Top 10 High School Football Rankings

Southeastern Pennsylvania Football

Featuring District 1, 12 and the Inter Ac

September 1, 2008

1. North Penn (1-0) North Penn holds on to the top spot after an impressive 23-15 road win in Bethlehem against the Hurricanes of Liberty High. It was impressive for a number of reasons. First off, it was a road win against a talented, albeit, self destructing team. And it was a diverse attack, with contributions from everyone. Kicking specialists Brandon McManus is a weapon with field goals of 26, 30 and 40 yards. On the ground, the Canes had no answer for Ronnie Akins and Tyler Smith who rushed for 112 and 56 yards respectively. Quarterback Justin Davey was on target completing 10 of 12 throws for 63 yards so it was a team effort and great win in a hostile environment. Liberty, who was previously ranked 10^th in the State Top 10, shot themselves in the foot all night with turnovers (2), penalties and missed tackles. Still, this is a nice football team that fought back from a 20-0 first half deficit to make a game of it. They’re at Parkland next week where both will battle long and hard to avoid a 0-2 start. The Knights move on to play the other team from Lansdale , Lansdale Catholic, a team they haven’t played since 2001. With St. Joseph ’s Prep in the following week, this is a dangerous spot for the Knights with the possibility of them looking ahead. That’s not as profound a situation early in the year as later but it’s a factor. They’ll need to “bring it” Friday against one of the top AAA teams in the East.       

2. St. Joseph ’s Prep (1-0) The Hawks look like the real deal after going to Allentown and coming home with a win against one of the top programs in the state. Parkland looked good early, with the Hawks in trouble, falling behind 10-0. But their superior size wore Parkland down, who by the way are not a small team. But St. Joseph’s is more, more physical, more talented and huge along the lines with the likes of Mark Arcidiacono at 6-5 282, Seth Betancourt 6-6 289, Shawn Davis 6-0 265, Matt Dykan 5-11 232 and Mike Pinciotti at 6-4 292. And to climb out of a 10-0 road hole is always impressive, especially against a team like Parkland . The final score of 20-13 reflects a 20-3 comeback to show just how thoroughly they ultimately shut Parkland down, holding them to 56 yards rushing. The Hawks rushed for 206 yards, mostly on the legs of good looking Mike Yeager, who motored for 122 yards on 21 carries. All in all, that was a fine effort. St. Anthony’s of South Huntington , Long Island are up next. The Friars went 10-1 last year, fresh off their 7^th consecutive CHSFL-AA title. At the beginning of 2007, they were USA Today’s 25^th rated team. They beat Mount St. Michael ( Bronx ) 26-20 to avenge their only loss, 22-12, earlier in the year. The loss ended St. Anthony’s 64 game regular season CHSFL win streak. Heavy graduation losses on the DL and at LB should soften them for the Hawks but this is a powerful program from the part of New York State that plays serious football.   

3. Coatesville (1-0) Last year’s sophomore sensation started right where he left off and then some when quarterback Charles Green wowed them in a stunning 2008 debut. His stats were impressive last year, passing for 815 yards while rushing for another 720 on a young, 5-5 team. In the opener Friday night against Philadelphia North Catholic, he showed growth by completed 11 of 20 passes for 227 yards (28% of last year’s yardage) while rushing for 145 yards. Imagine Coatesville with a passing attack! Big lineman, great team speed and athleticism and now a passing attack. They don’t have this high ranking for nothing. Also, they shut down a pretty good team in North Catholic, holding them to 5 first downs, 3 yards passing and 102 yards rushing. It took an 83 yard touchdown pass late in the 3^rd quarter to seal this one so North gave them a game. The Raiders racked up 384 yards of total offense making it a strong opening performance against a worthy adversary. They are idle this week, then travel to Lancaster for a game against their old rival J. P. McCaskey.     

4. Cardinal O’Hara (1-0) In a game played in Ocean City , New Jersey , Cardinal O’Hara made a statement with a good showing in the opener. The opponent was Archbishop Carroll who was expected to have a strong season themselves. They may still but Saturday’s bash at the beach was wholly one sided with the Lion’s dominating the Patriots 35-0. The domination was across the board, holding them to 89 yards on the ground while the Lions ground out 320 yards. Two backs got over 100 yards each so it was quite and opening game for O’Hara. Running back Corey Brown was spectacular, gaining 173 yards on 9 carries for a 19.2 yards per carry average. Evan Higgins got in on the action by getting 121 yards after 6 carries for a 20.1 ypc average. Quarterback Tom Savage completed 6 of 11 for 52 yards. Germantown is up next.   

5. Pennsbury (1-0) Pennsbury won a controversial game against Archbishop Ryan 21-20 when questions arose about time remaining on the clock after their sophomore quarterback lofted a “Hail Mary” from his own 40 yard line with less than 14 seconds left on the clock. The ball was caught on the 15 yard line (nice heave!) by another sophomore, Jay Jabat. Jay (6-1, 160) caught it in a crowd. Nice having tall receivers. Nice just having the word “receivers” in your vocabulary at Pennsbury. On the subsequent play, quarterback Dalton Pepper ran it in for the win, rescuing the Falcons from a 20-13 season opening home loss. Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, especially at Pennsbury says there is a lot to work to do on the offense if they expect to reach their lofty aspirations. The struggle to put points on the board is in part because of the youth at key positions. Quarterback Pepper had 3 fumbles and 1 interception. Yet, at the end of the game, it was the sophomores that hooked up for the win. The senior dominated defense stepped up and held Ryan under 100 yards rushing. Now it’s the offense’s turn to return the favor with Frankford coming in “pumped” after beating Hatboro Horsham in Horsham last week 14-7.  

6. Ridley (1-0) The Green Raiders opened defense of the Central League title and district crown with a 28-3 league win in Springfield . The early goings were shaky until quarterback Andrew Pidgeon (two year QB understudy) found the zone and Pat Mills late in the 3^rd quarter for a 18 yard Td strike. Thereon he was in the groove, completing 12 of 20 passes for 190 yards. The ground game complimented the aerial attack with a number of backs rushing for 120 yards. As always, the Mean Green D was all over the field, holding Springfield to 92 yards on the ground and only 77 through the air so they have another quick and athletic group. The schedule is tailor made for a fast start (and new QB) with Radnor and Lower Merion up next. Radnor opened with a home loss to a good edition from the Haverford School , 46-21, while the Aces got a 56-6 win against Prep Charter.  

7. Downingtown West (1-0) Downingtown West showed little effect from heavy graduation losses including quarterback Nolan Kearney and 22 other seniors by exploding for 47 points in what became a rout of Owen J. Roberts. Highly regarded quarterback Bret Gillespie had a few shaky moments with 2 interceptions, but other wise did well in completing 8 of 13 passes for 215 yards. That’s a large attack at 27 yards per pass completion. Bret is a big kid at 6-2, 195. The Wildcats must have keyed on West’s multi talented running back Jared Heller who was held to 50 yards rushing, so he burnt them threw the air, catching 5 passes for 151 yards. Jared is a dangerous blend of speed and power at 5-8, 190. As usual, the Whippets have speed with the big fullback flashing his stuff on a 58 yard touchdown run. Zac Scott is the fullback this year at 6-4, 210. Defensively, they allowed an uncharacteristic 259 yards rushing and 343 total yards of offense. But West topped them with a far more balanced attack, 172 rush yards and 215 pass yards, even scoring on a 78 and 90 yard kick off return. So it’s an explosive group with good skill under center and throughout the backfield. Except for some scary defensive yields, it was a good start. They’re home this week to Upper Perkiomen who gave them a scare last year before succumbing 37-28 in Pennsburg. With that in mind and the yields allowed to OJR last week, you can bet they’ll be a big emphasis on defense this week.   

8. Garnet Valley (1-0) Garnet Valley got their first Central League win against woefully outmanned Harriton, 42-6. The Rams suited up 25 players. Everyone in the western counties knows the Jaguars are a powerful football team. But in fairness, this was not a test of any degree although it did allow a few first time starters to get their feet wet, including the quarterback. It also provided important playing time for the backups, so by those standards this was a great way to open the season. The Jags showed mercy by speeding the game up with only 4 passes and zipping out to a 42-0 half time lead. Things should get interesting Friday in Media with G-Val taking on Penncrest, fresh off their 14-0 win at Strath Haven.  

9. West Catholic (1-0) It came well after the close of last year’s campaign but we finally got the Catholic League Red and Blue champ on the same field in a football game. Fittingly, you had to go out of state to Wildwood for the belated match to occur but it did not disappoint. Defending Red Division champ Roman Catholic graduated a pile of talent from last year’s great team including quarterback Chris Johnson, running back Balial Lewis, DB Nick Moody, linemen Jim Mazzola and DL Jewhan Edwards. Wow, that’s a lot of talent, but Roman has it spades, nearly every year so it was no weak sister that took the field Saturday. All Roman did was unleash their next quality back in Kasseim Everett who ran for 206 yards on 18 carries. But the Burrs have a few weapons of their own, namely, quarterback Curtis Drake and his back field running mates Rob Hollomon and Raymond Maples. Each did significant damage. Curtis completed 4 of 11 passes for 42 yards, while rushing for 82 yards on 14 carries. Rob Hollomon ran 14 times for 108 yards with Raymond Maples carrying it 13 times for 120 yards. More than a few eyes were on this game to see how West would do against a solid AAAA team. And you can bet the word spread fast across the Commonwealth when it was announced that West beat Roman Catholic in overtime 34-28.  What a fun group this is going to be to watch. They’re at Penn Charter Saturday.      

10. Souderton (1-0) Speaking of “statement” games, this one might top the list across the Commonwealth, at least for week one in the AAAA classification with Souderton pulling the big upset of Neshaminy14-13. One writer said Neshaminy was flat, but that’s not fair to Souderton. How does that conversation go….”Catch us when we aren’t flat, then we’ll see whose best?” Most of us probably agree, barring extenuating circumstance that would no doubt cause cancellation, that no high school team is flat on opening night. How about considering the job Coach Gallagher has done turning the program around, and that Souderton might just be a good football team. He’s taken a program from 0-11 in 2003, to one that’s won nine games each subsequent year. In 2003, they allowed 36 points per game. Since then the yields plummeted from 2004 through 2007 to 18, 16, 13 and 9 ppg yield. He has shown great progress on the offense as well. In 2003 they scored 8 points a game. From 04 through 07 they improved almost every year, averaging 26, 24, 29, then 34 ppg last year. For this season, despite graduating linemen like Bryan Shutt, Phil Long, John Dimmig and Joe Hernadez; RB/LB Josh Kramarenko and Mike Bergey, as well as a good DB in Mike Heisey, or, all totaled, 6-1^st team All-Continental selections and 4-2^nd team selections, they somehow avoided being flat and beat Neshaminy. Downingtown East is up next in Downingtown. Remember the first round playoffs last year when East came in and upset Souderton by the score of 14-13?  Eerie score huh? That should keep them focused here.  

Honorable Mention

Pennridge (1-0)

Council Rock South (1-0)

Neshaminy (0-1)

Glen Mills (1-0)

Unionville (1-0)

North Catholic (0-1)

Father Judge (1-0)

Lansdale Catholic (1-0)

Haverford School

Malvern Prep

Top 10 State Rankings

September 1, 2008

1. Gateway (1-0) Gateway came out in mid season form to just crush a good Penn Hills football team 45-17. That’s almost an understatement isn’t it as these guys looked more like they were in post season form. Following a 45-17 black eye, it’s risky business calling Penn Hills a good football team. Some rankings had them as high as # 1 in both the WPIAL and the PIAA rankings, with Gateway # 2. I think as the season progresses we’ll see the Big Red, formerly the Indians, get it together to show all the more how impressive was the Gators win. About these Gators; they found a replacement for departed running back Cam Saddler in Brian Williams who rushed for 210 yards. Veteran quarterback Rob Kalkstein threw lasers most of the night while completing 9 of 16 for 166 yards. Wow, what a performance by the entire team showing off an array of weapons in the backfield and throughout the team. Offensively, they showed a number of sets that were unusual for an opener. Trips, 2 tight ends and at one point 4 receivers were out there. Special teams really shined too. The defense was all over the field popping people, getting places in a hurry so you can add speed to their vast inventory. Baldwin (0-1) is on deck Friday, coming in for their second straight road game after losing to Shaler last week 19-6.      

2. North Penn (1-0) See Southeast PA Top 10

3. State College (1-0) State College opened against Hollidaysburg last week, winning in convincing style. Hollidaysburg and State College have enjoyed a lengthy rivalry, going back to 1919 where State College prevailed 18-0. Their history goes back to conferences long forgotten like the Central Counties Conference, the Susquehanna Football League and the Allegheny Football Conference. From 2004 through 2005, Hollidaysburg was in the Mid-Penn Conference, Commonwealth Division before returning to the Mountain Athletic Conference, Seven Mountains Division. Anyway, it’s a great rivalry with State holding 36-30 advantage. Win # 36 came last week when they shellacked the Golden Tigers 37-0. The Lions dominated this one, rolling up 428 total yards of offense to 140 for the Tigers. The first down advantage was 19-9 so it was a strong showing. Mid Penn Conference football begins this week with State venturing to Mechanicsburg to challenge a team they have never beat, Cumberland Valley . The Eagles hold a 7-0 advantage and are looking to expand on that. They opened with a 31-12 win against Red Lion. State will have to gang up on Eagle fullback Travis Friend, their 6-2, 235 pound battering ram, preventing the Eagles from shortening the game and hanging around. Line play is one of the reason’s Cumberland Valley fell behind Bishop McDevitt, Central Dauphin, Harrisburg, et al in the MPC but they at least have size this year, going 6-0 255, 6-2 265, 6-3 230, 6-3 295 and 6-2 215. Their entire defensive front returns. Coach Tim Rimpfel is a legend back there with a 253-86-3 won-loss. State’s better but this is a difficult spot for them against the Eagles who like Altoona , are difficult to beat at home.   

4. St. Joseph ’s Prep (1-0) See Southeast PA Top 10

5. Parkland (0-1) See the St. Joseph ’s Prep write up in the Southeast PA Top 10. The loss to St. Joe’s was a tough one, losing in your house to another team with swagger, but it allowed them to measure themselves. The feeling here is they measure up pretty well. If they develop like so many Parkland teams of the past, they’ll be an entirely different group at the end of the regular season where they might again face the Hawks, but that’s too far down the road. Of more pressing concern is the opponent this week, Liberty High. Like Parkland , the Hurricanes are a prideful Lehigh Valley team who is coming in on a mission, the same mission Parkland is on, to avoid a 0-2 start. This should be one of the most competitive games in the East.    

6. Bishop McDevitt (1-0) The Crusaders went a few blocks down Market Street to completely dominate Harrisburg ’s young team 42-6. It got ugly early, with McDevitt racing out to a 28-0 half time lead. By the end of the third quarter it was 42-6. Many things were note worthy about the game but none more than sophomore quarterback Matt Johnson’s completing 13 of 16 passes for 201 yards. The big shakeup at McDevitt this year was the decision to replace two year starting quarterback Kyle Koncar with the sophomore. Kyle will move to one of the receiver positions and play in the secondary. He threw for 1459 yards last year so big things are expected from his replacement. About the game; McDevitt’s speedy receivers and quick backs had a field day against the Cougar defense that was dominated by the Crusader line. The backs rushed for 170 yards. Defensively, Harrisburg was held to 18 yards rushing and 69 through the air so this McDevitt bunch is firing on all cylinders. The Colts from Cedar Cliff are up next and appear improved, losing competitively at Red Land , 10-7. Red Land High School is in Lewisberry, which is a few miles down the road from the Colts who are in Camp Hill. Keep your eye on them with Jim Cantafio at the helm in his first year. Coach C has a 221-73 lifetime record, with stints at Conestoga Valley (125-45), Wyoming Valley West (27-9) and Wilson (69-19). He built powerhouses at all so look for the Colts to have some kick this year. Let’s see if he awakens the ghosts of a once proud program that was the alpha male of the West Shore and south central Pennsylvania football from 1969 until the inception of the Mid Penn Conference in 1982 where Cedar Cliff went 112-31. Back to the present, McDevitt won last year 55-18.  

7. McKeesport (0-1) McKeesport went on the road to open the 2008 season against one of the top programs in the country. The occasion was the Kirk Herbstreit Classic held in Cincinnati , Ohio . Unfortunately for McKeesport , that’s the home of Colerain, over on the West side of town. To pile it on higher, Colerain also had a game under their belt so few expected the Tigers to do well in such circumstance. They did. In fact, they took the Cardinals to overtime where they literally fumbled away the opportunity to pull off a significant season opening upset of a national power and lost 14-7. Both teams were rebuilding but what a way to announce to the teams in Pennsylvania that you are for real. It’s incredible they stayed this close to Colerain knowing they had 6 fumbles (lost 2) and were penalized 7 times! Adding to that, they out rushed the Cards 181 to 173 to show just how close they were to pulling it out. The next game is home against Plum who lost their home opener to Indiana , 28-7. This is a bad spot for the Mustangs, coming into the Tiger’s den against a team looking for their first win.

8. Bethel Park (1-0) Bethel Park football got off to a profound start with the Black Hawks pounding Kiski Area 47-20. They have key ingredients back from last year’s talented team that was oh so close. Despite playing a brutal schedule featuring seven opponents finishing the season above .500, they went 7-4. Along the way, they lost to North Allegheny (11-1)19-16, Upper St. Clair (7-4) 13-10 and McKeesport (10-2) 28-27. Some of their more impressive wins were against Penn Hills (6-5) 27-24 and Norwin (7-4) 19-10. In the WPIAL first round, they beat Seneca Valley (6-4) 31-10 before falling to Pittsburgh Central Catholic (16-0) 38-6. This year’s team has quarterback Eric Olson (6-2 210) back with last year’s featured back Lyle Marsh (6-1 210) also returning. Lyle had 3 touchdowns against Kiski. More good news finds they discovered an exciting young sophomore to compliment the fullback in Bre’ Ford (5-10 173), who rushed for 128 yards so the backfield looks good. Bethel ’s D stepped up by holding Kiski to 5 first downs and 228 total yards. Conversely, the Black Hawk attack was huge at 510 total yards of offense. Rankings are a strange thing where you may willfully put a team in harm’s way. That’s the case with Bethel Park who has a difficult assignment this week going to Penn Hills to face a team wanting to prove they are better than the one that showed up in Monroeville last week. This promises to be one of the best games of the week and with Penn Hills just off the radar as an Honorable Mention, anything can happen.     

9. Altoona (1-0) In the Preseason Report we mentioned Altoona losing talented players to graduation and the hazard any team could expect visiting Mansion Park Stadium. Evidently the rebuild went well, but more predictably, the young Mountain Lions rose to the occasion to turn away a stiff challenge at home by North Allegheny to win a hard fought 28-21 contest. That’s nothing new to this district-6 power. Check out last year’s home ledger where among other victims they beat State College 24-17, Central Dauphin 28-16, even Harrisburg High 24-14 (West semi loser to Pitt CC) so you knew North Allegheny with their WPIAL credentials wasn’t going to shake them up. In fact, this was a special game emotionally since last season ended in a 7-6 loss to Wilson ….at the Mansion. This year’s log of Mid Penn teams coming to town include Cumberland Valley, Bishop McDevitt, State College and an improved bunch from Central Dauphin East. Back to last week’s game; Altoona generated a miserly 126 total yards of offense. But they milked every possible point out of that yardage by scoring 28 points. That’s an incredible 4.5 yards per point! On the other side of the field, North Allegheny ’s 230 yards only produced 21 points, meaning they had to go 11 yards to score a point. So while the surface stats scream North Allegheny , including a 13-7 first down advantage, the real production was on Altoona ’s side. Up next is their old adversary Chambersburg . Altoona leads the series 22 games to 10 and should get # 23 knowing Chambersburg lost at home last week to Lower Dauphin 36-18.       

10. Coatesville (1-0)   See Southeast PA Top 10. The Red Raiders are idle this week.

Honorable Mention

North Allegheny (0-1)

Penn Hills (0-1)

Central Dauphin (1-0)

Cardinal O’Hara (1-0)

Emmaus (1-0)

Liberty (0-1)

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