Hollywood’s Cutting Room Floor-Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Edition-Week 3
Tagged under: District 11, News, pfn
Brian "Hollywood" Ptashinski | September 11, 2024
Start of league play should separate the contenders from the pretenders over next seven weeks in the EPC.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference will get down the serious business at hand of contending to make the post-season after the next 7 games. The first three weeks, EPC teams had the option of playing some teams from out of the area, or even out of state as the case with bEthlehem Freedom going up to Staten Island to play a California school. Nazareth played an instant classic last week with Distrct II power Wilson-West Lawn ending in a 35-31 win for the Lehigh Valley squad. Easton got a huge win over state-ranked Spring-Ford and Missouri commit Matt Zollers, William Allen and Louis Dieruff combined to go 5-1 after three weeks.
Staring this week the teams will play five teams in their division and one cross-over game from each team in the other two divisions, that should separate the cream of the crop going into the playoffs in November and maybe see a EPC team make t the PIAA state championship game in December at Cumberland Valley High School.
Scores From Last Week:
Bethlehem Catholic 28 Berks Catholic 10
East Stroudsburg South 38 Whitehall 7
Bethlehem Freedom 49 Allentown Central Catholic 15
Nazareth 35 Wilson-West Lawn 31
Emmaus 38 Reading 7
Parkland 23 Northampton 14
Easton 51 Northeast (Philly) 7
Dieruff 21 Pocono Mountain West 7
East Stroudsburg North 26 William Allen 14
Bethlehem Liberty 31 Stroudsburg 14
Exeter Twp 49 Pleasant Valley 0
Scranton 34 Pocono Mountain East 6
Let’s Let’s look at the games for this week’s contests:
PARKLAND TROJANS (2-1) at PLEASANT VALLEY BEARS (0-3) Thursday 7pm
T.J. Lawrence, of Parkland picked up nearly 140 yards last week against against Northampton and a half dozen tackles on defense in the win over the Konkrete Kids rebounding after a tough loss to Freedom the week before. Pleasant Valley struggled against District 3’s powerhouse Exeter Twp49-0. The Bears turned the ball over six times and trailed 35-0 at intermission. PV were called for losses 13 times and were shutout for second time this season.
EAST STROUDSBURG SOUTH CAVALIERS (2-1) at WILLIAM ALLEN CANARIES (2-1) FRIDAY 7pm
THe Cavs took down Whitehall last week 38-7. QB Ivan Laubach threw for 161 yards and two touchdowns on 11 of 17 passing. RB Charles Capers picked up 92 yards on 22 carries and scored once. The defense contributed to the scoring as well with both Gianni Gonnella having a 94-yard touchdown and Xzavier Pusateri returning a pick six 50 yards as well as catching a 77 yard touchdown pass. Allen lost their first game after winning their first two games. The Canaries dropped a 26-14 decision to East Stroudsburg North. Allen gave up nearly 300 yards to the Timberwolves Friday. Jalil Johnson and Kemahni Wimberly had the only two scores for the gold and blue.
WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS (0-3) at POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS () FRIDAY 7pm
The Zephyr defense was dismantled last week by East Stroudsburg South, by giving up 31 unanswered points in a 7-7 game. The Zephyrs ground attack has been stymied all season only gaing 170 yards in their first three games. They also have giving up large chunks of yardage to their opponents to the tune of nearly 1,200 yards while managing just over 150 on offense. PMW has not beaten Whitehall in five tries. The Panthers had 150 yards in penalties last week against Dieruff but did get over 150 yards passing from QB Jerel Simms and RB Christian Stiehler, a freshman picked up nearly 70 yards running the ball
POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST CARDINALS () at ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS () SATURDAY 7pm
The Cardinals got blitzed by District Two’s Scranton Knights 34-6. PME had less than a 100 yards of total offense. The Knights also had a blocked punt for a score in the win. The Vikings didn’t fair much better in a 49-15 loss to Freedom. ACC had less than 30 yards rushing in the game. The passing game though did alright by a combined 233 yard effort by Patrick Cahill and Kyle Fleshman, who had two scoring passes in the contest.
NORTHAMPTON KONKRETE KIDS () at BETHLEHEM LIBERTY HURRICANES () FRIDAY 7pm
The K-Kids lost to Parkland last week 23-14. Northampton did not score until the final quarter when Gavin Taff crossed the goal line both times. Taff did throw for over 100 yards and ran for 50 more. Liberty stayed unbeaten with a 31-14 win over Stroudsburg. The Hurricanes behind QB Antonio Fontanez coming back after a stint at Central Catholic has proven to be a force for Liberty in their unbeaten streak.
BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS at EASTON RED ROVERS FRIDAY 7pm
Becahi took down Berks Catholic out of District 3 last week 28-10. QB Cayden Vassa ran for 105 yards and passed for 112 more. The Hawks do though have to clean up the penalty issue as they were flagged for over 100 yards on 10 infractions. The Rovers pounded Northeast High School of Philadelphia last week 51-7. Cael DiSora had a 90-yard kickoff returns. Jasir Frutchy caught just four passes all for touchdowns that totaled 130 yards. The offense had over 350 yards of production.
EMMAUS GREEN HORNETS at STROUDSBURG MOUNTAINEERS FRIDAY 7pm
Emmaus was another team to face a program from District 3- The Knights of Reading for a 38-7 thrashing. The Honets defense gave up less than 130 yards of offense to Reading. QB Jerek Cooper threw two touchdowns. Stroudsburg lost to Liberty 31-14 but only trailed 10-7 at intermission but too many mistakes in the second half doomed Stroudsburg.
LOUIS E DIERUFF HUSKIES (3-0) at EAST STROUDSBURG NORTH TIMBERWOLVES (1-2) THURSDAY 7pm
Dieruff is 3-0 for first since 1992-the ear they last won the EPC title. This starts a tough stretch the for the Huskies with games against Liberty, Whitehall, Parkland, Emmaus and Central Catholic on the docket. ESN got over 200 yards combined last week from Zachary Deresky-Martinez and Wayne King in a win over Allen. WR Kendrick Sympson had 150 yards receiving and 11 receptions. Dieruff has won 10 straight against the Timberwolves.
BETHLEHEM FREEDOM PATRIOTS (3-) at NAZARETH BLUE EAGLES (3-0) FRIDAY 7pm
In what could be The Game of the Year. AS both teams are highly ranked in the state. Freedom coming off a dominating performance over Central Catholic 49-15. QB Chase Walker threw for 222 yards on just 8 of 11 passing and three scores. RB Aaron Beete picked up over 110 yards on eight carries. Nazareth squeaked by Wilson-West Lawn 35-31 QB Peyton Falzone is showing why he is one of the best signal-callers in the state at 6’5 and around 220 with a rocket arm. Nazareth will face Parkland on the road next week.
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