Parkland, Whitehall face familiar Philly foes
Trojans will meet St. Joe’s Prep at BASD Stadium; Zephyrs take on Imhotep, while Central Catholic gets Meadville
A lot of folks have their favorite Thanksgiving Day traditions and many of them have to do with food, parades and making Black Friday shopping plans.
But if you’re a high school football coach and you’re not involved in a traditional Thanksgiving rivalry game such as Catasauqua-Northampton or Easton-Phillipsburg, the tradition you’d like to establish is having a practice with your team on the holiday.
It means your squad is still alive in the state playoffs.
This Thanksgiving week, District 11 has a team left in each of the six classifications, as the quarterfinals are set to be held across the commonwealth Friday and Saturday.
In addition to Northern Lehigh, Executive Education and Northwestern Lehigh in the three lowest classifications, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s South Division has three teams competing in each of the highest classes.
Allentown Central Catholic, the District 11 4A champ, has the longest trip. The Vikings (7-5) head to Bald Eagle Area High School in Boggs Township, Centre County, at 7 p.m. Friday to take on District 10 champ Meadville (12-1).
Both 6A champ Parkland and 5A titlist will be much closer to home, but face longtime Philadelphia-area nemeses for local schools. The Trojans will play at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium against St. Joe’s Prep and Whitehall will travel to the Germantown Supersite to take on Imhotep at 1 p.m. Saturday.
St. Joe’s Prep has beaten the District 11 champion in the state quarterfinals seven times since 2013, including Freedom last year and Parkland four times: in 2013, ‘14, ‘16 and ‘17.
Imhotep Charter has also eliminated seven District 11 champs in the state tournament, starting with Pius X in 2006. The Panthers ended Bethlehem Catholic’s season three consecutive years from 2016-18.
St. Joe’s Prep, Imhotep and Meadville will be challenges for the EPC South members, but they’re all thrilled to have games scheduled for the last weekend in November.
For ACCHS and Whitehall coaches Tim McGorry and Matt Senneca, who played for two-time state champion coach Jim Morgans at Central in the 1990s, the goal was to always be practicing on Thanksgiving.
“We have mentioned things to the kids all year and kidded with them and kind of said you haven’t done anything until you’re practicing football on Thanksgiving morning,” Senneca said. “That does go back to Coach Morgans. That was always our goal to make sure we were practicing on Thanksgiving and I’m excited that our kids are now going to get to experience it. Now they can always say they did it. There are only eight teams left in the state in Class 5A and to be one of them is pretty special. Practicing on Thanksgiving will be a memory they can always take with them.”
McGorry said the same thing about his Vikings, who like Senneca’s Zephyrs, have come on strong with three straight wins after finishing the regular season at 5-5.
“I don’t want to take anything from Easton and P’burg and Northampton and Catty, but there’s nothing better than practicing on Thanksgiving Day,” McGorry said. “I got to do that a bunch of times as a player and that’s a special thing when you get to do that.”
Both McGorry and Senneca are looking forward to another week with their players.
“Travis Foster made the game-saving tackle at the 2-yard line in overtime the other night against Jersey Shore and I said to him that he really stepped up his play and all he said was that he didn’t want it to end,” McGorry said. “When your guys are thinking that way, then you have a shot to do something pretty special. These guys want to keep coming to practice and they want to stay together.”
Senneca has a team that has exceeded all expectations coming off a 4-7 season and graduated the players who accounted for 26 of the team’s 36 touchdowns last season.
“Our kids playing well together, but they’ve been playing together since they were 6, 7 and 8 years old,” Senneca said. “There’s a lot of familiarity with them and that helps. There’s just something special about the way they’re playing right now. They’re playing with a lot of confidence and I was happy for the seniors to get a chance to play another game at home last week and have a nice memory walking off the field together for the last time.”
Here’s a quick snapshot of the PIAA games involving EPC teams this weekend:
Class 6A
District 11 champ Parkland (9-4) vs. District 12 champ St. Joe’s Prep (9-1)
When/where: 1 p.m. Saturday at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium
At stake: A berth in the 6A semifinals against the District 1 champ (Garnet Valley or Central Bucks West)
What to know: The Trojans had a shockingly easy 35-10 win over Freedom in the district final, scoring on its first five possessions to eliminate the defending champs. Parkland had 340 yards on offense, 156 passing from Luke Spang, and 114 of 184 yards rushing by Trey Tremba in a dominant offensive performance. Tremba scored three times on runs and Jack Harrison caught a pair of TD passes in an 83-yard performance.
St. Joe’s Prep was just as dominant Saturday in its 49-6 rout of Northeast for the District 12 gold. Prep scored on its first five possessions and seven times on its first eight drives. Junior quarterback Samaj Jones completed 9 of 13 passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns. Khaseem Phillips and Erik Sanchez each ran for
TDs. Prep has won six state titles in the last nine years.
Class 5A
District 11 champ Whitehall (8-5) vs. District 12 champ Imhotep (9-1)
When/where: 1 p.m. Saturday at the Germantown Supersite.
At stake: A berth in the semifinals against the District 1 champ (either Upper Dublin or West Chester Rustin).
What to know: The Zephyrs won their first state playoff game since 2016 with a 34-13 win over Delaware Valley, outscoring the District 2 champs 24-0 in the second half. Senior running back Nigel Linton ran for 149 yards and three TDs and junior quarterback Trey Dogmanits threw for 179 yards and also had 18 yards rushing and a touchdown. The Zephs got 10 catches for a combined 129 yards from Jack Kocher and Braden Bashore.
Imhotep got two touchdowns from Mikal Davis to beat an 8-3 Roman Catholic team 14-6. Roman’s lone score was on a 96-yard return by Moe Howell on the opening kickoff. Imhotep is 14-7 in PIAA playoffs, beginning with a win over Pen Argyl in 2012. The Panthers have been to six state finals, but only won once — a 3A title in 2015. They lost in last year’s 5A final, 17-14 in overtime, to Penn Trafford.
Class 4A
District 11 champ Allentown Central Catholic (8-5) vs. District 10 champ Meadville (12-1).
When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Bald Eagle Area High School in Boggs Township, Centre County.
At stake: A berth in the semifinals against the District 7 champ (either Aliquippa or Central Valley).
What to know: The Vikings improved to 17-7 all-time in the state playoffs and got their first PIAA win since 2012 with an exciting 38-31 overtime win over Jersey Shore, avenging a loss in the first round of the 2021 playoffs. Caiden Shaffer ran for 94 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime. Tamlin Ferguson threw for 251 yards with Griffin Patridge making six catches for 116 yards. The Vikings were outgained 400-326 but got an interception return from Armonie Torres and a blocked punt return for a score by Matt Keyes.
Meadville got a huge rushing performance from Khalon Simmons in a 27-14 win over Juniata. Simmons ran for 236 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries. Brady Walker had 12 carries for 86 yards and one touchdown for the Bulldogs, who trailed 14-6 at halftime before outscoring Juniata 21-0 after intermission. Meadville is 3-2 in state tournaments. The Bulldogs lost to Jersey Shore 30-6 in last year’s quarterfinals.