The PCL Non-League Schedule

In my last article, I looked at, and graded a handful of teams from the Pub, on their scheduling of non-league games in the upcoming season.  In this article, I’ll take a look at the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL), and give my thoughts on how well, or how bad some teams did.

In the AAAA, I’m not going to hammer the cross over in-season non-league games that the AAAA teams will play against the AA teams.  With a couple of exceptions, these games will be ugly and a waste of good money for the price of admission.  But, mid and late season non-league games aren’t easy to find, and with both the AAAA and the AA divisions having odd number of teams, the scheduling just works out that way.  In my humble opinion, the league could have set up some better matchups with these crossover games.   How’s this for matchups?  Prep v West, LaSalle v Lansdale Cath, Roman v McDevitt, Judge v CEC, Ryan v NG.  At least most of these games would be worth a trip to the game.

AAAA DIVISION 

This division will play 4 preseason non-league games, with the regular season starting, for most teams, in week 5.  Each team will play an “in season” non-league crossover game against the PCL AA division.

St Joseph Prep – As in most years in recent memory, the Hawks have a “take all comers” attitude for pre-season, non-league games.  They have played some of the best teams in PA, NJ and even Ohio in recent years.  This year, most of their preseason games are of the local variety, with the exception of St Peter’s (NJ).  Prep starts off by traveling for the first three weeks, and they open up with defending AAAA Pub champ, Washington.  This is more of a coup for Washington than Prep, but I’m still expecting a great local game to open the 2010 season.  The Hawks then travel up the NJ turnpike to take on perennial power, St Peter’s, at Rutgers University.  Prep then turns around and travels to North Penn to take on District 1 power, North Penn.  Just when the Hawks think they have it easy, they will wind down the preseason by playing 2 time defending PCL AAA champ, Archbishop Wood.  If that’s not a good mix of teams, then I need a haircut.

Scheduling Grade: A

La Salle – The Explorers, like Prep, have their hands full during the preseason.  Like their private school rivals, they too will be on the road for the first three weeks of the 2010 season.  La Salle travels to North Penn in week one, followed by their own trip up the NJ turnpike in week two to take on Bergen Catholic.  Week 3, the Explorers will travel to PCL AA power, West Catholic.  Don’t be fooled by West’s AA classification, as they tend to play like a AAAA team every year.  This is definitely a local game to watch in week 3.   La Salle wraps up their preseason with a game against new AAA team, Monsignor Bonner.  The Friars seem to be on a path to soon make some noise in the AAA division, so this game will not be a pushover for the Explorers.

Scheduling Grade: A-

Roman – The Cahlilites seem to have a challenging schedule in the preseason, taking on West Catholic, in Wildwood, NJ, as part of their annual beach bowl game.  This game seems to get better every year, and it has become an early season test for each team.  Roman then goes on their Inter-Ac tour, playing Malvern Prep and Chestnut Hill the next couple of weeks.  Both of these teams will provide Roman, who is trying to get back to the top of the division, with an opponent comparable to the PCL AAAA teams they will see this season.  Roman wraps up the preseason with a game against former AAAA team, Cardinal O’Hara.  This is a good, and very tough game, for both teams.

Scheduling Grade: A-

Father Judge – Judge opens with the same three teams they opened with last year.  But, with the new alignment, they get to add Penn Charter to their preseason schedule.  You really can’t complain about Judge’s choices for non-league games.  CR North, Pocono West and Penn Charter are all solid teams.  The game with Northeast has become an early season neighborhood rivalry, and it’s usually a decent game.  Penn Charter didn’t exactly set the Inter-Ac on fire last season, but they usually come to play.  Judge should start the regular season at 4-0 overall.  Let’s just hope they don’t fall flat during their run through the AAAA division.  

Scheduling Grade: B-

Archbishop Ryan – The Raiders have had quite a few down years, but there’s a buzz up on Academy Road these days.  The new coaching staff has had a year to get things rolling, and Ryan is taking on a fairly tough non-league schedule.  They open with O’Hara and then travel to Wissahickon and Bensalem before returning home for Carroll.  During the first week of the regular season, the Raiders play their non-league crossover game, which will pit the worst from the AAAA (Ryan) against the best in the AA (West Catholic).   This is a challenging schedule for the Raiders, who will know just how good they are by time they are playing games that count.

Scheduling Grade: B+

AAA DIVISION 

Being the smallest of the three PCL divisions (4 teams), the regular season doesn’t begin for these teams until week 7, and it only lasts for three weeks.  But, that means there are 6 preseason games for these teams.

Cardinal O’Hara – I hate to say this, but I’m going to anyway.  After playing top teams from around the area in recent years, the Lions seem more concerned with getting easy preseason wins than they are with scheduling top competition.  They seem to schedule bottom feeders and go into the regular season with great records, only to stumble and fall through the AAAA division.  The Lions will play, in this order, Ryan, Dobbins, Neumann-Goretti, Roman, Chester, Red Lion Academy.  I only see Roman as being a challenging game for O’Hara. The only thing I know about Red Lion Academy is that they have landed a couple of Glen Mills transfers, and they have a 7^th grade QB who already has an offer to attend USC.  They are also under investigation by the DIAA for recruiting, and other violations.  In the last two seasons, O’Hara is combined 14-0 in the first 7 weeks of the year, only to go a combined 1-7 over the last 4 weeks. Well, this year, they are in the AAA, but the competition will be no pushover for them.  We’re not getting fooled again this year.  They won’t be making it to the top of the rankings unless they prove they can beat a quality team.

Scheduling Grade: D

Archbishop Wood – I’d like to comment on Wood’s entire preseason schedule, but I really don’t know much about Quakertown or Friendship Academy, but the Vikings do play Prep in the middle of their long preseason, as well as a couple of Inter-Ac teams.  With a couple of incoming transfers, including St Joe Prep All Catholic transfer, Desmon Peoples, the Vikings should once again make another run at the AAA PCL title and could go deep in the state playoffs.

Scheduling Grade: C+ (We’d like to see some tougher local teams for the Vikings in the preseason).

Monsignor Bonner - The Friars believe that this could be their year.  Well, a challenging preseason schedule will tell us if they are for real or just blowing smoke.  Bonner opens up with public neighbor, Upper Darby, followed by three PCL teams, including AA power West, new AA team Lansdale Catholic and AAAA state champs, LaSalle.  If this isn’t enough, the Friars will play Interboro and Inter-Ac power Chestnut Hill Academy to round out their preseason.  The coaching staff at Bonner has high hopes for this team, and it looks like they aren’t intimidated by anyone this year.  Normally, I would say that they are biting off more than they can chew, but after seeing steady improvement in this program the past couple years, the sky’s the limit for this team now that they have been moved to the AAA division.

Scheduling Grade: A (Not a dud in the bunch)

Archbishop Carroll – Carroll opens at neighborhood rival, Radnor, followed by two games at home against PCL teams, Conwell-Egan and McDevitt.  In week four, the Patriots travel to NE Philly to play Ryan, and then settle in with Academy Park and at Penn Charter.  Carroll had a tough time the past two seasons in the AA division, and things won’t get any easier in the AAA division this year.  Overall, Carroll’s non-league schedule is what you would expect, balanced between the classes, and teams in every direction.

Scheduling Grade: B

AA DIVISION

This division will play 4 preseason non-league games, with the regular season starting, for most teams, in week 5.  Each team will play an “in season” non-league crossover game against the PCL AAAA division.

West Catholic – I really like the Burrs non-league schedule.  Their first three games are against current or former AAAA teams.  It’ll be Roman, down the shore, followed by new AAA team and expectation filled, Bonner.  In week three West Catholic will play reigning AAAA state champ, La Salle, in what should be a great game.  The Burrs round out week four with last seasons’ Inter-Ac co-champ, Haverford School.  There’s not a chump in that group.  The regular season should be a breeze after that pre-season.  West does play Ryan in week 5, but that’s a mandatory crossover game.

Scheduling Grade: A

Lansdale Catholic – The suburban Crusaders love to play those AAAA teams, despite moving back to the AA class this year.  They will open with a solid Perkiomen Valley team at home, and then take on cross town rival and state AAAA power North Penn.  Lansdale Catholic ends with what should be two competitive games, at Bonner, and home against a solid Pennridge team.  The Crusaders are hoping to capture some of their past glory, and playing top teams in the pre-season is one way to find out just how good you are going to be.

Scheduling Grade: A-

Conwell-Egan – Opens with a relatively easy game at Penn Wood.  Penn Wood is more known for their basketball team, but they do field a football team.  The Eagles next stop on their tour will be Carroll, who pretty much switched positions with CEC, as the Eagles moved down to AA while the Patriots moved up to AAA.  Rounding out the pre-season, the Eagles travel to former division rival, Wood, and they have a home game against 2009 Inter-Ac co-champ, Chestnut Hill Academy.  Overall, it’s a challenging schedule.  If the Eagles come out of this pre-season with a .500 or better record, I’ll certainly be one surprised puppy.

Scheduling Grade: B+

McDevitt – The Lancers make the short trip to Huntington Valley to open at Lower Moreland, which is not exactly a team who will set the world on fire.  Then again, they play at Cheltenham in week 2, and the same can be said about them.  The Lancers round out their schedule at Carroll, and then into the city against Germantown.  I don’t see a lot of competition here, except maybe the Carroll game.  It looks like coach Manzi wanted to play close to home during the pre-season.  I’m a big fan of the coach, but I would think they would want to play some tougher teams to get ready for another run in the AA division.

Scheduling Grade: C

Neumann-Goretti  - Finally, we get to Neumann-Goretti.  There’s not much to say here, as the Saints go on their Tour of the Philadelphia Charter Schools, playing at Furness and Boys’ Latin to open their campaign, and then end up with Marianna Bracetti, a school who is not even playing an official schedule this year. Boys Latin will be competing in the Philly Pub for the first time this year. Oh yeah, in the middle of their Charter School Tour, they schedule Cardinal O’Hara.  I honestly don’t know what to say, other than “ARE YOU GUYS OUT OF YOUR FRIGGIN MIND???!!!”  This pre-season schedule is an embarrassment to the PCL.  REALLY???!!!

Scheduling Grade: F- (If I could give a lower grade, I would)