Face In The Crowd – Week 6

A FACE IN THE CROWD – WEEK 6

In the mobile FITC command center, this week located behind the giant cantaloupe at the South Canaan Farm Market, Sparky and I are celebrating another 5-0 week for the Fistfight picks. That puts our record at 21-4. For these of you who are mathematically challenged, like Chastity, the girl working the rhubarb stand at the market (her name may not necessarily be representative of her weekend activities), that’s a success rate of 84% in predicting the outcomes of five games each week that should be close. Anyone can give you the Quick Strike Vikes of Harry Armstrong over Susquehanna this week, even Chastity. Purportedly, she has a few dozen Sabers on speed dial. But I digress. We’re about winning. Sparky played our picks last week with his underground bookie in Gouldsboro. I think he may be booking a junket to the Borgata as we speak.

But we’ve reached the midway point of the campaign. We’ve learned some hard lessons along the way. Pay attention and take notes. The quiz to follow may include some differential calculus. And naming Chastity’s five favorite flavors of lip gloss.

LESSON 1

This week’s game between Delaware Valley and Abington Heights is a lock to be replayed in the Class 5A title game in November. These are clearly the two heavyweights in the class. While neither will win Division I of the LFC (that space is reserved for residence on Wyoming Avenue in Scranton), the district title is a milestone in any program. I’ll tell you who wins later on. Just understand that these two will be seeing each other again when the weather has turned colder.

LESSON 2

Dallas finishes at 7-3. While this may be factually true, it does not really prove anything other than the fact that the Mounts have no real challenges left on their remaining schedule. The three L’s at the start of the season were telling. While each loss came at the hands of a quality opponent, and the wins over Wilkes-Barre and Pittston were necessary, the seven consecutive victories to close the slate will probably still ring hollow unless district hardware is won in the Back Mountain.

LESSON 3

A bunch of credit needs to go to the Valley View coaching staff. After the opening night drubbing they received from the Jesuit Giants, the season could have gone sideways. Instead, the Cougars did what we have come to expect from Valley View football teams: they circled the wagons and won four in a row, including gut-check wins over Crestwood, Wilkes-Barre, and Abington Heights. To me, that says a lot about relationships between coaches and players. Right now, the Cougars are a confident bunch and that makes them dangerous.

LESSON 4

Sometimes, lessons need to be re-learned. Let me shout this to the rooftops (and here at the farmer’s market, there may be some dudes on a rooftop across the street who could shoot me like a rabbit at any moment). The Western Wayne Wildcats (we locals like to call them the Dub-Dub Cats) will finish the regular season unscathed. Think about that for a moment. That’s a nice, even 10-0. Tough kids, great coaching, outstanding fanbase (I say that even though I thought I saw a red dot flash across Sparky’s new Borgata sweatshirt): these have all placed Western Wayne football in its current lofty position. Kudos all around.

LESSON 5

While it is not included in the Fistfights this week, Holy Cross visits Holy Redeemer this week in a matchup between the two remaining Diocesan high schools. It is a study of contrasts. Holy Cross has been competitive. They have a true home field up on the hill in Dunmore. They have absolutely attempted, especially with the current coaching staff, to create a culture, not an easy task in such a small school where the students come from different grade school experiences. Redeemer has not been able, since its existence, to do any of those things. Though, demographically, this game should be competitive, it won’t be.

I hope you got all of that. Chastity was furiously scribbling in the Hannah Montana notebook Sparky presented to her this morning. A budding romance, perhaps? More likely, another court order attached to Sparky’s already tarnished name. But the heart wants what the heart wants…

Now, let’s get to the Fistfights, though this week’s slate is hardly compelling.

FISTFIGHT #5 Dunmore (1-4) at Lakeland (2-3)

I know what you’re saying. Look at the records. I get it. Still, this is a credibility game for two programs that are desperately trying to establish something on the season’s back nine. I think the sirens sounded after the Bucks edged Carbondale last weekend. A collective sigh of relief was expelled all over the #NINESQUAREMILES. Lakeland has been scuffling along for the last two seasons, trying to regain some of the vibe from the magical 2022 campaign. Those halcyon days are a distant memory, only to become more distant Friday night. Chalk up win number 2 for the Bucks.

FISTFIGHT #4 Crestwood (2-3) at Pittston Area (2-3)

In our weekly bus ticket contest, the loser of this one gets a one-way ducat to Tap City. 3-3 sounds so much better than 2-4. Both of these squads have shown flashes, but not enough to climb out of the sludge of mediocrity in the Wyoming Valley Conference. While I generally like the home teams in these games, I am realizing that I am completely breaking away from that trend this week. The Comets, in a low-scoring affair, get this one on the road in Yatesville.

FISTFIGHT #3 Wilkes-Barre (2-3) at Hazleton Area (3-2)

Let me channel my inner Keith Jackson…”when these two Luzerne County monsters start throwing haymakers, you better run to the shed and cuddle with your prettiest heifer”. Keith said stuff like that. This one takes place at historic Harman-Geist Memorial Field. Ol’ Keith definitely called a few games at the Geist at some point in his career. These are two big schools who are in that same, battered WVC boat. The Cougars are the winners of three straight. They have all the momentum. The HG will be rockin’! So what. I’ll take the Pack. If you think Ciro Cinti cares about any of that, you’d best purchase another think.

FISTFIGHT #2 Valley View (4-1) at Scranton (4-1)

Two very different auras waft above these teams this week. I told you about the Cougars. Scott Wasilchak has his football team moving and grooving. Scranton was humbled, and I mean humbled last weekend by the Jesuit Giants. It was over quick. But that was one loss, and Valley View experienced that very same fate in the season’s opening week. Can the Knights rebound in the same way? I think not. The Cougars continue the winning streak and the Knights look for answers.

FISTFIGHT #1 Delaware Valley (1-4) at Abington Heights (3-2)

A while back, I made the bold statement that, after their fourth consecutive loss to begin the season, the Fighting Keith Olsommer’s of Delaware Valley would not lose again in the regular season. I said that based on past history. DV tests themselves, learns from the knocks they receive against quality opponents, and then runs rampant against lesser foes in the LFC. Still, I am impressed by Abington Heights. Valley View was a game the Comets could have, and perhaps should have won. But they didn’t. This game will be played at The Pit. There is no better high school football atmosphere than the one that sits just off Grove Street in Clarks Summit. I am totally baffled as to why the AHSD plays games anywhere but there. It is breathtakingly beautiful on autumn afternoons. New certainly does not mean better. But I digress. All geniuses reserve the right to change their minds, at least that’s what Sparky tells me. In a wild one on Saturday, I’ll take the home team in a game, as I stated earlier, that will be the precursor to another in November.

So there you have the intrepid choices from the mobile command center. Mobility is a good thing right about now since I think Chastity’s dad just showed up and Sparky is in hiding. I didn’t forget about the Power 5 though. Here we go…

THE POWER 5 – the five best teams in District 2 regardless of classification or record.