DISTRICT 11 NOTES (week 1):
by Duke Helm
RUNNINGBACKS:
Ryan Clark of ESS rushed for 263 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Whitehall. In 2017, Clark rushed for 1,057 and 13 td’s while teammate Sean Solomon rushed for 1,550 yards and 22 td’s. Trey Gretzinger of Palisades rushed for 261 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Palmerton. Like Clark, Gretzinger also rushed for over 1,000 yards (1,270) in 2017 and also had a teammate (Jared Colletti) rush for over 1,000 yards last year. Gretzinger also went over 2,000 yards for his career (2,061). Teammate qb Ethan Brader rushed for 117 yards and a td. Logan Bachman of Central Catholic rushed for 232 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Stroudsburg. Bachman now has 30 career td’s. Stroudsburg’s Sherwin Stewart rushed for 166 yards and passed for 135 yards in the loss. CJ Selby of Jim Thorpe is the last runningback to go over 200 yards in week 1 when he rushed for 221 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Schuylkill Haven. Nasir Legree of Liberty rushed for 125 and 2 td’s putting him over 3,000 yards rushing for his career (3,106). Legree joins 2 other former Hurricane 3,000 yard rushers. Darren Mason rushed for 4.023 yards from 1997-99 and Anthony Gonzalez rushed for 3,401 yards from 2007-09. Nate Boyle of Tamaqua rushed for 116 yards (3 td’s) and also caught 6 passes for 99 yards in their win over Line Mountain. Teammate Nick Breiner rushed for 126 yards and 2 td’s. North Schuylkill’s Zack Chowansky and Jaden Leiby both rushed for over 190 yards in their win over Loyalsock. Chowansky rushed for 198 yards (3 td’s) and Leiby rushed for 191 yards and 2 td’s. Nativity also had 2 players rush for over 130 yards. Ryan Schreffler had 160 yards and 2 td’s while Raphael Muldrow rushed for 138 yards and scored 2 td’s. Northwestern had 2 players rush for over 100 yards as qb Deven Bollinger rushed for 136 yards and 3 td’s while Nick Henry rushed for 117 yards and a td.
QUARTERBACKS:
Cole DeFranco of Notre Dame passed for 361 yards and 5 td’s in their loss to Northwestern. DeFranco broke Ric Schumacher’s career yardage and td pass records. DeFranco has thrown for 6,824 yards and 61 td passes. Schumacher from 1988-91 threw for a then State record 6,490 yards. He also threw 58 career td passes. DeFranco also moved ahead of AJ Long of Pius X and Doug Erney of Liberty on the District 11 top 10 list. He is now in 6th place all-time. His 5 td passes in the game ties the school record held by Troy Castellano who threw 5 vs PM East in 1981. Dalton Leedy of Tri-Valley threw for 208 yards and a td in their win over Mahanoy Area. Anthony Harris of Nazareth is the 3rd and final qb to throw for 200 yards in week 1. Harris threw for 201 yards and 3 td’s in their win over PM East. Logan Edmond of Southern Lehigh threw for 193 yards and a td and rushed for 116 yards and a td in their loss to Saucon Valley. Edmond joins the “40 td” club as he’s now thrown 40 td passes in his career. Levi Engle of Williams Valley also joins the “40 td” club when he threw for 188 yards and 3 td’s in a win over Minersville. Engle has thrown for 42 career td’s and is now 3 behind school record holder Stephen Sedesse. He also went over 3,000 yards passing for his career (3,168). Jared Jenkins of Freedom fired a school record 5 td’s in their win over ES North. Former Patriots Steve Pecsek, Jeff Haberl, Ryan Rogan and Brian Uliana all threw 4 td’s in a game.
RECEIVERS:
David Sanders of Notre Dame caught 7 passes for 191 yards and 4 td’s vs Northwestern. His 191 yards is a school record breaking the old record of 163 yards set by Aaron Cerone in 1991. His 4 td catches falls 1 short of the school and District 11 record. Rob Harper caught 5 td passes from Troy Castellano vs Pocono Mountain East in 1981. Since 1981 two more players have also caught 5 td passes in a game. Kevin Gulyas of Central Catholic caught 5 vs Valley View in 2011 and John Murphy of ES South caught 5 vs Allen in 2016. Tommy Manos of Nazareth and Blake White of Panther Valley each caught 8 passes in week 1 to lead the District. Sanders teammate Isaiah Dejesus caught 7 for 99 yards and a td and went over 1,000 yards receiving for his career (1,069). Justin Pasquale of Central Catholic caught 3 passes for 32 yards to also put him over 1,000 yards for his career (1,006). Christian Sapp of ES South caught 5 passes for 151 yards and a td vs Whitehall to be the 2nd player in week 1 to have over 140 receiving yards. Kenny Pettiford on PM West and Zack Crum of Lehighton were close with 139 yards and 135 yards respectfully. Crum, Alec Snyder of Wilson, Nate Stefanik of Nazareth, Justin Rodda of Northwestern, Jesse Engle of Williams Valley and Vincent Reph of Freedom all caught 2 td passes in week 1.
DISTRICT 11 HISTORY:
This season there are 8 coaching changes in District 11. Here are the new head coaches: Mike McClarin (Catasauqua), Derek Schaller (ES North), Kyle Haas (Northampton), John Smith (Pen Argyl), Frank Gaffney (Pine Grove), Matt Kosciolek (Pleasant Valley), Jeff Sampson (Tri-Valley), and Justin Kondikoff (Whitehall).
After the 1967 football season, there were eleven District 11 coaches that stepped down and it’s arguably the most iconic changeover of all-time in the District. Here’s a list of the coaches departing and their replacements.
BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC: Walt King replaced by Dick Butler
CATASAUQUA: Bill Kennedy replaced by Dale Edwards
EASTON: Bob Rute replaced by Wayne Grube
EMMAUS: Al Neff replaced by Bruce Folster
LEHIGHTON: Mike Ebbert replaced by Jim Wentz
NORTHAMPTON: Al Erdosy replaced by Lou Wolf
NORTHWESTERN: Ralph Morgan replaced by Joe Czutno
PANTHER VALLEY: Joe Pilconis replaced by Frank DeFebo
SALISBURY: Mike Hammer replaced by Joe Guman
TAMAQUA: Dick Jones replaced by Walt Ligenza
WHITEHALL: Carl Case replaced by Dick Berner
If that’s not enough, Phillipsburg coach Harold Bellis also stepped down and was replaced by Mickey Frinzi and HOF coach Bob Clark was appointed to start up the football program at Southern Lehigh in 1968.
2018 single game highs: ( ) is the week the player accomplished the stat
Single Game Touchdowns (4)
4 (1) David Sanders (Notre Dame)
Single Game Rushing Yardage (200)
263 (1) Ryan Clark (ES South)
261 (1) Trey Gretzinger (Palisades)
232 (1) Logan Bachman (Central Catholic)
221 (1) CJ Selby (Jim Thorpe)
Single Game Passing Yardage (200)
361 (1) Cole DeFranco (Notre Dame)
208 (1) Dalton Leedy (Tri-Valley)
201 (1) Anthony Harris (Nazareth)
Single Game TD Passes (4)
5 (1) Jared Jenkins (Freedom) *School Record*
5 (1) Cole DeFranco (Notre Dame) *Ties School Record*
Single Game Receptions (10)
Single Game Reception Yardage (140)
191 (1) David Sanders (Notre Dame) *School Record*
151 (1) Christian Sapp (ES South)
Single Game Reception TD’s (3)
4 (1) David Sanders (Notre Dame)
District 11 Season Leaders
Rushing (125)
263 Ryan Clark (ES South)
261 Trey Gretzinger (Palisades)
232 Logan Bachman (Central Catholic)
221 CJ Selby (Jim Thorpe)
198 Zack Chowansky (North Schuylkill)
191 Jaden Leiby (North Schuylkill)
166 Sherwin Stewart (Stroudsburg)
160 Ryan Schreffler (Pottsville Nativity)
140 Ian Csicsak (Saucon Valley)
139 Joe Guida (Parkland)
138 Raphael Muldrow (Pottsville Nativity)
137 Justin Paul (Northern Lehigh)
136 Deven Bollinger (Northwestern)
129 Joe Schrader (Bangor)
128 Dalton Kintzel (Pine Grove)
126 Nick Breiner (Tamaqua)
125 Nasir Legree (Liberty)
125 Ben Kramer (Blue Mountain)
Touchdowns (3)
4 David Sanders (Notre Dame)
3 Trey Gretzinger (Palisades)
3 Justin Paul (Northern Lehigh)
3 Logan Bachman (Central Catholic)
3 Deven Bollinger (Northwestern)
3 Ryan Clark (ES South)
3 Harold Reynolds (Easton)
3 CJ Selby (Jim Thorpe)
3 Nate Boyle (Tamaqua)
3 Tavion Banks (Bethlehem Catholic)
3 Zack Chowansky (North Schuylkill)
Passing Yards (150)
361 Cole DeFranco (Notre Dame)
208 Dalton Leedy (Tri-Valley)
201 Anthony Harris (Nazareth)
193 Logan Edmond (Southern Lehigh)
193 Ethan Reis (Panther Valley)
188 Levi Engle (Williams Valley)
179 Lawson Bray (PM West)
175 Nathan Nimeh (Easton)
172 Ben Hindmarch (Wilson)
166 Chris Whiteman (Lehighton)
165 Brayden Knoblauch (Tamaqua)
158 Frank Rauscher (Central Catholic)
Touchdown Passes (3)
5 Cole DeFranco (Notre Dame)
5 Jared Jenkins (Freedom)
3 Levi Engle (Williams Valley)
3 Anthony Harris (Nazareth)
3 Ben Hindmarch (Wilson)
Receptions (5)
8 Tommy Manos (Nazareth)
8 Blake White (Panther Valley)
7 Isaiah Dejesus (Notre Dame)
7 David Sanders (Notre Dame)
7 Allen Negrete (Whitehall)
6 Bryce Ellinger (Minersville)
6 Alec Snyder (Wilson)
6 Nate Boyle (Tamaqua)
5 Christian Sapp (ES South)
5 Nate Stefanik (Nazareth)
5 Dalton Musselman (Southern Lehigh)
5 Andrew Darno (Notre Dame)
5 Zack Crum (Lehighton)
5 Nick Ziegmont (Tri-Valley)
5 Justin Rodda (Northwestern)
Reception Yardage (100)
191 David Sanders (Notre Dame)
151 Christian Sapp (ES South)
139 Ken Pettiford (PM West)
135 Zack Crum (Lehighton)
115 Michael Dunlap (Easton)
104 Jesse Engle (Williams Valley)
101 Alec Snyder (Wilson)
Reception Touchdowns (2)
4 David Sanders (Notre Dame)
2 Zack Crum (Lehighton)
2 Alec Snyder (Wilson)
2 Nate Stefanik (Nazareth)
2 Justin Rodda (Northwestern)
2 Jesse Engle (Williams Valley)
2 Vincent Reph (Freedom)
