Around District 11 We Go: The Travels of Guy & Pam Quest: D11 (Week 8)

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Guy Smith | October 21, 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 8)

With the pool of teams that we have not yet visited this year shrinking, we were down to a pair of games for Week 8. That brings the total for the season to 31 of the 47 schools in District 11 that we have seen play at home. Technically, it’s 32 teams because we saw the Dieruff Huskies play on their home field, but they were the away team so we didn’t count them. Gotta play by the rules, even if they are self created! Of the 31 schools, 21 were varsity games and 10 were junior varsity. A dozen have been schools we have never seen play before. Of the 16 schools not yet visited this year, there are still six fields we have never seen. Also, we still have not seen any of my four “home” schools, William Allen, Dieruff, Catasauqua, and Freedom. That should change this coming weekend.

A HAPPY THANKSGIVING IS COMING

When I was a wee lad, my pop and aunt took me to the Allentown vs. Bethlehem game on Turkey Day morning, while mom stayed home and cooked the bird. That game eventually became William Allen vs. Louis E. Dieruff, and as an Allentown kid, I stayed loyal to the rivalry game until long after it was no longer played on Thanksgiving, including when I was on the Allen team in 1976.

In the fall of 1981 I did student teaching at Catasauqua High School, and attended my first Catty vs. Northampton Thanksgiving game. Marrying a Catty girl and then living in the town for 15 years, the game became my stop every Thanksgiving morning. Last year the game was cancelled, and I missed the last couple before that. My mom and Pam’s step dad are both 94 years old and our priority became making their Thanksgiving special. Besides, watching a 6A school play a 2A school became a mismatch that was no longer much fun to watch, at least if you root for the 2A school.

With family Thanksgiving obligations changing this year due to COVID and age, a morning game was back on the table. This year we decided to skip the Catty vs. Northampton Turkey Day game and attend the revered Easton vs. Phillipsburg game at Lafayette College. So on Friday morning, I headed to the Easton High School Athletic Office and secured tickets for the game. Really looking forward to that one.

30) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15. MARIAN CATHOLIC COLTS. We had never been to Marian Catholic before, although I remember them coming to Catty in 1996 and knocking our undefeated Roughies out of the playoffs.

This was one of the two “Coulda’s” we left on the table this year. In week one, they rescheduled their Friday game to Sunday and we already had auto racing commitments on that day. But by going to see them on week 8, it still does not erase the “Coulda,” and here’s why. Although we picked the Colts, there were still an amazing 11 other of the teams not yet visited that were scheduled to be home on the Friday we saw Marian. That number was cut to ten when Williams Valley lost their game to COVID protocols. The “Coulda” isn’t gone unless we see all the teams we passed up for Marian, which isn’t going to happen!

Marian was winless going into this game. People ask us why we go to see a winless team play when we could go to see the “game of the week” showdown between the teams with the best record facing off each week? The answer, of course, is because we want to have the experience of every team and every stadium. But results are not a foregone conclusion, and that’s why they play the games. To paraphrase an NFL slogan: “On any given Friday…”

A few weeks back when I Facebook messaged the Executive Education Raptors with a question, when they responded they added “we read your blog.” This week, as we sat in the away side bleachers at Marian Catholic, a gentlemen walking up saw us and said: “I know who you are! You guys write the blog on PA Football News! I recognize you from your pictures. When I first saw it, I thought, what a great idea! I’ve bookmarked it and read it every week!” Turns out he was an assistant coach for the visiting Nativity BVM Green Wave. Our first groupie, haha!

Marian kept up the Schuylkill tradition of outstanding refreshment stand offerings. Not only did they have delicious sausage sandwiches with peppers and onions, but they also had “monster” kielbasa sandwiches. After already downing sausage sandwiches and fresh cut fries, I thought the kielbasa would be like a fat hot dog. It was more like a $5 foot long. Interesting to note that this stadium sells Zimmerman’s iced tea, not Guers like the rest of the Skook.

With Marian winless and Nativity having a winning record and in a playoff spot, the game looked like a potential blowout. But it turned out to be our first overtime game this year. And Marian stopped the Wave in OT, and then scored to earn a 19-13 win. Again, that’s why they play the game. And that’s why we go. Top three game of our season so far.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18. WHITEHALL HIGH SCHOOL JV. Before this season, it had been quite a few years since we had been to any junior varsity football games. But being all-in this year, we have already been to ten of them, with hopefully two more to go. The games have been more enjoyable than expected, but I doubt we will ever try to attend weekly again, as a frustrating number of games have late cancellations.

Take this Monday. We were all set for Pocono Mountain East hosting Northampton. The game was showing as “on” as of Friday afternoon. But when I checked on Monday morning it had been changed to “cancelled.” As I have learned, a lot of JV games end up cancelled. So it was another scramble to find an alternative game for one of the teams we had yet to see, but preferably not at one of the places we have never visited. Whitehall fit the bill, hosting Allentown Central Catholic. The new issue was that the schedule on the Whitehall site showed the game at 5:00, the ACC site said 6:15. Luckily I have a friend who is an assistant coach at ACC. I emailed him and he confirmed the game was at 5:00.

We saw the new retired jersey display honoring Saquon Barkley. He joins Matt Millen and Dan Koppen as Whitehall alum that made it to the NFL and have had their number retired by the Zephs.

We were very lucky they played any type of game at all, as Whitehall was way down on available players. Several format changes were made to accommodate the small number of backups.

But again I refer to the old adage “That’s why they play the game.” This turned out to possibly be the most entertaining JV matchup we have seen all year. ACC was up 8-0 at halftime. Whitehall came back in the second half and first tied it at eight, then took the lead 14-8. Central came back to retake the lead at 16-14, then held off a late drive by the scrappy Zephs. That was fun.

Only two chances for additional D11 teams this weekend, a Friday varsity game and a Monday JV game. We will likely go to see Freedom at their home field on Saturday, but can’t count them yet as they will be the away team. There are no Saturday night games in the district this weekend.

SEASON SUMMARY (31 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)

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 on Friday of Week 8. However, we are still down one potential team 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.

WOULDA. Week 3—Dieruff. We were all set to go to see Dieruff on Saturday night, but their game was postponed to a day when we already had another game scheduled, and there were no other Saturday night options.

WOULDA. Week 5—Lehighton. Saturday morning/afternoon JV game cancelled but Big Teams calendar not updated and we made the trip. Another game is scheduled for this Saturday, so hoping to wipe out this Woulda then.

WOULDA. 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, so it becomes another Woulda.

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