Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: 57 Years Later
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | November 11, 2025
And yet another football week in the books with four games attended. On Thursday we headed to Southern Lehigh for the D11 4A semifinal. Of all the districts in the entire state, District 11 was the only one with Thursday games last week. Do we live in the best district or what!?
On Friday we were happily not tied to any particular game or team. All week long our plan was to head to Northwestern Lehigh for their 3A semifinal. But on game day, the weather forecast looked awful. We huddled to talk about it and decided to switch games and instead attend the other 3A semifinal, Notre Dame Green Pond vs. Tamaqua at Lafayette. Being farther east than New Tripoli, the rain would arrive there at least an hour or so later so we would at least get some dry football.
Saturday was a wonderful football double. The first was a very meaningful game for Guy. In October 1968, his Pop took him to see the Chicago Bears, with Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, in Philadelphia to take on the Eagles at their then home stadium, Franklin Field. The Bears beat the Eagles and QB Norm Snead 29-16 that day as the Eagles dropped to 0-6. They went on to lose their first 11 games before finishing out the season with two wins in their final three games. The Eagles left Franklin Field after the 1970 season, moving to Veterans Stadium and eventually “The Link.” Guy has seen them play at all three. But he had never been back to Franklin Field since that 1968 Eagles game. On Saturday afternoon, 20,839 days later (over 500,000 hours, over 30 million minutes, and over 1.8 billion seconds), he returned to the stadium for the first time since attending his first NFL game as an eight-year-old boy. The game was an Ivy League matchup as the Cornell Big Red visited the Penn Quakers. This was also our first ever “official” Ivy League game although we had seen Yale at Lehigh.
As a side note, we planned to go to Franklin Field in the fall of 2019 for a NISA professional soccer match for the Philadelphia Fury. However, the Fury played one road game, an 8-1 loss in Miami, then suspended operations and forfeited all the rest of their matches.
The 1:00 start in Philadelphia aligned perfectly with a 6:00 start in the Lehigh Valley for the D11 5A championship game featuring Pocono Mountain East vs. Whitehall at Catasauqua. We arrived eight minutes before kickoff. We love it when a plan comes together.
PA Football News Polls. After 12 weeks, District 11 has eight teams in the top ten plus one honorable mention, seven teams in the top half dozen, and five teams in the top four in the state. Very glad the champions are decided down on the field of play.
6A) Parkland–4 (+/-0)
6A) Easton–6 (+/-0)
4A) Southern Lehigh–4 (+/-0)
4A) Bethlehem Catholic—HN (NR)
3A) Northwestern Lehigh–2 (+/- 0)
3A) Notre Dame–3 (+/- 0)
2A) Schuylkill Haven–3 (+/- 0)
2A) Williams Valley–6 (+/- 0)
2A) Minersville—8 (+/-0)
AFCA National College Football Polls. Three (!) new PA teams made it into the top 25 this week. Pittsburgh is in the top 25 at number 23. And Lafayette also cracked the top 25. So did Franklin & Marshall. Lehigh remained at number four in the country as did Kutztown. Both are undefeated. Villanova is up to number seven, giving Pennsylvania six ranked, three top ten, and two top five teams. Slippery Rock dropped out.
FBS. Pittsburgh: Rank—23 (NR)
FCS. Lehigh: Rank–4 (+/- 0)
FCS. Villanova: Rank–7 (+1)
FCS. Lafayette: Rank—25 (NR)
D2. Kutztown: Rank–4 (+/- 0)
D3. Franklin & Marshall: Rank—25 (NR)
OUT. Slippery Rock
District 11 vs. the State. Since this past weekend was district playoffs, there were no games for District 11 teams against teams from other districts, except in the 1A subregion. Tri-Valley lost to Lackawanna Trail. The season record for the D11 teams vs. the state dropped by one and is now 36-16.
Undefeated. Easton, Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame Green Pond, Parkland and Schuylkill Haven all won easily in the first round of the playoffs to go to 12-0. That’s 28 straight for Northwestern Lehigh, and 43 of 44. In Pennsylvania college football, Lehigh and Kutztown are also undefeated.
Still Standing. Eleven D11 teams are still practicing football this season. That’s nine teams still in the playoffs for the state championship, plus two teams that play on Thanksgiving. There are no teams from the district remaining in 1A. In 2A, Williams Valley and Schuylkill Haven will meet for the district title on Friday. In 3A, it’s Northwestern Lehigh and Notre Dame Green Pond, also on Friday. For 4A, Bethlehem Catholic faces Southern Lehigh on Thursday. 5A D11 Champion Whitehall hosts Roman Catholic on Friday. And in 6A, it’s Easton vs. Parkland on Friday. Northampton and Catasauqua play on Thanksgiving morning.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6. BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLES (4) @ SOUTHERN LEHIGH SPARTANS (1). D11 4A SEMIFINAL. TURF. This was our fourth time to see Southern Lehigh this season, second only to Freedom’s five. The first three were JV games and none of them were on our original dance card. The first was because they moved their game from 5:45 to 4:00. The second was because they played outside the district at a school we had never been to. And the third was as the away team, but the home team was our backup choice when we woke up that morning. This was our first time seeing the varsity since late last season at Central Bucks West when they were eliminated by Bonner-Prendie, the eventual state champion, in the state semifinal.
This year the Spartans entered the game with a 10-1 record, losing only to unbeaten and defending 3A state champion Northwestern Lehigh. And that was just a one-score loss. Blue Mountain was 7-4 but already played Southern Lehigh and were shut out, losing by four scores.
For the second straight week, a high school brought in a snack stand ringer. The previous week it was Barley Creek Brewing Company burgers and fries at Pocono Mountain West. In a strange coincidence, on the way down to the game, Guy mentioned wishing there was a Potts Hot Dog Shop on the way to the game. When we arrived, we found that Southern Lehigh was selling Potts hot dogs. Divine providence. Easily the best D11 dog of the season so far.
Blue Mountain did score this time around. Twice in fact. But instead of giving up 28, they gave up 55 in an easy Spartan win. Sean Steckert ran 90 yards for a score on the first play of the game, ending with over 260 rushing and four TDs while going over 2,000 yards rushing for the season. Southern Lehigh looks really strong as their passing game is stout as well. Looking forward to seeing them again this week.
With the win Southern Lehigh moves into the 4A district title game against Bethlehem Catholic. The game is going to be again held on Thursday, at Catasauqua Middle School. Note to fans not familiar with the stadium: It is at the old high school (now the middle school), not at the new high school. Catasauqua is hosting the 3A, 4A, and 5A district championship games. Their new motto: “If we can’t play in it, host it.”
It could get interesting, as the two teams have zero common opponents. The Becahi Golden Hawks are 8-4, but those losses were all to the 6A schools of Liberty, Freedom, Easton, and Nazareth, while the lone Southern Lehigh loss was to a school one classification lower.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7. TAMAQUA BLUE RAIDERS (5) VS. NOTRE DAME GREEN POND CRUSADERS @ LAFAYETTE COLLEGE. TURF. The Notre Dame campus is under construction, and they have played their home games this year at Lafayette.
We planned to go to the Northwestern Lehigh game, but rain arriving from the west meant that if we went to this game further east, we would stay dry, at least for the first quarter.
This was our third time seeing football at Lafayette, but we have yet to see the Leopards play there. All three games were high school games. First, the iconic Easton vs. Phillipsburg game. Second, Executive Education played a couple of home games there. And now third, Notre Dame. Some day we will go see Lafayette play. We’d like to see them play against Bucknell, as Pam’s sister attended Lafayette where she was a two-sport athlete, and her late brother is a Bucknell Bison grad.
For a high school game, this is a very nice stadium to watch a game. We commented on how excellent the lighting system is, which is ironic since Lafayette plays almost all afternoon games. They had no refreshments available when Exec played there, but this time the refreshment stand was open and the potato soup is a contender for a soup podium finish, although entries in this category are down a bit this year, mainly due to Guy’s strategic planning gaffes.
Notre Dame entered the game with a perfect 11-0 record for the season. Tamaqua got into the playoffs with only three wins, all against teams with losing records. However, they did knock off the higher seeded Saucon Valley Panthers in the first round to get to this second-round game.
It didn’t take long for Notre Dame to take care of business and score, 40 seconds in fact. But Tamaqua engineered a beautiful drive on the ground, using up lots of clock and ending with a score and a conversion to briefly go up 8-7. But they couldn’t stop Notre Dame who soon pulled away.
By the end of the second quarter it was raining steadily. With the game easily in hand, we watched the amazing Tamaqua band and one more quarter, ducking out at the end of the third. The final was a 59-16 mercy rule whoopin’, not unexpected when teams that lost more than twice as many games as they won make the playoffs.
This sets up the “Other” Game of the Year this Friday as unbeaten Northwestern Lehigh faces off against unbeaten Notre Dame for the 3A title. At the same time, unbeaten Easton will be playing unbeaten Parkland for the 6A title, in the “Game of the Year.”
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 8. CORNELL UNIVERSITY BIG RED @ UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA QUAKERS. IVY LEAGUE. FRANKLIN FIELD, PHILADELPHIA, PA. TURF. This place oozes history. It’s the oldest still active college football stadium in the country; Penn first having played there in 1895. The Penn Relays also began there in 1895.
Franklin Field was the site of the Army vs. Navy football game no fewer than 18 times. As mentioned above it was the home of the Philadelphia Eagles during the years 1958-1970. The NFL Championship Game was held there in 1960.
Cornell vs. Penn is one of the classic rivalries in college football. It is the 6th most played rivalry, even pre-dating Franklin Field, having started in 1893 when Penn won 50-0. This past Saturday was the 131st meeting. For many years, until 1965, the game was played in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day. At one time the game was played in Philadelphia for 69 straight years. Penn is well ahead in the overall series, 78-48-5. Recently Penn had won three in a row against Cornell and nine of the previous ten going into Saturday’s game.
The visiting Big Red entered the game with a 3-4 record. But Cornell had turned their season around, having lost their first four games and won the most recent three. Penn had the better record, entering the contest 5-2.
We also were happy to see former Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawk Jared Richardson in action. The senior has over 50 catches, over 850 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns this year. His all-time totals for the Quakers are now over 2,300 receiving yards and 24 touchdowns. Richardson is a former First Team All-Ivy League.
Our general admission tickets were $23, not too bad for this level of NCAA football. Finding parking around the stadium is not easy, but we were lucky enough to get a spot in the deck directly across the street for an additional $23.
This was Penn’s Homecoming Game, and Pam was worried about a huge crowd being on hand. Guy told her there was no need to worry about that. Franklin Field currently seats around 53,000 and the announced attendance was 10,914. When “The Galloping Ghost” Red Grange came to play there, the crowd for a Penn game was over 67,000. When the Eagles played the 1960 NFL Championship Game there, the crowd was also over 67,000.
We sat on the Cornell side be able to take advantage of the beautiful sunny day. There were only a couple of refreshment stands on the away side, and two sandwiches, two sodas, and a candy bar cost $36. The same items at the high school game two hours later cost $12. And tasted better. Triple the price from a high school championship game to a college regular season game seems a bit excessive. That’s one of the reasons we support the high schools first and foremost.
Penn was the favorite, but Cornell played tough football. Near the end of the second quarter, Penn had a 10-6 lead. But the Big Red caught fire and ripped off four straight touchdowns. Despondent Penn fans were flinging their toast early and heading for the turnstiles.
With the game in the fourth quarter and Cornell up a comfortable 39-17, we headed for the exit to beat the inevitable backup in the parking garage, as it was pay upon exit which really slows down the egress. That was the final score, as Cornell won their fourth straight game to even their overall record at 4-4. Both schools are 3-2 in the Ivy. The mission, 57-years in the making accomplished, we sped north in search of game two for the day.
SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 8. POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS VS. WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS @ CATASAUQUA MIDDLE SCHOOL. Last season Guy saw the Pocono Mountain East JV team play three times. They lost to Pocono Mountain West by one score in the “Pride of the Mountain” JV game, and shut out Pleasant Valley in the “Bucket” game. But the most impressive performance was a one score loss on the road at powerful Bethlehem Catholic, where the Cardinals were still playing for the win on the very last play. At the time Guy said: “Those kids got game. If they stick together and play like this next year at the varsity level, people are going to take notice.”
This season, people took notice. PME went from a 1-10 team last year, their only win by three points over winless Pleasant Valley and a 49-7 blowout loss to Whitehall, to an 8-3 team heading into this game, with a first-round playoff win under their belts. That’s some turnaround!
Meanwhile, Whitehall entered the game 9-2, their only losses to Nazareth before they lost QB Peyton Falzone for the season, and to undefeated Parkland. We were at the Parkland game, and Whitehall did not look good that night, getting mercy ruled by the Trojans.
We were also at the game last season when Whitehall mercy ruled the Cardinals. In fact, it was so lopsided, we left at halftime and scurried from Whitehall to Catty to see the second half of the Emmaus field hockey game. We were interested to see if the Cards were for real, and if an EPC Northern school could hang with a battle-tested EPC school from the Valley.
They sure could. In the first half, Pocono Mountain East matched the Zephyrs blow for blow, and at the break the Cardinals were up 24-21. But as exciting as it was to watch the back and forth and as happy as those of us with no skin except wanting to see a good game were, realistically it was hard to see East being able to hang with Whitehall for the entire game. Whitehall seemed to be able to score more easily than the Cardinals.
By the end of the third quarter, Whitehall had taken the lead but only by four, 28-24. When Whitehall scored first in the fourth and led by two scores, 35-24, we figured it was about over. But PME didn’t quit. They drove to a first and goal near the end, but on fourth and goal the QB was sacked and Whitehall could just take a knee. We thought they should have kicked the field goal and brought it back to one score. Then go for the onside kick, TD, conversion, and overtime. Long odds for sure, but not impossible. They ended the game with zero points in the second half. The coach turned back into the pumpkin.
To the victor belongs the spoils, and Whitehall got the first-place medals as D11 5A champions. Pocono Mountain East showed everyone that they came to play to win and were in it almost to the end. Whitehall advances to the state playoffs, hosting powerful Roman Catholic this Friday.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School had over 100 yards Monday night in the Eagles win over the Green Bay Packers. However, only 60 of those were rushing yards. That brought his season rushing total 579, only good for 15th best in the league. His career total is now 7,795, still 57th best all time. Next up is James Brooks with 7,962.
Horizon. Looking at Wednesday (NCAA D3 Field Hockey Tournament at Rowan). Thursday (D11 4A Championship Game), Friday (D11 6A Championship Game and D11 Team #34 Easton), Saturday Afternoon (NCAA D2 Field Hockey Tournament at East Stroudsburg), Saturday Evening (NCAA D2 Field Hockey Tournament at Kutztown), and Sunday (NCAA D3 Men’s Soccer Tournament at Scranton)
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. 7) Holy Cross Crusaders (D2SR). 8) Allentown Central Catholic Vikings. 9) Pen Argyl Green Knights. 10) Jim Thorpe Olympians. 11) Saucon Valley Panthers (both varsity and JV). 12) Bangor Slaters. 13) Pine Grove Cardinals. 14) Wilson Warriors (both varsity and JV). 15) Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes. 16) Executive Education Raptors. 17a) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (JV field). 17b) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (varsity field). 18) Parkland Trojans. 19) Panther Valley Panthers. 20) Southern Lehigh Spartans. 21) Catasauqua Rough Riders. 22) North Schuylkill Spartans. 23) Nativity BVM Green Wave. 24) Minersville Battlin’ Miners. 25) East Stroudsburg South Cavaliers. 26) Marian Catholic Colts. 27) Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils. 28) East Stroudsburg North Timberwolves. 29) Blue Mountain Eagles. 30) Pocono Mountain West Panthers. 31) Liberty Hurricanes. 32) Northern Lehigh Bulldogs. 33) Norte Dame Green Pond Crusaders.
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). Old Forge Blue Devils (D2SR).
2025 Pennsylvania College Teams. 1) Keystone College Giants. 2) Kings College Monarchs (JV & Varsity). 3) University of Pennsylvania Quakers
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