PIAA District XI 5A/6A Playoff Previews
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Brian Ptashinski | October 31, 2023
The District XI 5A Playoffs
Friday, October 3rd 7 pm.
#4 (5-5) East Stroudsburg South at #1 (9-1) Southern Lehigh
#3 (6-4) Pocono Mountain West at #2 (6-4) Whitehall
SOUTHERN LEHIGH SPARTANS
RECORD 9-1 — #1 SEED
Southern Lehigh earned the top seed in 5A even with a disappointing loss to rival Northwestern Lehigh in the final week of the regular season 42-14. QB Christopher Fritts has completed 85 f 131 passes for 1,592 yards and 18 touchdowns with 6 interceptions. Junior WR Andrew Olesh has caught 41 passes for 773 yards on the season with 9 going for six. Jack Inglis has added 468 yards on 24 receptions with six touchdowns. RB Cade Sawyer leads the rushing attack with 1,252 yards on 126 carries and has found the end zone 25 times. Sawyer also has 61 tackles on defense with 4 interceptions. Xavius Roman led the defense with 62 tackles in 2023.
WHITEHALL ZEPHYRS
Record 6-4 — #2 SEED
Whitehall was up and down all season going 4-1 to start the year, the only loss a 34-21 decision to Bethlehem Catholic. Three straight losses to state ranked teams Parkland, Nazareth and Allentown Central Catholic, but the closed out the year with two wins over Liberty and rival Northampton. The Zephs are led by Trey Dogmanits, who has thrown for 1,355 yards on 99 of 172 passing 11 touchdowns and six picks. Three receivers have over 300 yards receiving on the year: Jack Kocher 28 cathes for 435 yards and 4 scores, Bradon Bayshore has 353 yards receiving on 34 receptions and 4 touchdowns and Trey’s brother Talon Dogmanits has 3 scores on 18 receptions for 315 yards for the sophomore. Dalton Wickel, who was injured for part of the season has rushed for 406 yards on 86 carries and 7 times he found the end zone. Carter Troxell has 330 yards on 72 attempts with 3 scores. Troxell leads the team in tackles with 70.
POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST PANTHERS
Record 6-4 –#3 SEED
After starting out with two losses to start the year against Parkland and Stroudsburg by scores of 54-7 and 37-21, the Panthers ripped off five straight wins before losing to Northampton 28-3 and then a 42-10 loss to Central Catholic. They closed out the regular season with a 14-6 win over rival Pocono Mountain East last week.QB Ryder Bray leads the EPC North in passing. PMW is 1-7 all-time in District XI playoffs and are 0-4 against Whitehall.
EAST STROUDSBURG SOUTH CAVALIERS
Record 5-5 –4th Seed
The Cavaliers only win in the first half of the season was a 47-0 shutout of William Allen in week 2. Four straight losses followed an the offense only managed 26 points in that stretch and were shutout by Northampton and Freedom. South hen closed out the year with a four game winning streak. Junior RB Nathan Gray leads the EPC north in rushing. History against Southern Lehigh is not on the side of South as they lost 42-7 in 2026, 48-19 in 2017 and 52-35 in the 2019 season for a District XI championship.
DISTRICT XI 6A SUB-REGIONAL PLAYOFF PREVIEW
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd 7 pm.
#8 Williamsport (5-5) at #1 Parkland (10-0)
#5 Emmaus (5-5) at #4 Bethlehem Freedom (6-4)
#6 Stroudsburg (6-4) at #3 Northampton (8-2)
#7 Wilkes-Barre Area at #2 Nazareth (9-1)
PARKLAND TROJANS
Record 10-0 — #1 Seed
The Trojans are loaded across the board on both sides of the ball. Beginning with QB Luke Spang 110-163 passing 1,647 yards 22 touchdowns and just 6 picks. WR Connor Johns has 620 yards on 33 receptions and 10 scores. Senior RB Trey Tremba is the workhorse in the backfield with 1,410 yards on 153 carries and 20 touchdowns. Freshman TJ Lawrence leads the team in tackles with 52 and Leo Dauberman is second with 40. The Trojans are exepcted to make it to the District championship game.
NAZARETH BLUE EAGLES
Record 9-1 — #2 Seed
Sophomore quarterback Peyton Falzone has thrown for 1,901 yards on 121 of 194 passing and 15 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions in 2023. Now he sat out this past week against Easton, but his replacement Mason Kuehner rushed for 154 yards and threw for 70 more going 9 of 12 in a win over Easton. Jed Bendekovits has 752 yrads running on 112 carries with 12 scores. Sophomore Marquez Wimberly has ran the ball 90 times for 534 yards and 8 touchdowns. Kuehner, who is the top receiver has caught 48 balls for 795 yards and 7 touchdowns. Logan Hilarczyk leads the team on defense with 5 interceptions.
NORTHAMPTON KONKRETE KIDS
Record 8-2 — #3 SEED
RB Caden Henritzy is the team’s leading rusher with 962 yards on 141 carries and found the end zone 13 times. AJ Slivka is second with 64 touches and 349 yards and 12 touchdowns. Sophomore QB Gavin Taff has completed 70 of 94 yards for 967 yards with 9 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Tristin Pinnock leads the receiver corps with 412 yards on 26 receptions and 3 touchdowns. The K-Kids only two losses were to Allentown Central Catholic in overtime in week one followed by a regular season finale loss to rival Whitehall last week.
BETHLEHEM FREEDOM PATRIOTS
Record 6-4 — 4th SEED
Freedom got off to a very slow start by going 1-4. Two of those losses were by one point to Central Catholic and Whitehall and had a lead against Nazareth. The Patriots then got hot with two shutouts against South and Bethlehem Catholic. A huge win on the road at Emmaus 25-19 in week 9 followed by a 41-14 win over city rival Liberty last week. Junior QB Chase Walker has played well throwing for 1,404 yards on 105 completions on 215 attempts and 12 touchdowns with 7 picks. RB Noah Pierre is the leading rusher with 1,022 yards on 185 carries and scored 10 touchdowns. Shacre Colwell has 39 receptions for 478 yards and 4 touchdowns. Aaron Beete leads the team in tackles on defense with 62.
EMMAUS GREEN HORNETS
Record 5-5 — #5 SEED
Emmaus is another one of those teams with a up-and-down season losing 3 of their first 4 games after a opening season win over Pocono Mountain East. Three straight losses to Nazareth, Central Catholic and Whitehall and then a 4 game win streak followed but the back-to-back losses to Freedom and Parkland closed out the season. Josiah Williams is back under center, after an injury kept him out much of last season. Wiiliams has thrown for 1,145 yards on 82 of 183 passing with 9 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He has also rushed for 563 yards on 105 carries with 5 trips to the end zone. WR Kael Kratzer has caught 20 passes for 361 yards and 5 scores.
STROUDSBURG MOUNTAINEERS
Record 6-4 — #6 SEED
Stroudsburg lost to Northampton 31-0 back on September 9th. The Mounties gave up over 200 yards rushing to the K-Kids. The Stroudsburg defense played well last week holding Pleasant Valley’s leading rusher Alex Eker to just 42 yards and will need that kind of effort against Henritzy Friday night to have any shot to advance
WILKES-BARRE AREA WOLFPACK
Record 6-4 — 7th SEED
Wilkes-Barre out of District 2 comes into the playoffs for second straight year. The Wolfpack led by QB Jake Howe, a sophomore, completing 105 of 184 passes for 1,534 yards with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions. Senior Howie Shiner leads the ground game with 1,121 yards on 165 carries and 11 touchdowns. Evan Laybourn Boddie is the leading receiver with 24 receptions for 469 yards and 6 scores. Max Gregor leads the defense with 87 tackles with 56 solo take downs.
WILLIAMSPORT MILLIONAIRES
Record 5-5 — #8 SEED
Wiiliamsport Millionaires out of District 4 lost three straight games against Dallas (28-20) Berwick (21-7) and Crestwood (28-3). Williamsport won 4 out of 5 games down the stretch. Their only loss in that stretch was 55-14 to Wilkes-Barre then a 24-21 win over Hazleton and a 33-0 shutout of Tunkhannock last week. QB Caleb Williamson was 137 for 244 passing for 1,656 yards and 15 touchdowns with a six-pack of interceptions. Junior Kahyear Whaley leads the running game with 64 carries and 336 yards with 3 touchdowns. Kyreek Bradshaw has caught 41 passes for 384 yards while Yazhir Slaughter has 393 yards on 19 catches and 4 scores.
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