{"id":78599,"date":"2016-08-30T18:39:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T18:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=78599"},"modified":"2023-04-13T18:04:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T18:04:33","slug":"sportstalk-shop-hs-football-first-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-hs-football-first-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  HS Football: First Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ctYlFX7BgUc\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The high school football season has arrived with an earlier-than-normal start to the season (the PIAA eliminated the second scrimmage week so that the season will start a week earlier and allow for an additional week of playoffs).<\/p>\n<p>We have an unprecedented amount of local high school football coverage, both on RCN On-Demand and on our podcasts here at the RCN TV website.\u00a0 Despite a busy week of transitioning to the football season, preparing for several \u201cSportsTalk\u201d programs as well as this weekend\u2019s games and also conducting\u00a0shows\u00a0from the Allentown Fair this week, I was able to take a moment to reflect on the opening weekend of high school football action.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve compiled a few \u201cfirst impressions\u201d after the first round of high school football games in the Lehigh Valley:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I stirred up some controversy on our \u201cprimer shows #1 &amp; #2\u201d by making some lofty predictions about Dez Boykin, Zach Gilbert and the Whitehall Zephyrs (which you can hear for yourself at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcn.com\/atvn\/sports-talk\/\">rcn.com\/atvn\/sports-talk<\/a>). After the first weekend of games, I saw nothing that would cause me to back off those statements.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0There\u2019s no question <strong>PARKLAND<\/strong> is the top team in the Lehigh Valley. They had their way with Allen in their season opener\u2014and it won\u2019t be the last time the Trojans put a licking on a local team this fall.\u00a0 Without DeVante Cross and some other talented, graduated seniors, it won\u2019t be easy for Parkland to equal its 2015 season, which culminated in a trip to Hershey for the PIAA title. Still, anything less than a couple wins in the state playoffs will be a surprise to me, and if you watched \u201cSportsTalk\u201d recently, you know other panelists have made even loftier predictions for the Trojans.<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019ve been saying for over a year now that <strong>FREEDOM <\/strong>has perhaps the most underrated sports programs in the entire Lehigh Valley, especially now that Bangor has collected some well- deserved recognition after capturing several championships over the last few months.\u00a0 There might not be a more under-covered football sports story than that of the Patriots\u2019 football program, that has one of the most miraculous turnarounds in recent memory\u2014and to do it in one of the most competitive football leagues in the state!\u00a0 Furthermore, Head Coach Jason Roeder\u2019s team proved not to be just a once-and-done story, with a dramatic turnaround following a 2-8 season in 2013, but sustaining the success with back-to-back playoff trips the last two seasons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Still, when I ask people for their impressions of the top EPC teams this fall, the initial responses from most people are always Parkland, without any hesitation.\u00a0 Freedom does have a very competitive start to their season, with games against Easton, Parkland and Emmaus all in September.\u00a0 You could also argue that the Patriots had the most challenging week one opponent of anyone in the EPC-South Division.\u00a0 However, I would be surprised if the Patriots aren\u2019t once again one of the top two teams in their classification this fall.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think Freedom gets the respect?\u00a0 We\u2019ll talk with Coach Roeder and some of his players on the September 8<sup>th<\/sup> edition of \u201cRCN SportsTalk,\u201d and, if you think they should get more publicity, I hope you\u2019ll make your voices known on that particular show.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There\u2019s no question <strong>NOTRE DAME<\/strong> lost some talented personnel from last year\u2019s record-setting team, but with Phil Stambaugh back operating the offense, I\u2019m not expecting much of a letdown for the Crusaders this season. I fully expect Cole DeFranco, a sophomore quarterback, to thrive given the teachings of new Head Coach Phil Stambaugh.\u00a0 The players who do return, headed up by Mitch Daniel and others, might make Notre Dame into the new, consistent power team that the Colonial League has featured in the past, like Saucon Valley, Catty, Pen Argyl, Northern Lehigh and Wilson before them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also, we\u2019ll have Coach Stambaugh and several of his players on a \u201cSportsTalk\u201d show this September as well.<\/p>\n<p>Feel free to send us your opinions on our poll to <a href=\"mailto:RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com\">RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com<\/a> and we might read your emails live on the air on upcoming programs. \u00a0You can comment on this week\u2019s \u201cSportsTalk\u201d program and also, don\u2019t forget to watch this week\u2019s show, in person, at the Farmerama Stage Area at this year\u2019s Great Allentown Fair.<\/p>\n<p>Also, don\u2019t forget to check back to the \u201cSportsTalk Shop\u201d for more on high school football and fall sports teams in the RCN viewing area over the coming weeks for more interviews, video highlights and insights!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The high school football season has arrived with an earlier-than-normal start to the season (the PIAA eliminated the second scrimmage week so that the season will start a week earlier and allow for an additional week of playoffs). We have an unprecedented amount of local high school football coverage, both on RCN On-Demand and on&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[715,712,714,220,595,386,713],"class_list":["post-78599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-bangor-football","tag-eastern-pa-conference-football","tag-freedom-football","tag-high-school-football","tag-lehigh-valley-football","tag-notre-dame-football","tag-parkland-football"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: HS Football: First Impressions - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: HS Football: First Impressions - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The high school football season has arrived with an earlier-than-normal start to the season (the PIAA eliminated the second scrimmage week so that the season will start a week earlier and allow for an additional week of playoffs). 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