Protime’s Pigskin Ponderings – Technological Headaches

Tagged under: News, pfn, Protime Predictions

Phil Myers | September 3, 2026

Protime had a time last Friday.  Before every picture he took, he had to put in his pin to unlock his new phone.  Of course as he fumbled around doing this, he missed a few good pics.  North Star defeated West Branch and Protime interviewed the Player of the Game, Kasey Yoder, and his coach, Shane Smith.  When he got home, he realized he had left the recorder on and the 5 minute interview had turned into 45 minutes of mostly Protime singing his heart out to the sounds of the 60s from his Sirius Radio.  His Elvis is pretty good, but not so sure about his Mick Jagger.

Then when it was time to download his pictures from his smart phone to the computer, he couldn’t.  The computer wouldn’t recognize his phone.  So, Protime posted some of his pictures on Twitter, or X as they call it now, and then copied them to his computer, and then copied them back into the PFN picture library, and then transferred them into his article.  He wanted to throw his phone on the floor and do jumping jacks on it.  But that would have woken Mrs. P, so he just wallopped it a few times with a giant rubber band.  If these technical difficulties keep up all year, you all can visit Protime in the local insane asylum.

So, let’s talk generally about all the upsets in the first week.  Or were those games really upsets?  In high school football you never know what is going to happen in the first week or two because the majority of teams’ makeup changes from the prior year.  Just because someone was good in 2025 doesn’t translate to them being good in 2026 or vice versa.  You just have to wait for the season to unveil itself to figure if those so-called upsets in the opening week were really upsets or just the better team winning.

Now that we have most teams playing a game, here are Protime’s thoughts on the top two or three teams in each classification:

In 6A, it appears Pittsburgh Central Catholic may be the western rep.  Beating New Jersey’s powerhouse Bergen Catholic is a big deal.  Protime still likes Coach Roken and St. Joes Prep from the east, but the competition will be very tough again this year with some real formidable opponents come playoff time.

Protime likes Pine-Richland in 5A.  The Rams have a great coach in Jon LeDonne and he, in turn, has a great staff.  Upper St. Clair is going to have a fantastic year also in D-7.  In the east, Imhotep appears to be the odds on favorite now that they’ve escaped the gauntlet in 6A.

Once you get past Bonner Prendie in 4A, it is anyone’s guess.  This is a wide, wide open classification.  And Bonner Prendie better not count all of their eggs before they’re hatched either.  Protime can see Shamokin, McKeesport, North Pocono, South Fayette, Jersey Shore, and even Pope John Paul II as serious threats at this moment in time.

Hopewell’s beat down of #1 Avonworth last Friday, opened the door for quite a few others including Hopewell, Aliquippa, and Propel Braddock Hills.  Maybe Punxsy and Penn Cambria also in the west.  Down there in eastern PA look for NW Lehigh, Notre Dame Green Pond, Wyomissing, and maybe Scranton Prep to make noise during the rest of the season and definitely in the playoffs.

In 2A, it is Southern Columbia right now, with Farrell their number one nemesis.  Both teams had impressive wins against ranked opponents from different classifications.  So, there’s that.  Protime still says not to count Richland out.  They have a pretty hard schedule and should be battle tested come playoff time.  Don’t count out Karns City either.  Time will tell, but for now, Protime is eyeing a rematch of last year’s final between Southern and Farrell.

Clairton and Bishop Guilfoyle appear to be the heavy favorites in the 1A classification.  But Belmont Charter and possibly Wilmington have Protime’s attention.  

It is going to be an interesting year and Protime just wants to take it week by week to see what unfolds. There is nothing like high school football on a Friday night!  For all you fans out there, maybe Protime will conjure up a prediction or two next week.  We will see.  Enjoy whatever game or games you all go to this week.