DRUCKENMILLER’S DEAD BALL FOUL EPC

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Dave Druckenmiller | September 1, 2021

Northampton upsets Bethlehem Catholic and celebrates.

WEEK # 1 DEAD BALL REVIEW AND A WEEK #2 PREVIEW

By DAVID DRUCKENMILLER

The 2021 football season has kicked off for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. Week #1 brought virtually little in surprises, as EPC South played all EPC North teams. But the Parkland at Pleasant Valley had to be postponed due to a case of COVID-19 at Pleasant Valley. We will start with the picks I made for week #1 below. My Shlobber-knocker Sabermetric System (Triple S) is back at its pigskin predicting.
My slobber-knocker predictions on Friday 8/27 were: (7-2) by Triple S (wrong picks in red)

EPC WEEK #1 SLABBER-KNOCKER SABERMETRICS SYSTEM PICKS

Bethlehem Catholic 21 Northampton 14
East Stroudsburg South 24 Liberty 14
Emmaus 21 Stroudsburg 17
Allentown Central Catholic 24 Dieruff 17
Nazareth 28 East Stroudsburg North 0
Parkland 24 Pleasant Valley 10
Easton 27 Pocono Mountain East 3
Whitehall 28 Pocono Mountain West 14
Freedom 35 Allen 0


WEEK #1 DEAD BALL REVIEW

Week # 1 in the Eastern PA Conference highlighted North vs South match-ups. South went 8-1 vs north. The dominance gap of the south has widened since two years ago. Northampton was the only North team to win with a 17-14 upset win over Bethlehem Catholic. The Konkrete Kids behind new head coach John Toman rallied late for the win. Comin into 2021, I thought the EPC had many questions about the running back position in the league. Well, I changed my mind.

Northampton 17 Bethlehem Catholic 14

Northampton came out firing and took a 10-0 halftime lead and was led by new quarterback Cooper King who completed 7 of 10 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown pass to wideout Jaelen Richardson. K-Kids defense came up big in this one, only allowing one Bethlehem Catholic offensive touchdown. I got this one wrong and consider it an upset for the Konkrete Kids. New Northampton head coach John Toman got a huge win in his Konkrete Kid debut.

Bethlehem Liberty 24 East Stroudsburg South 16

Another mild upset as Bethlehem Liberty beats an injury-riddled East Stroudsburg South squad. Junior wide receiver Karim Brice caught four passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns on receptions of 69 and 80 yards in the win. Senior running back Kindred Wright averaged 9 yards per carry as he ran 13 times for 117 yards and a touchdown. Linebacker Keegan Corr made nine tackles on defense for the Hurricane. New head coach Shawn Daignault got a huge win in his debut.

Emmaus 51 Stroudsburg 0

This game I predicted to be one of the more competitive games of week one. It was not, as the Green Hornets of Emmaus led by new quarterback Josiah Williams hammered the Mountaineers. Emmaus built a 20-0 cushion in the 1st quarter and led at halftime 41-0. Williams went 3-7 for 126 yards and his first touchdown as a quarterback. Junior running back Tyrik Jarvis carried the ball 3 times for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stroudsburg struggled to get the offense going and went 2-14 on 3rd down and 0-2 on 4th down.

Allentown Central Catholic 39 Louis E Dieruff 7

This game was suspended on Friday evening as lightning struck the Lehigh Valley area. Allentown Central Catholic was winning 15-7 at the time of the suspension, late in the second quarter. The Dieruff Huskies had tied the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter. The Huskies were playing tough. But, the Vikings went on a 32 unanswered point run to easily win this one 39 to 7. Running back Travis Foster scored a pair of touchdowns and Griffin Patridge added another on a touchdown reception for the Vikings. Despite the loss Dieruff head coach Dave Lutte said the team had to overcome some issues in the last week with COVID-19 and didn’t even get a chance to scrimmage. But he thought they played with good effort.

Nazareth 57 East Stroudsburg North 0

Nazareth is a two-time defending district xi 6A champion. They didn’t miss a beat scoring 23 points in the first four minutes of the game and routed the under-manned East Stroudsburg North team. Nazareth’s senior running back Tyler Rohn ran for 62 yards and 3 touchdowns. First-year starting quarterback Sonny Sasso threw for 92 yards and went 7 for 8 and two touchdowns throwing the pigskin. The Timberwolves struggle with the football roster and were very much under-manned.

Easton 76 Pocono Mountain East 6

Easton opened its 16-million dollar football facility with a bang, routing the Pocono Mountain East Cardinals 76-6 in their opener. The Red Rovers literally ran all over the Cardinals with 447 yards on 28 carries and that’s an average of 15.96 yards per carry for the team. Senior running back Marcus Williams carried the ball 6 times for 173 yards (28.83 yards/carry) and 6 touchdowns. Scoring on 80, 40, 32, 9, 8, and 4-yard touchdowns. Fellow running back Aiden Hutchinson ran 3 times for 95 yards in the contest.

Whitehall 42 Pocono Mountain West 0

Pocono Mountain West just had no answers for a potent Whitehall running attack. Running back Nigel Linton scored from 23 yards out early in the first quarter and the rout was on for the Zephyrs. Nigel also ended the game in the 2nd quarter with a 39-yard touchdown. The game was shortened by lightning in the area. Linton finished with 88 yards on 10 carries for the Zephyrs. Quarterback Quinn Wentling went 4 for 4 with 94 yards and a touchdown throwing the ball.

Bethlehem Freedom 54 William Allen 12

Bethlehem Freedom came into the game as a favorite in the Eastern Pennsylvania South and they did not disappoint. Behind a very talented running back Deante Crawford, the Patriots just took the game to the Canaries. Crawford scored on touchdown runs of 23, 49, 26, and 56 yards in the 54-12 win. He finished with 5 carries for 165 yards and 4 touchdowns. Allen came into the contest under new head coach Mel Thomas Jr. and hoped to be more competitive and they did get 12 points on offense.

NEXT WEEK’S SCHEDULE and SLABBER-KNOCKER SABERMETRICS SYSTEM PREDICTIONS (Triple S)

My week 2 predictions are below. This week has some really interesting games starting with Allentown Central Catholic at an improved Bethlehem Liberty squad.

Allentown Central Catholic @ Bethlehem Liberty 07:00 PM

This could be a very good game with Liberty coming off its upset of East Stroudsburg South. Central Catholic found a new quarterback in Caiden Shaffer. Liberty has a new quarterback in Thomas Mason. It could all come down to a ground battle between Liberty running back senior, Kindred Wright, and Central’s Junior, Travis Foster. Coach Tim McGorry says they must clean up the penalties and the tackling this week. This one could go either way.

Prediction: Allentown Central Catholic 24 Bethlehem Liberty 17

Bethlehem Freedom @ Emmaus 07:00 PM

This game should be one of the best games on the schedule this week. Freedom is the team I had predicted to win the south, but after week one it’s a wide-open race. Emmaus won the first week 51-0 over Stroudsburg and Freedom won a 54-12 rout of William Allen. This could be a defensive struggle. Freedom has a very good defensive team and Emmaus with new quarterback Josiah Williams have to be careful and not turn the ball over and give good field position to Freedom.  Freedom could win this one big, but Emmaus’s defense may keep it close.

Prediction: Freedom 23 Emmaus 20

East Stroudsburg North @ Pleasant Valley 07:00 PM

Pleasant Valley was shut down last week due to COVID-19 and is biting at the bit to just play. East Stroudsburg North was blasted by Nazareth 57-0. Pleasant Valley has some good athletes in quarterback Robert Papaleo and wide receiver Ryan Blass. Plesant Valley is hungry to get started.

Prediction: Pleasant Valley 30 East Stroudsburg North 3


East Stroudsburg South @ William Allen 07:00 PM

East Stroudsburg South got banged up in the opener and come into this one limping. Liberty upset the Cavaliers 24-16. Allen comes in off a loss to Bethlehem Freedom 54-12. South can really use this game to get themselves together again. South has too many athletes and takes this one easily. 

Prediction: East Stroudsburg South 31 William Allen 6

Louis E. Dieruff @ Nazareth Area 07:00 PM

Nazareth routed East Stroudsburg North 57-0 in week 1. Dieruff started off good and then was routed by Allentown Central Catholic 39-7. Nazareth needs some games to get ready for the very tough south run. Nazareth quarterback Sonny Sasso needs some snaps and throwing the ball reps. Dieruff just doesn’t have the talent to upset Nazareth. Nazareth running back Tyler Rohn will control this game on the ground. Tom Falcones’s team wins this one.

Prediction: Nazareth 35 Dieruff 7

Northampton @ Pocono Mountain West 07:00 PM

Northampton coming off an upset of Bethlehem Catholic can feel a run at the north title. Pocono Mountain West had 42 points scored on them last week against Whitehall. Northampton has a new quarterback, senior Cooper King. Running back Caiden Henritzy ran for some tough yards. The very tough Northampton defense and big linemen will take control of this game. Northampton in a rout.

Northampton 28 Pocono Mountain West 8

Parkland @ Easton Area 07:00 PM

This should be a good one at the newly revitalized Cottingham Stadium. Last year Easton struggled to score against teams in the red zone. You can’t do this against a good Parkland team that is hungry to play a game. I am very much enamored by Easton running back Marcus Williams. He had 6 carries and 6 touchdowns last week in a 76-6 rout of Pocono Mountain East. He is also a threat as a punt and kick returner. The Trojans haven’t played yet this season and are very much hungry to hit the gridiron. The difference could be the one game under Easton’s belt. Red Rovers in a nail-bitter at Cottingham Stadium.

Prediction: Easton 21 Parkland 20

Stroudsburg @ Pocono Mountain East 07:00 PM

Stroudsburg had issues against Emmaus last week and was routed 51-0. Pocono Mountain East had 76 points scored on them by Easton. The Mounties have what I thought was a team that could contend for the North title. Pocono Mountain East got blasted and has no real confidence on defense. Mountaineers over the Cardinals behind quarterback Ethan Sodl.

Prediction: Stroudsburg 28 Pocono Mountain East 14

COLONIAL/SCHUYLKILL FOOTBALL WEEK 2 PREDICTIONS (Shlobber-knocker Sabermetrics System)
Northwestern Lehigh 28 Northern Lehigh 24
North Schuylkill 28 Blue Mountain 14
Minersville 24 Marian Catholic 13
Nativity BVM 24 Kutztown 21
Palmerton 25 Jim Thorpe 23
Schuylkill Haven 21 Panther Valley 14
Shenandoah Valley 21 Renassance Acad. 14
Saucon Valley 30 Salisbury 24
Notre Dame GP 35 Southern Lehigh 13
Tamaqua 24 Lehighton 17
Tri-Valley 28 Mahanoy Area 7
Williams Valley 28 Pine Grove 14
Wilson 28 Palisades 14
Wyomissing Area 21 Pottsville 17
Bangor 21 Pottstown 14

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