Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Football for Five / 39 Years Later
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, Pennsylvania Colleges, pfn
Guy Smith | September 23, 2025
The previous week Pam and Guy went to five football games in five days, but that was two Saturday, none Sunday. This week we again went to five games, and this week it was one game per day for five straight days.
One of those five games was a college JV game. Pam had never been to see college junior varsity, in any sport. For Guy, it was the first time at a college JV football game since he was a student seeking a second degree at Bloomsburg University in 1985-1986. At that time, one of his roommates played JV football for the Huskies. Guy isn’t sure if he went to Bloom JV games in both 1985 and 1986 or just in 1985. It’s either 39 or 40 years since he’s been to one. By the way, a few years ago Guy asked the Bloomsburg head coach about JV football, and he said that neither Bloomsburg nor any of the PSAC D2 schools have had it for years.
PA Football News staffer Torey “Nittany Pete” Petruno told us last Thursday that Penn State used to have JV football too. He mentioned the 1950s. Guy did a little research, and found Penn State JV football results as recently as 1982.
The five football games this past week were not the originally planned five. We had to audible to Plan-B on Sunday. College JV football seems just about as reliable as high school JV, when it comes to published schedules. Besides the five football games last week, we snuck in one auto race and a college soccer match.
Local Football is Just a Great Deal. It’s hard to argue the fact that local high school and college football is a great deal when it comes to the cost of admission. This past weekend, we went to five games, enjoyed them all, and our front gate cost was a total of just $10 each. Tickets at Schuylkill Haven on Thursday were $7, at Biglerville on Friday the senior rate was $3, then Keystone College, Kings College JV, and Bethlehem Catholic JV were all free. Five days of live high school and college football for $10. Can’t beat that! And that’s not to mention that at the high school games at least, the food is usually very low priced as the refreshment stands are often staffed by volunteers from one of the school organizations.
PA Football News Polls. After five weeks of football, and this time after last weekend’s games, the following District 11 and related teams were ranked by PA Football News.
4A) Southern Lehigh–1 (+1)
3A) Northwestern Lehigh–2 (Even)
2A) Schuylkill Haven–3 (Even)
4A) Notre Dame–4 (Even)
2A) Williams Valley–4 (Even)
6A) Parkland–5 (Even)
1A) Lackawanna Trail (D2 team, but combined with D11 for playoffs)–7(Even)
1A) Marian Catholic–9 (+1)
6A) Easton–10 (+1)
2A) Minersville—HM (-1)
Of the nine teams from District 11 that appear in the rankings, all won except Minersville, who played another ranked team, Schuylkill Haven. The Miners two losses were both competitive games against state ranked teams. D11 has six teams ranked in the top five in the state.
District 11 Power Rankings (After Five Games).
1A. 1) Marian Catholic. 2) Lackawanna Trail (2). 3) Tri-Valley
2A. 1) Williams Valley. 2) Palisades. 3) Schuylkill Haven.
3A. 1) Notre Dame of Green Pond. 2) Northwestern Lehigh. 3) North Schuylkill.
4A. 1) Bethlehem Catholic. 2) Southern Lehigh. 3) Allentown Central Catholic
5A. 1) Whitehall. 2) Pleasant Valley. 3) Pocono Mountain East.
6A. 1) Easton. 2) Parkland. 3) Nazareth.
AFCA National College Football Polls. Pennsylvania currently has nine teams ranked in the top 25, five in the top 10, and three in the top 5.
FBS. Penn State: Rank-2 (Even)
FCS. Lehigh: Rank-9 (+1)
FCS. Villanova: Rank-22 (-10)
D2. Slippery Rock: Rank-4 (Even)
D2. Kutztown: Rank-5 (Even)
D2. California: Rank-8. (Even)
D3. Susquehanna: Rank—14 (-9)
D3. Grove City: Rank-19 (-2)
D3. Carnegie Mellon: Rank-20 (Even)
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 Education again, who beat Biglerville. The season record for the D11 teams is now 31-14, as the D11 teams have won over 2/3 of the games.
Undefeated in District 11. Two more teams dropped from the ranks of unbeaten as Palisades and Nazareth losses dropped us from ten unbeaten teams to eight. Still unblemished: Easton, Marian Catholic, Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame Green Pond, Parkland, Schuylkill Haven, Southern Lehigh, Williams Valley.
Six teams are winless. That number dropped from seven, as Pine Grove got a two-point win over Shenandoah Valley.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18. MINERSVILLE BATTLIN’ MINERS (2A) @ SCHUYLKILL HAVEN HURRICANES (2A). TURF. Our Thursday game this week was a trip to Schuylkill Haven to see a showdown between two state ranked teams. Haven was unbeaten, while Minersville’s lone loss was a close one to undefeated Williams Valley. Not surprisingly, a large crowd was on hand to see the showdown between the two Skook powerhouses. We had seen Minersville play once before earlier in the season, but had not yet seen Schuylkill Haven.
We sat on the Minersville side for no other reason than to be closer to the grill on the away side refreshment stand. They serve among the best burgers in D11, and the chili is at the away side stand too. Fans of the away teams eat well when visiting this stadium.
Before the game, I said to Pam that Minersville is going to have to convert on every opportunity to be able to stay close to SH, as I didn’t think that they could stop the Haven run game. That’s pretty much the way things played out. Minersville moved the ball, but on their first possession had a first and goal from the five. They settled for a field goal. And on one of the other possessions they fumbled on the one-yard line while going in for the score.
Schuylkill Haven, meanwhile, was unstoppable with the run, scoring touchdowns on every full first half possession. The game stayed a 2-3 score game, and was 34-24 at the half. But when you can’t stop the other team from scoring on every possession, you can’t make up a ten-point deficit. Haven continued to run amok in the second half, and by the end of the third quarter had increased their lead to 48-31.
Haven called off the dogs in the fourth quarter, and the Miners got one back to make the final 48-38. The unstoppable Hurricanes’ ground game had just two backs tally over 500 rushing yards, and that was with their top rusher out with injury. That’s some offensive line they have there. Schuylkill Haven was so impressive to watch, and we look forward to seeing them again come playoff time.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19. EXECUTIVE EDUCATION ACADEMY RAPTORS (2A) @ BIGLERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL CANNERS (3A). GRASS. A new stadium for us. The first question asked was where did the nickname Canners for Biglerville come from? We were told that it comes from the community history of the local canned goods industry, particularly Musselman’s, who makes apple sauce. Biglerville is also known as the apple capital of the state.
Executive has the toughest time putting together a schedule of any District 11 schools because they are the only one playing as an independent and not in any league. Thus, they have some long bus rides. For us, the GPS clocked this one at 2.5 hours. We left before 4:00, but rush hour traffic between here and there kept slowly adding time to our trip. When the car said we wouldn’t arrive until 7:00, which was kickoff, we agreed that if it got even one minute later, we would abort and find another Skook game to attend. The arrival time jumped to 7:03, then quickly found another route that would save us 26 minutes. We soldiered on, with the arrival time jumping up and down, and we finally arrived just in time to find a seat in the away side bleachers.
Finding a seat on the visitor side wasn’t much of a challenge, as at kickoff Executive had only 11 fans on their side. By the end of the quarter, that number doubled to 22 and topped out at two dozen. Does make you wonder with that kind of loyal following why they feel the need to build a brand new expensive elevated stadium in Allentown that would seat 4,100?
Both teams were 1-3 entering the game. The Raptors had beaten winless Central Columbia, but lost to Belmont Charter, Berks Catholic, and Bristol. However, two of those three losses were one score games.
Executive scored first and second and had a 13-0 lead. It looked like it might be a rout. But Biglerville settled down and played tough football, staying between two and one scores down. On the other hand, Exec did what they needed when they needed to do it and scored whenever Biglerville closed to within one score. In a game that was probably closer than indicated by the final score, it was Executive 46, Biglerville 26.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20. SOUTHERN VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS (D3) @ KEYSTONE COLLEGE GIANTS. TURF. We had never been to Keystone College for football. Once before, in 2021, we were on campus for a collegiate wood bat summer league baseball game. Last year we heard the college might close due to financial issues and the potential loss of accreditation, so we moved it up on our college football priority list.
Last season the team lost every Landmark Conference game including a 79-6 loss to Susquehanna. The Giants finished 1-9 last season, and has never won more than three games in a single season in program history. As a result of the potential issues and the inability to field a competitive team, they were removed from the league by the conference.
Their head coach resigned, and faced with a potential loss of their football program, cobbled together a 2025 schedule. Although the schedule shows eight games, only two are against NCAA varsity programs. This game was the first of that pair. The other games are against JV teams, community colleges, apprentice schools, and the like. Coming into the game, Keystone was either 1-1 or 0-0 depending on how you look at it. They beat the Wilkes University JV team 24-18 at Wilkes, then lost to the Milford Academy at home. Meanwhile, Southern Virginia University was 2-0 no matter how you looked at it.
The Keystone facility is nice. We were surprised to find that they charge no admission for their games. In addition to a nice field and small stands, they have a beautiful field house and a small but elegant tailgating area. There was a small table selling refreshments, a food truck and an ice cream truck. Guy had a tasty combo of six wings, an empanada, with yellow rice and beans and a diet cola for $16.
Southern Virginia scored on their first possession but were held scoreless the rest of the quarter. Keystone also drove down the field on their first possession, but missed a field goal. At the end of the first quarter it was 7-0.
Then the wheels fell off the Keystone bus. The Giants made some giant mistakes, with fumbles, muffs, picks for six, and even a safety turning a good first quarter into a sloppy rout. Keystone gave up 26 in Q2 to be down 33-0 at halftime. When it got to 42-0 midway through Q3, we headed out so we could stop home and feed the cats before heading to the races. That was the final score.
Despite the game outcome, we both enjoyed the stadium and would certainly return for more football at Keystone should the opportunity arise.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. MORAVIAN GREYHOUNDS (JV) @ KING’S COLLEGE MONARCHS. TURF. As mentioned above, Guy had not seen a college JV game in 39 or 40 years and Pam had never seen one, so we decided to add this level of game to our fall football attendance choices.
We quickly learned that college JV football schedules are just as volatile as high school JV football schedules. The original choice was Wilkes JV @ Misericordia JV but when a skeptical Guy tried to confirm the game was still on, we instead found out “oh that game has been canceled.” We moved on to Plan B and both schools confirmed the game was on.
We had never seen King’s College football before, but had been to the stadium once in the past for a Holy Redeemer Royals high school game. The stadium is not located on the King’s College campus. Admission was free and a decent turnout of fans were on hand, especially on the Moravian side since this was about a 90-minute drive from Bethlehem.
Both teams had plenty of players. It looks like the college JV might just be healthier than high school JV. King’s scored first and took a 7-0 lead. Moravian scored and went for two but didn’t get it. With the clock winding down in the fourth quarter, Moravian had the ball close to the end zone but had no time outs. Trailing by one, and with no time outs, they got the snap off with one second left, then scored on a pass to the end zone to a wide-open receiver. Moravian 12, King’s 7.
As famous sports photo-journalist Ryan Scipio said: “It doesn’t matter the level, a good game is a good game. How very true. This was certainly a good game.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22. ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS (JV) @ BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS (JV). GRASS. Bethlehem Catholic plays their home JV games on a field at the school, not at the BASD Stadium which is rented for their varsity games. For the third straight day, we saw free football. There are no seats at this field, and spectators bring their own chairs.
If the varsity game between these two Catholic schools is the Holy War, the JV game is the Holy Skirmish. Last year the game was played at ACC’s JV field, Percy Ruhe (Alton) Park in Allentown. Despite a small roster, the Vikings played tough and were in it until the very end.
This year both teams had a decent number of bodies suited up for the game. The problem was, the Becahi bodies were a lot bigger than the Viking bodies. This game was a blowout from the start. Becahi was up 32-0 at halftime and the final was a 46-0 win for the Golden Hawks. With ten-minute quarters and a Mercy Rule clock, this one was over in an hour and a half and we were off to a Chinese buffet for dinner.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School rushed for 46 yards in the Eagles comeback win over the Rams. With that performance, he passed Mike Pruitt for 61st position on the all-time NFL rushing list, with 7,410 yards. Next victim is Joe Mixon, only 18 yards ahead of Barkley. However, Mixon is not retired. He has not played yet this season, and will not play in the next game for the Houston Texans, but may return after that. Saquon may indeed pass him on the all-time rushing list, but that may not be permanently as both are still in their 20s.
Horizon. Looking at Thursday (Parkland), Friday (Pam’s Pick and she typically waits until game day to choose), Saturday (Misericordia University NEW), and Monday (Northampton JV.) 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. 15) Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes. 16) Executive Education Raptors. 17) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks.
2025 Pennsylvania College Teams. 1) Keystone College Giants. 2) Kings College Monarchs.
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