District 1 Championship/State Quarterfinals
by Dave Ferris
This week’s game Saturday 12:00 at Souderton (seeding in parenthesis)
(9) North Penn 11-2 vs. (3) Upper Dublin 13-0
North Penn is playing in its ninth D1 title game in 15 years. Upper Dublin is playing in its first. NP is the biggest school in D1. Upper Dublin is one of the smallest. This will be a David versus Goliath match-up. UD has already taken out the second largest (Pennsbury) and the third largest (Upper Darby). They are giant slayers. Either NP or UD is two wins away from playing for the state title game in Hershey. North Penn has been there before. They won the title in 2003, and they were runners-up in 2011. They seem poised to go back again, but Upper Dublin stands in the way. By virtue of their convincing win over Pennsbury in the semi-final game last week, Upper Dublin has earned the respect to be compared favorably with North Penn. Although North Penn is the veteran playoff program, Upper Dublin has proven that it will be a formidable opponent. They shine on both sides of the ball, and they are big and tough. This one is difficult to call. One thing is certain. This year’s champ will be from Suburban One.
Common opponents: Against Pennsbury NP won 27-20, and UD won 24-14. Against Abington NP won 63-21, and UD won 55-14.
Scoring margins: North Penn has outscored its playoff opponents 103-28. Upper Dublin has outscored theirs 104-31.
UD key player: QB Ryan Stover is his team’s kingmaker. He runs well, he passes well, or he hands off to potent running backs. When he is on his game, UD is unstoppable.
NP key player: Nyfease West is the key to his team’s offensive production. They like to control the ball, and when he is running well, they do just that.
District 1
Last week’s results
(9) North Penn 28, (13) Neshaminy 7
On its first play from scrimmage, North Penn lost a fumble on its own five yard line. Four plays later Neshaminy had a fourth and goal from the North Penn one yard line. NP held, and the momentum of the game was set in NP’s favor permanently. North Penn controlled the ball and the game with Nyfease West running 27 times for 233 yards and two touchdowns. They held Neshaminy to 178 total yards for the game. North Penn had 446 yards in total offense. North Penn goes to 11-2 while Neshaminy finishes 9-4.
(3) Upper Dublin 24, (15) Pennsbury 14
UD is the real deal, and they proved it by beating last year’s D1 champ leaving no doubt as to who is the better team. UD’s defense was superb. Pennsbury’s famous running game was held to 49 yards. Pennsbury was not able to control the clock as they usually do and only had the ball for six minutes in the second half. Upper Dublin quarterback Ryan Stover, using his arm and his feet, made one big play after another and consistently converted third downs as Upper Dublin moved the ball at will. He led his team in rushing with 84 yards and passed for 172 yards. Stover now has 3,000 total yards for the season. A killer drive began the third quarter with Stover engineering a 65-yard drive on 15 plays. Todd Spirt kicked a 34 yard field goal with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Upper Dublin is now a perfect 13-0 while Pennsbury ends their season at 9-4.
D1 Insights
This year, the Suburban One League teams have dominated the District One 4A playoffs. Two are left standing. One will play in the Eastern PA Championship. The winner will go to Hersheypark Stadium to play in the championship game. At this point, a trip to Hershey is in reach of only eight 4A teams in the state. Since the playoffs began in 1988, Suburban One teams have made it to the state title game 10 times – CB West 6, North Penn 2 and Neshaminy 2. North Penn fits right into the historical picture. Upper Dublin however would break the mold in a number of ways. They are a small school playing at the same level as the big schools. They have no established tradition at this level. They are in unchartered territory. Will they etch their name alongside the other great teams in D1 history, or will it be North Penn again?
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
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 vs District 2/4/11 State Quarterfinals
This week’s game Saturday 1:00 at Northeast
LaSalle 8-3 vs Parkland 12-1
This could be the year of the public school. Parkland is very good. History shows that the District 11 champ has lost in this game to a Philly Catholic League school in each of the last six years. The last District 11 team to break through to the Eastern final was Liberty in 2008. That was the first year of Philly Catholic League participation in the PIAA. Could this year see a public school from this game in the Eastern Final?
Last week’s results
District 12 Championship
LaSalle 42, Simon Gratz 15
LaSalle put Gratz in a 28-0 first quarter hole. Gratz never recovered and lost while playing under the mercy rule. LaSalle running back, Syaire Madden, led LaSalle by rushing 19 times for 176 yards.
District 2/4/11 Sub-regional Championship
(2) Parkland 63, (1) Wyoming Valley West 21
This is the fourth straight year Parkland has won this game. QB Devante Cross ran 12 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns. He also completed 5-of-8 passes for 135 yards and three scores.
Parkland scored 49 unanswered points after being tied at 14-14. The second half began under the mercy rule after a 49-14 score at the midway break.
Western AAAA State Quarterfinals
This Weeks’s Games
District 3
(6) Cumberland Valley 11-2 vs. (1) Central Dauphin 12-1 – Saturday 6:00 at Hersheypark Stadium
WPIAL and Districts 6/8/9/10
Pittsburgh Central Catholic 12-1 vs. State College 9-3 – Friday 7:00 at Fox Chapel
