D1 4A Championship Preview: Interboro (1) vs. Pope John Paul II (2)
Tagged under: District 1, News, pfn, Playoffs
Dylan Johnson | November 9, 2022
Scheduling Update: As of 11/9/22 at 4:00 pm, District 1 games will be played at different times than originally scheduled. This game is still on for its 11/11, 7pm kickoff. To stay up to date on District 1 schedule changes, click here.
South Ave sits quiet, but not for long, as it will host the D1 4A Championship this Friday! It is a win-or-go-home clash of yellow and black, as both teams are starving to hoist the title. There is some time before the lights flicker on and shine down on the field where both of these teams will leave it all out there. During that time, I will preview both sides of this bound-to-be electric title game.
It has been a season flipped upside-down from last year. A team at the top of Del Val, Interboro has shown a fresh-improved roster on both sides of the ball. They finished the regular season with an 8-2 record. After a tough-unsatisfying 3-7 last year, Interboro’s taste buds have waited for a taste of a winning season. This year, Abu Kamara dug in. Posting a whopping 2392 rushing-yards, and 32 rushing TDs. He will again be ready to take on whatever a defense throws at him this week against Pope John Paul. A strong-armed QB Julian Boluvas looks to continue his passes to speedy Dom Gunter, who last week had an 85-yard touchdown connection. A talented defense houses Tolu Awoyemi, who sends home uniforms dirty. Last week in the semi-final, they took down the former 4A champ, Bishop Shanahan, in a reassuring 48-28 offensive battle. The last time Interboro saw a title was in 2012 when they took home the D1 3A Title. As far as my records show, Interboro has only crossed paths one time in recent history with Pope John Paul. In 2016, Interboro took them down 42-19, right in their home stadium on South Ave. As I stated before in my midseason Del Val preview, always expect the unexpected when it comes to Delco. Abu Kamara says “… the atmosphere here at South Ave, when everybody rolling, defense rolling, we’re unstoppable baby.” this title game will be a testament to his words.
click to see brackets
Coming out of PAC firing, Pope John Paul only took hit one hit that stopped them short of a perfect regular season (9-1). In a season where almost no one had this team on a playoff radar they exceeded everything. Scott Reed returned to take control of a team. Six years was the amount of time Reed sat away from head coaching. He took a Perkiomen Valley team into a consistent contender. If this season is foreshadowing the rest of his time there, it looks sanguine. After taking down Springfield-Montco by a reassuring score of 49-14, they only have one team left in the D1 4A path. Their QB, Luke Terlesky, leads the PAC in passing (52-76-739-4-1). Alongside those stats comes a 164.84 passer rating. Brent Mitala sits lined up on the outside for 244-yards receiving and 4 touchdowns. Mitala, also sits second in PAC interceptions along side his teammate Braden Reed. They have two and three interceptions respectively. Interceptions will be out of the picture as Pope John Paul focuses their scheme on Abu Kamara who will surely find yardage, relying on his line to give him holes. It very well may end in a backfield battle. For Pope John Paul II, Boyd Skarbek tears up defensives as he holds the number two spot in PAC rushing rankings (63-428-9-6.8avg). In many eyes this will be the teams hardest matchup other than Perkiomen Valley who gave Pope John Paul their only loss this season. In the end this will come down to who wants it more, and Pope John Paul is ready to prove that.
Keep in mind the forecast for the game, 80% chance of rain and possible wind. In the end, this game could end up staying solely on the ground. As many see Abu Kamara of Interboro as one of the best in PA, he favors these types of nights.
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