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DISTRICT One – 6A Quarterfinals Preview

Tagged under: District 1, News, Playoffs

| November 10, 2022


REMATCHES HIGHLIGHT WEEK 2 

As week two of the District 1 6A playoff begin a couple of things stick out. For the first time in 7 years Coatesville will be missing from the semifinals, after being upset in week one by Downingtown East. The other thing that sticks out are the two rematches from the regular season with Downingtown East taking on Downingtown West, a rematch of week 9’s Battle of the Brandywine and CB West will take on North Penn in a repeat of the regular season. In a thriller Downingtown West was able to escape with a 31-28 victory, CB West was able to handle North Penn fairly easily 35-14 in their regular season tilt. Interestingly CB West, Downingtown East and North Penn are the 10, 13 and 14 seeds, some would say they were upset winner in week 1 of the playoffs, but most would agree it’s never an upset when any of these three teams win.

PFN’s #2 6A team Garnet Valley continues its march in the playoffs and will face Spring-Ford of the PAC. In the other quarterfinal game Perk Valley will take on Souderton.

#8 SPRING-FORD @ #1 GARNET VALLEY

#1 Garnet Valley

About the Jaguars:

The Jaguars enter this match unfazed. A perfect season under their belt, the Jaguars ranked top in the state in 6A. Our rankings have them ranked #2 in 6A state rankings. Last week they picked apart a 5-6 Quakertown to win 63-14. It was ride for GV last year as they won 14 straight games, but fell short in the state semi finals to Saint Joe’s Prep. Fortunately for GV they have followed their script, sitting at 10-0 heading into the quarterfinals. In my findings, GV has only met their opponent, Spring-Ford, once in recent years. That was in 2012, where Spring-Ford took them down 43-27. What is in the past is in the past, as that was a decade ago. Garnet Valley’s Quarterback Matt Mesaros leads the offense on the field. He is a dual-threat QB as he comes out of the shotgun firing, or keeps it on the ground. He helped assist GV put up their most points in a game last week. The thing that threatens opponents the most is their run game. The depth they have to be able to move the ball on the ground is bedlam. Jason Bernard and Joseph Checchio sit in the backfield, ready to cause destruction. “Oneness” is what Garnet Valley’s football team has run on, and now until the end, will be proof they are one.

#8 Spring-Ford

About the Rams:

As the Rams butt heads with everyone in their way, it is time for their hardest opponent of the year; for many players, their high school career. Spring-Ford fell short in the first round of 6A last year. As for every team, the season never ends the way they want it, only one team ails victorious in the end. The Rams are coming off a 7-3 regular season, a second-place finish in the PAC. Head Coach, Chad Brubaker, is no stranger to District 1 playoffs. The Ram’s offense is steered by QB Matt Zollers who has completed 66 passes on 112 attempts. Attached are his nine touchdown passes, which is a PAC-leading stat. Zach Zollers and standout Gage Swanger. Will Fish will do majority of the running for the Rams as he sits eighth in PAC with 48 attempts for 190-yards. If the Rams want to see another week of playoff football, they need to hit another stepping stone on their way to a championship. It is crucial they give it everything they got for 48 minutes.

 

#13 DOWNINGTOWN EAST vs #4 DOWNINGTOWN WEST

#4 Downingtown West

About the Whippets:

They were able to get a dominant victory over Conestoga with a 35-13 victory in the first round of the playoffs. This dominant performance was led by junior quarterback Quinn Henicle who threw for 150 yards. Their star quarterback has 16 touchdowns for the season and averages 124 passing yards per game. Running back John Mulville had 3 touchdowns on 88 rushing yards and 20 carries that night.  West is 9-1 for the season and already has a 31 to 28 victory over Downingtown East in the regular season this year. Henicle threw 364 passing yards in their victory. The key to victory for this team in this upcoming game is great blocking by the offensive lineman to give their quarterback a chance to throw. The last time head Coach Mike Milano and Downingtown West advanced to the second round was in 2019 where they eventually made it to the eastern finals and lost to Central Dauphin.

#13 Downingtown East

About the Cougars:

Having perhaps the biggest upset of the night, Downingtown East took down the #2 Coatesville Red Raiders in an unexpected 31-15 win last Friday. This was led by their star running back Bo Horvath who ran for 255 yards and three touchdowns off of 37 carries for the night. Downingtown East`s run first offense continues to be their number one weapon each year. While they were unable to defeat Downingtown West in the regular season, they have a chance to even the score up this season this Friday. The key to victory for Downingtown East in this upcoming game is to feed Bo the ball. In their tough loss vs West earlier this season, Horvath finished the game with 111 rushing yards along with a 57-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jamie Jenkins. Jenkins threw 220 passing yards. Head coach, Mike Matta has only taken his team past the second round of playoffs twice in his career, last time being all the way in 2014. Neither team has played each other before in the playoffs and the record between each other is 11-8 with the advantage towards East.


click to see brackets

 

#7 SOUDERTON @ #2 PERKIOMEN VALLEY

#2 Perkiomen Valley

About the Vikings: The 10-1 Vikings cruised to an easy win over OJR in the first round. Their lone loss came early in the season to Roman Catholic, but their defining game was a last minute 7-6 win over Spring-Ford. They won’t cruise this week against a tough Souderton team. If the Vikings want to advance, they’ll have to get Ryan Klimek and Jake Stewart going early and shut down the Indian offense. Sophomore quarterback Pat Macdonald has come along nicely this year. His numbers are decieving, having completed 81 for 1,100 yards and 10 tds.  He’s got the arm to throw deep and he does know how to control the game.  He was instrumental in that last minute comeback win, hitting key passes and running when the pass wasn’t there. Klimek is the leader on this team. The young Viking defense will be key. Carson Pascoe, Robbie Sturges, Sam Koehler and Carter Euker lead a defense that at times can swarm to the ball. Koehler and Sturges spend a lot of time in opposing offenses backfield, registering 17 tackles for loss this season.

 

#7 Souderton

About the Indians: In round one the Indians found themselves in an absolute defensive slugfest with 10th seeded Central Bucks South in which they came out on top 10-0. With the win the Indians improve to 9-2 overall. QB Jared Zimmerman threw for 102 yards while also rushing for 65 more yards & 1 TD. The Souderton offense is averaging a respectable 29.7 points and their defense is yielding slightly higher than two scores a game at 14.2 per. Offensively the Indians love to run the ball which they do behind the legs of senior running back No. 3 Chris Kerns who has 102 rushes for 638 yards & 7 TDs, senior quarterback No. 11 Jared Zimmerman-471 yards on 92 attempts for 6 TDs, & senior running back N0. 9 Shaun Purvy- 54 carries for 302 yards, 2 TDs. Purvy also has another 24 catches for 283 yards receiving & 2 more scores. Kerns however missed round one due to injury. Through the air Zimmerman has 8 TDs and 1,179 yards passing. Ahead of Purvy, junior wide receiver No. 6 Danny Dyches has hauled in 30 balls for 427 yards & 3 scores. On the defensive side of the ball look for Junior defensive tackle No. 78 Kahlil Williams has 26 total tackles, 7 TFL, & 5 sacks to have a solid performance and will wreak havoc in the backfield if given the opportunity.

 

#14 NORTH PENN @ #10 CB WEST

#11 Central Bucks West

About the Bucks: In round one the 11th seeded Bucks galloped into Patriot Stadium and absolutely manhandled the 6th seeded Patriots of Central Bucks East 42-26 exactly one week after upsetting them in the regular season finale 21-14. The Bucks improve to 7-4 overall on the season.  They finished the regular season at 6-4 overall and second in the SOL-National behind Champion Pennsbury.  They have losses to Garnet Valley (14-7), Upper Dublin (35-7), Pennsbury (26-21), & CB South (27-14). They beat Quakertown (56-14), North Penn (35-14), Abington (27-0), Neshaminy (22-0), Pennridge (27-8), & CB East (21-14).  While CB West is more of a traditional running power, junior QB Ganz Cooper has thrown for 970 yards & 13 TDs.  He also has 214 yards on the ground & 5 TDs. The rushing attack is spearheaded by senior running back Eli Boehm who has 1,187 yards & 13 TDs. Senior FB Vinny Cherubini has 512 yards & 5 TDs.  The Bucks offense has averaged 27.9 points per game and their defense has surrendered and average of 17.8 points per. The Bucks and Head Coach look to make a deeper run this season after exiting in the district 1 quarterfinal game against Garnet Valley last year.

#14 North Penn

About the Knights: Upset Alert! Head Coach Dick Beck and his North Penn Knights showed up in round one after upsetting the 3rd seeded Falcons of Pennsbury 22-21. QB Ryan Zeltt threw for 200 yards and a TD and running back Amir Major rushed for 120 yards & a TD. The Knights find themselves headed into familiar territory as they take on well-known rival 11th seeded CB West in round two. The difference is instead of the normal top seeding, they both are lower seeds and the Knights just squeaked in. North Penn improves to 6-5 overall.  They average 36 points per game on offense and have given up an average of 29.4 points per game. Senior quarterback Ryan Zeltt has thrown for 2,830 yards and 24 TDs with a 71% completion percentage. His favorite target was senior WR and UGA commit Yazeed Haynes who had 55 grabs for 1,212 yards & 13 TDs though he is not eligible to play in the playoffs due to PIAA transfer rules. Look for another balanced attack as they clash with the Bucks.

 

 

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORS: Billy Splain, Xavier Johnson, Dylan Johnson and Marcus Sic

 

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