We are just a weekend away from the opening of high school football camps across the great state of Pennsylvania. This seems to be a good time to look at some of the pre-season games that have been scheduled for the 2009 campaign for District 12.
Starting in the Philly Pub, the first thing that catches my eye is the pre-season schedule of Gemantown. Now, Germantown isn’t a real bad team, and I’m sure their coaching staff believes that playing good teams will make their team better. But, when doing so, you really should schedule some games that your team actually has a shot at winning. Germantown has the identical pre-season schedule that they played in the 2008 season, with Emmaus, Cardinal O’hara and Neshaminy. I’m not sure what they are trying to accomplish, as these same three teams beat Germantown by a combine score of 141-6. As a matter of fact, over the past 3 seasons, Germantown has gotten off to a combine 0-9, and have been outscored by 401 – 26, which averages out to 46-3 defeats. Someone needs to tell this coaching staff that getting your butts kicked by teams out of your league will not make your team better. It’ll just demoralize your team. Unless you’re Washington, Frankford or Northeast, please stick to some middle of the road AA or AAA teams.
Speaking of Washington, Frankford and Northeast, they all seem to competitive non-league games. Washington, who played Bensalem (28-21 win), Truman (12-6 win), and CB East (24-13 loss) last year, will play nearly the same pre-season, dropping Bensalem and moving up to play Parkland in week 1. Frankford will play the identical schedule that they played last year, Hatboror-Horsham (coached by Frankford grad, Dave Sanderson), Pennsbury and Lincoln. This is an example of a team playing teams on their own level. Frankford beat H-H last year 14-7, and had a near miss against Pennsbury, but a score of 19-10. The Lincoln game used to be THE game in the Pub when this writer was just a kid, but it has lost it’s luster, and has become more of a scrimmage for Frankford. Northeast continues to play teams that they can be competitive with, or even beat under the right circumstance. With Norristown in the first week (lost 20-11 last year), Father Judge (won 17-14 last year) in the second week, which is becoming a regular rivalry, and Bensalem in week three, the Vikings have been one of the top teams in the Philly Pub for many years, and like Washington and Frankford, they are all teams that are hard to knock off the mountain.
In the Philadelphia Catholic League, defending league champs, LaSalle, begins with a warm up against District 1 team, Plymouth Whitemarsh. Weeks two and three should be early season tests for the Explorers, as they take on Inter-Ac power Malvern Prep in week 2 and Class AA State runner up, West Catholic in week 3. Last year, LaSalle slipped by West Catholic during West’s run for the state gold. Most of LaSalle’s team returns this year, while West Catholic is reloading. But, you should still expect this to be a good game. Roman Catholic and St Joe Prep both play NJ teams, with Roman taking on St Augustine and Prep playing St Peter’s. Prep really has their work cut out for themselves this year, as they take on WPIAL power, McKeesport in week one (to be played in Wheeling, WV, and then North Penn in week 3. If you think that’s not difficult enough, after the short pre-season, Prep opens up with defending PCL champ, LaSalle, followed by PCL runner up, Father Judge in weeks four and five. The rest of their schedule is a cake walk compared to their first 5 weeks. If I had the time and your attention, I’d run down a lot more interesting pre-season games in the PCL, as there are tons of them this year. But, instead, we’ll be posting a “Games to Watch” section each week, with the best anticipated games for both the Philly Pub and the PCL.
Next Week: Games to Watch in Week 1
After Week 1: Recaps and Rankings of District 12 Teams
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