Top 20 High School Football Rankings

Southeastern Pennsylvania Football

Featuring District 1, 12, the Philadelphia Catholic League and the Inter Ac

October 2, 2007                  

Scores and results from across the Commonwealth (4A and 3A teams)

Before the rundown on last week’s scores I’d like to correct the mistake of crediting Souderton with winning the Suburban One League-Continental Conference title last year. Most of us know it was Council Rock North who went undefeated in conference and regular season action before losing in the playoffs. Also, Bloomsburg was mistakenly listed in the AAA write ups. They are a Single-A from district four. Malvern Prep was shown at 2-0, they are 3-0, while Souderton was listed at 4-0. They were 3-1. Ok, let’s get on with the scoreboard!

In the East at AAAA, district eleven’s Liberty (5-0) is rounding into shape after pounding Dieruff 37-0. Parkland is also undefeated and looking good at 5-0 after handling Northampton 36-0. Easton (4-1) recovered from the Whitehall loss to defeat Allentown Central Catholic (3A, 3-2) 24-3. Whitehall (4-1) avoided the letdown loss by edging Nazareth 14-7. The same applies to Emmaus (3-2) coming off a tough loss to Liberty to beat always dangerous Bethlehem Catholic 10-6. Freedom is probably another team to key your eye on. They beat Allen 49-0 to move to 3-2.

All the “name” teams won in district two. Wyoming Valley West got to 5-0 with a 35-0 win against Dallas (3A, 3-2). Delaware Valley had an easy time with Honesdale by defeating the Hornets 51-13. They improved to 5-0. Hazelton is now 4-1 after beating Pleasant Valley 41-7 and Abington Heights (3-2) stayed in the hunt by beating Valley View 21-6.

Checking the AAA eastern teams in district eleven finds a major upset with Pocono Mountain East getting their first win (1-4) by defeating Lehighton (3-2) 36-29. Pottsville went down hard, losing to a strong Governor Mifflin team 47-6. The Tide drop to 3-2. Northwestern Lehigh improved to 4-1 with a shutout of Saucon Valley, 28-0. Blue Mountain (3-2) pulled another upset by defeating previously unbeaten Daniel Boone (4-1) 7-6 in Berks Inter County-Section One action.

District two’s Berwick is now 5-0 after beating district four power Selinsgrove 14-7. The Seals (3-2) had heavy graduation losses and shouldn’t be confused with last year’s 13-1 team that beat Berwick 35-6. West Scranton is right there at 4-1 after beating Wallenpaupack 27-0.

In district three, Elizabethtown stayed unbeaten at 5-0 by walloping Conestoga Valley 42-0. In other Lancaster-Lebanon League action, Solanco (3-2) surprised Manheim Central 28-7. Central falls to 2-3. In the York-Adams League, South Western stepped up to beat Spring Grove 22-7. SW improves to 2-3 while Spring Grove falls to 3-2. West York (4-1) got a big win over Kennard-Dale 48-10. Returning to the Berks IC-Section 1, Blue Mountain’s surprise win at Boone threw the league up for grabs. The contenders are Muhlenberg, Gov. Mifflin, Boone, Pottsville and Blue Mountain. In a non league game, Conrad Weiser (4-1) beat Tamaqua 41-13. In the Mid Penn Conference, Red Land, Hershey, Northern and Shippensburg remain undefeated. Red Land beat Middletown 34-14 to stay tied with Hershey atop the Keystone Conference. Both are 5-0. The Trojans had a narrow escape with their neighbor Palmyra, winning 23-15. In the Colonial, Northern (5-0) beat West Perry 36-0.  Shippensburg (5-0) kept pace with a 49-6 drubbing of Susquenita. Greenville-Antrim (4-1) stayed in the picture by turning away Big Spring 40-0. And finally back in the Keystone, Gettysburg is now 4-1 after routing Susquehanna Township 40-9.

Things are beginning to take shape out West in district seven with Pittsburgh Central Catholic and North Allegheny separating from the pack to look like they could be special. Central Catholic is 5-0 with a huge offense scoring 41 points per game and a defense allowing 13. North Allegheny, also 5-0, scores 36 a game while yielding 10. Although Central Catholic’s Vikings plays in the Foothills Conference and the Tigers in the Northern Five, they seem destined to meet at some point. Still, there are a heck of a lot of good teams to deal with before that. One is up this weekend for Central Catholic who travels to Norwin (3-2) to face the dangerous Knights in conference play. Norwin’s only losses are to Bethel Park (4-1), 19-10 and Gateway (4-1) 37-36. CC is coming off a 42-21 win against Penn Trafford while Norwin beat Latrobe 42-7.  North Allegheny beat Seneca Valley last week 43-13. This week they’re in Erie to battle a rugged 4-1 McDowell team. Shaler is still unbeaten at 5-0 after beating disappointing North Hills (2-3) 17-0 in Northern Five action. In the Big East, Gateway got to 4-1 with a 14-7 win against a Plum group that is better than their 1-4 record suggests. Plum lost to undefeated Shaler by 2, to a 4-1 Gateway by 7, by 5 to Strong Vincent (4-1) and to Mt. Lebanon (3-2) by 7. Just when you thought they were gone for the season here comes Penn Hills, recovering from a 0-3 start to reach 2-3 with last week’s win over Kiski (3-2) 46-20! They’re at Fox Chapel this week then to Monroeville for the Big East showdown with Gateway. Bethel Park (4-1) and McKeesport (4-1) are the teams to watch in the Greater Southern after last week’s impressive wins. Bethel Park beat Canon-McMillan 20-7 while McKeesport defeated Mt. Lebanon 41-0. Things get sorted out this weekend when McKeesport brings their fine team to Bethel Park.

Up in district eleven, Cathedral Prep (4-1) beat winless Erie East 51-0. Erie’s McDowell High plays in the Northern Five Conference and improved to 4-1 with a road win at Butler. In district eight, Pittsburgh’s Brashear Bulls beat Perry Traditional Academy 28-7. The Bulls are 5-0.

District 3/6 Mid Penn Conference AAAA teams like district one’s Suburban One- National Conference teams are beating each other up with the strongest at this point looking like Bishop McDevitt (4-1) who beat State College (2-3) 35-34 in State College. Nice road win at a tough venue! As expected, Altoona got a win in Chambersburg (0-5), 27-6 to improve to 4-1. Cumberland Valley (4-1) beat the Herd from Carlisle 37-7 while Central Dauphin’s Rams (3-2) had no difficulty with Cedar Cliff, winning 35-10. The Colts drop to 1-4.  In the Lancaster-Lebanon League, Manheim Township (4-1) put a hurtin on previously undefeated Warwick 35-0!  The Warriors fall to 4-1. Wilson (3-2) stayed in the game with a 38-10 win against 2-3 Cedar Crest. Two struggling but capable teams, Hempfield (2-3) and McCaskey (1-4) got in a good one, with Hempfield coming out on top 10-0. In the Berks Inter County League, Muhlenberg (5-0) pummeled Exeter (0-5) 40-13. A good looking 4-1 Governor Mifflin team beat Pottsville (3-2) decisively at Pottsville 47-6.

There were no Earth moving events out West at the AAA level with the exception of district six’s Somerset (3-2) upsetting a 3-2 Johnstown team 42-39. Undefeated Indian Valley and Hollidaysburg locked horns in an exciting game won by Indian Valley’s Warriors 28-21. IV improves to 5-0 while the Tigers fall to 4-1. Bellefonte got to 4-1 with a 41-31 win over Clearfield. In district nine, Bradford (4-0) beat St. Mary’s (3-2) 31-12.

There are three powerful Triple-A’s in district ten this year headed by undefeated Titusville (5-0) who had no trouble with Erie Central (1-4), winning 41-14. Another Erie school, Strong Vincent moves to 4-1 with a 65-3 win at 1-4 Warren. Last year’s state champ General McLane (4-1) is hanging in there after beating Slippery Rock 55-21.

There was a shocker in district seven where Chartiers Valley (4-1) beat a strong Hopewell team 27-0. Preseason Parkway Conference favorite Hopewell (3-2), has dropped two in a row. The win by the CV Colts establishes them as a legitimate contender for the Big Seven title with their only loss coming at the hands of undefeated Montour. CV has two games before the road trip to # 1 ranked Thomas Jefferson, another member of the Big Seven. TJ (5-0) won their game against Keystone Oaks (3-2), 44-2. In the Parkway Conference, powerful Montour (5-0) has already torn through a slate of tough opponents with wins against Knoch, Chartiers Valley and New Castle, all 4-1 teams. They beat Moon last week 22-7. New Castle made some noise by winning in Ambridge 29-12 while Blackhawk’s quick team zipped past West Allegheny 21-7. Blackhawk is 4-1. In the Greater Allegheny, Highlands remains undefeated at 5-0 after beating Greensburg-Salem 14-7. Knoch, who has already defeated Pine-Richland 25-20, got another nice win last week at Hampton 21-7 to keep pace with Highlands. Pine-Richland advances to 4-1 with a 20-14 win against stubborn Indiana who falls to 3-2.    

1. North Penn (5-0) Pennsbury gave North Penn a good game, at least through the first half with the score deadlocked at 14 all. But the Knight’s adjusted to come away with their second National Conference win of the year, 28-14. They’re in the meat of the schedule now with Bensalem, Abington and Neshaminy coming up in the weeks ahead. Bensalem is no slouch this year at 3-2 and have played the Knights tough in the past. The Owls lost last year’s game 24-14. In 2005 they lost 27-14. Back in 2004, they lost a close one 28-21 so they’ve been competitive.       

2. Malvern Prep (3-0) Malvern Prep is coming off an open week, giving them plenty of time to prepare for Salesianum, a team they lost to in overtime last year 22-15. The Sals won back-to-back Delaware Division-1 titles with last year’s team going 12-0. This year’s team is an uncharacteristic 2-2. Prior to last week they were ranked 4^th. Then they lost to 5^th ranked (Division-2) Hodgson Vo-Tech 20-7. Malvern Prep still needs to take care of business here but the Sals are looking vulnerable for the first time in a long time.

3. St. Joseph’s Prep (3-2) St. Joseph’s opened play in the Philadelphia Catholic League’s Red Division by shutting out a good Father Judge team by the score of 19-0. The Crusader’s played without key personnel but this was still a solid win against a tough opponent. It was also the Hawk’s 50^th consecutive Catholic League regular season win! Thanks goes out to TedSilary.com for that information. After allowing 51 points in their first two games, the defense has stepped up to allow just 14 in the last three games. The offense, in particular the line is in good shape with Jamir Livingston getting 166 yards in just 12 carries. Senior quarterback Aaron Hass has completed 33 of 65 passes for 570 yards and 7 scores through the air. The Hawks are looking good! Archbishop Ryan is up next, coming in low after losing 3 of their last 4 games. The Hawks won last year 31-12.  

4. Roman Catholic (5-0) Roman is looking special with 5 impressive wins to open the season. In the last two weeks they’ve shut out North Catholic 31-0 and defeated Monsignor Bonner 28-2. The win keeps them in a tie atop the Red Division at 2-0 with St. Joseph’s Prep and Cardinal O’Hara. That’s a tie that will be broken this week at O’Hara where the host will be looking to avenge last year’s 17-7 win in Philly.

5. Downingtown West (5-0) The Whippets rolled over West Chester East 44-24 in a tune up for the showdown this week against West Chester Henderson. This is the first playoff caliber team they’ve played this year and it’s at Henderson where the Warriors are looking to atone for last year’s 42-0 loss in Downingtown. The Whippets are scoring 37 point per game with a defense that is allowing only 12 ppg. They are led by senior quarterback, Nolan Kearny. At 6-4, 225, he’s as capable of running over people as he is in delivering a bullet with accuracy. He’s special but so is this Henderson team that is a failed extra point attempt away from tying Malvern Prep and sending the only game they lost into overtime.     

6. Neshaminy (5-0) Neshaminy jumped all over Truman early, exploding for 28 first quarter points that ballooning to a 42-14 half time lead. The Skins’ 42 first half points are 5 shy of the number of points Truman has scored all year. The final was 62-14. Up next is troubled Pennridge, off to a 0-5 start. They did manage to put 21 on the board against North Penn and hold down a sizeable Abington attack while losing 21-12, so they haven’t rolled over. Last year’s team was also limping along at 2-3, looking lifeless. Neshaminy was just the opposite, having won 4 straight since the 16-6 opening loss to St. Joe’s. At 4-1 they were poised for a run at the National title and the playoffs. Neither would happen and it was here in the Pennridge game where the wheels fell off in an eye catching 33-13 loss to the Rams at home in Langhorne. Wow, talk about bulletin board material!    

7. Cardinal O’Hara (3-2) It looks like Cardinal O’Hara is back on track after beating North Catholic18-7. The Falcons were held to 71 yards rushing and another 71 yards passing. That’s good because the opponent this week is powerful Roman Catholic who has even more weapons than North. Roman’s quarterback Chris Johnson has only completed 24 of 50 passes, but the yardage total is 500. That’s 21 yards per completion. Now factor in a running back, Balial Lewis Sloan-El, who has been unstoppable in 5 games, rushing for 1068 yards to see the enormity of the task awaiting the Lions this week. The Lions have talent of their own, especially quarterback Tom Savage (55/97/659/8 scores), TE Mark Wedderburn, an underrated receiver in Ryan Wolski and decent backs in Corey Brown, Billy Morgan and Kevin Ward. Roman looks to be a little more in this one but the Lion’s have the people to get the job done.

8. Ridley (4-0) The Raiders got their first shutout of the year by defeating Radnor 44-0. The next game is on the road to take on undefeated Haverford. The Fords are not just undefeated, they are looking good in the process with 3 shutouts, a defense allowing on average 4 points per game and an offense scoring 26 ppg. Two weeks ago they beat Strath Haven 17-14 so it’s a legitimate team who may provide a test for Ridley. The Green Raiders are absolutely the real deal with an offense scoring 30 a game backed up by a nasty and quick defense allowed 8 ppg. Those stats include road wins at Strath Haven and Conestoga. Haverford is a nice story but Ridley is an entirely different reality than they’ve experienced this season.      

9. Henderson (4-1) Henderson beat Bishop Shanahan last week 45-7 to set the stage for a show down against undefeated Downingtown West Friday night. West comes in with a division one quarterback, a big offense and a stubborn defense. But the Warriors have a big offense as well that’s averaging 43 points per game. The D hasn’t been bad at 17 ppg and reflects a lot of junk points in the 63-28 rout of Kennett. Against Malvern Prep, the D stiffened, holding the Friars to108 yards rushing. Malvern’s QB Ryan Nassib passed for 135 yards, completing 9 of 14 passes and threw for one touchdown so Downingtown’s quarterback Nolan Kearny shouldn’t show them anything they haven’t seen before. Add in the bad taste of last year’s 42-0 win by West, a conference race and placement in the playoffs to see the level of emotion out there for this one.     

10. Conestoga (4-1) Conestoga got their first shutout of the year with an easy 36-0 decision in Ardmore against Lower Merion. They should take the next two games coming up against Radnor this week and the following against Springfield before they get into a more difficult 3 game stretch against Haverford, Strath Haven and Marple Newtown. A rebuilding Stoga team won in Radnor last year 32-20 and it could get even worse here knowing the most the Pioneers allowed to date was the 13 points scored by Ridley.

11. Souderton (4-1) For the second straight week, Souderton erupted for big points with a 37-7 road win at Council Rock South. The week before it was Central Bucks West going down 56-7. Now, Souderton is up against the hardest part of their schedule with defending Continental Conference Champ Council Rock North up next followed by Hatboro Horsham. Souderton lost last year’s game to North at home, 26-10. Council Rock (3-2) comes in off a tough 42-31 loss at Hatboro but are right back in the race with a win here.    

12. Unionville (3A, 5-0) Unionville got another big win last week at home against Oxford, 42-14. Look for more of the same this week at winless Kennett, a team the Indians beat last year 35-6 in Unionville. A win here with an expected win by Garnet Valley against Oxford sets the stage for a two of the top AAA programs in the East when G-Valley comes to Unionville October 11^th.    

13. Central Bucks South (5-0) Central Bucks South is starting to look special with three consecutive wins against decent teams including Central Bucks East, 38-21, Pennsbury, 27-13 and last week against improved Bensalem, 32-12. The biggest test to date is probably this week at Abington against the 3-2 Ghosts. With line play often the deciding factor along with special teams, the edge goes to the Titans who should come away with another tough and competitive road win. Statistically, they are bigger than Abington offensively, 179-152 points scored, and less yielding on D allowing 80 points to Abington’s 113. There are a ton of good games this weekend and this one ranks right up there with the best of them.

14. Downingtown East (4-1) Downingtown East bounced back from the Coatesville loss by beating Avon Grove 19-9. They aren’t blowing anyone away like they did last year but they are 4-1 with two road wins. They could be in some trouble this weekend in a non-conference affair against the resurgent Bulls from Glen Mills. East couldn’t beat Coatesville in Downingtown while Glen Mills is coming off a road win in Coatesville where they lit up the scoreboard in a 41-28 victory. The Bulls are a big, physical team that gets after you. Like East, they’re fighting for a playoff spot so look for an intense game.   

15. Garnet Valley (3A, 4-0) For the third consecutive week Garnet Valley shutout an opponent. This time it was Great Valley, 53-0. The weeks before they shutout Chichester 47-0 and Academy Park 42-0. The only team scoring on them was Penncrest in the opener, losing 27-3. Right, that’s not a monster schedule but they have done what they should have done by routing all comers. It’s a well coached good team as we’ll see October 11^th when they travel to Unionville for a war. Before that, they have a date at home against Oxford, a team they beat last year in Oxford 41-16.  

16. Father Judge (4-1) You know, for a team playing without it’s quarterback, and two other key players, Father Judge stood tall in last week’s 19-0 loss to St. Joseph’s Prep. Except for Don Bosco Prep and North Penn, no one has held the Hawks to so few points. The Crusaders sputtered with so many starters out but managed 187 total yards of offense. If all are healthy this week, they’ll be a load at LaSalle who beat them last year 35-14. Judge has the weapons to beat LaSalle but the Explorer’s will be playing inspired ball after beating Archbishop Ryan last week and trying to get to .500.  

17. Abington (3-2)  Abington sucked it up last week, showing some toughness in grinding out a 21-12 road win at Pennridge. The Rams are down for certain but that was a good win following the 38-26 loss to Neshaminy the week before. Still, the Ghosts are in a tough spot here against a very good Central Bucks South team. They pretty much have to win to have any shot at the conference championship. The playoffs?  Abington struggled with South last year, pulling out a hard fought 35-32 win at South. This one should be even more difficult for them.  

18. West Catholic (4-1) West Catholic got it going last week by cranking out 402 yards of total offense! 333 of those yards were on the ground. At the same time, they held previously unbeaten Kennedy Kenrick to 82 yards of total offense. The final score was 57-0 and served notice that the Burrs are the team to beat in the Blue Division. That’s no disrespect to the rest of the teams in the Blue, particularly their old adversaries Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll, both off to solid 4-1 starts. But none of those teams have West’s speed, spread throughout the offense and defense. How about next year when they enter the PIAA as a AA. Look out! A winless 0-5 Conwell Egan is next. They are one of the teams that beat West Catholic last year in the regular season 26-12, then paid for it with a 42-7 thumping in the playoffs.  

19. Central Bucks East (4-1) The feeling here is the Continental Conference is one of the most competitive, exciting races in the district. With the exception of Interboro’s continual dominance of the Del-Val, they are all great races. At 4-1, Souderton may be the lead dog but Hatboro Horsham, Central Bucks East and Norristown are also 4-1, with a dangerous 3-2 Council Rock North team nipping at their heels. Souderton, Hatboro and CB East are all 2-0 in conference play. Norristown and CR North are 1-1. This is going to be a great race! East’s string of wins should reach 3 against winless Tennett on Saturday. Tennett won last year’s game 28-7 so look for a big effort here by the Patriots.

20. Glen Mills (4-1) How good are the Battling Bulls? Pretty good! An initial indicator was their losing the first game of the season to perennial district eleven power Parkland. Parkland is from Allentown and they are one of the best programs in the state, having won gold in 2002 at the AAAA classification. Since 1999, they won 71 games and lost 23. Their won-loss against teams above .500 is 30-19 over the same period of time. They are 5-0 this year after barely getting past Glen Mills in the opener, 20-14. That’s the last time Glen Mills lost. Since then they won on the road at Simon Gratz, Pennsbury and last week at Coatesville, 41-28. The other win was at home against Roosevelt (DC). The offense is big at 32 point per game and the D is decent, allowing 16 ppg. Super quick running back Bernard Pierce is over 600 yards rushing. A win this week at Downingtown East would go a long way in securing a date in the postseason. If they can avoid their historic self destructive nature, despite being loaded with speed, athleticism and size everywhere, they can be a factor in the district and playoffs.  

Honorable Mention

Bayard Rustin (5-0)

Strath Haven (3A, 3-2)

Haverford (5-0)

Interboro (4-1)

Coatesville (3-2)

Hatboro Horsham (4-1)

North Catholic (3-2)

Archbishop Wood (4-1)

Chestnut Hill Academy (4-0)

Lansdale Catholic (2A, 5-0)

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