Record four Lower Bucks schools ready for 6A playoffs
There is certainly no lack of interesting story lines in Lower Bucks County football with the playoffs set to get underway Friday night.
One is for the first time four Lower Bucks teams from the Suburban One National League have qualified with Pennsbury, Neshaminy, Truman and Council Rock South all having made the Class 6A field.
Making its second straight playoff appearance after qualifying for the first time last year, No. 5 seeded Truman will attempt to avenge its only loss when it hosts No. 12 Council Rock South.
No. 8 Neshaminy, meanwhile, will be at home against No. 9 Haverford and No. 14 Pennsbury faces a very rugged test at undefeated and No. 3 seeded Garnet Valley.
Another Lower Bucks team to watch, of course, is Conwell-Egan. Ranked second in the state and fresh off its first undefeated season and first league title since 1990, the Eagles will host School of the Future in the District 1/12 Class 3A bracket Saturday night.
Finally, Bristol will attempt to reverse a loss from earlier this year in a Class A semifinal at Jenkintown Saturday afternoon.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH (6-4) AT TRUMAN (9-1), FRIDAY, 7 P.M. >> Rock South beat Truman, 20-6, on the second week of September, but the Tigers were missing four key starters. Among them were two linemen, quarterback Dylan Snelling and Division I cornerback Javeer Peterson. In the first game, Truman had all kinds of trouble covering Virginia Tech-bound tight end Nick Gallo and you can be sure Peterson will be assigned to cover him. Rock South’s defense is a formidable unit — it gave up only nine points in a loss to Neshaminy — and will again be primed to try to put the clamps on Truman’s potent Wing-T. The bigger concern for the Golden Hawks is an offense that has not exactly been clicking of late. Throw in Truman’s first home playoff game in history, and it will be one pumped up group of Tigers on their home field. The survivor will probably be on the road next week at No. 4 Downingtown West, assuming the Whippets advance against Upper Darby. HAVERFORD (8-2) AT NESHAMINY (7-3), FRIDAY, 7 P.M. >> You have to like where the Redskins landed in the 16-team bracket. For openers, they are in the opposite half from No. 2 Coatesville, the defending champion and the team many consider the best in the state. Furthermore, the Redskins already know they can play with No. 1 seed and probable second-round opponent North Penn after losing to the Knights in double overtime on opening night. And should they both advance to the semifinals, Neshaminy knows what adjustments need to be made in a potential rematch of its loss to Downingtown West. Haverford is coming off a 31-28 loss to Ridley after losing to Garnet Valley, 14-7, earlier in the year. The Redskins’ excellent secondary needs to play well. Haverford quarterback Jake Ruane recently became the school’s all-time leading passer and has thrown for over 5,500 career yards. PENNSBURY (5-5) AT GARNET VALLEY (10-0), FRIDAY, 7 P.M. >> The Jaguars have steadily emerged as one of the heavyweights in the district. Witness last year when it gave Coatesville a real run in a 3528 loss in the championship game. Considering this is far from one of Pennsbury’s better defenses, it does not look like a good match-up at all for the Falcons. Last week Garnet Valley piled up 56 points and ran for nearly 600 yards in a rout of 6A playoff qualifier Upper Darby. At the same time, Pennsbury was being run over by Neshaminy, 35-7. The positive for Pennsbury is its young team was able to make the playoffs at all following an 0-3 start and next year the team should return to its winning ways. SCHOOL OF FUTURE (6-3) AT CONWELL-EGAN (10-0), SATURDAY, 6 P.M. >> There’s really not a lot of point in analyzing this game. A member of the Philadelphia Public School League, School of the Future does have some good athletes and has put up some pretty big numbers at times. But Conwell-Egan went undefeated against a much more difficult schedule and is on a whole different level with one of the more potent offenses in the entire state. Should it prevail as is entirely expected, Conwell-Egan will host the winner of the Pope John PaulNew Hope game next week in the District 1/12 final. BRISTOL (5-4) AT JENKINTOWN (7-2), SATURDAY, 1 P.M. >> The Warriors lost their first meeting against Jenkintown by the score of 24-21 on the road. It was kind of a strange game in that all the scoring was in the first half other than a game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter. Bristol did a good job shutting down the Jenkintown running game, but a passing game featuring wide out Johnson John was effective for nearly 150 yards. It was also a bit odd in that Bristol had an 18-7 advantage in first downs. If Bristol can avoid mistakes, you have to like its chances. to play the winner of the District 2 game between Lackawanna Trail and Old Forge next week.