High school football predictions: Will District 2 be too tough?

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Headed north today to Valley View for the Central Catholic-Abington Heights. Assuming I can get a seat in the pressbox, I will be posting updates on Twitter @KeithGroller. In terms of The Morning Call coverage area, we've got four got teams alive today in this round-of-16. Three of our teams are matched up with District 2 squads. District 11 has had a great deal of success against District 2 members in the recent past. In 2007, Parkland beat both Wyoming Valley West and Hazleton in the regional playoffs en route to the state finals. In 2008, Freedom beat both Wyoming Valley West and Hazleton in the regionals before losing to Liberty, which went on to win the state title. In 2009, Central Catholic beat Abington Heights and Easton beat Hazleton. In 2010 on this same weekend, Central Catholic buried Abington Heights 54-14 and Northern Lehigh pounded Wilkes-Barre GAR 50-14 in the state playoffs after Easton beat Delaware Valley 39-7 and Whitehall beat Wyoming Valley West 41-27 in the 4A subregional. And then last year, Central Catholic beat Valley View in a classic, 61-54, and Pen Argyl beat GAR 50-20 in this same round, while Nazareth beat Delaware Valley and Easton beat Scranton in the subregional. So, District 11 has pretty much owned District 2 in these situations. However, District 2, from all accounts, is much tougher this year. Delaware Valley has already beaten Parkland and Whitehall this season, and Abington Heights appears to be much more formidable than the squad that CCHS routed in 2010. It should be an interesting day, but until proven otherwise, you have to like District 11's chances today. As for my Thanksgiving Day predictions, I was 3-1 with a very bad miscalculation on the Northampton-Catty game. I am 192-57 on the season. Today's picks: CLASS 4A Parkland 48, Delaware Valley 28 -- I believe the Trojans have the best chance of representing District 11 in Hershey on Dec. 15. They are clicking on all cylinders and are battle-tested coming out of a very competitive Lehigh Valley Conference. They beat Pleasant Valley 37-0 last week and really didn't even play well. Del Val QB Bryan Schor will make some plays, but not enough to offset the onslaught the Trojans will mount with their versatility and speed. Someone I know who coached against both Whitehall and Del Val said he thought Parkland would win by a couple of touchdowns. I trust that evaluation. Pennridge 28, Spring-Ford 21 -- One thing's for sure, the Rams are going to win. So much depends on the availability of Pennridge star back Mike Class, who sat out Thursday's game against Quakertown with a concussion. If he plays, Pennridge has an excellent shot. If he doesn't, you have to like Spring-Ford, which offers a balanced attack that was good enough to beat Whitehall back on Labor Day weekend. CLASS 3A Central Catholic 35, Abington Heights 21 -- Perhaps no team has made more strides this season than the Vikings, who got better as the season progressed in a rugged LVC. The two-day win over Nazareth turned around everything. About five weeks ago, CCHS would have been just happy to be playing on Thanksgiving weekend and would have considered this game to be icing on the cake for a bunch of overachievers. But with how they're playing on defense right now, these Vikes don't want to stop. They're not content with just getting here. At the very least, they'd love another crack at Archbishop Wood in a couple of weeks. The Comets are more dependent on a passing attack than the Vikings and the wind in Lackawanna County today could play a pivotal role. CLASS 2A Pen Argyl 28, Wyoming Area 20 -- After watching Catty put 52 on the board against Northampton, I am more and more impressed by what the Green Knights did last Saturday night. Pen Argyl has gotten it done defensively and with a single-wing attack. Right now, they're healthy and just playing very good football and while Imhotep Charter may be at a different level next week, you know Pen Argyl will not back down if given the opportunity.