Six Week Six Games to Watch

We’ve officially entered October which means, we are also officially in the thick of the season. Over the next few weeks, the playoff picture across the state will start to become clear as teams separate themselves. This week, that begins with a ton of tremendous games on the schedule across the state. It was hard to do so but we narrowed that down to just six games that we believe are worth keeping a close eye on. <b style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Southern Columbia (5-0) vs Wyomissing (5-0):</b> One of a few matchups between undefeated 5-0 teams this one may be the best of the best. Southern Columbia is closing in on nearly 100 straight regular season victories and could become one step closer on Friday night against Wyomissing. After surviving an upset bid by Wyoming Valley two weeks ago, the Tigers took down Mt. Carmel 40-14 last week. Wyomissing, on the other hand has ran wild through their schedule, outscoring opponents 213-49. Southern Columbia’s Derek Berlioz and [player_tooltip player_id="27651" first="Gavin" last="Garcia"] are the top prospects in this game but keep a close eye on a Wyomissing tight end [player_tooltip player_id="95799" first="Aiden" last="Mack"] whose one of our top-5 tight ends in the state for the class of 2022. <b>Cathedral Prep (5-0) vs McDowell (5-0):</b> Another 5-0 vs 5-0 matchup, this should be a fantastic matchup and is a terrific way for both teams to start up conference play. There’s a few notables to keep an eye on but the x-factor for the entire game will likely be Cathedral Prep running back Michael Parks IIII who is averaging  125 rushing yards per game this season. McDowell running back Artis Simmons is also quite dangerous, averaging over 150 yards per contest. <b>Garnet Valley (5-0) vs Ridley (5-0)</b> This Central League matchup pits two of the leagues top teams in this matchup and the winner will leave with the upper hand in the conference going forward. Garnet Valley has been dominant all season, outscoring opponents 241-47 while Ridley has taken care of business themselves. This should be a fantastic battle on Friday night. <b>South Western (4-1) vs Central York (5-0)</b> In this Central Pennsylvania matchup, South Western will look for one of their biggest wins in recent memory as they take on the York-Adams league favorites in Central York. The Tigers are led by Penn State commitment [player_tooltip player_id="27576" first="Beau" last="Pribula"] and will be tough to beat but this South Western team is much improved from the last few years and has already matched their win total from 2020. <b>La Salle (5-0) vs St. Joseph’s (2-1)</b> This is the game of the weekend and it’s going to be a good one. If you have the opportunity to go out and watch this one, we highly suggest it as it is filled with future collegiate stars on both teams. La Salle is off to a 5-0 start with a few impressive victories while St. Joseph’s takes on their first in-state opponent after going 2-1 against a trio of out of state opponents. This is going to be just a fantastic game. Who will be the star? La Salle’s [player_tooltip player_id="27560" first="Samuel" last="Brown"]? St. Joseph Prep’s Richard Wink Jr? We’ll have to wait and see. <b>Central (5-0) vs Richland (4-1):</b> Two of the state’s top teams in their classification square off in this western Pennsylvania battle. Richland quarterback Kellen Stahl is off to a good start this season and will need another big game this week if Richland wants to pull out the victory. Central will also need to keep the backfield duo of [player_tooltip player_id="91683" first="Grayden" last="Lewis"] and [player_tooltip player_id="91528" first="Evan" last="McCracken"] in check as well. Richland should have their hands full themselves with quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="91653" first="Jeff" last="Hoenstine"] as well. This is going to be a great quarterback matchup. <b>Honorable Mentions</b> Archbishop Wood vs Roman Catholic <span style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Penn Hills vs Pine Richland</span> Northwestern Lehigh vs Wilson <em>Author’s notes; There are definitely some games that we have not included that are fantastic matchups, that being said, we also want to try and include as many teams as possible throughout the season and not reuse the same schools each week. </em>