DISTRICT 11 NOTES (week 3): by Duke Helm
RUNNINGBACKS:
Mason Smeland of Palisades rushed 25 times for 237 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Northern Lehigh. He also caught a pass for a 17-yard touchdown. Smeland has scored a total of 8 td’s this season while piling up 524 yards rushing on 75 carries. Matt Frauen of Notre Dame scored another 5 td’s in their win over Salisbury and now has 12 td’s this season. Frauen also carried the ball 25 times last week and netted 213 yards to up his season total to 457 yards. Sophomore Conner Goehring of Schuylkill Haven rushed for 251 yards and scored 3 td’s in their win over Panther Valley. Nate Curvey of Tamaqua rushed for 161 yards and scored 4 td’s in their win over Riverside. Ben Terry of Mahanoy Area scored 4 td’s in their win over Minersville to up his season total to 9 td’s. Terry’s teammates Ben Manley and Colm McGroarty each rushed for over 150 yards. Manley rushed for 171 yards and 2 td’s, while McGroarty rushed for 155 yards and a td.
QUARTERBACKS:
Sophomore qb Cole Serfass of Palmerton had an impressive debut as he rushed for 227 yards, scored 4 td’s, and threw a td pass in their win over Catasauqua. Bryce Herb of Williams Valley threw for 246 yards and 2 td’s in a come from behind win over Nativity. Herb has thrown for 735 yards and 7 td’s so far this season. Josh Leininger of Pine Grove threw for a school-record 264 yards in their loss to Jim Thorpe. Brent Becher held the old school record when he threw for 262 yards vs Newport in 2008. Leininger also broke the single-game completion mark with his 16 vs JT. Matt Warner (2004 vs NL) and Nick Todero (2011 vs UD) each completed 13 passes in a game to hold the previous record. Cayden Stem of Wilson threw for 154 yards and 4td’s in their come from behind win over Pen Argyl. In the same game, Gavin Amerman of Pen Argyl threw for 216 yards and 3 td’s while also rushing for another 84 yards. Collin Quintano of Notre Dame threw for 223 yards and a td vs Salisbury
RECEIVERS:
Chad Parton of Salisbury caught 5 passes for 169 and 2 td’s vs Notre Dame last week. Raeff DiCello of Pottsville caught all 4 completions in their win over Lehighton for 145 yards and 2 td’s. Damon Simpson of Wilson caught 8 passes for 86 yards and 3 td’s last week vs Pen Argyl. His 3 td’s tie 7 other Warriors, for the school single-game record. Shea Morgan of Pine Grove and Zack Hunsicker of Lehighton have each caught 20 passes and 2 td’s this season. Morgan has 303 yards while Hunsicker is right behind with 300 yards. Jesse Engle of Williams Valley caught another 2 td passes last week vs Nativity and he now has 7 on the season and 28 for his career. Gabe Davis of Minersville caught a td pass last week setting a new career school record with 12. Bryce Ellinger held the old record when he caught 11 from 2016-18.
Kickers:
Matt Bugbee of Nazareth kicked his 19th and 20th career field goals in their win over Central Catholic. Bugbee also threw for 111 yards and a td.
The highest career total I currently have in the District is 22 field goals. Chris Rodriquez of Wilson kicked 22 field goals from 2007-09.
History:
Back in 1975, Tamaqua and Coaldale played in the first Alumni Thanksgiving Day game. A big crowd of 3,500 fans attended the game that was played at Panther Valley HS stadium. After early morning rains let up about an hour before kick-off, the teams battled in the mud with Tamaqua pulling out a 22-14 win. Glen Behr (class of 71) scored 2 td’s for Tamaqua and 1961 graduate Dale Titus caught a 2-point conversion. Tamaqua was coached by former Blue Raiders head coach Dick Jones and Coaldale was coached by former Coaldale and Shenandoah High coach Geno Poli.
On October 30th, 1965, an instant classic game was played between Panther Valley and Parkland. The lead changed 9 times including 5 times in the 4th quarter. At halftime, the teams were tied at 13-13. Panther Valley scored twice in the 3rd quarter to take a 25-13 lead into the 4th quarter. Parkland would score the first 2 td’s in the 4th to take the lead 27-25. PV would make it 31-27 and Parkland would score again on a 24-yard run by Mike Herb to take the lead 34-31. Mike Winsko of PV would score on a 6-yard run to make it 37-34. Parkland would then drive down to the 10-yard line before Al Marsteller fired a 10-yard td pass to Nevin DeLong for the 41-37 win. DeLong scored 3 td’s in the game for the Trojans while Frank Maholick scored 4 td’s for Panther Valley. There were only 4 completions in the entire game between the two teams and 3 of those 4 went for td’s. Delong had the 10 yarder to win it and Maholick caught 60 and 70 yard td passes from Paul Goida. Each team scored 6 td’s. The difference in the game was that Parkland converted 5 extra points while PV only converted 1.
