Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Five for Five
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | September 16, 2025
We went five for five in high school football games from Thursday – Monday. Also during that same five-day period, we went to two auto races and participated in a pair of charity events: ASHA Foundation Virtual 5K and a three-mile walk in Allentown for Pancreatic Cancer Research. During that same five days, Guy went to Chiropractor, pool to swim laps, and gym. Pam went to yoga, Pilates, and gym. Just another relaxing weekend for an old retired couple.
Although we went five for five in football games, it was not quite the five we planned and mentioned in last week’s blog. The ever-evolving schedules of modern JV football certainly keep us on our toes
PA Football News Polls. After three weeks of football, heading into last weekend the following District 11 and related teams were ranked by PA Football News.
Movers. In 6A, Nazareth moved from Honorable Mention to the top ten. And Easton made their debut in this year’s poll as Honorable Mention.
1A) Lackawanna Trail (D2 team, but combined with D11 for the playoffs): Rank-7(-3)
2A) Schuylkill Haven: Rank-3 (Even). Williams Valley: Rank-4 (Even). Minersville: Rank—HM (Even).
3) Northwestern Lehigh: Rank-1 (Even). Notre Dame: Rank 4 (Even). North Schuylkill: Rank 6 (Even).
4A) Southern Lehigh: Rank-3 (Even).
5A) None.
6A) Parkland: Rank-5 (Even). Nazareth: Rank-10 (Up from HM). Easton: Rank-HM (NR).
Of the ten teams from District 11 that appeared in the rankings, all won except one team, another inevitable loss between two ranked teams. In 2A Williams Valley beat Minersville in a barnburner 43-40.
District 11 Power Rankings (After Four Games).
1A. 1) Marion Catholic. 2) Lackawanna Trail (2). 3) Tri-Valley
2A. 1) Palisades. 2) Williams Valley. 3) Schuylkill Haven.
3A. 1) Notre Dame of Green Pond. 2) Northwestern Lehigh. 3) North Schuylkill.
4A. 1) Southern Lehigh. 2) Bethlehem Catholic. 3) Allentown Central Catholic
5A. 1) Whitehall. 2) Pocono Mountain East. 3) East Stroudsburg South
6A. 1) Easton. 2) Nazareth. 3) Liberty.
Of Note. Palisades is on top in 2A, ahead of state top five schools Schuylkill Haven and Williams Valley. Northwestern Lehigh is number one in the state in 3A, but currently number two in the D11 Power Rankings. And 6A Parkland is number five in the state but behind three other District 11 schools in the Power Rankings. It’s all due to strength of schedule to date.
AFCA National College Football Polls. Pennsylvania currently has nine teams ranked in the top 20, six in the top 10, and four in the top 5.
FBS. Penn State: Rank-2 (Even)
FCS. Lehigh: Rank-10 (+2). Villanova: Rank-12 (-1).
D2. Slippery Rock: Rank-4 (Even). Kutztown: Rank-5 (+1). California: Rank-8. (+2)
D3. Susquehanna: Rank—5 (Even). Grove City: Rank-17 (-2). Carnegie Mellon: Rank-20 (-4).
Note that the PSAC has three teams ranked in the top 8 in the country.
District 11 vs. the State. The only D11 game against a team from outside the district was Executive Ed., who lost to Bristol by seven. The season record for the D11 teams is now 30-14, as the D11 teams have won over 2/3 of their games.
Undefeated in District 11. Five more teams dropped from the unbeaten ranks this week. In the past two weeks, the number dropped from 20 to 15 to 10. Still unblemished: Easton, Marian Catholic, Nazareth, Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame Green Pond, Palisades, Parkland, Schuylkill Haven, Southern Lehigh, Williams Valley.
Eliminated: Bethlehem Catholic, Minersville, Pocono Mountain East, Pocono Mountain West, William Allen.
Seven teams are winless. Every D11 school in 5A and 6A has at least one win.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. TAMAQUA BLUE RAIDERS (3A) @ JIM THORPE OLYMPIANS (4A). TURF. Our Thursday game this week was in Jim Thorpe. We always enjoy going to this stadium. We thought about sitting on the away side to be closer to the grill, but the away side was much fuller than the home side stands. More on that later.
One nice touch, although some may think it corny, is that before the game, the announcer always welcomes everyone from the visiting team and the JT fans wave to the opponent’s fans across the field.
Tamaqua entered the game 1-2, losing to Pen Argyl and North Schuylkill then just getting by Pottsville by two points. The larger Jim Thorpe opened with a win over Palmerton, then lost to Pottsville and 47-0 to Blue Mountain for that team’s only win so far.
The burgers at Jim Thorpe battle with Panther Valley and Schuylkill Haven for the best in District 11. Add the fresh cut fries and a bag of popcorn, and you can see why supporting the school and eating dinner at the game is a no brainer.
On paper, it looked like a good matchup, and it was. For the first quarter and a half, it looked like JT would win in a blowout, as they opened up a 21-0 lead. Then, it was like a completely different game began as Tamaqua dominated with an almost unstoppable run game led by impressive sophomore Terrence McDowell. The Raiders got one back before the break, trailing 21-7.
We always watch the halftime show but so many high school marching bands become smaller with each passing year. We have seen multiple bands already this season with fewer than ten musicians. They often compensate by having amplifiers and other devices to have a louder show. Guy is “Old School” and believes a “marching band” should march onto the field with whatever instruments they will be using. Some schools now take longer to wheel their equipment onto the field than it takes them to perform their halftime show.
Some schools have amazingly good bands. Large schools like Easton, Stroudsburg, and of course the Liberty Grenadiers come to mind. But we were absolutely blown away by The Tamaqua Raider band. For a smaller 3A school, they featured no fewer than 166 students on the field for their halftime show. Both the music and choreography were top notch. Outstanding in every respect. As soon as the performance was over, Guy rushed to purchase some Gertrude Hawk candy bars to support that amazing group. And the reason the away side stands were so full was that the Tamaqua band accounted for about 60% of the total seating.
And speaking of fundraisers, the “Dessert of the Year” so far was the brownie fundraiser from the cheerleaders. The only thing wrong with those brownies was that they were too darn small!
In the second half, Tamaqua continued to pound the ball on the ground. From down 21-0, they tied it up and with one quarter remaining it was a brand-new ballgame. Tamaqua had all the momentum and JT looked tired and could have folded. But they did not. The Olympians shifted into “Jim Thorpe—All American” mode and retook control. Thorpe went back in front 28-21. Tamaqua lost composure and had a couple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, including one on an extra point. Instead of taking a 29-28 lead, that 15 cost them big and they ended up down 28-27. Thorpe scored again on a 4th and eight, going up 35-27. Still only a one score game, Tamaqua drove to the JT 30 in the last minute but a pass to the end zone on the last play was intercepted. Really good game.
Sophomore Spencer Gothard caught three TDs for JT, while sophomore Terrance McDowell rushed for 263 and ran for three TDs for the Raiders. Those two, plus Tamaqua Band Director Mark Beltz, were our game MVPs. Tamaqua hosts 2-2 Salisbury next. Jim Thorpe travels to 2-2 North Schuylkill.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. NOTRE DAME GREEN POND CRUSADERS 3A) @ SAUCON VALLEY PATHERS (3A). GRASS. Pam finally got her first Friday pick and she chose Saucon Valley. One of her speech therapist colleagues has a son, Mason Kares, that plays for Saucon. Fine player, who started off the game with a ten-yard reception on the first play from scrimmage. We went to see him play last season in JV at Pen Argyl, but this was the first time in several years that we visited this stadium for a varsity game. “Speechies for Saucon.”
Dinner was déjà vu from the night before. In fact, two burgers, two fresh cut fries, and a diet cola was the exact same price, $22, at both Jim Thorpe and Saucon Valley. And both had fresh popcorn, although at Saucon we opted for the pizza as our halftime snack. We were never really fans of the stadiums that only have seating on one side of the field.
Saucon entered the game 1-2 with their win over winless Bangor. Notre Dame was undefeated and ranked fourth in the state. There was little much doubt about the eventual outcome of this game.
The Notre Dame pass game is very impressive. The Crusaders scored in every quarter, multiple times in three of the four. We have to give Saucon Valley some credit. They are a scrappy bunch. They played hard and never quit. It was only 21-7 at the end of the first quarter and 27-7 at half. But eventually it was another Mercy Rule game and Notre Dame stayed perfect at 55-13.
Notre Dame hosts the 3-1 Catasauqua Rough Riders next. Saucon Valley travels to 0-4 Wilson on Saturday afternoon.
SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13. POTTSVILLE CRIMSON TIDE (JV) @ BANGOR SLATERS (JV). GRASS. Guy is committed to covering the rest of the Saturday night racing season at Mahoning Valley Speedway. But this week they were off so our choices were wide open. We considered college football or another race, but in the end decided on a District 11 double with a gym workout before each.
One school that is close to us that we seldom visit is Bangor. This is the site of Guy’s only Tuesday high school game, a JV game played the day after Labor Day four years ago. We’ve never seen a Colonial League varsity game there; our only varsity game was an Eastern Conference playoff game on a very cold Thursday a few years back.
Bangor is one of the schools that does not play their games at their school. They play in town at the Bangor Memorial Park Stadium. But unlike schools like Freedom, Becahi, ACC, and Nativity, they play their JV games there too.
What a great atmosphere! There was a soccer game across the street, and there was a middle school game before the JV game in the stadium. Admission was free and there was a real good turnout. The refreshment stand was open selling chicken, dogs, fries, etc.
The night before in the varsity game at Pottsville, the Tide evened their record at 2-2 with a 44-13 win over Bangor. Five days earlier on Monday, we were at Pen Argyl for their JV game and Pen Argyl dressed just 15 players. On this day, Bangor only exceeded that by one, with 16 players. There was talk about them perhaps having to cancel some JV games going forward.
They decided to play the entire game with a running clock. But at least they played and they played a real game with kickoffs, punts, four quarters, etc. And while on Monday the 15 Pen Argyl players were routed 52-0, the 16 Bangor players not only defeated the Pottsville squad with quite a few more players, they shut them out for an 8-0 win. Nice job, Slaters.
Guy has now seen a game here on a Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but yet to see a Friday Night Lights game.
SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 13. PANTHER VALLEY PANTHERS (3A) @ PINE GROVE CARDINALS (3A). GRASS. Of the 47 schools in District 11 that have football, Pine Grove is one of the farthest and one of the closest for us. It’s second farthest in terms of miles using the quickest route; only the Williams Valley Viking Stadium, located in Dauphin County, is a farther drive for us. But it’s also the second closest drive of the three stadiums in D11 where we can get Williams Fries. Only Tri-Valley is closer and that’s by only a mile or two.
This was our third time at this stadium, and each time was for a Saturday night game. Wilson and Pen Argyl play their home games on Saturdays as they don’t have lights. Becahi and ACC often play home games on Saturdays because they share the same stadium with two other schools. Not sure why Pine Grove schedules some Saturday evening games, but it works out well for us.
Somebody had to win this one. Both teams entered with a record of 0-3. Panther Valley had lost to Salisbury, Schuylkill Haven, and Marion, all schools with winning records. Pine Grove had lost to Northern Lebanon, Nativity, and Tri-Valley. Only one of those teams has a losing record.
Williams claims to have the best fries in the world. Among eastern PA high school football, only the Bricker’s fries sold at the Big 33 game give them a run for their money. Besides the fries, at the main refreshment stand, the pierogies and onions are excellent. Our kickoff grub was, for the third night in a row, two burgers, two fries, and a pop. Pine Grove checked in the least expensive of the three schools this weekend. JT had the best burgers, Pine Grove the best fries.
Jim Thorp’s cheerleader brownies now share the best dessert crown for this season with Pine Grove. JT sits on top in the organization fundraiser category, while the Pine Grove Bissinger apple dumplings a la mode top the refreshment stand category. Pine Grove is another small school with an excellent band.
Panther Valley emerged as the better team, slowly building up a 21-0 lead over the former Pine Grove Grovers. Pine Grove prevented the shutout with a fourth quarter score. The Cardinals have not scored more than one touchdown in any of their four games to date. Although we have not seen Shenandoah Valley play so far this year, we felt Pine Grove looks like they should have a shot this week against also 0-4 Shendo. That record could be misleading though, as the four teams the Blue Devils have played so far this year have a combined record of 14-2. Panther Valley travels to 2-2 Nativity BVM.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2025. PEN ARGYL GREEN KNIGHTS (JV) @ WILSON WARRIORS (JV). Another week, another JV scramble to find a backup plan at the last minute. The plan all week was to go to Pocono Mountain West but come the Monday morning schedule check before heading to Tai Chi class, we saw that the game had been canceled.
Dr. Pam was on an afternoon conference call advising on an upcoming book on immersive virtual reality in health care, so Guy was on his own. Preferring the early Monday games, he settled on Pen Argyl @ Wilson with a 4:00 kickoff.
This was the first time Guy has been at Wilson for a JV game. Since the field has no lights, they play their varsity games on Saturday afternoons and we annually hit one of those games. Admission was free. There was no refreshment stand open, but they did have a play-by-play announcer.
Last week, we were a little surprised that Pen Argyl played their home JV game with only 15 players suited. This week, Guy was shocked that they played an away JV game with 13. In all seriousness, being “Old School” we say “Good for them” for playing the game. We’ve seen games canceled this season for “safety” reasons by a team with 20 players. Guy knows it’s been 50 years since he played, but he doesn’t believe that kids have changed that much in this regard during that time. Kids sign up for football because they want to play! Kudos to the Green Knights for giving them the opportunity. Still, it didn’t prevent the good-natured humor of saying they don’t have a 2nd string, they have a 2nd thread. Or they only have .18 of a 2nd string. It’s not like Wilson had a lot of bodies in pads either. They had six extras, for a total of 17 players suited.
It’s a bit depressing to see the stadium at Wilson. On the home side behind the stands is the huge but abandoned and dilapidated former Dixie Cup factory. And on the away side, the seats are only nine rows high but the top two are roped off because the brick wall on top is cracked and crumbling.
The Pen Argyl varsity defeated Wilson on Saturday to go to 3-1. Wilson varsity is currently on a 35-game losing streak. Their last win was on 10/30/2021 over Notre Dame. Guy was torn in this one. He wanted to root for the Warriors JV since the varsity has fallen on such hard times. But he also wanted to root for Pen Argyl for continuing to show up with such low numbers and proudly represent their school so admirably. Like Saturday morning, this was a full game played with a running clock and a ten-minute halftime. As they started about five minutes early, this one lasted less than 70 minutes from scheduled kickoff, and it was Wilson with the win 26-6.
We are definitely concerned about the future of high school JV football in the area. A few teams don’t field a JV team at all. A disturbing number of additional games get canceled. The one we went to in District 2 was turned into a scrimmage with one simulated quarter without notifying the parents in advance. The last two we attended were played with running clocks due to the low number of players on at least one of the teams. It’s getting a lot harder to find a different JV team game to support each week. We will continue to play the schedule change game at least for the last six weeks of this season.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School rushed for 88 yards in the Eagles win over the Kansas City Chiefs. That was good enough to advance him TWO spots on the NFL all-time rushing list. He passed Jonathan Stewart to move into 63rd all-time, then before the end of the game passed Michael Turner to settle into 62nd with 7,364 yards. Mike Pruitt, you’re next! Shouldn’t be too difficult, he’s only 14 yards ahead of Saquon.
Horizon. Looking at Thursday (Schuylkill Haven), Friday (Executive Education @ Biglerville NEW), Saturday (Keystone College NEW), Sunday (Misericordia JV NEW) and Monday (Bethlehem Catholic JV Field). Of course most weeks changes are made in real time for a never ending list of reasons.
2025 District 11 Varsity or JV Teams Seen at Home or Outside D11. 1. Minersville Battlin’ Miners. 2) Freedom Patriots. 3) Stroudsburg Mountaineers. 4) Whitehall Zephyrs. 5) Pocono Mountain East Cardinals. 6) Pleasant Valley Bears. 7) Holy Cross Crusaders (D2: Subregion team with D11). 8) Allentown Central Catholic Vikings. 9) Pen Argyl Green Knights. 10) Jim Thorpe Olympians. 11) Saucon Valley Panthers. 12) Bangor Slaters. 13) Pine Grove Cardinals. 14) Wilson Warriors.
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