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: Last week’s marquee game was Pennridge at Neshaminy with the Rams eking out a 14-7 win at Heartbreak Ridge. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: Pennridge has to go down to Neshaminy – it’s a tough place to win. Neshaminy was 5-1, Pennridge was 6-0, and it was a great game – 14-7 Pennridge wins. They got a second-half touchdown run by quarterback Noah Keating, and in the closing seconds, Neshaminy threw a ball into the end zone, which – in theory – would have brought them within one and an extra point of overtime, but Pennridge’s Chase Clontz intercepted it in the end zone to preserve the win. It’s just an enormous win.
“Pennridge’s defense did hold Neshaminy quarterback Michael Eckart to about 140 yards, which is pretty good. No one else has really been able to hold him down. Again, Pennridge passed the North Penn test, and now they passed the Neshaminy test. They’re 3-0 in the National Conference and the only undefeated team in the conference. Now they’ve got to go to CB West, so the gauntlet is there, but so far, so good for them. They’re winning the close games. They had a close one with North Penn before they blew them out in the second half. It’s no longer – Is Pennridge for real? Yes, Pennridge is for real.
“They’re one of only two 6A teams in the district undefeated. Coatesville is the other one. We’re a little premature, but if you can get a top four seed in the district playoffs, you will get a couple of home games, which is nice, and if you’re the top seed, you get to host the district final. Now we’re way ahead of ourselves, but they’re in a good spot. They just have to keep winning. CB West won’t be easy, but it’s not supposed to be easy.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: The other huge game in the SOL was undefeated Wissahickon at Plymouth Whitemarsh in a classic SOL American Conference battle that PW won 33-27 in overtime. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at the SOL American Conference, and the big one we had previewed last week was PW/Wissahickon. It looked like a coin flip. PW came in with a 3-3 record, but they had played a really tough non-league schedule whereas Wissahickon was 6-0. Both were 1-0 in conference play, and Friday’s game lived up to everything that we expected, which was nice because so many times other things happen. But this one – they just slugged away at each other.
“I’m not a fan of the high school overtime or the college overtime. I’d rather just see the teams play, but they try to end the games. Plymouth Whitemarsh scores in the first overtime to go up 33-27, which turned out to be the final score. They went for two, and they didn’t get it. So, Wissahickon gets the ball and has a chance to win with a touchdown and conversion, but Plymouth Whitemarsh stopped them on downs to win the game.
“You look at the offense. PW had over 400 yards rushing, which is enormous. Mike Gianguilio had 231 yards of that rushing on 28 carries, so they went to him a lot. He scored two touchdowns. And the quarterback for Plymouth Whitemarsh, Cole Reilly, had 136 yards rushing and also two touchdowns, so, between those two guys you get basically 350 yards of that 406 rushing yards and four of the touchdowns.
“On the flip side, Tyree Chambers had a really big game for Wissahickon. He finished with three touchdowns and 96 yards rushing, and Dom Harvey-Sheppard, another running back for Wissahickon, went over 100 yards. Quarterback Evan Tolmie threw for 192 yards. This was one of those games where they were running it and winging it all over the place, which is very entertaining if you like offensive football. They had 350-plus yards of offense themselves. This wasn’t a night for the defense. This was a night for the offenses. Look at the total – that’s over 750 yards of combined offense, which is crazy. Again, this lived up the billing, which rarely happens. You wish it was week 10 when these two teams played. They’re in different classifications, so we won’t see them play again, but it does give Plymouth Whitemarsh a leg up for the American Conference title because it looks like these are the two best teams, and they showed it. It goes to overtime, and that’s all you need to hear.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Souderton had another big win last week, defeating Bensalem 56-13, and Council Rock South defeated Harry S Truman 42-7. That sets the stage for Thursday’s Continental Conference showdown between the conference’s lone undefeated teams. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Souderton goes down to Bensalem last week. They’re 4-0 in the Continental and 6-1 overall. Their only loss was to CB West. They’re just taking care of business. Quarterback Ben Walsh had a big night, throwing a couple of touchdown passes. I believe he threw for 270 yards or more in the win. They had a 35-7 lead at one point, and their offense has just come alive. They put up 49 against Quakertown a couple weeks ago, 56 against Bensalem, and what they can do – you look at Mike McCormick and Jojo Sudi in the backfield, and you have Walsh throwing it to Hunter Smeltz who caught a touchdown pass against Bensalem, and Tim Meehan out there – they have diversity on their offense. When you have that – and I say this every week, it’s very hard for a high school defense to stop a team that can throw the ball well. Walsh, the Souderton quarterback – is a three-year starter, and he knows what he’s doing there. He can just pick teams apart.
“This week, Souderton plays Council Rock South on Thursday night at Council Rock North in the game that should pretty much decide the Continental Conference title. You have two 4-0 teams. Council Rock South beat Truman 42-7 last week. Nate Szdylik is back, the all-state linebacker from last year, doing his thing on defense, and he’s also playing offense. He had a touchdown catch last week in the win over Truman. Joey Madara had a touchdown catch. Council Rock South’s Marley Emerson is a very good quarterback too. He can sling it, so we’re going to have another exciting game, which is great, and it’s on a Thursday, so it stands alone.
“We talked before the season how the Continental could be wide open with Souderton, Quakertown, Upper Dublin, Council Rock South and Bensalem. Well, Souderton and Council Rock South have pulled away from the pack, and now we’ll see on Thursday which one. I think with Souderton’s offense and the way they’re clicking - they’re going to be hard to stop. I don’t know if we’re going to get a Plymouth Whitemarsh/Wissahickon type game with a million yards of offense on both sides, but I think we’ll get a close game. I give Souderton the edge because they can do a little more.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Also in the Continental Conference, Upper Dublin had a big win at Quakertown, 42-28. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “You look at Upper Dublin – after a slow start to the season, now they’re 3-1 in the SOL Continental and 3-4 overall. They may run out of time. You’ve got to probably get to six wins to get a district playoff spot, but they go to Quakertown – not an easy place to play. Their senior running back, Ron Shepherd, is out with an injury, and they have to go to a sophomore in George Stein, and they give him the ball 32 times, which is an awful lot, and he runs for 241 yards and three touchdowns. That’s insane that they were able to do that. That was a surprising outcome for me.
“Junior quarterback Lawson Tyler for Upper Dublin threw a couple of touchdown passes. He’s a big kid and has a big arm. They’re just young. At the start of the season, there was a lot of inexperience. When you talked to Bret Stover, their coach, he would tell you – he had some seniors this year, but they hadn’t gotten much playing time as juniors and sophomores, and it was baptism by fire, and that’s hard. Well, now here we are – much later in the season. They’re 3-1 in the conference, and if you’re them, you’re thinking – why can’t we win the next three and have a little playoff run. That’s a testament to what Stover can do with that team. When you lose a player like Shepherd, and a sophomore comes in and runs for 240 yards – you credit him, you credit your offensive line, and you just tip your cap because that’s a job well done.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: North Penn defeated Central Bucks South and looks as though it’s gotten back on track after back-to-back losses. Your comments.
Drew Markol: “I was at that game, and that was just a game where senior Matt Pownall caught two touchdown passes. Matt Bucksar, the quarterback, was throwing pretty well. He completed 9 of 10 passes. He didn’t have to throw it that much, but he still went over 200 yards passing, and he also ran for close to 70 yards. Rylei Gray is a really exciting running back for North Penn. It looked like they righted the ship and played a complete game on offense and defense. You knew pretty early on what was going to happen. North Penn had a 28-0 lead after three quarters, which could have been worse. At halftime, the game was kind of over. CB South scored a late touchdown, but it was just a solid North Penn kind of game that they needed. They had lost to Neshaminy, they had lost to Pennridge, and they had to right things, and they did. Now they go down to Pennsbury on Saturday, and Pennsbury hasn’t won. North Penn is once again rounding into shape, and they’re going to once again be a very tough out.”
SuburbanOneSports.com: Upper Moreland will face Wissahickon in the SOL American. Your thoughts.
Drew Markol: “Wissahickon had the tough loss in overtime to Plymouth Whitemarsh. Upper Moreland comes in after a 44-7 win over William Tennent. The quarterback for Upper Moreland, David Adamski, had a couple of touchdown passes. Larry Hughes – the senior tight end who’s a really good player - caught two touchdown passes. Upper Moreland comes in – they’re 5-2, they won three in a row, and they’re 2-0 in the American Conference. They still have to play Wissahickon and Plymouth Whitemarsh, but they’re coming in hot, and they’re playing a Wissahickon team that’s coming off a tough loss and has to bounce back. They call them trap games in the NFL and maybe it is. Upper Moreland kind of gets lost in the shuffle behind PW and Wissahickon. If they beat Wissahickon, it gets very interesting when they play PW.”
Drew’s Picks
(Winners in bold)
Souderton at Council Rock South
CB South at Abington
Bensalem at Council Rock North
Neshaminy at Central Bucks East
Pennridge at Central Bucks West
Upper Dublin at Cheltenham
Quakertown at Harry S Truman
William Tennent at Hatboro-Horsham
Sun Valley at Lower Moreland
New Hope-Solebury at Jenkintown
Plymouth Whitemarsh at Springfield Twp
Upper Moreland at Wissahickon
North Penn at Pennsbury
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