Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Whitehall is in D11 Playoffs

Tagged under: District 11, District 2, Gameday Hub, News

Guy Smith | October 25, 2023

This week we were at four football games out of seven total sporting events. We started Tuesday at the EPC girls’ volleyball semi-finals at Northampton. Thursday was Guy only at Liberty vs. Whitehall as Pam missed her first football game of the year. Friday we were in the rain for a Scranton Prep rout of Wyoming Valley West. Saturday afternoon PSAC football was Millersville at Shippensburg, followed by the half hour drive to Path Valley Speedway Park for the races that evening. Sunday was again Guy solo for the Modified races at Evergreen Raceway. We finished off the week with Pocono Mountain East JV football on Monday.

GAME 42. THURSDAY OCTOBER 19, 2023. WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS @ LIBERTY HURRICANES. All good things must come to an end. This was the last regular season Thursday night game in District 11. In the ten-week regular season, there were Thursday games in seven of those weeks, and we went to a game in each of the seven. Pam had a meeting and had to miss this one, the first game she has missed this season.

By coincidence, this was the third straight week we had seen Whitehall play, and on the third different day of the week. First it was a Friday game at home against Nazareth, then a Saturday away game against Allentown Central Catholic, and now a Thursday away game at Liberty.

The game had a 6:00 start. We feel games held on a school night should start earlier like this one did. However, although some of the Thursday games have done pretty well, this one had a pretty sparse turnout in the stands, particularly on the Whitehall side. Perhaps there is a correlation between the earlier starting time and the smaller spectator turnout, but even so, schools are in the education business first and should prioritize students’ education.

Having not having the privilege of seeing them all year, it was even more breathtaking than normal to see the Liberty Grenadier Band perform both the pre-game and halftime shows. Whitehall had only a skeleton band crew on hand as many of their members were performing in their fall show at their school that evening. For the Liberty band seniors, it was their final home game under the lights.

While a fresh cut fry truck remains a no-go for yet another season, there was an ice cream truck on hand. That’s the first food truck we’ve seen there in a few seasons. It’s not fries, but it’s a start. As usual, Guy downed a couple of the turkey BBQ sandwiches from the slim pickings of hot food offered at BASD.

This game was near the top of best games of the year so far, and the first overtime we saw in person. Whitehall, the defending district 5A champs escaped with a 23-20 win after Liberty failed to score in OT. Defending champ Whitehall has secured their spot in the D11 5A playoffs.

Liberty dropped to 2-7, but playing in the EPS South, they may be the best 2-7 team in the state. If Freedom hadn’t turned it up a notch with four straight wins, we could see the rivalry game this coming Saturday afternoon going either way. Even so, a win by the Canes is not out of the question.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the game. We bought expensive meet & greet concert tickets for a show in April that was postponed until Saturday due to illness of one of the performers. Had we known the show would be during football season….

GAME 43. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2023. SCRANTON PREP CAVALIERS @ WYOMING VALLEY WEST SPARTANS. This was one of the six D11 “subregional” teams that Guy snuck onto our hitlist. In fact, this was our fourth of the six to visit this year, having already been to Abington Heights, New Hope-Solebury, and Hazleton. Two to go.

We had seen WVW the week prior at Hazleton where they were Mercy Ruled by a 1-6 team, 50-14. This week they were playing 7-1 Scranton Prep, whose lone loss was by just four points. It seemed like it would be a mismatch. And it was. Guy picked it because it looked like it would be another rainy game day, and we expected another quick Mercy Rule game.

Admission was $4, tying the lowest adult admission price we have seen so far with Allentown and Abington Heights. Whitehall remains the highest at over $7. Despite the losing record and the steady rain, it looks like Friday Night Lights is the place to be, as they had a good crowd on both sides, Scranton Prep having a great season. Not an easy place to park.

When buying tickets, you had to state which team you were supporting and were given different colored tickets based on your choice as the police, out in full force, did not allow anyone to cross from one side of the stadium to the other. When we told the ticket seller we had no allegiance and just wanted to see football, she said we wanted to be on the home side because they had better snacks. Our kind of sound advice! We even had to go thru metal detectors to enter the stadium. I’ll say it again: Allentown gets all the bad press, but there are no metal detectors at JBC Stadium.

A nice pre-game tribute was done for Jersey Shore player Max Engle, #4. The entire crowd was asked to hold four fingers skyward to honor Max.

As expected, Scranton Prep’s first string had no problem rolling over WVW. Also as expected, the rain started just before kickoff. Only seconds into the second quarter Prep was already up 34-0. Soon it was 41-0 and it looked like Mercy Rule was a sure thing. But Prep pulled their starters well before halftime, and West punched one in to make it 41-7 at the break and we were a point short of Mercy for both home team and spectators.

Due to the rain, we did not go all-out at the refreshment stands. We did try the “Burger Boat” which was either a cheeseburger and hamburger plus fries for just $6. And no way we were going to pass up homemade apple crisp from the band parents stand. But the rain put a definite damper on dinner at a stadium that had a very nice selection at fair prices.

The West number one’s were superior to Prep’s number twos, and after the super quick 41 Prep put up at the start of the game, they never scored again. Meanwhile, West scored twice more in the second half to make the final 41-21, much, much closer when it was first string vs. first string.

GAME 44. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2023. MILLERSVILLE MARAUDERS @ SHIPPENSBURG (FORMERLY RED) RAIDERS. So much to do, so few Saturdays. This was only our third PSAC game of the year. But we are now past halfway in visiting the 16 current PSAC school stadiums, nine down, seven to go.

Guy had been to Shippensburg before, but Pam had not. Great parking here. Admission was $10, but we both got in for half price as senior age is 60. And a free program was included.

We like watching football at Shippensburg, but it is sort of an odd setup. The home side stands are huge, the away side quite small. In addition, the away side has no restrooms or refreshment stand. To get to either, you have to exit the stadium and walk around to the home side and reenter the stadium there, or go into one of the campus buildings to use the restrooms.

Neither team is having a great season. Both entered the game with 1-3 conference records, although Millersville was 3-4 overall and Shippensburg 1-6, their lone win a shutout over hapless Bloomsburg.

We were caught by surprise that there was a good bit of unexpected rain during the game. Since it was not predicted, we were not prepared as the rain gear, usually kept in the back seat of the car which we fondly refer to as “The Locker Room,” was at home hanging to dry from the previous night.

Incredibly, this was the 12th game this fall where we sat in the rain to watch. The first was the Pocono Mountain West JV game on August 28, the most recent the PSAC college game on October 21. The breakdown to date is seven high school varsity, three high school JV, and two college. Needless to say, it’s been a wet season.

Millersville looked like the better team for the first quarter and a half. The strong wind played havoc, as they missed a pair of field goals. About midway through the second quarter, a couple of picks changed the game completely.

While Guy hiked to the other side of the stadium to try in vain to buy some food, the lone long line was ridiculous. Ship took advantage of the turnovers and built up a 10-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Ship increased their lead to 13-0 before Millersville finally got on the board with under three minutes left. Their defense got them the ball back, but they did nothing and the final was 13-7.

This was a long game, lasting 3:15. Why, you ask? Because Millersville’s offense was so anemic that they could only rush for a total of 21 net yards in 32 attempts. That’s less than an average of one yard per rush. That forced them to pass often and errantly. The wind wreaked havoc with the passes, and Millersville ended with a cringeworthy 15 for 51 in the air (lots of incomplete clock stoppages), two picks, an average of less than three yards per attempt, and no TDs.

Although it was a long game, it was still fairly entertaining to watch because no team ever built more than a two-score lead and it ended a one-score game. We are still planning to see one additional new PSAC team yet this season.

GAME 45. MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2023. PLEASANT VALLEY BEARS JV @ POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS JV. We are now nine for nine in JV games this year, all different home teams. PME is not a usual choice for us to visit for several reasons. But the atmosphere at this game was great. It was a beautiful fall Monday afternoon for JV football, and the leaves on the away side trees were brilliantly colorful.

Admission was free. Refreshments at JV games can be hit or miss. Some places, like PME’s sister school Pocono Mountain West, have nothing. Some like Nazareth or Lehighton easily top a number of school’s varsity offerings. PME was a good one. Although their main refreshment stand was closed, the small one that was open offered pasta bowls for a buck. A dollar! And it was good, too. Plus, the $2 hot dogs were nice and well done, just the way we like them.

JV games are often great unknowns for us, since we don’t have close ties to the teams. You can’t really find much in the way of results or records online for the JV games. Thus, we tend to go by how the varsity teams are doing. That is not always an accurate indicator.

The Bears varsity has a winning record at 5-4, the Cardinals are 2-7. Thus, we thought this might be a PV rout. And when PV took the opening kickoff and scored in just a couple of plays, it looked as if that might be spot on. But it was not. The Cards played tough football, and soon caught on that PV was not going to throw the ball. It was still close nearing halftime, with PME holding a 20-12 lead and PV driving, but the Bears were stopped and never got restarted. The final was the Pocono Mountain East Cardinals 40, Pleasant Valley Bears 12. The game ended before 6:00 p.m., over three hours earlier than the JV game at Stroudsburg the week before ended. PME is definitely on our annual JV calendar.

As of now, looks like only two games for us in the upcoming final week of the regular season, Friday and Monday. But you never know as we are looking into the possibility of a JV double for Monday.

DISTRICT 11. Four teams remain unbeaten. Three are winless. Going into the final week, 19 teams have clinched district playoff spots.

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

STATE RANKED BY PA FOOTBALL NEWS: Allentown Central Catholic is now the highest ranked D11 team, 6th in 4A after Southern Lehigh remained unbeaten but fell four spots, all behind one-loss teams.

6th—Allentown Central Catholic (4A)
7th—Parkland (6A, unbeaten but -1)
7th—Northwestern Lehigh (3A, +1)
8th—Southern Lehigh (5A, unbeaten but -4!)
9th—Nazareth (6A, +1)
10th–Schuylkill Haven (2A, +1)
HM—Northampton (6A)
HM–North Schuylkill (3A)
HM–Palmerton (3A)
HM–Williams Valley (2A)
HM–Minersville (1A)

EASTERN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE. Championship game qualifiers as of October 23: 1A/2A—Northern Lehigh @ Pen Argyl, 3A—Hamburg @ Berks Catholic (Upper Dauphin out), 4A—Fleetwood @ Shamokin (Pottsville out), 5A/6A—Liberty @ Governor Mifflin (Williamsport to Districts).

GUY & PAM’S PIAA DISTRICT 11 & NCAA D2 PSAC SCORECARD: 2021 – 2023 (80 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 (2023), 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 (2023) 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), Trinity (Executive Education Playoff Game 2022), South Philly Supersite (Northwestern Lehigh Playoff Game 2022), Germantown Supersite (Whitehall Playoff Game 2022).

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