District 12 Week 9 Preview
Tagged under: District 12, News, Non-PIAA, pfn
Anthony Franklin | October 17, 2025
The 2025 regular season is winding down and entering its final week. Division champions have been crowned in all 4 divisions as Imhotep wrapped up the Independence Division via beating Northeast, Washington & West Philadelphia. They also earned a forfeit win over Gratz. Tep will close out the regular season at Lincoln looking to continue their unbeaten public league streak which is currently at 29. Belmont earned the Liberty Division title after defeating Bartram last week and enter the final game looking to cap off an undefeated regular season. In the National Division Academy at Palumbo and High School of the Future are both undefeated within division play and will meet Saturday with the winner taking the division title and the loser will claim the division’s 2nd playoff berth. In the American Division, Audenreid in its first year of varsity play is the division champion via their win last weekend over previously undefeated Edison.
The one thing that can throw off playoff seeding is an appeal from Lincoln on their 3-game suspension served down by the league for a post-game altercation 2 weeks ago at Northeast High. If the suspension is uplifted the Railsplitters would get to play Imhotep this Friday and a loss still claim 2nd place within the division. That would bump Northeast down to 3rd place and make the GW/West Philadelphia game extra important with the winner claiming the 4th and final playoff berth. The ruling on their appeal should occur by Tuesday giving Lincoln two days of practice before the game on Friday.
Teams locked into playoffs:
- Imhotep (Locked into 1 seed)
- Northeast (Locked into 2 seed)
- West Philadelphia (Locked into 3 seed)
- Bartram (5th seed)
- High School of Future (Locked into 7 seed)
- Olney (Locked into 8 seed)
Teams in contention:
- Boys Latin: Need to defeat Mastery to earn playoff berth as 6th seed.
- Mastery Charter North: Need to defeat Boys Latin to earn playoff berth as 6th seed.
- George Washington: Need to defeat West Philly to earn 4th seed.
With the new playoff format to promote more competitiveness within the playoffs and avoid forfeitures teams in the American Division are ineligible for the playoffs. The division champion will however be promoted to the National Division for 2026 and earn a 1st round home game in the PIT (Public League Invitation Tournament).
Another new rule is teams that don’t qualify for the Public League Playoffs are ineligible to play in the District 12 title games against the Catholic League representatives with the exception of teams in the 1A and 2A classifications.
Belmont is the lone remaining undefeated team in the Public League however due to PIAA playoffs beginning early for them they have opted out of the Public League Playoffs to play in the District 12/District 1 1A Sub-Regional playoff game next weekend. That allows teams that finish 2nd and 3rd in the Liberty Division the opportunity to play in the playoffs.
Teams in the tAmerican Division are ineligible for the playoffs Audenreid a first-year varsity program despite going undefeated within their division. However, due to being a 2A program they’ve qualified for the District 12 2A title game where they will meet Lansdale Catholic next weekend.
City Top 10 Teams
- St. Joes Prep
- La Salle College
- Roman Catholic
- Malvern Prep
- Bonner-Prendie
- Imhotep Charter
- Episcopal Academy
- Belmont Charter
- Cardinal O’Hara
- Lansdale Catholic
Honorable Mention
- Archbishop Ryan
- John Bartram
- Mastery Charter North
- Neumann Goretti
- Abraham Lincoln
Games of the Week
Imhotep @ Lincoln: With Lincoln short 12 players who are suspended and 4 coaches this game won’t be as competitive as it should be however after getting new life towards earning a playoff berth Lincoln will come into this game motivated to pull an upset off against the defending Public League Champions.
George Washington @ West Philly: Another game with huge playoff implications. West Philly has already earned a playoff berth but a win will secure the 3rd seed while GW is looking to sew up a playoff spot. For GW it’s simple win and they are the 4th seed. Lose and they’ll instead be heading to the PIT as the top seed.
Mastery Charter North @ Boys Latin: In a winner take the 6th playoff seed game this rivalry game will be played under the lights and with two physical programs. Mastery has won 2 in a row via shut out over Central & Frankford. Sr. RB Shamir Mills has over 800 yards on the ground and over 10 touchdowns. For Boys Latin they are led by Sr. QB Jeremiah Roach and with a young team Boys Latin will need to play clean, with no turnovers, lots of discipline and limited penalties to earn a win. The loser of this game will make the PIT with a home game in the first round.
Palumbo @ HS of The Future: In a winner take the division title game Palumbo has already alerted the league they will be opting out of the playoffs and instead playing in the PIT however a win for the Griffins will allow them to be promoted to the Liberty Division next season. For HS of the Future, they are locked into the 7th seed but also would like to add “Division Champions” to their season record before embarking on the Pub Playoffs before they play the CL 3A champion in 2 weeks.
Lansdale Catholic @ Archbishop Ryan: The Crusaders enter the game with a 7-1 record with their lone defeat coming at the hands of Father Judge. Sr. Athlete Yeboah Cobbold (Akron) leads the team in rushing with 845 yards, passing yards 671 yards and passing touchdowns. Lansdale is in search of the CL Blue Division title and will accomplish the goal with a win Saturday. Ryan has 2 division losses and looks to upset Lansdale, and roll points up to qualify for the PCL 4A championship game against Bonner. The Raiders are led by Sr. David Spinelli who stars on both sides of the ball as a defensive back (3 interceptions) and QB/RB (477 rushing with 6 touchdowns, 730 passing yards with 11 touchdowns) and Sr. RB Jordan Cotton (536 yards & 8 touchdowns).
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