Around District 11 We Go: The Travels of Guy & Pam Quest: D11 (Week 14)
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Guy Smith | December 1, 2021
Around District 11 We Go: The Travels of Guy & Pam
Quest: D11 (Week 14)
Week 14 and still four games. Pam and I started off four straight football days with the SCFCA Senior All-Star Game at Schuylkill Haven High School. It was our first time ever at that stadium for a game we didn’t even know existed 12 hours before kickoff. Thursday was another first for us: The Thanksgiving morning Easton vs. Phillipsburg game at Fisher Field on the campus of Lafayette College. Both remaining District 11 playoff teams were in action on Friday evening. Some may be surprised that we chose 2A Northern Lehigh over 6A Freedom given my long ties to Freedom High. But the Northern Lehigh game was closer to home for us and I thought the Bulldogs had the best shot at victory, although a D11 sweep almost happened. On Saturday, we chose NCAA D2 National Playoffs over a high school game from outside District 11. We were on the campus of Kutztown University (both Guy & Pam are alumni) as they downed the Chargers of the University of New Haven to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Wednesday night game gave me a game for all seven days of the week this season.
The Easton game on Thursday was the final addition to our “Quest D11” for 2021. The final tally was seeing 41 of the 47 teams play a home game or post-season neutral field game. Of the 41 teams, 29 were varsity games at home, 2 were post-season neutral field games, and10 were JV games at home.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24. SCHUYLKILL COUNTY FOOTBALL COACHES ASSCIATION SENIOR ALL-STAR GAME @ SCHUYLKILL HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL. Pam and I are for the most part new to the Schuylkill League this season, having previously been to only a game or two outside of the playoffs. Most of our Schuylkill trips this year were our initial school/stadium visits.
When I woke up Wednesday morning, I am embarrassed to say that I had never heard of this game, even though it had previously been played 34 times. Luckily, I checked the PA Football News website and saw the article by Daniel Reed. I showed it to Pam and asked if we could go, and she said of course.
Not only did this give us a fourth game for the week, and a chance to say we went to a game each different day of the week this season, but it was our first trip to Rotary Field. Earlier this season, we had seen the Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes, but that was on the road. The Tri-Valley Bulldogs field is now the only stadium in the district that we have never seen.
This was a Senior All-Star Game, with players from all of the Skook schools. The North was represented by North Schuylkill, Tamaqua, Mahanoy Area, Marian Catholic, Shenandoah Valley, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, and Panther Valley, while the South had Blue Mountain, Minersville, Nativity BVM, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Tri Valley, and Williams Valley.
Last year, the North shut out the South; this year it was the opposite, as the South won 35-0. It was a cold night, but the “feel-good” game was for a good cause and we were certainly glad we went. Assuming it’s always played the evening before Thanksgiving, it could easily become an annual part of our holiday tradition. We wondered if it is always held at Schuylkill Haven, or if it rotates around the various schools in the county?
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25. EASTON RED ROVERS VS. PHILLIPSBURG STATELINERS @ FISHER FIELD, LAFAYETTE COLLEGE. We wanted to attend this game for years, and finally made it. When I was a lad, my dad, aunt, and I walked to the then Allentown School District Stadium to see Allentown vs. Bethlehem while mom stayed home cooking the turkey. Eventually it became Allen vs. Dieruff for a few seasons, before the game was moved off the Thanksgiving weekend. In the fall of 1981 I was student teaching at Catasauqua High School and got my first taste of Catasauqua vs. Northampton on Thanksgiving. I was a big supporter when the ASD returned the Allen vs. Dieruff game to Thanksgiving from 1985-1990 with free admission. In 1991 I married a girl from Catasauqua and began a long run of attending the Catty vs. Northampton game. We could easily walk to the stadium the years when it was home. With my mom and Pam’s stepdad now both in their 90s, for the past few years we skipped the game to focus on giving them a great family Thanksgiving. Last year, the game was not played.
That brings us to 2021. It’s hard to watch a 6A school play a much smaller 2A school, when your allegiance lies with the 2A school. This year, we couldn’t bring both parents together for dinner, so we did our turkey dinner with mom on Wednesday, then used a combination of leftovers and new to have turkey dinner with Pam’s stepfather (he’s in Bethlehem) after the Easton game. Not only had I never been to this historic game before, I’d never been to Fisher Field, or even Lafayette College, much to my regret. At least Pam had been to Lafayette before. Her older sister played both varsity field hockey and lacrosse there, while Pam won D11 track and field gold while a Catty student.
The number of games played on Thanksgiving Day in Pennsylvania continues to dwindle. I remember when people told me that Stroudsburg vs. East Stroudsburg would never, ever, consider ending the Thanksgiving tradition. That game hasn’t been played on Turkey Day in many years now. According to the “PA Football News” website schedule page, we are down to just 14 games, basically in the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley area. I hope we never reach the point where there are no games left. It is too wonderful a tradition to lose entirely.
All I can say is that our first trip to Easton vs. Phillipsburg will certainly not be our last. Just being part of the massive crowd that filled both sides of the college stadium brought joy to my heart. How can anyone not get swept up in the emotion of a game that dates back to 1889 origins, officially began in 1905, and has now been played 114 times? There were only four years since 1905 that the game has not been played, one of those being last year. We loved everything about the experience. The fact that it was a fantastic game with Easton snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the final minute was just icing on the cake. Being an EPC guy from PA, I was rooting for Easton. While this was our 41st and final different D11 team for the year, it was my 50th football game this season, the first time that has ever happened. Work has put Pam five games in arrears, but she will get her 50th of the season at Hershey.
Now that we are free to attend a Thanksgiving Day game again and no longer feel the Catasauqua vs. Northampton obligation, I’d like to do Quakertown vs. Pennridge next year, then back to Catty for the 100th game in that rivalry, then another at Fisher Field. And hopefully many more after that.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26. NORTHERN LEHIGH BULLDOGS VS. WEST CATHOLIC BURRS @ WHITEHALL HIGH SCHOOL. For the second Friday in a row, I was at Whitehall High School for a neutral site playoff game. Last week it was the 6A district final, this time the state 2A quarterfinal.
We had seen in person just how good Northern Lehigh looked early in the season at a Thursday night game where they came “thisclose” to defeating 3A powerhouse Northwestern Lehigh, losing by one when they went for two and the win at the very end but were denied. Then they lost a close one to Notre Dame, and a third loss came to North Schuylkill. Thus, with three loses, they managed to fly under the radar as they won game after game after that. By the time we crossed paths with them again, they were firing on all cylinders and destroyed Palmerton in the district championship rain game.
So when I saw that the Allentown newspaper writer picked West Catholic by two scores, I texted several of my buddies that are former coaches to be on record before kickoff as saying I firmly believed Northern Lehigh would win this game.
Man, it was cold. Those weren’t moths in the stadium lights, those be flurries! (See this week’s collage pic) Last week I feasted on Chic-Fil-A sandwiches at the game, so this week I passed on pre-game tacos, holding out for chicken. No Chic-Fil-A this week. But they did significantly overestimate the hot dog demand, and ended up selling them for a buck during most of the game to try to get rid of them.
We were not surprised that the Bulldogs handled both the Burrs and the Brrrrs, winning 48-24. Congratulations to the Northern Lehigh Bulldogs for being the last District 11 team standing! We are so pleased to have a team advance to Week 15. Props also go out to my Freedom Pates, who gave St. Joe’s “Football” Prep a heck of a game before dropping a 24-21 close one. As a former coach who watched on TV told me, the Pates could definitely beat that team. As pleased as we were for Freedom’s showing, St. Joe’s advanced their playoff record against District 11 to 7-0.
Northern Lehigh now faces their own Juggernaut as they face the mighty Southern Columbia Tigers, with four straight state championships, this Friday in Lehighton. Of course we will be there rooting them on.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27. NCAA D2 NATIONAL PLAYOFFS. #18 NEW HAVEN CHARGERS @ #14 KUTZTOWN GOLDEN BEARS. This was our third NCAA national playoff game in a week (A D2 football, a D3 football, and the D2 field hockey national championship game). Pam and I are both Kutztown alums, me when it was still Kutztown State College. We try to get to at least one game each year, but with the high school football quest and blog among other things taking precedence this fall, this game was our first opportunity. A defensive struggle, K.U. pitched a shutout until near the very end, and held on to score a 10-7 victory and advance to the quarterfinals. After knocking off #10 Slippery Rock and #18 New Haven in consecutive games, Kutztown hosts #8 Shepherd at home next Saturday. I wish we could go.
FINAL TALLY FOR QUEST D11
–41 Different schools for Home Games (29 Varsity Home, 2 Varsity Post-Season Neutral, 10 JV Home)
–6 Schools we didn’t make it to for Home Games: Palisades, Pocono Mountain East, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Tri-Valley, William Allen
–2 Missed opportunities, both in Week 1 before we really got serious about The Quest.
–Out of 47 District 11 teams with football.
SEASON SUMMARY (41 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
- 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
- U) Thursday—Bangor Slaters (Eastern Conference 4A Championship)
37) Friday—Williams Valley Vikings (1A Semi-Final)
38) Saturday—Palmerton Blue Bombers (2A Semi-Final)
Week 12
39) Friday—Parkland Trojans (6A Semi-Final)
–) Saturday (Afternoon)—Palmerton vs. Northern Lehigh (2A Championship)
40) Saturday (Evening)—North Schulykill Spartans (3A Championship)
Week 13
–) Friday—Freedom vs. Emmaus (6A Championship)
Week 14
–) Wednesday—SCFCA Senior All Star Game
41) Thursday—Easton Red Rovers vs. Phillipsburg (114th Meeting)
–) Friday—Northern Lehigh vs. West Catholic (2A Quarterfinal)
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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