New Years League Updates

[mferguson]

Has anybody been to enough games to give a review of how each of the teams in the SHL, ICC and West Pac are doing so far and what games we have to look forward to?

[WilsonJet]

I have been able to see quite a few WestPAC teams

Conemaugh Township and Conemaugh Valley both look tough and I believe one of these two will win the WestPAC. Shade is tough but no bench and not sure when Ryan Fyock will return. Shanksville has a nice team but not championship caliber. Here is my thoughts on the North.
Conemaugh Valley and Township both solid and one will take the prize. Blacklick Valley, Portage, North Star, Ferndale and Windber should all battle in each matchup. Portage has Bryja who is 6'5" but does play tall, he can score , and Scoran needs to get more aggressive and will as the season progresses. Ferndale has Eisenhuth and no help from anyone else. Blacklick Valley has Cesarz and Sheesley who are two of the top players in the league. North Star plays hard but not a very good team, Soberdash can score at times. Have not watched Windber.

Shade will win the South if Fyock returns, without Fyock I think Shanksville could sneak in. Slade and Duppstadt are strong with a nice supporting cast. Rockwood not a bad team at all, they hustle. Keefer, Miller and Gary give them some scoring and Lemmon is good at pressuring the ball. Berlin plays hard and are also tough at home, Cooney, Glotfelty and Lynch play hard. I did not see Turkeyfoot Valley or Salisbury play. Beiler and Miller can be tough scoring threats.

[sparky]

Does anyone know how chestnut ridge is doing?

[dadw/2sons]

They beat FH in their own tourny at the beginning of the year. They beat a tough SF team at Ridge, so that would make them the team to beat in the SHL. SF has already beaten TM in Saxton. A very BIG game at Ridge this Friday with TM and Coach Bailey looking for his 700th win.

[Sideling Hill Fan]

SHL looks like a 3-way battle to me. Chestnut Ridge, NBC and Southern Fulton are all capable league champs. I'll predict that the teams will go 2-2 vs each other via wins at home. It will probably come down to who gets upset by a Tussey Mountain or Forbes road. If any of my tri-favorites can go 3-1 in games versus each other they will be in a good position to win it all, or take any tie-breakers which are really only important in the ICC South [Sideling Hill League minus Chestnut Ridge].

ICC North, from my sources appears to be a Williamsburg and Bellwood-Antis battle. Although West Branch, Mount Union and possibly even Juniata Valley could be in the mix when it is all said and done.

I'll predict a Bellwood vs Southern Fulton ICC Championship Game in mid-February.

[sppawfan]

Shade beat ridge at the ridge tourney and ridge beat s.f. and s.f. barely beat shanksville. If fyock played the whole game shade will beat shanksville easily. So I say shade has the edge in districts and fyock will be back the 4th against berlin I heard! Shade only lost 1 game without fyock in to shanksville and a tourney game to bishop walsh without fyock. They stayed with a tall tough walsh team and were winning 27-21 at the half, but walsh ended up winning by 14 or so!

[BBrian]

I believe the shl will be a two team race SF and CR, Northern Bedford has had a stong start, but has played weak competition. Sf didnt shoot or rebound well in the first half against Ridge and were behind by ten at the half. Battled back and had two shots to win, one at the end of reg and one at the end of overtime. Imo districts will be between SF and Shade once again and ill take SF till Shade proves they can beat them.

[sppawfan]

Shades only downfall is there bench! They did get some guys playing time with fyock out for those 4 games he missed which will help some, but thay can't afford to have anymore injuries because shanksville will be tough to beat at shanksville now that they got shade once already. Fyock was limping heavy in the first quarter though and sat out for good in the 2nd quarter. He will be back wed. against a tough berlin team though! Shade/ berlin are always good games too! Salisbury can knock a team off as well as rockwood though also! Meyersdale got better, but I haven't seen there top scorer donaldson in the box. He may be hurt also.

[BBrian]

Did Berlin have any kids hurt when Salisbury beat them? Salisbury beat Berlin, Hyndman beat Salisbury by 21, SF beat Hyndman by 43, Hyndman is not good at all when compared to the SHL teams. Just wondering where this leaves the West Pac south compared to the top SHL teams.

[sppawfan]

berlin was healthy, but sometimes beiler and miller get on for salisbury and they can knock off anyone. On the flip side they can be beat by anyone! Depends on how great of games those two have together on the same night. Berlin doesn't have the legit superstar they usually do, it is more team for them. Cooney is there best player. That is why they can beat anyone also though, and also lose to anyone because they don't have that 1 great scorer to carry them to a win like other teams. Shade has 4 nice players in fyock, the walker bros, and medva. Foltz and the tall cigich kid are coming around for them, but that is the team. Six guys! Big time scorers in fyock and the older wade walker boy and 10 -16 on any given night from nash walker or medva. Shade is athletic and aggressive! I like shanksville as my sleeper though! Jake duppstadt is becoming a mvp candidate for the somerset county added to 7-8 other guys that are aggressive. Look out for the vikings! I like township in a close one over c.v in the other section. It will be a tight race all season for those two teams. I think they are the best 2 teams in the west pac, but shade and shanksville can scrap!