The state high school football playoff season is officially underway in Pennsylvania (it actually started last week for Lehigh Valley teams due to the expanded playoff format, but we’ve talked about that in great detail before…)
There are several big matchups coming up this weekend. Here are some insights on each of the games which feature teams in the RCN viewing area.
CLASS 6A
EASTON AT PARKLAND
Parkland is getting key people healthy—especially at running back—at just the right time. During his tenure at Liberty, Head Coach Tim Moncman has often shown his desire to grind out long scoring drives if he has the horses available, and the improving health of Nick Suriel has allowed his Trojans to do that last week in their win over Nazareth.
This sets up an interesting issue: Easton has had much more success stopping (or at least containing) the run against almost every team they’ve faced this year. Even through injuries, the Red Rovers were the second best 6A team in points allowed this year during the regular season (Parkland was first), and they, too, are getting guys healthy—especially lineman—heading into the post-season.
This figures to be a low-scoring game. Time of possession, turnovers and the ability to pick and choose your spots to throw deep will be keys and should make for one of the more entertaining games on Friday night.
FREEDOM AT EMMAUS
I’m really surprised it took a gutsy coaching decision by Emmaus Head Coach Harold Fairclough to put away his Hornets’ first round win over Liberty. Both teams were missing key personnel and Liberty did a nice job containing Emmaus’ running attack.
In the first meeting between these two, the Hornets proved to be one of the few teams that found a way to pressure Freedom QB Joe Young and made him rush his passes. If the Patriots’ offensive line can buy him more time—and I’m sure Head Coach Jason Roeder and his staff will also be making adjustments—Freedom could have much more success offensively this time around.
Emmaus’ Josh Artis helped to stretch the defense in the second half of the regular season matchup, which led to a Hornets victory. As long as Freedom doesn’t hurt themselves with penalties/turnovers, a Patriot win wouldn’t surprise me at all.
CLASS 5A
Southern Lehigh vs. Whitehall
This is the matchup that surprised no one once the new classifications were laid out and both of these teams, along with East Stroudsburg North and South, were guaranteed playoff spots.
This is the game RCN will broadcast Friday. We’ll be talking about this contest in much more detail on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show, when I’ll be joined by The Morning Call high school football scribes Keith Groller and Steve Miller for insights, analysis and predictions.
CLASS 4A
Saucon Valley vs. Bethlehem Catholic
In my opinion, this championship game is the most intriguing playoff contest this weekend.
Becahi steamrolled through most of the top teams in the EPC and featured the best run defense in the area before hitting an injury wall in the last quarter of the regular season. They had to bounce back from a Central Catholic beating the week prior to avenge the Vikings’ defeat in the playoffs (see video above). They also accomplished last week’s victory without some of their top players due to injuries.
Furthermore, Becahi—a team last year predicted to go deep in the state playoffs—is looking to get revenge on Saucon Valley—the team that knocked them out of the post-season last fall in the district semi-final. Both teams have had great success defensively this year and also feature solid players on special teams. I think you would have to give the Hawks the advantage offensively, but the same was said last season and that didn’t stop the Panthers from using its underdog status to fuel a hard fought win.
CLASS 3A
Pen Argyl at Palisades
The Green Knights have been a tough team to figure out this year. Pen Argyl was one of our top four Colonial League teams in our pre-season and scored some impressive wins. They’ve also lost a couple games that surprised some of our football experts here at RCN-TV. Palisades has really been playing well under Kevin Ronalds and looked strong last week in their win over Northern Lehigh.
I’d give the advantage to Pen Argyl given Logan Sterner’s running ability and the Knights having a more battle-tested group, but this should be another interesting match-up this weekend.
North Schuylkill at Notre Dame
Notre Dame took a while to get its motor running versus Lehighton last weekend, but once they did, it turned into the blowout that I had predicted it would on last week’s show.
The Crusaders clearly have the most offensive weapons of any in this classification and have been doing a better job defending the run over the last several weeks, which traditionally has been North Schuylkill’s bread-and-butter.
I haven’t seen North Schuylkill in person this season as they play outside our coverage area but already have some calls in and am waiting for more information and details on this year’s squad as this week’s blog goes to press. Again, I’ll have to use the “tease” button here and invite you to watch this Thursday’s show (or hear the podcast at rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk) for more on this playoff game.
Don’t forget to bookmark and check out RCN’s broadcast schedule here on the website and check back throughout our local team’s playoff run for more details on our featured games.
