Pennsbury football must upset rival Neshaminy to make District 1 playoffs

It’s the final night of the regular season for the Lower Bucks Suburban One National football teams. It’s also the night for three annual backyard brawls and time to finalize the 16-team District 1 Class 6A playoff bracket.

Three local teams can still make the field. Undefeated Neshaminy, of course, is in. Pennsbury will qualify if it pulls off a staggering upset at Neshaminy. And Bensalem will make it for the first time if its beats Truman and some really unexpected things don’t happen.

At least that’s the word about Bensalem from Kyle Berger, a teacher at North Penn who is regarded as the leading expert when it comes to crunching the District 1 power point numbers.

According to Berger, Bensalem will qualify with a victory unless there are some stunning upsets. These would include Haverford topping Springfield-Delco, Downingtown West knocking off Downingtown East or if Pennsbury shocks Neshaminy.

Should Bensalem lose, it will be out.

Pennsbury (5-4) at Neshaminy (9-0), Friday night, 7 p.m.

Although people love to break out the cliches about how anything could happen when two arch rivals get together, it hasn’t really applied to this storied series. Sure there have been some minor upsets over the years, but it’s hard to recall a really major one. Pennsbury goes into this game as a huge underdog. Its defense has been competitive, but its offense has never really clicked the entire year. Neshaminy, the top-ranked team in The Trentonian’s coverage area, is a scoring machine and it also has one of the best defenses in District 1. The bottom line is if Neshaminy plays well and doesn’t have a rash of turnovers, a comfortable victory should be in the works. A Neshaminy win would also clinch the SONL title outright.

Bensalem (5-4) at Truman (2-7) Friday night, 7 p.m.

Coming off a one-point win over Council Rock North in a game in which it scored the winning TD in the final minute, it’s the Owls who have a lot more to play for in a battle of teams that lost their starting quarterbacks to injury. But this is also another of those rivalry games where motivation is never a problem for either team. The Tigers would also love to ruin Bensalem’s playoff hopes much like the way Norristown ruined Truman’s playoff aspirations two years ago. For the most part Bensalem has been the more impressive team, but a lot of their scores against common opponents have been somewhat similar.

Lower Moreland (1-6) at Bristol (4-3), Friday night, 7 p.m.

The Warriors are coming off a disappointing one-point loss to Valley Forge and Lower Moreland is the perfect opponent to get back on track. Lower Moreland’s only win was by forfeit and has been destroyed in most of its games. Throw in the fact Bristol is very much part of the playoff scene and this has a mercy rule written all over it.

Council Rock South (1-8) at Council Rock North (1-7), Friday night, 7 p.m.

This unpredictable series has produced some thrillers over the years and it wouldn’t be a surprise if it went down to the end tonight. As their records attest, both teams have struggled on each side of the ball. Neither team has much of a passing game as well. For what it’s worth, Rock South has generally been a little more solid on defense.

Jenkintown (5-2) at Morrisville (2-6), Friday night, 7 p.m.

Although its defense continued to play well and the Dawgies scored two touchdowns, Mo’ville’s playoff hopes ended when it lost to Delco Christian, 20-14, last week. Jenkintown has the five wins, including a 12-0 win over Delco Christian. This could be close, but the Drakes have a little more offensive firepower.

PIAA Power Points

CLASS AAAAAA

1. North Penn (9-0); 1710; 2. Neshaminy (9-0) 1600; 3. Perk Valley (9-0) 1530; 4. Coatesville (8-1) 1460; 5. C.B. South (7-2) 1450; 6. Ridley (8-1) 1440; 7. Downingtown East (7-2) 1420; 8. Spring-Ford (7-2) 1310; 9. C.B. East (7-2) 1300; 10. Plymouth-Whitemarsh (8-1) 1290; 11. Garnet Valley (7-2) 1280; 12. Abington (6-3) 1220; 13. Penn Wood (7-2) 1160; 13. Souderton (5-4) 1160; 15. Pennridge (5-4) 1150; 16. Haverford (6-3) 1080; 17. Bensalem (5-4) 1070; 18. Downingtown West (4-5) 1050; 19. Pennsbury (5-4) 1000; 20. C.B. West (4-5) 980.

CLASS AAA

1. Kipp DuBois (7-1) 1320; 2. New Hope-Solebury (7-1) 1110; 3. Del Val Charter (5-3) 1040; 4. Conwell-Egan (5-3) 980.

CLASS AA

1. Bristol (4-3) 880; 2. West Catholic (5-4) 1130; 3. Mansion (4-4) 970; 4. Valley Forge (4-4) 880

Class A

1. Jenkintown (5-2) 1010; 2. Delco Christian (3-5) 760; 3. Morrisville (2-6) 560.