Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Round One Rematches
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | November 4, 2025
Once again, our weekend included four football games and a race. Although there are no more Monday JV games, we were able to easily double up on Saturday.
Three of the four games attended featured rematches from the regular season. This is the reason we are not overly keen on the first round of the playoffs; too often it’s teams that have already played each other playing again with the same result. On Thursday we were at Blue Mountain, where the Eagles defeated the Lehighton Indians again. On Friday we jumped off the D11 bandwagon to head to Pocono Mountain West for the Eastern Football Conference Big School Championship game. The Panthers were hosting the Mustangs from Governor Mifflin – at least an interesting matchup since they were two teams from different leagues facing off against each other for the first time. Saturday afternoon we were in Bethlehem to see a rematch between the two Bethlehem public schools: Liberty and Freedom, playing each other for the second consecutive week. The result was the same, with the Hurricanes on top and advancing. Saturday night was the game of the year for us so far, with Palisades visiting Northern Lehigh. The Pirates had knocked off Slatington in the regular season, but the Bulldogs turned the table this time in the most dramatic of fashions.
One common thread in all four games was that the crowds were small. On Thursday at Blue Mountain the playoff game crowd was smaller than any we had seen there in the past for regular season games. Friday’s Eastern Conference Championship game at Pocono Mountain West was miniscule, under 100. You could make a case that Freedom vs. Liberty on Saturday afternoon was a decent crowd and we wouldn’t disagree, but it was a fraction of the numbers from the previous week. And Northern Lehigh has a rabid following, but the Saturday night crowd was unquestionably below what we are used to seeing there.
In the first round of the District 11 playoffs, the higher seed won 18 of the 20 games. The two underdogs that pulled off wins were third seed Tri-Valley beating second seed Marian Catholic by a field goal, and fifth seed Tamaqua beating Saucon Valley by a touchdown and extra point. Congrats to them for making it somewhat interesting in the first playoff weekend.
PA Football News Polls. After 10 weeks of the regular season and one week of playoffs, the only change for the D11 teams this week is that they moved Parkland up one spot to 4th. District 11 now has five teams in the top four in the state.
6A) Parkland–4 (+1)
6A) Easton–6 (+/-0)
4A) Southern Lehigh–4 (+/-0)
3A) Northwestern Lehigh–2 (+/- 0)
3A) Notre Dame–3 (+/- 0)
2A) Schuylkill Haven–3 (+/- 0)
2A) Williams Valley–6 (+/- 0)
2A) Minersville—8 (+/-0)
1A) Lackawanna Trail (D2 team, but combined with D11 for playoffs)—6 (+1)
AFCA National College Football Polls. Lehigh jumped to number four in the country, tying Kutztown for the highest ranked team from PA. Both are undefeated. Villanova moved into the top ten, giving Pennsylvania three top ten and two top five teams. Slippery Rock also advanced, into the top 20. Muhlenberg lost to number three Johns Hopkins and dropped back out of the top 25.
FCS. Lehigh: Rank–4 (+3)
FCS. Villanova: Rank–8 (+3)
D2. Kutztown: Rank–4 (+/- 0)
D2. Slippery Rock: Rank–20 (+2)
OUT. Muhlenberg
District 11 vs. the State. Since this past weekend was district playoffs, the only games involving teams outside the district were 1A subregion where Lackawanna Trail from District 2 eliminated the Nativity BVM Green Wave and in the Eastern Conference Big School game, where Governor Mifflin mercy ruled Pocono Mountain West. Even with the two losses, the season record for the D11 teams vs. the state is an impressive 35-16. Can any other districts top that?
Undefeated in District 11. Easton, Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame Green Pond, Parkland, and Schuylkill Haven all won easily in the first round of the playoffs to go to 11-0. That’s 27 straight for Northwestern Lehigh.
Congratulations to the Wilson Warriors. Wilson ended their regular season 0-10 for the fourth straight year. Add a 2021 loss to end the season, and they had lost 41 straight varsity games. Guy had seen their JV team play this season, and they looked good in scoring a convincing win. Guy was confident that Wilson would certainly win varsity games in 2026. But that wasn’t soon enough for the Warriors. They scheduled a post season contingency game against the Belvidere (NJ) County Seaters last weekend, and came away with an 18-14 win to end the streak. For a brief time, we considered going to this game since we had never been to Belvidere for a game (nor any high school football team in NJ except Phillipsburg). But in the end, we stuck with Freedom/Liberty since the BASD was Guy’s employer for just shy of 30 years and he still gets psyched for this crosstown showdown. In retrospect, kinda wish we would have gone to see Wilson. With the Wilson win, only three D11 teams were winless for the season: Shenandoah Valley (lost by one in their final game), East Stroudsburg North at 0-10, and Bangor at 0-11.
Congratulations to the Easton Red Rovers. Easton upped their record to 11-0 last weekend. With the win, the Rovers scored their 900th win in program history, dating back to their first game in 1889. They are the second team in Pennsylvania to register 900 wins, joining Mount Carmel, who reached that number last season. The Red Tornados have 912 wins, a dozen more than the Rovers have currently. However, Mount Carmel is finished for the season while Easton has at least two more games. Mount Carmel was up 18 over Easton at the start of the season but finished 5-6. Easton has already picked up six on the Red Tornados this year, or a third of the deficit.
According to High School Football America, Valdosta High School in GA has the most wins in the US with 974. However, they only give Easton credit for 892 wins, starting in 1894. Easton is counting wins as far back as 1889. According to HSFA, they had Mount Carmel sixth all-time in the country and Easton ninth entering the 2025 season. They use the win totals from the National Association of State Associations’ Record Book. If Easton historians can prove that those early wins were “true” high school football matches and not games against club teams or local colleges that used non-high school players, perhaps they can contact the NASARB and get Easton credited with additional wins.
Congratulations to the Emmaus Hornets. Although not football, one of the most amazing statistics in District 11 or any district anywhere is the accomplishments of the Emmaus field hockey team. Last weekend, they defeated Parkland for their 37th CONSECUTIVE District 11 championship. During that nearly four-decade run, they have also been league champions in 36 of those 37 years. That’s 73 championships in that sport alone. Add 15 state championships to bring the total to 88. It’s a level of success that is hard to even wrap your head around. They are currently 24-1 this season and are four wins away from another state championship.
THURSDAY, OCTIBER 30. LEHIGHTON INDIANS (5) @ BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLES (4), D11 4A QUARTERFINAL. TURF. During the regular season, Blue Mountain defeated Lehighton in a high scoring shootout, 49-34 at home. Would a rematch be much different?
It would not, although it started out as though it might be. Blue Mountain scored first but Lehighton answered, and for a while it was 7-7. But Blue Mountain eventually dominated on both sides of the ball. In a three-minute span just before halftime, the Eagles scored an unbelievable three defensive touchdowns, a pair of picks six and a scoop and score. We can’t recall ever seeing anything like that before.
Blue Mountain cruised to a 42-7 lead before pulling the starters. That was the final score, as Lehighton’s early touchdown ended up being their only points. They came nowhere near matching the 34 they put up during the regular season.
They must have been expecting a small crowd, as the refreshment stand was offering a limited menu. Thankfully, the limited menu still included the Screamin’ Eagle burger and fresh cut fries.
Lehighton’s season ends at 5-6. Blue Mountain improves to 7-4 and heads to play 10-1 Southern Lehigh on Thursday in the semifinal. This will be another rematch with the Spartans having shut out the Eagles during their regular season game, 28-0.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31. GOVERNOR MIFFLIN MUSTANGS @ POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS. EASTERN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE BIG SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. TURF. There were a number of reasons we chose this game on Friday. One: This is the second closest school to our home, yet not only did we not yet go to a game there this season, we didn’t go to one at Pleasant Valley, the closest school and the district where we live and pay taxes. Two: Since our last visit, they have built a huge building at the stadium called the Pocono Mountain Wellness Center, which we wanted to check out. It includes the snack bar and restrooms for the stadium. At our last visit for a varsity game, you had to get a hand stamp and leave the stadium to get food or use the restroom. Third, at 5-5, this was the one and only school in the entirety of D11without a losing record that did not make the district playoffs, while a winless team in another classification and a couple teams with losing records in their own classification made playoffs. We felt bad for the Panthers and wanted to support them. Four: Three of our four games were playoff rematches and we wanted to see at least one game with teams that had not already played against each other this year. And Five: It had an early 5:00 start time, which we can’t ever remember seeing for a Friday varsity game, let alone one for a championship.
It was brutally cold and the crowd was tiny. The wind was blowing at 25 MPH and the flags at the top of the stands were flapping so hard they sounded like a helicopter landing and the bleachers were vibrating. Wind chill was a brutal 34 degrees. Mifflin had about two dozen fans on their side, West maybe 70 on the home side. Guy took a picture of the “Panther Pit” cordoned off student section during the game, and there were just two students there.
PMW brought in a refreshment stand “ringer” in the form of the Barley Creek Brewing Company, a restaurant and brewpub in Tannersville. They served up the best high school football burgers of 2025, even topping the famous Skook grills, and also the best “non-fresh-cut” fries, edging out those at J. Birney Crum.
Guy was a bit familiar with Governor Mifflin, having attended this same game two years earlier at their home field when they hosted the Pleasant Valley Bears from D11. The Bears came out with the win in that one. For a 5A/6A game, Governor Mifflin suited up fewer than two dozen players. But, that two dozen came to play football.
The Panthers came out looking good. A beautiful time-consuming drive led to an early 7-0 lead. Their QB, back for his second game after missing a number of games with an injury, looked great, throwing perfect short strikes in the strong winds. On defense, they made a nice stop, holding the Mustangs to a field goal. Another West TD and they were up 14-3 and looking good.
In the last two minutes before the half, the defense made another nice stop with their backs to the goal line, and West took over with a 14-9 lead and 1:15 left on the clock. They had not trailed and seemed destined to run out the time and lead at the break. And then the bottom fell out. Instead of playing it safe backed up deep in their own territory, they tried to make something happen before the half. What happened was a fumble recovered by Mifflin and a TD in the last few seconds, giving the Mustangs their first lead of the game 16-14.
In the second half, you wouldn’t believe you were watching the same team. The West QB was out, and the offense could no longer move the ball. The defense basically gave up. The team that led almost the entire first half and were only down two at halftime gave up 35 points in the second half while scoring none, and ended up with a mercy rule 51-14 loss. West was at one point up 14-3, then the Mustangs scored the final 48 points straight.
Pocono Mountain West started out the season 4-1, lost five of their last six and ended the season with a 5-6 record.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, AFTERNOON. FREEDOM PATRIOTS (5) @ LIBERTY HURRICANES (4). TURF. This 6A quarter final game was a rematch of the Bethlehem City public school rivalry game played just one week earlier. All they did this week was switch sides at BASD Stadium. In that first game, the Hurricanes handled the Patriots rather easily, scoring a 42-14 win.
The crowd, while decent, was much smaller than any regular season Freedom vs. Liberty matchup in memory. We went to many of those games since Guy taught in the district for nearly 30 years. It’s hard to beat the same team back-to-back, so we thought perhaps Freedom might be able to turn the tables on Liberty this week. Things started out great for the Pates, as they used an inside running game to methodically march down the field and score on their first possession. They had the ‘Canes stopped short of the end zone, but a pick was negated by a roughing the passer call, already their second personal foul, still in the first quarter. Freedom was making the same kinds of mistakes they were making when we saw them in their August opener.
This was our first time seeing Liberty play this year, and their QB throws an excellent ball. He was sure fun to watch. Liberty slowly took control as the Pates couldn’t successfully stop the Hurricane passing game. This could have been a winnable game for Freedom, had they played close to mistake free. They did not. Liberty scored two TDs fewer this week than last, but the end result was the same, a win for the ‘Canes. Final score, 28-14.
Liberty players advance to the semifinal and will play at number one seed Easton this week. Freedom players advance to basketball and wrestling practice. Both Freedom and Liberty gave Easton all they could handle during the regular season, both losing by just three points, both games at Easton. Should be a real good one.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, EVENING. PALISADES PIRATES (5) @ NORTHERN LEHIGH BULLDOGS (4). TURF. With the Freedom/Liberty game at noon, we had plenty of time to get to Slatington and get Jackie’s fresh cut fries before the 6:10 kickoff at this 2A quarter final.
Without question, this was the best game we have seen all year!
Both teams entered the game with identical 7-3 records. This was another rematch of a regular season game. Palisades won the regular season match 28-14. Despite the even records and Palisades winning the head-to-head matchup, the computer said Northern Lehigh was 0.602523 while Palisades was 0.595317, thus the game site of Slatington.
Early on, Palisades looked to be the better team again. We had already seen Blue Mountain repeat on Thursday, and Liberty repeat on Saturday afternoon. But Northen Lehigh has a very proud tradition and didn’t fold, despite not having their top player Chris Frame, out for the rest of the season with an injury.
The Bulldogs tied the score at 14-14 before halftime, then fell behind again 21-14 in the second half, before tying it again before the end of regulation. The Bulldogs hurt themselves with four turnovers, but Palisades only scored one TD off the four. Palisades hurt themselves with over 100 yards of penalties.
Overtime in a playoff game where the winner moves on and the loser goes home. Doesn’t get much better than that. The first key in OT was that Northern Lehigh won the toss and could elect to go on defense first, ensuring that they would know exactly what they needed when it was their crack at offense. Palisades scored and added the PAT to go up 28-21. Northern Lehigh got the ball and scored. Postgame we learned that should that situation arise, the Bulldogs were going for two and either win it or lose it on one play. With the season on the line, we were kind of surprised that they used a trick play, but it worked to perfection and Northern Lehigh pulled off a stunning 29-28 win. The final play was the only time the Bulldogs had led during the entire game. They’ll be talking about this game in Walnutport for decades to come.
Northern Lehigh improved to 8-3, but has to travel to Schuylkill Haven to face the unbeaten and top seeded Hurricanes.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School did not add to his season rushing total last week as the Philadelphia Eagles did not play. His season total is 519 for the season, still only 10th most in the NFL. His career total is 7,735, and he is currently residing in the 57th slot. Next up is James Brooks, but that will take at least a couple of weeks, as Brooks is over 200 yards ahead of Saquon.
Horizon. Looking at Thursday (Southern Lehigh), Friday (D11 Team #33 Northwestern Lehigh), Saturday Afternoon (U. Penn Quakers) and Saturday Evening (Whitehall).
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.
Season Finished: Did Not See at Home (11). Dieruff Huskies. Emmaus Hornets. Lehighton Indians (saw away). Mahanoy City Golden Bears (saw away). Palisades Pirates (saw away). Palmerton Blue Bombers. Pottsville Crimson Tide (saw away). Salisbury Falcons. William Allen Canaries (saw away). Old Forge Blue Devils (D2SR). Northampton Konkrete Kids (Away on Thanksgiving Day game).
2025 Pennsylvania College Teams. 1) Keystone College Giants. 2) Kings College Monarchs (JV & Varsity).
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