Previewing District 11 Playoffs Matchups: Semfinals and Finals

Pennsylvania’s District 11 always produces entertaining playoff matchups, this season, it’s no different. Across the district, seven games this weekend are scheduled to take place with Class A through Class AAAAA holding their district championship games and Class AAAAAA holding their two semifinal matchups. Here are small previews of this week’s matchups in District 11 as well as ranked players appearing in each game; <strong style="font-size: 1rem;">Class A - Finals: Tri-Valley (9-1) vs Williams Valley (8-2) - Friday, November 12 - 7:00 p.m. - North Schuylkill High School</strong> These two teams met just two weeks ago in what was a 14-0 win for Tri-Valley. This matchup should be another fantastic game between the two schools though you do wonder if we could see a bit more offense now that they’ve faced each other once already this season. With rain in the forecast on Friday night, expect the run game to be a big part of both teams’ offensive gameplans which could favor Tri-Valley whose averaged 236.4 yards per game on the ground this season. <ul> <li><strong>Ranked Players:</strong> <ul> <li>2023 WR [player_tooltip player_id="92699" first="Jolten" last="Flory"] - Tri-Valley</li> <li>2023 DB [player_tooltip player_id="91828" first="Kameron" last="Wetzel"] - Tri-Valley</li> <li>2023 DL [player_tooltip player_id="93024" first="Ezi" last="Hite"] - Williams Valley</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <strong>Class AA - Finals: Northern Lehigh (8-3) vs Palmerton (9-2) - Saturday, November 13 - 12:00 p.m. - Lehighton High School</strong> Another rematch of two weeks ago, Northern Lehigh will look to replicate their Week 10 performance when they defeated Palmerton 43-14. The Bulldogs are winners of five straight, their last loss coming to North Schuylkill at the beginning of October. The Bulldogs will look for a big game out of senior quarterback Dylan Smoyer as well as senior running back Matt Frame. For Palmerton, sophomore quarterback Matt Michalik will be the one to watch, he’s only averaged 111 passing yards per game this season but has added an average of 126.6 yards per game on the ground. <ul> <li><strong>Ranked Players</strong> <ul> <li>2023 DL [player_tooltip player_id="92692" first="Austin" last="Smyth"] - Northern Lehigh</li> <li>2023 QB [player_tooltip player_id="91733" first="Cole" last="Serfass"] - Palmerton</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <strong>Class AAA - Finals: North Schulkyill (9-1) vs Jim Thorpe (7-4) - Saturday, November 13 - 6:00 p.m. - Lehighton High School</strong> North Schuylkill has been a dominant team all season, their only loss coming in double-overtime to Pottsville earlier this season. When these two teams matched up, the Spartans took home a 28-7 victory. The Olympians will certainly have their hands full in this one. <ul> <li><strong>Ranked Players:</strong> <ul> <li>2022 QB [player_tooltip player_id="92114" first="Jake" last="Hall"] - North Schuylkill</li> <li>2023 LB [player_tooltip player_id="27744" first="Jack" last="Dean"] - North Schuylkill</li> <li>2023 DL [player_tooltip player_id="93034" first="Dominic" last="Berger"] - Jim Thorpe</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <strong>Class AAAA - Finals: Northwestern Lehigh (11-0) vs Allentown Central Catholic (8-3) - Friday, November 12 - 7:00 p.m. - Northern Lehigh High School</strong> This should be a great game, Northwestern Lehigh has dominated from wire to wire so far this season outscoring opponents 426-147. Only one team came close to beating the Tigers this season and that was Pottsville, who as previously mentioned is the only blemish on North Schulkyill’s record this season. Allentown Central Catholic will be a tough beat for the Tigers and while the Vikings don’t have a dominant offense, their defense has been stellar all season long and should keep them in this one. <ul> <li><strong>Ranked Players:</strong> <ul> <li>2022 QB [player_tooltip player_id="90913" first="Justin" last="Holmes"] - Northwestern Lehigh</li> <li>2022 DL [player_tooltip player_id="27661" first="Lavon" last="Johnson"] - Allentown Central Catholic</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <strong>Class AAAAA - Finals: East Stroudsburg South (8-3) vs Whitehall (4-6) - Friday, November 12 - 7:00 p.m. - Lehighton High School</strong> East Stroudsburg South’s 8-3 record is a bit misleading, the Cavaliers are just a few plays around from being 10-1 and their point differential of +271 is much more telling of their quality of play this season. Outside of two of their three losses, none of their games have been all that close this season. &nbsp; <strong>Class AAAAAA - Semifinals: Parkland (9-1) vs Emmaus (8-3) - Friday, November 12 - 7:00 p.m. - Parkland</strong> In the 6A semifinals, we have a good ole rivalry game between Parkland and Emmaus. These two teams met back on October 29th in a game that Parkland took 25-14. It’s always a tremendous atmosphere and game when these two rivals meet and Friday’s game should be no different. Emmaus has one of the best defenses in the state this season, only allowing 105 points over their 11 games, if their defense once again shows up on Friday, they’ll have a terrific chance of advancing to the District 11 Finals. <ul> <li><strong>Ranked Players</strong> <ul> <li>2022 LB [player_tooltip player_id="119219" first="Matt" last="Baraket"] - Emmaus</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <strong>Class AAAAAA - Semifinals: Bethlehem Freedom (9-2) vs Northampton (10-0) - Frida, November 12 - 7:00 p.m. - Northampton</strong> The winner of Parkland vs Emmaus will take on the winner of Freedom vs Northampton. It will be the first time the two schools have met this season and this should be a thriller. It will be a game of something having to give, both offenses average 30+ points per game while their defenses have kept opposing offenses to less than 14 points per game. Will we have a barnburner in Northampton or will it be a defensive struggle? <ul> <li><strong>Ranked Players</strong> <ul> <li>2022 OL [player_tooltip player_id="27669" first="Braelin" last="Moore"] - Freedom</li> <li>2023 DB [player_tooltip player_id="97969" first="Alexie" last="Sangster Jr"] - Freedom</li> </ul> </li> </ul> &nbsp; &nbsp;