D2
Scranton Prep 3A 6-1; The Cavaliers reeled off 6 straight since opening with a loss to a decent 5A Abington Heights team. If they can knock off Lackawanna Football Conference Div-2 challenger Western Wayne (5-2) this weekend, they can start thinking about North Pocono (6-1) in the closer once past city rival West Scranton the week before.
Lakeland 2A 6-1; The Chiefs are streaking (4 straight) since losing at home to powerful Dunmore (below) who sits atop the Lackawanna FB Conf Div-3. D2’s postseason format takes 4 Double-A’s with Lakeland solidly in the second slot. They’re at Old Forge Friday.
Dunmore 2A 7-0; The defending District 2 champion Bucks are back again with another strong team after losing in the quarterfinals last year to West Catholic 28-10. Seems these guys are always in it, or near it. The year before that they got to the state final losing to South Fayette 28-16. This year’s team is a typical Buck edition with a big line and good athletes. The line is TE George Cole 6-3 235, a senior, and junior OL’ers Mike Muracco 6-0 275, Jerry Longo 6-2 250, Nick Shoemaker 6-2 250 and sophomore Jake Sawka 5-11 255. Believe the Center is junior Rocco LaCapra 5-10 220. Running back Colin Holmes got 1698 yards as a soph, 765 as a junior and is approaching 3000 career rush yards. A good nucleus of 5 offensive and 7 defensive starters fuels a Power-I offense scoring 38ppg and a D (4-4) allowing 11. Looks like the Bucks could make another deep run. Coach Jack Henzes is in his 47th season at Dunmore with a 377-146-8 record; 408-158-8 overall making him the second winningest coach in Pennsylvania.
D2 Notes: Since losing their opener to Downingtown East 23-6, Delaware Valley has gone 5-1, including last week’s 49-42 win over previously undefeated Williamsport.
D4
Wellsboro 2A 7-0; Make that 5 shutouts and 27 total points scored on the year. Montgomery is next then a Wyalusing (5-2) group that could be difficult on the road before closing out at home against North Penn (6-1).
Southern Columbia 2A 7-0; Southern is rolling now, getting into playoff mode and winning impressively against good teams. That showed up last week beating a good Montoursville team 42-21 at Montoursville. This week they’re at a decent Danville team (4-3) who look like they may be finished, losing to Mount Carmel 21-14 and Lewisburg 10-7 the last 2 weeks.
South Williamsport 2A 6-1; Got their 5th consecutive win edging Bloomsburg 20-14 in their third straight road game but are now home to a 4-3 Central Columbia team they should handle. All their remaining games are home.
Sayre 1A 5-2; The Redskins are cruising with 5 straight wins following a 0-2 start. Things are going their way with two 1-pt wins to make it all happen. For those wondering, Sayre is 5 miles from the New York state line about 15 miles from Elmira, NY.
D4 Notes: AAAA Selinsgrove and AAA Loyalsock Township, two perennial D4 powers that aren’t streaking but are right there at 5-2. LT has an overtime loss and a 20-7 loss to powerful South Williamsport while the Seals have 3 and 7 point losses to playoff teams meaning they’ll both be there come playoff time. Williamsport had their undefeated season come to an end losing at Delaware Valley, late, 49-42.
D11
Notre Dame-GP 3A 7-0; If you thought last year’s 11-2 group was good (they were!) that lost to Dunmore in the PIAA’s 1st round 51-29, this group will likely blow you away. All they did was replace last year’s quarterback Tre Jordan who threw for over 3000 yards and 30 Tds with a 67% completion rate with another one in Cole DeFranco who is at 66% completion rate. They’re more balanced than last year’s pass happy group and the defense has improved from a year ending 23ppg to 15ppg to date. They’re at AAA this year so won’t get Dunmore but they will get 5-2 Pen Argyl in Pen Argyl.
Schuylkill Haven 2A 7-0; The Canes should have the Schuylkill FB League Div-2 sewed up having defeated Marian Catholic in Tamaqua with Panther Valley 2-5 and Shenandoah Valley 0-7 left in division action. And you’ve got to love the closer at Blue Mountain (5-2, SFBL Div-1) in a crossover with a few of their players transferring in. This year’s edition is similar to 2013’s 10-4 team that made a nice run in that they pretty much just line up and bash you, making them a Dunmore clone. The difference this year is they are super deep with almost all their starters back, 9 to the offense 11 to the D.
Pleasant Valley 6-1; Wow, these guys are explosive, averaging 48ppg while on a strong run winning their last 5. Can’t say that about their next opponent East Stroudsburg North at 3-4 coming off consecutive losses to Stroudsburg, Allen CC and Easton. PV’s keeping it tight, a game behind Allen CC and Stroudsburg in the EPC-North.
Allentown Central Catholic 4A 6-1; The EPC-North teams are surging, ACC and Stroudsburg, both winning 6 straight since a season opening loss. That makes this weekend’s game special with both undefeated in league play for a decisive North encounter. Pleasant Valley’s Bears got their eyes on this one with only one league loss. Vikings and Mounties!
Stroudsburg 4A 6-1; Better gear up for the road trip to Allentown against Catholic’s large attack for a key EPC-North game, then buckle up against a schedule that just got real with Whitehall and Pleasant Valley to follow. That’s one brutal finish!
Bethlehem Catholic 4A 6-2; The Golden Hawks are at 4 straight with a schedule that surpasses even Stroudsburg’s in toughness with games at Whitehall, home to Freedom, then the great closer at Allentown Central Catholic. How about the Hawks, tearing up reborn Nazareth the n Liberty, Easton and Parkland on consecutive weekends. Let’s hear it for the Hawk D, allowing 30 points in those 4 games while mangling Parkland in a way seldom seen in score, 34-7 and yards rushing allowed, 104.
Williams Valley 1A 6-1; Like Tri Valley below, Williams Valley will name it against winless Millersburg hoping for Newport to slip before the game at Tri-Val.
Tri Valley 1A 6-1; The Bulldogs put together a nice run, winning their last 5 after getting blown out by undefeated AA Newport 55-34. The Tri-Valley Conference has always been one of the tough small school leagues, spread out over districts 3, 4, 6 and 11 with teams like Juniata, Halifax and Line Mountain, all 5-2, then Tri and Williams Valley at 6-1 and the strong, veteran team at 7-0 Newport. Many of these schools are north of Harrisburg . TV will likely name it this week against Susquenita (formerly Mid Penn and Blue Mt League members) before the war with Williams Valley.
D11 Notes: Nazareth at 4-3 has won 3 of their last 4 while one of the early EPC-South favorites Freedom has lost 3 straight.
Scranton Prep 3A 6-1; The Cavaliers reeled off 6 straight since opening with a loss to a decent 5A Abington Heights team. If they can knock off Lackawanna Football Conference Div-2 challenger Western Wayne (5-2) this weekend, they can start thinking about North Pocono (6-1) in the closer once past city rival West Scranton the week before.
Lakeland 2A 6-1; The Chiefs are streaking (4 straight) since losing at home to powerful Dunmore (below) who sits atop the Lackawanna FB Conf Div-3. D2’s postseason format takes 4 Double-A’s with Lakeland solidly in the second slot. They’re at Old Forge Friday.
Dunmore 2A 7-0; The defending District 2 champion Bucks are back again with another strong team after losing in the quarterfinals last year to West Catholic 28-10. Seems these guys are always in it, or near it. The year before that they got to the state final losing to South Fayette 28-16. This year’s team is a typical Buck edition with a big line and good athletes. The line is TE George Cole 6-3 235, a senior, and junior OL’ers Mike Muracco 6-0 275, Jerry Longo 6-2 250, Nick Shoemaker 6-2 250 and sophomore Jake Sawka 5-11 255. Believe the Center is junior Rocco LaCapra 5-10 220. Running back Colin Holmes got 1698 yards as a soph, 765 as a junior and is approaching 3000 career rush yards. A good nucleus of 5 offensive and 7 defensive starters fuels a Power-I offense scoring 38ppg and a D (4-4) allowing 11. Looks like the Bucks could make another deep run. Coach Jack Henzes is in his 47th season at Dunmore with a 377-146-8 record; 408-158-8 overall making him the second winningest coach in Pennsylvania.
D2 Notes: Since losing their opener to Downingtown East 23-6, Delaware Valley has gone 5-1, including last week’s 49-42 win over previously undefeated Williamsport.
D4
Wellsboro 2A 7-0; Make that 5 shutouts and 27 total points scored on the year. Montgomery is next then a Wyalusing (5-2) group that could be difficult on the road before closing out at home against North Penn (6-1).
Southern Columbia 2A 7-0; Southern is rolling now, getting into playoff mode and winning impressively against good teams. That showed up last week beating a good Montoursville team 42-21 at Montoursville. This week they’re at a decent Danville team (4-3) who look like they may be finished, losing to Mount Carmel 21-14 and Lewisburg 10-7 the last 2 weeks.
South Williamsport 2A 6-1; Got their 5th consecutive win edging Bloomsburg 20-14 in their third straight road game but are now home to a 4-3 Central Columbia team they should handle. All their remaining games are home.
Sayre 1A 5-2; The Redskins are cruising with 5 straight wins following a 0-2 start. Things are going their way with two 1-pt wins to make it all happen. For those wondering, Sayre is 5 miles from the New York state line about 15 miles from Elmira, NY.
D4 Notes: AAAA Selinsgrove and AAA Loyalsock Township, two perennial D4 powers that aren’t streaking but are right there at 5-2. LT has an overtime loss and a 20-7 loss to powerful South Williamsport while the Seals have 3 and 7 point losses to playoff teams meaning they’ll both be there come playoff time. Williamsport had their undefeated season come to an end losing at Delaware Valley, late, 49-42.
D11
Notre Dame-GP 3A 7-0; If you thought last year’s 11-2 group was good (they were!) that lost to Dunmore in the PIAA’s 1st round 51-29, this group will likely blow you away. All they did was replace last year’s quarterback Tre Jordan who threw for over 3000 yards and 30 Tds with a 67% completion rate with another one in Cole DeFranco who is at 66% completion rate. They’re more balanced than last year’s pass happy group and the defense has improved from a year ending 23ppg to 15ppg to date. They’re at AAA this year so won’t get Dunmore but they will get 5-2 Pen Argyl in Pen Argyl.
Schuylkill Haven 2A 7-0; The Canes should have the Schuylkill FB League Div-2 sewed up having defeated Marian Catholic in Tamaqua with Panther Valley 2-5 and Shenandoah Valley 0-7 left in division action. And you’ve got to love the closer at Blue Mountain (5-2, SFBL Div-1) in a crossover with a few of their players transferring in. This year’s edition is similar to 2013’s 10-4 team that made a nice run in that they pretty much just line up and bash you, making them a Dunmore clone. The difference this year is they are super deep with almost all their starters back, 9 to the offense 11 to the D.
Pleasant Valley 6-1; Wow, these guys are explosive, averaging 48ppg while on a strong run winning their last 5. Can’t say that about their next opponent East Stroudsburg North at 3-4 coming off consecutive losses to Stroudsburg, Allen CC and Easton. PV’s keeping it tight, a game behind Allen CC and Stroudsburg in the EPC-North.
Allentown Central Catholic 4A 6-1; The EPC-North teams are surging, ACC and Stroudsburg, both winning 6 straight since a season opening loss. That makes this weekend’s game special with both undefeated in league play for a decisive North encounter. Pleasant Valley’s Bears got their eyes on this one with only one league loss. Vikings and Mounties!
Stroudsburg 4A 6-1; Better gear up for the road trip to Allentown against Catholic’s large attack for a key EPC-North game, then buckle up against a schedule that just got real with Whitehall and Pleasant Valley to follow. That’s one brutal finish!
Bethlehem Catholic 4A 6-2; The Golden Hawks are at 4 straight with a schedule that surpasses even Stroudsburg’s in toughness with games at Whitehall, home to Freedom, then the great closer at Allentown Central Catholic. How about the Hawks, tearing up reborn Nazareth the n Liberty, Easton and Parkland on consecutive weekends. Let’s hear it for the Hawk D, allowing 30 points in those 4 games while mangling Parkland in a way seldom seen in score, 34-7 and yards rushing allowed, 104.
Williams Valley 1A 6-1; Like Tri Valley below, Williams Valley will name it against winless Millersburg hoping for Newport to slip before the game at Tri-Val.
Tri Valley 1A 6-1; The Bulldogs put together a nice run, winning their last 5 after getting blown out by undefeated AA Newport 55-34. The Tri-Valley Conference has always been one of the tough small school leagues, spread out over districts 3, 4, 6 and 11 with teams like Juniata, Halifax and Line Mountain, all 5-2, then Tri and Williams Valley at 6-1 and the strong, veteran team at 7-0 Newport. Many of these schools are north of Harrisburg . TV will likely name it this week against Susquenita (formerly Mid Penn and Blue Mt League members) before the war with Williams Valley.
D11 Notes: Nazareth at 4-3 has won 3 of their last 4 while one of the early EPC-South favorites Freedom has lost 3 straight.