Lehigh Valley Gridiron Tidbits October 24th-31st.

Tagged under: District 11, News

Brian Ptashinski | October 28, 2020

We’ve come to the last week of the regular season in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Colonial Leagues, and some of the district playoff scenarios have not been completely settled. We know 36 teams will make-up the entire field in six classifications. As of now 13 slots remain open, by late Saturday night those spots will be filled.

The district tournament will begin on November 6th and run till the 20th. Those teams either eliminated from the playoffs or those who fail to qualify can schedule games during that period so as long as they don’t succeed the ten game maximum.

All quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at the homes of the higher seed. The championship games will be at neutral sites, if possible.

Notre Dame Green Pond (6-0) canceled their final two games with Old Forge and Wilson, but have enough wins to qualify for the playoffs and will quarantine until November 2nd. Also the “Battle of Bethlehem” Between Liberty and Freedom has been put on hold, and hasn’t been decided if the game will even be played as Liberty had a couple of positive Covid cases. Freedom has qualified for districts, while Liberty is on the outside looking in.

Some of the key match-ups in the EPC from this past weekend included a 286 yard rushing performance on 27 carries and a touchdown by Easton’s Nahjee Adams in the Red Rovers 21-14 victory over Northampton Friday night. Easton (2-2) sits in the seventh spot in 6A and will solidify their position with a victory over rival Nazareth this Friday.

Brandon Camire of Emmaus found the end zone four times in a 38-28 win over Whitehall. Camire had 76 yard touchdown reception as well as a 88 yard kickoff return and rushed for two more scores from 38 and 5 yards respectively.

Freedom’s quarterback Ethan Neidig completed 8 of 10 passes for 115 yards and threw for a score and rushed for another touchdown in the Patriots’ 45-0 shutout of rival Bethlehem Catholic.

In other scores around the EPC:

Nazareth defeated Bethlehem Liberty 28-0
Stroudsburg took care of Pocono Mountain West 43-21
Parkland knocked off William Allen 42-0
Pleasant Valley got their initial win 43-0 over East Stroudsburg North
East Stroudsburg South shutout their 3rd straight opponent 46-0 over Pocono Mountain East
Allentown Central Catholic dominated Louis E. Dieruff 47-13

This week’s games:

Northampton(1-3) at Whitehall(2-3)
Pleasant Valley(1-1) at Stroudsburg(3-1)
Pocono Mountain East(1-2) at Pocono Mountain West(2-2)
Bethlehem Catholic(3-2) at Allentown Central Catholic(3-2)
East Stroudsburg South(3-0) at East Stroudsburg North(0-4)
Easton(2-2) at Nazareth(5-0)
Emmaus(4-0) at Parkland(3-0)
William Allen(0-4) at Louis E. Dieruff(0-4)

In the Colonial League Northwestern Lehigh’s running back Nick Henry carried the ball 13 times for 105 yards and two scores and also was on the receiving end of a 64 yard scoring pass in a 55-28 win over Saucon Valley.

Matt Frame of Southern Lehigh racked up 211 yards on the ground on 15 touches and four touchdowns in a 56-27 win over Salisbury. Frame had scores of 70, 69, 8 and 3 yards.

Catasauqua snapped a 21 game losing streak by taking down Wilson 41-34 led by quarterback Nasir McLean who completed 7 of 12 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Oh by the way McLean is just a Freshman.

In other scores:

Palisades(5-3) defeated Palmerton(1-4) 30-20
Tamaqaua(5-3) 30 Pen Argyl(1-4) 14
Southern Lehigh(3-1) took down Bangor(1-4) 21-7

The District XI Official Power Rankings heading into the final weekend are as follows:
NOTE: x denotes teams that qualified for playoffs

1A (4 teams qualify)

x-Williams Valley 6-1 .604329 @Marian Catholic
x-Nativity BVM 5-2 .541225 @Jim Thorpe
x-Tri-Valley 3-1 .510398 @Panther Valley
Mahanoy Area 3-4 .446276 Shenandoah Valley
Marian Catholic 1-6 .260877 Williams Valley

2A (8 teams qualify)

x-Palisades 5-2 .610345 @Saucon Valley
x-Northern Lehigh 3-2 .515569 @Palmerton
Minersville 3-3 .385850 @Schuylkill Haven
Palmerton 1-4 .374898 Northern Lehigh
Catasauqua 1-4 .309387 Northwestern Lehigh
Schuylkill Haven 2-5 .306402 Minersville
Panther Valley 2-5 .258688 Tri-Valley
Pen Argyl 1-4 .248862 Bangor
Shenandoah Valley 1-7 .202108 @Mahanoy Area

3A (4 teams qualify)

x-North Schuylkill 5-0 .748051 Lehighton
x-Notre Dame Green Pond 6-0 .714523 Season Complete
x-Jim Thorpe 5-2 .613367 Nativity nBVM
Tamaqua 4-3 .491596 Pine Grove
Pine Grove 2-5 .420441 @Tamaqua
Salisbury 1-4 .373157 Southern Lehigh

4A (8 teams qualify)

x-Northwestern Lehigh 5-1 .671426 @Catasauqua
x-Pottsville 5-1 .671310 Blue Mountain
x-Allentown Central Catholic 3-2 .660259 Bethlehem Catholic
x-Bethlehem Catholic 3-2 .650730 @Allentown Central Catholic
x-Blue Mountain 4-3 .507766 @Pottsville
x-Saucon Valley 2-2 .502253 Palisades
Lehighton 3-4 .424144 @North Schuylkill
Wilson Area 2-4 .370655 Season Complete
Bangor 1-4 .363653 @Pen Argyl
East Stroudsburg North 0-4 .254427 East Stroudsburg South

5A (4 Teams qualify)

x-East Stroudsburg South 3-0 .846959 @East Stroudsburg North
x-Southern Lehigh 3-1 .588883 @Salisbury
x-Whitehall 2-3 .542756 Northampton
x-Pocono Mountain East 1-2 .497212 @Pocono Mountain West

6A ( 8 teams qualify)

x-Nazareth 5-0 .822075 Easton
x-Freedom 3-1 .776959 Season Complete
x-Emmaus 4-0 .740988 @Parkland
x-Stroudsburg 3-1 .689162 Pleasant Valley
x-Parkland 3-0 .678745 Emmaus
Pocono Mountain West 2-2 .607988 Pocono Mountain East
Easton 2-2 .564493 @Nazareth
Northampton 1-3 .488720 @Whitehall
Pleasant Valley 1-1 .478881 @Stroudsburg
Louis E. Dieruff 0-4 .322222 @William Allen
William Allen 0-4 .322222 Dieruff
Liberty 0-4 .289866 Season Complete

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews