Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Guy’s Back (Pun Intended)
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | September 9, 2025
After a rather intense week consisting of physical therapy, multiple chiropractor visits, gym visits, and targeted exercises, Guy was “back” from herniated disc hindrances, and able to attend at least all spectator events scheduled. That included five high school football games, a pair of races, and college volleyball. Even with missing two games the week before due to the herniated disc, and another as a result of Guy’s commitment to Saturday evenings at Mahoning Valley Speedway for the rest of their season. we’ve already been to nine high school games in the first three weeks.
PA Football News Polls. After the first two weeks of games and heading into last weekend, in D11 Parkland moved up one spot, while Whitehall dropped out leaving us unrepresented in 5A. The other teams remained unchanged.
1A) Lackawanna Trail (District 2 team, but combined with District 11 for the playoffs): Rank-4 (Even)
2A) Schuylkill Haven: Rank-3 (Even). Williams Valley: Rank-4 (Even). Minersville: Rank—HM (NR).
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 (+1). Nazareth: Rank-HM (Even).
Of the ten teams from District 11 that appeared in the rankings, eight won and two lost. The one loss was again inevitable, as two ranked teams played each other, with Notre Dame defeating North Schuylkill. And our adopted Lackawanna Trail suffered their first defeat as well.
AFCA National College Football Polls. Pennsylvania currently has eight teams ranked in the top 20, five in the top 10, and two in the top 5.
FBS. Penn State: Rank-2
FCS. Villanova: Rank-11. Lehigh: Rank-12.
D2. Slippery Rock: Rank-4. Kutztown: Rank-6. California: Rank-10.
D3. Susquehanna: Rank—5. Grove City: Rank-15. Carnegie Mellon: Rank-16.
District 11 vs. the State. Seven District 11 teams played a team from outside the district last week, and six of the seven won. The season record for the D11 teams is now a pretty impressive 30-13, as the D11 teams have won over 2/3 of the games.
Undefeated in District 11. After three weeks, the number of undefeated teams in District 11 dropped from 20 to 15. Bethlehem Catholic. Easton. Marian Catholic. Minersville. Nazareth. Northwestern Lehigh. Notre Dame Green Pond. Palisades. Parkland. Pocono Mountain East. Pocono Mountain West. Schuylkill Haven. Southern Lehigh. William Allen. Williams Valley.
Eliminated: Catasauqua. Nativity BVM. Northampton. North Schuylkill. Pen Argyl.
An Incredible Statistic. Parity? What parity? There is no such thing as parity in PA high school football. In the nine games we have seen in person so far this year, seven have been either a Mercy Rule or a shutout (six of each). And here is the most amazing stat of all: There was a stretch where the winning teams scored an incredible 246 (!) straight points. Yes, you read that correctly! Freedom scored first then Downingtown West scored 47 straight. Wallenpaupack shut out Stroudsburg in the one quarter JV game 12-0. Nazareth JV won 43-0. Pocono Mountain East won 45-0. Exeter beat Pleasant Valley 42-0. Hanover Area beat Holy Cross 47-0. And Freedom scored the first ten before Allentown Central Catholic scored to stop the streak at, again, 246 straight points by the winning team. And in just three days, a new streak is already at 66 straight as Freedom scored the final 14 in their game, and Northern Lehigh won their JV game on Monday 52-0. Parity is not a thing. We’re not saying it ever has been nor should it be. But teams need to feel there is a reason to play the game at the very least or they may not continue to attract the numbers to field a team.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. SCRANTON KNIGHTS (6A) @ POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS (5). TURF. Our original Thursday pick was going to be Kutztown University but because of Guy’s injury we dialed it back and headed to PME. It looked like it was going to be a wet one, and indeed it was for just about the whole first quarter. Quite a bit of heavy rain fell, but luckily no thunder or lightning so they played on. Then the rain stopped and a pretty rainbow appeared. And at the end of that rainbow was a pot of gold for the Cardinals.
Scranton looked stout on their first possession, driving down the field in the downpour before losing possession on a fumble. After that it was all Pocono Mountain. Running back Amari Green had over 200 yards rushing, and three Cardinal players scored two touchdowns each. The final was a 45-0 Mercy Rule shutout.
For a team that only won a single game last season, against a winless team, while losing ten, Pocono Mountain East has roared out of the gate with a 3-0 start. Pocono Mountain West is also 3-0. When was the last time that happened? Scranton fell to 1-2, both losses against District 11 teams. We bet they will be happy to return to District 2 for the rest of the regular season.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5. PLEASANT VALLEY BEARS (5A) AT EXETER TOWNSHIP EAGLES (5A). TURF. The original plan was to go to see Nazareth at Wilson West Lawn. But we figured there would be a huge crowd at that one, so played it safe and took Guy’s herniated disc to a less high-stakes game, even though Wilson West Lawn would have been a new District 11 related high school football stadium for us. But there were other opportunities for us to add a new stadium as well, and we settled on PV at Exeter. We had been there several times before. Guy was there for high school soccer when our friend Mike’s grandson played for Exeter (Mike got ejected by the cops). We were there for USL2 Reading United soccer. We were there last year for GEFA Berks County Raptors football. And Guy was there for Emmaus High School field hockey. But this was the first for high school football.
Parking is a mess here. Where Halifax and Pocono Mountain East had a number of people directing to keep the parking organized, it’s a dog-eat-dog free-for-all at Exeter.
We really like the stadium set up, once inside. When you enter, you are at the top of the home stands. The Eagles have a large following, and there was a great turnout on the home side.
This is one of the great places to eat dinner at the game, with several different refreshment stands available. Excellent fresh cut fries. And fresh popped popcorn too! And topping it off was an ice cream sandwich, followed by a brownie from the softball team bake sale. Go Eagles.
Exeter had won their first two games, over winless Daniel Boone and over two-win Boyertown. Pleasant Valley got their first win since 2023 over winless Dieruff. Although we live in the Pleasant Valley school district, we were under no illusions as to the probable outcome. It was worse than feared, as the Exeter Eagles cruised to a 42-0 Mercy Rule shoutout win and go to 3-0. Things don’t look any better this week for the Bears, as they go on the road to state-ranked Parkland.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 6. HANOVER AREA HAWKEYES (3A) @ HOLY CROSS CRUSADERS (1A). GRASS. Guy had been to a Holy Cross home game last year but Pam couldn’t go, so we returned this year so she could see the home of the Crusaders, which is in a park, not at the school. There are still five remaining stadiums Guy attended and Pam couldn’t go, all five neutral state playoff locations with a D11 team. We’ll work on that.
Although Holy Cross is in District 2, they are a single A school and since D11 has few 1A size teams, the district 2 and 11 teams are combined into a subregion for playoffs. Thus, we have adopted them as one of our own, just like Lackawanna Trail and Old Forge.
Heavy thunderstorms were predicted just about right at game time. This time we got lucky, and although it was a bit chilly, no rain fell at all during the entire game.
The main grandstand on the home side is closed to fans. Only workers and coaches have access. We were told it’s because the insurance company wouldn’t insure them for spectators. It was that way last year when Guy attended too. Guess they aren’t fixing or replacing them. What exists are three tiny sets of bleachers on each side. The eight-member band and the cheerleaders’ bags filled one of the three on the away side.
The seating situation is not exactly optimal for the home team. Their fans get spread out in the little bleachers, sitting on the wall of the playground, on lawn chairs up on the hill, in front of their vehicles in the parking lot, standing along the fence on the home side, or on lawn chairs at field level (the latter was where we were). The Crusader supporters are all spread out instead of in one centralized cheering section.
They do have a nice refreshment stand, and the “hamburgs” were so good that even without the “er,” Guy went back for a second one. Decent fries, too, albeit not fresh cuts.
The banner that said “Tell a friend to tell a friend that Holy Cross football is back” may have been a bit premature. They did win their opener against 1-2 Montrose, but gave up an even 100 points in the next two games while scoring but six. Those six did not come in this game, as the Hawkeyes went from losing their first two games to a 47-0 Mercy Rule shutout. That Hanover coach sure is a screamer. And that’s with a convincing win. Kudos to the Hawkeye cheer squad. One of the best we’ve seen yet this season
Holy Cross heads to 2-1 Carbondale. Hanover hosts 0-3 Old Forge.
SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6. (BETHLEHEM) FREEDOM PATRIOTS (6A) @ ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS (4A). TURF. Plan A was racing at Mahoning Valley Speedway. They rained out. Guy considered Grandview Speedway for Plan B, but that was moot as they canceled as well. We knew that high school football doesn’t cancel on forecast like short track auto racing, so we set our sights on Guy’s Freedom Pates (he taught there just shy of 30 years) and the Allentown Central Catholic Vikings.
Again, it looked like rain would fall for most of the game, but the forecast changed by the hour this day and again we got lucky. No rain fell during the game, but rain began to fall between the final horn and when we got to the car.
The Vikes have no stadium of their own and play their home games at J. Birney Crum, Stadium, home for the two Allentown School District teams. Guy played football there for four of the five years that he played.
The jury was still out on the Pates, who started 0-2 but against two state ranked teams. The 47 straight points given up to Downingtown West was not a good sign. They needed a win or their season would be just about derailed. The Vikings opened with a nice win against Trinity but then lost by three scores to Liberty.
We like coming to games here because the parking is great and we can enter at the top of the huge grandstand that seats 15,000. Even a real good crowd can look small at this place. Built in 1948, it used to be much larger. Before the turf field replaced the grass and the track was expanded to eight lanes in 2002, it seated 23,000. At that time, the 8,000 seats on the visitor side were eliminated. Those away side seats were remnants of Jack Coffield Stadium, the previous home field for the Canaries, and were in bad shape. The current Allen Phys. Ed. Center is located at the old site of Coffield.
Not much to write about at the refreshment stand, other than the fries are our favorite non-fresh cuts in all of District 11. Be prepared to open the wallet for them though, as the largest size is $14. Shame that the big city schools where the often the kids have the least money have the most expensive concessions.
Finally! After seeing seven straight games where the winner was never in doubt, we finally saw a competitive game. Freedom jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Then ACC started to click and fought back. Freedom continued to hurt themselves with unnecessary penalties. In the second half, Freedom ran for a few yards on 4th and 17 from their own 20, thinking it was third down. ACC scored a couple plays later and took the lead for the first time.
That finally woke up the Pates, who played with heart and 100% effort the rest of the game. They scored the final 14 points, and could have scored again, but classy Coach Roeder had them take three knees after first and goal from the four to run out the clock. Pates have something positive to build on after the 38-27 win. If they can play 48 minutes with the intensity of that last 12 and not lose focus, they can still go pretty far this year after the 0-2 start.
ACC travels to 3-0 Pocono Mountain East, while 1-2 Freedom has another state ranked team in 3-0 Nazareth.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. NORTHERN LEIGH BULLDOGS (JV) @ PEN ARGYL GREEN KNIGHTS (JV). GRASS. Our original plan was to head to Nazareth for their JV game. We were all set and invited a friend to meet us there. But sometime during the morning, the game was cancelled and we scrambled to find a backup. A frustrating, but not uncommon occurrence for JV games.
The choice was Pen Argyl, hosting Northern Lehigh. Pen Argyl has no lights at their field, so games there are always at 4:00, which we like. They are one of the few schools in D11 that charge admission for their JV games, and it appears they even charge the same price as they do for a varsity game. If it helps keep high school football programs going, we have no problem buying tickets for JV games.
One of the benefits of Pen Argyl treating this as a real game and not a glorified practice is that they have a working scoreboard, a play-by-play announcer, and a working refreshment stand for the JV games. Pam and Guy both agree that this stadium has the best popcorn in all of District 11. They may be 2A in size, but they popcorn 6A. Somewhere, in Al Zuzic’s basement, we hear rumor of a challenge to that claim.
The Pen Argyl varsity is off to a decent start at 2-1. Knowing how often JV games get canceled, we were kind of surprised that they even played this one as Pen Argyl only suited 15 players. And one of them got hurt and left on a cart during the first minute of play, leaving them just 14 for almost the entire game.
Northern Lehigh varsity is also 2-1. However, they had a good number of bodies suited up on the sidelines. This wasn’t much of a game, as the Bulldogs dominated in the most lopsided of the Mercy Rule or shutout games we saw this year to date, 52-0.
With ten-minute quarters and Mercy Rule for almost all of the second half, this one barely lasted an hour and a half. We almost didn’t have time for that second box of popcorn. Credit to Pen Argyl for showing up and giving it their best with just three players on the sidelines.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School rushed for 60 yards in the Eagles season opening game against the Dallas Cowboys. That moved him from 65th all time to 64th, passing Leroy Kelly. Saquon now has 7,276 yards rushing. Look out Jonathan Stewart, you’re next.
Horizon. Looking at Thursday (Jim Thorpe), Friday (Saucon Valley), Saturday morning (Bangor JV), Saturday evening (Pine Grove), and Monday (Pocono Mountain West) high school football games this coming weekend, with a pair of races on Sunday. 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.
Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews
