It’s the final few days of the regular season for some sports as other sports, like tennis (see below), advance further into their District XI playoff rounds.

As the EPC gets ready for baseball playoffs to start (one day earlier than normal this spring), Whitehall has cemented its spot in both the league and district playoffs.  ATVN Sports caught up with the Zephyrs after a big win over Central Catholic.

Here’s clips of the interviews featuring Whitehall Manager Eric Schmitt, winning pitcher Jack Lloyd and three-sport freshman Henry Schultz, who also had a pair of RBI hits against the Vikings…

Be sure to check out more baseball interviews on the next edition of ATVN SportsTalk, next Thursday live at 7pm on Astound TV Network and also live-streaming for free on our YouTube channel

Also, be sure to watch the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (on Wednesday May 14th) and Colonial League (Thursday, May 15th) baseball championships live again this year on ATVN, along with the district title games!

Check back to the ATVN website for teams and more broadcast information as they become available.

Now, here’s the latest round of District XI doubles tennis post-season results…

2024-25 District XI Boys Tennis- 2A Doubles

2024-25 District XI Boys Tennis- 3A Doubles

Additionally, special congratulations go out to Saucon Valley Senior Deven Pandey for becoming a four-time winner of the District XI 2A Singles Championship.

Check back again to The SportsTalk Shop for more local sports news and insights!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The high school football playoffs are upon us with a quick reminder to bookmark and keep checking back to our website for our broadcast schedule of District XI and PIAA playoff games as we move through the post-season!

Also, be sure to check out our LIVE coverage of the District XI boys and girls soccer championships this Thursday on ATVN (times and locations will be decided after this Tuesday evening’s semifinal match-ups and also will be posted here on our website).

Before we unveil this week’s “Astounding 10” football teams in our Lehigh Valley coverage area, here’s a look back at highlights of games recently broadcast on the Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Easton vs. Freedom (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Parkland (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Northampton vs. Freedom (10/24)

Now for the latest “Astounding 10’’ high school football weekly poll for this fall season.

Our pollsters give their selections for who they believe are the top 10 performing football teams that you’ll see on the Astound TV Network this fall.

Each voter will select the top 10 teams – with the top team getting 10 points, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.

One caveat – in order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

It’s a brand new way to gauge the top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania this fall, and we invite you to check back each week throughout this football season to see which teams make our poll…and who’s listed where, as decided by our diverse group of voters.

One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions.  If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

So without any further delay, here’s this week’s edition of the “Astounding 10” … (the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

1. Easton (10)
2. Freedom (9)
3. Emmaus (7.6)
4. Northwestern (7)
5. Parkland (6.2)
6. Nazareth (4.8)
7. Liberty (3.6)
8. East Stroudsburg South (2.8)
9. Notre Dame-GP (2.6)
10. Southern Lehigh (1.2)

Other team(s) receiving more than one mention: (none)

Bookmark and return to our page each week and check back after this weekend’s game to see if your favorite teams moved up or down in the minds and opinions of our pollsters!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

While we approach the final week of the high school football season – and this week’s big change in our local teams’ poll – we first want to honor this fall’s student-athletes identified as the best of the best in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference for girls field hockey…

EPC 2024 Field Hockey All-Conference Teams

1st Team

Jordan Brunnabend – Defense (Parkland, Grade 12)
Arianna Deliso – Forward (Easton, Grade 12)
Emmy Horner – Forward (Emmaus, Grade 12)
Autum Kernechel – Midfielder (Emmaus, Grade 12)
Aubre Krazer – Midfielder (Easton, Grade 12)
Alyssa Laubach – Midfielder (Freedom, Grade 12)
Jenna Mayer – Forward (Parkland, Grade 11)
Sydney Moritz – Midfielder (Stroudsburg, Grade 12)
Brooke Saul – Mid/Center Back (Northampton, Grade 12)
Olivia Seidel – Midfielder (Nazareth, Grade 12)
Lillianna Trocki – Goalie (Whitehall, Grade 12)
Abigail Wortmann -Midfielder (Nazareth, Grade 12)

2nd Team

Rosella Birns – Defense (Parkland, Grade 12)
Ava DePietro – Midfielder (Nazareth, Grade 12)
Ava George – Defense (Liberty, Grade 12)
Olivia Heryla – Goalie (Easton, Grade 12)
Lydia Keppel – Midfielder (Whitehall, Grade 12)
Ally Kozma – Midfielder (Stroudsburg, Grade 12)
Mackenzie Lopez – Defense/Midfielder (Pocono Mountain East, Grade 12)
Morgann Orobono – Center Back (Emmaus, Grade 11)
Lauren Reznick – Forward (Northampton, Grade 11)
Grace Roberts – Midfielder (Northampton, Grade 11)
Grace Staples – Forward (Stroudsburg, Grade 12)
Julianna Zumas – Midfielder (Liberty, Grade 8)

3rd Team

Lilla Berces – Goalie (Bethlehem Catholic, Grade 11)
Ellis Corr – Forward (Liberty, Grade 12)
Kerigan Dreisbach – Forward (Whitehall, Grade 10)
Olivia Fonzone – Midfielder (Whitehall, Grade 12)
Gabriella King – Defense/Midfielder (Nazareth, Grade 10)
Emily Materna – Defense (Easton, Grade 11)
Olivia Milia – Forward/Midfielder (Easton, Grade 11)
Aiko Price – Goalie (Emmaus, Grade 11)
Tiana Weeks – Forward (East Stroudsburg South, Grade 12)

Congratulations to these athletes for these honors and best of luck to all the teams in our coverage area as you embark on the District XI playoffs!

Also, local field hockey fans should check back for more local news and commentary on this sport as former Southern Lehigh/Lafayette standout Katelyn Arnold continues her blog spotlighting field hockey in Eastern PA later this week.

Now for the latest “Astounding 10’’ high school football weekly poll for this fall season.

Our pollsters give their selections for who they believe are the top 10 performing football teams that you’ll see on the Astound TV Network this fall.

Each voter will select the top 10 teams – with the top team getting 10 points, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.

One caveat – in order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

It’s a brand new way to gauge the top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania this fall, and we invite you to check back each week throughout this football season to see which teams make our poll…and who’s listed where, as decided by our diverse group of voters.

One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions.  If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

So without any further delay, here’s this week’s edition of the “Astounding 10” … (the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

1. Easton (9.9)
2. Freedom (8.9)
3. Parkland (8.2)
4. Nazareth (6.4)
5. Northwestern (6.2)
6. Emmaus (4.6)
7. Liberty (3.4)
8. Notre Dame (2.8)
9. Southern Lehigh (2.6)
10. East Stroudsburg South (.08)

Other team(s) receiving more than one mention: (none)

With Easton’s big win over Freedom (as you saw on ATVN last Friday night), the Rovers supplant the Patriots as the top team in our area.  Parkland, despite a solid victory over Whitehall, moves down a spot in our poll.

Also, with Saucon Valley’s loss, they fall out of our poll and East Stroudsburg South – fresh off an impressive shutout victory over Stroudsburg – moves into our poll for the first time this year.

Bookmark and return to our page each week and check back after this weekend’s game to see if your favorite teams moved up or down in the minds and opinions of our pollsters!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.