2024 Face In The Crowd – Week 12

A FACE IN THE CROWD – WEEK 12

Here in the Mobile FITC Command Center, hidden behind BOSS LIDS, the tiny Clarks Summit shop that makes Joe Repshis’s visors, we have battened down the hatches and prepared for Championship Weekend in District 2. Sparky and I each purchased the classic white visor with an interlocking AH, just like the one the Abington mentor wears on Friday nights on the sideline and on Saturday nights in his clandestine West Scranton poker games. Sparky weaseled his way into one of those games but was escorted out when he forgot the secret handshake. But I digress. The Comets will be hosting this week’s top fistfight, one that I’ll call a bit later.

This weekend’s five lessons comprise something of a final exam, the most important ideas that we take with us from a long campaign. Speaking of campaigns, while most of the citizenry was consumed by national elections, Sparky was passing out leaflets in Gouldsboro that trumpeted a little-known local initiative – Proposition 777. That allows for slot machines to replace parking meters. Money goes in and, sometimes, money comes out! What a country!

So let’s find out what we’ve learned.

LESSON 1

The word for this weekend is rematch. No less than 5 of the 7 games on this week’s slate represent replays of contests from earlier in the season. You might think that would be cause for ennui and lack of interest, but au contraire. That’s French, for guess again. My take is that the script will be flipped in three of those five games.

LESSON 2

The word for last weekend was chalk. The better seed won all but one of the semifinal and quarterfinal matchups in District 2. The lone exception was #3 Dunmore swamping #2 Susquehanna on Saturday afternoon in the hinterlands of Susquehanna Township. Unsurprisingly, that was the one game that we missed in last week’s fistfights. As we surmised in this space last weekend, most of the results were foregone conclusions since the games pitted the have’s against the have not’s. Not so this weekend.

LESSON 3

It is a distinct possibility that the champions of all 6 classifications in District 2 could be repeat titlists. Last year’s winners (Trail, Dunmore, Jesuit Giants, Dallas, Delaware Valley, and Wilkes-Barre) are all still alive. All are playing in title games with the exception of Prep, which still has to climb their semifinal hurdle to get to the final next week. There’s a lesson in there somewhere. I’m just not sure what it is.

LESSON 4

The Wyoming Valley Conference, that collection of programs I used as a punching bag in this column all season long, can potentially emerge with 3 champions in the 6 classifications. That would be a giant leap away from the dreck that the conference produced all year long. Two of the three might actually be considered the favorites in their respective classifications, but we’ll tackle that later when we commence prognosticating.

LESSON 5

Football feels different in November. Championship games carry with them a totally different vibe than other contests. When the medals arrive, the stakes are higher. Mistakes are magnified. Officials are more focused and less prone to toss laundry for insignificant offenses. Coaches swallow a little bit harder, particularly in the second half of a close game with a title on the line. Fans are more raucous. All of the sweat of August leads to this, 48 minutes of pitched battle for a championship. There. If you added John Facenda narration to this lesson along with NFL Films music, we could win a Pulitzer. Or maybe at least sign a sponsor. “A Face in the Crowd – brought to you by BOSS LIDS”. I can dream.

In keeping with my musings in Lesson 5, picking the winners for this weekend’s fistfights is certainly much more difficult, given the stakes. We went 4-1 last weekend, much to the delight of the denizens of #NINESQUAREMILES. The Bucks waffled Susquehanna to reach their 748^th consecutive district title game. Ok, so that’s a bit hyperbolic. It just seems like that many. Do the Bucks get another? Let’s find out.

FISTFIGHT #5 Class 3A Semifinal Mid Valley (8-3) at Scranton Prep (10-1)

October 11: Scranton Prep 28 Mid-Valley 0. That was the outcome of the first meeting between these two programs. Spartan tailback Jakob Lesher has had a season for the ages, placing himself squarely on the Mount Rushmore of players ever to don the Blue and White in Throop. The kid missed two games and still has over 1600 yards rushing to go along with 17 scores. He can catch passes. He plays like a demon in the defensive backfield. But the Jesuit Giants have been the district’s best football team all season long. While I do believe the Spartans break the ice on the scoreboard, I do not expect this one to still be close in the final stanza. The Cavaliers march forward.

FISTFIGHT #4 Class 2A Final Dunmore (5-6) at Riverside (10-1)

August 23: Riverside 16 Dunmore 3. On the season’s first weekend, the Quick Strike Vikes notched the first of 9 consecutive wins. That loss in Taylor sent the Bucks on a four-game skid that colored the remainder of their season. Riverside is banged up. Dunmore is coming off, ostensibly, their best win of the season. I’ve been hearing all week from geniuses who reside in the #NINESQUAREMILES, who are telling me that the Bucks are a team of destiny. Well, this ain’t no Greek tragedy and Harry Armstrong doesn’t read Sophocles. I’ll take the Vikings to end the reign of the Bucks.

FISTFIGHT #3 Class 3A Semifinal Wyoming Area (10-1) at Western Wayne (10-1)

September 6: Western Wayne 34 Wyoming Area 23. The Warriors return to the quaint hamlet of Varden to attempt to avenge that loss back in Week 3. That victory was something of a coming out party for the Dub-Dub Cats, the win that served notice to the rest of District 2 that the Wildcats were both fierce and feral. Lidge Kellum, defender of freedom, champion of the downtrodden, rescuer of small farm animals, voice of the people, and righter of wrongs, will be in the house wearing green and gold on Friday evening. Two of the top three tailbacks in the area will be on the same gridiron as Lidge joins Western Wayne’s Josh Vinton. Together, those two hosses have rushed for nearly 4,000 yards. That’s over 2 ¼ miles for those of you who are interested in such numbers. What happens Friday? Well, the Cats just haven’t been the same over the course of the last two weeks. A stunningly close win over Berwick last weekend was enough to convince this intrepid scribbler to go with Wyoming Area. It will be very close.

FISTFIGHT #2 Class 4A Final Dallas (8-3) at Valley View (10-1)

Where’s Keith Jackson this weekend? His corpulent specter is roaming the streets of Blakely. He’s hearkening back to the days of Ted Jackson and Frank Pazzaglia, legends of the game who were long-time mentors of these two traditional heavyweights. He’s loading up on Andy’s Pizza and regaling locals with tales of the Papa Bear. So much history in this one, a rivalry between two programs who have been eying one another warily all season long, expecting this November get-together. Ol’ Keith would begin his broadcast with something along these lines: “There’s a barrel full of bile in the bellies of both these groups and it’s fixin’ to boil over. Dad-gum it, they just don’t fancy one another.” Keith said stuff like that. Dallas beat the Cougars in this very same contest last season. Though I have sung the praises of Valley View all year long, and rightly so, the Mountaineers are red-hot. I’m going with Dallas by the narrowest of margins.

FISTFIGHT #1 Class 5A Final Delaware Valley (6-5) at Abington Heights (7-4)

September 28: Delaware Valley 35 Abington Heights 28. I picked the Comets to win that one. It was in the Pit, where, incidentally, this one will also be played. I threatened to thrash anyone who might opt to play this one away from that gorgeous piece of sod. The Pit is like an old Chevelle, while that monstrosity near the high school is a new Ford Taurus. Give me a freaking break. Bet the over in this one. Sparky may purchase an old Chevelle with his proceeds from his wager on the rematch. Once again, there will be more than 60 points scored. Once again, quarterbacks Logan Olsommer and Nick Bradley will duel. And…give the gold medal to the man wearing the snazzy visor. It will be the Comets rocking the hardware on the 50-yard line of that legendary piece of real estate.

Many have asked if this is my final offering of the season. Since I’m paid by the word and have already committed to major renovations on the Command Center, the answer to that is hell no. We’ll be back again next weekend for the 3A final and the first round of the PIAA playoffs for this weekend’s winners. I’m going back to BOSS LIDS to see if they have anything with Coach Repshis’s picture on it.

But, before we go, here is this week’s Power 5!

THE POWER 5 – the five best football teams in all of District 2, regardless of record, classification, or median SAT scores.