HS Football Polls ‘23 – Week 2
Well, there’s no doubt right now about the top two teams in our EPC poll!
With our #1 and #2 teams playing the previous week’s #3 and #4 teams in our high school football poll, the result was the top two teams winning…and winning big.
Our top football analyst on ATVN, Mike Joseph, said on-air last Friday if someone told him on Monday that Nazareth would mercy-rule Emmaus, he would have told them they would be crazy…but that’s exactly what the Blue Eagles did.
Parkland also dominated Bethlehem Freedom in their contest and made for two impressive performances on offense and defense last weekend.
Those weren’t the only lopsided contests last week in both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and the Colonial League. Among the blowout games included Saucon Valley winning 36 points, Northwestern winning by 48, Northampton won by 51, Liberty won by 33, Palisades shut out Wilson 48 -0, Tri-Valley won by 30, Pine Grove won by 42, Southern Lehigh beat Notre Dame 68 to 28, East Stroudsburg South scored a 41 point-win, Pen Argyl won by 29, Pleasant Valley won by 28 and Bangor won by 25.
The only “close” game of the weekend was the Whitehall versus Bethlehem Catholic contest on Saturday afternoon, which was 14-7 midway through the third quarter before the Golden Hawks scored three consecutive touchdowns and put the game away.
Needless to say, with so many teams at the very top of our poll from last week putting on solid victories, there isn’t a whole lot of movement in our polls for this week.
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Now here’s a look at our polls along with our criteria that we use.
I’m proud to say (and no, I don’t vote myself) our football polls have proven to be among the most accurate, year after year, among all media organizations that attempt to rank teams in our coverage area each fall. (Check out our archived polls from previous years if you’d like proof).
We rotate asking different contributors to our poll along with some “veterans,” consisting of local athletic directors, coaches and media members. 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 once again going to break down the two polls into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound TV broadcast area. With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “cross-over” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents throughout their schedules.
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
- Parkland
- Nazareth
- Central Catholic
- Emmaus
- Freedom
Eligible Teams (in no particular order):
Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.
Catasauqua’s loss to Palmerton dropped the Rough Riders out of our top 4 poll for this week, while the remaining top three teams all scored big wins last weekend…
COLONIAL TOP 4
- Northwestern
- Southern Lehigh
- Bangor
- Notre Dame
Other schools receiving votes: Pen Argyl
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 the “upcoming events” section here on our website and check it frequently for any changes and for our ongoing broadcast schedule information throughout the postseason.
Among our upcoming broadcasts include our first look at the Easton Red Rovers as they take on Whitehall this Friday. It’s usually an honor for the Pennsylvania Cable Network to select a network for a game to air during the season, but PCN will be picking up our broadcast for a second time already this season, as that game will air across the Commonwealth!
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.
