Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: 40 Miles is a World Away

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

Guy Smith | September 26, 2023

This week Pam & Guy attended three football games out of nine events. The week began Wednesday with the “Wingless Wednesday” Micro Sprint races at Shellhammers Dirt Track in Leesport. Thursday we were at Panther Valley for their varsity game against Minersville. It was Guy’s Pick this Friday, and he went outside the (D11) box picking Upper Moreland @ New Hope-Solebury.

On Saturday we headed to DeSales University for Homecoming weekend. Guy graduated from DeSales when it was still Allentown College (of St. Francis DeSales). DeSales doesn’t offer football, but they do have 22 other sports teams. And no fewer than eight of them were scheduled to play on campus on Saturday, all free to watch. Unfortunately, an unrelenting hard and steady rain fell all day long, and three sports were canceled. Those were men’s rugby, a baseball double header, and men’s soccer. However, we decided to see everything we could and spent six hours outside in the rain. During that time, we saw women’s rugby 7s (twice), men’s lacrosse, field hockey, women’s lacrosse, and women’s soccer. As soaked as soaked could be. Great fun!

On Sunday we had tickets to see the LV Iron Pigs minor league baseball season finale, but that game was rained out. On Monday it was back to football, with Catasauqua @ Pen Argyl the pick.

GAME 26. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023. MINERSVILLE BATTLIN’ MINERS @ PANTHER VALLEY PANTHERS. On Thursday we headed back to the only D11 stadium with a roof, grilled burgers and dogs, excellent fresh cut fries, and popcorn for a buck. It was our third visit in three years to Panther Valley.

We had seen both teams play before, against Shenandoah Valley. The visiting Battlin’ Miners were 3-1, losing the week before by three to Williams Valley. The host Panthers were 2-2. Based on what we had seen against the Blue Devils, Minersville was the clear favorite.

In the first half, Minersville looked unstoppable, almost scoring at will on every possession. Yet Panther Valley hung in there. In the second half, Minersville’s offense stalled out a bit with a couple of turnovers and the Panthers kept the game from getting out of reach.

In the end, it was Minersville with a two-score 41-28 win but PV was stopped at the one-yard line on one possession, and threw a pick while on the ten in another possession, so you never know.

It really wasn’t as close as that seems though, because Minersville called off the big dogs a bit and likely could have added another score had they needed it. It’s a joy to watch Battlin’ Miner Luke Stevenosky run the ball. In this game, he had 272 yards rushing averaging 16 per carry and three TDs. Two weeks earlier we saw Stevenosky score six TDs, all in the first half. In just five games, he is already over 1,100 yards rushing and has 18 TDs. He is averaging over 11 yards per carry.

The Smitty’s French Fries are outstanding and they have moved into second place on the podium behind Pine Grove (Williams French Fries) in the race for the Golden Spud Cup. Shenandoah Valley rounds out the podium, followed by Jim Thorpe and Lock Haven University. But the season is still young and there’s lots of taters still to be eaten. Pass the salt.

One amazing snack bar factoid was that the home side refreshment stand sells Guer’s Iced Tea cartons while the visitor’s side sells Zimmerman’s cartons.

Overall, Panther Valley is one of the top stadiums in D11 to plan to eat your Friday night dinner. The Skook teams dominate the snack bars, with Shendo and Pine Grove right up there as well. We would like to thank Panther Valley for inviting us to attend the game as their guests.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Flame grilled burger on the visitor side.

GAME 27. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22. UPPER MORELAND GOLDEN BEARS @ NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY LIONS. Why this game? Well, Guy got the idea to see the six teams that have been included in with D11 as subregion teams since we started the blog in 2021. There were three that year, including New Hope-Solebury, and three different teams in 2022-2023 for a total of six. Last week we went to our first of the six, Abington Heights. We were supposed to go to see New Hope-Solebury as well but their Thursday night game against Jenkintown was cancelled by the Drakes. So, Guy changed his planned pick for this Friday to New Hope-Solebury.

New Hope is less than 40 miles from Easton, but when it comes to high school football it’s a world away. While Easton has a long and glorious high school football tradition, massive community support, a large top-notch band, and huge attendance at home games, New Hope-Solebury has…frankly, none of the above.

We arrived at 6:10 for the 7:00 game and there were few people on hand. They were setting up the refreshment stand and Guy asked, “Where do you buy tickets?” We were told we were early and the ticket seller wasn’t there yet. Pam headed over to the small grandstand to secure us a seat, while Guy waited near the entrance. At 6:30 there was still no ticket seller so Guy headed over to the seats as well. He even returned to get a picture of the teams entering the field minutes before game time, but there was still no ticket seller and the table and chair that had been set out had been moved against the building, so we assume everyone got in free.

There was very little seating. And we do mean very little. There was none at all on the away side, and the small set of stands on the home side were only five rows high. In talking to Upper Moreland fans, they said they were told they had to leave their band at home because there was no place for them. The away team band would have filled the entire seating area. The home team had no band at the game either, a quite unusual scene for a regular season game.

The very limited number of seats were eventually filled, mostly with New-Hope students and supporters for the away team. New Hope is known more for their theatre and art, and high school football appears to have almost no “community” following.

Although the turf field is nice, there is no permanent ticket booth, no permanent refreshment stand, no permanent restrooms, no permanent press box, and a scoreboard that doesn’t include “ball on,” down, yards to go, or time outs left. It only includes time, score, and quarter.

When New Hope-Solebury caucused with D11 for playoffs, they were 3A. They are now 2A. They entered the game with a 3-1 record, which included the Jenkintown forfeit. Upper Moreland on the other hand, was just 1-3 but are a 5A team. Surprisingly, even though the two teams are three classifications in size apart, they play in the same league and same division, Suburban One American.

New Hope-Solebury scored first but there was not a lot more for them to cheer about, as Upper Moreland took it to them to the tune of a not quite Mercy Rule final of 41-9. The Golden Bears got their second win, the Lions their second loss.

It was definitely an interesting experience for us, as less than 40 miles from Easton (and only 21 from Palisades), it was a whole different atmosphere for their version of Friday Night Lights.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Philly Soft Pretzel

GAME 29. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2023. CATASAUQUA ROUGH RIDERS JV @ PEN ARGYL GREEN NIGHTS JV. Having already seen the three new D11 JV fields available to us this year, we looked for a stadium not yet visited this season, fairly close to home, and an early start time. Pen Argyl fit the bill for all three, and they were hosting our Roughies.

As the Pen Argyl stadium has no lights, they play their varsity home games on Saturday afternoons. What that means for the Monday JV games is an earlier-than-most 4:00 start.

Since we started the blog in 2021 we had seen 21 of the D11 schools play home JV games. Of those 21 schools, 17 of them offered free admission for the JV games. Four schools charged two or three bucks. Pen Argyl was the first school we saw who charges $5 for JV. That’s on par with a lot of varsity games, and even more than some. On the one hand it seems over the top since the taxpayers already paid for the stadium and fund the team.

But we look at it from the opposite point of view. The previous Monday we went to the ACC JV game. Admission was free, but the scoreboard didn’t work, there was no announcer, the snack bar was closed, and the bathrooms were locked. At Pen Argyl, all of the above were operational at a “varsity” level. We’d rather pay $5 and have access to common amenities over free admission and have to look for a secluded tree to take a leak.

It was misting when the game started but it soon stopped and it was a fun game to watch. We decided to fully support Pen Argyl for having a well above average snack bar for JV games, and bought dogs, mac ‘n cheese, and popcorn. As far as we can remember, this was the first time we found popcorn at JV games. And it was good, too. Just a buck.

This game probably could have gone either way but Catty made the plays when they most needed to, and earned the 18-8 win. Enjoyed this one a lot. The 4:00 start times could mean a return for one of the remaining regular season Mondays.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: Popcorn for a buck.

DISTRICT 11 HALFWAY STATS. Five weeks in to the regular season, and of the 50 teams (47 D11 + 3 Subregional teams), 41 of them already have at least one win and at least one loss.

Of the remaining nine teams, five are undefeated: Palmerton, Northwestern Lehigh, Bethlehem Catholic, Southern Lehigh, and Parkland. We’re picking all five to win again this weekend, although Becahi might have a struggle on their hands. Four are still winless: Salisbury, Wilson, Dieruff, and William Allen. We’re picking Dieruff to get their first win of the season.

D11 Power Ranking leaders so far: 1A—Minersville, 2A—Schuylkill Haven, 3A—Palmerton, 4A—Bethlehem Catholic, 5A—Southern Lehigh, and 6A—Parkland. The Eastern Football Conference has not yet posted their power rankings, as annual membership dues being collected until the end of September.

Of the nine sporting events on this week’s schedule for us, five are football games. Thursday @ Lehighton, Friday Pam’s Pick @ Schuylkill Haven, Saturday afternoon at West Chester U., Saturday night @ Dieruff, and a Monday JV game TBD. We always welcome feedback at RTRYFBAR@AOL.COM.

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 @ Muhlenburg 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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