The J-Man’s View of District 2: What week is it anyway?

Tagged under: District 2, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Jared Samuel | August 21, 2025

This whole Week Zero or Week One thing has me perplexed. I took plenty of math classes in high school and in college, and if I learned anything about zero it is this: it equals NOTHING.

Good enough for me. Week 1 it is!!

Welcome to my weekly look at all things District 2 in High School Football. A little background first: I’m entering my 4th season covering High School Football for PAFootballNews.com. It’s been a totally awesome experience meeting lots of people on the sidelines and on the field, and also working with the BEST CREW of High School Football junkies in the state. In my short time with PFN, I’ve seen plenty of ups and downs, highs and lows and crazy stuff. My better half, Sherryl Samuel, is entering her 3rd year doing photography for PFN….and boy does she make me look good! On Friday nights, we cover games as a team and we love it. We can’t wait for this season to start.

And why “J-Man”? Well, I haven’t had a nickname for many years, and it’s the only one I remember. One day when I was around age 8 and the older kids were heading off and leaving me behind so they could go deep into the woods and play manhunt, my friend’s dad said “Come with me J-Man”, and the nickname stuck. I honestly hadn’t thought of it for years until I decided to start up this column, and it seemed like the natural thing to use.

On to the regularly scheduled programming…..

The outlook from up on the mountain: Well, it’s going to be an interesting season for sure. District 2 saw some significant losses from graduation, and we all know what happens after that: the “programs” continue to march forward, and the “teams” have to rebuild. What’s the difference you might ask, between a “team” and a “program“? Well, to put it in simpler terms, “teams” play for this season, and “programs” play for this season and plan for the future at the same time. If you look around the District 2 landscape and watch the early part of this season, it should become rather apparent which schools fall into which category. This year has the potential to be a little different than most that we’ve seen recently, and if the past is any indication (SPOILER ALERT: I’m a history major, it totally matters!) it will be the teams who were able to get their underclassmen “time under the lights” last season. Stay Tuned!!

Where we are headed Friday 8/22: We’ve got a real banger to start off the season right, as Riverside heads to Dunmore in what should be a very interesting matchup and a rematch from last season’s District championship game. The Vikings made a very nice run into the State semifinals last season, and they have a decent core of players returning but may have a question at QB. The Bucks surprised some folks last year as they made it to the District championship game, and they return a good core of players as well. The most interesting factor in this game however may be the arrival of Junior QB/DB Weston Yannone for Dunmore as a transfer (family move due to business) from Susquehanna. We know Dunmore likes to run the ball, so it may come down to whether the Riverside defensive front, anchored by Rutgers commit Senior DL/OL Tavian Branch, can control things up front.

Where we are headed Saturday 8/23: I could not pass up the opportunity on this one as Nativity BVM makes the trip up from District 11 to take on Holy Redeemer, and it’s another night game to boot! The Royals are working hard to get back to competitive football, while the Green Wave travels up with a largely different team due to many losses from graduation. It should be an interesting game.

PFN’s District 2 coverage this week, follow these for updates on ‘X’:

8/22 7pm — Riverside at Dunmore @jaredsamuelpfn
8/22 7pm — Lakeland at Carbondale @Teejaypr
8/22 7pm — West Scranton at Old Forge @nepayinzer
8/22 7pm — Berwick at Lake Lehman @Mason_PFN
8/22 7pm — Crestwood at Wyoming Area @NEPASportsPage
8/22 7pm — Marian Catholic at Hanover Area @BPtashinski
8/23 12pm — Delaware Valley at McKeesport @cchastings1863 @Sykotyk @Mia_WilliamsPT @AnnabellA_PT
8/23 7pm — Nativity BVM at Holy Redeemer @jaredsamuelpfn