2022 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference North Preview

Tagged under: Conference Previews, District 11, News

Brian Ptashinski | August 24, 2022

2022 EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONFERENCE NORTH

@BPtashinski on Twitter

Who will step up this season to challenge the dominance of EPC South? Expectations are going to be high at Northampton high school this upcoming football season. The Konkrete Kids coming off an outstanding 11-0 start from last year. The K-Kids are looking to take that next step in capturing a District 4/11/2 championship. Three starters will be back on the offensive line Christian Bundra, Luke Baker and Colby Reph. There will be a new starting quarterback as Cooper King graduated. Antonino Russo will compete with aA.J Silva for the starter role with plenty of skill position players returning. WR Jaelen Richardson and Tristen Pinnock at RB will be Caden Henritzy who had nearly 1,000 yards last year. Coach John Toman will need some younger players to step up in the defensive backfield as three starters graduated.

Stroudsburg will look to plenty of returnees to give the Konkrete Kids a run for a championship. Quarterback Aiden Herman started four games last season and led the Mounties to two wins with two losses. Jaiden Bermudez who caught 14 passes and rushed for 388 yards on 21 rushes with five scores will have impact on the season. On the offensive line three starters will be returning Kevron Danso, Zach DeFalco and Anthony Weatherspoon will also see time on the defensive side of the ball. Ben Jones will head the linebacking corps who led the Mounties with 27 tackles last year. Nate Kloss will join Danso as the other LB. RB Andre Reames coming off a 1,000 yard season.

Louis Dieruff’s head coach Dave Lutte is excited about this years’ Huskies team. Junior Jordey Guzman will be new at quarterback. Mekhi Ashby will be back at running back. The offensive line will be anchored by Xion Chapman, Chris Badillo and Brian Weiser. Jonas Robles will line up at LB as well as safety. Noah Ozario will also see time at safety.
“If we can get to that five win plateau then beat Allen we could be playing in late November.” Lutte stated.

East Stroudsburg North comes into this season with just one win in their last 46 games. Ricardo Altreche is entering his third season with the Timberwolves. Junior QB Romeo Carmen-King will team with Nathanael Clay and Eyden Perez in the backfield to solidify the run game. The Timberwolves will show speed and athleticism on the outside with CB’s John Bowman, Cardier Kennedy and Elijah Simmons patrolling the secondary. The line will be a concern, where three new faces will see action Shokquani Bobbit, Mark Samuels with Caleb Richards will need to open holes for the run game. East Stroudsburg North was outscored 610-62 last season, they look to improve that differential.

East Stroudsburg South, the defending District XI 5A Champions, will have some very talented but inexperienced players on its squad in 2022. Blaze Jones will be a senior RB but only had 33 carries in 2021. Sophomore Nate Gray will also see time in the backfield. The wide receiver corps will be led by Shane Bulay a Senior who had 12 receptions and two scores, including the game winner in the district championship game against Whitehall. The key will be at quarterback as Bobby McClosky graduated and Colby Mitchell comes into the season with just six pass attempts to his credit last year. Also Jakob Patrick and Nekhi Spencer will need to step up as the other receivers to give Mitchell options in the passing attack. On the line Jamal Watts is only returning two-way starter.

Pocono Mountain West lost 2 of the most productive receivers to graduation. Luke DeRiggi is set to fill in nicely as he is the only player returning that found the end zone last year. The running back position will go to Matthew Marinovich and will also see time at LB where he had over 70 tackles in 2021. Blaise McCarroll is only returning starter on the line of scrimmage.

Pocono Mountain East will also be looking at a new quarterback this season with Kevin Zheng be the leading candidate but he has only four passing attempts and be challenged by junior Adam Rettenmyer. Rasu Wearing will be the main target for whomever is at QB. Wearing had 18 receptions last year. The running game will focus on Frederick Owusu a snior and was the teams leading kick returner a year ago. His size could be an issue at only 5-5 the wear and tear could take a toll.

Pleasant Valley will rely on their running game with the Bears graduating plenty of talent. Jerod Moore and Romeo Winckler will look to fill in the backfield. Winckler only carried the ball three times last year and Moore was impressive down the stretch last yaer with over 330 yards on 44 tallies. James Barruzza will be they key on the line of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball. They will have the second leading tackler on the team back at LB in Fela Olaniyan, who had almost 80 tackles last year and also had two int’s and five fumble recoveries.

William Allen head coach Mel Thomas saw his team improve offensively in his first year as head coach, now he’ll need the defense that gave up over 40 points per game to improve if the Canaries are going to win more than one game, last years total wins. The Canaries aren’t deep but they’re hoping to capitalize on senior running back Clarence Watkins who ran for nearly 1000 yards in 2021.

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