We have reached week ten of a very exciting high school football season and this will be the final set of games before post season play in Pennsylvania districts. Last weekend the area was shocked to see a rare October snow storm. While most games were played in near perfect conditions on Friday night, some teams got to slip and slide on Saturday. One such contest featured Cardinal O’Hara playing Archbishop Wood at William Tennett High School. Heavy snow was not enough to slow Wood on their way to a 38-0 victory and top seed in the District Twelve post season.
The regular season action this week is the final chance for teams to either get into or improve their playoff position. There was not much change in the rankings last week as most favorites won as projected. One minor upset pushed Council Rock South to the top seed in AAAA after the pushed past number one Abington 30-22 in a hard fought Friday night fracas.
At the AAA level number one seed Springfield ran into an old Central League rival Strath Haven but despite the 28-7 setback remains in solid control of their post season destiny.
The last five years, this future teller has a 244-94 prognostication record while going 30-15 for this season.
The week nine predictions went pretty well as this humble writer went 4-1 as Council Rock South, Coatesville, Interboro and Archbishop Wood all won as predicted, while Springfield fell to Strath Haven for the only bad pick of the week.
As we look toward week ten most of the top seeds face opponents that they should be able to handle. However as we all know that can be a really dangerous assumption.
One contest that will determine the Chest-Mont League National Division title has no clear favorite. Downingtown East has one loss in the division and needs a win over West Chester Henderson to share the championship ring. Downingtown East is coming off a big victory over Downingtown West last week. QB Kyle Lauletta cranked up a big time passing effort of 185 yards and found receiver Jay Harris on six occasions with four TD’s in the 44-14 rout. West Chester Henderson is 5-0 in division play and would love to hold sole possession of the division title with a home win. The Warriors will need the big time effort of Jake Richards who scored three touchdowns last week in a 35-0 pounding of Avon Grove. These two teams will not let the fans go home early but count on the Cougars to squeak out a tight late game win.
Downingtown East 34 West Chester Henderson 28
The Philadelphia Catholic League opens their playoffs this weekend. One contest features AAA rivals Cardinal O’Hara and Monsignor Bonner. This cross town revelry goes back to the 1960’s. The O’Hara Lions have come to expect a win over the Friars in the last few years. However not only does O’Hara need to recover from last week’s 38-0 loss to Wood but an early season loss to the Friars 20-13. On the other hand Bonner cruised past Archbishop Carroll 33-0 and seems to be on a roll. Count on Coach Tom Oropeza’s defense to control the action and stop O’Hara’s offensive threat Shane Johnson.
Monsignor Bonner 27 Cardinal O’Hara 12
The rest of this week’s fearless forecast:
Springfield 21 Marple Newtown 17
Garnet Valley 31 Haverford 20
Pennsbury 33 Neshaminy 21
