O'Brien: Breaking down the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs
There are 26 area football playoff contests on tap this weekend, with a bunch in the toss-up category. We'll provide individual game predictions Friday. For now, here's our take on how the District 1 Class AAAA tournament will play out.
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There are 26 area football playoff contests on tap this weekend, with a bunch in the toss-up category. We'll provide individual game predictions Friday. For now, here's our take on how the District 1 Class AAAA tournament will play out.
District 1 Class AAAA. Like last year, there's no clear-cut favorite to claim top honors in the 16-team field. As the No. 15 seed, defending district champ Pennsbury could make noise. No. 13 Neshaminy and No. 12 Quakertown - even though it comes in with two straight losses - are also on the list of possible dark horses.
Neshaminy at No. 4 Spring-Ford, Quakertown at No. 5 Central Bucks East, and No. 10 Perkiomen Valley at No. 7 Haverford High are pretty much pick-'em games.
Neighbors Downingtown East and Downingtown West, fresh off a Battle of the Brandywine clash that was won by East, are the top two seeds. Downingtown East, No. 3 Upper Dublin, which last year surprised by reaching the semifinals, and Spring-Ford arrive with perfect records.
In the pick 'em matchups, we're going with Neshaminy, C.B. East, winning its first playoff game on its new turf field, and Perkiomen Valley.
Our other first-round predictions, in bracket order: Downingtown East over No. 16 Plymouth Whitemarsh; No. 9 North Penn over No. 8 Unionville; Downingtown West over Pennsbury; Upper Dublin over No. 14 Garnet Valley; and No. 11 Council Rock North over No. 6 Upper Darby.
A must-see quarterfinal is North Penn at Downingtown East. In Week 3, tight end Cary Angeline and the host Cougars nipped tailback Nyfease West and the Knights, 28-24.
In our projected rematch, we expect North Penn, with a late air connection between Reece Udinski (1,874 yards passing, 15 touchdowns) and Ricky Johns being the difference, to edge East in a slugfest before a packed crowd at Kottmeyer Stadium.
Neshaminy continues its late-season surge with a quarterfinal triumph over C.B. East; Upper Dublin denies C.R. North dynamo Brandon McIlwain another explosive performance and returns to the semis; and Downingtown West, fueled by QB Thomas Mattioni and shifty handyman Jake Barr, ousts Stephen Sturm and Perkiomen Valley.
The semifinal pairings: Neshaminy at Suburban One League National Conference rival North Penn (the host Knights rallied to the beat the Redskins, 22-17, in Week 9) and Upper Dublin vs. Downingtown West.
North Penn, led on defense by end Keith Earle and linebacker Nick Isabella, keeps Neshaminy tailback Will Dogba (1,303 yards rushing, 16 TDs) mostly in check to move closer to its seventh district title. And Downingtown West slows record-setting Upper Dublin QB Ryan Stover enough to earn its first berth in the final.
In the championship tilt, playoff-savvy North Penn falls behind early but rallies to beat West in a high-scoring affair and capture its first district crown since 2011 and fourth in the last eight years.
Gannon returns. Rich Gannon, who starred at St. Joseph's Prep before going on to an 18-year NFL career, will be at his alma mater Thursday afternoon.
Gannon (Class of 1983) is back in town as part of the NFL's Super Bowl high school honor roll program, which recognizes schools and communities that contributed to Super Bowl history and positively impacted the sport.
Gannon, who played for four NFL clubs and led the Oakland Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, will present the school with a commemorative golden football at a 12:45 p.m. assembly.
@ozoneinq