Bishop Guilfoyle at 24.
Cardinal O’Hara 4A 7-0; Thought Egan might take this one but the Lions of Cardinal O’Hara prevailed for a nice 16-13 road win, benefiting on a 2-pt safety with 19 seconds left on the clock. Otherwise, the CE line, holder or kicker would have been stuck with the memory of a blocked extra kick. How about O’Hara, bouncing back from a 1-9 campaign last season? Too bad Imhotep is in the area; otherwise the Lions might have made a nice run in states.
LaSalle 5-2; Here’s another Streaker making the list after running off 4 straight against Carroll, Ryan, Judge and Roman. Doesn’t LaSalle seem like the quietest 5-2 team in the area despite being tied with St. Joseph’s (3-0) atop the PCL-Red? Early losses to North Penn and Malvern Prep didn’t help but that was a long time ago. Anyway, the rebuilt offense (egs….OL and QB) has evidently gone well with the returning skill supported by many starters and subs returning to make the defense a team strength at 14ppg. At 30ppg, the offense isn’t all that bad either. Everyone remembers last year’s games where St. Joe’s won the regular season game 49-24 with the Explorers then winning the PCL-AAAA Final 29-28….in the last 48 seconds.
Archbishop Wood 5A 4-2; Wood makes their initial appearance on the list after beating the same foursome LaSalle did, Roman, Ryan, Judge and Carroll. Up next is Upper Darby at 4-4 on a 3 game winning streak of teams (Stoga, Radnor , Lower Merion) with a combined won-loss of 6-17. Wood is all about LaSalle this week, pulling for their upset of SJP in hopes of returning the favor against the Explorers the following week giving us a 3-way tie in the Red Dvision.
John Bartram High 4A 6-1; How about Bartram, winning their sixth game in a row by defeating previously undefeated Boys Latin 30-22. Both are AAAA teams so look for a close one in the rematch after JB takes care of business against Olney this week.
Northeast 5-1; Philly Northeast also joins the list of streakers after winning their last 4 against Prep Charter, Gratz, Olney and West Philly by an average score of 45-13. The next opponent, Frankford at 3-5 looks like a cupcake but shouldn’t be taken lightly having been tested in games against Pennsbury, Perkiomen Valley, Central and Imhotep. Northeast won’t shake em up.
Benjamin Franklin 5A 6-2; Good ole Ben joins the list as well this week after beating GW, South Philly, MLK and Mastery Charter. To get a fix on them, the losses were to Imhotep 48-0 and Central 50-12. The postseason is next.
