Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10
1. North Penn (11-0. Weeks rated: 12. Last week: 1)
2. St. Joseph’s Prep (9-1. Weeks rated: 12. Last week: 2)
3. La Salle (9-1. Weeks rated: 12. Last week: 3)
4. Pottsgrove (10-0. Weeks rated: 8. Last week: 5)
5. Neshaminy (9-2. Weeks rated: 12. Last week: 8)
6. Downingtown West (10-1. Weeks rated: 1. Last week: Unrated)
7. Avon Grove (10-1. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 10)
8. West Chester Rustin (11-0. Weeks rated: 5. Last week: 9)
9. Owen J. Roberts (10-1. Weeks rated: 1. Last week: Unrated)
10. Ridley (10-1. Weeks rated: 1. Last week: Unrated)
Back in August, back when Gil Brooks was forming his team for the 2009 season, someone put it out there to the St. Joseph’s Prep coach that his team should run all over the Philadelphia Catholic League Class AAAA Division this season.
Brooks quickly corrected his ardent supporter with some prescient wisdom: "Everything goes through La Salle," Brooks said at the time. "La Salle beat us twice last year, including the Catholic League championship, and they have everyone back. They’re going to be an explosive team. If you ask me, they’re the team to beat."
Explosive is right. Brooks was also right that the Explorers are in the way again from St. Joseph’s advancing to the PIAA Class AAAA state playoffs for the first time. So it will come down again to La Salle and St. Joseph’s Prep at Northeast High School for the Catholic League Class AAAA (large school) title this Friday night at 7 p.m. — in what is the Philadelphia area’s high school version of Michigan-Ohio State.
The winner will have the right to play defending Philadelphia Public League champion George Washington for the Philadelphia City Championship next weekend — and the right to advance to the state quarterfinals the weekend of Dec. 4-5.
La Salle enters the game with a six-game winning streak, and is averaging 32.8 points a game and giving up 9.6 during that time. Prep is carrying a seven-game winning streak and is averaging 34.5 points a game and giving up a scant 9.4 a game during that streak.
"I like the way we’re playing going into this," Brooks said. "The kids are doing a very nice job, and we’re playing at a high level. The biggest factor is that has Skyler Mornhinweg developed into a great football player and has made everyone around him better."
Mornhinweg, the Hawks’ sophomore quarterback, has led St. Joe’s to four fourth-quarter comebacks this season. The Hawks now have a balanced offense that can cause problems on the ground or through the air. But this is a different La Salle, which lost to Prep 24-17 on Sept. 26. The Explorers are not the kind of team that can sting suddenly with an air attack, but a team that now grinds its opponents down behind the running of Jamal Abdur-Rahman and Tim Wade, who have combined for 1,510 yards rushing this season.
"That’s the big difference from last year to this year with La Salle, that they run the ball more and they do present that problem," Brooks said. "They make you defend the pass and they’re good at it, but they beat you on the ground. You can’t cheat a little with them and throw someone extra in the box, because they can go up top."
The Hawks would like to make some history this Friday night, being the first football team in prep history to advance to the state playoffs — and the first team to win a Philadelphia City Championship since 1977, since the city title game was revived last year as the District 12 championship.
"All those things are motivating," Brooks said. "We’re in the one-and-done stage and our kids know it. But above everything else, this is La Salle; our guys don’t have to get too much more keyed-up to play them, as La Salle does for us. La Salle is a great team, a great program that’s well coached. But for our kids, it’s La Salle and nothing else really matters right now."
Those upsets
The opening week of the District 1 playoffs saw a number of teams that were highly rated throughout the year, and because of that highly seeded in the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs, come tumbling down.
Among the biggest surprises in the first round of the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA playoffs was No. 15 seed Unionville handing No. 2 seed Pennsbury a 12-7 loss. The Indians’ victory set the whole district seeding format a little out of whack, with No. 7 seed Riley hosting Unionville this Friday night, while top-seeded North Penn takes on a major challenge in No. 8 Neshaminy.
Another jolt to the bracket came when No. 14 seed Penncrest upended Central League rival and No. 3 seed Garnet Valley, 38-35, and will travel to No. 11 seed Downingtown East, 27-14 winners over No. 6 Norristown.
If the brackets now hold true to form, it looks like a North Penn-Ridley showdown on Dec. 4 in a battle between two of the area's better programs. But then again, seeing the way the bracket has been scrambled, who really can tell what’s next? Stay tuned.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
