Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: 2-4 Pates Shutout 5-1 Hawks

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

Guy Smith | October 10, 2023

As usual, the plan for the coming week when we wrote last week’s blog changed with the weather forecast. This time football was the benefactor and we went from only a pair of planned games to double that.

The only day that changed was Saturday. On Tuesday it was Del Val vs. DeSales in NCAA varsity golf at Brookside Country Club. On Wednesday we headed to Emmaus to support Billy Splain and the crew of “The State of PA Football” as they broadcasted live from Volpe’s Sports Bar. On Thursday there was no game at any of the District 11 stadiums, although the Executive Academy Raptors did play an afternoon game in Philadelphia against Sammy Sels at the Northeast Supersite. We passed on Philly weekday rush hour traffic.

Friday it was Pam’s Pick. This was her second week in a row with the Friday pick as we negotiated a trade of weeks seven and eight, giving Pam the choice on two straight Fridays and Guy choice the next two. Pam was leaning towards Nazareth at Whitehall, but then after hearing the Southern Lehigh coach and players speak in person on Wednesday, put their game in contention as well. By Friday at noon, she was still undecided, flipped a coin, and it came up Zephyrs.

Saturday was the day with the changes. All along the morning plan was to head to DeSales University for their cross-country invitational. After the last runner crossed the finish line, we had been to all 11 of the DeSales fall sports teams this semester. The other event was supposed to be the races at the Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton. But Mahoning cancelled on Friday based on the forecast, and that allowed us the opportunity to add a football double: Wilson in the afternoon and a Bethlehem City Championship game in the evening. On Sunday Pam passed as Guy got a race in at the Oreville Kart Club.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2023. THE STATE OF PA FOOTBALL, VOLPE’S SPORTS BAR, EMMAUS, PA. Billy Splain and the PA Football News production crew came to District 11, and we felt we should be there in person to support the show being broadcast from our district. Joining Billy as on-air hosts were “Hollywood” Brian Ptashinski and Torey Petruno. Guests were Southern Lehigh Spartans head coach Phil Sams and the five team captains, and Emmaus Hornets head coach Harold Fairclough and four of his top players. We enjoyed dinner while watching the show. Guy says try the wings with the honey hot sauce! It was a nice chance to see the coach and some players and get to know them a bit more than just as players on the field. Hopefully they will bring the show back to another District 11 location sometime in the future. If we weren’t heading in the other direction to have a late lunch with Pam’s stepfather this Wednesday, we might have just headed out to Elysburg to see the show again, as our Outside District 11 favorite Southern Columbia Tigers are one of the guests this week.

GAME 34. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2023. NAZARETH BLUE EAGLES @ WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS. The chance to see a matchup between two very good teams brought us to Whitehall. The 5A Zephs had a record of 4-2, losing only to single loss Becahi and unbeaten Parkland. The 6A Blue Eagles had to be the favorite with their 5-1 record and the only blemish a one-score loss to Parkland.

We have been to 25 high school football games in the first seven weeks of the season and Whitehall was the one and only school that had online ticketing as the only payment option. We are not against online ticket options, but are not fans of schools that make them the only option and do not accept cash. We don’t mind one bit paying five bucks for JV games or ten bucks for french fries to support schools, but we don’t like being forced to pay “fees” to purchase a ticket to high school sports, not necessary if also providing a cash gate ticket purchase option. As a result of the fees, this game had the most expensive admission cost of the 25 high school football games we have been to so far in 2023.

We arrived early as we have a couple of friends, Robbie Petrosky and Jake Blozinsky, who are coaches on the Nazareth team. We had the opportunity to chat with both before the game.

Whitehall is a good stadium to eat dinner before the game. Besides two refreshment stands, they have a temporary setup from an outside caterer, Island Expressions. Excellent fresh cut fries there, with quite a bit of exotic fried options as well. We tried the fried shrimp, just because it’s not a usual option at high school football. Whitehall also had a coffee truck, something Guy has been advocating would be a money maker for years. Although it was a bit chilly, they also had a Kona Ice shaved ice truck there as well.

We both agreed that these were the best two teams we had seen play so far this year. Whitehall is good, and certainly may return to the 5A district championship game, but Nazareth looked even better. They slowly pulled away enroute to a convincing 41-17 win behind sophomore QB Peyton Falzone, who is fewer than ten yards short of 1,500 passing yards in just seven games. He’s added a couple hundred yards on the ground as well. It will be interesting to see just how good this kid gets.

We hope to see both teams again come playoff time.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Shrimp and fresh cut fries.

GAME 35. SATURDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 7, 2023. BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLES @ WILSON WARRIORS. We spent the morning at DeSales for the cross-country invitational, where it rained on and off. With the races already postponed, we planned a football double. Since we had already been to Pen Argyl a couple of weeks ago for a JV game, we chose Wilson, where we had not yet been this season. Not knowing if it would be raining during the game, we stopped in Hellertown for a couple slices in case it was overly wet at the game.

Then, on to Wilson. We sat on the visitor side for no reason other than we had never watched a game from that side before. Wilson is suffering through a rough period with minimal on the field football success, and with the chance of rain the crowd was way down, perhaps the smallest we’ve seen for a home team since the pandemic “no fan” games. There were fewer than 100 in the stands at kickoff, and the visiting Blue Mountain Eagles had a larger fan turnout.

In the recent past, large Lehigh Valley stadiums like Allentown and Bethlehem have no longer included fresh cut fries on their game day menu. Therefore, it was a very pleasant surprise to see Wilson add them to their main refreshment stand offerings this season. They appear a shoo-in for “Fresh Cut Rookie of the Year.” At the other stand, they offer Chic Fil A and the ever more popular mac and cheese, now a staple at the majority of games.

Wilson is winless this season, and Blue Mountain came into the game at 4-2. However, those two losses were to undefeated Northwestern Lehigh and undefeated Southern Lehigh. And the game against the Tigers was winnable, ending with a one score loss. We had just seen the Eagles the prior week, and they took down Lehighton 41-13. This looked like it could be headed for Mercy Rule.

But surprise! Wilson played hard and made some good tackles, and the first quarter ended scoreless. However, Wilson needs work and they are not ready to put together four good quarters against a winning team. The wheels came off the bus quickly, and by the time we headed out midway through the fourth quarter, it had turned into a 48-0 blowout. Additional props to the Blue Mountain cheer squad. They work harder during games than any we have seen this season.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Give those brand-new fresh cuts a try so they stay on the menu.

GAME 36. SATURDAY EVENING OCTOBER 7, 2023. FREEDOM PATRIOTS @ BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS. No question about it, Guy is biased for the Pates, having worked at Freedom for over 25 years. But although Freedom entered the game 2-4 and Becahi was 5-1, Guy was very confident that the Pates would get the ‘W’ on Saturday evening and was telling everyone that wanted to listen, and many others that did not.

Although we had yet to see Freedom play, the season stats show that their 2-4 record is deceiving, as two losses were to state ranked Parkland and Nazareth, while the other two losses were by a single point. Becahi was impressive at 5-1, but they had yet to play either Parkland or Nazareth in the EPC South, what Billy Splain calls the toughest in the state. We had seen the Golden Hawks earlier in the season, but their easy win over single-win Pocono Mountain East made it hard to judge just how good they are.

Bethlehem is not one of the better refreshment stands stadiums in D11, so on the way from Wilson we swung through Northampton for Sante Fe tacos. Guy does like the turkey bbq sandwich at BASD, and always makes sure to eat at least one at each visit.

For Guy, it was great to be back in the stadium where he spent so many Friday nights for so many years. It’s a treat to see Shadow, Freedom’s kickoff tee retrieving dog, in action. It was also nice being on the visitor side with Freedom. At one time, this was the Pates side for all their home games and it brought back fond memories.

Before the start of the game, a moment of silence paid tribute to the late, great head coach Bob Stem of Bethlehem Catholic. Stem could be gruff and he sure wasn’t always politically correct, but from what we observed, when no one was watching, Bob Stem was an outstanding human being. Even though his Hawks kicked the Pates butts consistently while he was their coach, both Pam and I had nothing but the highest regard and respect for the man. We loved watching his teams play in the Golden Hawks glory days. Thanks for those memories, coach.

Freedom has been struggling on offense in some of their games this season, and on this night were held to just a dozen points by the Golden Hawks defense. But the Pates defense did them one, actually two, better. Three times Becahi drove into the red zone, and all three times Freedom stopped them for a turnover on downs.

Final was 12-0 Pates, as they shut out the previously one-loss Golden Hawks. The win gave the Pates a needed boost in the D11 6APower Rankings.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Turkey BBQ sandwich.

GAME 37. MONDAY OCTOBER 9, 2023. SAUCON VALLEY PANTHERS JV @ SOUTHERN LEHIGH SPARTANS JV. We haven’t missed a Monday game in three seasons. Why start now?

A Speech Therapist colleague of Pam’s has a son playing JV for the Panthers. We joined that colleague and her hubby to reconvene the old “Speechies and Spouses for Saucon” group.

We’ve been going to games at Southern Lehigh for a long time, from back in the day when they played Saturday afternoon games because they didn’t have lights, or when they rented them for night games. Since starting the blog, we have only been there for JV games.

After two weeks of $5 JV admission, today it was back to free for everyone. One good thing about the Southern Lehigh JV games is that the refreshment stand is open and offers some good hot food options. We enjoyed the Chic Fil A sandwiches, but also the pierogies in butter and onions.

Southern Lehigh is good this year, really good. And when the varsity is good, it often trickles down to the JV level when those players get more playing time in the varsity games. This team was no exception. Southern Lehigh was clearly the better ballclub in this one, and although Saucon had a few highlights, the result was a relatively easy Mercy Rule win for the home team. Really looking forward to see their varsity in action come playoff time.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Pierogies sauteed in butter and onions.

This was our 25th high school game in the first seven weeks of the regular season. All have been to see different teams. We’ve only been to one college game so far. Once again this week we are tentatively planning four game, again all for schools we have not visited yet this year: Tamaqua on Thursday, Hazleton on Friday, West Chester U. on Saturday, and Stroudsburg JV on Monday. Of course, that may change. It often does.

DISTRICT 11. Four teams remain unbeaten: Palmerton, Northwestern Lehigh, Southern Lehigh, and Parkland. Three are winless.

D11 Power Ranking leaders so far: 1A—Minersville, 2A—Schuylkill Haven, 3A—Northwestern Lehigh, 4A—Allentown Central Catholic, 5A—Southern Lehigh, and 6A—Parkland. No changes.

EASTERN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE. Championship game qualifiers as of October 9: 1A/2A—Palisades @ Northern Lehigh, 3A—Hamburg @ Berks Catholic, 4A—Berwick @ Fleetwood.

STATE RANKED BY PA FOOTBALL NEWS (Last Weeks Rankings): 5th—Southern Lehigh (5A), 6th—Parkland (6A), 7th—ACC (4A), 8th—Northwestern Lehigh (3A), 10th—Nazareth (6A), HM—Northampton (6A), North Schuylkill (3A), Palmerton (3A), Schuylkill Haven (2A), Minersville (1A).

GUY & PAM’S PIAA DISTRICT 11 & NCAA D2 PSAC SCORECARD: 2021 – 2023 (76 of 89)

Varsity or JV Home Game in 2021/2022 with Varsity All-Time. 1. Allentown Central Catholic Vikings (2021), 2. Bangor Slaters (2021), 3. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (2021), 4. Blue Mountain Eagles (2021), 5. Catasauqua Rough Riders (2021), 6. Dieruff Huskies (2021), 7. Easton Red Rovers @ Cottingham Stadium (2022), 8. East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves (2021), 9. East Stroudsburg South Cavaliers (2022), 10. Emmaus Hornets (2021), 11. Executive Education Raptors @ Muhlenberg College (2021), 12. Executive Education Raptors @ Lafayette College (2023), 13. Freedom Patriots (2021), 14. Jim Thorpe Olympians (2022), 15. Lehighton Indians (2021), 16. Liberty Hurricanes (2021), 17. Mahanoy Area Golden Bears (2021), 18. Marian Catholic Colts (2021), 19. Minersville Battlin’ Miners (2021), 20. Nativity BVM Green Wave (2021), 21. Nazareth Blue Eagles (2021), 22. Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (2021), 23. Northampton Konkrete Kids (2021), 24. Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (2021), 25. North Schuylkill Spartans (2022), 26. Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders (2021), 27. Palisades Pirates (2022), 28. Palmerton Blue Bombers (2021), 29. Panther Valley Panthers (2021), 30. Parkland Trojans (2021), 31. Pen Argyl Green Knights (2021), 32. Pine Grove Cardinals (2021), 33. Pleasant Valley Bears (2021), 34. Pocono Mountain East Cardinals (2022), 35. Pocono Mountain West Panthers (2021), 36. Pottsville Crimson Tide (2022), 37. Salisbury Township Falcons (2021), 38. Saucon Valley Panthers (2021), 39. Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes (2022), 40. Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils (2021), 41. Southern Lehigh Spartans (2021), 42. Stroudsburg Mounties (2021), 43. Tamaqua Blue Raiders (2021), 44. Tri-Valley Bulldogs (2022), 45. Whitehall Zephyrs (2021), 46. William Allen Canaries (2022), 47. Williams Valley Vikings (2021), 48. Wilson Area Warriors (2021).

Active Alternative JV Game Sites. 49. Allentown Central Catholic Vikings JV—Percy Ruhe Park (2023), 50. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks JV–High School (2022), 51. Blue Mountain Eagles JV—East Field (2023), 52. Freedom Patriots JV—FHS Turf Field (2022), 53. Lehighton Indians JV–Old Football Stadium (2022), 54. Nativity BVM Green Wave JV—High School (2022), 55. Pocono Mountain West Panthers JV—Old West Stadium (Grass Field—2023).

D11 Related (Special Events, Sub Regional, or Former EPC teams). 56. Easton Red Rovers @ Lafayette College (Thanksgiving Day Game 2021), 57. 2021 New Hope-Solebury Lions: D1-3A (2023), 58. 2021 Abington Heights Comets: D2-5A (2023), 59. 2021 WYOMING VALLEY WEST SPARTANS: D2-5A, 60. 2022-23 HAZLETON COUGARS: D2-6A, 61. 2022-23 WILKES-BARRE WOLFPACK: D2-6A, 62. 2022-23 WILLIAMSPORT MILLIONAIRES: D4-6A, 63. Phillipsburg Stateliners—Former EPC 2023).

All Star Games with D11 Players. 64. Colonial vs. Schuylkill League All-Star Game (2022 @ Schuylkill Haven), 65. Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic (2022 @ Nazareth), 66. PSFCA East vs. West Small School All Star Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt), 67. PSFCA East vs. West Big School All Star Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt), 68. PSFCA Pennsylvania vs. Maryland Big 33 Game (2022 @ Bishop McDevitt), 69. Schuylkill League All-Star Game (2021 @ Schuylkill Haven)

Neutral Field State Playoff Games with D11 Teams. 70. Dunmore High School (Northern Lehigh Bulldogs 2022), 71. Bald Eagle High School (Allentown Central Catholic Vikings 2022), 72. Steelton-Highspire High School (Northern Lehigh Bulldogs 2022).

NCAA D2 PSAC Colleges. 73. Bloomsburg Huskies (2022), 74. CALIFORNIA VULCANS, 75. Clarion Golden Eagles (2022), 76. East Stroudsburg Warriors (2022), 77. Edinboro Fighting Scots (2022), 78. GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS, 79. INDIANA CRIMSON HAWKS, 80. Kutztown Golden Bears (2022), 81. Lock Haven Bald Eagles (2023), 82. MERCYHURST LAKERS, 83. Millersville Marauders (2022), 84. SETON HILL GRIFFINS, 85. SHEPHERD RAMS (WV), 86. SHIPPENSBURG RAIDERS, 87. SLIPPERY ROCK THE ROCK, 88. WEST CHESTER GOLDEN RAMS, 89. Mansfield Mountaineers.

Missed (For Now). Nazareth Blue Eagles JV (Played a game at the middle school in 2021 when the main field was used for a varsity soccer playoff game), Cardinal O’Hara (North Schuylkill Playoff Game 2021), Berks Catholic (Pine Grove Playoff Game 2022), Williamsport (ACC Playoff Game 2022), Trinity (Executive Education Playoff Game 2022), South Philly Supersite (Northwestern Lehigh Playoff Game 2022), Germantown Supersite (Whitehall Playoff Game 2022).

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