Week 11 Times Herald football preview capsules

GARNET VALLEY AT UPPER DUBLIN

TIME: Friday, 7:00 p.m., Upper Dublin High School

RECORDS: Garnet Valley is 7-3 after losing to Upper Darby, 41-34. Upper Dublin is 10-0 after defeating Upper Merion, 56-13.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: The Cardinals look to repeat last year’s playoff success, but must contend with a Jaguars running game that can be punishingly effective.

Quarterback Matt Hamby is the leader of the offense, with Derrick West, Danny Guy and Jacob Buttermore running behind an offensive line that includes all 6-foot-5 inches and 320 pounds of guard Ted Field, a potential Division One recruit.

NESHAMINY AT SPRING-FORD

TIME: Friday, 7:00 p.m., Coach McNelly Stadium, Spring-Ford Middle School

RECORDS: Neshaminy is 7-3 after defeating Pennsbury, 16-14. Spring-Ford is 10-0 after defeating Perkiomen Valley, 28-14.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: Both squads are coming off major wins, Neshaminy topping arch-rival Pennsbury to qualify for the playoffs while the Rams did in Perk Valley to land the PAC crown.

Will there be any emotion left over for this week?

Don’t bet against it.

Neshaminy, as it seems to do every year, does its best work on the ground, with RB Will Dogba the chief stripe grabber. QB Mason Jones runs the show for Neshaminy.

The Rams could turn to their running game, which grinded out 351 yards and four touchdowns in the PV win, or to QB Ricky Venuto, who has thrown for 1,649 yards and 23 TDs this season.

NORTH PENN AT UNIONVILLE

TIME: Friday, 7:00 p.m., Unionville High School

RECORDS: North Penn is 8-2 after defeating Abington, 63-21. Unionville is 8-2 after defeating Sun Valley, 54-6.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: The Indians are on a legitimate roll, having won their last five games, and bring a multi-faceted offense into the postseason, headed by QB Brandon Boyle (862 passing yds., 666 rushing yds.), running back Brandon Boon (921 rushing yds.) and receiver Elan Nash (18 catches, 301 yds.).

The Knights are where they seemingly always are, in the playoffs after a rocky start (losses to La Salle and Downingtown East in the season’s first three weeks), and with seven straight wins over the past two months are a good bet to hang around the playoffs for a while.

PERKIOMEN VALLEY AT HAVERFORD

TIME: Friday, 7:00 p.m., Haverford High School

RECORDS: Perkiomen Valley is 9-1 after losing to Spring-Ford, 28-14. Haverford is 9-1 after defeating Lower Merion, 56-0.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: The Vikings are still licking their wounds after last week’s disappointing loss to Spring-Ford, but can get retribution in a hurry with a long playoff run.

In the Fords, the Vikings face a team that has won nine games in a row since a season-opening loss to Downingtown West, and has solid leaders in QB Jack Donaghy and running back Mike Romanofsky.

The Vikings have put the loss at Spring-Ford behind them, and look to match the program’s long postseason run of two seasons ago.

PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH AT DOWNINGTOWN EAST

TIME: Friday, 7:00 p.m., Downingtown East High School

RECORDS: Plymouth Whitemarsh is 8-2 after defeating Springfield (M), 56-0. Downingtown East is 10-0 after defeating Downingtown West, 21-14.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: The good news is the Colonials snuck into the playoffs on a tiebreaker. The bad news is that they’ve drawn the top-seeded Cougars, who have run off 10 straight wins and have done so while playing solidly on both sides of the ball.

The Cougars are led by QB Saunders Healy (101-for-160, 1,391 yds.) and RB Jack Kincade (194 carries, 915 yds., 11 TDs). But the real star is TE/DE Cary Angeline, a USC recruit who has 40 catches for 662 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Colonials will lean hard on senior RB Nafeese Nasir, who is approaching the 2,000-yard plateau, but they will need a more varied attack if they have any chance of shocking the district.

POPE JOHN PAUL II AT NORTHAMPTON

TIME: Friday, 6:00 p.m., Northampton High School

RECORDS: Pope John Paul II is 0-10 after losing to Methacton, 21-14.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: The Golden Panthers have one more shot at a 2015 season victory, and it’s a meeting with the Konkrete Kids in a game that was moved up an hour from its original starting time.

The Kids are led by QB Colin Schucker (72-for-149, 900 yds., 5 TDs) and RBs Devon Turner (117 carries, 572 yds.) and Andrew Szerencsile (107 carries, 501 yds.).

PJP QB Matt Duff (126-for-237, 1,480 yds., 13 TDs) has been a bright light in a dark season, and needs his offensive line, that yielded 12 sacks a week ago, to hold up this week.

METHACTON AT UPPER MERION

TIME: Friday, 7:00 p.m., Upper Merion High School

RECORDS: Methacton is 1-9 after defeating Pope John Paul II, 21-14. Upper Merion is 3-7 after losing to Upper Dublin, 56-13.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Did not play.

OUTLOOK: Call it the Win of the Year for the Warriors, who set aside their disappointment over a bleak season and won one for the program (and themselves) a week ago against Pope John Paul.

Can they make it two in a row?

Probably not, but the Vikings, in what will amount to their tuneup for the Thanksgiving Day game against Norristown, could be caught looking ahead to the Turkey Day Tussle.

Warriors defender Dylan Henry had six-and-a-half of Methacton’s 12 sacks against PJP.

LANSDALE CATHOLIC VS. WEST CATHOLIC

TIME: Saturday, 1:00 p.m., Cardinal O’Hara High School

RECORDS: Lansdale Catholic is 8-2 after defeating Conwell-Egan, 35-12. West Catholic is 6-4 after defeating Neumann-Goretti, 46-0.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: West Catholic won, 18-2, on Oct. 3 of this year.

OUTLOOK: Can the Crusaders finally unseat the Burrs?

This is not a vintage West squad, although it did blitz through the PCL Class AA Division while allowing just 21 points.

Expect LC to turn to Ryan Quigley, the now two-time PCL MVP, and for him to be around the ball plenty, while the Burrs have gotten plenty of production from QB Joshua Evans (91-for-171, 1,825 yds., 19 TDs) and RB Calil Worthington.

GERMANTOWN ACADEMY AT PENN CHARTER

TIME: Saturday, 1:30 p.m., William Penn Charter

RECORDS: Germantown Academy is 7-2, 2-2 after losing to Haverford School, 42-14. Penn Charter is 4-5, 2-2 after losing to Malvern Prep, 37-7.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Germantown Academy won, 40-29.

OUTLOOK: The 129th consecutive meeting of the Patriots and Quakers finds GA hoping to end its mini-two-game losing streak and the Quakers trying to end the season with a .500 record.

GA has been skunked in back-to-back weeks by Malvern and Haverford, respectively, but should have enough left in the tank to prevail here.

PC relies primarily on QB Mike Hnatkowsky and RB Jake McCain.

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL AT ARCHBISHOP WOOD

TIME: Saturday, 7:00 p.m., William Tennent High School

RECORDS: Archbishop Carroll is 2-7 and was idle last week. Archbishop Wood is 9-0 and was idle last week.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: Wood won, 54-0, on Oct. 30 this year.

OUTLOOK: See Sideline Insider

FATHER JUDGE AT LA SALLE

TIME: Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Plymouth Whitemarsh High School

RECORDS: Father Judge is 5-4 and was idle last week. La Salle is 5-3 and was idle last week.

LAST SEASON’S GAME: La Salle won, 41-14, back on Oct. 30 of this year.

OUTLOOK: Did Judge play possum when it sat six starters two weeks ago against La Salle?

Both sides said no, but there are still some who believe it was done intentionally to give the Crusaders the edge in this game.

Running back Yeedee Thaenrat (111 carries, 742 yds.) and QB Rob King (54-for-128, 651 yds., 7 TDs) are two Crusaders that sat that night, so it will be interesting to see how much difference their presence may have meant.