St. Joseph’s Prep holds on to the top spot in the High School Football America Pennsylvania Top 25, but for it while it looked like the Hawks were headed for an early exit from the postseason. On the other hand, No. 3 North Allegheny’s dreams of a Class 6A title came to a crashing halt in the WPIAL semifinals with a loss to No. 25 Seneca Valley.
SJP, ranked No. 7 in the High School Football America 100 national rankings, trailed La Salle 13-10 almost midway through the fourth quarter of the Philadelphia Catholic League 6A championship game. Hawk sophomore QB Kyle McCord hit Anthony Rigthley with a 35-yard TD pass with 8:58 to give St. Joe’s a 17-13 lead. With four minutes to go, McCord’s 2-yard pass to Johnny Freeman ensured there would be no upset as the Hawks escaped with a 23-13 victory.
Out west, Seneca Valley handed North Allegheny its first loss of the season. The fifth-seeded Raiders trailed North Allegheny 17-14 at the half, but it was all Seneca Valley as the Raiders defense pitched a shutout in the second half.
Seneca Valley has now avenged regular season losses to NA and Pittsburgh Central Catholic on back-to-back weekends. The Raiders will try to go three-for-three when they play new No. 3 Pine-Richland for the WPIAL 6A championship next week. During the regular season, Pine-Richland beat Seneca Valley 21-7 on October 19.
The week ahead…
The District 1 Class 6A finals are loaded with No. 2 Coatesville being tested against No. 11 Garnet Valley and No. 5 North Penn squaring-off against No. 16 Downingtown West.
And, in the District 3 Class 6A finals, No. 4 Harrisburg faces No. 14 Central Dauphin, while in the Class 5A semifinals, No. 7 Manheim Central battles No. 18 Cedar Cliff
High School Football America Pennsylvania Top 25
No. 1 St. Joseph’s Prep (9-0), LW: #1
No. 2 Coatesville (12-0), LW: #2
No. 3 Pine-Richland (9-2), LW: #4
No. 4 Harrisburg (11-1), LW: #5
No. 5 North Penn (12-0), LW: #6
No. 6 Malvern Prep (11-0), LW: #7
No. 7 Manheim Central (11-0), LW: #8
No. 8 Imhotep Charter (8-2), LW: #9
No. 9 Penn Hills (12-0), LW: #10
No. 10 Gateway (12-0), LW: #11
No. 11 Garnet Valley (12-0), LW: #12
No. 12 Archbishop Wood (7-3), LW: #13
No. 13 State College (11-1), LW: #14
No. 14 Central Dauphin (9-3), LW: #17
No. 15 Thomas Jefferson (11-0), LW: #16
No. 16 Downingtown West (11-1), LW: #18
No. 17 Seneca Valley (9-3), LW: #25
No. 18 Cedar Cliff (10-2), #20
No. 19 North Allegheny (10-1), LW: #3
No. 20 Cocalico (9-2), #19
No. 21 Freedom (Bethlehem) (11-1), LW: #21
No. 22 Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg) (10-1), LW: #22
No. 23 Downingtown East (9-3), LW: NR: 23
No. 24 Valley View (12-0), LW: NR
No. 25 Berks Catholic (9-2), LW: NR
Dropped-out: No. 15 Manheim Township, No. 24 Warwick
Editor’s Note: The High School Football America national, regional and state rankings are developed using our proprietary algorithm.
