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Around District 11 We Go: The Travels of Guy & Pam Quest: D11 (Week 10)

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| November 3, 2021


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

Guy and Pam are PA high school football fans. We are not affiliated with any team

Quest: D11 (Week 10)

For the final week of the regular season, we had three additional new schools lined up to visit.  There was a choice of six on Friday, one Saturday afternoon, and a final JV game for the season on Monday.  Then the rain hit and I became afflicted with a severe case of “delusions of grandeur.”  In my fantasy, two of the six Friday schools we had not visited would move their games up to Thursday, two would stay on the rainy Friday, and two would postpone until Saturday night.  That could bump our new school potential from three teams to five.

And then two Friday night D11 games DID move to Thursday and two others DID postpone until Saturday night.  But alas, none of the six schools we had not yet seen moved.  They all remained committed to playing in the rain on Friday.  It did give us a pair of extra Week 10 games though.

So the tally at the end of the regular season is that we saw home varsity or JV games for 36 schools of 47 in the district that offer football.  The breakdown is 25 varsity or both, and 11 JV only.  We only missed two possibilities, both in Week 1 and one of those two remains in play.

Of the eleven schools we have not yet seen, eight either made the district playoffs or have a home make-up game.  Three either have an away make-up game or have finished their seasons.  Those three have been eliminated from The Quest.  They are: Pocono Mountain East (planned to go there Monday afternoon and game was cancelled Monday morning), William Allen (who we saw play at home but they were the away team), and Palisades.

  1. U) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28. STROUDSBURG MOUNTIES. I labeled this as a ‘U’ (upgrade) game as we had previously visited for a JV contest and this was a varsity game.

The road to Stroudsburg took many twists and turns.  At first, there was no game scheduled.  Then I noticed that Lackawanna Trail had moved their game to Thursday.  Pam couldn’t make that one as she teaches in Bloomsburg on Thursdays.  And even though that’s District 2, it’s closer than some of the D11 schools for us, and I’d never been to that stadium.  I’ll go there.

Before I knew it, there were five D2 games on Thursday.  If I went to Hanover Area instead, Pam could meet me there and only miss the first 15-20 minutes.  I’ll go there.

Then one of the D11 games was moved to Thursday.  The rivalry game between Pocono Mountain East and Pocono Mountain West was now Thursday.  We had not seen East this year, but they were the away team.  Still, I decided to go there anyway to maintain “blog continuity.” After all, it is titled “Around District 11 We Go.”  Sorry, Pam you are back out.  But Pam was already at PM West this year anyway so she didn’t seem to mind.  I’ll go there.

Then a second D11 game moved to Thursday.  Pleasant Valley @ Stroudsburg seemed a better fit.  One, we had not seen the varsity team play in our earlier visit.  Two, we live in the PV district so we have some sort of vested interest in this one.  And three, with playoff implications for two closely matched teams, this seemed like a more interesting game.  Yes, I’ll go there.

They were honoring former Stroudsburg Mountie and San Diego Charger Artie Owens, which was great as I had the pleasure of working with Artie for a while.

An excellent crowd was on hand.  I’d say it was definitely a good call to move the game up one day.  I started the night with a pre-game pork barbeque, and was surprised that they had to scrape the pot to assemble it.  I was lucky enough to get the last one before they ran out.  If you run out of barbeque before kickoff, better pre-game planning is warranted.  Next were some pricy fresh cut fries ($7 and $9 for the two sizes).  I finished off the night with a rare “twin dessert” game.  The senior class was sponsoring an ice cream truck and the cheerleaders were selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Not wanting to play favorites, I had little choice but to partake in both.  At least that’s what I convinced myself.

This was the fastest varsity game I’ve seen all season.  A 7:00 start, it was a final a few minutes before 9:00.  A far cry from our visit to Minersville, which was also a 7:00 start and was a final a few minutes before 10:00.  And there was no running clock, this was an entertaining one-score game with the PV Bears coming out on top.  Don’t want to close this section without a shout out to the Stroudsburg band.  One of the area’s best.

34) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29.  EAST STROUDSBURG NORTH TIMBERWOLVES.  We had planned on Schuylkill Haven all week long, but the cold and wet forecast caused us to reconsider.  ES North is the only stadium in the EPC we had not visited and although we wanted to finish the league, we just don’t enjoy seeing kids getting beat as badly as the Timberwolves have been getting trounced this season.

But on Friday it seemed the perfect choice.  The idea was to go as far north and east in the district as possible, figuring the rain would arrive there last.  Also, they moved their game up an hour to 6:00, which would also help get in some football before the rain arrived.  Third, if the game went as thought (be realistic, it was a six-win team vs. a zero-win team), we could leave soon after the running clock began.  Finally, if we did have to drive home wet, this would be a closer drive than from the Schuylkill.

But there was another problem.  Pam had a Zoom-from-home faculty meeting at 3:00.  I told her that if we didn’t get on the road by 4:45 we would have to go to Pottsville instead, as they had kept their starting time at 7:00.  And if we didn’t get out by 5:30, it would be Parkland, who we had been storing in the back pocket for playoffs.  The meeting ran long, but Pam logged off at 4:40 anyway, and we were on the road four minutes later.  That’s my girl.

We arrived at North only 12 minutes before kickoff.  It was cold.  It was incredibly windy.  But it was not raining.  In a season highlight for the home team, they drew first blood with a 61-yard TD strike on fourth and 24 for their first lead of the season in the rivalry game.

We managed burgers and a “best of show” spicy chicken sandwich before the rain hit, about three minutes before halftime.  With South up by over 50, we headed out.

35)  SATURDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 30.  LOUIS E. DIERUFF HUSKIES.  The Allen vs. Dieruff game was one of the biggest games in my life growing up.  I was on the Allen team for the game in 1975.  Allentown times have sure changed in the past 46 years.  When the game moved from Friday night to Saturday afternoon up against Freedom vs. Liberty many years ago, it meant missing the game because as a Freedom teacher, we always supported the Pates.

But last year Freedom/Liberty was cancelled, and we were offered tickets to Allen/Dieruff, so we got to see the game for the first time in years.  As payback for giving us live football last year (we were at three Allen games out of only four live games in 2020), we decided to support the game again in 2021.

Every varsity game we had gone to in the first nine weeks had an adult admission of either five or six dollars.  Both ES North and Dieruff were $4.  It’s hard to judge crowd size at J.B. Crum Stadium, because it is so huge (when I was a kid I thought they were all like that), but although it certainly far smaller than when I was an Allen student, it was a decent turnout and better than I was expecting.

ASD is at the bottom when it comes to refreshment stands.  Even for the big inter-city rivalry, none of their permanent refreshment stands were open.  They had a few food trucks, but only one serving hot food.  A varsity high school football rivalry game and you couldn’t even get a hot dog.  C’mon.

Dieruff is much improved this year, and Allen seems to have gone the other direction.  I hoped for the best, and the Canaries did have their moments in the first half and were only down nine at the break.  Then the floodgates opened in the second half, and they ended up losing by Mercy Rule.  This game erased our Week 3 Dieruff “Woulda.”

–)  SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 30.  NOTRE DAME—GREEN POND CRUSADERS.  Before this season we had never been to Notre Dame for a football game, and yet here we were making a return visit.  Notre Dame is an exciting team to watch, and came into the game with a lone blemish on their record, that being to the mighty North Schuylkill Spartans.  Wilson was 6-3, but had lost three of their last four.  The change from a soaked Friday to Saturday worked for this school as well, as another big crowd packed the stands on both sides.  The game had no playoff implications for the Crusaders, but it apparently did for the Warriors.

John Lennon once sang: “Instant karma’s gonna get you.”  I don’t think the former Beatle was thinking about high school football, but his warning certainly did apply.  When Notre Dame jumped out to a 17-0 lead on their first three possessions, their student section started chanting “It’s Too Easy, clap-clap, clap-clap-clap.”  After that, Wilson put 42 on the board and handed Notre Dame their second loss of the season.

With three hours to kill between Dieruff and Notre Dame, we went out to dinner and did not eat at the stadium.  But with another long, near three-hour game, we did get a bit peckish and had pierogies for a snack.  Shout out to PAFN colleague Brian Ptashinski who trolled the sidelines gathering video, photos, and data for his excellent report.

36) MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1.  FREEDOM PATRIOTS JV.  With the end of the regular season came the end of the junior varsity games for 2021.  At the beginning of the season I didn’t think we would be able to find games for different schools every week, but we managed to do so.  A lot of the weeks it was not so easy.  Thus was the case in Week 10.

The plan since early in the season was to go to both the varsity and JV Allen vs. Dieruff games, and score both schools in the final week’s rivalry games.  I kept checking the Allen schedule regarding the JV game as they were the home team.  In the middle of last week, I noticed that Dieruff listed the game as cancelled, while Allen did not.  My email to the Allen Athletic Director got no reply, but what did result was the same afternoon, the game was completely removed from the Allen schedule, not just listed as cancelled.  Thus my alma mater became one of the district schools we did not see play a home game this year.

Plan B was then Pocono Mountain West at Pocono Mountain East JV.  West put out an updated athletics schedule for the week last Friday, which included the game.  Both schools had the game as a go on their Big Teams schedule.  But East hadn’t played a JV game since September, and I had my doubts this game would happen.  And I was correct.  Mid-morning on Monday, the game was changed to cancelled on the East schedule, although never updated on the West schedule.  Frustrating to the end.  PM East became the third team to be eliminated from The Quest.

That took us to Plan C, the Freedom Patriots.  Although we had seen the FHS varsity on the road at Emmaus and at BASD when they were the away team vs. Bethlehem Catholic, we had yet to “officially” log them in as a home team.  We had been saving that for the playoffs.  But with the first two choices cancelled, we had to play our “Pate Card” on Monday.  At least we still got to see a Freedom/Liberty game this year.  We even showed up early to watch the freshmen game.

It was nice getting a chance to say hello to Freedom head coach Jason Roeder, who I taught with at the school for a number of years.  As I was at the school for many years before Coach Roeder’s arrival, I suffered through many a frustrating gridiron season supporting the Pates.  Before Jason, the Pates best season in school history was 8-3 with a loss to Liberty under Sam Senneca.  It was nice to hear that the coach was familiar with our blog, and even dubbed it “impressive” (insert puffed-out chest here).

It was a good year for the Pates in the rivalry.  The varsity won on Saturday, and both the freshmen and JV teams won on Monday.

Eight of the D11 schools we have yet to see play on in Week 11.  We play on too.

 

SEASON SUMMARY (33 DIFFERENT D11 SCHOOLS/TEAMS)

Week 1

 

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

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

–) Saturday (Noon)—Dieruff Huskies (6A).  On their home field but the away team)

3)  Saturday (Afternoon)—Wilson Area Warriors (4A)

1b) Saturday (Evening)—Salisbury Township Falcons (3A).  Note:  Returned for second half of game suspended by lightning

4)  Monday—Northwestern Lehigh Tigers JV (4A)

Week 2

5)  Thursday—Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (2A)

6)  Friday—Emmaus Hornets (6A)

7)  Saturday (Morning)—Northampton Area Konkrete Kids JV (6A)

8)  Saturday (Afternoon)—Pen Argyl Green Knights.  (2A)

9)  Saturday (Evening)—Pleasant Valley Bears (6A)

Week 3

10)  Tuesday—East Stroudsburg South Cavaliers JV (5A).

11)  Friday—Nativity BVM Green Wave (1A)

12)  Saturday—Saucon Valley Panthers JV (4A)

13)  Sunday—Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils (2A)

14)  Monday—Tamaqua Blue Raiders (3A).  Note: Game suspended at halftime but called complete

Week 4

15)  Tuesday—Bangor Slaters JV (4A)

16)  Friday—Panther Valley Panthers (2A)

17)  Saturday (Afternoon)—Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (4A)

18)  Saturday (Evening)—Pine Grove Cardinals (3A)

19)  Monday—Stroudsburg Mountaineers JV (6A)

Week 5

20) Friday—Mahanoy Area Golden Bears (A)

21) Monday—Notre Dame-Green Pond Crusaders (3A)

Week 6

22) Thursday—Blue Mountain Eagles (4A)

23) Friday—Pocono Mountain West Panthers (5A)

24) Saturday—Bethlehem Liberty Hurricanes (6A)

25) Monday—Nazareth Blue Eagles JV (6A)

Week 7

26) Friday—Minersville Battlin Miners (2A)

27) Saturday (Morning)—Jim Thorpe Olympians JV (3A)

28) Saturday (Evening)—Executive Education Raptors (2A)

29) Monday—Southern Lehigh Spartans JV (5A)

Week 8

30) Friday—Marian Catholic Colts (1A)

31) Monday—Whitehall Zephyrs JV (5A)

Week 9

32) Friday—Catasauqua Rough Riders (2A)

–)  Saturday—Freedom Patriots (6A) (on home field but away team)

33) Monday—Lehighton Indians (4A)

Week 10

  1. U) Thursday—Stroudsburg Mounties (6A) (varsity game this time)

34) Friday—East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves (4A)

35) Saturday (Afternoon)—Dieruff Huskies (6A)

–) Saturday (Evening)—Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders (3A)

36) Monday—Freedom Patriots JV (6A)

COULDAS & WOULDAS

COULDA.  Week 1—Tri Valley.  A Friday team that played Saturday evening due to rain.  We returned to Salisbury to see the second half of the Catty game instead.

COULDA.  Week 1—Marian Catholic.  Played Sunday due to rain, but we had already committed to the sprint car races at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway.  Update: Went to see Marian in Week 8.  However, we are still down one potential team for the season as by picking Marian we bypassed: Freedom, Catasauqua, Tri-Valley, Parkland, Palmerton, Schuylkill Haven, Lehighton, Easton, Dieruff, and North Schuylkill.  They are all teams we have yet to see this year and were all home.  Update 2: Saw Catasauqua in Week 9.  Went to see Dieruff and Freedom in Week 10.

WOULDA.  Week 5—Lehighton.  Saturday morning/afternoon JV game cancelled but Big Teams calendar not updated and we made the trip.  There was no other D11 replacement for us as the Jim Thorpe game was cancelled due to COVID.  Update: Week 6—Lehighton again.  For the second straight week, the late morning Saturday JV game at Lehighton was cancelled.  This time the online schedule was updated so we didn’t make the trip for nothing.  But there was no other different D11 replacement for us.  Update 2: Saw Lehighton in Week 9.  But we could have gone to Dieruff, Easton, Parkland, North Schuylkill, Pottsville, or Williams Valley so we are still down a potential school for the season.  Update 3: Saw Dieruff in Week 10.

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