by Dave Ferris
District 1
This week’s games – Semi-Finals Friday November 27, 7:00 (seeding in parenthesis)
(13) Neshaminy 9-3 at (9) North Penn 9-3
This game is another District One classic as these two have met many times over the years in the regular season and the playoffs. Once again, one of these two schools will play for the title next week. Their last meeting was October 30 during the regular season with North Penn winning 22-17. Since the year 2000 (including this year), North Penn has played in eleven D1 semi-final games. Neshaminy has played in nine. In every year but two over that time, one or both of these schools has played in a D1 semi-final game. Oddly, this is the first time during that period that they have played each other in a semi-final. At one point in the season, Neshaminy was not expected to be here. North Penn always was. Based on last week’s games, North Penn may have the edge in this one.
(15) Pennsbury 9-3 at (3) Upper Dublin 12-0
This is a rematch of last year’s semi-final game when Upper Dublin almost took out the eventual D1 champion, Pennsbury. This year, Pennsbury appears to be slightly less dominating than last year’s team while Upper Dublin has improved over last year. Can the Upper Dublin defense continue to stymie their opposition? Can Pennsbury stop Ryan Stover’s prolific pass/run game and his team’s potent rushing attack? History would tell us that the big schools like Pennsbury, from the SOL National Conference, prevail more times than not. UD has rolled up an astounding scoring margin of 44-7 over 12 games. This game is a tough call, but it would not be a surprise to see the small school beat the big school this time.
District 1
Last week’s results
(9) North Penn 27, (1) Downingtown East 14
North Penn got its revenge for an early-season loss to DE. They took a 27-7 lead at halftime after scoring the first 21 points of the game. They never looked back as DE was forced to play catch-up against a very good defense. NP held 6’7” USC-bound tight end, Carey Angeline, to 4 receptions for 100 yards. North Penn had a balanced attack evenly splitting 510 yards between rush and pass. Nyfeace West ran for 243 yards on 33 carries and Reece Udinski was 11 of 17 for 228 yards passing. North Penn dominated, and this game was never in doubt.
(13) Neshaminy 31 at (12) Quakertown 17
Coach Steve Wilmot seems to have reinstituted the old system and the old tradition at Neshaminy in just one season. They took their first lead late in the game in a hard-fought win for the right to travel to North Penn next Friday. Quakertown took advantage of Neshaminy mistakes to jump out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. But, Neshaminy would tie the score in the quarter with Denzel Hughes taking a punt return 77 yards for a TD. Neshaminy’s Will Dogba ran for 141 yards on 28 carries to propel Neshaminy doing a lot of his damage late in the fourth quarter when Neshaminy took their first lead of the game. The two were evenly matched in terms of first downs and yards gained. But in the end, Neshaminy made the critical plays they needed to win the game. Quakertown has now lost in the district quarterfinals two years in a row.
(15) Pennsbury 41, (10) Perkiomen Valley 28
These two played to a 21-21 halftime tie. In the second half however, PV unraveled with critical turnovers and other miscues as the Pennsbury defense came up big, and they powered to the win. PV’s QB Stephen Sturm went 22 of 34 for 260 yards and 1 TD in a losing effort as his team outgained its opponent by 350-274 yards. Sturm is just a junior and had over 3,000 yards passing and 30 TD’s for the season. But in the end, the Pennsbury defense forced three second-half turnovers that made the difference. Pennsbury QB Mike Alley led his team with 73 yards rushing and three TD’s.
(3) Upper Dublin 45, (6) Upper Darby 14
Upper Dublin has proven once again that they can play with the bigger schools by dominating Upper Darby, the fourth largest school in the state. Upper Darby is more than twice the size of Upper Dublin. They did it on two fronts. First, they controlled one of the best running backs in District One, Isaiah Bruce, except for two spectacular runs. Second, they rang up 45 points with a balanced offense led by QB Ryan Stover.
D1 Insights
This year the Suburban One League teams occupy all of the semi-final playoff bracket spots. According to available digital records, this is a first. Three of those teams are from the powerful Suburban One League National Conference which is made up of the largest schools in the league including North Penn, Pennsbury and Neshaminy – the triumvirate of District 1. Also from Suburban One, Upper Dublin joins this group.
The Upper Dublin Story
UD is one of the smaller 4A schools in D1. They play in the American Conference of the SOL. This is the weakest of the three SOL conferences and includes some 3A schools. Somehow, Upper Dublin has emerged from this conference as a D1 power. The only answer that seems to explain this phenomenon is great coaching from Brett Stover who is QB Ryan Stover’s father. Last year as head coach at UD, his team recorded a school-record 11 wins and won a Suburban One conference championship outright. They were co-champions in 2007, 2008 and 2010. 2014 also marked first-ever playoff wins in school history with two wins before losing to Pennsbury. The Philadelphia Inquirer picked Stover as Southeastern Pennsylvania football coach of the year for 2014. A 1984 graduate of Upper Dublin High School, Stover has been coaching UD for 13 years.
The Catholic Schools
With St. Joe’s Prep eliminated from the playoffs, there may be new optimism for a state championship for D1, but one has to wonder what LaSalle has going for them in order to have beaten Prep (see results below). Since the Philly Catholic League joined the PIAA in 2008, either LaSalle or Prep has played for the state title four times in that seven year span with Prep winning the last two. Liberty, North Penn and Coatesville have won in the other years. So, optimism must be tempered with a measure of reality. Conventional wisdom would say that North Penn or Parkland have the best shot, but don’t tell that to Gratz, Wyoming Valley West, Upper Dublin, Pennsbury or Neshaminy.
This year’s remaining D1 playoff schools size ranking of 44 schools in D1 (males for football in parenthesis):
1 North Penn (1861) SOL National Conference
2 Pennsbury (1384) SOL National Conference
4 Neshaminy (1225) SOL National Conference
35 Upper Dublin (569) SOL American Conference
The Rest of the East AAAA
The winner of District 1 will play the District 12 vs. Districts 2/4/11 winner for the Eastern PA title.
District 12 Catholic League winner plays Public League winner for District 12 title.
This week’s game – Final Saturday November 28, 12:00
LaSalle 7-3 vs Simon Gratz 10-2 at Northeast
Last week’s results
Philadelphia Catholic League AAAA Championship
(2) LaSalle 29, (1) St. Joseph’s Prep 28
This was a major upset which will deprive the Prep of a shot at a third straight state title. Prep blue chip recruit, D’Andre Swift, was held to 18 yards on 12 carries. The Prep beat LaSalle 49-24 just last month.
Philadelphia Public League AAAA Championship
Simon Gratz 54, Northeast 18
Gratz lost their first two games to the two best teams in AAA, Archbishop Wood and Imhotep. They went undefeated the rest of the way winning most games by lopsided scores. They handed Northeast their first loss of the season.
District 2/4/11 Sub-regional
This week’s game – Final Friday November 27, 7:00
(2) Parkland 11-1 at (1) Wyoming Valley West 12-0
In spite of the seedings, Parkland is the juggernaut of this sub-region. Last year, they gave St. Joe’s Prep all they could handle as Prep went on to win the state championship. Parkland’s only loss this year was to Liberty 41-34 in October. WVW beat liberty last week 55-35. A WV West win would be a major upset.
Last week’s results
(1) Wyoming Valley West 55, Bethlehem Liberty 35
WVW blew the game open in the second quarter scoring 28 points. Turnovers killed Liberty’s chances for a comeback. WVW has scored more than 100 points in their first two playoff games this year.
(2) Parkland 37 (6) Easton Area 0
Parkland scored 24 second-quarter points and rolled to a mercy rule win. They are the last District 11 team still alive in the sub-region. That gives them the D11 title for a record fourth straight time.
