Around District 11 With Pam and Guy: Strong Start by D11 Schools

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub

Guy Smith | August 28, 2024

2024 Episode 16. High school football is back! Way better than Christmas! The teams from D11 had a good week, with the majority of schools playing teams from outside the district. And D11 had a good showing. Of the 27 (of 47) schools that played outside teams, the D11 schools won twice as many as they lost, going 18-9. That was led by the Freedom Patriots, who defeated the Torrey Pines High School Falcons of San Diego, CA. For trivia lovers, pro skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and multi-Olympic gold medal snowboarder Shaun White both attended Torrey Pines. The other 20 D11 schools played other teams within the district.

Looking for a new quirky goal to chase, Pam & Guy considered adding a second PA district to our beat, but instead decided to add another twist to our D11 chasing. This year we have added a new category to our Scorecard (see below). The new category is for D11 teams playing regular season away games versus teams outside of District 11. And with that, we attended a pair of games where our D11 teams ventured outside the district boundaries. Unfortunately, although our schools did well overall, they lost both games that we went to see in person. However, both teams were playing up in classification, if that makes a difference.

2024 GAME 22. WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS (5A) @ WILKES-BARRE WOLFPACK (6A). Our first visit to this stadium, opened just a few years ago. What a beautiful facility! Can’t think of anything lacking here, although the play clocks were not working. And some Whitehall fans seemed unhappy that there were no permanent restrooms on the visitor side, although there are not at Whitehall’s stadium either.

Guy wore his Whitehall Zephyrs basketball shirt which was a gift from dear friend and colleague, the late Ron Madouse. Ron gave me the shirt when he was an assistant basketball coach at Whitehall and I used to record games featuring upcoming Whitehall opponents off Blue Ridge Cable, as none of their coaches lived in Blue Ridge Cable area. He called me their “eScout.”

We had a nice experience right off the bat. Admission was $4, which is low to begin with for varsity high school football in the area. The sign said Seniors were free. That is an extremely nice gesture, and goes even beyond other schools that offer Senior discounts or even free admission to Seniors that live within the school district boundaries. The only flaw is that the sign didn’t say what they consider a Senior, and that can fluctuate from anywhere between 55-65. Guy asked, and was told 65. Pam said, “Aww, just missed.” The ticket seller asked my age and when I said 64 and a half, she said “Close enough, welcome to our stadium and enjoy the game.” That was a very nice gesture as she could clearly see I was a Whitehall person from my shirt.

Our refreshment stand reviews are a popular part of our blog, as many tell us they look forward to that more than anything else in the weekly submission. However, one person gave us pause to think. He said he loved reading about our favorite foods at each stadium’s concessions, but what if he liked different foods? His suggestion was that we present a comprehensive menu so readers can see what their choices would be if visiting. Sounds like a good idea. That’s why we love the feedback. Please email us with yours.

Main Concession. Pizza $2, Chicken Wing Pizza $3, Hot Dog $2, Chili Dog $3, Hamburger $3, Cheese Burger $4, Empanada (Beef or Chicken) $5, Chicken Tenders 3/$5, Pierogies 3/$5, Spaghetti $3, Nachos & Cheese $3, Nachos with Buffalo Chicken Dip $4, Walking Taco, $4, Churro $3. Plus: chips, candy, drinks from 1$-3$.

Visitor Side Stand. Marching Taco $5, Hot Dog $3, Cheese Burger $5, Chicken Sandwich $5, Nachos & Cheese $4, Nachos with Buffalo Chicken Dip $5. Plus: pickles, chips, cookies, brownies, candy, and drinks $2-$3.

Odd that they charge people on the visitor side more for many of the items than they charge for the same items on the home side. Not too often do you see empanadas or spaghetti on the menu. We went with the chicken empanadas and pierogies, both of which were excellent. Later, we tried the chicken sandwich on the visitor side. There is a mandatory .5 deduction for no fresh cut fries, and another .5 for no fries at all. Plus, they did not earn the popcorn bonus point.

The game didn’t go so well for Whitehall. They were outplayed basically from the start, but kept it scoreless for most of the first half. Two second quarter scores by WB and a Zephs field goal made it 13-3 at the half. WB turned it on in the second half and eventually led 27-3. With the Zephs needing three touchdowns & three 2-point conversions to tie, Whitehall got their first touchdown of the season. But when they went for one and kept it a three-score game, we knew that they knew it was a done deal.

The fact that the Wolfpack gained almost 500 offensive yards and 20 more first downs than Whitehall did not dissuade the visitor fans from blaming the loss on the officials. Fan Quote of the Game: “I’m not counting this as a loss because they play dirty.” Oh, brother.

2024 GAME 23. SHENANDOAH VALLEY BLUE DEVILS (2A) @ COLUMBIA-MONTOUR VO-TECH RAMS (4A). On Saturday afternoon we headed to Bloomsburg and our first-ever trip to Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech. Admission was $6. This is a grass field and with no fence or track around the field, giving it the look of a JV, practice, or little league stadium. There are small stands on both the home and away sides. However, it does have a nice scoreboard and public address system, and a good announcer. And the play clock was working for this game. In addition to the stands, there is a fairly large area on the home side hill where people watch from lawn chairs.

For a smaller school, they had a very nice concession setup. The main stand featured Hot Dogs $2 (add chili or cheese for an additional .50). Big Ugly Cheeseburger $3, Nachos & Cheese $3, Pierogies $3, Pizza $2, Hot Dog $2, Mac & Cheese $2, and Pasta Salad $2. Plus: Pickles, Chips, Slim Jims, Peanuts, Crackers, Candy, and Drinks $1-$2.

And they had a fresh cut fry truck! Jackie’s French Fries offered Fresh Cut Fries $5, Cheese Fries $6, Gravy Fries $6, Funnel Cake $7 Red “Velet” (of course they mean velvet) Funnel Cakes $8, and Chicken Fingers $5.

We went with the gravy fries and pasta salad which were excellent, plus the pizza which was a good deal for $2. Jackie’s takes the early lead in the Fresh Cut Fry of the year standings.

Bottom line, both games had very nice selection, very tasty food, and very reasonable prices. Supporting the schools by eating at the games makes sense for the teams, pocketbook, and stomach.

The problem was that it was brutally hot and although the announcer correctly advised the crowd to stay hydrated, the refreshment stand ran out of water. And the Powerade sold so fast, it had no time to chill so was served warm.

Some are surprised that a vo-tech school has varsity sports, but Columbia-Montour has had football since 1971. Their best season ever was just 7-3, and they have had a number of winless seasons, including 2020 and 2021. But they have won five games in each of the past two seasons, so the program is in a pretty good place.

An interesting difference from the Lehigh Valley 6A schools where we grew up, Shenandoah Valley’s band didn’t arrive until almost halftime. The reason given was that there were morning soccer and field hockey games, and nearly half the band members play on one team or another. Had they arrived by kickoff time, it would have been with half the band.

Shenandoah Valley hung tough until almost halftime, in fact they took a brief 17-14 lead after a beautiful 41-yard field goal by a Blue Devil who we believe is a sophomore kicker. And that led to today’s Fan Quote of the Game: “That sucks. They should not allow soccer players to be on the football team.” Oh, brother.

But CMVT scored just before the half to retake the lead, surprised the Devils with a successful onside kick to start the second half, and never looked back enroute to a 48-17 win. It was a pleasure to watch CMVT run the ball, as they ran for 450 yards, 325 of them by Brax Brown alone.

With the home team running the ball 55 times, you would think this would have been a quick game. You would think wrong. Numerous injury stoppages for cramps and more stretched this one to nearly three hours in the brutal August sun. Perhaps very early in the season they should consider 4:00 kickoffs.

ONLY TWO GAMES THIS WEEK. If we could have gone to a Saturday evening game, it would have been Dobbins Tech at Allen. Guy had a pretty good feeling that his alma mater Canaries would be getting a win in that one. But our (read Guy’s, as Pam is usually just along for the fun ride) many quirky goals often overlap and we were committed to Path Valley Speedway Park on Saturday night. We sure didn’t expect the Canaries to pull off a mercy rule 57-0 win. Nice for them to be on the other side of one of those for a change.

We looked at Southern Lehigh for a JV game on Monday but yet another quirky goal was to break the studio record of 43 classes in a month at the place where we go every morning for yoga, tai-chi, and Pilates. We needed the Monday night yoga class for the August count. However, once September begins, Guy plans on weekly Monday JV games while Pam has decided to mostly stick with Monday evening yoga.

This coming weekend, we are again looking at two football games, on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. We have races planned for Wednesday, Friday, Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday; while the final yoga class of August prevents a morning JV game on Saturday. It’s all good in retirement. We highly recommend it.

Feedback always welcome at RTRYFBAR@AOL.COM.

PA FOOTBALL NEWS D11 STATE RANKED TOP 10 TEAMS

1. Northwestern Lehigh (3A)
7. Minersville (2A)
8. Allentown Central Catholic (4A)
9. Nazareth (6A), Notre Dame Green Pond (3A)
HM. Parkland (6A), Bethlehem Catholic (4A), North Schuylkill (3A), Executive Education Academy (2A), Schuylkill Haven (2A), Williams Valley (2A)

GUY & PAM BLOG ERA SCORECARD

PIAA District 11 Schools (2021-). Varsity home games for all District 11 schools that have football. (47/47)

D11 Alternative JV Game Sites (2021-). Seven of eight that we know of for schools that played JV games at fields other than where their varsity plays. Missed a 2021 Nazareth game when they played a JV football game at the middle school due to a conflict with soccer playoffs. (7/7 Active)

D11 Related–Special Events, Sub-Regional, or Former EPC Teams (2021-). Six schools placed with D11 in sub-regionals for district playoffs. Thanksgiving Day game at Lafayette College. One former EPC team. Missing one sub-regional team. (8/9)

All Star Games with D11 Players (2021-). Colonial vs. Schuylkill League, Lehigh Valley Football Classic, PSFCA East vs. West Small School, PSFCA East vs. West Big School, PSFCA Pennsylvania vs. Maryland Big 33 Game, Schuylkill League (6/6).

Out of District State Playoff Game Sites with D11 Teams (2022-) (G) Dunmore High School (Northern Lehigh Bulldogs), Bald Eagle High School (Allentown Central Catholic Vikings), Steelton-Highspire High School (Northern Lehigh Bulldogs), (G) Governor Mifflin High School (Pleasant Valley Bears), (G) Delaware Valley High School (Whitehall Zephyrs), Northeast High School Supersite (Nazareth Blue Eagles), Kutztown University (Northwestern Lehigh Tigers), Cumberland Valley (Northwestern Lehigh Tigers). Made this one retroactive and missed five from 2021-222 before adding this category. They were: Cardinal O’Hara (North Schuylkill Playoff Game 2021), Berks Catholic (Pine Grove Playoff Game 2022), Trinity (Executive Education Playoff Game 2022), South Philly Supersite (Northwestern Lehigh Playoff Game 2022), Germantown Supersite (Whitehall Playoff Game 2022). (8/13)

NCAA D2 PSAC Colleges (2022-). Eleven teams so far including former PSAC school Mansfield Mountaineers who now compete in Sprint Football. Still have six PSAC and two former PSAC colleges on the Hit List. (11/18).

NCAA Bowl Games / National Playoffs / or NFL (2022-). (G) D3 Delaware Valley Aggies, D2 Kutztown University Golden Bears, D2 Slippery Rock The Rock, (G) D3 Susquehanna River Hawks, New York Jets, New York Giants. D1 Military Bowl. (7)

GEFA 8-Main Semi Pro (2023-). 2024 Eight of 11 teams at home. 2024 three neutral fields: Kickoff Classic, Keystone Bowl, All-Star Game. 2023 three additional home fields. Note: 2023 Wilkes Barre Warriors (The Bog), 2024 Wilkes Barre Warriors (Exeter Panther Junior Football Assoc. Field) (14)

NEW FOR 2024! D11 Teams Playing Regular Season Games Outside D11 (2024-). Whitehall @ Wilkes Barre Wolfpack, Shenandoah Valley @ Columbia Montour Vo-Tech Rams. (2)

Other. NCAA D1 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, NCAA D 1AA Lehigh Mountain Hawks, WFA Harrisburg Havoc (Harrisburg High School & Palmyra High School), Harrisburg Stampede (PA Farm Show Complex), Selinsgrove High School (PIAA Playoffs), Fleetwood High School Tigers, Scranton Lions City vs. County Dream Game (Valley View High School) (8)

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