Two weeks into the high school football season, here’s where some top area teams stand

Pope John Paul II entered this football season filled with questions, wondering if anyone could fill the gaping void left by Villanova-bound wide receiver Braden Reed.

The Golden Panthers have just eight seniors on the team and are under new coach Darrell Scott. They also carry the mantle — and the pressure — of being two-time defending District 1 Class 4A champions.

It appears nothing has changed. PJP is still the same — winning. The Golden Panthers have opened the season with impressive, nail-biting, one-point victories over powerhouses Neumann-Goretti (21-20 in overtime) and this past weekend against South Jersey’s Shawnee (20-19).

The Golden Panthers have another great test this Friday at 7 p.m. in what may be the area clash of the weekend when they visit undefeated and defending PIAA District 1 Class 5A champion West Chester Rustin and its legendary coach Mike St. Clair.

PJP reached the PIAA state quarterfinals last season and lost to eventual state champion Bonner-Prendergast.

TJ Dozier, the team’s sophomore quarterback leads the offense, while Brandon D’Angelo has four interceptions in two games. D’Angelo pairs with fellow senior cornerback Zahid Edwards-Boone, who caused a fumble that resulted in a scoop-and-score against Shawnee, returned 60 yards by Dylan Skarbek, a senior who has started all four years at safety. Linebackers Sean McNally and Joey DiGiacomo fill the middle.

“We are young,” Scott said. “Our sophomore class is our largest class. We still have a lot of things we have to work on and get better with. The one thing I am happy about the most is being so young, we are finding ways to win. We are going for a three-peat as district champions, and the great part is [former PJP head coach] Scott Reed stepped down and has stayed on as offensive coordinator. The whole staff has stayed.

“Rustin is a tough, solid team. ... We played [Rustin] tough last year. We’re taking this as a 1-0 mentality. We just need to cut down some of the mental penalties.”

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Neshaminy and Chester have some things in common just a few weeks into the season. Both teams are 2-0. Both teams have yet to give up a point this season, and both teams have twins in their secondary.

Senior twins Jalen and Temple-bound Daron Harris are the Clippers’ starting safeties, and Neshaminy features senior twins Nick and Mike Sassano in its secondary. The Sassanos have two interceptions each, leading Neshaminy to victories over Emmaus (30-0) and Council Rock North (41-0), while the Harris twins were coupled for the first time, leading the Clippers to wins over Public League powers Lincoln (20-0) and Washington (55-0).

New Neshaminy coach Nick Felus, originally from western Pennsylvania, stresses an attacking defense, which helps when his team has players like senior linebacker Carson Schneider, junior linebacker Luke Howell, and defensive end Owen Swartz. Neshaminy has produced five turnovers in two games. Nick Sassano is a safety and Mike is a cornerback, and they also play wide receiver for Neshaminy, which finished 6-5 last season.

“The Sassanos have great instincts,” Felus said. “We are getting some pressure up front and we’re very sound with some ball hawks in our secondary. We have Cheltenham next, and they may be 0-2, but they are very good. Cheltenham is a lot better than their record shows.”

Things get interesting the following week when Neshaminy hosts one of the best teams in the area, North Penn, on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.

Chester has dominated its first two opponents and will host Northeast High this Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Chester Athletic Complex.

Clippers coach Dennis Shaw prides himself and his staff on stubborn defense. That starts with strong safety Daron Harris and Division I recruit senior middle linebacker Jerrell Palmer, junior cornerback Sire Hall, and Jalen Harris, the Clippers’ four-year starting quarterback, debuting at free safety.

“Jalen has never played in the back before, but he is just as good as a defensive back as he is a quarterback, which has made things tough on people facing us,” Shaw said. “We’re doing it with discipline. We haven’t given up very many big plays. What I really like is that our penalties are down, which have plagued us in past years. Our special teams has been great, leaving us in great field position. I like where we are. We’re in midseason playoff form right now. That’s a testament to the work ethic of the kids.”

As the La Salle-Malvern Prep classic ended Friday night in a packed Ocean City stadium, there was one unlikely player who emerged in the crucial parts of the Explorers’ 42-35 victory.

He was a little-used sophomore defensive end last season who has already attracted major college attention before even playing a significant high school varsity down — Malvern Prep’s 6-foot-4, 230-pound George Parkinson.

On successive drives in the fourth quarter, Parkinson, 15, had two sacks for minus-10 yards, and a tackle for no gain while the score was tied at 35. He went up against La Salle’s Notre Dame-bound tackle Grayson McKeogh and held his own. Parkinson, without playing a serious varsity down before last Friday, has major offers from programs like Penn State, Ohio State, Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, Florida State, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky.

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After the impact Parkinson had on the game, it’s understandable now what the college coaches saw. When someone as venerable as Ohio State assistant coach Larry Johnson pulls you aside to ask your name, it speaks volumes.

“This was the first varsity game I ever played in, but I guess the offers came from being under [Malvern] coach [Dave] Gueriera and his connections and some of the camps that I went to,” Parkinson said. “I think they were looking at my size, and I did well at the Ohio State camp. Prior to Friday, I didn’t play a meaningful varsity snap. Grayson is a great player, and I felt going against someone like him definitely tested me.”

What makes Parkinson unique is his speed and quickness for someone his size. He benches 320 pounds, and power cleans 290.

“George is an athletic freak; he’s really something else,” Gueriera said. “We worked him in well [against La Salle], but he will definitely be getting more reps moving forward. He’s just so dynamic, he is tough to miss — and he just turned 15. We’re going to move him around. Most of the time, we like him on the edge, but sometimes we put him inside on our speed rush. He’s a nightmare to play against, and on top of that, he’s a great kid. He has a high IQ and a high motor.”

St. Joseph’s Prep has a bye this week before hosting national powerhouse St. Francis Academy (Md.) on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m., at Penn’s Franklin Field. For the first time in over two decades, the Hawks have a chance to begin their season 0-3, which no St. Joseph’s Prep team has done since 2001, when the Hawks started their season 0-3 under Gil Brooks. Prep then went on to win 10 straight games and the Catholic League championship.

Despite the possibility of beginning the Catholic League season winless, the Prep, the three-time defending PIAA Class 6A state champion, is still considered one of the premier teams in the state — as the Hawks should be.

What cannot be repeated, Hawks’ coaches and players agree, is the meltdown that occurred against DeMatha Catholic this past Saturday when the Hawks lost, 45-17, at Salesianum’s Abessinio Stadium. It marked the Prep’s worst loss since Don Bosco Prep beat the Hawks, 55-21, on Sept. 12, 2015, and the first time the Hawks have started a season 0-2 since 2007.

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The Prep was penalized 14 times for 123 yards against the Stags. What compounded it was when the flags fell. Early in the second quarter, Masiia Acrey’s pick-six was called back due to an illegal block as Acrey neared the goal line for the Hawks.

The real backbreaker came when the game was still in reach early in the fourth quarter. Down 17-10, with DeMatha facing a fourth-and-5 at the Prep 15, the Hawks jumped offsides, giving DeMatha a fourth-and-inches, which the Stags converted and then eventually scored.

The Prep had two punts blocked, one recovered in the end zone for a DeMatha score, and has been outscored by a combined 76-17 since getting out to a 28-0 lead in its season opener on national TV against American Heritage (Fla.).

Apart from La Salle, no team in Pennsylvania may be as good as national-level programs like American Heritage, DeMatha Catholic, and St. Francis.

“This is on us,” Prep’s Penn State-bound defensive lineman Alex Haskell said after the DeMatha loss. “Not the coaches, the players — us. It’s up to us to clean it up. We’re all going to fix it. No one is making any excuses here and no one will. We will come back harder and better from this. When things got tough, we didn’t have mental toughness, and we don’t right now.”

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