More stuff

The Pennlive blog has Joshua Funk's predictions of the last 2 rounds of the play-offs. It will be interesting to see how this post looks on December 5. For AAAA he picks North Penn over LaSalle in the Eastern bracket and Woodie Hills over CV in the West, with Woodie Hills taking the title. Josh also posted 2010 projected District football champions. In addition to the previously mentioned semi-finalists, he also predicts State College coming out of the 6, 8, 9, 10 Sub-regional and Parkland coming out of the 2, 4, 11 sub-regional. In AAA he predicts Interboro as the best in D1 and Archbishop Wood as best in D12.

The PCN Game of the week schedule for 2010 is up. Pennlive has composite pre-season rankings on the Keystone Sports Report blog, as if comparing meaningless, inaccurate, unfounded evaluations will add something to it.

More Pre-season News

Christiaan DeFranco gave us his preview of the North Penn Knights in the Reporter today - North Penn still a favorite. There is a nice picture of Marcus, Willie, Craig & Dom as team captains. There is a big focus on Craig & Dom (with a little bit of Brandon Mercer) as the focus of the Knights running attack. I've heard that Ralph Reeves and Ryan Hessenius are getting some reps in the backfield, too. Kev Hunter presents a pretty comprehensive review of the North Penn squad in North Penn ready for a run at the crown. The Reporter has more area previews for CB West, Lansdale Catholic, Wissahickon & Pennridge.

On the pre-season poll front, WFMZ has posted a video poll with a nice profile on their #1 team - the North Penn Knights. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette preseason poll also has North Penn as #1 followed by Ridley as #2.

And the survey says...

None of it means anything until you start looking at playoff points in mid-October, but a couple of pre-season polls just came out, and it's always fun to comment. Joseph Santoliquito is already pushing a Ridley-North Penn D1 matchup in North Penn football is ready to punch back in Pa. He is hyping the revenge factor for North Penn, and while he points out how beat up North Penn got in the game, he neglects to mention that Ridley was in no shape to beat LaSalle the next week in the state semi's. Not to mention my humble opinion, that if Dick Beck has squib kicked at the end of the first half, and he had passed to a tight end that hadn't caught a pass all year (Marcus McGraw or Tim Fowler) at the end of the first drive in the 2nd half, the game could have ended up a 17-10 North Penn win. It would have only resulted in North Penn having the opportunity to lose to LaSalle the next week, so it's kind of a moot point. Joseph ranks Ridley #1 and North Penn #2 in Southeastern PA, and overlooks Neshaminy in favor of Interboro, O'Hara and George Washington.

The PA Football News rankings have North Penn #1 and LaSalle #2 for AAAA programs in the state (obviously, that won't last after September 3). Ridley shows up at #9. Teh Prep is #7 (#6 in the Joseph Santoliquito rankings). Easton at #5 gives a 50:50 split East/West in the rankings.

In other stories, Dan Chang got a write up in the Times Herald as the new head coach at Plymouth Whitemarsh. Chang ready to restore PW grid tradition talks about the differences between North Penn & PW. Chang is quoted as saying that depth is "the hardest part," but that the transition has gone rather smoothly. The article also talks about PW having a strong football tradition despite some recent struggles. He credits Dick Beck with giving him significant responsibility as an assistant at North Penn, but points out that you don't really know what you are in for until you are the top man.

If you just can't wait for the PA season to start on September 3, there is high school football on TV this weekend. In the National High School TV Schedule, there are Florida and California games on ESPN & the deuce on Friday, followed by 4 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday on various ESPN outlets.

North Penn is the favorite...

So says Kevin Cooney in Christmas Arrives in August. The complete statement was, "North Penn is the favorite among many to cruise through the Continental and take the District One Class AAAA title. Neshaminy, Pennsbury and Council Rock North all positioned for a fierce battle in the SOL National Conference. Wood appears to be in a dogfight with Cardinal O'Hara in the PCL's Class AAA division." The big tests will be Week 1 against LaSalle and Week 3 against St. Joseph's Prep. Dick Beck has owned the Prep for the last 4 years, even his underachieving 2007 team manage to eke out a win. (No offense to the 2007 team, but Neshaminy and CB South had very good years).

16 days to kick-off.

Here we go again

Another Pennsylvania High School football season started today at 591 camps. 2 a days lead to this Saturday's scrimmage, another scrimmage on the 27th and the first game on September 3. The Patriot-News gives us updates on Cumberland Valley and Central Dauphin East in Local High School Athletes Kick Off Fall Practices. The Reporter lets us know that Lansdale Catholic has dropped from AAA to AA in It's that time again. Could this impact North Penn's AAAA dreams to compete for a state championship? Of course, the Knights have to beat 2009 AAAA State Champ LaSalle first if they hope to go unbeaten. District I AAAA has been getting more competitive every year. Is there another Avon Grove out there that can surprise everyone until the District Semi's? Can St. Joe's Prep overcome LaSalle? (And break their drought against North Penn?)

Today anything is possible. In a little less than 3 weeks, reality will start to set in for some, and the long haul to Hershey will have begun for others.