This week’s games by Dave Ferris
Friday November 11, 7:00 (seeding in parenthesis)
(9) Spring-Ford 9-2 at (1) North Penn 11-0
North Penn has won six D1 titles. They demolished last week’s overmatched playoff foe with a balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense. North Penn has not yet been tested this season and may not be this week either.
(5) Ridley 10-1 at (4) Coatesville 10-1
Coatesville has won nine straight since the second week of the season when they lost to Cumberland Valley. Strangely, Ridley’s lone loss was at home to 5A Springfield in OT. Given that Coatesville is ranked fourth by Eastern Pa Football.com, Coatesville should have the edge here.
(6) Downingtown East 9-2 at (3) Perkiomen Valley 11-0 at
PV has slowly earned the right to be called a state power, but they have yet to break through to challenge for a D1 title. This could be the year. Downingtown East has not been spectacular in the playoffs lately as evidenced by last year’s early exit as a #1 seed albeit to a very good North Penn team. Last week they struggled just a bit against 5-loss Souderton.
(10) Garnet Valley 9-2 at (2) Neshaminy 11-0
GV had a nice last-second win last week over CB South, but Neshaminy will likely be a much tougher opponent. CB South was the only common opponent for these two teams with Neshaminy winning 42-14 earlier in the season.
Last week’s results
(1) North Penn 56, (16) Haverford 7
North Penn outgained Haverford 400 yards to 200. The game was never in doubt as the mercy rule took effect by the start of the third quarter.
(8) Spring-Ford 38, (9) Central Bucks East 7
East came into this game down four starters. During the game they suffered a series of injuries that took out their first and second string quarterbacks and two other key players. S-F poured it on leading 28-0 at halftime and outgaining East 350-160 yards.
(5) Ridley 35 (12) Plymouth Whitemarsh 7
Ridley’s hard-hitting defense held PW to 85 yards rushing while they used a balanced, five running back attack to control the ball. It was a dominating win giving Ridley their first playoff win since 2012.
(4) Coatesville 42, (13) Abington 0
Abington has made great strides in one season going from one win to the playoffs, but Coatesville was too much as they held 1800 yard rusher, Davis-McNeil, to 72 yards. Coatesville piled up almost 400 yards in total offense.
(3) Perkiomen Valley 55 (14) Penn Wood 28
PV scored more points in this game than in any other this season. The defense had some lapses allowing Penn Wood to keep it close late in the first half, but PV’s seven interceptions was too much to overcome. PV QB Stephen Sturm finished with 213 passing yards with five passing TD’s and two rushing. It was the first home playoff win in eighteen years going to back when they were competing in AAA.
(6) Downingtown East 33, (11) Souderton 21
Souderton looked at least as good as DE for three quarters with the score deadlocked at 14 to begin the fourth. But, they couldn’t keep it up as East pulled away outscoring Souderton 19-7 in the final frame. Souderton was playing in its first playoff game since 2010.
(10) Garnet Valley 21, (7) Central Bucks South 14
CB South appeared to be on the way to a playoff win when GV scored on their last two possessions to steal the game with eleven seconds left. GV has only thrown 45 passes all year, but the winning TD was a pass and catch in the corner of the end zone.
(2) Neshaminy 26 (15) Pennridge 21
Pennridge has played Neshaminy twice this season and could have won both games, but once again Neshaminy prevailed as Pennridge missed the opportunities that could have given them a huge upset. Pennridge was playing with a heavy heart after the death of last year’s teammate Iziah Lewis due to a shooting incident in Perkasie. They attended the funeral earlier in the day. Although Neshaminy won the statistical battle, the game was in doubt until the final minute.
D1 Insights
Six Suburban One League teams entered the playoffs, but only one moves on. That one is North Penn, and they appear to be the clear favorite to win the D1 title. Even though they should move past Garnet Valley this week, Neshaminy has struggled twice against Pennridge this season and also against Bensalem. North Penn, on the other hand, has not struggled against anyone. Neshaminy most likely will struggle if they survive long enough to meet North Penn who has scored forty or more points seven times this year. This year the district title game will be held at the site of the team with the higher seed. In previous years, the title game was held at a neutral site.
