{"id":81713,"date":"2018-10-23T20:46:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T20:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"\/rcntv\/?p=81713"},"modified":"2023-04-13T21:12:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T21:12:45","slug":"year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/year\/","title":{"rendered":"Is This the Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With one week remaining in the regular season for high school football, and, dare I say, the titles are pretty much decided.\u00a0 Notre Dame<\/a>, after their dramatic 49-44 win over\u00a0 Saucon Valley<\/a>\u00a0on Friday night, appears to have their first Colonial League<\/a>\u00a0championship with one game remaining against 1-8 Wilson High School<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stroudsburg<\/a>\u00a0has a one-game lead over Northampton<\/a>.\u00a0 They will play 1-8 Pleasant Valley<\/a> on Friday and should wrap up the EPC<\/a> North title.<\/p>\n

Freedom<\/a>\u00a0will try to win their first EPC title outright by beating Liberty<\/a> on Saturday afternoon.\u00a0 They could actually wrap up their championship before they play if Parkland<\/a> knocks off Emmaus<\/a>.\u00a0 Emmaus is the only team that has a chance to tying Freedom<\/a> if they win and Freedom loses this weekend.<\/p>\n

Then everyone\u2019s attention turns to the District and State playoffs.\u00a0 Four teams get into the 3A and 5A brackets, but both are sub-regional brackets so other districts also qualify.\u00a0 Eight teams qualify for the 4A and 6A brackets, all from District XI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 3A, only one team is guaranteed a spot at the moment \u2013 North Schuykill<\/a>, but Notre Dame should get in and Palisades<\/a> has an outside shot.<\/p>\n

In 5A, Southern Lehigh<\/a> appears to be our only local team.<\/p>\n

5A features Northwestern<\/a>, Saucon Valley, Bethlehem Catholic<\/a>, and Allentown Central Catholic<\/a>.\u00a0 This appears to be an extremely competitive bracket, with Bethlehem Catholic probably being the favorite.\u00a0 This is also the bracket where one of our teams could make some noise in the state playoffs.<\/p>\n

As is often the case, the 6A bracket possesses the most intriguing possibilities.\u00a0 Freedom, Emmaus, Parkland, Stroudsburg, Northampton, and Easton have qualified.\u00a0 Nazareth<\/a> is looming and Liberty has an outside chance.\u00a0 Freedom will enter as the favorite, but they only beat Parkland and Emmaus by one point and Emmaus took them to overtime.\u00a0 Easton just destroyed Parkland this past weekend and their game against Nazareth this Friday looks like a great matchup.<\/p>\n

Parkland has won six (that\u2019s right, six) 6A District championships in a row.\u00a0 They beat Freedom the last two years in the championship games.\u00a0 And Freedom has never won a football District Championship.\u00a0 This year, it appears that no less than four teams \u2013 Freedom, Emmaus, Easton, Nazareth – have a realistic chance to end the Parkland streak.<\/p>\n

Does Parkland finally lose the title?\u00a0 Does Freedom win their first?\u00a0 Does some other team upset them both?\u00a0 Is this the year?<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to RCN-TV as the playoffs unfold.\u00a0 I, for one, can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Since betting is now legal in some states, you might be interested that the only team this season to cover the spread every week in the\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0is the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>. They are 7-0 against the spread.\u00a0 Of note, also, is that the Packers<\/a> start this week as 8.5-point underdogs to the Rams<\/a>.\u00a0 This is the largest underdog number since Aaron Rodgers became the Packers quarterback.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. With the Eagles<\/a>\u00a0and Dallas<\/a>\u00a0losing and the Redskins<\/a> winning, is the NFC race over? The Redskins have the easier schedule and it is hard to fathom right now that an NFC East team will be a wild card team.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. At the Staples Center on Saturday night, fans came to an NBA<\/a> game and a hockey game broke out. Three players, two from the Lakers and one from the Houston Rockets, were suspended for this incident that occurred this weekend.\u00a0 Check it out.http:\/\/www.espn.com\/video\/clip?id=25045119<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Break up the Crimson Tide!! Alabama went to 8-0 this past weekend by beating Tennessee 58-21.\u00a0 It was their eighth straight blowout this season.\u00a0 The #1 ranked team has won every game by at least three touchdowns.\u00a0 Clemson, Notre Dame, and Michigan follow in the rankings with only Clemson looking like a team that could possibly keep Alabama from another National Championship.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. RCN-TV Sports will conclude high school football\u2019s regular season (hard to believe) this weekend with rivalry games on tap. Friday night, Parkland travels to Emmaus for their grudge match.\u00a0 The game is LIVE at 7:00pm.\u00a0 On Saturday at 1:00pm, we will present the Freedom-Liberty game LIVE with the Allen-Dieruff game to follow at 5:00pm.\u00a0 Then, on to Districts.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Gary\u2019s Guesses: NFL Picks (Last week: 8-6)\u00a0 (Overall: 63-42-2\u00a0 60% )<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Week EIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n

            HOUSTON<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            PHILADELPHIA<\/strong><\/p>\n

            PITTSBURGH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            KANSAS CITY<\/strong><\/p>\n

            CHICAGO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            WASHINGTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

            DETROIT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            CINCINNATI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            CAROLINA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            INDIANAPOLIS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            SAN FRANCISCO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            RAMS<\/strong><\/p>\n

            MINNESOTA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            NEW ENGLAND<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.\u00a0 With one week remaining in the regular season for high school football, and, dare I say, the titles are pretty much decided.\u00a0 Notre Dame,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs This the Year? 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