It’s Week 8 of the high school football season in Pennsylvania, and most teams have a sense of where they fit in the postseason picture.
Some know once the regular season ends, they’ll be packing the pads away and thinking of hoops or wrestling.
Others are fighting right now for their playoff lives.
Then there are the teams in our spotlight game of the week. Southern Lehigh, No. 9 in this week’s High School On SI Pennsylvania Football Top 25 State Rankings, travels to Notre Dame-Green Pond in a matchup of 7-0 powerhouses that have been putting up huge numbers to keep scoreboard operators busy each week.
The Spartans won the PIAA 4A championship this year but moved up to 5A this year. They’re led by senior QB Colton Sams, who recently moved into District 11’s all-time top four for career passing yardage. This season, he’s thrown for 1,646 yards and 24 touchdowns, with his favorite target being Otto Young (532 yards, eight TDs).
The Crusaders will counter with junior QB Tommy Murphy, who’s completing over 71% of his passes (96 of 135) for 1,741 yards and 27 touchdowns with just one interception. Senior wideout Drew Boyd is his top target with 25 catches for 464 yards and 10 touchdowns, with Nyechay Lawless (22 for 338 yards and four TDs) and Jonathan Striba (seven TDs) providing balance.
These teams last met in September 2023, with Southern Lehigh pulling out a 68-28 victory, so you can bet the players taking the field Friday night are ready to write their own history in this series.
What are some other games to highlight around the state in Week 8? Here are four of the best we’ve selected.
Northeastern (6-1) at West York (7-0)
7 p.m. Friday
West York is a team under consideration to enter the Top 25, and the Bulldogs will look to make their case to enter the rankings should anyone falter with a win against the Bobcats in the first meeting between the programs since 2013.
West York is led by junior QB Jensen Ferber, who’s thrown for 1,419 yards and 16 touchdowns with just one interception while running for six scores, and junior DE Jamen Garnett (10 tackles for loss, seven sacks). Northeastern’s main man is junior RB Dijoun Dickson, who has 1,314 all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns.
York Catholic (4-3) at Big Spring (7-0)
7 p.m. Friday
The Bulldogs, who went 6-5 a year ago, have not started a season 7-0 in the past 20 years and are defying all expectations thanks to an attack led by senior QB Nathan Baranowski (1,544 total yards, 21 TDs). Can they keep things going over the final three weeks?
No. 10 Roman Catholic (4-2) at No. 24 La Salle College (3-4)
1 p.m. Saturday
It’s hard to believe that 10 months ago, the Explorers celebrated winning the second PIAA title in school history, and now, they’re on the cusp of falling out of the Top 25 and in danger of having to go on the road to open the playoffs in a few weeks if they can’t top their Philadelphia Catholic League rivals, who come in red-hot on a four-game winning streak.
Nazareth (6-1) at Bethlehem Catholic (6-1)
4 p.m. Saturday
The Blue Eagles have won six in a row since an opening loss to Garnet Valley but now reach the teeth of their schedule, starting this week in Bethlehem against the Golden Hawks. Nazareth, which has won eight in a row in the series, is led by junior QB Cooper Madson, who’s thrown for 1,691 yards and 22 touchdowns while completing almost 73% of his passes (115-of-158).
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