1. Parkland 3-0. Parkland bolted to a 21-0 half time lead then held on while Allentown Central Catholic stormed back with a 14-7 outburst that tightened things but fell short as the Trojans prevailed 28-14. Looks like Central Catholic is a legitimate player at the AAA classification after forcing Parkland to play four quarter football. As always, quarterback Devante Cross’s presence was felt, completing 12 of 20 passed for 150 yards while rushing for 74 on 13 carries. A great addition is the developemt of sophomore Jahan Worth, rushing for 74 yards on 20 carries. The Panthers of Pocono Mountain West are up next and at 0-3 they are definitely not on the prowl, allowing 45ppg. The game is at Pocono Summit.
2. St. Joseph’s Prep 2-1. Almost jumped Parkland for the top spot with their 35-6 win against St. Ignatius until thinking that logic would be just as bent as penalizing them the week before for losing to Don Bosco. So here they are at #2 on a little R&R with a bye week. Surprisingly, they had no trouble with St. Ignatius (2-2, 15th OH), racing out to a 21-0 first quarter lead that grew to 28-0 at the half. The stats were all Hawks; total yards, 328-273; ry 148-111; py 180-162; first downs 20-15; third down conversions 7/10-1/9 and time of possession 28.20 to 21.50. Standout running back D’Andre Swift rushed for 109 yards on 20 carries for a score and caught four passes for 79 yards with two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Kevin Shaw had a good outing against a quality secondary completing 12 of 23 passes for 180 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Side note; the Wildcats played without two injured senior offensive lineman, tackle Liam Eichenberg (6-6, 285, Notre Dame) and guard Michael Bodnar (6-3, 255).
3. Coatesville 3-0. Thanks in part to numerous Cahillite errors, Coatesville scratched and clawed their way to a 17-3 half time lead despite a stern Roman defense that shut much of their attack down. It took a 44-yd run for a touchdown by Jordan Young in the fourth quarter to seal the 24-3 win at the South Philadelphia Super Site. As good as Roman’s D was Coatesville’s was better, holding them to a season low three points. Henderson (1-2) is next as the Ches Mont National finally gets underway. They come in off a un-Henderson like 28-7 loss to Solanco (3-0, AAA) of the LL-2. In defense of the graduation wracked Warriors and although a perennial no-show, the Mules have some stuff under second year coach Tony Cox running the triple option (6-5 last year, in weight room this) with a veteran backfield and defense. Henderson usually takes care of teams like Solanco making this look like a tough outing unless the Red Raiders are caught looking past them to Downingtown West the following week. Being the conference opener and an Ortega coached team, that’s unlikely.
4. Easton 3-0. Easton’s special teams were again center stage returning a punt for six on the way to an easy 42-7 win over Northampton. Quarterback Trey Durrah had a great game completing 8 of 13 passes for 208 yards while tossing three touchdowns. Their swarming defense totally shut down the Konkrete Kids while opening up a 35-0 second quarter lead. The coming week’s game at Allentown Central Catholic will be interesting for a number of reasons. First off, it will answer how well the Vikings recovered from a hard game against Parkland and secondly, it will show us how much pressure the Rovers will be able to put on a decent line and quarterback Ethan Persa who is good enough to test their secondary given time. The DL/rush is a Rover strength so it could be a long day for the Vikings.
5. LaSalle 2-1. In something of a role reversal, it was LaSalle that came out looking like the fourth ranked team in the country (USA-Today) as they jumped the Stags early, building a surprising 12-3 half time lead. Thereon something close to a nationally ranked team (fourth) emerged with DeMatha rolling in the second half, shutting down the Explorers while scoring four touchdowns to pull away for a 32-12 win. LaSalle’s points came on a first quarter field goal and two second quarter scores; a fumble recovered for a safety and a 10-yd Chris Ferguson to Nick Rinella touchdown pass. The beat continues this weekend at home against powerful Malvern Prep (2-0). The Friars are led by quarterback Nick Maras (6-2, 190, jr) who was other-worldly against St. Rita in the opener completing 17 of 21 for 352 yards. Behind him are speedster Zac Fernandez who had 12 carries for 78 yards and sophomore O’Shaan Allison. The line features players like Jack Glavin (6-3, 290, jr) and Joe Basiura (6-3, 285) a sophomore. All totaled the Friars had 524 total yards of offense. About their schedule; they opened at Soldiers Field in Chicago beating St. Rita (1-2) of the formidable Chicago Catholic League, 37-0. St. Rita plays alongside serious football programs including Mount Carmel Academy, Brother Rice, not to be confused with Brother Rice in Bloomfield Hills-MI….and Providence Catholic. They, along with MCA are the gold standard in the CCL-Blue Conference so it was a significant win given SR’s 99-31 won-loss over the last 10 years. The following week saw Malvern demolish Holy Spirit-NJ, 34-0 with sophomore running back O’Shaan Allison (5-8, 185) showing his skills rushing for 244 yards on ten carries. LaSalle won last year 27-8 when two very different teams took the field.
6. Upper Dublin 3-0. Upper Dublin appears to be one of the teams that could get through the regular season unscathed or with one loss. The only thing resembling a loss is a road game at Plymouth Whitemarsh (3-0) October 9th. The Colonials are off to a great start plugging in a new OL and quarterback, evidently going with Joe Stoberl over last year’s co-starter Anthony Mirabile. The returning backs are veteran and talented; Nafeese Nasir and Jake Winterbottom. Both will likely come into the game undefeated at 6-0. Back to the Cardinals; last week saw them get their pound of flesh and then some beating one of the few teams to defeat them last year, Abington, 55-14. Cheltenham is next followed by Springfield and Wissahickon where they’ll ramp up the offense early in what looks like three mercy ruled games before Whitemarsh.
7. Downingtown East 3-0. Two of the state’s most storied programs met Friday night under the lights at Kottmeyer in one of the better early season games in years, pitting undefeated Downingtown East against the once beaten North Penn Knights. North Penn took a 14-0 lead off recovered fumbles in the first quarter but thereon it was all Downingtown, holding the Knights in check while outscored them 28-10. It was not without drama as a North Penn score that would have won the game with under two minutes to go was negated by a penalty. The following play was intercepted in the end zone allowing the Cougars to hold on for the 28-24 win. After watching this one you came away impressed with the skill players on both teams. North Penn is knee deep in running backs (West, Isabella, Ostopowicz) with a lanky junior quarterback (Udinski) while Downingtown shows much the same in senior quarterback Saunders Healy (11/14/168, 2Tds), running back Jack Kincade (25/124) and wide out Cary Angeline, their 6-7, 235 pound commit to So Cal. Up next is an improved 2-1 Avon Grove team with running back Nate Jones (5-9, 180, jr) leading the way with 502 yards rushing. QB Shane McLaughlin (6-1, 190, sr) unwound for 226 yards passing last week in a 27-17 loss to Unionville. The Cougar lines should dominate here but look for the Red Devils to play inspired ball early in their home opener.
8. Downingtown West 3-0. The Whippets had a great trip up 322 about 100 miles northwest of Harrisburg in Lewistown playing at Bucknell University where they defeated Mifflin County 42-14. As expected this was no contest with the Huskies in full rebuild mode. The Whippets line overpowered the young Huskies, holding them to 30 yards rushing and 160 total yards of offense. Offensively, Downingtown was balanced, rushing for 212 yards while quarterback Thomas Mattioni was on target for 10 of his 13 passes totaling 175 yards. They’re home this week against Kennett (1-2) where they should roll before what will be one of the top games in the state when Coatesville visits next week.
9. Neshaminy 2-1. Neshaminy survived a scare but a scare from a team we all knew presented a challenge based on recent performance. The Golden Hawks came into this one off a 43-13 Bensalem win preceded by a 13-6 season opening loss to Pennsbury. Meanwhile the Skins were attempting to rebound from a tough home opening loss to Downingtown West 20-14 on the heels of an exciting 37-31win at Montclair-NJ the week before. Weirdly enough, this one had a boring start with both deadlocked at seven a piece by the end of the first half. But it got real exciting in the second half where the Skins outscored the Hawks 20-18, winning on a failed 2-pt conversion attempt, 27-25. Abington is next where the Skins have to take great care as the Ghosts will be fighting just to keep their heads above water, ie….a .500 season sitting as they are at 0-3!
10. Pennsbury 2-1. Pennsbury found an offense, well sort of, thanks in part to the porous allowances provided by the Council Rock North defense with the Falcons winning easily 41-19. In truth, the lack of defense at CR North has become a hallmark, allowing season ending 26ppg and 30ppg in 2013 and 2014 and 126 points through three games this year; a 41ppg average. Still, its tonic to the team, getting the offense rolling and pumping everybody up. A 2-1 Souderton is up next with a season opening 20-14 overtime loss standing between them and a perfect record. It’s the SOL-National opener and Souderton actually plays defense so look for a good one as the Indians have a way of sneaking up on teams over the years.
2. St. Joseph’s Prep 2-1. Almost jumped Parkland for the top spot with their 35-6 win against St. Ignatius until thinking that logic would be just as bent as penalizing them the week before for losing to Don Bosco. So here they are at #2 on a little R&R with a bye week. Surprisingly, they had no trouble with St. Ignatius (2-2, 15th OH), racing out to a 21-0 first quarter lead that grew to 28-0 at the half. The stats were all Hawks; total yards, 328-273; ry 148-111; py 180-162; first downs 20-15; third down conversions 7/10-1/9 and time of possession 28.20 to 21.50. Standout running back D’Andre Swift rushed for 109 yards on 20 carries for a score and caught four passes for 79 yards with two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Kevin Shaw had a good outing against a quality secondary completing 12 of 23 passes for 180 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Side note; the Wildcats played without two injured senior offensive lineman, tackle Liam Eichenberg (6-6, 285, Notre Dame) and guard Michael Bodnar (6-3, 255).
3. Coatesville 3-0. Thanks in part to numerous Cahillite errors, Coatesville scratched and clawed their way to a 17-3 half time lead despite a stern Roman defense that shut much of their attack down. It took a 44-yd run for a touchdown by Jordan Young in the fourth quarter to seal the 24-3 win at the South Philadelphia Super Site. As good as Roman’s D was Coatesville’s was better, holding them to a season low three points. Henderson (1-2) is next as the Ches Mont National finally gets underway. They come in off a un-Henderson like 28-7 loss to Solanco (3-0, AAA) of the LL-2. In defense of the graduation wracked Warriors and although a perennial no-show, the Mules have some stuff under second year coach Tony Cox running the triple option (6-5 last year, in weight room this) with a veteran backfield and defense. Henderson usually takes care of teams like Solanco making this look like a tough outing unless the Red Raiders are caught looking past them to Downingtown West the following week. Being the conference opener and an Ortega coached team, that’s unlikely.
4. Easton 3-0. Easton’s special teams were again center stage returning a punt for six on the way to an easy 42-7 win over Northampton. Quarterback Trey Durrah had a great game completing 8 of 13 passes for 208 yards while tossing three touchdowns. Their swarming defense totally shut down the Konkrete Kids while opening up a 35-0 second quarter lead. The coming week’s game at Allentown Central Catholic will be interesting for a number of reasons. First off, it will answer how well the Vikings recovered from a hard game against Parkland and secondly, it will show us how much pressure the Rovers will be able to put on a decent line and quarterback Ethan Persa who is good enough to test their secondary given time. The DL/rush is a Rover strength so it could be a long day for the Vikings.
5. LaSalle 2-1. In something of a role reversal, it was LaSalle that came out looking like the fourth ranked team in the country (USA-Today) as they jumped the Stags early, building a surprising 12-3 half time lead. Thereon something close to a nationally ranked team (fourth) emerged with DeMatha rolling in the second half, shutting down the Explorers while scoring four touchdowns to pull away for a 32-12 win. LaSalle’s points came on a first quarter field goal and two second quarter scores; a fumble recovered for a safety and a 10-yd Chris Ferguson to Nick Rinella touchdown pass. The beat continues this weekend at home against powerful Malvern Prep (2-0). The Friars are led by quarterback Nick Maras (6-2, 190, jr) who was other-worldly against St. Rita in the opener completing 17 of 21 for 352 yards. Behind him are speedster Zac Fernandez who had 12 carries for 78 yards and sophomore O’Shaan Allison. The line features players like Jack Glavin (6-3, 290, jr) and Joe Basiura (6-3, 285) a sophomore. All totaled the Friars had 524 total yards of offense. About their schedule; they opened at Soldiers Field in Chicago beating St. Rita (1-2) of the formidable Chicago Catholic League, 37-0. St. Rita plays alongside serious football programs including Mount Carmel Academy, Brother Rice, not to be confused with Brother Rice in Bloomfield Hills-MI….and Providence Catholic. They, along with MCA are the gold standard in the CCL-Blue Conference so it was a significant win given SR’s 99-31 won-loss over the last 10 years. The following week saw Malvern demolish Holy Spirit-NJ, 34-0 with sophomore running back O’Shaan Allison (5-8, 185) showing his skills rushing for 244 yards on ten carries. LaSalle won last year 27-8 when two very different teams took the field.
6. Upper Dublin 3-0. Upper Dublin appears to be one of the teams that could get through the regular season unscathed or with one loss. The only thing resembling a loss is a road game at Plymouth Whitemarsh (3-0) October 9th. The Colonials are off to a great start plugging in a new OL and quarterback, evidently going with Joe Stoberl over last year’s co-starter Anthony Mirabile. The returning backs are veteran and talented; Nafeese Nasir and Jake Winterbottom. Both will likely come into the game undefeated at 6-0. Back to the Cardinals; last week saw them get their pound of flesh and then some beating one of the few teams to defeat them last year, Abington, 55-14. Cheltenham is next followed by Springfield and Wissahickon where they’ll ramp up the offense early in what looks like three mercy ruled games before Whitemarsh.
7. Downingtown East 3-0. Two of the state’s most storied programs met Friday night under the lights at Kottmeyer in one of the better early season games in years, pitting undefeated Downingtown East against the once beaten North Penn Knights. North Penn took a 14-0 lead off recovered fumbles in the first quarter but thereon it was all Downingtown, holding the Knights in check while outscored them 28-10. It was not without drama as a North Penn score that would have won the game with under two minutes to go was negated by a penalty. The following play was intercepted in the end zone allowing the Cougars to hold on for the 28-24 win. After watching this one you came away impressed with the skill players on both teams. North Penn is knee deep in running backs (West, Isabella, Ostopowicz) with a lanky junior quarterback (Udinski) while Downingtown shows much the same in senior quarterback Saunders Healy (11/14/168, 2Tds), running back Jack Kincade (25/124) and wide out Cary Angeline, their 6-7, 235 pound commit to So Cal. Up next is an improved 2-1 Avon Grove team with running back Nate Jones (5-9, 180, jr) leading the way with 502 yards rushing. QB Shane McLaughlin (6-1, 190, sr) unwound for 226 yards passing last week in a 27-17 loss to Unionville. The Cougar lines should dominate here but look for the Red Devils to play inspired ball early in their home opener.
8. Downingtown West 3-0. The Whippets had a great trip up 322 about 100 miles northwest of Harrisburg in Lewistown playing at Bucknell University where they defeated Mifflin County 42-14. As expected this was no contest with the Huskies in full rebuild mode. The Whippets line overpowered the young Huskies, holding them to 30 yards rushing and 160 total yards of offense. Offensively, Downingtown was balanced, rushing for 212 yards while quarterback Thomas Mattioni was on target for 10 of his 13 passes totaling 175 yards. They’re home this week against Kennett (1-2) where they should roll before what will be one of the top games in the state when Coatesville visits next week.
9. Neshaminy 2-1. Neshaminy survived a scare but a scare from a team we all knew presented a challenge based on recent performance. The Golden Hawks came into this one off a 43-13 Bensalem win preceded by a 13-6 season opening loss to Pennsbury. Meanwhile the Skins were attempting to rebound from a tough home opening loss to Downingtown West 20-14 on the heels of an exciting 37-31win at Montclair-NJ the week before. Weirdly enough, this one had a boring start with both deadlocked at seven a piece by the end of the first half. But it got real exciting in the second half where the Skins outscored the Hawks 20-18, winning on a failed 2-pt conversion attempt, 27-25. Abington is next where the Skins have to take great care as the Ghosts will be fighting just to keep their heads above water, ie….a .500 season sitting as they are at 0-3!
10. Pennsbury 2-1. Pennsbury found an offense, well sort of, thanks in part to the porous allowances provided by the Council Rock North defense with the Falcons winning easily 41-19. In truth, the lack of defense at CR North has become a hallmark, allowing season ending 26ppg and 30ppg in 2013 and 2014 and 126 points through three games this year; a 41ppg average. Still, its tonic to the team, getting the offense rolling and pumping everybody up. A 2-1 Souderton is up next with a season opening 20-14 overtime loss standing between them and a perfect record. It’s the SOL-National opener and Souderton actually plays defense so look for a good one as the Indians have a way of sneaking up on teams over the years.
