Column: Interesting first week of playoff football
The first round of the District 1 playoffs produced some surprising, and some not so surprising, results in the 6A bracket. And things feel wide open for the district championship while in 5A, the two heavy favorites — Upper Dublin and Strath-Haven — both lived up to their billing. Top-seeded Upper Dublin posted a 35-0 win over Academy Park while Strath-Haven rolled to a 35-3 win over Upper Merion.
In the 6A bracket, 14th-seeded North Penn upset No. 3 Pennsbury, 22-21. North Penn head coach Dick Beck went for the two-point conversion at the end of the game to seal the win for the Knights. North Penn advances to play Central Bucks West in the second round as the 11th-seeded Bucks eliminated No. 6 Central Bucks East, in other first round action.
North Penn may be getting its defensive issues ironed out and if it can defeat the Bucks, look out. The Knights offense may be the most explosive in the district and Beck knows how to win in the playoffs.
The Ches-Mont League registered a 5-4 record in the first round as Downingtown East, Downingtown West, West Chester Rustin, Kennett and Great Valley all won. Bishop Shanahan, Coatesville and Sun Valley went down to defeat.
With two double local games in the second round, the Ches-Mont League is assured of two teams moving on to the semifinal round in both 6A and 5A.
It was the Bo Horvath Show in Downingtown East’s 31-15 win over Coatesville in the first round. Iron man Horvath rushed 37 times for 255 yards and three touchdowns as the Cougars upset the Red Raiders playing basically smash mouth football for the entire 48 minutes.
Horvath relishes a lot of carries and when I talked to him after the game he was not even breathing hard and said he was not tired. He is truly a special athlete who also excels at lacrosse.
In the 6A bracket the Central League went 1-2 as top-seeded Garnet Valley hung a 63-14 defeat on Quakertown, but both Conestoga and Ridley went down to defeat with Ridley blowing a second half lead and bowing to Spring-Ford, 42-28. Garnet Valley has added a bit of a passing game to its vaunted wing-T running attack and the district title will go through the Jags again.
In the 4A bracket it will be top-seeded Interboro hosting No. 2 Pope John Paul in the district championship game. Interboro used its punishing ground game to defeat a very young Bishop Shanahan team, 48-28, in first round action.
The Eagles started seven freshman this season and had a largely inexperienced, but big, junior class so expect a good season for head coach Paul Meyers team next season.
With both Downingtown East and Downingtown West winning first round games, the two old friends will meet for the first time in district playoff action.
The only loss West has this season is a one-point setback to the second-seed in 6A in Perkiomen Valley in a game Whippets’ quarterback Quinn Henicle missed due to illness. The Whippets will have to beat the Cougars without standout receiver and outside linebacker Dean Hangey, who will miss the playoffs due to the PIAA transfer rule.
The 31-15 Coatesville loss to Downingtown East was the end of a great three year career of Raiders’ quarterback Harrison Susi. Susi was a three-year starter for Coatesville and was a dual threat at quarterback for his entire three years as a starter.
Susi was a tough, elusive, smart runner and he also threw the ball well. A fierce competitor it was difficult to see his season end in such a disappointing loss for the Red Raiders’ leader.
With the possibility of some rain in the forecast for Friday night just in time for the district second round games, maybe the teams that can run the football will have a distinct advantage. We will see how it plays, but in November with the possibility of a chilly and rainy night, old-school football usually prevails.
