Reviewing preseason picks: How the Colonial Division selections turned out
In late July and early August, I began my preseason coverage by providing team-by-team breakdowns, complete with my record predictions for every single football team in the Mid-Penn Conference, a group of 38 teams across Central Pennsylvania and beyond.
Now that the regular season is over, it’s time for me to review the things that I nailed on the head, the things I completely missed on, and everything in between the two, continuing on with the Mid-Penn Colonial.
Colonial Division
1. Susquehanna Township (8-2 actual record) (10-0 predicted record)
When I picked the Indians to go undefeated through the regular season, I did so acknowledging that the may, probably will, lose one game. But, I couldn’t find the rationale behind any team beating them. Behind the experienced and athletic quarterback play of Torin Evans, SEC talent at wide reciever in Lex Cyrus, leadership of Mason Lubold and on and on, there was no team I saw winning a game over them. ‘Hanna beat Boiling Springs, 61-10, in the regular season, but are forfeiting the win because of the use of an ineligible player. They would finish 9-1, with a true loss to West Perry, but they’ll settle for 8-2 heading into the postseason.
2. Trinity (8-2) (3-7)
Along with the Shamrocks’ former Capital Division foe, this is my least accurate from the preseason. The Shamrocks proved something to more than just me, though, as many doubted the shape of their program with many key pieces, including head coach Jordan Hill, heading away from the program. Hill is now on Penn State’s staff, star running back Messiah Mickens went over to Harrisburg, along with Tanie Young to CD East and talent across the board leaving the Shamrocks. That, combined with last year’s unexpected and abrupt finish in the District III final, it seemed reasonable that this would be a major rebuilding season for the Shamrocks. They lost to Allentown Central Catholic and Susquehanna Township, but won every other game, and have set themselves up really nicely for the 3A playoffs, hosting the winner between Schuylkill Valley and Littlestown.
3. East Penn (7-3) (9-1)
I had everything correct about this team other than weeks one and two. I took the Panthers to beat Bethlehem Catholic and Trinity in the opening two weeks, and only lose to Susquehanna Township throughout the season. Shaky start for the Panthers, but they finish with a winning record and three consecutive wins in weeks eight to ten.
4. Milton Hershey (5-5) (6-4)
I took Milton Hershey to lose four games throughout the year, losing to solid teams in East Penn and Big Spring consecutively, then take another pair of back-to-back losses against Susquehanna Township and West Perry. They lost the Cocoa Bean Bowl in week one to Hershey, lost to East Penn, Trinity, Newport and Susquehanna Township. Their season is now over, on the outside looking into the 4A playoffs, falling just one spot short of the tenth and final seed.
5. West Perry (4-6) (8-2)
West Perry has been hard to stop in the regular season in recent years, but this team hit a brick wall in the back stretch of the season. They beat Susquenita, Boiling Springs and Upper Dauphin, my only three predicted wins that panned out. They also lost to East Penn, which I predicted. Other than that, it just wasn’t the season that I and many others expected in Eliottsburg.
6. Boiling Springs (4-6) (2-8)
A few more wins than expected in Bubbletown as the team tries to find their playoff season on the horizon. I predicted their only source of winning to come from Middletown and Halifax. They lost to Middletown, beat Halifax and also took wins over Littlestown and Greencastle. They beat Susquehanna Township in a forfeit, as Susquehanna self-reported use of an ineligible player.
7. Big Spring (4-6) (7-3)
Anytime you begin your season 0-4, you’re not getting off on the right foot. That was the start for the Bulldogs, losing to Shippensburg, Camp Hill, Trinity and Milton Hershey, the opposite of what I picked in the preseason with the exception of the Camp Hill loss. They hit a three-game winning streak over Greencastle, Boiling Sprngs, West Perry before a 1-2 finish to the season.
8. Greencastle-Antrim (3-7) (4-6)
Wins over Middletown, Juniata and West Perry were the only three coming from Greencastle this season. I picked them to be slightly better than they were, and if you would’ve said they’ll beat Juniata and West Perry, I would’ve completely wrote that off. Some wacky wins from the Blue Devils this season.
9. Middletown (3-7) (0-10)
I took Middletown to lose every single game, as its still difficult to gauge where the team in terms of talent available. I figured their first game, Donegal, would be close but too close to call whether it’d be a win or not. They beat Donegal, and followed it up with a Boiling Springs and West Perry win in weeks four and five.
Overall, I predicted 59 games correctly out of 90.