Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: 12 Straight Thursdays: Thank You D11
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | November 18, 2025
Not more than a few years ago, a Thursday night high school football game was a rare and special treat. It was like adding an extra week to the season, as we could go to another game.
Fast forward to 2025. District 11 gave us Thursday games for TWELVE (!) consecutive weeks, the streak finally ending this week when the PIAA takes over the scheduling. But we come right back the following week with the two Thanksgiving morning games. At one time, Thursday football the majority of the weeks of the season would have been unthinkable. This year District 11 gave us Thursday football for almost three straight months. Thanks for that, D11.
And while we are handing out the kudos, another thanks to D11 (and the Eastern Football Conference) for offering fans 65 years of age and older free admission to all playoff games. Guy, being of Medicare age, took advantage to the “nth” degree. Guy flashed the ID no fewer than nine times during the past three weekends for free game admission courtesy of District 11 (actually once from Eastern Conference). A very nice gesture, especially in the age of exclusive on-line ticketing and associated fees and taxes.
Although we went to six sporting events this week, just two were football games. Both were District 11 Championship games. The other four were all NCAA National Championship Tournament games. Two were D2 field hockey, one D3 soccer, and one D3 field hockey. All were at different campuses: East Stroudsburg, Rowan, Kutztown, and Scranton. Interestingly, the higher seeded home team lost three of the four; only the K.U. Golden Bears field hockey team won at home.
The two football games we went to were the 4A title game on Thursday featuring Bethlehem Catholic vs. Southern Lehigh at Catasauqua, and the 6A title game on Friday featuring a battle of unbeatens, Parkland vs. Easton in the Christmas City.
Going into the state quarterfinals, or the third last week of the 16-week season, District 11 has four teams still alive in the state championship hunt. That is the minimum though, as four games last week were district championships so a team from D11 had to win and advance.
PA Football News Polls. After 13 weeks, for the most part the District 11 teams that won last week moved up, and those that lost moved down. We still have four teams in the top five (the four still playing for the state title), and seven in the top ten.
6A) Easton: Defeated Parkland, and rose from 6th to 4th.
6A) Parkland: Lost to Easton and dropped from 4th to 10th
4A) Southern Lehigh: Defeated Bethlehem Catholic and rose from 4th to 3rd.
4A) Bethlehem Catholic: Lost to Southern Lehigh and remained Honorable Mention.
3A) Northwestern Lehigh: Defeated Notre Dame but remained 2nd.
3A) Notre Dame: Lost to Northwestern Lehigh and dropped from 3rd to 7th.
2A) Williams Valley: Defeated Schuylkill Haven and rose from 6th to 3rd.
2A) Schuylkill Haven: Lost to Williams Valley and dropped from 3rd to 10th.
2A) Minersville: Did not play. Season over. Honorable Mention.
AFCA National College Football Polls. Pitt didn’t last long in the FBS Top 25, dropping out after one week, losing easily to Notre Dame. Both Lehigh and Lafayette won in FCS, Lehigh remaining undefeated. Showdown this week. Villanova won in overtime to remain in the top ten. Kutztown also remained unbeaten and won the PSAC state championship in D2. The Golden Bears moved up from fourth to third after #3 West Florida lost in overtime. Franklin & Marshall made a big jump from Not Rated to #25 to #18 after knocking off #3 in overtime. Lots of overtime games last weekend.
FCS. Lehigh: Rank–4 (+/- 0)
FCS. Villanova: Rank–7 (+0)
FCS. Lafayette: Rank—24 (+1)
D2. Kutztown: Rank–3 (+1)
D3. Franklin & Marshall: Rank—18 (+7)
OUT. Pittsburgh
District 11 vs. the State. Whitehall lost big to Roman Catholic. The season record for the D11 teams vs. the state dropped by one and is now 36-17.
Undefeated. Easton and Northwestern Lehigh won to remain unbeaten and go to 13-0. Notre Dame and Schuylkill Haven lost. That’s 29 straight for Northwestern Lehigh, and 44 of 45. In Pennsylvania college football, Lehigh and Kutztown are also undefeated.
Still Standing. Six D11 teams are still practicing football this season. The four teams advancing to the state playoffs are Williams Valley (2A) and Southern Lehigh (4A) both with one loss, in addition to Easton (6A) and Northwestern Lehigh (3A) (both undefeated). Williams Valley avenged their loss by eliminating formerly unbeaten Schuylkill Haven, who had defeated them during the regular season. Catasauqua and Northampton play on Thanksgiving morning.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13. BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS (2) VS. SOUTHERN LEHIGH SPARTANS (1) @ CATASAUQUA MIDDLE SCHOOL. D11 4A CHAMPIONSHIP. TURF. This game had a lot more intrigue than another blowout rematch of a regular season blowout. Yes, Southern Lehigh had just one loss, while Bethlehem Catholic had four. But Southern Lehigh lost to a smaller classification school, albeit the unbeaten defending state champs. But all four of Becahi’s losses were to 6A schools, two classifications higher. They had no common opponents. Could the Golden Hawks, battle-tested in the tough EPC, hang with the Spartans?
They did for the first half, anyway. At the end of the first quarter, Southern Lehigh led 14-7. But it was a weird 14. Both of their PATs were blocked, but they added a safety. At halftime they were up 28-21 but were 0-3 on extra points, successfully going for two to get in sync.
The Hawks just couldn’t stop Southern Lehigh’s workhorse back Sean Steckert, who rushed for over 275 yards on an incredible 45 or 46 carries. We thought once they got a safe lead, they would rest him for the next game, but he just kept hammering. The final score was Southern Lehigh 49, Bethlehem Catholic 28. Southern Lehigh is the 4A district champion for the second year in a row.
Southern Lehigh will play undefeated Shamokin on Friday night at Blue Mountain. What jumps out at us when looking at the Shamokin Indians schedule is that at 13-0 and in the state quarterfinals, Jersey Shore is the one and only team with a season winning record that they beat. Southern Lehigh at least has wins over three teams that ended with winning records. PA Football News has Shamokin ranked higher. We’ll take the Spartans.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14. PARKLAND TROJANS (2) VS. EASTON RED ROVERS (1) @ BETHLEHEM AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT STADIUM. D11 6A CHAMPIONSHIP. TURF. The “Game of the Year” lived up to its hype, at least for the first half. A huge crowd turned out at BASD to see the two unbeaten teams square off for the district title. It was certainly the largest crowd we had seen so far this season for high school football.
Perhaps Easton came into the game motivated by their state rankings, as just about every state poll had them ranked behind Parkland, even though both teams had the same record and Easton had the higher Power Ranking in the regular season, thus earning the top seed for districts.
Parkland got the ball first but failed to score. Easton drove down the field and took the lead, 7-0, something they would never relinquish. Parkland drove but settled for three. The drives by both teams were eating clock, limiting possessions in the first half. The final three minutes were wild. Parkland scored to cut their deficit to four, then Easton took the ensuing kickoff to the house. Parkland answered and cut it back to four with under a minute to play. But Easton didn’t need a minute, and scored their fourth TD in four possessions, giving them an 11-point, two-score lead at the half and importantly, possession to start the third quarter.
Easton scored on their first two possession of the second half, opening up an insurmountable 42-17 lead. The Rovers scored touchdowns on each of their first six possessions before calling off the dogs. Parkland scored no points in the second half.
Easton won their first D11 6A championship in quite a few years and advance to the state quarterfinals this coming Friday against La Salle College High School. LaSalle is 10-1 with their only loss being to Roman Catholic, the team who mercy ruled Whitehall last weekend. Not what we want, but have to go with LaSalle in that one.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School ran for 83 yards in the Eagles win over the Detroit Lions, bringing his season rushing total 662, only good for 15th best in the league this season. His career total is now 7,878, still 57th best all time. Next up is James Brooks with 7,962.
Horizon. Pam is heading to a conference in DC from Wednesday through Saturday, so Guy is solo for football this weekend. All four D11 teams play Friday evening, so attendance at only one of those games will be possible. Guy just saw Easton and Southern Lehigh last week, but has not seen Williams Valley or Northwestern Lehigh yet this year. And he didn’t get to see Lehighton at all this season. Williams Valley gets the nod over the Tigers. With no area high school games on Saturday, it came down to NCAA National Tournament playoffs for either Kutztown in D2 or Muhlenberg in D3. Despite being a Kutztown grad, Guy will be going with Muhlenberg (he did take an advanced accounting class there once). We were just at Kutztown’s stadium last week (for field hockey), and haven’t been to Scotty Wood in Allentown in several seasons. With Pam back in playoff action on Sunday, we head to Bloomsburg for the NCAA D2 Field Hockey National Championship game, hopefully with Kutztown as one of the teams. The semifinal games are on Friday.
2025 District 11 Varsity or JV Teams Seen at Home or Outside D11. 1) Minersville Battlin’ Miners. 2a) Freedom Patriots (varsity field.) 2b) Freedom Patriots (JV field.) 3) Stroudsburg Mountaineers. 4) Whitehall Zephyrs (both varsity and JV). 5) Pocono Mountain East Cardinals. 6) Pleasant Valley Bears. –) Holy Cross Crusaders (D2SR). 7) Allentown Central Catholic Vikings. 8) Pen Argyl Green Knights. 9) Jim Thorpe Olympians. 10) Saucon Valley Panthers (both varsity and JV). 11) Bangor Slaters. 12) Pine Grove Cardinals. 13) Wilson Warriors (both varsity and JV). 14) Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes. 15) Executive Education Raptors. 16a) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (JV field). 16b) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (varsity field). 17) Parkland Trojans. 18) Panther Valley Panthers. 19) Southern Lehigh Spartans. 20) Catasauqua Rough Riders. 21) North Schuylkill Spartans. 22) Nativity BVM Green Wave. 23) Minersville Battlin’ Miners. 24) East Stroudsburg South Cavaliers. 25) Marian Catholic Colts. 26) Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils. 27) East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves. 28) Blue Mountain Eagles. 29) Pocono Mountain West Panthers. 30) Liberty Hurricanes. 31) Northern Lehigh Bulldogs. 32) Norte Dame Green Pond Crusaders. 33) Easton Red Rovers.
Season Finished: Did Not See Varsity or JV at Home or Outside D11 (12). Dieruff Huskies. Emmaus Hornets. Lehighton Indians (saw away). Mahanoy City Golden Bears (saw away). Nazareth Eagles (saw away) Palisades Pirates (saw away). Palmerton Blue Bombers. Pottsville Crimson Tide (saw away). Salisbury Falcons. Tamaqua Blue Eagles (saw away) Tri Valley Bulldogs (saw away) William Allen Canaries (saw away).
2025 Pennsylvania College Teams. 1) Keystone College Giants. 2) King;s College Monarchs (JV & Varsity). 3) University of Pennsylvania Quakers
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