Around District 11 We Go: The Travels of Guy & Pam

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

Guy Smith | September 7, 2021

Guy and Pam are PA high school football fans. We are not affiliated with any team, nor do we have any relative that plays. Our goal is to see as many D11 teams as we can!

Quest: D11 (Week 2)

Guy Smith

After seeing four District 11 teams play on Week 1, Pam and I upped the ante over the holiday weekend and visited an additional five stadiums to increase our two-week total to nine District 11 teams.

5) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2. NORTHERN LEHIGH BULLDOGS. We took advantage of a rare Thursday night game in the district and started our weekend one day early. This one turned out to be the game of the year so far for us. The visiting Northwestern Lehigh Tigers and the home Northern Lehigh Bulldogs traded the lead all night long in a nail biter. When Northern Lehigh scored with less than three minutes to play and cut the lead to one, they decided to go for two and the win. The conversion attempt failed and the Bulldogs dropped a heartbreaker at home 34-33 in a game where each team scored five touchdowns with the game decided on the extra points.

The Northwestern QB is a heck of a running threat, racking up well over 200 yards rushing in almost 30 attempts. Very impressive, but in the past we have seen teams that rely too much on one very successful dimension have that become their ultimate downfall. Hopefully that won’t end up being the case for Northwestern Lehigh.

In addition to this being the game of the year for us so far, it was also the first with a fresh cut fries truck. Now that’s what I call win-win!

6) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3. EMMAUS HORNETS. Last week I mentioned our connections to Catasauqua, and that the Rough Riders were our small school team. Our big school team is the Freedom Patriots. I taught in the Bethlehem Area School District for 30 years, all but a couple at Freedom. With high hopes, the Patriots headed to Emmaus for their first challenge of the season.

The largest crowd we have seen so far this year had the stadium rocking. The Pates looked like they were not ready for this one, and appeared somewhat lost with their no huddle offense. The Hornets seemed to be in control all night, but the Pates defense kept them in the game. It was scoreless at half time, despite the fact that Emmaus ran more than twice as many offensive plays as Freedom. Each team scored in the second half, with Freedom flubbing the snap on the PAT to be down by one. Emmaus scored one more time, and although this one ended as a one-score game, 13-6, it wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

7) SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 (MORNING). NORTHAMPTON KONKRETE KIDS. Free Football! I looked around to see if any JV games were being played on Saturday morning due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Pocono Mountain West @ Northampton gave us a Saturday triple for the second week in a row. Luckily I kept checking the schedule, because after the Junior High game was cancelled, the JV starting time was moved to 10:00 a.m. If I had not checked or if they had not updated their website, we would have arrived late and missed it. Northampton did not charge admission for their JV game, but did have their refreshment stand open with limited offerings. Cheez-its for breakfast it is.

With our teams being Catasauqua and Freedom, we had been to many previous games at Northampton, on Thanksgiving Day for Catty and when Freedom played away. But as far as we could recall, this was the first time we had ever sat in the home side stands.

The Kids handled the Panthers fairly easily, although PM West had their moments. After the game, we drove to Catasauqua to check on the progress of their new turf field. It was originally supposed to be finished by their first home game this coming Friday, but it’s far from ready. We learned the first three home games are now going to be played at Northampton, with the first “true” home game now not scheduled until mid-October.

8. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 (AFTERNOON). PEN ARGYL GREEN KNIGHTS. On Saturday afternoon we followed our Catasauqua Rough Riders to Pen Argyl. The Green Knights have no lights at their grass field, thus they are a Saturday afternoon team for home games, just like the Wilson Warriors we visited last Saturday afternoon. The home side has excellent seating built into the hillside, but there is not a lot of seating provided on the visitor side.

In Week 1, Catty eked out a 6-0 win at Salisbury, showing very little offensive power. This week they were on fire offensively, piling up a 42-0 halftime lead. As far as I can recall, this might have been the first mercy rule win for Catty (who had just ended what I believe was an 18-game losing streak last season) since the Thanksgiving Day game of 2013 played at Muhlenberg College.

Pen Argyl may be headed for a tough year, being mercy ruled in both of their games so far. They were down 47-0 and 42-0 at halftime in their two games, having yet to score before the mercy clock was running. Hopefully they will be able to get on track soon.

I highly recommend the barbeque sandwich from the refreshment stand, which offers a wide variety and was doing a great business all day long.

9. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 (EVENING). PLEASANT VALLEY BEARS. For the past 15 years, Pam and I have lived in the Pleasant Valley School District, yet it’s been over a decade since we went to a home game in Brodheadsville, our shortest drive to any team. We may live in the Pocono Mountains, but we are products of the Lehigh Valley, and tend to drive south for our high school football, at least until this season.

The Bears did not play in Week 1; their game against the Parkland Trojans was cancelled due to COVID. So this was their opener, against the East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves. The T-Wolves appear to be the weakest team in the league, and the Bears looked pretty stout against them, rolling to a 54-0 win. ES North lost 57-0 in Week 1, so they have yet to score this year, while giving up over 100 points. None of our three Saturday games were close in score.

Waffles and ice cream at a high school football game? No way! You can get them at Pleasant Valley.

Two weeks in to the season, Pam and I have been to nine different D11 teams. However, we are noting a disturbing trend. Of the 47 D11 teams, we counted 28 that we had previously seen play a home game before this season. So far, of the nine teams we went to this season, all nine were among those we had already seen. Our natural tendency is to head to the Lehigh Valley, and to see EPA or Colonial League games. In the coming weeks, we are going to try to make more of an effort to visit some of the 19 teams we have never seen play at home.

SEASON SUMMARY (9 TEAMS)

Week 1

1a) Friday—Salisbury Township Falcons (3A). Schuylkill-Colonial League (Red). Note: First half—game suspended due to lightning

2) Saturday (Noon)–Allentown Central Catholic Vikings (4A). Eastern PA (South).
Note: Conclusion of final three quarters of game suspended by lightning.

3) Saturday (Afternoon)—Wilson Area Warriors (4A). Schuylkill-Colonial League (Gold).

1b) Saturday (Evening)—Salisbury Township Falcons (3A). Schuylkill-Colonial League (Red). Note: Second half of game suspended by lightning

4) Monday—Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (4A). Schuylkill-Colonial League (Gold). JV game.

Week 2

5) Thursday—Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (2A). Schuylkill-Colonial League (Red).

6) Friday—Emmaus Hornets (6A). Eastern PA (South).

7) Saturday (Morning)—Northampton Konkrete Kids (6A). Eastern PA (North).

8) Saturday (Afternoon)—Pen Argyl Green Knights. (2A). Schuylkill-Colonial League (Red).

9)—Saturday (Evening)—Pleasant Valley Bears (6A). Eastern PA (North).

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