Around District 11 With Pam and Guy: 32-4 = Some Good Football
Tagged under: District 11, District 2, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | October 30, 2024
2024 Episode 25. There were three football games on our schedule this week, plus one auto race. The three games checked off a trio of mini goals for the season.
Friday was Pam’s pick, but Guy gave up six of our yoga classes to stay home with a flurry of construction workers so that Pam could go. As a nod of thanks, Pam handed over her final regular season pick, which was Nativity BVM. Guy likes the Green Wave too, but one of his mini goals for this season was to complete seeing a home game for all nine schools that had joined with District 11 for Subregions since 2021. If you recall, a few weeks earlier we went to Lackawanna Trail for their Friday night game only to find out it had been moved to Saturday. Guy took advantage of that extra pick and chose a battle of two state-ranked teams, undefeated Riverside at Lackawanna Trail, with apologies to our friends at Nativity. Now Guy is all caught up with the teams that subregioned with us in D11. Pam missed Holy Cross, but we will rectify that first thing next season.
It has been a couple of years, but on Saturday we returned to the BASD Stadium for the annual Freedom vs. Liberty game. With an 8-1 team vs. a 7-2 team, it shaped up to be a fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon. This completed another mini goal for this year, and that was to see all three games that make up the Bethlehem City Championship. All at BASD Stadium, we saw Becahi @ Freedom, Liberty @ Becahi, and Freedom @ Liberty.
With a combined record of 32-4 in the pair of varsity games we saw this past weekend, we figured we were in for some good football.
This was the final week of the JV season. Usually, we go to see the Freedom/Liberty JV game. But this year, with Pam skipping all JV games save one, Guy decided on a different rivalry and headed to see Pocono Mountain West vs. Pocono Mountain East. And that checked off a third mini goal, which was to see all six of the Monroe County EPC teams, as that is the county where we live. Since we can’t seem to get jazzed about football up this way, four of the six schools were JV game visits.
ARE THERE TOO MANY TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFS? Playoffs begin this coming weekend. There are 47 teams in District 11 that have varsity football. Of those 47, there are 36 in the state playoffs. Do 0-10, 1-9, and multiple 3-7 teams deserve to keep playing for a state championship? Perhaps a minimum of a .500 record (or five wins) should be required like in college (6). Our hearts go out to Tamaqua. While nine teams with losing records are in the state playoffs, Tamaqua is the only team with a winning record in D11 that has been excluded. Of the 50 teams (47 plus three subregion teams), 36 are in district playoffs, four in Eastern Football Conference championship games, and Catasauqua has their Thanksgiving Day game. Only nine of 50 teams are finished. Over 80% are still playing.
2024 GAME 50. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25. RIVERSIDE VIKINGS (2A) @ LACKAWANNA TRAIL LIONS. (1A). Having just seen both teams play the previous week, on the way up to District 2 territory, Guy said he would not be at all surprised if Lackawanna Trail beat the larger and higher-ranked school.
Riverside entered the game ranked third in the state and with a perfect 9-0 record. Lackawanna Trail, a 1A school, was ranked sixth and sported a single loss, on the road to 9-1 state honorable mention Western Wayne, a school two classifications higher, in the season’s second game.
We opted to sit on the visitor side as we figured correctly that the home side would be packed for this game. Being a small school, the refreshment stand offerings were not extensive, but the meatballs, pork barbeque, and pierogies were fine. The Menu: Hot Dog $2, Pretzel $2 (cheese add $.50), Pizza $3, Pierogies $3, Nachos $3.50, Mac-N-Cheese $3, Walking Taco $5, Pulled Pork Sandwich $6, Pierogies (listed again) $3 (still), Meatballs $4, Cup of Noodles $2, Pulled Pork Nachos (no price listed).
It was nice that they handed out free programs.
It looked like it might be a great back and forth game, with Trail scoring first, but Riverside taking a 7-6 lead into the second quarter. But that was all she wrote for the Vikes. The Lions roared and put up 36 unanswered points, invoking the Mercy Rule against the very soon to be no longer unbeaten Vikings. The Vikes did manage two more scores during Mercy Rule “mop up” time, but make no mistake, this was a blowout.
This was Guy’s 50th football game of 2024: 23 High School Varsity, 12 GEFA 8-Man Semi Pro, 8 High School JV, 5 High School All-Star Games, 1 Arena, and 1 Women’s Professional. Amazingly, not a single college game so far. Looks like Wilkes University on November 16 will be the first of a very short college season for us.
One interesting observation while sitting on the Riverside side. At the end of the first quarter, their entire cheer squad vacated the track and an entire new bunch of students took over for Q2. Just by happenstance for that quarter, Miss Viking (Ava Sasso) sat right in front of us. We had a chance to speak to her, and she said that at all their games, the JV squad cheers for the second quarter of the varsity game. Great idea, and a way to keep the pipeline flowing. Not surprisingly, they had a full contingent of JV cheerleaders. That is in contrast to recent games Guy saw at Pleasant Valley and Stroudsburg, where they each had but five.
Enjoyed yet another visit to District 2. Just in the past two years, we “Crossed the Line” and went to Abington Heights, Delaware Valley, Hazleton, Holy Cross, Lackawanna Trail, North Pocono, Old Forge, Wilkes Barre, and Wyoming Valley West. We might just end up seeing all of them yet. Just two dozen to go.
2024 GAME 51. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26. FREEDOM PATRIOTS (6A) @ LIBERTY HURRICANES (6A). The Pates blew their chance to run the regular season table after giving up the lead and losing by less than a score to a surging Easton Rovers team. But they entered the game 8-1. Liberty started off 6-0, lost a couple, then rebounded with a come from behind win over Bethlehem Catholic to enter the game at 7-2.
We had been to this game many times, as Guy spent 30 years teaching in the BASD, the entire time at either Freedom or Liberty. The vast majority of the time was at Freedom, and that’s the side where we sit. We skipped this game for the past couple of years, and it was good to be back; it even washed away the sour taste of being forced to pay the online ticket purchasing fees. The public school games at BASD are the highest ticket price of any regular season high school game we have attended this year. In fact, one ticket this afternoon cost more than both tickets at Lackawanna Trail the night before.
This game used to be played on Friday night, but it was moved to Saturday afternoon due to underage drinking and hooliganism. But they found the afternoon time slot to be far better in a number of ways. There are two big tailgate lots, one for each school. Playing in the afternoon gives the event more of a big college-game atmosphere.
The stadium seats 14,000 and they were just about all full. We don’t remember crowds of this size when the game was on Friday night. We have never seen a pregame show to match the one presented each year by the Bethlehem Area School District. The Liberty Grenadier band has a banner that says “Second to None” and we don’t dispute that. They are fabulous. But the entire BASD music program is exemplary and something to be proud of. While Liberty has the bagpipers, Freedom has the fife and drum corps. For this game, all six BASD secondary school marching bands take the field one at a time until they are all out together to play both school alma maters and the national anthem. This year, the BASD combined secondary band included an amazing 625 musicians. A sight to see. Bethlehem Forever.
A highlight of any FHS game at BASD is getting a chance to see Shadow the dog run out on the field after every Freedom kickoff and retrieve the kicking tee.
Refreshment stand offerings at BASD are underwhelming to begin with, and they don’t bring anything different in for this game. We went out for breakfast on the way to the game, although Guy did sneak in one of his beloved BASD turkey barbeques.
Having seen both teams play, Guy was sure Freedom was more than a one-score favorite. The game started out in classic Battle of Bethlehem fashion, with Liberty, then Freedom, then Liberty, then Freedom leading.
At the half it was still a one-score game, with the Pates up 30-24. But the second half was almost all Freedom. The defense pitched a shutout and the offense added two more scores and at the end it was a much more comfortable 44-24 final for the Pates.
Freedom running back Aaron Beete rushed for 359 yards as the team racked up 445 on the ground. For Beete, the performance was probably just one more carry short of setting the all-time Freedom rushing record of 367 yards held by Darius Webb against Parkland in 2009. And for the team, the 445 was 19 short of the school record against Northampton in 2002. If Liberty would have been able to keep the game a little closer, Freedom would likely have topped both of those rushing records.
Both teams advance to the playoffs, as does almost everybody.
2024 GAME 52. MONDAY, OCTOBER 28. POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS (JV) @ POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS (JV). Guy cut back on JV games this year, only going to Monday games and none on Saturday mornings. He also skipped one for racing and another for NCAA volleyball, making this his eighth and final of the season in District 11
All eight were either where the JV team plays at a different location than the varsity (Freedom, ACC, Becahi, and PM West) or teams we did not get to see a varsity game this year (Pen Argyl, Pleasant Valley, PM East, and Stroudsburg).
Admission to the game was free, as were seven of the eight attended. Only Pen Argyl charged spectators of the eight visited this season. Despite the fact that the game was free, they still had a limited hot food menu consisting of hot dogs and walking tacos.
The PM West vs. East game is called “The Pride of the Mountain.” Both schools want to win badly, and that includes the JV and Junior High games. This year, all three games were good ones. All were decided by less than one score.
Guy had seen both of these JV teams play before. He was at PMW to see them edge Dieruff 6-0 on the grass field. He saw PME play twice, in a scrappy one-score loss to favored Bethlehem Catholic and in an 18-0 shutout of Pleasant Valley (“We Got the Bucket!”)
After a scoreless first quarter, West got on the scoreboard first with a nice endzone toss and catch. And that was the winning score. Despite the fact that the East Cardinals drove down the field several times, the defense held at the right times and 6-0 was the final score.
And even though the margins of victory were only four, six, and six, Pocono Mountain West won all three pride games this year.
Looking at football, football, racing, and college ice hockey this week. Feedback always welcome at RTRYFBAR@AOL.COM.
DISTRICT 11 TOP RATED TEAMS (FINAL). 1A) Lackawanna Trail (D2 Subregion team). The top ranked true D11 team is Tri-Valley in second. 2A) Schuylkill Haven replaces Williams Valley. 3A) Northwestern Lehigh. 4A) Southern Lehigh. 5A) East Stroudsburg South. 6A) Easton.
DISTRICT 11 UNDEFEATED TEAMS (10 GAMES). Northwestern Lehigh is the only team in D11 to run the regular season table. Three D11 teams are still winless, two of them are finished for the season. Pleasant Valley gets the rare opportunity to go 0-11. Congrats to the Bangor Slaters who got off the schneid in their final opportunity with a single-point victory over four-win Pen Argyl.
PA FOOTBALL NEWS D11 STATE RANKED TOP 10 TEAMS
- Northwestern Lehigh (3A–Same)
- Schuylkill Haven (2A—Up! Was 6)
- Williams Valley (2A—Up! Was 9)
- Lackawanna Trail (1A—D2 in Subregion with D11, Same)
- Easton (6A—UP! Was 9)
- Freedom (6A—Up! Was 10)
- Notre Dame Green Pond (3A—Up! Was 10)
- Southern Lehigh (4A—Same)
- Minersville (2A—Same)
- Nativity BVM (1A—Up! Was NR)
Dropped Out: Parkland (6A)
EASTERN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE
District 11 teams in an Eastern Football Conference Championship Game.
5A/6A. William Allen hosts Muhlenburg Township. Note: Dieruff opted out of hosting the big school championship game.
4A. None (Hamburg @ North Pocono)
3A. Pequea @ Tamaqua
1A/2A. Holy Cross @ Old Forge (D11 Subregion Teams)
PA COLLEGE TEAMS NATIONALLY RANKED
Penn State (FBS) (#3)
Pittsburgh (FBS) (#17)
Villanova (FCS) (#13)
Kutztown (D2) (#4)
Slippery Rock (D2) (#14)
California (D2) (#23)
Susquehanna (D3) (#6)
Carnegie Mellon (D3) (#16)
Grove City (D3) (#18)
Washington and Jefferson (D3) (#23)
GUY & PAM BLOG ERA TEAM SCORECARD
(Additions This Week: Lackawanna Trail)
2021-2024
47/47. All District 11 Varsity Football Teams at Home.
7/8. District 11 JV Teams Playing at Different Locations Than Varsity.
11/11. D11 related: Subregional Teams, Special Events or Former EPC Teams.
6/6. All-Star Games with D11 Players.
8/13. Outside D11 State Playoff Game Sites with D11 Teams.
2022-2024
11/19. NCAA D2 PSAC Colleges Including Former PSAC Schools.
- NCAA Bowl Games, National Playoffs, or NFL.
2023-2024
14/20. GEFA 8-Man Semi Pro football.
2024
2/18. D11 Teams Playing Regular Season Games Outside D11. This is where the fun will be next year.
Total: 113
Plus 9 “Other”
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