Around District 11: The Travels of Guy & Pam Week Nine:  Back on the PSAC Trail

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Billy Splain | October 26, 2022

Around District 11: The Travels of Guy & Pam

Week Nine:  Back on the PSAC Trail

2022.11.  Pam and Guy were able to hit four football games plus a couple of other college sporting events this week.

Allentown Central Catholic has been our biggest thorn with their JV team, but their varsity gave us a bonus game on Thursday when the game scheduled against Pocono Mountain East was moved from Saturday evening.

On Friday we headed to Pottsville for their game against Southern Lehigh.  Pocono Mountain East is now the only one of the 47 D11 football schools that we have not been to last year or this.  That’s our Friday destination.

After an unanticipated four-week break from Saturday afternoon PSAC football, we finally got back on track with another PSAC college game, although not the one we had originally planned.  Kutztown has NCAA women’s varsity bowling, and that’s a sport we had never seen.  They hosted their first tournament since before the pandemic so on Saturday morning we headed to the Golden Bear Invite at the Berks Lanes in Sinking Spring.  Luckily, the Kutztown football game was a 3:00 start, later than usual, which allowed us to watch several bowling matches and still easily make kickoff.

On Sunday we headed to Bloomsburg University for club field hockey vs. Bucknell.  We had seen B.U. club field hockey before, but away at Susquehanna, not at home.  Since the game started an hour later than we were told, we watched a bit of baseball as the team was playing a scrimmage game on their diamond.

On Monday we went through a progression of over ten potential JV game sites before settling for the closest one to home, a repeat trip to Pleasant Valley.

ANOTHER SILVER LINING.  While researching potential JV games on Monday, for the second week in a row we discovered another possible alternate JV field to explore.  According to their schedule, Blue Mountain played the first of four home JV games at “East Field” while the rest were at the High School Stadium.

This sounds like something similar to the situation at Nazareth last year.  Their varsity soccer team had a home game so varsity soccer got dibs on the main stadium field and the JV game was played as a one-off at the middle school.  That didn’t happen this season, so we removed Nazareth Middle School from our list of active D11 fields.  Most likely the situation was similar at Blue Mountain and for some reason the regular field was not available for them to play.  Nonetheless, East Field gets added to the count for the year.

GAME 32.  THURSDAY OCTOBER 20, 2022.   POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS @ ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS.  We never did find out why the game was moved from Saturday to Thursday, but we try to never look a gift horse, or in this case a gift pigskin, in the mouth.  So off we went to J. Birney Crum, where Guy played many a game from 1972-1975 while it was still called ASD Stadium.  On paper, this looked like it would be an easy win for ACC.  Just one week earlier and again currently, ACC was ranked first in D11 4A.  On the other hand, PME had just one win and is ranked at the bottom of 5A.

The scheduled 7:00 game was moved back to 7:30, and we never found out the reason for that either.

The refreshment stand offerings at JBC Stadium continue to be our least favorite in D11.  Even while splitting the smallest size fry, we threw half away, an unprecedented occurrence.  On the plus side, they had excellent popcorn.  However, this was the first time I ever paid $9 for a bag of popcorn at a high school sporting event.  The popcorn bonus point doesn’t help much here.  It’s a shame, just like with the $14 fries at Easton, that the city kids are faced with the highest prices.

We heard ACC was hoping for Mercy Rule by halftime to rest the starters for the upcoming Holy War game against Becahi.  Apparently they didn’t tell PME.  The Cards hung really tough and there was no score for over the first 11 minutes.  Although Guy’s an Allentown kid, he secretly rooted for PME to keep it interesting, which they did for a good while.  Always supporting the underdog.

Eventually, PME gave up some big plays, and although their defense played tough, the offense never got untracked and ACC did end up with both Mercy Rule and a shutout.

GAME 33.  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2022.   SOUTHERN LEHIGH SPARTANS @ POTTSVILLE CRIMSON TIDE.  Guy said he could have sworn that we had been to Pottsville once before for a neutral site playoff game, but when we arrived on Friday neither of us could remember ever being there.  We thought Tri-Valley had been the last of the D11 varsity stadiums to visit, but apparently Pottsville was our finale.

Since we came in at the bottom of the stadium at field level, we sat on the away side.  Most of the food was on the home side at the top, and being a Skook team, our culinary concession anticipation was high.  We were not disappointed.  Fries: Excellent.  Pierogies: Excellent.  Chicken Noodle Soup: Excellent.  Mac N Cheese: Excellent.  Pam is to mac n cheese what Guy is to fresh cut fries (Not your father’s Miller Analogy).  And Pam said Pottsville had the best of the year so far.

Many Skook league teams have a lot of different food items that we love, but Pottsville had city chicken!  Growing up in the Lehigh Valley, we had never heard of it.  But from 1988-1990 Guy had a roommate in Whitehall who was from Shamokin, and who used to make it for them.  In late 1990, Guy and Pam bought a house in Catasauqua, and just before moving was the last time Guy had city chicken.  Pam had never had it until Friday.

For those unfamiliar, there is no chicken in city chicken, which is also sometimes referred to as mock chicken.  It consists of breaded cubes of pork put on a stick and deep-fried (sometimes baked).  What a great surprise to have it for the first time in over 30 years.  Tasted the same, great as always.  Thanks for that memory, Pottsville!

Pottsville had a respectable even 4-4 record, but Southern Lehigh was atop the 5A rankings at 7-1 and state Honorable Mention.  The Spartans had beaten every D11 team they had played, their only loss was their opener against Quakertown from District 1.  We were not really surprised that this was a Mercy Rule win, 42-7.

GAME 34.  SATURDAY OCTOBER 22, 2022.   LOCK HAVEN UNIVERSITY BALD EAGLES @ KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY GOLDEN BEARS.  Again we were not sure why this game was a 3:00 start but it worked out perfectly for us to do another Kutztown double as women’s bowling and football became K.U. teams numbers 11 & 12 for the season.  Next up: The Equestrian Western team.

Kutztown entered the game 5-2, however, they may be better than their record indicates. They lost their opener on the road in New England at Assumption by three, and lost to Shepherd, the number six-ranked team nationally, by seven.  Only a dozen more points at the right time and they could be undefeated.

Kutztown remains unranked, although six two-loss teams are in the top 25.  There are three PSAC teams ranked: Shepherd in 6^th, IUP 12^th, and Slippery Rock 13^th.  The first two are unbeaten, the Rock has one loss.

Lock Haven on the other hand, entered the game 1-6.  They won their opener by one point over Post, then lost six straight against PSAC teams.  Where Kutztown lost to Shepard by seven, Lock Haven lost 72-7.

This was our second game in three days at a site named after Andre Reed.  The field at J. Birney Crum is named after Reed, while the stadium at Kutztown is named for him as well.  Reed played at Dieruff high and Kutztown University before embarking on an NFL Hall of Fame career.

Although this game was not expected to be close, a very large crowd turned out for the game, filling the home side and spilling over to fill most of the away side.  There are a lot more seats on the home side than when we were students in the late 70s and early 80s.  Attendance was announced as 4,400.

We have been to games here enough times to know to stop to eat before arrival.  This is one of the few places, like Crum, where we choose not to eat at the stadium.

As expected, the game was not really that close.  Kutztown rolled to a 35-0 lead by the end of Q3, and then called off the bears in the final quarter for a 35-7 win.

GAME 35.  MONDAY OCTOBER 24, 2022.   POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS JV @ PLEASANT VALLEY BEARS JV.  It rained all morning at home, but was supposed to clear by afternoon.  We looked for a JV game for the second last Monday of the season.  None of the three alternative JV fields we have not yet been to: 1) ACC, 2) PMW, or 3) Blue Mountain, were in use.  4) Pocono Mountain East cancelled their game.

With no new field options, we looked at schools of special interest to us that we had not visited this year.  5) Catasauqua, where Pam graduated, played away.  6) Lehighton, which we wanted to support because they had given us the Old Stadium two weeks before, had played Saturday morning.  We looked at EPC North teams we had not seen this year, but both 7) Stroudsburg, and 8) ESN were away.  We tried Colonial League teams that were on the way to the Lehigh Valley but 8) Pen Argyl was away and both 9) Palmerton and 10) Bangor looked to be cancelled.  Since Guy is from Allentown, he gave it one more shot but 11) Dieruff was also scheduled to play away.

With it still misting all afternoon, we decided not to look further from home into the Lehigh Valley for games, which all had 5:30 or later starts.  We took the easiest option by making a second stop down the road at Pleasant Valley.  This was particularly attractive in the drizzle because it was a 4:00 kickoff and we would get home much earlier.

For the second straight Monday, we saw the Pocono Mountain West JV team.    Miserable weather, an away game, and an early game start time on a Monday resulted in the worst spectator turnout we believe we ever saw for high school football.  At kickoff through the end of Q1, there were two fans in the away side stands.  By halftime, there were five.  The total maxed at six for the second half.

When Pleasant Valley scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, we thought it might get ugly.  But the Panthers defense rose to the occasion and did not allow another point the rest of the game.  The offense couldn’t get anything going, and did give up a pick-six, making the final a 22-0 win for the PV Bears.

There could be a chance we might see the PMW Panthers JV team for the third straight week next Monday, depending on what ACC does with their JV game against Becahi, and if PMW is going to play on the grass field or the turf.

DISTRICT 11 POWER RANKING CHART TOPPERS (9 Games)

1A) Tri-Valley Bulldogs.  2A) Palisades Pirates.  3) North Schuylkill Spartans (4A) Allentown Central Catholic Vikings (Replaces Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks).  5A) Southern Lehigh Spartans.  6A) Emmaus Hornets.

There are still two unbeaten teams, Northampton (6A), and Tri-Valley (1A).  It isn’t easy to run the regular season table but that pair is one game away.  Now only two schools remain winless, as William Allen got a ‘W’.  The other 43 have at least one win and one loss.

CLINCHED DISTRICT 11 PLAYOFF SPOT (9 Games)

20 teams have clinched district playoff spots with one regular season game remaining: Tri Valley, Northern Lehigh, Palisades, Executive Education Academy, Williams Valley, North Schuylkill, Notre Dame Green Pond, Northwestern Lehigh, Palmerton, Allentown Central Catholic, Southern Lehigh, Whitehall, Pleasant Valley, Emmaus, Nazareth, Northampton, Freedom, Parkland, Hazleton, and Stroudsburg.

STATE RANKED BY PA FOOTBALL NEWS (9 Games)

5) Nazareth Blue Eagles (6A).  5) Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (1A).  6) Tri-Valley Bulldogs (1A) UP!  8) Northampton Konkrete Kids (6A) UP!  9) Emmaus Hornets (6A) UP!  HM) Southern Lehigh Spartans (5A).  HM) Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders (3A).  HM) North Schuylkill Spartans (3A).  HM) Williams Valley Vikings (2A).

No new D11 teams in or out.  However, Tri Valley, Northampton, and Emmaus all moved up one position in the rankings.

Absent from the 6A rankings are the 7-2 Freedom Patriots.  We humbly ask the committee not forget about the Pates.  Both Freedom and Harrisburg have two loses, one against a top ten team, the other not.  BUT: Freedom has a win over a top ten team, handing #5 Nazareth their only loss.  Harrisburg does not have a win over a top ten team but do have Honorable Mention status.  Also, Freedom has one more win than Harrisburg.

We updated the Scoreboard to include all of the 2023 “Year Three” teams.

GUY & PAM’S 2022 FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD (2021-2023)

CURRENT OVERALL TOTAL: 62 OF 85

PIAA District 11

–Varsity or JV Home Game in 2021/2022 with Varsity All-Time (46 of 47)

–Active Alternative JV Game Sites (4 of 7)

–Special Events/Related Stadiums (1 of 2)

–Outside Teams that Played in D11 as Sub Regional Teams (0 of 6)

–All Star Games with D11 Players Participating (6 of 6)

NCAA

–D2 PSAC 16 Schools + One Related School (5 of 17)

Varsity or JV Home Game in 2021/2022 with Varsity All-Time (46 of 47)

1. Allentown Central Catholic Vikings (2021), 2. Bangor Slaters (2021), 3. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (2021), 4. Blue Mountain Eagles (2021), 5. Catasauqua Rough Riders (2021), 6. Dieruff Huskies (2021), 7. Easton Red Rovers—Cottingham Stadium (2022), 8. East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves (2021), 9. East Stroudsburg South Cavaliers (2022), 10. Emmaus Hornets (2021), 11. Executive Education Raptors (2021), 12. Freedom Patriots (2021), 13. Jim Thorpe Olympians (2022), 14. Lehighton Indians (2021), 15. Liberty Hurricanes (2021), 16. Mahanoy Area Golden Bears (2021), 17. Marian Catholic Colts (2021), 18. Minersville Battlin’ Miners (2021), 19. Nativity BVM Green Wave (2021), 20. Nazareth Blue Eagles (2021), 21. Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (2021), 22. Northampton Konkrete Kids (2021), 23. Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (2021), 24. North Schuylkill Spartans (2022), 25. Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders (2021), 26. Palisades Pirates (2022), 27. Palmerton Blue Bombers (2021), 28. Panther Valley Panthers (2021), 29. Parkland Trojans (2021), 30. Pen Argyl Green Knights (2021), 31. Pine Grove Cardinals (2021), 32. Pleasant Valley Bears (2021), 33. POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS (2022—AWAY TEAM/HOME PRE-2021), 34. Pocono Mountain West Panthers (2021), 35. Pottsville Crimson Tide (2022), 36. Salisbury Township Falcons (2021), 37. Saucon Valley Panthers (2021), 38. Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes (2022), 39. Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils (2021), 40. Southern Lehigh Spartans (2021), 41. Stroudsburg Mounties (2021), 42. Tamaqua Blue Raiders (2021), 43. Tri-Valley Bulldogs (2022), 44. Whitehall Zephers (2021), 45. William Allen Canaries (2022), 46. Williams Valley Vikings (2021), 47. Wilson Area Warriors (2021)

Active Alternative JV Game Sites (4 of 7)

48. ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS JV—PERCY RHUE PARK, 49. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks JV–High School (2022), 50. BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLES J–EAST FIELD, 51. Freedom Patriots JV—FHS Turf Field (2022), 52. Lehighton Indians JV–Old Football Stadium (2022), 53. Nativity BVM Green Wave JV—High School (2022), 54. POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS JV—OLD STADIUM

Special Event or Related Stadiums (1 of 2)

55. Easton Red Rovers—Lafayette College Thanksgiving Day Game (2021), 56. PHILLIPSBURG STATELINERS (FORMER EPC SCHOOL)

Teams that Played in D11 as Sub Regional Teams (0 of 6)

57. 2021 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY LIONS (D1-3A), 58. 2021 ABINGTON HEIGHTS COMETS (D2-5A), 59. 2021 WYOMING VALLEY WEST SPARTANS (D2-5A), 60. 2022 HAZLETON COUGARS (D2-6A), 61. 2022 WILKES BARRE WOLFPACK (D2-6A), 62. 2022 WILLIAMSPORT MILLIONAIRES (D4-6A)

All Star Games with D11 Players Participating (6 of 6)

63. Colonial vs. Schuylkill League All-Star Game (2022 @ Schuylkill Haven)
64. Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic (2022 @ Nazareth)
65. PSFCA East vs. West Small School All Star Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt)
66. PSFCA East vs. West Big School All Star Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt)
67. PSFCA Pennsylvania vs. Maryland Big 33 Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt)
68. Schuylkill League All-Star Game (2021 @ Schuylkill Haven)

–NCAA D2 PSAC 16 Schools + One Related School (5 of 17)

69. Bloomsburg Huskies (2022), 70. CALIFORNIA VULCANS, 71. CLARION GOLDEN EAGLES, 72. East Stroudsburg Warriors (2022), 73. Edinboro Fighting Scots (2022), 74. GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS, 75. INDIANA CRIMSON HAWKS, 76. Kutztown Golden Bears (2022), 77. LOCK HAVEN BALD EAGLES, 78. MERCYHURST LAKERS, 79. Millersville Marauders (2022), 80. SETON HILL GRIFFINS, 81. SHEPHERD RAMS (WV), 82. SHIPPENSBURG RAIDERS, 83. SLIPPERY ROCK ROCK, 84. WEST CHESTER GOLDEN RAMS, 85. MANSFIELD MOUNTAINEERS (FORMER PSAC—SPRINT FOOTBALL)

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