If District 12 football in 2010 has taught anything, it has taught me that nothing is a sure thing this year. With the exception of a few teams, the only predictable thing about high school football this year is the unpredictability. Yes, there are teams exactly where they “should” be after six weeks, like Washington, La Salle, Wood and West Catholic. But, not many people expected Furness and Fels to be undefeated in league play, and playing for the Silver championship; or Bok suffering two regular season losses. How about St Joe Prep; their only saving grace is that 4 of 5 teams make the playoffs from the PCL AAAA division. Below, I’ll go through each division and give my thoughts how things will shake out.
The Philadelphia Catholic League
AAAA Division
After 6 weeks, most of it non-league games, La Salle has shown that they may be light years ahead of the rest of the district. Yes, they have only played one league game, but in that game, they beat second place, Roman, by 26 points. And, with Roman’s 20 point win over Judge Saturday night, and Prep’s collapse, the Explorers may win the AAAA district 12 championship going away. The other teams seem so far behind them, they can’t even see La Salle’s dust.
AAA Division
This may be the most competitive division of the three in the PCL. O’Hara, which I personally didn’t think would fare well after losing some top talent, has re-loaded and are kicking some major butt. In six games, the Lions have shut out five opponents, with AAAA Roman being the only team to score points on them. But, defending champ, Wood, may have something to say about this division. The Vikings are also undefeated as the AAA heads into their mini, 3 game regular season. Bonner and Carroll have both had a resurgence in their programs, but unfortunately for them, it’s in a year where O’Hara and Wood seem to be taking no prisoners. The most anticipated game in this division will be the final game of the season, when Wood travels to Delco to play O’Hara. I usually avoid driving out to O’Hara, but I just may do so for this one.
AA Division
As expected, the Burrs, of West Catholic, will run through their division, and wait for the other 4 teams to decide who gets the pleasure of playing them in the championship game. With Conwell-Egan and Neumann-Goretti stinking up the joint, and McDevitt’s close win over Lansdale Catholic, the Lancers seem to be the odds on favorite to once again lose (I mean play) West Catholic in the AA championship game. Remember, only two teams go to the post season from this division.
Philadelphia Public League
AAAA Gold
This division is where the best of the Pub AAAA teams play. I’m not a big fan of the way the Pub divides it’s AAAA teams. The Gold are supposedly the best 7 teams, while the Silver are the teams who stuggle at the AAAA level. The usual suspects are once again at the top of this division, with Washington and Northeast remaining undefeated, and Frankford, losers to both NE and Washington, trying to secure third place. The final playoff spot will be a brawl between Overbrook, Bartram and Germantown. Expect Lincoln to go back to the second division in 2011.
AAAA Silver
Two teams will make it to the post season from this division, but their prize for doing so will be a first round playoff game against Frankford, and either Overbrook, Bartram or Germantown. Both Furness and Fels are an undefeated 4-0, with two games to go. This division will be decided in week 8, when these two teams square off against one another. Since only two teams from this division make it to the playoffs, that game will only decide who gets Frankford in the first round. I’ll be surprised if either team makes it out of the first round, as the second round of the Pub AAAA is only for the big boys.
AAA Division
This is also a very competitive division, but it’s more competitive for the teams who wish to finish in the final two (of four) playoff spots. With three regular season games remaining, Gratz and Dobbins seem to have a lock on the top two spots. But, Gratz seems like an old tire with a slow leak after losing their coach, Erik Zipay after week 3. After starting the 2010 campaign with huge wins over Fels, Germantown Academy and University City, the Bulldogs just got by MLK by 6, followed by a 20-0 shut out of Franklin and a scary win over bottom dwelling Boys’ Latin. Personally, I have some concerns about Gratz, but we’ll find out how good they are this week, when they play Dobbins for the top spot in this division.
AA Division
I don’t even know how to describe this division. Coming into the 2010 season, Bok hadn’t lost a regular season game in nearly a decade. But, after 5 regular season games, they have posted two of them, and currently sit in fourth place. Fortunately for them, their last regular season game is against the winless FitzSimons. Just to illustrate how wacky this division has been. IMHOTEP beat Bok and Comm Tech, but lost to Del-Val. Bok beat Del-Val, but lost to both Comm Tech and IMHOTEP. Del-Val beat IMHOTEP, but lost to Bok. Comm Tech split with IMHOTEP and Bok. The final game of this crazy division will be this week. The four playoff teams have already been decided, it’s just the order of finish that still is to be determined. Look for two teams to finish at 5-1, and the other two to finish at 4-2. With the exception of Bok, who cannot win the division, the division order will most likely be decided this week in the Del-Val/Comm Tech game. Assuming IMHOTEP beats Future and Bok beats FitzSimons, If Comm Tech wins, the division should end up like this; IMHOTEP-Comm Tech-Bok-Del-Val. If Del-Val wins, it will be Del-Val-IMHOTEP-Comm Tech-Bok. But, in the end, the champion of the Pub AA division really only plays for the right to play West Catholic in the District 12 title game. Now that’s a tall order for any team.
So, there you have it. Week 7 brings us the middle of the regular season for some teams, the start of the season for other teams, and the end of the season for yet other teams. It sure isn’t like it used to be, but we’re suffering through it all, hoping for some good football in the weeks to come.
