Friday Morning - Week 4

After beating Liberty, LC & the Prep, North Penn has moved up in the polls - to 2nd in the state in most of the polls. There have been a bunch of news stories this week, too. Anthony Ortiz was named Times Herald Defensive Player of the Week. The article credits Ortiz with five solo tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. RoxReview has a great summary of the win over St. Joe's Prep, including the frequently quoted line from Coach Beck, "do you guys know any landscapers?" Peter DiGiovanni in the Chester Daily Local is complaining about some "big schools" being to small to compete with the "big big schools." I've read that the issue of expanded size classifications has come up before PIAA, but it doesn't have legs, yet.

Tonight's contest between North Penn & Central Bucks South is North Penn's first regular season game against a Suburban One opponent since the loss that closed last season. As Ed Kracz points out, South doesn't have Eric Reynolds anymore. He heaps praise on the South QB/WR combo of Tom Johns & Mike Doty, but doesn't get into much discussion of the North Penn db's. Dennis Way writes a fine column about South's program in the Times Herald, but I think he's got a bit of revisionist history in his facts. When he states about the North Penn-South game, "Few expected the result, a South victory, the league title and a berth in the District One playoff quarterfinals," I don't think he is reflecting the sentiment I recall going into the game. The North Penn fans were optimistically hoping for a victory, but South had come back to beat Neshaminy, and Neshaminy had trounced North Penn. It was a tall order to keep Eric Reynolds in check, and North Penn wasn't up to the task.

Tonight's game will show whether CB South's program can continue to show results in the W column in Suburban One play or if the North Penn Knights really deserve to be ranked as the best team in Eastern PA. Unless Mike Doty can beat Ronnie Akins, South is going to have to win (or lose) the Suburban One way - pounding it out on the ground and in the trenches. Hopefully, Coach Beck found his landscaper and the field will be in good shape.

Labels: high school football, North Penn football, Pennsylvania High School Football