| Willie has been covering High School Football in the area for nearly 20 years. |
North Pocono Takes Down Bishop Shanahan in Thrilling Battle of 4A Heavyweights
November 15, 2025
DOWNINGTOWN: Philadelphia is the home of Rocky and has seen its fair share of big-time heavyweight battles and has produced many big-name fighters. On Friday night, Jack Mancini Field on the campus of Bishop Shanahan High School was the site of another thriller. In one corner, you had the undefeated District 2 Champions, North Pocono […]
Fly Like An Eagle: Bishop Shanahan Captures District 1 4A Title
November 8, 2025
ROYERSFORD: During his career at Bishop Shanahan, Senior QB Anthony Aquila has accomplished just about everything. Last season, he led the Eagles to a Chest-Mont championship. One team that has been a thorn in the side of Aquilia and his Eagles teammates has been Pope John Paul II. In 2023 and 2024, the Golden Panthers […]
District 1 5A Second Round Preview
November 7, 2025
We’ve reached the Elite Eight in District 1 5A. Last week, things went according to chalk except for the 12th seed Unionville Longhorns going on the road and knocking off the 5th seed Wissahickon Trojans. This week, we get two rematches from the regular season. Will the losers of the regular season get revenge? Is […]
District 1 4A Championship Bishop Shanahan at Pope John Paul II Preview
November 6, 2025
The Who: Bishop Shanahan Eagles at Pope John Paul II Golden Panthers The What: District 1 4A Championship Where: Pope John Paul II High School, 181 Rittenhouse Rd, Royersford, PA When: Friday, November 7, 7 pm. For Updates on X, follow: @williepafn The Last Meeting: The Eagles and Golden Panthers last met back on September […]
District 1 6A Second Round Preview
November 6, 2025
We have reached the Elite Eight in District 1 6A. Last week, we saw two big upsets with the 14th seed Owen J. Roberts Wildcats going on the road and knocking off the reigning District 1 and third seed Downingtown West Whippets by a score of 10-7, while the 11th seed Neshaminy Redskins under first-year […]
Explosive Run Game Carries Garnet Valley to First Round Victory
November 2, 2025
GLEN MILLS: When one thinks of the Garnet Valley triple-option offense, they usually think of nice, long 12-13 plus play drives that eat the minutes off the clock. On Saturday night, the Jaguars ran just 12 plays in the first half of their District 1 5A First Round playoff game against visiting Upper Perkiomen. However, […]
Penncrest Downs West Chester East Wins First Home Playoff Game in School’s History
November 1, 2025
MIDDLETOWN: Teachers at Penncrest must give Chase Callahan, Paul Graham Jr., and Sean Benson a pass if their minds wander a little bit during class on Friday. Not only was it Halloween, but the trio and their teammates were mere hours away from participating in the school’s first-ever home playoff game. Callahan, Graham, and Benson […]
Robinson Scores with 6 Seconds left Has Downingtown East Rallies to Beat Spring-Ford
October 31, 2025
DOWNINGTOWN: In the playoffs, it is do or die. For the Downingtown East Cougars, the difference between victory and defeat all came down to one play. Trailing the visiting Spring-Ford Rams 16-13 and with 10 seconds left on the clock, facing a 1st and goal on the Rams’ 9-yard line, the Cougars needed a score to […]
In Downingtown West is Best, Special Teams Make Difference In Battle of Brandywine
October 25, 2025
DOWNINGTOWN: Special teams is often the overlooked part of the game, but in big-time games, they are usually the difference between a victory and defeat. On Friday night, that was exactly the case for the Downingtown West Whippets, whose special teams unit accounted for nine points and blocked two punts as the Whippets bested their […]
Pioneer Athletic Conference Crossover Matchups Set
October 19, 2025
The final piece in next week’s schedule is in place with the Pioneer Athletic Conference (PAC) crossover matchups being set. This year, it’s the Liberty Division that hosts the games. In the Liberty Division, Owen J Roberts, Boyertown, and Perkiomen Valley all went 3-2 in Division play, so they had to go to the tiebreaker, […]
Rustin Routs East in Battle of West Chester
October 18, 2025
WEST GOSHEN: Every year, when West Chester Rustin Golden Knights get together for the first time in a season and discuss their goals for the upcoming season, there are always two goals that remain the same: Win West Chester and Win the Division title. On Friday night, the Golden Knights took the first step in […]
Welde Sets O’Hara Single Game Passing Record in Victory Over Father Judge
October 11, 2025
SPRINGFIELD: Cardinal O’Hara is in their 60th season of playing football and has seen the likes of Tom Savage, Mike Lomas, Ryan Laughlin, Dashawn Darden, Anthony Walters, and Kevin Parker all have played Quarterback for the Lions, and during his four-year career at O’Hara, John Welde has proven himself to be among the greats to […]
Neumann-Goretti-South Philadelphia Annual Thanksgiving Day Game Cancelled
October 8, 2025
What once was an annual tradition of Philadelphia area teams playing a traditional rival on Thanksgiving has been dying over the years, and on Wednesday, another one was announced to be taking at least this year off. On their school’s athletics Facebook page today, Neumann-Goretti announced that they and South Philadelphia High School made the […]
Behind Trio of Coll and Valerio and Valetti Springfield Wins Battle of Central League Heavyweights
October 5, 2025
SPRINGFIELD: Entering the 2025 season, when you asked people who were your favorites to win the Central League, two of the teams that many mentioned were the Haverford Fords and Springfield Cougars, and rightfully so, last season the Fords and Cougars each earned a share of the Central League Title with the Fords knocking off […]
Resilient Effort from Rustin Helps In Victory Over Downingtown East
October 4, 2025
WESTTOWN: When you’ve been around the game as much as West Chester Rustin Mike St. Clair has been, you know what it takes to win big games, and you develop a style that works for your program. For Rustin, it’s tough, hard-nosed run heavy offense with stellar defense. On Friday night, that’s what St. Clair’s […]
PFN’s Willie is Cookin’ In Philly Week of October 2, 2025
October 2, 2025
Well, the Calendar has turned to one of this writer’s favorite months, October. The leaves are starting to turn, the weather is getting cooler, and games are being played mostly under the stars. Football is really starting to heat up. My apologies for the delay in this week’s posting. It was a hectic weekend last […]
Bishop Shanahan Uses Big Plays and Stellar Defense to Rout West Chester Henderson
September 27, 2025
DOWNINGTOWN: Everyone loves the big highlight reel plays, and the Bishop Shanahan Eagles are no different. While most teams have only one player who can produce such plays, the Eagles seem to have a different player do it every week. Friday night it was Aidan Civitella and Anthony Aquila’s turn, and the duo didn’t disappoint […]
PFN’s Willie is Cookin’ In Philly Week of September 24, 2025
September 24, 2025
How can it be that we’ve reached the midpoint of the 2025 season already? It seems like just yesterday that we were here gearing up for the opening week of the season, and now we are at the midpoint, and it needs to slow down. The leaves are changing colors, we are starting to separate […]
Valerio Scores Five Times as Springfield’s Britton Reaches 100th Career Victories
September 22, 2025
DREXEL HILL: For the better part of the last two decades plus, there has been one constant on the Springfield Delco sidelines, and that has been Chris Britton. Before being named head coach in 2014, Britton spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach under four different head coaches (Mike Heath, Chris Bell, Dan Ellis, and […]
Jordan’s Big Day, Stellar Defense Leads West Chester to Dominating Win over Seton Hill
September 20, 2025
WEST CHESTER: Connor Noble knows firsthand just how dangerous Cooper Jordan can be. Noble competed against Jordan back in their high school days when Noble was a defensive leader for Downingtown East and Jordan was a star playmaker on neighboring Bishop Shanahan. Fortunately for the West Chester Golden Rams they have both of them on […]
Bishop Shanahan Believes It Can Win, Knocks Off Unionville in Thriller
September 20, 2025
DOWNINGTOWN: All week, the message Bishop Shanahan delivered to his team was to believe in themselves. That message was delivered after the Eagles dropped a tough 28-21 decision last week to Pope John Paul II. On Friday night, the Eagles adhered to their coach’s message, stopping a two-point conversion with 1:09 left to come away […]
PFN’s Willie is Cookin’ In Philly Week of September 17
September 17, 2025
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of PFN’s Willie is Cookin’ In Philly. Since the last column, the Philadelphia sports scene remains hot, with the Phillies clinching the National League East and the Eagles defending their Super Bowl Championship by getting off to a 2-0 start. But you know what else is heating up […]
Malvern Prep Defense Looks Impressive in Victory over Imhotep
September 13, 2025
MALVERN: The popular saying in football is Defense wins championships and when you are program like Malvern Prep who have won at least a share of the Inter Ac League 37 times in its storied history you know a thing or a two about winning championships. On Friday night in the much-anticipated matchup against Philadelphia […]
PFN’s Willie is Cookin’ In Philly Week of September 10
September 10, 2025
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of PFN’s Willie is Cookin’ In Philly. While the Philadelphia area may soon be coming down with a case of Pennant Fever with the Phillies regular season ending and the Phightin Phils looking like a playoff team, but you know what else is heating up in Big Willie’s […]
Roman Catholic Gets Going in 2nd Half Survives Chestnut Hill Academy Upset Bid
September 6, 2025
CHESTER: After opening the season with a battle-tested road game against the North Carolina powerhouse Providence Day, followed by a trip to Florida last week to battle Cardinal Newman, the Roman Catholic Cahillites finally played a game on Pennsylvania soil. The top-ranked team in 5A by PFN Cahillites went 1-1 on their trips. On Friday […]
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