Week 12 rankings
1. Upper Dublin 12-0, #3. Upper Dublin jumped all over Upper Darby barely three minutes into the game when Stacey Gardner broke off a 20-yarder, followed by a 18-yarder for scores before tight end Jack Rapine hauled in a 6-yard pass from Ryan Stover to bust this one open early. A 21-0 first quarter lead grew to 35-6 by halftime as the Cardinals cruised to an easy 45-14 win. The stats reflected the score with the Cards holding a 504 to 218 total yard advantage. Upper Darby’s major weapon, running back Isaiah Bruce was held to 53 yards after the first quarter where he got loose for a 61-yd score. And with no passing (7 of 19 for 70yds), the Cardinals D-Line pinned their ears against the larger Royals, holding them to 148 yards rushing. Running back Gardner (5-11, 220, sr, last year’s center) finished with 116 yards while Danny Boggs (5-10, 165, sr) pulled in four receptions for 134 yards. As usual Ryan Stover torn up another secondary, completing 14 of 22 passes for 274 yards and three scores. The win gets them to the district semifinal for the second straight year against the team that eliminated them, 15th seeded Pennsbury, who won 25-14. Pennsbury had the 2nd seed last year (UD-6th, 11-2) finishing out as the district champ at 13-2, before losing to St, Joseph’s Prep (10-4), 37-7. They also had Charles Snorweah who rushed for 299 yards on 48 carries for 4 scores and the home field. They have none of those this year while Upper Dublin returns most of last year’s significantly improved team. Maybe this is the game where people will fully appreciate their sound technique, athleticism, surprising speed, senior leadership and a few players who can take it to the house on any play. Ryan Stover is a game breaker at quarterback, with receivers that jump through the roof, and there is depth everywhere. They don’t mug you but they do wear you down.
2. Parkland 11-1, #2. Parkland knocked off Easton last week 37-0 to position themselves for an unprecedented fourth consecutive District 2/4/11 sub-regional championship. Fourth! Last year’s game was the complete opposite where the Rovers took them to overtime before losing 13-10. Easton approached last week’s game with a single dimension that played into Parkland’s strength, run defense. With Trey Durrah extremely limited and replaced by Ben Nemeh, the offense was diminished. And it showed, rushing for 88 yards and passing for 26. Trojan quarterback Devante Cross had more than that on his own, running 18 times for 118 yards and passing for another 212 passing yards on a 10 of 20 outing. Kenny Yeboah had receptions of 17, 64 and 68 yards (5 for 165) for scores while Erik DiGirolamo kept them honest with 64 yards on 14 totes. Parkland has been obviously better than almost everyone this year, at least so far beating all but Liberty (41-34), while scoring 36ppg on average and allowing 13. Interestingly Liberty was crushed in the semifinal last week by Wyoming Valley West, 55-35, the team Parkland plays in the final Friday night in Plymouth. This one will get real interesting with Parkland facing a team that has at least as many weapons as they do….plus size. They won’t be overpowered like Easton was.
3. LaSalle 7-3, There were a few upsets across the Commonwealth last week but none more significant that LaSalle beating the two time defending PCL-AAAA and state champion St. Joseph’s Prep 29-28. Out in District 7, Penn Trafford pulled a mild one beating last year’s silver medalist Pine Richland 39-34. In District 3, Central Dauphin East (playing some nice D now)reversed a regular season 38-0 loss to 2nd seeded Wilson by downing the Bulldogs 20-14 in overtime. But all those pale in comparison to LaSalle beating St. Joe’s since almost everyone was expecting the Hawks to get past this one, take Districts and make another deep run in States. That is almost everyone except the LaSalle faithful. They scored about everyway a team can score including touchdown passes by Joe Ferguson (13-23/194) of 26 and 24 yards to Charles Headen and Nick Rinella, a 21-yd field goal by Matt Savage, a 49 yard pick-6 by Jared Walls and a 3 yard run by Syaire Madden (26/78). As exciting as the action was on that side of the ball, it was just as fun on the other, shutting down super back D’Andre Swift to 22 rush yards and the entire Hawk team to 144 yards rushing. Us D guys loved that (!)….stuffing Swift….and the pick-6. GET SOME! There were flaws for sure. St Joe’s is St. Joe’s and they didn’t go quietly, scoring on Benny Walls runs of 44 and 55 yards, a 1 yard run by Swift and a 95 yard pick-6 by Richard Carr. It doesn’t get much better than St. Joe’s and LaSalle but at the end of the day, hats off to the Explorers, never folding despite the 28-17 deficit in the 3rd quarter before the comeback that featured two 4th quarter scores, capped by senior Nick Rinella’s 24 yard reception and score with under a minute to play. All this in Coach John Steinmetz’s first year. LaSalle now moves on to the District-12 title game against talented Simon Gratz.
4. St. Joseph’s Prep 7-3. You can bet this one was heard across the state and beyond as two time defending PIAA-AAAA State Champion St. Joseph’s Prep were eliminated by arch rival LaSalle 29-28 in the PCL Final. In a lot of ways the score was as surprising, at least to some of us, as the first game won by St. Joe’s 49-24. After a disappointing loss of this magnitude it might be well to remember some of the challenges St. Joseph’s faced at the start of the year, namely, breaking in the third starting quarterback in as many years for Coach Infante. The line returned three in Ed Mooney, Charles Holsopple and Joe Dumond. The backfield was loaded with D’Andre Swift and Benny Walls. Add in a few experienced receivers and four to the defense to see the cupboard wasn’t bare, but it was a serious rebuild with a lot of youth. No one’s feeling sorry for the Hawks, and all in all beating Evangel (9-2), St. Ignatius (5-4), St. Joseph’s Regional (8-3) and LaSalle (7-3) on a rebuild is good stuff. Incidentally Evangel is in the Louisiana (LHSAA) Div-1 semifinal against Catholic High (8-3, Baton Rouge), with the winner playing Curtis (8-2) if they get past Archbishop Rummel (11-1). Rommel’s only loss is a 10-3 decision to Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey. St. Joseph Regional is also doing well, getting to the Non Public-Group 4 final against Don Bosco (8-3) after beating Bergen Catholic. 7-3 against that crowd is a good year.
5. North Penn 10-2, #9. North Penn beat top seeded and previously undefeated Downingtown East at Downingtown in a revenge rematch with surprising ease, winning 27-14. The score may not have shown it but a 505 total yardage performance is remarkable enough against a high seed in this district but especially against an undefeated top seed on their home turf. Add to that Nyfease West rushing for 248 of those yards, quarterback Reece Udinski throwing for 228 yards primarily to wide out Ricky Johns catching 7 for 162 yards to see the totality of the outcome. The Knights brought pressure throughout the game sacking quarterback Saunders Healy four times with Keith Earle getting three of those, while stopping them cold in the run department, holding them to 52 yards rushing. So here they are in a nine game winning streak and another district playoff rematch against conference rival Neshaminy, a team they beat 22-17 a few weeks ago. That makes the Knights the hottest team in the district save undefeated Upper Dublin.
1. Upper Dublin 12-0, #3. Upper Dublin jumped all over Upper Darby barely three minutes into the game when Stacey Gardner broke off a 20-yarder, followed by a 18-yarder for scores before tight end Jack Rapine hauled in a 6-yard pass from Ryan Stover to bust this one open early. A 21-0 first quarter lead grew to 35-6 by halftime as the Cardinals cruised to an easy 45-14 win. The stats reflected the score with the Cards holding a 504 to 218 total yard advantage. Upper Darby’s major weapon, running back Isaiah Bruce was held to 53 yards after the first quarter where he got loose for a 61-yd score. And with no passing (7 of 19 for 70yds), the Cardinals D-Line pinned their ears against the larger Royals, holding them to 148 yards rushing. Running back Gardner (5-11, 220, sr, last year’s center) finished with 116 yards while Danny Boggs (5-10, 165, sr) pulled in four receptions for 134 yards. As usual Ryan Stover torn up another secondary, completing 14 of 22 passes for 274 yards and three scores. The win gets them to the district semifinal for the second straight year against the team that eliminated them, 15th seeded Pennsbury, who won 25-14. Pennsbury had the 2nd seed last year (UD-6th, 11-2) finishing out as the district champ at 13-2, before losing to St, Joseph’s Prep (10-4), 37-7. They also had Charles Snorweah who rushed for 299 yards on 48 carries for 4 scores and the home field. They have none of those this year while Upper Dublin returns most of last year’s significantly improved team. Maybe this is the game where people will fully appreciate their sound technique, athleticism, surprising speed, senior leadership and a few players who can take it to the house on any play. Ryan Stover is a game breaker at quarterback, with receivers that jump through the roof, and there is depth everywhere. They don’t mug you but they do wear you down.
2. Parkland 11-1, #2. Parkland knocked off Easton last week 37-0 to position themselves for an unprecedented fourth consecutive District 2/4/11 sub-regional championship. Fourth! Last year’s game was the complete opposite where the Rovers took them to overtime before losing 13-10. Easton approached last week’s game with a single dimension that played into Parkland’s strength, run defense. With Trey Durrah extremely limited and replaced by Ben Nemeh, the offense was diminished. And it showed, rushing for 88 yards and passing for 26. Trojan quarterback Devante Cross had more than that on his own, running 18 times for 118 yards and passing for another 212 passing yards on a 10 of 20 outing. Kenny Yeboah had receptions of 17, 64 and 68 yards (5 for 165) for scores while Erik DiGirolamo kept them honest with 64 yards on 14 totes. Parkland has been obviously better than almost everyone this year, at least so far beating all but Liberty (41-34), while scoring 36ppg on average and allowing 13. Interestingly Liberty was crushed in the semifinal last week by Wyoming Valley West, 55-35, the team Parkland plays in the final Friday night in Plymouth. This one will get real interesting with Parkland facing a team that has at least as many weapons as they do….plus size. They won’t be overpowered like Easton was.
3. LaSalle 7-3, There were a few upsets across the Commonwealth last week but none more significant that LaSalle beating the two time defending PCL-AAAA and state champion St. Joseph’s Prep 29-28. Out in District 7, Penn Trafford pulled a mild one beating last year’s silver medalist Pine Richland 39-34. In District 3, Central Dauphin East (playing some nice D now)reversed a regular season 38-0 loss to 2nd seeded Wilson by downing the Bulldogs 20-14 in overtime. But all those pale in comparison to LaSalle beating St. Joe’s since almost everyone was expecting the Hawks to get past this one, take Districts and make another deep run in States. That is almost everyone except the LaSalle faithful. They scored about everyway a team can score including touchdown passes by Joe Ferguson (13-23/194) of 26 and 24 yards to Charles Headen and Nick Rinella, a 21-yd field goal by Matt Savage, a 49 yard pick-6 by Jared Walls and a 3 yard run by Syaire Madden (26/78). As exciting as the action was on that side of the ball, it was just as fun on the other, shutting down super back D’Andre Swift to 22 rush yards and the entire Hawk team to 144 yards rushing. Us D guys loved that (!)….stuffing Swift….and the pick-6. GET SOME! There were flaws for sure. St Joe’s is St. Joe’s and they didn’t go quietly, scoring on Benny Walls runs of 44 and 55 yards, a 1 yard run by Swift and a 95 yard pick-6 by Richard Carr. It doesn’t get much better than St. Joe’s and LaSalle but at the end of the day, hats off to the Explorers, never folding despite the 28-17 deficit in the 3rd quarter before the comeback that featured two 4th quarter scores, capped by senior Nick Rinella’s 24 yard reception and score with under a minute to play. All this in Coach John Steinmetz’s first year. LaSalle now moves on to the District-12 title game against talented Simon Gratz.
4. St. Joseph’s Prep 7-3. You can bet this one was heard across the state and beyond as two time defending PIAA-AAAA State Champion St. Joseph’s Prep were eliminated by arch rival LaSalle 29-28 in the PCL Final. In a lot of ways the score was as surprising, at least to some of us, as the first game won by St. Joe’s 49-24. After a disappointing loss of this magnitude it might be well to remember some of the challenges St. Joseph’s faced at the start of the year, namely, breaking in the third starting quarterback in as many years for Coach Infante. The line returned three in Ed Mooney, Charles Holsopple and Joe Dumond. The backfield was loaded with D’Andre Swift and Benny Walls. Add in a few experienced receivers and four to the defense to see the cupboard wasn’t bare, but it was a serious rebuild with a lot of youth. No one’s feeling sorry for the Hawks, and all in all beating Evangel (9-2), St. Ignatius (5-4), St. Joseph’s Regional (8-3) and LaSalle (7-3) on a rebuild is good stuff. Incidentally Evangel is in the Louisiana (LHSAA) Div-1 semifinal against Catholic High (8-3, Baton Rouge), with the winner playing Curtis (8-2) if they get past Archbishop Rummel (11-1). Rommel’s only loss is a 10-3 decision to Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey. St. Joseph Regional is also doing well, getting to the Non Public-Group 4 final against Don Bosco (8-3) after beating Bergen Catholic. 7-3 against that crowd is a good year.
5. North Penn 10-2, #9. North Penn beat top seeded and previously undefeated Downingtown East at Downingtown in a revenge rematch with surprising ease, winning 27-14. The score may not have shown it but a 505 total yardage performance is remarkable enough against a high seed in this district but especially against an undefeated top seed on their home turf. Add to that Nyfease West rushing for 248 of those yards, quarterback Reece Udinski throwing for 228 yards primarily to wide out Ricky Johns catching 7 for 162 yards to see the totality of the outcome. The Knights brought pressure throughout the game sacking quarterback Saunders Healy four times with Keith Earle getting three of those, while stopping them cold in the run department, holding them to 52 yards rushing. So here they are in a nine game winning streak and another district playoff rematch against conference rival Neshaminy, a team they beat 22-17 a few weeks ago. That makes the Knights the hottest team in the district save undefeated Upper Dublin.
