Football Forecast – 13
By Scott Huff
Expectations.
In the world of sports, teams can meet expectations, exceed expectations, or fall short of expectations.
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North Penn (11-2 overall, 5-2 conference), coached by veteran head coach Dick Beck (245-61 career record), has been the gold standard in area scholastic football for decades.
But the last few years, the Knights have not always met those lofty expectations of capturing SOL National Conference championships.
Many prognosticators (whoever they are) predicted prior to the 2025 preseason that North Penn would regain its hold as the elite team in the conference.
After all, the Knights had 8 starters returning on offense and 7 starters returning on defense on a team that played in the District One 6A championship game in 2024.
In 2021, North Penn last won a Suburban One League National Conference championship and finished with an overall record of 11-1, losing to Ridley in an overtime shootout, 56-55, in the second round of the district playoffs.
The Knights, however, have not won a National Conference championship since.
In 2022, North Penn finished in 3rd place in the conference with an overall mark of 6-6. In 2023, the Knights finished in 3rd place in the conference with an overall record of 6-5.
And in 2024, North Penn was 11-3 overall – lost in the District One final against Downingtown West (35-16) - but finished in 3rd place in the conference.
This 2025 season, the Knights finished the regular season again without a conference title – the 4th consecutive season without a conference title.
NP finished the SOL National Conference regular season this season in 2nd place along with CB West (8-4, 5-2) & Neshaminy (9-4, 5-2) in the conference behind outright champion Pennridge (12-1, 6-1).
North Penn lost to both Neshaminy (18-14) and the Rams (34-10) on back-to-back weeks during the SOL National Conference regular season. And those high preseason expectations were certainly not met in mid-September.
North Penn, however, got its retribution big time against Neshaminy last week in a decisive 35-7 District One semifinal victory.
And now the Knights will move on to play their rematch with Pennridge in the D-1 6A final @ Helman Field.
North Penn may not have met expectations early in the 2025 season – but the Rams will surely not be playing that NP team it played back in September.
Expectations are now running extremely high in Lansdale, and the Knights appear to be back meeting those expectations.
North Penn Knight District/State Championship Resume
The Knights have won District One titles in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011 & 2016.
The contest with Pennridge this week will be the 15th District One Championship game for North Penn.
The Knights won a state championship in 2003 with a perfect 15-0 record.
In the 2003 regular season North Penn defeated Cardinal O’Hara (35-7), Bethlehem Catholic (38-7), Truman (49-8), Abington (49-7), Pennridge (35-10), Glen Mills (45-19), Neshaminy (35-7), CB East (38-7), Pennsbury (45-19) & CB West (41-7).
In the 2003 District One playoffs, the Knights defeated Ridley (28-7). Pennridge (42-21) & Interboro (43-28).
And in the 2003 State Playoffs North Penn defeated Easton (38-21) & Pittsburgh Central Catholic (37-10).
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Pennridge (12-1, 6-1) has clearly exceeded all expectations in the 2025 season as the Rams captured the SOL National Conference championship.
Pennridge is in the third year under head coach Kyle Beller and the preseason expectations were not very high to say the least. 
The Rams were a less than impressive 9-24 the last three seasons, and a 12-1 record this year was not to be seen in anyone’s crystal ball.
*Unless you are my guest forecaster Amelia V. Moyer, who is also 12-1 in predicting Pennridge football games this season - including a perfect 17-14 Ram selection over Coatesville last week*
The Green & White have collected key conference victories over North Penn (34-10) & Neshaminy (14-7) – the two teams that played in the D-1 semifinals last week.
The lone conference loss of the season came against Central Bucks West (28-14).
The last winning season for Pennridge came in 2021 when the Rams finished 8-5 and lost in the district playoffs to CB West, 19-17.
Pennridge had a shot at the District One title in the COVID season of 2020 under then head coach Cody Muller. The Rams finished 7-1 that shortened season and lost in the D-1 title game to Souderton, 31-17.
And now this 2025 Pennridge team finds itself back in the District One championship game after that heart-pounding 17-14 semifinal victory over Coatesville.
The enormous challenge facing those over-achieving (?) Rams – still in search of its first ever District One football championship - is those high-powered North Penn Knights.
And Pennridge has met every single challenge with a victory – but one – in this 2025 SOL National Conference championship season.
Stay tuned.
The Last 5 SOL National Conference Champions
2025 – Pennridge Rams – (6-1)
2024 – Central Bucks South Titans – (7-0)
2023 – Central Bucks West Bucks – (7-0)
2022 – Pennsbury Falcons – (7-0)
2021 – North Penn Knights – (7-0)
And the beat goes on…
PIAA District One 6A Championship
No. 2 North Penn (11-2) @ No. 1 Pennridge (12-1)
Helman Field – 7 pm
North Penn/Pennridge Rewind
September 19, 2025
Pennridge did not extend a warm welcome to North Penn @ Helman Field as the Rams stunned the Knights, 34-10.
- Pennridge entered the game with a losing streak against the Knights. The Rams had not beaten North Penn since 2012.
- The score at halftime was 6-3 in favor of PHS thanks to a defensive goal line stand on the last play of the first half.
- Pennridge extended the lead to 20-3 at the close of the third quarter. Noah Keating threw a 45-yard TD pass to Sean Leuthe and rushed for a touchdown.
- North Penn junior running back Rylei Gray scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 20-10.
- The Rams iced the win with a pair of touchdown runs by Keating in the fourth quarter to create the 34-10 final score.
- Keating rushed for 73 yards and scored 3 rushing touchdowns. He passed for 113 yards and a touchdown.
- The Pennridge defense limited senior standout Knight running back Matt Pownall to just 18 yards on 11 carries.
- The Ram special teams recovered a pair of North Penn fumbles on kickoff returns to create short fields for the PHS offense.
- And as the 2025 season played out – the Pennridge victory over the Knights was the obvious highlight of its season – and the North Penn defeat to the Rams was the obvious lowlight of its season.
Last Week:
No. 2 North Penn exacted its payback for an 18-14 regular season loss to Neshaminy with a no-doubt-about-it 35-7 District One 6A semifinal victory over the No. 11 Redskins.
The Knights featured a punishing running attack to advance to the D-1 finals.
Junior speedster Rylie Gray led the touchdown parade with 3 touchdowns, while senior Matt Pownall reached paydirt 2 times.
Pownall rushed for a game-high 134 yards, while Gray jetted for 93 yards.
The North Penn defense was terrific as it limited the magnificent Neshaminy quarterback Michael Eckart to a single scoring play.
The lone Redskin score came on a 14-yard scoring pass from Eckart to Mike Sassano.
No. 1 Pennridge remained unbeaten @ Helman Field this season as the Rams edged out No. 4 Coatesville, 17-14.
Pennridge pieced together a 10-7 lead at halftime in an unusual manner.
The Ram defense cut an early Red Raider lead to 7-2 when Will Dougherty tackled a Coatesville running back in the endzone for a safety.
Pennridge took the lead for good when Noah Keating fired a 48-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Rowe. After a Red Raider penalty, Rowe scored a 2-point conversion run to boost the lead to 10-7.
The Rams snatched a 17-7 lead in the fourth period when Keating threw a 1-yard touchdown pass on 4th down to Blake Landherr.
Keating completed 11 passes for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns and added 21 yards rushing.
Coatesville scored a 4th period touchdown to close to within 17-14.
But the Ram defense came up huge and forced the Red Raiders to turn the ball over on downs late in the period to secure the win.
Season Resume:
North Penn has defeated Downingtown East (42-21), Council Rock South (21-14), Quakertown (42-7), CB East (31-20), CB South (28-7), Pennsbury (20-0), CB West (31-13), Abington (56-12), Boyertown (42-14), Souderton (43-14) & Neshaminy (35-7).
The Knights have lost games to Neshaminy (18-14) & Pennridge (34-10).
Pennridge has defeated Liberty (31-21), Bensalem (36-33), Truman (41-12), Pennsbury (14-0), North Penn (34-10), Abington (43-8), Neshaminy (14-7), CB East (15-8), CB South (28-7), Plymouth Whitmarsh (22-21), Downingtown East (21-9) & Coatesville (17-14).
The only loss of the season for the Rams came against Central Bucks West, 28-14.
Scoring Summary:
North Penn has scored an average of 31.8 points per game and has allowed an average of 13.9 points per game.
Pennridge has scored an average of 23.2 points per game and has allowed an average of 13.7 points per game.
Winner Gets:
The winner of the District One championship game between No. 1 Pennridge (12-1) & No. 2 North Penn (11-2) will play the winner of the game between District 12 champion La Salle (10-1) & District 11 champion Easton (13-0).
Prediction:
Guest Forecaster: Amelia V. Moyer
Pennridge Rams 24 * North Penn Knights 21
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