District 1 5A Second Round Preview

Tagged under: District 1, News, pfn, Playoffs

Willie McGonigle | November 7, 2025

We’ve reached the Elite Eight in District 1 5A. Last week, things went according to chalk except for the 12th seed Unionville Longhorns going on the road and knocking off the 5th seed Wissahickon Trojans. This week, we get two rematches from the regular season. Will the losers of the regular season get revenge? Is this the week we see more upsets, or will we see the higher seed teams prevail? Let’s take a look at the games.

1 Seed Springfield Cougars vs 8 Seed Penncrest Lions

Springfield Cougars:   To the surprise of no one, the Springfield Cougars are once again one of the top seeds in the District 1 Playoffs. In fact, the only year under Head Coach Chris Britton that the Cougars haven’t been in the playoffs was the 2020 Covid year, when the Central League didn’t participate in the District playoffs. The 2025 version of the Cougars enters Friday’s second round a perfect 11-0. Last week, the Cougars dispatched Upper Dublin 49-27

Offensively, the Cougars are high-powered. They enter play on Friday, averaging a whopping 40 points per game, and have only twice been held to under 30 points. What makes the Cougars’ attack even more impressive is that they do they with a run-heavy offense. Luke Valerio leads the team with nearly 1200 yards rushing on 166 carries and 16 touchdowns. Tanner Coll is second on the team with 905 yards rushing on 88 carries and 12 touchdowns.  TJ Valletti is the Cougars’ bruiser fullback, rushing for 436 yards on 65 carries and 8 touchdowns. John Hopkins has proven that he can throw the ball when the Cougars need him to, completing 61 percent of his passes for 889 yards and 9 touchdowns. Coll 16 catches 266 yards 2 touchdowns, and Mike Neville 14 catches 231 yards and 3 touchdowns are the top receivers for the Cougars.

Defensively, the Cougars are led by Sebastian Simone with 70 tackles, followed by Coll and Valerio. Valletti leads the team with interceptions with 4.

Penncrest Lions: The resurgence of the Penncrest program under Head Coach Paul Graham continues. Last week, the Lions hosted their first home playoff game in school history, defeating West Chester East 28-21.

Offensively, the Lions run a veer option offense that is led by QB Paul Graham Jr. Last week, Graham Jr and Sean Benson combined to rush for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. When the Lions take to the air their top targets are TE Orion Kolleh and WR Andrew Heisserman.

Defensively, the Lions are led by LB Jeffrey Cropper, LB Jackson McNamara, NT DeJon Fitzgerald, LB Chase Callahan, and CB Kevin Graham.

4 Seed Strath Haven Panthers vs 12 Seed Unionville Longhorns

Strath Haven Panthers: Strath Haven is riding a high right now, coming off a huge 35-21 win over Upper Moreland last week. The Panthers will be at home once again for their matchup against Unionville and will execute their greatest advantage, the Haven fans. The Haven fanbase has rallied around their squad and shows up with true team spirit every week.

For the offense, the Panthers are led by their run game, which is packed with a plethora of phenomenal backs. While the Panthers don’t pass, the rush makes up for it. The leading rusher for the Panthers is Ryan Mudrick, who has 134 carries for 759 yards and 11 touchdowns. Mudrick is backed by a huge one-two punch in Yosef Ali and Landon Barlow. While both Barlow and Ali have dealt with injuries this season, their impact on the field has been great. Ali rushed for 685 yards and 9 touchdowns, with Barlow rushing for 552 yards and 11 touchdowns. Kasey Hudson and Derek Bradley add depth to this running back room at Strath Haven, like we haven’t seen before. Hudson rushed for 589 yards and 5 touchdowns this season, along with Bradley, who has piled on 312 yards with 5 touchdowns of his own.

Defensively, for the Panthers, they are led by Cole Haly. Haly is an absolute monster on the field and leads the Panthers in tackles by a wide margin. Haly has 93 tackles this season with 1.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. Patrick Burke has also been a difference maker for the Panthers defensively with 69 tackles and 5 tackles for loss. Also leading the charge for Haven are Quinn Kell and Quarterback Luke Mulhern. Kell has 67 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss, which is paired with Mulhern’s 57 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and 7.5 tackles for a loss. Altogether, this Panther defense is strong, and being placed behind such a dominant offense, it is a recipe for success.

Unionville Longhorns: Last week, the 12th-seeded Longhorns went on the road and had to overcome an early two-touchdown deficit to beat 5th 5th-seeded Wissahickon 27-14 to pick up their 3rd victory in a row and 7th on the season

Offensively, the Longhorns come averaging nearly 35 points per game, and a big reason for that is the play of RB Brody McLaughlin has amassed over 1700 yards of total offense. QB Tommy McGinnis will look to add some pressure through the air to the Panthers’ defense. Drew Puleo is one of his favorite options at WR.

2 Seed Chester Clippers vs 7 Seed Garnet Valley Jaguars

Chester Clippers: This is the season that the Clippers’ faithful have been looking forward to for a long time. For the first time in school history, the Clippers went undefeated at 10-0, outscoring their opponents 394-38 in nine games played. The Clippers enter play this week ranked 4th in 5A by PFN. Last week, we received a scare from the 15th seed, Marple Newtown, overcoming a 4th-quarter deficit to come away with a 15-10 victory. The victory was costly, though, for the Clippers, as this week they will be without the services of their top WR Daron Harris, who will be serving a suspension due to being ejected last week. Harris is the team’s leading receiver with 29 receptions for 668 yards and 6 touchdowns

Offensively, the Clippers’ offense is guided by Delaware County’s all-time leading passer, Jalen Harris, who has completed 70 percent of his passes this season for 1708 yards and 19 touchdowns. Jalen also has accounted for 15 rushing touchdowns this season. Without Daron Harris playing, Damon Fitzgearld is expected to be the top target for Jalen. Fitzgerald has caught 20 passes for 414 yards and 4 touchdowns. Shadrach George will also test the secondary, having four receiving touchdowns to his credit this season. George and Jerrell Palmer are a two-headed monster out of the backfield for the Clippers. The duo has combined to rush for nearly 1100 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Defensively, the Clippers have been lights out. They enter Saturday’s game having shut out six of the nine teams they have faced this season. Palmer leads the team in tackles with 75, followed closely by Zyon Santana (72) and Jayon Burton (62). Santana and Jabre Davis are tied for the team lead with 6 sacks, with DeAndre Pe right behind them with 5.  George leads the team in interceptions with 5.

Garnet Valley Jaguars: The Jaguars are one of the District 1 traditional powers. Last week, the Jaguars’ offense came out firing on all cylinders, scoring 35 first-half points and racking up 279 yards despite only running 12 plays in the first half on their way to outslugging Upper Perkiomen 49-35.

Offensively, the Jaguars run the veer option. Paxon Hunt is the team’s workhorse back with 1004 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Anthony Gifford has 59 carries for 417 yards, 4 touchdowns, and Billy Krause (31-263-4) are the other backs in the Jaguars’ attack. QBColtan Turner is the team’s second leading rusher with 454 yards and four touchdowns. Turner has completed nearly 50 percent of his passes for 551 yards and four touchdowns. Michael Archer leads the team with 9 receptions for 112 yards. Krause is the team’s leader in receiving yards with 150 on only 8 catches.

Defensively, Hunt leads the Jaguars with 101 tackles. Erick Spadea leads the team with 6 sacks. Ethan Vaughn is the team leader with 3 interceptions.

3 Seed West Chester Rustin Golden Knights vs 6 Seed Kennett Blue Demons 

West Chester Rustin Golden Knights: The Golden Knights have T-shirts with the saying Tradition never graduates printed on the back. Certainly, under Mike St Clair, the Golden Knights have built a winning tradition. The Golden Knights enter the second round with 9 wins and are currently on a 5-game winning streak. What makes this season even more impressive is that they are doing it while having to replace numerous members of last season’s District Championship team. Last week, the Golden Knights dispatched cross-town rival West Chester Henderson for the second week in a row.

The Golden Knights’ wing-t style offense is led by FB Will Garner, who has amassed over 1300 yards on the ground this season. Garner is joined in the backfield by Tommy Boland, and Colin Baldesari. Max Blane has shown that he’s more than capable of slinging the ball around when opposing defenses focus on the run. Defensively, the Golden Knights haven’t allowed a point against them since October 3.

Kennett Blue Demons: The Blue Demons enter the second round with 9 wins and will look to avenge a 31-10 defeat at the hands of the Golden Knights, which occurred on September 20. Last week, the Blue Demons, for the second consecutive week, were victorious over Chest-Mont rival Oxford.

Offensively, the Blue Demons have one of the most talented QBs in District 1 in Garrett McCracken, who has thrown for 18 touchdowns this season. Joalex Carabajal is the top target for McCracken. Defensively, the Blue Demons are allowing an average of 11.2 points per game and will look for their run defense to shine like they did last week when they limited Oxford to 67 yards rushing.

PFN Intern Nick Mastripolito contributed to this preview.

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