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

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Guy Smith | November 10, 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 11)

Let the playoffs begin!  There were still eight teams in the district playing at home that we had not yet visited this year, so there were still a number of options on the table for us last week.

Before we had to make a choice of which schools to add to our season tally, the Eastern Conference gave us the gift of a Thursday playoff game featuring Saucon Valley at Bangor.  Bangor was one of the eleven teams we had not seen a varsity game, taking advantage of a rare Tuesday game to see their JV.  It was also one of the two schools attended this season for JV where Guy had never been to a varsity game, Pam having been there as a student in the Catasauqua band.  Finally, with the JV game being a Tuesday when Pam has night class, Bangor was one of the two games she missed this year, along with the other Tuesday game at East Stroudsburg South.  We called that a win (Thursday game), win (upgrade to Varsity for the season), win (first varsity game ever for Guy), win (one of the two teams Pam missed) situation.

Even this late in the season, we still had a choice of five teams on Friday.  Tri-Valley and Williams Valley in 1A semi-finals, Pottsville in a 4A semi-final, Parkland in a 6A quarter final, and Schuylkill Haven in a make-up game.  All but Parkland were stadiums we had never visited.  We seriously considered Schuylkill Haven, before settling on Williams Valley.

Executive Education Academy was home Saturday afternoon for their Eastern Conference title game, and we would have loved to keep our perfect home game score for the Raptors.  But I was already committed to covering an auto race in northeast PA for Area Auto Racing News, so had to pass.  Congrats to the Raptors on the big win.

We originally had two choices for Saturday night, Schuylkill Haven and Palmerton.  Then Tamaqua forfeited their game against the Spartans, and Palmerton was our only choice.  Truth be told, we had planned on Palmerton all along.  It’s a shame that it was too late for the next team in line to play North Schuylkill.  Another team could have made the playoffs and North Schuylkill could have had a game to keep sharp.

Tally after Week 11:

–38 Schools Visited for Home Games (28 varsity, 10 JV)

–1 School Still in Play for Home Game (Parkland)

–3 Schools Still in Play for Neutral Field Games (Tri-Valley, North Schuylkill, Easton)

–5 Schools Finished for Season, Eliminated From This Year’s Quest (Palisades, Pocono Mountain East, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, William Allen)

Total of 47 District 11 Schools with Football

4. U) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4. BANGOR SLATERS. EASTERN CONFERENCE 4A CHAMPIONSHIP.  Back to Bangor for a Thursday Eastern Conference tussle.  Some people think that with the expanded classifications in the PIAA, there is no longer a place for Eastern Conference.  I disagree.  I was very happy to see Bangor get to play in a game, especially since they were the only team with a winning record that didn’t qualify for the D11 playoffs, and five teams with losing records did qualify.

It being a Thursday night game, we had to take two cars, as Pam had to come straight to the stadium from work at Bloomsburg U.  It’s a bit strange that my two visits here this year were for games on a Tuesday and on a Thursday.  It was a cold one, with temperatures in the 30s.

We try to eat at the games as much as possible to help support the teams/schools.  The main takeaway from this game was the disparity in prices found from one school to another.  Fries here were $2.50; last Thursday the smallest size fry was $7.

I thought this might be a close game.  Bangor came into the game with the better record by one game: 6-4 vs. 5-5.  But Saucon had won the regular season meeting by two scores, 36-22.  However, on this night it was pretty much all Bangor.  The Saucon defense couldn’t stop them.  Bangor jumped out front and never looked back, rolling to a Mercy Rule win and the Eastern Conference title.

37)  FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5.  WILLIAMS VALLEY VIKINGS.  1A SEMI-FINAL.  This would be our last chance to see a stadium we had never visited before for a home game.  The final two, Palmerton and Parkland this coming week, are both places we had been in past seasons, followed by two (North Schuylkill and Easton) or three (Add Tri-Valley if they win this week) at neutral fields.

I’m not a fan of being forced to buy tickets on-line and have an extra processing fee tacked on, and we almost picked the Schuylkill Haven makeup game instead as a futile protest gesture.  But in the end, the urge to see playoff games won out and we picked Williams Valley, the last outpost for District 11.

Dauphin County is District 3.  Both Williams Valley High School, located in Tower City, and the football stadium, located in Williamstown, are in Dauphin County.  So what the heck are they doing in D11?  Athletic Director Ben Ancheff explained that at one time they were in District 3, but years ago the PIAA did some re-aligning and moved them to District 11.  This was possible because the district elementary school in Tower City is in Schuylkill County, making this a split county district.

Three or four schools merged in the 1960s to make up Williams Valley.  They still play their games “Between the Pines” at the site of the old Williamstown High School.  Their claim to fame is that is that Gary Collins, who played for the Cleveland Browns from 1962-1971, played his high school ball on the field.  The pine trees are a very pretty setting, although we didn’t get the best look at the stadium surroundings since it was already dark when we arrived.

We were elated to see the Williams French Fry truck on hand.  Our first experience with Williams fries was earlier this season at Pine Grove, and we both rate them as the top fry truck in District 11.  I learned they have an actual shop in Millersburg.  It’s only 110 miles from home.  Would I drive 220 miles for Williams fries?  As fast as you can say: “Winter road trip.”

I was also hoping for a good game at this one, as it was the number 3 seeded Nativity BVM Green Wave at the number 2 seeded Williams Valley Vikings.  Williams Valley was the definite favorite, but the Green Wave played tough and had the halftime lead.

We were surprised by the public address announcer who made a number of comments taunting the officials throughout the game, clearly over the line set by the PIAA Handbook guidelines for public address announcers.  We followed up on Monday, and were pleased to hear that Williams Valley was already aware of the issue, had spoken to the announcer, apologized to the head official, and assured all it was not what the school was about and would not be repeated.  Good for Williams Valley.

The Vikings rose in the second half and ended up winning by two scores.  We certainly have not been a rabbit’s foot for the Green Wave.  Before this season, we had never seen them.  This season we saw them three times (one home, two road), and they lost all three.  Sorry!  It will be interesting to see what the Vikings have for Tri-Valley this coming week, since their previous meeting was in the pouring rain and thus not a good indicator.

38) SATURDAY NOVEMBER 6.  PALMERTON BLUE BOMBERS.  2A SEMI FINAL.  After Friday night’s journey, it was good to be able to see a “local” team.  It’s been a number of years since we’ve been at this stadium.

Palmerton was the number 2 seed and were hosting the number 3 seeded Catasauqua Rough Riders.  Even with going to see all different schools this year, we still managed to see Catty five times (one home and four away).

Williams French Fries are a hard act to follow, but Palmerton made a solid effort in the fresh cut fry truck department with Smitty’s.

Although the two teams had similar records: Palmerton 8-2 and Catty 7-3, this one didn’t figure to be too close.  When we were at the Catty home game against Schuylkill Haven on Week 9, I said to my friend who is a former Catty coach that we were likely seeing their final win of the season.  They were closing against an undefeated school two classifications higher, a playoff game against a team that had beaten them by 34, and an undefeated team four classifications higher on Thanksgiving Day.

My hope was that the Roughies would give them a better game than during the regular season.  They did not.  It was 41-0 Palmerton before the Bombers took their foot off the gas pedal.  During the regular season, Palmerton lost to Northern Lehigh by 29.  This coming week it will be their turn to see if they can produce a closer result.

OTHER DISTRICT 11 SCHOOLS.  Little Sandy Etkin, age 13, from Tacoma, WA writes: Dear Guy & Pam, love the blog and read it every week.  You mentioned there were 47 schools in District 11 that offer football.  Does that mean there are other schools in District 11 that don’t offer football?  Yes Sandy, it does.

The following are schools in District 11 that have boys soccer and/or basketball, but not football:  Gillingham Charter School Wolfpack, Lehigh Christian School Mustangs, Lincoln Leadership Academy Lions, Moravian Academy Lions, Notre Dame East Stroudsburg High School Spartans, Roberto Clemente Charter School Pirates, Salem Christian High School Eagles, and Weatherly Area High School Wreckers.

I was only joking about Sandy; I made her up.  But the schools listed above are not made up, they are indeed part of District 11.

The oddest story is the Building 21 High School in Allentown.  Listed as a District 11 school on the district website, I had no knowledge of that school and had to do some research.  As part of the Allentown School District, students enrolled there can play sports for the sports teams at Dieruff or William Allen.  But it appears that at least in 2017, Building 21 had students compete in cross-country under the Building 21 High School banner.  Huh.  Learn something new every day.

SEASON SUMMARY (38 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)

Week 11

1. U) Thursday—Bangor Slaters (Eastern Conference 4A Championshi)

37) Friday—Williams Valley Vikings (1A Semi-Final)

38) Saturday—Palmerton Blue Bombers (2A Semi-Final)

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 a potential team for the season as by picking Marian we bypassed other teams we had not seen.

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: Saw Lehighton in Week 9.  However, we are still down one potential team for the season as by picking Lehighton we bypassed other teams we had not seen.

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