Ed Thomas Report

Well, here we are barreling into week number seven after finally witnessing a bona fide major upset. It’s about time but I don’t think too many people saw this one coming! You could say that Council Rock South was a dangerous team as was pointed in last week’s write up, but how do you separate their upset of Abington from the 30-7 loss at Pennsbury two weeks ago? Mating that up with this past week’s result is a difficult task. Rankings -- don’t you hate loving them? Abington was close to wrapping this one up with time running out in the fourth-quarter. But they miscounted how many timeouts they had left, allowing the clock to run out in regulation with the ball at the Golden Hawks' ten-yard line tied at 35 all. The Hawks’ defense rose to the occasion, holding Abington to a field goal in overtime. Then they took care of business on their possession handing the ball to Greg Welsh who ran in from nine yards out for the win. Welsh had killed them all night, rushing for 121 yards on 18 carries. That was a heck of a win by C.R. South, a win that throws the SOL-National into mild chaos. Pennsbury is 3-0 but must still play Abington away the 9th game of the year, then Neshaminy the following week at home to close out the regular season. Having your toughest opponents at the end of the season is a difficult proposition. The thing of it is, five teams are in legitimate contention for the conference crown with Neshaminy, Abington, and both Council Rock teams tied in second place at 2-1. From here on out, every game in the National is a game of impact in terms of the conference race and playoff seeding. Hang on for what could be a fantastic finish in the SOL-National.

1. North Penn (6-0) North Penn remained undefeated atop the rankings and Suburban One-Continental Conference at 3-0 after dismantling Central Bucks West (1-5), 49-7. It was 35-0 at the half. The Knights continue to develop as a team with all the blowouts allowing underclassmen to play. Junior running back Troy Brosky got a lot of playing time, rushing for two scores and 85 yards on 5 carries. Craig Needhammer got 34 yards on 6 carries and had a touchdown catch of 60 yards. Three of wide out Dom Taggart’s 5 receptions went for 6, 30 and 52 yard touchdowns. He finished with 67 total yards. Coach Beck has made it a priority to develop the passing game this year making them one of the most versatile offenses in the state. Senior quarterback Todd Smolinsky continues to grow as a weapon, completing 6 of 7 passes for 167 yards and 4 scores. To date, no one has been able to defend them. It’s unlikely Quakertown will be able to either this weekend when they play them. The Panthers (5-1, 1-1) allowed 26 points in a home loss to Hatboro-Horsham two weeks ago and 23 in a winning cause against Central Bucks South last week. Don’t look now but Souderton is tied with North Penn at 3-0 in the conference race after winning three straight, so it could still get interesting.

2. Pennsbury (6-0) Second ranked Pennsbury blew past error prone Truman in the Falcon’s first road game of the year where they prevailed, 41-0. It’s true, they haven’t faced a monster team yet but they are still showing the signs of a championship caliber team by playing shutdown defense and running the ball well. With an offense averaging 33 points a game supported by a D allowing 5 points a game, they are a load! And with a big roster, they’re playing a lot of people. The game against Truman saw the Tigers coughing the ball up seven times on fumbles, losing three of them and throwing one interception. They were penalized 9 times for 65 yards. No one is going to win against Pennsbury playing like that especially when the Falcons played a near flawless game. They had no turnovers and were penalized five times for 40 yards. That’s a pretty good outing. Offensively, they spread the ball around with six different players scoring. Quarterback Brandon Pepper (1/4/24yds) had a 24-yard touchdown pass in the first-quarter to senior receiver Eric Williams while Dante Devine rushed 21 times for 127 yards. All totaled, they rushed for 230 yards. The win keeps them in first place atop the National Conference at 3-0. Bensalem is up next (2-4, 1-2) coming off a 25-14 loss at Council Rock North. The Owls gave them a tussle last year before losing 19-7 but don’t look capable of a repeat performance here.

3. Ridley (6-0) Ridley moved up a notch in the rankings with Abington losing and the Green Raiders putting on quite a display in Berwyn last week. It didn’t start off well and was in fact a tale of two halves of play. Version one was perhaps the team many expected to see this year early on, meaning, while they showed great potential, they would often self destruct in the end with all the youth and new players. They stared the night with two long drives deep into Conestoga territory where quarterback Colin Masterson threw interceptions to derail both drives. The third possession was a 75-yard punt return for the score called back on a penalty. They finally got it going late in the second-quarter when Shahaid Smith capped a 58 yard drive on a 7-yard burst for 6 with 45 seconds left, giving them a 7-0 half time lead. Version two, i.e., the real Ridley, showed up the second half, actually, the drive just mentioned, scoring on their first four possessions to blow out ‘Stoga, 34-13. Quarterback Colin Masterson had another strong performance rushing for 2 scores and completing 14 of 18 for 172 yards. He is getting great protection this year by another under rated line. His stats bore this out. To date, he has completed 57 of 82 passes for a completion rate of 70%. His TD to interception ratio of 11-5 could improve but he has thrown for 933 yards. Two runners hit the century mark against Conestoga with Shahaid Smith getting 106 yards on 15 carries and Sam Dixon-Dougan leading all rushers with 108 yards and 2 scores on 12 carries. Alex Nicolino caught 3 passes for 32 yards but the leading receiver was tailback Shahaid Smith with 5 receptions for 32 yards. Sam Dixon-Dougan also caught 2 passes for 42 yards. Ridley has weapons everywhere. The 529 yards of total offense was their highest of the year. Next up is the best team on the schedule to date in potent Penncrest (4-2, 4-1), fresh off a 66-54 win at Springfield. The Lions are averaging 42 ppg to Ridley’s 35. Defensively, they allow 25 a game to Ridley’s 4. A quick schedule read shows Ridley hasn’t played a team of Garnet Valley’s or Downingtown West’s caliber. Those are the teams that beat Penncrest’s explosive group. Downingtown (6-0) beat them in the opener, 40-37, while G-Val beat them in a close one, 28-27. Both games were lost in the closing moments of the fourth quarter setting the Ridley-Penncrest game up as one of the top contests in the state. This could be a wild one!

4. Neshaminy (5-1) Neshaminy came out with a simple game plan to ram it down Tennent’s throat and it worked, to the tune of 328 rushing yards as they rolled over the Panthers, 35-7. It was 28-0 at the half. This was a nice win following a sloppy game against Truman the week before and the Abington loss before that. It was a pretty clean win as well with 3 fumbles (1 lost), no interceptions and 1 penalty. Running back Bryan Dean lit things up scoring twice on 1- and 47-yard runs on the way to a career high 212 yards rushing on 23 carries. At 5-7, 165 pounds with great speed, it is difficult seeing him, getting a solid hit or just catching him. He’s quite a weapon. All totaled, 9 running backs had carries. The passing game continues to improve with co-starters Brian Titus completing 4 of 6 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown pass, and Charlie Marterella completing 3 of 5 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown toss. Wide outs Frank Csaszar and Rick Brebner had a touchdown apiece on 4 catches netting 78 yards for Csaszar and 3 catches for Brebner getting 40 yards. It was a balanced performance for the Redskin offense, churning out 446 yards of total offence. Nice! The D can take a bow as well holding Tennent to 132 total yards. The way Council Rock South played last week, upsetting Abington, says the ‘Skins need a repeat of last week’s stats offensively just to keep up with them. It was a struggle last year where they edged the Golden Hawks, 20-13, in Langhorne. I’m certain the Tribe would be happy with a similar score here.

5. St. Joseph's Prep (5-1) What in the world is going on at Archbishop Ryan? This is the Hawk’s turf but a brief digression to remind that 2 seasons ago Ryan could boast about beating Pennsbury, Archbishop Wood and GW. Now they’re on a 16 game losing streak and have not won a football game since 2007. Their average loss through 6 games is 33-3. So they were absolutely no contest for St. Joseph’s big machine that blew out to a 49-7 half time lead on the way to a 55-7 rout of the Raiders. The win keeps the Prep atop the PCL at 3-0. Junior Spencer Reid (5-11, 185) got the call and responded with 176 yards rushing on 14 carries for 4 scores. He had touchdown runs of 5, 7, 45 and 64 yards. Sophomore Desmon Peoples had 4 carries for 64 yards. He broke out for 23 and 64 yard scoring runs. Another sophomore, quarterback Skylar Mornhinweg, completed all 3 of his passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. Junior Jeff Heath had a 2 yard second quarter touchdown run then returned a pick 86 yards for another score. What ever the Hawk’s may be this year, they will be even more next year because of their youth. This year’s group may be ahead of schedule with wins against McKeesport, St. Peter’s and LaSalle. They pounded out 367 yards on the ground against Ryan while holding them to 46 yards rushing. They have an open week this weekend, not returning to action until October 24th at home against Cardinal O’Hara.

6. LaSalle (5-1) LaSalle had an unexpectedly easy time with Father Judge, jumping out to a 28-3 third quarter lead then cruising to a 28-10 win. Guess the Hawks took something out of Judge the preceding week. No 4th quarter comeback in this one! The Explorer’s were on fire in the middle two quarters where they scored all 28 of their points. Jamal Abdur Rahman started things off with a 24-yard touchdown catch of a Drew Loughery pass. Judge countered with an impressive 39-yard field goal by Owen Radtke. Wide receiver Sam Feleccia came right back with a 48-yard touchdown pass from Loughery. Judge was held again then gave up a 72-yard punt return by Connor Hoffman to make the score 21-3 at halftime. A 3rd quarter 9 yard touchdown run by Abdur-Rahman iced it for LaSalle. Judge’s Curt Wortham added a meaningless score off a touchdown pass from Tony Smith to end the scoring at 28-10. Curt was held to 79 yards on 24 carries while quarterback Tony Smith completed 14 of 22 throws for 112 yards. That was a nice defensive effort from LaSalle, holding Judge to 108 yards rushing and 112 passing. The offense was just as impressive gaining 133 yard on the ground and 223 up top. Drew Loughery completed 11 of 17 passes and had 2 scores. Running back Jamal Abdur-Rahman rushed for 102 yards on 15 attempts and caught 4 passes for 73 yards. He had 2 touchdowns. Sam Feleccia caught 3 balls for 77 yards. Steve Jones also had 3 receptions for 66 yards. The win keeps them a game back of the St. Joseph’s (3-0) and Cardinal O’Hara (2-0). LaSalle’s next game is against an improved Bonner team Saturday. Last year’s team started out 1-8, scoring a total of 28 points those first 9 games before winning their last 3 against Ryan, Neumann and Carroll. This year’s team is 2-4, with winnable losses to Interboro 14-7 and Roman 24-20. The other losses are O’Hara 39-20 and Chestnut Hill, 42-27 so they are at least competing this year.

7. Downingtown West (6-0) Downingtown West welcomed back quarterback Bret Gillespie who was key in securing their sixth win of the season at Henderson in a war. Bret had been out after suffering a separated shoulder against Glen Mills the second game of the year. Since then, the Whippets won three straight games coming into the Henderson game. Henderson has owned them recently, winning the last 3 encounters. It looked like they might get another win with their option attack grinding out a ton of yardage. By games end, they had 236 yards rushing but only 10 points as the Whippet D rose to the occasion when they had to. Downingtown got the scoring going when fullback Trey Faust blasted in from 4 yards out in the first quarter. Henderson answered when Ryan Brewer drilled a 26-yard field goal in the first-quarter and Bob Bureski ran in from 9 yards out in the second-quarter to take a 10-7 half time lead. Downingtown came out strong in the second-half against their old adversary on the opening kick-off when Bret Gillespie connected with Pete Muhlville on a 40-yard strike all the way down to Henderson’s 3-yard line. Three plays later, he took it in from 2 yards out. From thereon, it was a grinding, physical defensive struggle until very late in the fourth quarter when Henderson got it going again, driving to D-Town’s five-yard line where they were held on a fourth and goal. Wow! Couve Lafate (5-8, 180, sr, 455ry) and quarterback Will Stephenson (6-1, 185, sr, 612ry) are a load in that option. So is quarterback Bret Gillespie for D-Town who was rusty, completing only 3 of 12 passes but they went for 116 yards. The shoulder must be okay since he rushed 8 times for 63 yards. Tailback Kessan Christopher had 55 yards on 15 carries with fullback Trey Faust chipping in another 58 yards on his 9 carries. The Whippets were strong on the ground, rushing for 196 yards. They are not the biggest team around but they are quick and hard-nosed. Defensive linemen Mekail Brown goes 5-9, 200, with defensive end Josh Coulter coming in at 6-2, 205. They do have a monster inside backer in Max Bause, a 6-0, 230 pound senior. One of the most improved programs in the southeastern corner of our fair state is next for the Whippets when they play Avon Grove in Downingtown. The West Grove bunch is putting up big numbers, scoring 39 ppg and allowing 18. They’ve crushed everyone except Downingtown East who beat them, 32-21, two weeks back. Emotionally, they are a “sandwich” game for D-Town West, coming after the Henderson struggle and before the much anticipated Downingtown East game.

8. Downingtown East (5-1) Downingtown East showed another dimension last week getting past troublesome Malvern Prep to register their fifth win of the year. The Friars came out to stop the run and were successful to a degree but it allowed quarterback Trey Lauletta to have a banner outing completing 10 of 21 passes for 258 yards and two scores. Malvern got things going on their opening drive that ate a lot of clock but stalled. Mark Tiberi then kicked a 31-yard field goal to give them the early lead. The Cougars came right back with Lauletta hitting Blaise Santangelo on a 69-yard touchdown strike. The Friars countered on a 7 play drive capped by Bob Scaramuzza’s three-yard run for 6. The quick striking Cougars wasted no time when Lauletta again connected with Blaise Santangelo on a 60-yard bomb for the score. East’s Max Narewski blocked a punt and returned it 31 yards to complete the scoring in the first-half with East ahead 20-9. In the third quarter, the Friars punched one in, drawing within 3 on the 2 point conversion to make things interesting. It stayed at 20-17 until late in the fourth-quarter when the Cougars went on a 90-yard drive, capped by Drew Harris’ 12-yard sprint to the end zone. You can slow Drew down but you can stop him. He finished the night with 86 yards on 22 carries. East has now won 3 straight since the loss to Wilson. Bishop Shanahan (1-5) is next then the big one against Downingtown West.

9. Rustin (AAA, 6-0) Rustin used the big play against winless Sun Valley (0-6) to rout the Vanguards, 54-14. The score was 35-0 at the half when many of the starters were sent to the bench. The big plays featured touchdown runs of 42, 52, 55, 61 and 69 yards! Two of the big plays were delivered by back ups Travis James who went for 61-yards and then Devante Dixon who had a 55-yard score. The White brothers carried the majority of the load with Rondell getting 120 yards and 2 scores on 7 carries and Rahiem getting 84 yards on 2 totes. Wide out Lee Kurfis got in on the action catching a 21-yard bullet for the score from quarterback Mike Carlin. Mike completed 2 of 4 passes for 63 yards. The defense was again stellar while the offense was enormous at 459 total yards of offense. After breezing through a less than challenging schedule where they amassed a combined score of 268 to 33, things get a lot tougher with this week’s road trip to Henderson. This is a game of tremendous impact and implications for AAA playoff seeding. We’ll see what Henderson has left in their tanks after the Downingtown West game and what Rustin is made of against a quality opponent.

10. Council Rock South (5-1) No other team seems to want this spot but the Golden Hawks sure put a good claim in for it with their 41-38 overtime road win in Abington last week. Abington was previously ranked 3rd but tumbled out of the rankings after losing at home to then unranked C.R. South. The end of the game with Abington is detailed in the lead-in up top so here are a few other points of interest. The Hawks have a weapon in junior quarterback Billy Fleming (6-0, 180, jr) who became their sole option at quarterback when QB/WR/DB Terence McGovern went down with a season ending knee injury. All Fleming has done is lead the team in rushing with 425 yards while managing the position well and scoring 8 touchdowns, 2 against Abington. He became the starter at mid-season last year so he has experience. Around him are a cast of 7 returning starters on both sides of the ball making them a dangerous group. They have three good backs in Greg Welsh (6-0, 190, sr), Keith Hickey (5-9, 165, sr) and powerful Braxton Ambrose (6-1, 230, sr) at fullback. All three were integral in the win last week with Welsh rushing for 121 yards on 18 attempts and Hickey rushing for 108 on 4 carries and intercepting 2 passes. Braxton’s blocking was key for both running backs as was his contribution carrying the ball 15 times for 64 yards. The ending of the game with Abington makes it appear as if it was a fluke the Hawks won. It wasn’t, at least not if you consider statistics which show them going toe-to-toe with the Ghosts. South moved the ball at will, gaining 16 first downs to Abington’s 14 and out rushing their hosts by over 200 yards; 352 yards to 141. Abington passed at will on them for 272 yards but it is often in the trenches and the ability to run the football where games are decided. This one had an odd element at the end, but it was their ability to run the football, score touchdowns and keep the ball away from Abington’s lethal attack, through their ground game, that had as much to do with the win, as any poor clock-time out management issues by Abington. Nice win Hawks! After the great road win at Abington, they are home for another key National Conference game against 4th ranked Neshaminy. This one will go a long way towards sorting out the conference race. Everyone has huge games at this time of the season but if the Hawks can get past the Skins, they’ve got clear sailing ahead with games against Truman and Tennent before the head banger against Council Rock North. Wouldn’t that be something if that one was for all the marbles!

Honorable Mention (Grouped by conference or classification, otherwise random)

Cardinal O'Hara (6-0)
Archbishop Wood (AAA, 4-2)
Abington (4-1)
Interboro (AAA, 6-0)
Pottsgrove (AAA, 6-0)
Avon Grove (5-1)
Henderson (AAA, 5-1)
Garnet Valley (5-1)
Penncrest (4-2)
Chestnut Hill Academy (5-0)

State Top 10 High School Football Rankings
October 12, 2009

Here’s a look at District 11 and the Lehigh Valley Conference, the conference whose member will most likely represent the District (District 2/4/11 champ) in post-season action against District 12’s winner who more and more looks to be one of a few teams from the Philadelphia Catholic League. Others in the Philadelphia Public League, like George Washington, Northeast and Bartram, don’t look strong enough to challenge this year. Early favorite GW saw running back Kessan Christopher transfer to Downingtown West and have had injury issues. The PCL has two strong candidates in St. Joseph’s Prep and LaSalle. The Hawk’s won round one just three weeks ago by beating LaSalle, 24-17. Cardinal O’Hara (6-0) and Father Judge (4-2) are in the mix as well.

Back to District 11, the front runner looks to be Freedom (5-1), who has won four straight since losing to Whitehall, 33-30, the second game of the year. Whitehall hasn’t won since, losing four straight games including last week’s good effort against conference leader Allentown Central Catholic (6-0), 27-21. Another challenger is Easton (5-1) whose only loss is to Emmaus, 7-6. Emmaus is 4-2, losing to Nazareth, 21-14, and Freedom, 28-14, but they’ve won their last three. Parkland is 4-2 and has already lost to quality competition against Easton, 14-3, and Freedom, 34-14, after beginning the season with wins against George Washington, 16-0, and Liberty, 21-14. Nazareth and Northampton had their moments but both dropped off to 3-3. As noted above, Nazareth upset Freedom earlier in the year while Northampton shutout a dangerous Whitehall team, 21-0. That leaves us with the defending AAAA champ Liberty who stumbled early, losing their first three games. They won their last three to get themselves right back in the thick of things. After opening with a devastating 42-10 loss to North Penn (yes!), they were edged by Parkland, 21-14, and then lost at Allentown Central Catholic, 22-7. If that conference doesn’t define parity, nothing does.

There is one team off the beaten trail in East Stroudsburg at South High where the Cavaliers have a real team for a change. They’ve been sniffing around it for a number of years and are taking football seriously the last few seasons. They just put in artificial turf (google for youtube) and it looks great. Since 2002, they’ve gone 63-27, including this year’s 5-1 team. Their only loss was the opener at Easton where they fell 24-22 in a competitive game. They led at the half 14-0, got all cramped up and lost a number of players. TE/DE Greg Kessel (6-1, 220 sr) was the biggest loss as he also punts so they lost their kicking game. They were in it, holding the Rovers to 93 yards rushing. Ten offensive and seven defensive starters return from last year so they have some players. Quarterback Rob Moyer (20/35/266/3 TDs vs Easton) is a double threat, leading the team in rushing while completing 67 of 117 passes for 1,223 yards. He has a 57 % completion rate and is on target with a 15-4 touchdown to interception ratio. He has a good one at wide receiver in senior Dan Cason (6-3, 180) who gets out there, catching 29 passes for 613 yards. That’s 21.1 yards per catch. They also have a few D1 players. Defensive back Kyshoen Jarrett is one along with MLB Sam Bergen, a 6-1, 225 pound wrecking crew of one. The term “beast” is thrown around loosely, but it applies here to Sam. He flattens people. Defensive end James Coscia (6-3, 210, sr) is like Josh Coulter from Downingtown West with quick moves and real speed. If anyone can step up to challenge the LVC for district honors, this looks like the team.

1. Bishop McDevitt (6-0) Everyone knew this one would get out of hand early and it did when running back Jameel Poteat took the second snap from scrimmage 41-yards for his first of two scores against Altoona. Defensive back Corey Ford returned an errant Nate Beck pass 44-yards on the Mountain Lions’ ensuing possession and just like that it was 14-0. Quarterback Matt Johnson connected with wide-out Salath Williams on the first play in the second-quarter for an 18-yard touchdown pass and the rout was on. Following another stop, McDevitt went on a 55-yard drive with Poteat punching it in from the two-yard line. Just before the end of the half, Aaron Sye caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Matt Johnson making it 35-0 at the half. Things sped up in the second-half with the mercy rule in effect. That didn’t prevent shifty Davan Smith from returning a punt 76 yards for a third quarter touchdown. Late in the fourth-quarter, with the starters enjoying the view from the sidelines of McDevitt Field (great place behind the school), Dan Leonard trotted in untouched from the four and tallied the final score. The opponent this week is vastly improved Chambersburg (4-2), coming on strong after their 36-32 overtime win against South Central Pennsylvania AAA power Susquehanna Township (5-1). They have a potential D1 recruit at quarterback in Brian Reese (6-2, 235, sr), plenty of size and good speed. They come after you and won’t be intimidated. We’ll see if they can hang with the Crusaders. They couldn’t last year, losing in Harrisburg 61-0.

2. Gateway (6-0) Gateway stormed past injury riddled Hempfield, 55-0, to get their 6th win of the season. Checking out high lights of these guys makes you dizzy with all the speed they put on the field. In a previous write up, it was mentioned that Coach Terry Smith said this is the fastest team he has ever had. The scores are showing this with last week’s game being the third straight week they’ve topped the 50 point mark. Despite opening with a low scoring 19-7 win at Penn Hills, their average score is 45-6. No wonder these power houses stay powerful. All of next year’s “new guys” will actually have played a few games by the time you add the halves they played. Nearly all the starters sat after the Gators erupted for 35 first-half points. Quarterback Robbie Kalkstein completed 6 of 10 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown pass to go along with his rushing touchdown. Brendon Felder carried 4 times for 101 yards with Orne Bey getting 10 carries for 71 yards. Six players scored touchdowns as the Gators improved to 4-0 in the Foothills while Hempfield falls to 1-5 overall and 0-4 in conference play. Next up for Gateway is a war with McDowell. The rebuilt Trojans (5-1, 3-1) have already demonstrated their ability with a strong win against Erie city rival Cathedral Prep, one of the top AAA’s in the state, and a narrow 16-14 loss at McKeesport three weeks ago. They average 32 points a game while yielding 11 and represent the best competitor Gateway has played this year. Gateway beat them last year in Erie, 30-18. McDowell is a proud program and won’t go down easy. Just ask McKeesport.

3. North Penn (6-0) See Southeastern PA rankings.

4. Woodland Hills (5-1) It was fun times at the Wolverena last Friday where Woodland Hills (5-1, 2-0) rolled over Kiski (3-3, 1-1), 36-7, to remain undefeated in Big East action. Remember, these guys haven’t lost to an in-state team as their loss came against highly regarded Steubenville, OH (7-0) in the opener, 13-0. Poor Kiski, coming in thinking they had a chance in this one only to run into a buzz-saw. The Wolverines had trouble getting started, taking a 14-0 lead into the half. But the D has been a team strength all year and held Kiski to 22 total yards of offense in the half. Following what was probably a lively locker room, the Wolverines erupted for 22 second-half points to seal the win. They just kept hammering Kiski to the tune of 296 rush yards. Runing back Dom Timbers was magnificent as always, rushing for 137 yards on 18 carries. He scored on runs of 1-, 6- and 15-yards, in the rain. Fullback Cameron Thompkins (5-10, 230 ,sr) clears the way on many of Dom’s runs. Kiski helped out, self destructed with 7 penalties and 2 turnovers. By game’s end, they generated a miserly 99 total yards of total offense. Total yards! The Wolverines showed no hangover effects following wins against Bethel Park and Pittsburgh Central Catholic. That was a nice win coming as it did on the heels of those two games. With Canon-McMillan (3-3), Bethel Park (5-1) and Central Catholic (4-2) in the rear view mirror, all that stands between them and the Big East title is Fox Chapel (3-3), Plum (2-4) and Penn Hills (2-4), then it’s on to the WPIAL playoffs. The Foxes fell off the last four weeks, going 1-3 after a hot start winning their first two. But Woody will remember last year’s narrow 41-36 win to keep things in perspective.

5. Pennsbury (6-0) See Southeastern PA rankings.

6. Ridley (6-0) See Southeastern PA rankings.

7. Neshaminy (5-1) See Southeastern PA rankings.

8. St. Joseph's Prep (5-1) See Southeastern PA rankings.

9. Bethel Park (5-1) Bethel Park was making it look easy against perennial power Upper Saint Clair when they took a seemingly safe 16-0 lead into the locker room at the half. Running back Bre Ford was having a strong game rushing for a nine-yard score then catching a 38-yard pass from quarterback Matt Bliss for another score. The Black Hawks got two more points when the Panthers snapped the ball through the end zone on a punt attempt making it 16-0. The third-quarter was also dominated by the Hawks although there was no scoring. In the bag right? Wrong! Upper Saint Clair went on a tear to score two quick touchdowns in the games final nine minutes. After all, this is USC and they rarely go away without a fight. Quarterback Alex Park found Mitchell Fawcett at the Bethel Park 20 for a 40-yard gain then connected with Connor Scott for an eight-yard score. His two-point conversion pass to Mike Deitrick cut the lead to 16-8. USC held, forced a punt, and then moved in for another score when Connor Scott took it in from two yards out. That made the score 16-14. Because of the earlier safety, they had to go for two. The Black Hawks blitzed two linebackers to pressure Park into an errant pass that was picked off by Bre-Ford. What a day he had, two touchdowns and a pick! That was a huge win for the defending WPIAL champ that keeps them atop the Greater Southern at 2-0. USC drops to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Southern. Conference action continues Friday night when Peters Township (4-2, 1-1) comes to town. The Park won last year, 39-6.

10. McKeesport (5-1) The Flex- Bone is back and along with it comes another strong McKeesport team making a lot of noise. Their graduation losses were so severe they were lodged in the Honorable Mention section where they remained after losing to St. Joseph’s Prep in the opener, 27-26. Since then they have matured into another powerful edition. Ty-Meer Brown is a solid quarterback who can motor but the real force of the bone is at fullback where they have another great one in Darien Robinson. Darien is like the Abrams Tank in that he is powerful and surprisingly fast. At 6-1, 205, he is their hammer. Last week’s game saw him hammer out 246 yards on the ground on only 13 carries against Penn Trafford. He had touchdown runs of 51- and 84-yards. This is a big bone that pounded out 419 yards rushing versus the Warriors. Quarterback Brown directs the option well and is no lightweight at 6-1, 185 pounds. He had touchdown runs of 1-, 17- and 27-yards. Defensive tackles Delvon Simmons (6-5, 265, jr) and Carlows Brown (6-2, 268, sr) were nailing anything along the line and into the backfield as McKeesport crushed Penn Trafford, 44-0. The win keeps them in a dead heat with Gateway in the Foothills at 4-0. Norwin (4-2, 2-2) is in Friday night in McKeesport. The Knights look okay at 4-2 but have not demonstrated the ability to hang with the big dogs, losing to McDowell, 49-6, and Gateway, 55-7. Meanwhile, the Tigers are blowing everyone away with their Flex-Bone averaging 40 points a game.

Honorable Mention

Upper Saint Clair (4-2)
Shaler (5-1)
North Allegheny (5-1)
McDowell (5-1)
State College (5-1)
Downingtown West (6-0)
LaSalle (5-1)
Downingtown East (5-1)
Freedom (5-1)
Wilson (5-1)