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The postseason has a way of sorting-out the national rankings, and that was the case this weekend when six former members of the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 tasted defeat, plus saw their seasons come to a close.
Former #4 Katy (Texas), former #8 Euless Trinity (Texas), former #10 Mallard Creek (North Carolina), former #16 Camden County (Georgia), former #20 University (Florida) and former #24 Hamilton (Arizona) all suffered defeats over the weekend. Hamilton's loss to Desert Vista in the state's Class 5A Division I championship game, snapped the nation's longest active win streak at 53 straight.
On the other side of the coin, the top three teams remain unbeaten and in contention for the "mythical" national championship. #1 Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey), #2 Trinity (Kentucky) and #3 Gaffney (South Carolina) all play in their respective state championship games this weekend.
Making a huge debut is Maryville (Tennessee) at #10. Glades Central (Florida) returns to the rankings at #11.
In my research, Easton, and in some years Phillipsburg (New Jersey), are the only teams in America that play three high school football games in just nine days.
Yes, think about that; 3 in 9!!
First, the reason for the plethora of games in nine days.
It's simple, Easton and their across the Delaware River rival Phillipsburg, play a Thanksgiving Day rivalry game that will NEVER be moved. Couple that with the fact that Easton's second round district playoff game is played on the Friday before the Turkey Day match-up that annually attracts 14,000 fans to Lafayette College.
If Easton wins the second round district game, the Red Rovers know they'll be playing for a district championship the following Saturday; two days after playing P'burg on Thanksgiving morning.
So you may think that there's enough moving parts that Easton wouldn't have to worry about the 3 in 9 equation very much.
Think again!
Last night's Easton played Nazareth, it's third game in nine days for the District 11 championship. And, yes, second in three.
It was also the third straight year that Easton has played 3 in 9.
One other point, Easton head coach Steve ShiffertNEVER rests his starters against Phillipsburg; the game is too big!
One thing the Rovers have never been able to pull-off the sweep, meaning a perfect 3-0. Last year, the Rovers were upset 3-0 in overtime in the snow on Thanksgiving Day, but bounced back to beat Whitehall two days later to win the district championship.
Click here to listen to my interview with Coach Shiffert after last year's run of 3 in 9 on the NHSCA Sports Hour.
Last night, Easton, fresh off a Thanksgiving Day win over Phillipsburg, the Rovers were going after a perfect three games in nine days. A win would give them a third straight district title, plus a berth in next week's Class AAAA state quarterfinals.
At the start, it looked like Easton would finally end the nine day stretch with a trio of wins.
The Red Rover jumped-out to a 14-point lead against Nazareth, but couldn't hold-on. In the end, Nazareth won its first district crown with a 28-21 win on its home field.
Some say, Easton's quest for a state title will always be hampered by its desire not to move the Thanksgiving Day game.
Having witnessed Easton's 3 in 9 several times, I'm here to tell you there isn't a bigger feat on the high school gridiron. What the Easton kids and coaches go through during this stretch is magical.
Did Easton get its third straight gold Saturday? No, but, I think they deserve a gold medal for choosing to keep its tradition alive with Phillipsburg over playing only two games in eight or nine days.
I salute you Rover Nation!!
Congrats on an 11-3 season and upholding the true tradition and spirit of high school athletic competition!
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving full of family and football!!
Crazy day in the kitchen for me yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to post anything about my favorite high school football day of the year. Nothing, in my mind, beats watching a high school football game on a cool and crisp Thanksgiving morning.
Last year, in the snow, Trish Hoffman and I spent the morning creating a video on the Battle of the Delaware River game between Easton (Pennsylvania) and Phillipsburg (New Jersey). Yesterday, Easton beat P'burg 24-8 before 14,000 fans at Lafayette College. The Red Rovers victory in game #105 in the series, gives Easton a 59-41-5 lead in the overall series.
Yesterday, also marked the first time in three years that I wasn't able to watch a Turkey Day tradition, live and in-person.
In 2009, High School Football America visited Connecticut to watch the battle between the two schools that started it all. Norwich Free Academy and New London (then the New London Bulkeley Tigers) played America's first-ever high school football game on May 12, 1875; yesterday was the 150th meeting between the two.
New London (9-1) won the sesquicentennial game 37-17, however, NFA still leads the series 73-66-11.
Yesterday, Stonington (Connecticut) and Westerly (Rhode Island) met for the 100th time on Thanksgiving in the country's most played rivalry. Westerly beat Stonington 15-0 before 4,400 fans in the 152nd meeting between the two.
The win prevented Stonington (6-4) from making the Connecticut state playoffs; Westerly (8-2) already won its first round game in the Rhode Island state playoffs last week. Stonington leads the all-time series 69-66-17.
Finally, there was the grand-daddy of them all...Needham and Wellesley that played for the 124th consecutive Thanksgiving. It's Turkey Day's oldest continuous rivalry.
Needham (8-3) closed the gap in the all-time series with a 42-18 win that also clinched a playoff berth for the Rockets. Wellesley (2-9) still leads the series 59-56-9.
If you tuned into last Thursday's High School Football America radio show, you heard MaxPreps'Steve Spiewak talk about there's plenty of football ahead when it comes to deciding who will grab this year's "mythical" national championship.
#1 Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey) and #4 Katy (Texas) were the only two teams to hang-on to their positions from last week.
Trinity (Kentucky) moves-up a notch to #2 after former #2 Armwood struggled in its opening round playoff game against Lakewood Ranch.
Gaffney (South Carolina) is up two spots to #3, while Katy and Miramar (Florida) round-out the new Top 5.
Making the biggest jump was the Euless Trinity, which climbs from #13 to #8 after a 28-21 win over former #21 and previously unbeaten Allen. Also climbing five spots was Bellevue (Washington) to #17 after an impressive quarterfinal round win over previously undefeated Inter Lakes 35-14.
The only newcomer to this week's poll is North Allegheny (Pennsylvania), which enters at #25. The defending 4A champs are in the WPIAL finals after beating Pittsburgh Central Catholic over the weekend. Central, which suffered its first loss of the year, had spent a short time in the national rankings earlier this year.
Pius X Royals celebrate "Pappy" Hidladbrant's memory with
logo on helmet
Nazareth, PA - Sometimes things can't be explained; like why was today's District XI Class A playoff game played on what would have been the 80th birthday of the man that the Pius X Royals dedicated their season to.
The Royals have dedicated the 2011 season to their longtime fan John "Pappy" Hildabrant, who passed away during preseason camp in August. Today, the Royals went after District XI Class A gold against Shenandoah Valley at Nazareth on what would have been "Pappy's" 80th birthday.
With the memory of "Pappy" in their minds and his name on the back of their helmets, the Royals dismantled the Blue Devils 50-12. The Royals finished second in the district the past two years.
The Royals were led by quarterback A.J. Long and Boise Ross. Long, who broke the record for TDs in a season (37), was 10 of 17 for 206 yards and two touchdowns. The sophomore QB also rushed for 173 yards on 13 carries and two scores.
Ross, a junior, scored three touchdowns; he only had six touches, but put-up 276 yards in total offense. Ross caught four passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns and carried the ball twice for 110 yards and a touchdown.
The Royals finished the game with 562 yards in total offense.
Next week, Pius X will play Calvary Christian in the opening round of the PIAA state playoffs.
When the Royals returned to their home base of Roseto, the entire team stopped at the Mount Carmel Cemetery to place a gold medal at Pappy's gravesite.
When I left the practice field at Nazareth tonight, I had officially shot 85 hours worth of video for my feature documentary called Roseto's Royals, which is a look at the unique relationship between the northeast Pennsylvania town of Roseto and its high school football team, the Pius X Royals.
Things are coming together nicely on the film, and you'll be able to become part of the team when I release my trailer on KickStarter.com.
In the meantime, I'm going to be sharing what I'm currently doing, so you can learn more about the project that has mass appeal, because it's not a typical high school football documentary.
Yes, I'm following the Royals drive for the school's first-ever state football championship, but the story goes beyond that quest.
With high school football and the third smallest high school football team in Pennsylvania as the backdrop, Roseto's Royals tells the story of the community of 1,600 that was created out of discrimination in the late 19th Century. Roseto became the healthiest town in America and is struggling to hold-on to old school ways that made it America's first-ever all Italian city 100-years ago.
Roseto and the school exist because the Italian immigrants, who came to this country from Roseto Valfortore experienced discrimination because of their heritage. The English, German and Welsh residents in the area, known as the Slate Belt region because of the high concentration of slate in the area, didn't like the immigrants who first started coming to the area in 1882.
To the right, you can see a photo I took early this morning when I hiked into the area's mountainous terrain to shoot video of one of the abandoned, water-filled slate quarries. There were hundreds of slate quarries operating in Pennsylvania in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
By the turn of the century, Roseto Valfortore was basically a ghost town because most of its residents crossed the ocean to create almost an identical community in northeast Pennsylvania. All settled on "the hill" above Bangor and continued to live basically the same life they did in Italy.
They worked hard in the slate quarries; grew their own vegetables; made their own wine; and spent a lot of time together.
When Roseto was incorporated on January 2, 1912, it was 100% Italian.
Because of the discrimination, some prominent members of Roseto decided the best way to help the younger generation have a better life was to start their own school. In 1947, Pius X High School was born.
A couple of decades later, Dr. Stewart Wolf from Oklahoma discovered that the town was immune to heart disease. His study called the "Roseto Effect" defied logic because the men of the town smoked and drank wine freely; and they cooked with lard, instead of olive oil.
Dr. Wolf came to the conclusion that there was virtually no heart disease in Roseto, because its residents lived in a very communal way, meaning they put family first and lived like a clan.
As you can imagine, one of the bonding mechanisms in the community was the pride the community had for its beloved Royals, who could combat the discrimination by beating athletes from nearby Bangor and Pen Argyl.
One interesting fact is the school and the football field are physically located in Bangor, but just by the width of 3rd Street.
Roseto is no longer all-Italian, but a majority of the population is. The discrimination is a thing of the past, although it's still fresh in the mind of many of the older residents. However, the school's athletic program is still discriminated against, especially the football program.
Pius has never been accepted into any of the local high school leagues. That causes them to travel hundreds of miles to find opponents to play.
Why?
Well, that's a big part of the documentary.
Some local school officials constantly vote against the Royals' entry into the Colonial League, which would dramatically reduce the school's travel budget in these tough economic times. One of the reasons Colonial League officials vote against Pius becoming a members is because they feel that the Royals recruit. Others say there's some left-over resentment from nearby Bangor and Pen Argyl High Schools, that are part of the Colonial League.
Bottom-line, it's made for interesting arcs in the storyline!!
Tomorrow, I'll write about some of the crazy things that the football team has had to do to play football games, like taking 700-mile round trips to the Pittsburgh-area on back-to-back weekends. However, those sort of things should help during the postseason.
Even though the Royals, with a 9-1 regular season, claimed the top-seed and home field advantage in the District XI Class A playoffs, the team won't play a home playoff game, because its home field is nearly all-dirt between the hash marks. That's the reason the team practiced at 12-miles away from home at Nazareth tonight, and will play this Saturday's championship game at Nazareth, as well.
I hope this gets you excited to read more of my daily stories this week that will lead-up to the release of the 10-minute trailer.
Long before Texas began building its high school football cathedrals, Pennsylvania was at the forefront of state-of-the-art stadiums.
Yesterday, I shared photos of Allentown's J. Birney Crum Stadium that has 15,000 permanent seats. Back in 1948, it actually had 22,500 seats.
Today, I traveled east to Bethlehem to snap some photos of Bethlehem Area School District Stadium that was built seven years before J.B.C., which was called Allentown School District Stadium before being renamed in 1982 after its legendary baseball, basketball and football coach.
Both stadiums were built to handle massive crowds that turned-out annually to watch Allentown and Bethlehem High Schools battle on the gridiron.
BASD, as it's known, was built as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Work Projects Administration (WPA) that came-out of his New Deal.
The grandstands hold 13,600 fans and are built out of steel that was donated by Bethlehem Steel. The field actually sits on the campus of Liberty High School, which is the original Bethlehem High School. In the 60's, school district officials split the district in-half, and now Liberty and Freedom High School share the field, along with Bethlehem Catholic.
The field, which usually was nothing but dirt by October, because of numerous football and soccer games, was given a facelift in 2005. Included in the renovation was the addition of Field Turf that added field hockey matches to the slate of games hosted by BASD.
On a personal note, there's nothing better than listening to the stomping of feet when fans cheer on their favorites, but once the weather turns cold, the steel holds the cold, which has made for many frozen nights.
Phil Stambaugh, Pius X head coach
Copyright: High School Football America
I'd like to thank everyone for making October another record-breaking month for visitors to High School Football America and The High School Football Huddle.
Over the next couple of days, I'm going to spend some time chronicling my travels back east to Pennsylvania to continue filming my documentary Roseto's Royals that examines the relationship between the town of Roseto and its high school football team, the Pius X Royals.
Later this week, you'll learn about how you can become part of the project at KickStarter.com.
But until then...
This afternoon, I was on the practice field to watch the 10-1 Royals prepare for this Saturday's District XI Class A championship game against Shenandoah. Pius is the third smallest school playing high school football in Pennsylvania.
According to the latest enrollment numbers from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association in 2009, Pius had 63 boys enrolled in the school. Imani Christian is the smallest school with 42 boys, according to the PIAA; Bucktail, which lost 56-34 to Pius this season, has 53 boys enrolled. Imani, in Pittsburgh, just ended its first year of varsity football, playing a six-game schedule.
While the Royals may be small in enrollment numbers, they have some big football numbers.
The Royals are led by second-year head coach Phil Stambaugh, who was a record-setting quarterback at Lehigh University and played in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A.J. Long, Pius X Quarterback (Sophomore)
Copyright: High School Football America
Stambaugh, who also played for two years in NFL Europe in Germany (Rhein Fire and Berlin Thunder), runs a wide-open pro-style offense that is building sophomore quarterback A.J. Long into a Division I prospect.
Last year, Long set a Pennsylvania record for passing yards by a freshman. Long threw for 2,852 yards last season with 28 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
So far this season, the 6-foot, 180-pounder has thrown for 2,779 yards with 35 TDs and 8 picks. Long, who has also rushed for 622 yards and 14 touchdowns, has completed 164 of 240 passes (68.3%). His quarterback rating is 133, according to MaxPreps.
If Long continues on his current pace over his next two seasons, he'll shatter every state passing record.
Stambaugh's offense isn't just Long and one receiver. Three players have caught over 30 passes, and overall, eleven different players have been on the receiving end of Long passes. All 11 receivers are above 10-yards per reception.
The team's leading receiver Matt Camilletti (45 catches) is the school's all-time leading receiver. Junior Boise Ross, who has 37 catches, is averaging over 21 yard per grab, while senior Drake Freeman has 34 grabs with a 19.4 yards per reception.
J. Birney Crum Stadiu
Copyright: High School Football America
Earlier in the day, I stopped in Allentown...yes of Billy Joel fame, to snap some pictures of Pennsylvania's largest high school football stadium. J. Birney Crum Stadium, built in 1948, has 15,000 permanent seats. When the stadium was built, it seated 22,500 with plenty of space for standing room-only.
The stadium is named after legendary William Allen High School baseball, basketball and football coach J. Birney Crum. Crum coached at the school from 1925 to 1950, leading the football team to 180 wins; and the basketball team to 490 wins. In 1982, school officials changed the name of Allentown School District Stadium to J. Birney Crum to honor the man, who according to the school's website was the subject of a TIME magazine article entitled "Champs by Crum".
Copyright 2011: High School Football America
The stadium itself was built because the school's original field, Coffield Stadium, with 15,000 seats, couldn't accommodate the number of fans that flocked to the west side of Allentown to watch Crum's Blue and Gold.
Right now, Allen shares the field with Dieruff High School and Allentown Central Catholic. Dieruff was created when school officials split the district in-half in the mid-60's.
If you visit J. Birney Crum, don't forget to go a block away to try a Yocco's hot dog...I did!!
Yocco's Hot Dogs
Copyright: High School Football America
Two chili and cheese dogs, small pierogies and medium coke...as you can see by the pic.
Yocco's was founded in 1922 by Theordore Iacocca, uncle of Lee Iacocca.
You may notice that Yocco's is similar to Iacocca. That's because the Pennsylvania Dutch in the area couldn't pronounce Iacocca, they said Yocco instead.
Tomorrow I think I'll stop at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium that was built in 1941, and holds 13,600 fans. The grandstands at BASD, as it's known, were built with steel donated by Bethlehem Steel.
For those of you that don't know, Billy Joel was actually singing about Bethlehem in the song Allentown. There were never any steel mills in Allentown. Allentown was the home of Mack Trucks.
Bethlehem just didn't sound right in the lyrics.
Two famous national brands, separated by only 10-miles.
BTW...neither are around the Lehigh Valley anymore, so Joel's lyrics turned-out to be correct.
Bethlehem Steel, once the nation's second largest steelmaker, went out of business in 2003. Mack Trucks is now based in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Me...I'm staying in Easton with mom. Easton is the birthplace of Crayola Crayons and Dixie Cup, plus home to heavyweight boxing champ Larry Holmes.
As I wrote this, I could hear Joel's lyrics in my head...the factories are officially closed down. As Joel, wrote, it was hard to stay, so I left for Chicago.
However, I'm back home for now, thanks to Roseto's Royals. I'm at peace with the beauty of my area (special thanks to Trish Hoffman for that), known as the Lehigh Valley, and its people that don't change. They never change, and that may have led to the area's downfall, but I don't care anymore.
In this day-and-age of economic turmoil, maybe we should all reflect on where we're all from, and the values that made this country great. Maybe change isn't always good, if you lose sight of what's important.
Singing in my head....
And, I'm living here in Allentown...ah, Easton...at least until Pius X wins a Pennsylvania state football championship for one great end to Roseto's Royals!
That's tonight's sunset. Is this heaven...no it's Roseto!
And, speaking of heaven, I'll tell you tomorrow why some believe a greater power smiled upon the tiny northeast Pennsylvania town.
Very few changes in the latest MaxPreps Xcellent 25 high school football rankings. As a matter of fact, it's just shuffling this week as none of last week Top 25 tasted defeat.
The biggest change is a ten-position move by Westlake (California), which moves from #22 to #12 after a 35-14 win over previously once-beaten St. Bonaventure.
There will be some shuffling this week when #13 Trinity faces #21 Allen in the second round of the Texas Class 5A Division I playoffs.
It's championship time in four states this week: New Hampshire, North and South Dakota, plus Wyoming, but the bigger news comes from the bigger states that kick-off the postseason this weekend.
Florida, Georgia and Texas begin the second season this weekend, along with states like Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Louisiana.
Throughout the night, I'll be updating the scores as they come-in. Just click on the links below to see the finals.
High School Football Playoff Scores Friday, November, 11, 2011
Saguaro (Arizona) running back D.J. Foster became the first Arizona ball carrier to ever rush for more than 500 yards in a game.
Foster needed only 20 careers for his 508 yards in Saguaro's 81-48 win over Sunrise Mountain in the opening round of the Arizona Division III playoffs. He scored 10 touchdowns, three of them were through the air.
The previous single-game rushing record was 477 yards set by Ozzie Anaya of Valley Union in 1985. Foster's ten touchdowns ties the state record held by Vincent Alvarado of Seligman in 2004.
Foster, who is a top-rated recruit, now has 51 TDs on the season, which ties him for the state record held by Nathan Wize of Sabino in 1977.
Skaneateles High School's undefeated season came to a screeching halt, but not from another football team, but from a judge.
The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court has decided to uphold a suspension levied against the school by the Section III's Athletic Council that ruled an unnamed Skaneateles coach had tried to recuit players from other schools. Judge John V. Centra's decision not to lift the suspension, means that the season is over for the 9-0 team that was schedule to play for the Section III Class C title on Saturday.
School officials argued the suspension was too severe. Earlier this week, head coach Tim Green, a former NFL player with the Atlanta Falcons, resigned in hopes that the court would rule in favor of letting the Lakers play in the championship game.
Last week, Skaneateles beat Utica-Notre Dame after a State Supreme Court judge granted a restraining order that allowed the Lakers to post a 46-27 victory in the semifinals. That win doesn't matter now, because today's ruling means that Notre Dame is back-in the playoffs and will face herkimer in the Class C final on Saturday at the Carrier Dome.
I know it's not the end of the world, but...betting on high school football games?!
Seriously?
This was a tough story that I had to decide whether I should write about it or just keep it quiet so more people didn't know about it.
I decided to go with it, since maybe the publicity will result in state athletic association figuring out a way to stop it.
What got me started was an article written by Jason Cato of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Sunday, October 30th about a gambling website in Costa Rica taking bets on the October 21st Pittsburgh-area football between North Allegheny and Shaler.
However, it goes way beyond just one isolated game in western Pennsylvania. Evidently, the site, that I will not name in this story, has been taking bets all year on high school games televised on the various ESPN and FOX outlets, plus games that just streamed on the internet.
