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Around District 11: The Travels of Guy & Pam Week 2, 2022

Tagged under: District 11, News

| September 7, 2022

Around District 11: The Travels of Guy & Pam

Week Two: Thursday Night Football

We had a good five-day run on the holiday weekend, until the Sprint Car races at the Port Royal fair were rained out on Monday afternoon.  Before that, we began our latest quirky goal, to see every Kutztown University sports team play.  We did it before with all 41 Bloomsburg teams and now we are starting over at Kutztown, where both Pam and Guy graduated, three years apart.  On Wednesday women’s volleyball defeated Pace three games to none.  On Sunday field hockey defeated Southern Connecticut State 7-0.  Two shutouts.  The field hockey team was ranked number five nationally (D2) in the pre-season coaches’ poll.  The football team is ranked high in division two as well.  We plan to see them play later this season.

In between the two K.U. games, we saw four high school football games, three varsity and one JV.  Labor Day weekend usually means Thursday Night Football, and this year we had two choices in District 11.  Northwestern Lehigh was at Northern Lehigh in a repeat of what was one of our “games of the year” last season.  Also at home was Bangor.  We picked Northern Lehigh and for the second straight week we got to see two state ranked teams play.  In week one, it was Mount Carmel vs. North Schuylkill.  This week, of course using the “PA Football News” rankings, it was Northwestern Lehigh vs Northern Lehigh.  Both teams were slotted at number seven in the state, the Tigers in 3A, the Bulldogs in 1A.

We had gone to see the Easton Red Rovers play last season on Thanksgiving Day at Lafayette College, but we had yet to see legendary Cottingham Stadium since it had been refurbished.  As Guy’s Freedom Pates were the visiting team this week, it was the perfect time to go to Easton.  We had never seen a Freedom JV game at the high school, and with the JV games being held Saturday morning instead of Monday after school this week due to Labor Day, it seemed the perfect opportunity to check that box off the list.

After the JV game ended we just drove down Linden Street to the BASD Stadium, where stadium renters the Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks were hosting the Pocono Mountain West Panthers.

GAME 10.  THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2022.  NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH TIGERS @ NORTHERN LEHIGH BULLDOGS.  While talking to a D11 athletic director last season, he mentioned that he thought in the future there would be more games on different days of the week, as there would not be enough referees to staff every game on a Friday night.  That prediction hasn’t come to pass as of yet.  It appears that there are only two weeks of the regular season with Thursday night games scheduled in D11, and this was one of them.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the second when Blue Mountain laces up the cleats on a Thursday night later this month.

Guy is retired, but Pam’s retirement countdown is now down to 14 weeks.  She had a full day of work on Thursday.  We discussed either meeting at Northern Lehigh or Pam coming home for a very quick turnaround and going to the stadium together.  We chose the latter.  That meant we were totally in for dinner at the game.

The announcer said they had the best burgers in the Colonial League, and after downing a couple, we can’t disagree.  They also have fresh cut fries, ala Jackie’s fry truck.  This was the second fresh cuts of the year for us, and Northern Lehigh fries edged into the lead for the District 11 Fresh Cut Fry Championship.  They also had popcorn, so this was a good night at the refreshment stand for us.  As we were watching a Colonial team in the Schuylkill-Colonial League, we were back to Zimmerman’s Iced Tea.  Honestly, we can’t tell the difference between Zimmies and Guers and love them both, but the Skook people tell us they’d rather drink panther piss than Zimm’s.  That’s loyalty.  That’s Skook pride.

Football is a game of momentum.  For most of the first half, the football gods favored Northern Lehigh who rang up a 19-0 lead.  A late Q2 touchdown by Northwestern led a momentum swing going into the locker room at halftime, and the Tigers erased the three score Bulldog advantage.  Nearing the end of the game, it was knotted at 27.  Who wanted it more?  On a 3rd and 25, Northern Lehigh converted for a 31-yard gain, and found the end zone with less than a minute to go to take the win.

Last year this game was one of the best games we saw all year, with Northwestern winning.  This year, it will almost assuredly be one of the best games we see again, and this time Northern Lehigh came out on top.

GAME 11.  FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2022.  FREEDOM PATRIOTS @ EASTON RED ROVERS.  Freedom is one of Guy’s teams, having taught there for almost 30 years.  Having been a colleague of Jason Roeder for a number of those years, Guy knows he is one of the many truly good people involved in PA high school football.  But as a William Allen graduate that grew up in downtown Allentown, who also taught briefly at Liberty, and who had a cousin that was an assistant coach at Dieruff, Guy has a soft spot for all the “city school” teams, and that includes Easton.

Yes, parking at Cottingham is a pain.  But when the Easton folks were polled whether they wanted a new stadium in the suburbs or Cottingham refurbished, they said let’s keep our high school football right where it has been since the first game played there in September of 1924.  By the way, Easton won that day 93-0.  The first night game at Cottingham was in 1953.  Easton has been playing football since 1889, just the third year of recognized high school football in the state, and they are number two in all-time wins in Pennsylvania.  They started the season with 869 wins, nine behind all-time state leader Mount Carmel.  However, this does not look like a year for the Red Rovers to make up ground, as they have already fallen two more games behind the Red Tornadoes after the first two weeks.  Easton is also number eight nationally in all-time wins, number one being Valdosta, GA.  Note that the national list considers Easton’s first year as 1894, not 1889.  No true high school football fan could fail to be very impressed by the atmosphere of a Red Rover game at Cottingham.  In Easton, on Friday nights they wear Red.

We stopped by the Allentown Fair before the game so we didn’t eat too much at the game.  Guy hasn’t missed an Allentown Fair in his entire life.  At Cottingham, we did see that one of the stands had hoagies, not common at high school football games.  A real treat was a shaved ice from a Kona Ice truck, a refreshing cool oasis on a warm early evening.  They did have a fresh cut fry truck and the fries were excellent.  But the largest size was $14 and we can’t really get totally behind charging city kids – or anyone else – that amount of money for a couple potatoes.

Easton deserves a shout out for their band, which is among the super elite in eastern Pennsylvania.  And one of the football players is a drum major in the band.  Very, very cool.

Freedom was the pre-season fifth ranked 6A school, but fell to Emmaus in the opener, where they lost a lead and were shut out in the second half.  Freedom retained an Honorable Mention rank after the first week of play.  The Pates looked solid, but Easton overcame a slow start and looked decent for the second part of the game as well.  Freedom appeared to be the better team, and earned the win 33-20.  They will have to pick it up if they want to defend their district championship.  Easton will win some games, but they run the gauntlet in the brutal EPC South where every team can win on any given Friday.

GAME 12.  SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 3, 2022.  EASTON RED ROVERS JV @ FREEDOM PATRIOTS JV.  With Labor Day on Monday, almost all the D11 schools scheduled their JV games for Saturday, most in the morning.  Freedom is one of the teams that plays their home JV games at a different location than the varsity games.  They play their varsity games at the BASD Stadium, adjacent to Liberty (formerly Bethlehem) High School.  The JV games in recent seasons have been played at the high school on a new turf field.  We had not been to a football game at the field, although Guy had gone there once to see field hockey when his friend and colleague Brianna Hahn was coaching the Pates in that sport.

There are four D11 schools that we have confirmed play at least one home JV at a different location from where the varsity games are held (We are still looking from anyone from Lehighton to let us know if any JV games are scheduled at the old stadium), and this was the first that we have visited.  The other three will be our Monday priority for the rest of this season.

As is the case for most JV games, admission was free.  There was no refreshment stand.  There are a couple sets of small bleachers, but they are located on the visitor side.  We opted to stay on the home side and sit on lawn chairs with junior Zachery Irvin’s mom.  The Junior High game preceded the JV game.  Freedom looked good for more than the first half of the game, building a two score lead.  But they seemed to get gassed mid third quarter, and Easton started winning the battles on the line.  The Rovers roared back to take the lead and the win on the road.  They won the Junior High game too.

GAME 13.  SATURDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 3, 2022.  POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS @ BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS.  The JV game at Freedom ended at 12:30, and the Becahi game was at 1:00.  No problem.  Also no french fries.  Guy did have his traditional BASD $3 turkey barbeque sandwich, which Pam good-naturedly claims is purely out of blind loyalty.

This game featured an EPC North Division vs. South Division matchup, and you know how the majority of those turn out.  After the palpable excitement at North Schuylkill, Wilson, and Easton, this game seemed devoid of much emotion in the stands.  Maybe it was the heat, or maybe the holiday weekend that kept many fans away.  Pocono Mountain West had about 60 fans on their side of the spacious BASD stands.  Meanwhile, on the home side, there were not all that many people there either, and their enthusiasm level was nothing like the other games seen this season.  The cheer squad was doing routines to music on a boom box, at the same time in the student section, the students were singing along with country songs playing on their own boom box, all while the actual band didn’t do much when they weren’t on the field performing.

The Panther defense was fairly impressive, or was it the Becahi offense that was not?  At the end of three quarters it was only 6-0 Bethlehem Catholic, who were clear favorites.  Pocono Mountain never even got close to the opponents’ end zone, and playing most of the game on their half of the field eventually wore them down.  Becahi 21-0 was the final, one of the three scores being a pick six.

We have four more games planned for this coming weekend as we start mixing things up a bit with high school games Friday, PSAC college games Saturday, and JV games Monday.  Appreciate any info (Lehighton JV???), suggestions, or feedback at rtryfbar@aol.com.  We received a cool email this week from Brandon Stelick who grew up and still resides in central New York, graduating from Dryden High School.  He reads our blog weekly and says he is a PA high school football fan and really enjoys reading about what we do.  But the best thing is that he asked his wife if she would like to do the same thing as us, but in New York Section 4, and she said yes! Love it.

DISTRICT 11 RANKED TEAMS (AFTER ONE WEEK)

4—Allentown Central Catholic (4A) UP 1!

7—Northwestern Lehigh (3A) UP 1!

7—Northern Lehigh (1A) UP 1!

8—Tri Valley (1A) UP 1!

9—Emmaus (6A) NR!

HM—Freedom (6A) Down

HM—Parkland (6A) Same

HM—North Schuylkill (3A) Same

HM—Williams Valley (2A) NR

GUY & PAM’S 2022 SCOREBOARD

District 11 & Related—Every School Play Varsity or JV Home Game 2021 or 2022, and a Varsity Game at Some Point All-Time (Bold = Still to See)

Current: 48 of 63

  1. Allentown Central Catholic Vikings (2021)
  2. ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS (JV—PERCY RHUE PARK)
  3. Bangor Slaters (2021)
  4. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (2021)
  5. BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS (JV—HIGH SCHOOL)
  6. Blue Mountain Eagles (2021)
  7. Catasauqua Rough Riders (2021)
  8. Dieruff Huskies (2021)
  9. Easton Red Rovers—Cottingham Stadium (2022)
  10. Easton Red Rovers—Lafayette College Thanksgiving Day Game (2021)
  11. East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves (2021)
  12. EAST STROUDSBURG SOUTH CAVILIERS (GUY ONLY IN 2021, PAM HAD TO WORK)
  13. Emmaus Hornets (2021)
  14. Executive Education Raptors (2021)
  15. Freedom Patriots—BASD Stadium (2021)
  16. Freedom Patriots JV—FHS Turf Field (2022)
  17. JIM THORPE OLYMPIANS (2021 JV, NEVER SAW VARSITY GAME)
  18. Lehighton Indians (2021)
  19. LEHIGHTON INDIANS (JV—OLD STADIUM) *NOT CONFIRMED 2022
  20. Liberty Hurricanes (2021)
  21. Mahanoy Area Golden Bears (2021)
  22. Marian Catholic Colts (2021)
  23. Minersville Battlin’ Miners (2021)
  24. Nativity BVM Green Wave (2021)
  25. NATIVITY BVM GREEN WAVE (JV—HIGH SCHOOL)
  26. Nazareth Blue Eagles (2021)
  27. Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (2021)
  28. Northampton Konkrete Kids (2021)
  29. Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (2021)
  30. North Schuylkill Spartans (2022)
  31. Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders (2021)
  32. PALADADES PIRATES (SAW AT HOME PRE-2021)
  33. Palmerton Blue Bombers (2021)
  34. Panther Valley Panthers (2021)
  35. Parkland Trojans (2021)
  36. Pine Grove Cardinals (2021)
  37. POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS (SAW AT HOME PRE-2021)
  38. Pocono Mountain West Panthers (2021)
  39. POTTSVILLE CRIMSON TIDE (2021–SAW AS AWAY TEAM)
  40. Salisbury Township Falcons (2021)
  41. Southern Lehigh Spartans (2021)
  42. Stroudsburg Mounties (2021)
  43. Tamaqua Blue Raiders (2021)
  44. Pen Argyl Green Knights (2021)
  45. Pleasant Valley Bears (2021)
  46. Saucon Valley Panthers (2021)
  47. SCHUYLKILL HAVEN HURRICANES (2021—SAW AS AWAY TEAM)
  48. Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils (2021)
  49. TRI VALLEY BULLDOGS (ONLY VARSITY SITE NEVER SEEN)
  50. Whitehall Zephers (2021)
  51. William Allen Canaries (2021)
  52. Williams Valley Vikings (2021)
  53. Wilson Area Warriors (2021)

 

ALL-STAR GAMES THAT INCLUDED D11 PLAYERS

 

  1. Colonial League vs. Schuylkill League All-Star Game (2022 @ Schuylkill Haven)
  2. Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic (2022 @ Nazareth)
  3. PSFCA East vs. West Small School All Star Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt)
  4. PSFCA East vs. West Big School All Star Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt)
  5. PSFCA Pennsylvania vs. Maryland Big 33 Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt)
  6. Schuylkill League All-Star Game (2021 @ Schuylkill Haven)

 

 

OTHER DISTRICT TEAMS THAT PLAYED/PLAY IN D11 SUBREGIONALS

 

  1. 2021 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY LIONS (D1-3A)
  2. 2021 ABINGTON HEIGHTS COMETS (D2-5A)
  3. 2021 WYOMING VALLEY WEST SPARTANS (D2-5A)

2022 Not Yet Determined

OTHER

  1. PHILLIPSBURG STATELINERS (FORMER EPC SCHOOL)

NCAA D2 PSAC & Related: Every School Play Home Game in 2022 or 2023.

Current: 0 of 17

  1. BLOOMSBURG HUSKIES
  2. CALIFORNIA VULCANS
  3. CLARION GOLDEN EAGLES
  4. EAST STROUDSBURG WARRIORS
  5. EDINBORO FIGHTING SCOTS
  6. GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS
  7. INDIANA CRIMSON HAWKS
  8. KUTZTOWN GOLDEN BEARS
  9. LOCK HAVEN BALD EAGLES
  10. MANSFIELD MOUNTAINEERS (FORMER PSAC—SPRINT FOOTBALL)
  11. MERCYHURST LAKERS
  12. MILLERSVILLE MARAUDERS
  13. SETON HILL GRIFFINS
  14. SHEPHERD RAMS (WV)
  15. SHIPPENSBURG RAIDERS
  16. SLIPPERY ROCK ROCK
  17. WEST CHESTER GOLDEN RAMS

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