The Saucon Valley Panthers are looking to march through Palisades to an undefeated Colonial League championship!
Tonight the 9-0 Saucon Valley Panthers travel to Palisades after last week’s thrilling victory over previously unbeaten Notre Dame. The 5-4 Palisades Pirates will not be an easy out and the Panthers need to be ready for this rivalry game. The Pirates represent the one last hurdle for the Panthers to clear before claiming an undefeated season and sole ownership of the 2015 Colonial League title. A loss would not only blemish their regular season record, but it would force the Panthers to share the title.
Things Worth Watching:
Saucon Valley Panthers
When the Panthers have the ball…
Offensively, the Panthers have yet to be stopped. Evan Culver (#3) will be looking to break 2,000 rushing yards for the season. He currently has 1,811 and if he hits his average of 201 yards per game he will get it done. Culver has also found “zone” 29 times this season. He is a scoring machine. Quarterback Zach Thatcher (#7) is on a roll lately as well. In the high-stakes Notre Dame game last week Thatcher stepped up his run game to take away 162 yards and three touchdowns from the Crusaders. Of course, the Hogs (Steven Good, Christian Carvis, Ryan Meyers, Trey Polak and Cody Zrinski) need a little slop thrown their way too as they are a HUGE reason the Panther running attack is so effective. Teams have done everything they can to keep Culver & Company from moving the chains and scoring touchdowns, but the Hogs refuse to let that happen and lead the Panthers to an average of 47 points per game.
The Palisades Pirates give up an average of 22 points per contest from their base 5-2 defense. When asked about their defensive personnel, Saucon Valley Head Coach Matt Evancho said, “DE/DT Will Sadow (#77) is pretty good and Tyler Marsh (#27) is a pretty good linebacker.” Both players are seniors. Sadow measures 6’2″, 230 pounds and Marsh is listed at 6’0″, 163. As a team, Palisades seems to be lacking overall size, but they definitely play fast and feisty. They look to make up for their lack of size with their toughness.
Saucon Valley will likely try to establish the run early and then open the offense a bit looking for more of a run-pass balance. Saucon rushing yardage, as stated earlier, is off the charts but their passing attack can be dangerous as well. Thatcher has 42 completions on 63 attempts (67 percent) for 847 yards this season. Thatcher has battle-tested and reliable receivers in Nate Harka (#21), Mike Kane (#82) and “Primetime” Alstan Wolfe (#5). Together, those three amigos average over 20 yards per catch. The Panthers have an arsenal of weapons at their disposal. By the way…wouldn’t it be nice to have Culver get his 2,000 yards rushing and Thatcher get his 1,000 yards passing on this championship night?
When the Pirates have the ball…
Palisades Pirates
Palisades scores an average of 23 points per game while Saucon’s defense gives up only 16. They come across as a run-first team. The Pirates have four players with over fifty carries this season on their roster. Pat Lodwig (#21) at 5’10”, 160 leads the way with 87 carries for 470 yards and three touchdowns. Following Lodwig is shifty Jared Colletti (#1) at 5’8″, 155. He has 78 carries for 418 yards and 5 TDs. The Pirates have also dished to Matt McGrath (#25) 59 times for 284 yards. The fourth ball carrier is quarterback Austin Krauss who has scrambled 54 times for 255 yards. As a passer, Krauss is 53 of 105 for 781 yards. Completing 49 percent of his passes, Krauss stands at 6’0″, 165 and averages 98 yards passing per game.
Look for Palisades to come out in an “I” formation and see if they can pound the ball against the Panthers. They will also try to spread the defense out and find holes from a variety of spread, shotgun formations. When the Pirates do try to pound the ball, look for Panther linebackers Christian Carvis (#53) with his 79 tackles and Nate Kehs (#32) with 53 tackles to add to their totals. Kehs (#32) has been playing great defense lately. “King Kong” Cody Zrinski (#76) will also be looking to have a big defensive night adding to his 42 takedowns and three sacks from his defensive tackle position.
The Pirates will usually pass from a variety of different shotgun formations. When the Pirates do drop back to throw it will be open season on Krauss as senior DE Mike Kane (#82) and senior linebacker Mike Paolini (#48) chase him down to add to their career sack totals. Right now Kane headlines the SV record book with 10.5 career sacks and Paolini is right behind him with 10.
Tonight is going to be another magnificent night. Saucon Valley has not had an undefeated team in the Colonial League since 2004. The Panthers will come out focused on their individual jobs and play with the purpose of perfection. Palisades may stick around for awhile with toughness and their trying to play “the spoiler” mentality. But, these Panthers are much more talented and will be motivated to come out on top at all costs. Anything can happen on any given night, but tonight these Panthers will refuse to lose.
Saucon Source will be there from kickoff to handshake, and we hope to see you there too! Good Luck Panthers! The Source is with you.
