Around District 11 We Go: The Travels of Guy & Pam Week 0, 2022

Tagged under: District 11, News

Guy Smith | August 31, 2022

Around District 11: The Travels of Guy & Pam

Week One: 1 Skook, 1 Colonial, 1 EPC

Thursday, August 25, 2022. Everyone is undefeated. The next day we awoke to…Game Day!

GAME 7. FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2022. MOUNT CARMEL RED TORNADOS @ NORTH SCHUYLKILL SPARTANS. I have written a weekly auto racing column titled “Roaming the Raceways” for over 40 years. During all that time, I’ve resisted all offers to become a track employee, or do any kind of public relations work for any track, series, or driver. Why? Because it’s a hobby, and Pam and I want to keep it fun. Keeping it fun includes strictly guarding our ability to go to whatever events we choose, and to have the flexibility to change our minds at any time, even the last minute. To be tied down to a specific track or series sounds too much like work to us.

On Friday morning we woke up planning to go to Schuylkill Haven that evening. We had been to Schuylkill Haven twice in the past year for All-Star games, and had seen the Hurricanes play on the road last season at Catasauqua. But we had yet to collect the “golden ticket” of seeing the school play on their home field.

While Pam was brewing the morning coffee, I opened the “PA Football News” site and saw the “Preview and Predictions” article by DANIEL REED. As Pam poured java, she asked that I read it out loud. We didn’t get past the first game, Mount Carmel at North Schuylkill. Reed called it the “Game of the Week” in the Schuylkill-Colonial. Pam asked: So why aren’t we going to that one then?

I had no good answer. The North Schuylkill Spartans were in the same position for us as Schuylkill Haven. We had been to a Williams Valley neutral playoff game at the school a few years ago, and last year saw the team in the playoffs at Lehighton. But we had never seen North Schuylkill play at their home field.

That quickly, we changed our plan. That’s the flexibility we are unwilling to give up. After stopping to check on my 95-year old mom, we were off to the first game of week one. The pre-season rankings by “PA Football News” had North Schuylkill an honorable mention in 3A, while Mount Carmel was state top five in 2A. It certainly looked like a “Game of the Week” on paper.

A great crowd was on hand for the matchup. Tickets were $5, and for the first time ever, Guy got the 62+ senior discount and paid $3. Knowing what to expect as far as food lines, as soon as we chose seats, I made a beeline for the fresh cut fries ($4) sold on the away side. Being as this was the first game, North Schuylkill automatically debuts at Number 1 in Guy’s “D11 Fresh Cut Fry Rankings.” Almost always planning to eat at the games to support the schools, we had a couple other pre-game food items. Any thoughts of continuing dinner after the game began were thwarted by extremely long lines throughout the actual contest. It was great to be back in Guers Iced Tea country.

North Schuylkill scored first, but Mount Carmel slowly took over by constantly making big plays when necessary. A last second field goal made it 13-10 at the break. With a few ticks more than ten minutes remaining in the game, Mount Carmel was poised to move the final three yards and increase their lead to 25-10 when the game was suspended for a 30-minute minimum due to lightning.

Mount Carmel was solidly ahead in plays run, first downs, and time of possession. We thought the game was pretty much decided, and with a Saturday triple looming, headed out at that point. When play resumed, Mount Carmel did indeed get the TD, but North Schuylkill responded with one of their own to cut the lead back to one score. The Spartans drove again but there were no more points. The game ended as games between two great teams should end, a one score differential, with both teams playing for the win until the final whistle.

GAME 8. SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2022. PEN ARGYL GREEN NIGHTS @ WILSON WARRIORS. A busy day for Guy & Pam. In the morning we did a 5K to benefit the ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) Foundation. In the evening, we committed to the races at Wall Stadium Speedway near the Jersey shore and had to pass on Allentown Central Catholic. Wall started qualifying at 5:00, but their feature races didn’t start until 7:00. We got the brilliant idea that we could squeeze in a D11 football game in between.

Our only possibility was the afternoon game in Wilson, which was basically on the way to Wall Stadium for us. But this was a great game to attend, as it was the historic 100^th meeting between the two teams.

Wilson’s field is landlocked, with no room to expand. It’s a grass field, with no lights, so all of their home games are afternoon contests. Man was it ever a hot one, with the temps almost at 90. Wilson does not sell french fries of any type, but Pam has decided to try the macaroni and cheese at every stadium offering it, and gave a thumbs up to the home made version sold at the Wilson band parents’ stand. This is also one of a number of D11 schools that sells Chik-Fil-A sandwiches at their games.

What a difference a year makes. We were at this game last year and Wilson was up 47-0 before halftime. Pen Argyl would end winless last season. Things went quite differently this year. Pen Argyl looked much improved from last year, on both sides of the ball. Wilson hung pretty tough on defense, but their offense never got untracked. The final score of 22-12 in favor of the Green Knights doesn’t reflect that the Wilson offense was shut out, their scores coming on a defensive pick six and a special teams kickoff return to the house.

GAME 9. MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2022. EAST STROUDSBURG SOUTH CAVILIERS (JV) @ WILLIAM ALLEN CANARIES (JV). Well, that went quick! The last time I was at an Allen home JV football game was 48 years ago, in 1975. And I was playing in the game.

Last year we went to a JV game every week in our attempt to see as many of the D11 teams as possible in one year. This year, we probably won’t go every Monday, but hey, you never know.

Allen sells no refreshments at the JV games, so we went to Hops Paddock, an old favorite growing up in Allentown, for our pre-game meal. The game started 15 minutes late as ES South arrived at 5:25 for a scheduled 5:30 kickoff. How many years are the Pocono teams going to travel to the Valley before taking rush hour traffic into consideration before scheduling departure times?

Although I hadn’t seen an Allen JV game at home since my playing finale in 10^th grade, I did go to see these two JV teams play last year at ES South, leaving mid third quarter with my Canaries down 44-0. Yesterday the Canaries played much tougher and much better ball, especially on defense, falling 20-6. Results have not been encouraging for either of the Allentown public school football programs, but especially for the Canaries. So we look for the positives wherever we can, and the fact that Allen got blown out last year in the JV game and hung much tougher this year against what is arguably the most successful program of any of the “true” teams from the EPC North Division, is a positive.

ATTENTION LEHIGHTON FANS! Need a little help. Can anyone tell us if there are any JV games scheduled up at the old stadium this year like last, or are they all at the main multipurpose turf stadium? The Lehighton schedule on Big Teams has nothing listed in the “facilities” column like they did last year. Thanks. Comments, corrections, and/or suggestions always welcome at RTRYFBAR@aol.com.

D11 CLASSIFICATION CHANGES. Never do we recall even close to as many classification changes in one season. No fewer than 13 schools of the 47 in district 11 offering football were at least eligible to play in a different classification this season. Of those, two schools moved up a class, eight schools moved down a class, and three schools that could have moved down voluntarily chose to remain in the same class as last year.

Up. Palmerton (2A to 3A), Williams Valley (1A to 2A)

Down. Pleasant Valley (6A to 5A), Lehighton (4A to 3A), Northwestern (4A to 3A), Saucon Valley (4A to 3A), Wilson (4A to 3A), Salisbury (3A to 2A), Northern Lehigh (2A to 1A), Minersville (2A to 1A)

Voluntarily Playing Up. Allentown Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Blue Mountain. All three were eligible to drop from 4A to 3A but stayed in 4A.

Largest D11 school: William Allen (1,285 qualifying students). Smallest D11 school: Nativity BVM (81 qualifying students). I wonder who would win if they faced off?

GUY & PAM’S 2022 SCOREBOARD

District 11 & Related—Every School Play Varsity or JV Home Game 2021 or 2022, and a Varsity Game at Some Point All-Time (Bold = Still to See)

Current: 46 of 63