Polls Week 3: Eagles Flyin’ High
For most of the last dozen or so summers, I run into Nazareth Football Head Coach Tom Falzone and ask him how good his team is going to be the following autumn. Every other summer he downplays his team’s expectations and says his team isn’t going to be that good this season…and most of the time, his team exceeds expectations and finishes near the top of the pack.
This spring he admitted to me, “We’re going to be very good.”
And two weeks into the season, his Blue Eagles have taken over the top spot in our Eastern Pennsylvania Conference poll standings.
As you saw on ATVN last weekend, we had two outstanding high school games, all involving the top teams in our EPC Poll. Nazareth posted a strong win over Parkland and Emmaus scored a five-point victory over Central Catholic.
Nazareth still has a number of tough games coming up, but they cleared their first big hurdle of the season.
Emmaus, meanwhile, has five more very winnable games coming up and should be in good shape for quite a while.
Not to be outdone in the Colonial League, there was a great Thursday night football contest in which Northern Lehigh upset Northwestern. On Friday, Southern Lehigh edged Notre Dame-Green Pond in a one-point win. The close victories will force a complete “flip” of our Colonial poll–below–involving the same four teams but in different positions.
But first, here are the details on our weekly polls.
We never announce nor release the names of our non-media voters to get their honest opinions on the local football landscape while avoiding any thoughts of retribution or potential “bulletin board” material. Our “media voters” usually reveal themselves when we have the pleasure of having them on our weekly SportsTalk program, seen on Thursday nights on the Astound TV Network and available to watch at any time for free through ATVN on Demand.
This year, we are breaking the two polls down into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound broadcast area. With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “crossover” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents on their schedule.
Below we have high school polls for both leagues in the ATVN viewing area, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.
EPC TOP 5
- Nazareth
- Emmaus
- Parkland
- Freedom
- Bethlehem Catholic
Eligible Teams (in no particular order):
Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.
COLONIAL TOP 4
- Northern Lehigh
- Southern Lehigh
- Northwestern
- Notre Dame-GP
Eligible Teams (in no particular order):
Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh.
Be sure to check back to our website for our weekly polls and check our upcoming broadcast information frequently for any changes for our ongoing sports schedule throughout the fall season.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.
