Ed Thomas Report

1. North Penn (10-0) The Knights completed their second straight undefeated regular season last week by beating Pennridge, 39-12. Last year’s team advanced to the Eastern Final after winning 13 in a row before losing to Liberty, 21-14. We’ll see how far this year’s group goes with many thinking they’ll advance at least as far as last year’s team. What is getting little press are two outstanding teams in the Catholic League that will have much to say about that should they beat the Public League champion this year. Both LaSalle and St. Joseph’s Prep are balanced teams playing good defense. All of this assumes North Penn repeats as the district champ. That’s quite an assumption looking at a field of teams loaded with veteran skill players from last year that put a lot of points on the board. Eleven of the field of 16 average 29 or more points per game. Which ever team wins it will have earned it against a field of explosive teams. The Knights win against Pennridge secured the top seed for the tournament where they’ll open at home against Council Rock North (6-4), the 16th seed. This is a tough spot for CR North who has the smallest offense of the field at 24ppg. The most anyone has scored on North Penn is 14 points. Defensively, North has improved over the course of the season especially against the better teams where you’ve got to admit, they’ve had their moments. They trounced Abington 34-3 on the road then lost narrowly the following week at Neshaminy, 14-13, also on the road. The problem in this game is they will probably face a steady dose of Craig Needhammer and no teams have been able to stand up to that.

2. St. Joseph's Prep (8-1) St. Joseph’s Prep blew right past Roman Catholic, 34-0, to secure another undefeated regular season in the AAAA PCL Red Division. Roman is really struggling this year. The loss drops them to 4-6, meaning they’ll have their first losing season since 2001 when they finished 4-7. It’s just the opposite for the Hawk’s who are looking stronger than the group that lost to North Penn the third week of the season. Quarterback Skylar Mornhinweg had his best game of the season, completing 11 of 19 passes for 245 yards. He threw four touchdowns. Talk about shut down defense, the D held Roman to 126 total yards of offense, 115 of it through the air. The District-12 playoffs are next where they’ll again play Roman Catholic. A win there puts them in the Red final against either LaSalle or Cardinal O’Hara. Either would be a worthy opponent in a rematch knowing the Hawks beat both teams by seven points in the regular season. The other game of interest is the Public League final Saturday between George Washington (7-2) and Northeast (6-3). GW is looking to atone for a regular season 14-12 loss to Northeast and advance to the district-12 championship game to defend their title against the Catholic League Champ.

3. LaSalle (8-1) LaSalle jumped all over Cardinal O’Hara, bolting out to a 21-0 lead before cruising to a 24-14 win. The Lions had no answer for the Explorer’s powerful attack with quarterback Drew Loughery running and passing for three first-quarter scores. The first was a 14-yard pass to Sam Feleccia to get things going. The second was a one-yard keeper by Drew, followed by a nine-yard pass to Steve Jones for the third score. The stunned Lions recovered when their great running back Corey Brown took off on a 73 yard touchdown run to get them back in the game before the half where the scoreboard read 21-7 LaSalle. LaSalle’s next score was set up on an interception of a Ryan McLaughlin pass on O’Hara’s first drive of the second-half that resulted in a Mike Bennett 23-yard field goal. Both sides moved the ball well on each other with LaSalle bending but not breaking. O’Hara got 262 rushing yards but only 52 passing where Ryan McLaughlin completed five of 20 passes. Corey Brown was a force, rushing for 165 yards on 20 carries. His 15-yard score near the mid-point of the final stanza brought the Lions within ten points at 24-14. Quarterback Drew Loughery had a good game, completing 13 of 22 passes for 180 yards and those three scores. Tim Wade had another strong game for LaSalle, rushing for 116 yards. Wide out Sam Feliccia had 6 catches for 101 yards and 28 yards rushing. Steve Jones caught three passes for 50 yards and a score. LaSalle played the game without running back Jamal Abdur Rahman who will be back for the post season that kicks off this weekend when the second place Explorer’s will again battle third place O’Hara in the D-12, AAAA PCL playoffs. With a healthy Jamal Abdur Rahman at tailback, the Explorer’s should eke out another tight win.

4. Garnet Valley (9-1) Everyone played in this one as Garnet Valley routed Lower Merion to close out their second Central League campaign on top, this time at 8-1 in a first place tie with Ridley. The score was 40-0 at the half. Eleven running backs got touches as the Jags rolled out 425 yards of total offense to dominate the Aces, 52-6. Alex Warden led all rushers with 126 yards on limited duty of six carries. The win got them the 3rd seed in the post season where they’ll face another Central League opponent in Penncrest. It’s hard imagining a more difficult 14th seed than the Lions (7-3, 7-2) who come in with the most prolific offense in the tournament, averaging 42 points a game. They will have a big chip on their shoulder as well after losing at home to the Jags in the regular season. Penncrest looked like a sure winner in that one after taking a 27-21 lead with just under seven minutes left in the game. Ominously, they missed the extra point. Two series later, Garnet Valley went for the big play and got more when Mark McHugh completed a 49-yard strike to Ryan Woods who took it to the house with just under three minutes left in the game. The kick was good and that’s how it ended, Garnet Valley 28 and Penncrest 27. The game seems like a lifetime ago, back in the fourth week of the season. But both offenses have grown since then to even more productive levels so don’t be surprised if the Jaguars and Lions give us a wild and high scoring game.

TIE

4. Abington (7-2) Abington survived any hangover effects of the huge Pennsbury win a week earlier to win at Truman and end the regular season at 5-2 in the SOL-National, tied for second place with Council Rock South and Neshaminy. The Tigers gouged out over 300 yards rushing but it wasn’t enough against the Ghosts who prevailed, 35-19. The win secured the 9th seed for Abington in the district playoffs where they get a rematch with eighth seeded Neshaminy. It is an exceptionally deep field of teams this year when you find a Neshaminy and Abington seeded this far down. Wow! What a game the first encounter was where Abington raced out to a surprising 28-10 lead. Neshaminy could do little right early on while it seemed almost anything Abington did somehow worked. With just under ten minutes left in the game, Kevin Deal picked off a Neshaminy pass, returning it for a score to give them their largest lead at 28-10. But the game wasn’t over yet. Quarterback Brian Titus led Neshaminy on a drive with Bryan Dean punching it in from two yards out to close the gap to 28-18 on a successful two-point conversion. A few minutes later Neshaminy pressured Abington quarterback Sam Kind into an errant pass that was picked by Corey Majors with five minutes left in the game. On the very next play, Titus connected with Frank Csaszar for a 22-yard touchdown, cutting Abington’s lead to just four. It got wild at the end but Abington held on to defeat the ‘Skins, 28-24. The big difference in this one is the game is in Langhorne.

5. Pennsbury (9-1) Pennsbury held off hard charging Neshaminy in overtime, 27-20, to win their first Suburban One League National Conference title in 16 years. The great 13-2 team of 2006 that won districts before losing to Liberty in the semifinal, finished the year at 6-1 in the conference behind North Penn at 7-0. This one had a number of twists and turns but was largely influenced by poor special teams play and mental mistakes. Neshaminy’s muffed first-quarter punt return allowed Pennsbury an early 7-0 lead when Dante Devine took it in on third and an inch. Their blocked extra point following Ricky Williams 85-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run was huge with the score in regulation showing a 20-20 tie. Pennsbury missed the extra point attempt following their last regulation touchdown in the fourth-quarter so both teams had their chances. In the overtime period, the Redskins were flagged for a late hit and face mask penalties. What’s that about? Real credit has to be given to Pennsbury’s defense and running game. The Falcons held Neshaminy to 80 yards rushing while pounding out 237 yards on the ground. You’re not going to win many games rushing the ball a mere 80 yards unless you are Ridley. Brandon Pepper led the way with106 yards and three scores followed by Jeff Fisher’s 68 yards. Dante Devine ended with 50 yards and a score. Up next for 2nd seeded Pennsbury is a first round home playoff game against 15th seeded Unionville (7-3) from the Ches Mont-American Division. The Indians had a good year coming in second to Rustin. Some of their more impressive games were losses to Garnet Valley in the opener, 15-14, and Avon Grove the third game of the season, 20-14. They had nothing left after AG and fell to Rustin, 35-7. They have not lost since then and come in hot, on a six game winning streak. One was a 28-7 win at Cheltenham. They are a successful, well coached program under Pat Clark. Their five year won-loss record is a solid 44-12. They are a winning program with tough players expecting to win. Pennsbury is much more, but still needs to focus after the Abington and Neshaminy games.

6. Neshaminy (8-2) In both of their losses this year Neshaminy allowed quality teams to establish leads that were too great to overcome, despite roaring back with second half, or more precisely, fourth-quarter comebacks. Against Abington, they fell behind 21-10 at the half. A scoreless third-quarter was followed by a 14 point fourth-quarter rally that fell short. It was the same last week, again, on the road against a quality opponent in Pennsbury where they fell behind 14-0 at the half. They morphed into a different team in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 20-6 to forge a 20-20 tie in regulation. Still, it fell short as they lost in overtime, 27-20. So they’ve developed bad traits against quality teams where they seem to come out in a funk. Looking at other playoff teams they’ve played finds a 42-17 rout of Council Rock South and a narrow 14-13 home win against Council Rock North. The loss to Pennsbury drops them to the 8th seed, into harms way for a rematch with 9th seeded Abington (7-3). That game is reviewed above in the Abington write up. The ‘Skins have a tremendous advantage at home where they have not lost since 2006. Those are difficult odds for the Ghosts to overcome but it could still be another classic.

7. Ridley (9-1) Ridley’s first play of the game went for a 55-yard touchdown when Colin Masterson found Norm Donkin all alone streaking down the sidelines. After that it was kind of a ho-hum affair with the Green Raiders putting in three more scores to win going away, 28-0. The defense (four shutouts) was stubborn, holding the Royals to negative ten yards rushing and 107 through the air. The ground game was powerful at 204 yards rushing. Shahaid Smith had a big night, running for 96 yards on 15 carries while Jalen Randolph added 74 on 12 carries. The passing game is always there at Ridley. Colin completed 13 of 24 passes for 198 yards. The win gets them the 7th seed (what a field, 7th seed!) where they will play at home against dangerous Council Rock South (8-2), the 10th seed. This is quite a number 10 seed team, with a 3-1 road W/L and an offense averaging 27ppg. They have great pedigree playing in the SOL-National where they defeated Abington, 41-38, on the road and rival Council Rock North last week, 35-28. That pedigree will help them here. They won’t be intimidated but need to be ready for Ridley’s quick striking offense that likes to go for the juggler early.

8. Rustin (AAA, 10-0) Rustin jumped on Oxford early and often, scoring 14 first-quarter points followed by 13 in the second-quarter to blow the game wide open on the way to their tenth win of the year. A 15 point third-quarter sealed it for Rustin sending Oxford packing with their seventh loss of the season, 42-7. Rondell White had touchdowns runs of one, two and four yards on 20 carries that netted 95 yards rushing. He returned an interception 82 yards in the second-quarter and caught a pass for 33 yards giving him a total of 211 yards on the night. Ox was held to 126 total yards of offense. With the regular season out of the way, it’s time to move on to the playoffs where 4th seeded Rustin will defend its District-One AAA title against 5th seeded Upper Perkiomen (7-4) out of the PAC. This looks like a hard spot for Upper Perk who has not performed well against teams that come right at them with power football, teams like Owen J. Roberts and Pottsgrove which beat them 56-21 and 62-20 respectively. Linkage games are at best nebulous and there isn’t much to go on in this one except the Spring-Ford game in the opener where Rustin won, 42-6. Spring-Ford later suffered losses to Roberts, 13-7, Pottsgrove, 20-6, and Upper Perkiomen, 23-10. Rustin big!

9. Avon Grove (9-1) Avon Grove has rounded into a legitimate football team. They won their first Ches Mont title tying Downingtown West and Downingtown East for the top spot and earned their first AAAA playoff spot in District-One. Coatesville had no answers for these guys and took a severe beating, 48-12. Fullback Brandon McLaughlin (6-0, 205, jr) pounded into Coatesville’s defensive front for 133 yards and three scores, taking his season rushing total to 1,029 yards. Brandon Monk (5-8, 160, jr) is an impossible target to hit, cutting and juking with the best of them. He ran for 139 yards and two scores, taking his season total to 935 yards. Big Jordan Harris (6-1, 205, sr) banged out 74 yards on six carries and had a touchdown to take his season total to 730 yards rushing. The win gets them the 5th seed in the playoffs and a home game against 12th seeded Quakertown (8-2). If the North Penn results are any indication, where Quakertown was steam rolled by an unrelenting ground attack, they could be in for a long night here. They have a chance if they can stop the run because that’s all Avon Grove will do, feed you a steady diet of two powerful backs then zing you with Brandon Monk breaking your ankles.

10. Downingtown West (9-1) Downingtown West got their third consecutive win since the Avon Grove loss when they beat Bishop Shanahan, 49-7. The win allows them a share of the Ches Mont title with Downingtown East and Avon Grove, and secures the 4th seed in the post season. Here they will play 13th seeded Conestoga (7-3). The Pioneers play in the Central League with Ridley, Garnet Valley, et al, where they ended the regular season in a second place tie with Penncrest at 7-2. Since the loss to Ridley five weeks ago, they’ve won four straight games by an average score of 39-16. If that doesn’t get Downingtown’s attention, last year’s encounter should! That was quite a game where an underrated Conestoga team jumped all over the Whippets, racing out to a 13-0 lead in the quarterfinal match up. Conestoga (7-4) came into that one on a hot streak, winning their last six games including a first round road win against 5th seeded Upper Dublin. Well done! The Whippets finally got their act together, aided in part by Conestoga miscues, to bounce back and take a 14-13 half-time lead. The decisive touchdown came with a minute left in play as they turned back the Pioneers, 28-21. Stoga shot themselves in the foot in that one with costly penalties in the red zone and two fourth-quarter fumbles. This year’s team is a very competitive, young team that is a year away from potentially big things. Junior quarterback Bill Flatley (6-3, 198) has shown real progress over the course of the season and in Blair Brooks (5-7, 170), also a junior, they feature one of the best young backs in the area. Wide out Dexter Bridge (6-2, 180) is only a junior so watch out for these guys next year. Downingtown West is a fine football team but not a behemoth along the lines of a North Penn last year. They need to take this 13th seed as seriously as they would a difficult conference rival because they have the tools to beat you. Ask Garnet Valley.

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

Cardinal O'Hara (8-2) At neutral site Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. LaSalle
Council Rock South (8-2) At Ridley 9-1
Council Rock North (6-4) At North Penn 10-0
Norristown (9-1) Home Downingtown East 8-2
Quakertown (8-2) At Avon Grove 9-1
Downingtown East (8-2) At Norristown 9-1
Unionville (7-3) At Pennsbury 9-1
Interboro (AAA, 10-0) Home Academy Park
Pottsgrove (AAA, 10-0) Home Upper Moreland 5-4
Penncrest (7-3) At Garnet Valley 9-1
Conestoga (7-3) At Downingtown West 9-1
Chestnut Hill Academy (9-0) At Malvern Prep 5-4

State Top 10 High School Football Rankings
November 7, 2009

1. Bishop McDevitt (9-0) Top ranked McDevitt had the week off to prepare for round two of the City Series championship when they take on 16th seeded Harrisburg High (5-5) in the district opener. They handled the Cougars 41-16 back in the season opener September 5th on a Saturday morning game at McDevitt Field. The game began a series of blow-outs that saw them run over everyone except State College two weeks ago who battled hard before losing, 28-17. The other quality team on the schedule, Central Dauphin (8-2, 3rd seed), was brushed aside at CD, 48-13. Although almost everyone was calling for McDevitt to have a strong year, that was the game that let you know they had something special. Subsequent games have said the same as they sailed through their schedule unscathed, averaging 44ppg while allowing just ten. Not bad for a double A club playing up at the AAAA level. While few were noticing, Harrisburg has done their usual silent, sneak back to respectability by winning four of their last five games. That’s Harrisburg’s M.O. -- start slow and then come on like a ton of bricks. They won their last five games by an average score of 40-12, none more impressively than last week’s 75-6 win in Altoona. That’s right, 75-6! The only team to beat them in that run was Cumberland Valley (8-2, 6th seed), 35-28, so they’ve grown up. Whether they’ve grown up enough to take on the Crusaders is another issue. What makes it interesting is the extreme nature of this rivalry. The intensity is palpable, with only two blocks of real estate on Market Street separating these two Harrisburg schools.

2. Gateway (10-0) Top seeded Gateway got off to a good but slow start when Desmon Haynes ran in from three yards out on a first-quarter blocked punt. They remained in a un-Gator like funk until the second-quarter when they ripped off 35 points (35 points!) on the way to a 49-0 rout of 16th seeded Plum. The scores included a six-yard run by Brendon Felder, a 29-yard fumble return by Daniel Bradley, a 21-yard touchdown toss from Robbie Kalkstein to Steve Veranka, another Brendon Felder score on a 69-yard punt return, and a second Kalkstein to Veranka connection for a 58-yard score. Running back Orne Bey caught a 67-yard strike from Kalkstein to end the scoring. Kalkstein finished with eight completions on ten attempts for 203 yards and three touchdowns. Favored target Steve Veranka had four receptions for 104 yards. The win puts them in the second round for a rematch with ninth seed Penn Hills (5-5), who they defeated in the opener at Penn Hills, 19-7. Penn Hills looks like a tough nut to crack but really aren’t despite their 4-2 finish after their1-3 start. What is obvious in their 5-5 record is a poor showing against top teams, despite all the preseason hype. Then again, how many teams played every AAAA conference champ and one runner-up in the WPIAL! The losses came to Foothills champion Gateway (10-0), 19-7, Greater Southern winner Bethel Park (9-1), 25-0, Northern Six kingpin North Allegheny (9-1), 24-7, Big East champ Woodland Hills (9-1), 30-5 and runner-up Central Catholic (8-2), 27-6. Phew! That’s like playing SOL-Continental champ North Penn, SOL-National winner Pennsbury, PCL regular season champ St. Joseph’s and runner-up LaSalle, and Mid Penn monster McDevitt. Good luck finding a more difficult schedule than Penn Hills’. They won their district opener last week as the 9th seed against fading 8th seeded Upper St. Clair (6-4), 14-7, to give them real confidence here.

3. North Penn (10-0) See Southeastern PA rankings.

4. Woodland Hills (9-1) Woodland Hills got out the gate fast, jumping all over 15th seeded Baldwin and not letting up until they had a 42-0 lead through the end of the third-quarter. Wow! Bethel Park and North Allegheny took a while to show what they had but the Wolverines have been the real deal since the preseason where we had them in the five spot. A number of events in the convoluted process of ranking teams conspired to hold them here as the fourth ranked team in the state. But, now we’re at that great time of the year where the teams, not the pundits, tell us where they will be ranked. Except for the 13-0 stumble against Steubenville, OH, they’ve been perfect, going 9-0 against Pennsylvania teams while averaging 36ppg and allowing seven. Nice. Quarterback John Yezovich has come around as the season developed but he really didn’t have to come too far with backs like Lafayette Pitts and Dom Timbers. Pitts got it going in the first quarter with an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown. Later in the quarter he got loose for a 64-yard dash to the end zone for six more. Super back Dom Timbers wasn’t going to be outdone as he added 14- and 42-yard runs for scores and ended the night with 127 yards on 13 carries. It’s a big play team with quarterback Yezovich connecting with Joe Lofton in the second quarter for a 42-yard touchdown. When they need to get down and dirty, in come their bulldozer of a fullback in, 5-10, 230 pound Cameron Thompkins. He dragged a few with him against Baldwin in the first-quarter where he bulled his way to a 12-yard touchdown. Second round action brings them into a rematch with fellow Big East conference member Pittsburgh Central Catholic (8-2). Central owes them one after losing in the Big East opener week five, 27-3. Their great back Damion Jones-Moore was held to 81 yards rushing. That’s the last time Central lost this year. Since then, quarterback Dave Smythers has shown the ability to make the big throws to Anthony Nixon and Dustin Lowman, making them a tough out. Woody counters with its own great back, Dom Timbers. Dom racked up 162 yards in the first encounter as the larger Wolverines had their way, out muscling the Vikings 252 to 86 yards rushing.

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

6. Bethel Park (9-1) Defending WPIAL champ and state runner up Bethel Park is starting to look scary good like last year’s team that came out of nowhere to shock everyone. Their performance last week was their best of the year as they scored on their first seven possessions to blow Penn Trafford out of the playoffs in the opening round. The Black Hawks came in as the 3rd seed with the Warriors holding down the 13th seed. The Hawks looked more like a number one seed than number three as they raced out to an insurmountable 49-7 half-time. Quarterback Matt Bliss had another strong outing, completing four of nine passes for 95 yards. He ran and passed for a touchdown. Running backs Bre Ford and Nick Kwiatkoski combined for 212 yards and five touchdowns as the Hawks rolled to a 49-21 win. They move on to second round action Friday against 6th seeded Shaler (9-1). Shaler finished second in the Northern Six behind North Allegheny, to whom they lost, 28-17, at home. Shaler is well coached and balanced but is not playing at Bethel Park’s level.

7. LaSalle (8-1) See Southeastern PA rankings.

8. North Allegheny (9-1) Don’t look now Gateway but here is yet another team like Bethel Park that has developed into a powerhouse capable of going all the way to the state final. Since the loss to Upper St. Clair way back on September 18th, they’ve reeled off seven straight wins by an average score of 35-5. The D has allowed but 64 points all year. Senior quarterback Justin Brozick (6-1, 180) gets better with each passing week. He was perfect last week, completing all seven of his passes for 114 yards and three touchdown tosses. The back field is loaded with talent in speedster Alex Papson (5-7, 175, jr, 132-996ry) and power back Grant Huckstein (5-11, 205, sr). Grant is right there with Alex, banging out over seven yards per carry for the year with 766 yards rushing on 102 carries. He leads the team in receptions with 15 catches for 184 yards. This is a real team with a line anchored by Penn State recruit Thomas Ricketts (6-6, 255, sr) and Ben Balzer (6-2, 280, sr). As the 4th seed, they destroyed 13th seeded Latrobe last week, 47-0, to move into the second round for a dangerous game with bitter rival North Hills. The two just played each other in the regular season final where North Allegheny prevailed, 28-3. If you’re thinking North Hills might be feeling some post game effects from the loss you’d be wrong as they went out to pull the biggest upset of the post season by beating 5th seeded McKeesport in McKeesport, 19-7. Not bad for a 4-5 12th seed coming in off a fierce rivalry game loss. Nice piece of coaching by Coach McCurry and staff. Both schools have long and proud traditions. North Allegheny is the team that beat Ridley, 21-14, in the 1990 PIAA final in Hershey. At quarterback for the Raiders was their current first year head coach, Dennis Decker. Three years later it was hard times for Central Bucks West at the Mansion with North Hills beating the Bucks, 15-14, at Altoona’s home field facility.

9. Garnet Valley (9-1) See Southeastern PA rankings.

TIE

9. Abington (7-2) See Southeastern PA rankings.

10. Pennsbury (9-1) See Southeastern PA rankings.

Honorable Mention

Ridley (9-1) Home Council Rock South 8-2
Neshaminy (8-2) Home Abington 7-2
Shaler (9-1) At neutral site Baldwin vs. Bethel Park 9-1
Wilson (9-1) Home York High 6-4
Manheim Central (AAA, 10-0) Home Shippensburg 6-4
Central Dauphin (8-2) At neutral site Cumberland Valley vs. Muhlenberg 6-4
State College (8-2) Idle, play next week vs. Central Mountain 6-4
Easton (9-1) Home Nazareth 6-4
Avon Grove (9-1) Home Quakertown 8-2
Rustin (AAA, 10-0) Home Upper Perkiomen 7-3