Blog Posts by Chrisfelton

North Penn vs Neshaminy Defense wins playoff football games, and the North Penn defense played lights out on Friday night versus Neshaminy. The North Penn defensive line, led by strong end Shayne Watson, shut down the Neshaminy running game. The linebacking corp, led by Ralph Reeves, lived in the Neshaminy backfield all night. Matt Smith and Danny Wynne played well and did a tremendous job of setting the edge.

For non-playoff teams where do they go from here? When you assess total improvement from year to year, you look at wins and losses, and obviously, that’s the bottom line and the most important statistic, but when you add in other factors, you can still see improvements in programs even though there may not have been an increase in the win column. In fact, there may have been a decrease in wins. You might see that as a team is looking to build its program – they might have to take a couple of steps back before taking that jump forward. In short, improvements and setbacks in the win-loss column can be both telling and misleading.

On Friday night I had the opportunity to broadcast the East-West game for WNPV. As my partner Kyle Berger pointed out numerous times, when East meets West, you can throw out all of the records. The only thing that matters on that particular night are those two teams, and that specific episode of the rivalry. Kyle couldn't be more correct- for both of these teams, it is an October version of the Super Bowl. Those who are not familiar with the game may not understand the emotion that surrounds this rivalry. What makes this rivalry so great?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to see three different teams for the first time this season. On Friday night I provided color commentary for the Lansdale Catholic-Pennridge game. As you might imagine, as the game progressed, Poppy Yoder field turned into a mud bowl. By the end of the game, there were 13 fumbles between the two teams. I was very impressed with sophomore running back Mike Class. Even with the poor conditions, Class was able to run for over 218 yards and two long touchdowns. More impressive than his numbers was his ability to make sharp cuts in the mud. This kid is going to be an excellent high school player. I was also impressed with the Pennridge offensive line. They pull and trap very well. For the second week in a row, the Pennridge defense played well against an option team.