Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Let’s Pretend
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | September 2, 2025
We were all set for three high school varsity games, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Unfortunately, Guy injured his back and has been in almost constant severe pain since Wednesday. Unable to withstand a long car ride and barely able to walk, plans for Thursday through Monday all had to be cancelled.
We did manage to make it to one football game though. Not feeling able to attend the originally scheduled game on Saturday, Guy thought that with a cane he could tough out a morning JV game that would be closer, shorter, and less crowded. We scanned the JV schedules and decided on the 10:00 a.m. starting Nazareth at Whitehall. After the game, we stopped at the Allentown Fair for lunch. Guy had never missed the fair in his hometown since before he was born, attending in utero in 1959. For this year’s visit, he was wheelchair bound, a first-ever experience for him. Pam pushed.
Currently, Guy has multiple chiropractor visits scheduled for this week and is starting doctor ordered physical therapy. He is on pain pills and a muscle relaxant. Hopefully some combination of the above, as well as rest and time, will help him find some relief and at least be able to attend some, most, or hopefully all of the seven sporting events we have scheduled this week.
For this week’s blog, we are going to pretend we were at the Thursday and Friday games we had scheduled, plus the Whitehall game we actually attended. This coming weekend we have District 11 high school games scheduled Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. If we have to sit out another weekend and don’t have first-hand experience to write about, we will probably pause writing the blog.
PA Football News Polls. After the first week of games, D11 lost one but gained two in the PA Football News state rankings as Minersville and North Schuylkill made their rankings debut for this season.
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 (NR).
4A) Southern Lehigh: Rank-3 (Even).
5A) Whitehall: Rank-HM (Even)
6A) Parkland: Rank-6 (Even). Emmaus: Rank-HM (Dropped Out). Nazareth: Rank-HM (Even).
Of the eleven teams from District 11 that appeared in the rankings, ten won and one lost. The lone loss was inevitable, as 5A Honorable Mention Whitehall lost to 6A Honorable Mention Nazareth.
AFCA National College Football Polls
FBS. Penn State: Rank-3.
FCS. Villanova: Rank-13. Lehigh: Rank-15
D2. Slippery Rock: Rank-4. Kutztown: Rank-7. California: Rank-15.
D3. Susquehanna: Rank—5. Carnegie Mellon: Rank-18. Grove City: Rank-23.
District 11 vs. the State. In the first week, District 11 teams went 20-9 against teams from outside the district. This week, D11 went 4-3, bringing the season total to 24-12. Coming up this week are seven more games against teams from outside the district.
Undefeated in District 11. After two weeks, the following twenty D11 teams won both of their games and are 2-0. Bethlehem Catholic. Catasauqua. Easton. Marian Catholic. Minersville. Nativity BVM. Nazareth. Northampton. North Schuylkill. Northwestern Lehigh. Notre Dame Green Pond. Palisades. Parkland. Pen Argyl. Pocono Mountain East. Pocono Mountain West. Schuylkill Haven. Southern Lehigh. William Allen. Williams Valley.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28. EXECUTIVE EDUCATION ACADEMY RAPTORS (2A) @ BERKS CATHOLIC SAINTS (3A). This was our Thursday pick as it would have been a new location for us for D11 high school football.
However, we had been to Berks Catholic once before for Reading United minor league soccer, one of four locations where we have seen the Reading United play home games. It was a one-off game at Berks Catholic. Their home stadium that year was Don Thomas Stadium at Exeter High School. One game was canceled by weather and on the rescheduled date, Exeter was not available, so the game was held at Berks Catholic.
The visiting Raptors were coming off a 7-5 season last year. They went 6-4 in the regular season making the 2A district playoffs. They won their first playoff game 26-6 over Minersville, before losing the following week at Schuylkill Haven and being eliminated from the playoffs. The opened the 2025 season with a loss to Belmont Charter in a low scoring 8-6 game. Executive is not in any league and plays a full independent schedule.
The Berks Catholic Saints, one size classification higher than Executive, finished last season with the same 7-5 record as the Raptors. They also won their first playoff game against Biglerville before losing to Bermudian Springs. Their 2025 season began with a 45-19 loss to Twin Valley. The Raptors and Saints met last year, with Berks Catholic coming out on top 22-18. The Saints play in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
It was a close game last season and looked like it would be again. Executive had a six-point lead, 20-14, at the half. But the second half was all Berks Catholic. They outscored the Raptors 31-0 after the break, using a punishing run game. The Saints ended up with over 350 yards on the ground, including a 100-yard rushing game (123) from Aidan Curley.
This coming week, Berks Catholic faces another District 11 team, Bethlehem Catholic, a school one classification larger this time. Becahi is 2-0. Executive Education is 0-2 and hosts another 0-2 team, the Central Columbia Bluejays.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29. POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS (5A) @ HONESDALE HORNETS (4A). What would have been our second first-time stadium visit was on Friday as the Cardinals traveled to Honesdale from District 2. For the second day in a row, Guy felt his back just wasn’t up to attending in person.
Pocono Mountain East is coming off a rough 2024, when they ended up 1-10. Their only win was a three-point victory over Pleasant Valley, who went winless for the entire season. Because there are just enough 5A schools in D11 that they don’t combine with another district for the playoffs, every team automatically qualifies. Pocono Mountain East traveled to Whitehall and were Mercy Ruled, to end their season. They got off to a good start this season, with a decisive 42-27 road win over Dieruff.
The District 2 Honesdale Hornets’ first two games were against District 11 schools. They lost their opener to East Stroudsburg North 40-9, a team they beat last season. Last year Honesdale finished at 6-5, making it to the first round of the playoffs before being eliminated by Dallas. The Hornets play in the Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2.
What a difference a year makes. Pocono Mountain East lost to both Dieruff and Honesdale last season, giving up over 40 points to each. This year, after defeating the Dieruff Huskies in the first game, they held Honesdale to one touchdown and scored a solid 28-7 win. The Cardinals are 2-0 so far this season. Good for them!
Honesdale drops to 0-2 and now travels to Wallenpaupack this week for their first league game of the season. Pocono Mountain East again plays outside the district, hosting the 6A Scranton Knights on Thursday in a game originally scheduled for Friday. This is one with a 6:00 kickoff. We like the 6:00 time for the Thursday varsity games, and plan to attend if Guy feels physically able.
SATURDAY AUGUST 30. NAZARETH EAGLES (JV) @ WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS (JV). The original plan was to go completely out of District 11 for a District 2 game pitting Montrose at Susquehanna Community. But Guy didn’t feel up to the longer car ride before and after the game. However, going stir crazy from missing both Thursday and Friday games, Guy said he thought he could go if we went to a game much closer to home, that Pam would drive, that started earlier so we could get home earlier, that would be shorter in duration, and that would have fewer people so we could park closer and have more options where to sit. The Nazareth @ Whitehall JV game checked all those boxes.
The night before in the varsity game, the Nazareth varsity squad, in the first D11 matchup of the year between two teams ranked by PA Football News, defeated Whitehall handily by putting up 63 points to Whitehall’s 33. At 96 total points, it was almost a triple digit scoring game. As Nazareth scored 46 in their first game, a Mercy Rule win over Hazleton, they have scored over 100 points in their first two games.
Whitehall has a proud football heritage and three former players have won a combined total of seven Super Bowls: 4 by Matt Millen, 2 by Dan Koppen, and most recently one by Saquon Barkley.
Unlike the Stroudsburg JV game the week before, this was a complete game, not a pseudo game/scrimmage. Admission was free. Pam and Guy are always happy to pay the admission cost for any high school games to support the schools, but are also happy to take advantage of legitimate discounts. That being said, Guy is four for four in free admissions so far this year, two varsity games for being 65+, and two JV games where there was no charge. The refreshment stand was open with a limited menu of hot dogs, pizza, and soft pretzels.
This was a 10:00 kickoff. It didn’t take long for the Nazareth JV team to show that the varsity isn’t the only team from the school with a high-powered offense, and defense as well. Nazareth scored a pair of TDs on offense and another pair on defense and were already up 37-0 at the half. And that’s with ten-minute quarters. The second half was played with the running clock. Nazareth called off the dogs, but still won this one by a lopsided score of 43-0 in a game over before noon.
Perhaps the only person happier than the Nazareth people was Guy, who was really depressed about having to miss the varsity games on Thursday and Friday.
District 11 All-time Winningest Active Teams. 1) Easton 888. 2) Pottsville 726. 3) Minersville 622. 4) Nazareth 611. 5) Schuylkill Haven 609. 6) Catasauqua 608. 7) Bethlehem Liberty 602. 8) Northampton 568. 9) Shenandoah Valley 545. 10) Tamaqua 538.
Note that the above totals are according to PA Football News. They don’t always match up exactly with the totals on other sites. For example, on Pennsylvania Football History, Easton has 889 wins. The Rovers are second overall in the entire state, trailing Mount Carmel, the first PA team to win 900 games, by 20. In the overall US rankings from High School Football America, Mount Carmel is 6th with 907. That matches PA football news number of 908 since HSFA hasn’t added in 2025 games yet. Easton is 9th with 881, a discrepancy of five or six games from the PA sites. No US school has yet to reach 1,000 wins in football. Valdosta, GA is closest with 965.
Saquon Watch. D11 Whitehall alumni Saquon Barkley enters the 2025 NFL season 65th on the all-time NFL rushing list with 7,216 yards, fourth most of active players. The leading active rusher is Derrick Henry of the Ravens with 11,423 and the all-time leader is Emmitt Smith with 18,355.
Horizon. Looking at Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon, and Monday high school football games this coming weekend, if Guy’s back is up to it. College volleyball Wednesday, races Saturday night and Sunday.
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.
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