Protime Predictions – Protime’s Umpire Experience
Tagged under: News, pfn, Protime Predictions
Phil Myers | October 10, 2024
Protime has occasionally umpired baseball games over the years and when his daughter-in-law called last week to ask if he would umpire home plate in a women’s softball tournament she was running, he balked at first but then said he’d play ball. He told a catcher that said she’d never caught before that her job was to protect the umpire. Protime also got to call balls and strikes for one of PA’s top pitchers, a player of the year, who can really fire the ball. His most famous call of the weekend was when a batter was smacked hard with a pitch. Protime yelled, “Ouch, take your base.” (He really said that!)
Protime sometimes has rabbit ears and he kept hearing a female voice muttering different things like, “you’re blind” and “you need a new pair of glasses” and “Stevie Wonder could do a better job” and “that was a horrible call” and “she could not have hit that strike with a 10-foot pole” and so on it went. Finally, after the first inning he turned to the stands and saw Mrs. Protime sitting up there sheepishly waving at him. It turns out that the lovely Mrs. P was having a grand time heckling Protime.
Well, Protime isn’t sheepish when it comes to predicting football games. Last week he was 23-6. He’s 144-41 for the year and closing in on being right 78% of the time this year. The Prophet of Premonition will now wisely render the winners of the week.
State College 6-1 @ Central Dauphin East 7-0 – Here’s a good one in the middle part of Pennsylvania. The Little Lions are led by quarterback Eddie Cockery who has thrown for 1,394 yards and 14 touchdowns. His chief target is Ty Salazer who has hauled down 41 passes for 742 yards and 9 scores. RB Lamar Wilson has crossed the goal line 8 times. Kicker Shane Markowski has hit 5 field goals thus far. The State College defense has 18 sacks to date and is led by Michael Gaul.
The Panthers of CD East are led by QB Demaj Jalloh who by Protime’s quick count of most game summaries has thrown 9 touchdown passes and scored 3 more running the ball. His top receiver is Santana Young who is a threat to score anytime he touches the ball. Young has nabbed at least 4 TD passes. Running Back Leon Parsons has speed and has scored at least 10 times.
Protime looks for Little Lions to knock the Panthers from the ranks of the undefeated, in a real cat fight. St. College 24 Central Dauphin East 14.
Richland 6-1 @ Clearfield 7-0 – This should be a whale of a game. Last year Richland won 35-28 in what was a pretty good game. Richland’s sophomore quarterback, Grayson Mahla, has thrown for 1,138 yards and 14 touchdowns. He has two really good receivers in Amold Mugerwa and Austin Yarnick. They have combined for 876 receiving yards and 11 TD catches. Mahla can run too as he leads all Ram rushers with over 400 yards and has a half dozen TDs. Kicker Noah Ritko is a weapon as he is perfect in the point after department and has nailed a 50-yard field goal. The Richland Ram ‘D’ is led by Joe Penna who has tackled 83 ball carriers already.
Clearfield is not a one man show, but it seems that way as they have the state’s leading rusher, Brady Collins. All Mr. Collins has done so far is run for 1,690 yards and score 21 rushing touchdowns. He has 25 TDs overall. The defense has risen to the occasion to date and will be needed if the Bison are to win. They are led by Colton Ryan. The Bison ‘D’ has 18 sacks to their credit in 2024.
Protime’s crystal ball has it, Clearfield 28 Richland 24.
Lewisburg 7-0 @ Shamokin 7-0 – The Green Dragons of Lewisburg are having quite a year and so are the Shamokin Indians. Wonder when the last time was when they were both 7-0 at this point of the same football season? Lewisburg is led offensively by their running back, Jeremiah Davis, who has crisscrossed the gridiron for 1,089 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. Their place kicker, Cohen Hoover, has booted 5 field goals and is a threat. Quin Michaels leads the Green Dragon defense, a defense that has intercepted 14 passes to date.
Shamokin is rolling. The Indians are led by QB Logan Steele’s 986 yards passing and 14 TD tosses. Chase Pensyl has grabbed 6 of those TD passes and has accounted for 496 receiving yards. Pensyl is a pretty good place kicker also. RB Zakem Clinton has chalked up 528 yards rushing with 7 TD totes. The Indian defense is headed up by Liam Montgomery.
A coin flip reveals Shamokin defeating Lewisburg 35-27.
Upper St. Clair 7-0 @ Bethel Park 7-0 – For the third week in a row USC will face an undefeated team and Bethel Park just might be the best of the three with no disrespect to Peters Township and South Fayette, who are both very, very good. When one mentions the name Julian Dahlem, they automatically think of a great space runner. When Dahlem finds room, he is hard to bring down because he is so shifty. He has 866 yards and 9 scores against some really good competition. The Panthers do not pass much as evidenced by only 8 total pass yards against Peters and South Fayette combined. But they have rushed for 2,283 yards for the year behind maybe one of the best lines in the state in 5A football. Jacob Echevarria-Iozano is 31 for 31 kicking PATs and has 5 FGs to his credit. The defense, led by Nate Stohl, has 13 interceptions to their credit.
Tanner Pfeuffer leads the Black Hawk offense. The big-time quarterback has rifled the pigskin for 1,666 yards and 23 touchdowns. WR Mitch Paschi has 27 receptions for 519 yards and 8 TDs. Bethel Park has a quality running back too, that will present problems for USC. Ja’Vaughn Moore has rushed for 1,251 yards and scored 17 times.
The key to this game is going to be Bethel Park’s offense against the Upper St. Clair defense. USC was able to stymie the offense of Peters Twp. and South Fayette. Protime thinks they can do it again. USC 14 Bethel Park 10.
The Others:
Plymouth-Whitemarsh 21 Springfield-Montco 14 – The Colonials take down the Spartans.
Clairton 34 Leechburg 6 – Clairton’s defense has been on fire this year. Take Da Bears to beat the Blue Devils.
New Oxford 28 West York 21 – These Colonials stay unbeaten by schooling the Bulldogs in a good D3 matchup.
Keystone 15 Ridgway 14 – Good game in D9 that will come down to the end. Protime has the Panthers eking out the win over the Ridgway Elkers.
LaSalle College 24 Bonner-Prendie 17 – In a battle of unbeatens and in some polls, number one teams in their respective classes, the Explorers beat the Friars.
Central-Martinsburg 22 Bedford 15 – Central’s Scarlet Dragons bump off the Bisons.
Wyomissing 27 Twin Valley 24 – Here’s a game you shouldn’t miss if you are in the area. Protime thinks the Spartans topple Twin Valley’s raiders from the ranks of the undefeated.
Penn-Trafford 17 Franklin Regional 13 – The Warriors squeak out a victory over the Panthers.
Pleasant Valley 20 Pocono Mountain East 16 – This actually should be a good game even though both teams are winless. Protime envisions the Bears of Pleasant Valley to top the Cardinals of PME.
United Valley 23 Penns Manor 20 – D6 features this gem with the Lions dimming the Comets.
Dallas 35 Crestwood 21 – The Mountaineers are playing better football after a rough start. They should shoot down these Comets who apparently are without their starting QB which stinks.
Farrell 30 Sharpsville 20 – Farrell has played some quality competition this season and it will pay off come play offs. The Steelers show who’s the boss as they beat the Sharpsville Blue Devils.
Cowanesque Valley 13 Northwest Area 6 – The Indians of Cowanesque win this battle with the Rangers of NW.
East Allegheny 22 Valley 13 – The Wildcats garner their first W of the year by beating the winless Valley Vikings.
Girard 26 North East 23 – There’s Hornets among the vines and the Grape Pickers get stung.
Whitehall 21 William Allen 7 – The Zephyrs take care of business and take the tweet out of the Canaries.
Windber 25 Berlin 19 – D5 sees the Ramblers scoot past the Mountaineers.
Abraham Lincoln 8 Northeast 6 – In a very low-scoring game, the Rail Splitters come out on top of the Vikings.
DuBois 35 St. Marys 31 – A barn-burner at Dutch Country Stadium finds the Beavers a touchdown better than the Flying Dutch.
Downingtown West 31 Bishop Shanahan 21 – The Whippets ground the high-flying Eagles.
Hickory 42 Grove City 28 – Hickory’s Hornets swarm all over the G.C. Eagles.
Lackawanna Trail 27 Susquehanna Community 13 – The Lions continue a great year by slashing through the Sabers.
Union City 19 Sheffield 13 – The last Sheffield High School home game ever at Wolverine Mountain finishes with a Union City Bear triumph over the Wolverines.
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