Back for its 16th season, the popular Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times ‘Let’s Talk Football’ features football beat writer Drew Markol. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (http://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school/) and Courier Times (http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school/) web sites
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge put to rest the possibility of a five-way tie for first place in the SOL National with a win over Central Bucks South. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Give Pennridge credit. I was at the CB West/CB East game, and people were all saying, ‘If South can beat Pennridge tonight, we could have a five-way tie for first place.’ I had coaches from both East and West say to me that they liked South’s chances to beat Pennridge, and all Pennridge did was go out and beat South 28-7. Ryan Rowe – their really good linebacker who will probably play linebacker in college when he goes to Princeton – ran for 145 yards, and he had a touchdown on only 15 carries, and they just took care of South like nobody’s business, and they won themselves the SOL National title. Their lone loss was to CB West at CB West. There’s no shame in that. CB West is undefeated at home.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Pennridge is the number one seed and will host 16th seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh in Friday’s opening round game.
Drew Markol: “Pennridge has a tough opener with Plymouth Whitemarsh. That will not be easy. That’s a tough 1 versus 16. When you get the top seed, you’re hoping not to play a team like Plymouth Whitemarsh, but they are. Pennridge with Ryan Rowe and Will Dougherty – who had 80 yards rushing the other day in the win over South, and Noah Keating, the quarterback, had a couple of touchdown passes. He has broken all of his grandfather – Jeff Hollenbach’s records at Pennridge. They’re going to be a tough out. They’re a legit one seed. They deserve it and they earned it. They beat a South team that last year was 12-0 until they lost to North Penn in the semifinals. That South team had a lot of seniors and this year has a lot of new faces, but Pennridge went out and did what they had to do, and here they are – good for them.
“If you’re Plymouth Whitemarsh, this is why they play a tough non-league schedule. They played a Manheim Township team that people are not familiar with, but Manheim Township has been a Pennsylvania powerhouse forever, and they go out and play those teams just for this reason. You get into the tournament, and then you see what happens. So, they look at Pennridge, and they say, ‘All right, it's a number one seed. They're 9-1. They’ve beaten North Penn, and they've beaten Neshaminy. They've beaten some good teams.’ But Mike Gianguilio, the PW running back, is tremendous. He's going to get a lot of work. And their quarterback is Cole Reilly. They've played tough teams. They won in overtime against Wissahickon, so they know that pressure cooker. This is not a typical 16 versus 1. Pennridge is legit, but I think PW is legit, too. So, a lot of these times you see these first-round scores, 1 versus 16, it's 35-8. I don't see that in this one. I think Pennridge beats them, but I think it's awfully close.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Central Bucks West will host Neshaminy in an all-SOL matchup. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Neshaminy beat CB West 28-18 at the end of September. Then West went on to beat Pennsbury and Pennridge, and they lost to North Penn, but they bounced back, and they beat East last week (28-21). That was West’s eighth straight win over East. I saw West two weeks ago against North Penn, and North Penn took them apart. But they came back last week against a pretty good East team.
“East did not make the playoffs. They finished 5-5. They lost their last three games by a combined 20 points to Pennridge, Neshaminy and West. All three are district playoff teams. In last week’s rivalry game, Louie Cipollo, the junior running back for West, had over 200 yards rushing, and he scored a couple of touchdowns. Cipollo started the season at quarterback, and they moved him to running back and he's just flourished. He also had an interception that stopped East's final drive to secure the win. I hate to say it’s a coin flip, but here's a revenge factor for West.
“Neshaminy took care of Pennsbury for the first time in a while last week. Michael Eckart, the quarterback from Neshaminy, had a tremendous year, and Carter Clee is a really good running back. That's one of the most interesting games of the whole first round, for sure.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Ridley will travel to Souderton on Friday. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Ridley's one of those teams - we don't hear much about them. They’re from the Central League, but they're always tough. Coaches always cringe when they have to play at Ridley. Like there's some mystique to it, and who knows - maybe there is. CB East played Ridley in their opener. The game was at East, and they beat them 20-14.
“That was in August. A lot of things have changed. Now we're at Halloween, but Ridley is just one of those teams that is always in the tournament. They're always a tough out. Souderton has plenty of experience in this tournament. You've got to give them the edge. But, again, it’s the playoffs, and strange things happen.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn is a favorite in its opener at home against Boyertown. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “I think North Penn – and it’s not much of a reach because they're the second seed, but I look at North Penn as the favorite to win it all. They're 8-2. They lost to Pennridge, they lost to Neshaminy, but since then, they've just been mowing people down, and they seem to have figured it out. They had a lot of talent coming back. Maybe they didn't think they'd lose a game at all. And then they did, and they realized, okay, we better do something and pick it up. And they have.
“They had their quarterback, Matt Bucksar, coming back. They had Matt Pownall coming back. They have Mason Franek, the wide receiver, coming back. Now you add Rylei Gray, the junior, who just gives them another dimension at running back, and their offensive line gelled. Nobody wants to play them.
“If you're Pennridge, you're like - I'd rather see North Penn as the second seed than the fourth seed, because I don't have to play them down the road until I get to the district final. I just like the spot that North Penn is in, and like I said, they're my favorite to win. Of course, they went to the district final last year, so I'm not going out on too long of a branch here, but they're my pick for right now.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Council Rock South is hosting Haverford. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Again, with Haverford, they always get in the tournament, but you wonder about who they're playing and everything. Wouldn't it be great if Council Rock South could play this game at Council Rock South if they had lights and they could actually have a home playoff game? I know it's two miles away, and you play over at Council Rock North, but both teams are still getting on buses. I'd rather get on the bus from Richboro to Newtown than Haverford to Newtown. Council Rock South has a field, and if they have lights and throw some bleachers in there, they could have a home playoff game, but whatever. That's a story for another day.
“Council Rock South has Marley Emerson, the junior quarterback, who is pretty good. And the best player on the field will be Nate Szydlik, the Council Rock South linebacker and wing back or tight end. This seems to be their year. The only loss was to North Penn. I believe it was week two, and it was a close game. Nate Szydlik didn't even play. I talked to a bunch of the Council Rock South kids last week, and they all pointed to the North Penn loss as being the eye-opener of the season. They realized then that - okay, we can play with anybody if we can play with North Penn at North Penn. So, if you're Council Rock South and you’re playing Haverford – okay, well, bring them on. I think in this case, unlike with the Neshaminy and CB West with that familiarity, I think Council Rock South is better off playing a school that they haven't played. Let them play somebody in the first round that they're really not familiar with. Most of the kids probably don't even know where Haverford is. And if you win that one, you just see what happens from there.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Dublin made the Class 5A Tournament as the 16 seed, and the Cardinals will be on the road at top-seeded Springfield-Delco. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “A credit to Upper Dublin. They had a lot of turnover from last year, and they have a lot of seniors on this team that started for them, but those seniors didn't play much the past two years, so they were older, but they were inexperienced. And they struggled early on, but they found a way to get into the tournament at 4-6, which doesn't happen very often when you only have four wins.
“But they did get a 16 seed, and they have to play undefeated Springfield-Delco, who is just really good. It's a tough task. You look at Upper Dublin with Lawson Tyler, the junior quarterback, It’s a good game for him. He’s going to get experience, and this kind of thing will help them going forward, and you just have to go and you play to win, obviously, but, in this one versus 16, when you're playing a 10-0 Springfield-Delco, that's a tough hill to climb right there.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Wissahickon is the five seed in Class 5A and will host 12th-seeded Unionville. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at Wissahickon as a five seed. They're 9-1, and their only loss was to Plymouth-Whitemarsh in overtime. Wissahickon just had a heck of a season, and they get Unionville at 6-4. That's an awfully long ride on a Friday for Unionville on those buses, and that's one of the things coaches will tell you - they hate to make that drive down to Unionville in Delaware County on a Friday. Unionville's coming on a school bus for two hours or an hour and a half, and that's hard. That's a lot of stale legs and everything. I think it's a really good spot for Wissahickon.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Moreland will be on the road at fourth-seeded Strath Haven in Class 5A. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “Upper Moreland is playing a Strath Haven team that in 10 games has only allowed 50 points. That's very simple math. They've had four shutouts. They've only allowed double-digit points two times, and that was one of those was a 10-6 loss to Haverford, who's in the 6A playoffs playing Council Rock South.
“Strath Haven lost to Springfield-Delco last week, 10-7. Springfield-Delco is undefeated, and Strath Haven's 8-2. They have a nice history. Upper Moreland battled Wissahickon, and they battled Plymouth-Whitemarsh, but this is a tough spot for them, for sure. They're a 13 seed playing a four. That's a pretty good four in Strath Haven, and they will absolutely have their hands full in that one for sure.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Springfield Twp will travel to Pope John Paul II for a rematch of last year’s District 1 4A title game. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “This is a tough one for Springfield. They're playing a Pope John Paul team that is just simply loaded. They're 9-1. Their only loss is to Upper Perkiomen, who's a 10 seed in the 5A tournament. Springfield comes in at 4-5. It’s kind of a rebuilding year for Springfield, and that's okay. These smaller schools have that, but that’s a difficult task for anybody to have to play these schools that recruit.”
Drew’s Picks
(Winners in bold)
Neshaminy @ Central Bucks West
Ridley @ Souderton
Boyertown @ North Penn
Haverford @ Council Rock South
Plymouth Whitemarsh @ Pennridge
Upper Dublin @ Springfield-Delco
Upper Moreland @ Strath Haven
Unionville @ Wissahickon
Springfield Twp @ Pope John Paul II
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