THEY’RE BACK! Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: The Coin Toss

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

Billy Splain | August 30, 2023

Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: The Coin Toss

It took two seasons for Guy and Pam to see a home game (varsity or JV) for every football school in District 11. And for the schools that we went to see for JV during that time, we had seen varsity in the past, so we have seen a varsity home game for all D11 schools that offer football. Last year we added to the “D11 HitList” the half dozen or so schools where the JV team plays, at least occasionally, on a field other than where the varsity plays. We made it to four of those last year. We followed the District 11 teams into the state playoffs when they played at non-D11 fields. And we went to all six all-star games that included D11 players.

Guy wants to take it even one step further this year, and see a home game for the six teams that during the past two seasons were grouped with the D11 teams for Subregional playoffs. That pretty much surpassed Pam’s interest in being a “completest” and she said we need to get back to seeing regular games for our favorite D11 teams, stadiums, and of course, fresh cut french fries. That does make sense, and thus another of our famous compromises was born.

We agreed that we would take turns picking the game to attend during each of the ten Fridays of the regular season. The only thing left to decide was who would get the first pick. Thus, we staged “The Coin Toss” to determine where we would start our D11 high school season.

Guy and Pam entered from opposite sides of the living room, meeting at midfield, err, room. Pam called “tails.” It was tails! Pam had won the toss!

Guy headed to the “PA Football News” site (of course) and the incredibly useful schedule page. Pam soon sauntered over with a wry smile. “What are you up to?” she asked coyly. “I’m on PA Football News looking at the second week games to pick where I want to go when it’s my choice.”

Pam shook her head disapprovingly, but couldn’t contain a Cheshire Cat-like grin. “You’re on the wrong week,” she said. “Huh? Don’t you remember? You won the toss!” “No bro…I deferred.”

Now Dr. Pam ain’t no dummy. Temple doesn’t hand out Ph.Ds. to every pretty face that enrolls. In later conversation, there was actually some strategy in Pam’s decision to defer. It wasn’t just to be amusing, although it certainly was. She deferred so she had control of the even number weeks, which would include the final week of the regular season, the rivalry games.

By winning the toss but deferring to the second week, that left the first week open for Guy. And his pick was….

2023 GAME 10. SALEM (NJ) RAMS VS. EXECUTIVE EDUCATION ACADEMY RAPTORS @ LAFAYETTE UNIVERSITY. Always looking for something different, Guy’s first pick was to see the Raptors play at Lafayette College. Yes, we had seen the Raptors at Muhlenberg in both of their initial seasons. And we had also seen the Easton Red Rovers play at Lafayette on Thanksgiving. Heck, we have even seen the Lehigh Valley Legends semi-pro basketball team play in the field house there. But this year for the first time, the 3rd year program from Executive Education were playing three times at Lafayette, their scrimmage and the first two home games. Then they would play three at Muhlenberg, their home field for their first two seasons.

Not only would this be a new combination for us, but the opponent, Salem High School from New Jersey, would also be a team that we had never see play before.

With Guy being an Allentown city boy, he tends to have an affinity for the Exec. team. One thing that shied us away from attending their games last season is that they didn’t accept cash at the gate. We are not fans of forcing spectators to purchase tickets on-line with an added fee. The good news is that for the first time this year they are accepting cash for their games. Admission was $7 and it included a free fall sports media guide.

Both teams were coming off winning 2022 seasons with a championship. The Raptors won the D11 2A title with a last-second win over Catasauqua. Salem started fast last year at 4-1, then lost three straight, before winning four straight taking them deep into the state playoffs. Their season ended at 8-5 with a loss the week before Thanksgiving.

It was an interesting first half, with Salem scoring on their first possession, and Exec. doing the same. The game settled down and it wasn’t until just a bit over three minutes before halftime that Exec. took their first lead.

The Raptors pulled away in the second half, as a number of the Salem kids suffered injuries which definitely affected their play. The Raptors ended up with a comfortable 42-19 victory.

Perhaps the takeaway memory of the game was the swarms of gnats that blanketed the stadium, as bad as we had ever seen at a football game. Luckily, we had “Off” spray in the car. At least that offered some limited relief.

The game lasted ridiculously long, finishing after 10:00 p.m. in its fourth hour. This was the longest high school game we had ever seen that was not affected by a late start, weather, or other unforeseen delay. No way should a high school game last longer than an NFL game with their longer quarters and multiple TV time outs, without an obvious reason. The announcer read multiple D11 6A final scores before this game even started its final quarter. We have noticed the trend of high school games creeping longer and longer. It seems to us that it is the result of officials spending more time huddling for group discussions, taking longer to put the ball in play and wind the play clock, and so many players dropping on the field to have their legs stretched out by the trainers. High school games into hour four is something that needs to be addressed. Officials need to move the game along for the benefit of everyone involved.

The Rams have a tough schedule, with four of their first five games (and six of nine overall for that matter), on the road. The Raptors head to Berks Catholic this week, before returning home for their final Lafayette College game.

Smith’s Snack Bar Pick: None. The only items available were snacks and drinks from a pair of vending machines in the field house.

WE LOST MOM THIS WEEKEND. We did the ASHA 5K Saturday morning, and Guy was committed to covering the races at the Bethel Motor Speedway (NY) for Area Auto Racing News on Saturday night. We tentatively planned to stop at an out-of-district afternoon game (D2) for the Scranton Prep Cavaliers on the way to Bethel. That didn’t happen. For the past several months Guy’s mom had been in hospice in Easton, and three times had outlived the hospice nurse predictions as to how much time she had left. We visited her there every single day without fail. The situation resulted in us creating a somewhat morbid tandem schedule for “if mom is alive” and “if mom has died.” The Scranton Prep game was on the latter. Visiting mom took precedence. On Saturday, it was apparent that the end was getting close, and it turned out to be the last time Guy would see his mom alive.

Early Sunday morning, mom passed away at age 96, having been born in 1927. She was a fighter to the end. At the last, that may not have been a good thing, as she was in pain and suffering when awake for the last 10 or so days.

Our heads say this was without question the best thing for her at that point in her life. She had 95 real good years and less than one bad one, 2023. We would both take that deal. But she was mom, and the three of us had a very good relationship. Guy took his responsibility to care for her since his dad died 17 years ago very seriously, and they were very close, especially with Guy being an only child.

Mom loved sports, and her high school yearbook from 1945 called her an “ardent fan” that never missed a game for Allentown High School. She played and later coached basketball, was a champ in both tennis and bowling, and an avid golfer. She loved football, especially following the Allentown high schools, Penn State, and the Philadelphia Eagles. In her later years, we watched many games together with her on TV in her home in Saylorsburg.

Guy’s mom and dad took him to the William Allen and Dieruff High School games in the 1960s before he was old enough to start school. That love of football, and for the most part all sports, continues unabated to this day. The memories are many and the memories are wonderful. We will miss mom greatly.

2023 GAME 11. PARKLAND TROJANS (JV) VS. POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS (JV) @ WEST STADIUM (GRASS FIELD).

Guy’s original Monday plan was to head to Virginia for a figure-8 race at the Shenandoah County Fair. Since we had to plan mom’s funeral, it ruled out the Virginia run for this year.

But we caught a break as we had an opportunity to add one of the few alternate D11 JV fields to our Scorecard. Last year we saw Freedom JV play at the high school as opposed to the varsity games played at the BASD Stadium. Ditto for Bethlehem Catholic JV. We saw Lehighton play JV at their old stadium when a varsity sport was being played on the new all-purpose turf. And we saw Nativity BVM play their JV game at the school instead of the Saint Clair Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Last season we went to Pocono Mountain West for a Monday JV game and noticed the old grass field stadium located behind the new turf field stadium. Until that day, we did not know that the Panthers played JV games on a different field than the varsity. The groundskeeper told us that not only do they play JV games on the grass field, but all of their games are played there except one. Just our luck we picked that one! And as it was the last home game of the season, we had to wait for this season to begin to try again.

With the Virginia race out of the picture, Guy checked the schedules of our three remaining D11 schools with alternate JV fields and found that Pocono Mountain West would be at home and on the grass field, hosting the Parkland Trojans at 4:00.

We went from the funeral home to the gym to Pocono Mountain West, arriving about the same time as the rain. It rained fairly hard for about 20 minutes but by kickoff time the rain had slacked off and was not much of a factor for us the rest of the game.

Parkland had beaten the Pocono Mountain West varsity 54-7 on Friday and it was not realistic to expect this one to be much different. Parkland’s JV scored touchdowns on their first three offensive plays. Add a safety in between, and it was 22-0 less than seven minutes into the first quarter.

Parkland cooled off after that, and a combination of ten minute quarters, the PMW kids settling down and starting to make some plays on defense, the mercy rule running clock, abundant early substitutions by Parkland, and overall good sportsmanship by the visitors kept the final to 40-0. The Panthers clearly have work to do, but played better and better as the game wore on so there is something to build on.

Smith Snack Bar Pick: None. Nothing available, which is the case at about half of the JV games we have seen.

The running clock allowed Guy to scurry over to the new stadium to catch the end of the varsity soccer game being held there. Unfortunately, West didn’t score on that field either, losing to the Liberty Hurricane 4-0.

Although the loss of Guy’s mom made this a somber weekend, high school football was back and that helped take our minds off the passing of Mom. There is no doubt that Mom would have wanted to go to the games and as she would say: “Enjoy.” We did and will continue to do so, while not forgetting Mom and her love for high school football dating back to the 1940s.

We always welcome feedback at RTRYFBAR@AOL.COM.

PIAA DISTRICT 11 & NCAA D2 PSAC SCORECARD: 2021 – 2023 (70 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. Easton Red Rovers @ Lafayette College (Thanksgiving Day Game 2021), 9. East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves (2021), 10. East Stroudsburg South Cavaliers (2022), 11. Emmaus Hornets (2021), 12. Executive Education Raptors @ Muhlenburg College (2021), 13. Executive Education Raptors @ Lafayette College (2023), 14. Freedom Patriots (2021), 15. Jim Thorpe Olympians (2022), 16. Lehighton Indians (2021), 17. Liberty Hurricanes (2021), 18. Mahanoy Area Golden Bears (2021), 19. Marian Catholic Colts (2021), 20. Minersville Battlin’ Miners (2021), 21. Nativity BVM Green Wave (2021), 22. Nazareth Blue Eagles (2021), 23. Northern Lehigh Bulldogs (2021), 24. Northampton Konkrete Kids (2021), 25. Northwestern Lehigh Tigers (2021), 26. North Schuylkill Spartans (2022), 27. Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders (2021), 28. Palisades Pirates (2022), 29. Palmerton Blue Bombers (2021), 30. Panther Valley Panthers (2021), 31. Parkland Trojans (2021), 32. Pen Argyl Green Knights (2021), 33. Pine Grove Cardinals (2021), 34. Pleasant Valley Bears (2021), 35. Pocono Mountain East Cardinals (2022), 36. Pocono Mountain West Panthers (2021), 37. Pottsville Crimson Tide (2022), 38. Salisbury Township

Falcons (2021), 39. Saucon Valley Panthers (2021), 40. Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes (2022), 41. Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils (2021), 42. Southern Lehigh Spartans (2021), 43. Stroudsburg Mounties (2021), 44. Tamaqua Blue Raiders (2021), 45. Tri-Valley Bulldogs (2022), 46. Whitehall Zephyrs (2021), 47. William Allen Canaries (2022), 48. Williams Valley Vikings (2021), 49. Wilson Area Warriors (2021).

Active Alternative JV Game Sites. 50. ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS JV—PERCY RHUE PARK, 51. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks JV–High School (2022), 52. BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLES JV–EAST FIELD, 53. Freedom Patriots JV—FHS Turf Field (2022), 54. Lehighton Indians JV–Old Football Stadium (2022), 55. Nativity BVM Green Wave JV—High School (2022), 56. Pocono Mountain West Panthers JV—Old West Stadium (Grass Field—2023).

D11 Related (Sub Regional Teams or Former EPC). 57. 2021 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY LIONS (D1-3A), 58. 2021 ABINGTON HEIGHTS COMETS (D2-5A), 59. 2021 WYOMING VALLEY WEST SPARTANS (D2-5A), 60. 2022 HAZLETON COUGARS (D2-6A), 61. 2022 WILKES BARRE WOLFPACK (D2-6A), 62. 2022 WILLIAMSPORT MILLIONAIRES (D4-6A), 63. PHILLIPSBURG STATELINERS (FORMER EPC)

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, 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.

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