6. LaSalle 5-3. #2, With three losses, guess you can’t hang your head too low when they came against DeMatha 8-1, Archbishop Wood 9-0 and St. Joe’s 6-2, coupled with wins against North Penn and Pennsbury both 7-2 and Malvern Prep 6-2, who was one of the few teams to defeat St. Joe’s this year. The last two weeks saw them beat Roman Catholic 49-14 and Father Judge 41-14. Judge played without running back Yeedee Thaenrat (112-746) and quarterback Rob King who will likely be back for the PCL playoffs. Like St. Joe’s, they get the tremendous benefit of having the week off before the rematch with Judge where like last year they will again have the 2 seed.
7. North Penn 7-2. #9, Make that six straight for North Penn since the loss at Downingtown East back on September 18th. The last two weeks forced them to play four-quarter football against Pennsbury 27-20 and Neshaminy 22-17 last week, both serving as excellent prep for the postseason. They won last week in the closing moments, coming back from a 17-15 deficit on a 72-yd drive, scoring with a minute plus left in the game. With 1-8 Abington up next where they will likely be able to rest key personnel, you couldn’t ask for a better schedule as prep for the playoffs. It began with major tests against LaSalle, West Catholic and Downingtown, followed by critical games against conference rivals mentioned above, at the end. With running backs Nyfease West, Nick Isabella, Justin Ostopowicz and quarterback Reece Udinski, North Penn has the horses to be in every game. They close at home to Abington who just got their first win of the season while finding an offense the last three weeks scoring 25, 41 and 36 last week vs Bensalem. No such discoveries on the other side of the ball allowing an unbelievable 43 ppg!
8. Pennsbury 7-2. #10, The defending district champs are bringing down the curtain on another winning season, their eighth in a row, hanging onto second place at 5-1 in the National a game behind North Penn. This year’s offense is still big stuff, averaging 31ppg (38 last year) with a defense that is not last year’s but not far off at 16ppg, knowing it is not as well supported by the offense. They had no trouble with Central Bucks South last week, beating the Titans 27-9. Neshaminy is next, a game behind them at 4-2. With wins against the Council Rock schools and Pennridge along with the LaSalle and North Penn losses you know they’ll be a worthy opponent in the postseason.
9. Perkiomen Valley 9-0. #7T, Make that three straight shutouts (four total) after beating Upper Perkiomen 42-0. For the year they’ve allowed 86 points, giving them a 10ppg average, or 5ppg minus the 36 allowed in the opener to Council Rock North, a 56-36 win. The team they play this weekend, Spring Ford, strung together two consecutive shutouts so something has to give Friday night in Royalsford! This should be interesting with both having explosive offenses. That’s also where the Vikings will defend their title, going 9-0 last year with a 20-7 win against the Rams. As good as Perk Val was last year, this year’s group is better. That’s saying a lot knowing that edition lost at Downingtown East 27-24 on Drew Brennan 25-yd field goal as time expired in districts. Quarterback Stephen Sturm (6-2, 190), then a sophomore, completed 20 of 36 passes for 313 yards. This year sees him at a 71% rate for 2246 yards. His Td-Pick ratio is 26 to 2. He is surrounded by weapons in running backs Ronnie Arch (704ry) and David Williams (604ry), who can fly and catch with 237 and 429 yards respectively. Justin Jaworski is the leading receiver with 808 yards on 47 receptions. Aaron Morton has 438 yards with Sean Owens at 268 yards. This is an all-out air assault generating 55% of their yardage up top; 2281 yards. To date they have 1884 yards on the ground for a total of 4165 yards, lighting up the scoreboard at 48 ppg. As mentioned, the D gets after you too, yielding only 10ppg.
10. Spring Ford 9-0. #7T, Here’s another PAC-10 team tearing through the schedule without a challenge excepting State College in the opener, They’re a big and balanced offense scoring 45ppg with a quick defense in support allowing 8ppg. They have a lot of weapons, beginning with senior Rick Venuto 5-11, 185 who has done a good job under center in his first year, completing 67% of his passes for 1649 yards. His Td-Pick ratio is 23 to 1. Three receivers are over 300 yards; Stone Scarcelle 388yards, TE Quinn McKenna with 392 yards and SB Trey Jarmon with 372 yards. The running backs feature power and speed in Selwyn Simpson, 6-2, 210 with 500 yards and speedster Matt Gibson 5-8, 155 with 620 yards. The offense is large, roughly a 50-50 split rushing for 1841 yards, passing for 1781. They also have a fast defense (8 back); light DLs….egs 6-0, 215; 6-1, 245; 5-10, 210 with good DEs and LBs; DE Jeremiah Ndjali 6-1, 225; Dan Kelchner 6-0, 210 and Tim Rudderow 6-2, 240. Senior Steven Rice (6-0, 190) leads the line-backing corps with 44 tackles, supported by Lee Albert (6-0, 192) and Ryan Yanulevich (6-0, 184). The concern against Perk Val will be containing speed coming out of the backfield that can catch. Everyone on the team can catch! This one could mimic Liberty and Central Catholic last week.
7. North Penn 7-2. #9, Make that six straight for North Penn since the loss at Downingtown East back on September 18th. The last two weeks forced them to play four-quarter football against Pennsbury 27-20 and Neshaminy 22-17 last week, both serving as excellent prep for the postseason. They won last week in the closing moments, coming back from a 17-15 deficit on a 72-yd drive, scoring with a minute plus left in the game. With 1-8 Abington up next where they will likely be able to rest key personnel, you couldn’t ask for a better schedule as prep for the playoffs. It began with major tests against LaSalle, West Catholic and Downingtown, followed by critical games against conference rivals mentioned above, at the end. With running backs Nyfease West, Nick Isabella, Justin Ostopowicz and quarterback Reece Udinski, North Penn has the horses to be in every game. They close at home to Abington who just got their first win of the season while finding an offense the last three weeks scoring 25, 41 and 36 last week vs Bensalem. No such discoveries on the other side of the ball allowing an unbelievable 43 ppg!
8. Pennsbury 7-2. #10, The defending district champs are bringing down the curtain on another winning season, their eighth in a row, hanging onto second place at 5-1 in the National a game behind North Penn. This year’s offense is still big stuff, averaging 31ppg (38 last year) with a defense that is not last year’s but not far off at 16ppg, knowing it is not as well supported by the offense. They had no trouble with Central Bucks South last week, beating the Titans 27-9. Neshaminy is next, a game behind them at 4-2. With wins against the Council Rock schools and Pennridge along with the LaSalle and North Penn losses you know they’ll be a worthy opponent in the postseason.
9. Perkiomen Valley 9-0. #7T, Make that three straight shutouts (four total) after beating Upper Perkiomen 42-0. For the year they’ve allowed 86 points, giving them a 10ppg average, or 5ppg minus the 36 allowed in the opener to Council Rock North, a 56-36 win. The team they play this weekend, Spring Ford, strung together two consecutive shutouts so something has to give Friday night in Royalsford! This should be interesting with both having explosive offenses. That’s also where the Vikings will defend their title, going 9-0 last year with a 20-7 win against the Rams. As good as Perk Val was last year, this year’s group is better. That’s saying a lot knowing that edition lost at Downingtown East 27-24 on Drew Brennan 25-yd field goal as time expired in districts. Quarterback Stephen Sturm (6-2, 190), then a sophomore, completed 20 of 36 passes for 313 yards. This year sees him at a 71% rate for 2246 yards. His Td-Pick ratio is 26 to 2. He is surrounded by weapons in running backs Ronnie Arch (704ry) and David Williams (604ry), who can fly and catch with 237 and 429 yards respectively. Justin Jaworski is the leading receiver with 808 yards on 47 receptions. Aaron Morton has 438 yards with Sean Owens at 268 yards. This is an all-out air assault generating 55% of their yardage up top; 2281 yards. To date they have 1884 yards on the ground for a total of 4165 yards, lighting up the scoreboard at 48 ppg. As mentioned, the D gets after you too, yielding only 10ppg.
10. Spring Ford 9-0. #7T, Here’s another PAC-10 team tearing through the schedule without a challenge excepting State College in the opener, They’re a big and balanced offense scoring 45ppg with a quick defense in support allowing 8ppg. They have a lot of weapons, beginning with senior Rick Venuto 5-11, 185 who has done a good job under center in his first year, completing 67% of his passes for 1649 yards. His Td-Pick ratio is 23 to 1. Three receivers are over 300 yards; Stone Scarcelle 388yards, TE Quinn McKenna with 392 yards and SB Trey Jarmon with 372 yards. The running backs feature power and speed in Selwyn Simpson, 6-2, 210 with 500 yards and speedster Matt Gibson 5-8, 155 with 620 yards. The offense is large, roughly a 50-50 split rushing for 1841 yards, passing for 1781. They also have a fast defense (8 back); light DLs….egs 6-0, 215; 6-1, 245; 5-10, 210 with good DEs and LBs; DE Jeremiah Ndjali 6-1, 225; Dan Kelchner 6-0, 210 and Tim Rudderow 6-2, 240. Senior Steven Rice (6-0, 190) leads the line-backing corps with 44 tackles, supported by Lee Albert (6-0, 192) and Ryan Yanulevich (6-0, 184). The concern against Perk Val will be containing speed coming out of the backfield that can catch. Everyone on the team can catch! This one could mimic Liberty and Central Catholic last week.