Class AAA is loaded

The 2010 season officially kicks off Friday at 10 a.m., when Bishop McDevitt travels to Huntingdon Valley to face Lower Moreland.

That said, it's time to look at some pressing issues and noteworthy items in Southeastern Pennsylvania football, mixed in, as always, with a few predictions.

The run to be the East's representative in the PIAA Class AAAA final will no doubt be compelling, with North Penn, Ridley, defending champion La Salle, and Downingtown East as contenders to play the Western bracket's survivor at HersheyPark Stadium.

But the most gripping battle is likely to take place in Class AAA, due in part to the reclassification of Catholic League squads Cardinal O'Hara and Monsignor Bonner, both former AAAA members.

Archbishop Wood, an Eastern finalist last year, is ranked No. 5 in The Inquirer's preseason poll. Defending District 1 AAA champ Pottsgrove is No. 6, and O'Hara is No. 8. Bonner, with a bunch of returning starters, is on the rise.

From District 1, Pottsgrove, Interboro, and possible sleeper Marple Newtown could contend. In the final of last year's eight-team district AAA tourney, Pottsgrove outlasted Interboro, 28-21, in a bone-rattling clash at Coatesville.

In the PIAA's football classification for 2010 and '11, Owen J. Roberts and West Chester Rustin, Class AAA district semifinal losers last year, moved up to AAAA. That opens the door for Marple Newtown and Penncrest, new to AAA, to make noise in districts.

The District 12 winner will face the District 1 victor, in a state quarterfinal, on the weekend of Dec. 3. Last season, in one of 2009's most exciting contests, Wood nipped Pottsgrove, 30-28.

The closing of Cardinal Dougherty, Kennedy-Kenrick, and North Catholic trimmed the Catholic League's football membership to 14.

Four out of five in the Class AAAA division will qualify for the playoffs. In Class AAA, all four squads - O'Hara, Wood, Bonner, and Archbishop Carroll - will gain a postseason chance to compete for the league crown.

PCL moderator Pat Manzi, who is the Bishop McDevitt coach, said there was talk of combining Class AAAA and AAA into a nine-team division. However, not enough schools, especially among the AAA grouping, supported the idea.

"It's a hard balance," Manzi said, "but we decided to keep things separate."

In AA, McDevitt is joined by Conwell-Egan, Lansdale Catholic, Neumann-Goretti, and West Catholic. The top two regular-season finishers will play for the league title the weekend of Nov. 5.

Of the league's declining membership, Manzi said, "We still think we have a great product. It's a special league."

In nonleague action, Interboro, Episcopal Academy, and O'Hara will play Red Lion Christian Academy, of Bear, Del.

Red Lion, a coed private school with an enrollment of about 750, gained national attention in February when quarterback David Sills, then 13 and a seventh grader, committed to USC.

The 6-foot, 145-pound Sills, who cannot sign a letter of intent until February 2015, runs a pro-style offense. His personal QB coach, Steve Clarkson, has tutored USC's Matt Barkley, and current pros Matt Leinart and Jimmy Clausen.

The wunderkind and the Lions will visit Interboro on Sept. 17, and Episcopal on Oct. 1. They will host O'Hara on Oct. 8.

Quotable: Abington coach Tim Sorber, on 2,500-yard career rusher Julien Ireland moving from tailback to quarterback: "He's a very team-oriented kid. He was excited about it. The one thing I told him was, 'Hey, you don't have to block anymore.' With that, his face lit up."

Owen J. Roberts tailback Ryan Brumfield is taking aim at the record books. With 5,745 career rushing yards, the 5-10, 175-pound senior is No. 6 on Southeastern Pennsylvania's all-time list.

Brumfield, who last season netted 2,719 yards and 41 TDs, trails Conwell-Egan product Steve Slaton (5,998), Frankford's Eddie Gaskins (6,122), Conestoga's Marquis Weeks (6,241), St. Pius X's Zach Pierce (6,557), and West Catholic's Curtis Brinkley (7,429).

If Brumfield stays healthy - and on the 209 yards-per-game clip of last year - he would eclipse Brinkley's mark in Week 9 at home against Boyertown.

The state's all-time leader is Steelton-Highspire's Jeremiah Young, who totaled 9,027 yards from 2005-08.

Here's our prediction of the playoff qualifiers in District 1's top two enrollment classifications, in order of seeding:

AAAA (16): North Penn, Neshaminy, Ridley, Downingtown East, Conestoga, Pennsbury, Souderton, Upper Dublin, Unionville, Owen J. Roberts, Garnet Valley, West Chester Rustin, Norristown, Abington, Downingtown West, and Council Rock South.

AAA (8): Pottsgrove, Interboro, Marple Newtown, Upper Merion, Penncrest, Upper Perkiomen, Strath Haven, Upper Moreland.

Finally, the state champions: AAAA, North Penn; AAA, West Allegheny; AA, West Catholic; A, Dunmore.