{"id":281266,"date":"2026-09-08T05:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281266\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T05:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:48:25","slug":"epc-football-power-rankings-after-2-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281266\/","title":{"rendered":"EPC football power rankings after 2 games"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you look at the football power rankings on the District 11 website and peek at the Class 6A rankings, you will see Nazareth, Easton, Parkland and Freedom in the top four spots. Those happen to be the same four teams who have won every district title in the largest classification since Liberty won the D11 gold en route to a state title in 2008.<\/p>\n

Three of those four bounced back from season-opening losses to even their records last week.<\/p>\n

So, as we take another look at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference power rankings, order seems to have been restored and the teams we expect to be at or near the top are back on track. Here\u2019s a look at where all 18 teams stand as we move into what figures to be one of the most compelling schedule of games in the entire season:<\/p>\n

18: East Stroudsburg North<\/p>\n

Record: 0-2<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 18th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Honesdale 50-7<\/p>\n

Next game: At Dieruff, 7 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n

Comment: There\u2019s some tough sledding at the moment for new coach Todd Moody. Patience will be a key. The Timberwolves struggled mightily against Honesdale as five fumbles led to a 37-0 deficit in the first quarter. East Stroudsburg North got its lone score with 57 seconds to play on a 5-yard TD run by freshman quarterback Julian Brown. Ayden Torres added the PAT.<\/p>\n

17: Dieruff
\n\"TheThe Dieruff football team holds practice Monday, Aug, 10, 2026, on the opening day of the heat acclimatization period. The Huskies practice well away from the school on North 3rd Street in Allentown. (Monica Cabrera\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 0-2<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 17th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Pleasant Valley 51-6<\/p>\n

Next game: Host East Stroudsburg North, 7 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Huskies are staying optimistic even after two lopsided losses. Coach Dave Luttle liked how his team competed in the first half against PV. They got a TD reception by Kayson Barlow off a Jiovanni Camacho pass but gave up a return for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff.<\/p>\n

16: Pocono Mountain West
\n\"PoconoPocono Mountain West\u2019s Christian Stiehler makes a catch during the game against Scranton at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Scranton Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 13th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Lehighton 35-0<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Hazleton, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Panthers had to be disappointed with their effort against Lehighton. Even given a second chance to find a spark as a storm interrupted the game on Thursday night and forced a Friday morning resumption, West couldn\u2019t find it. The Panthers were shut out for the first time since a 54-0 blanking registered by Northampton in Week 6 last season.<\/p>\n

No. 15: Allen
\n\"AllenAllen football coach Joel Rupp talks to his players Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, during a practice in Allentown. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 2-0<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 16th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Martin Luther King 31-23<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Pocono Mountain East, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: Julian Pagan threw for 180 yards and two touchdowns, while Michael Taylor ran for 103 yards and a TD and also caught a TD pass. The schedule gets much tougher for the Canaries from here, starting with a quality Pocono Mountain East team coming to JBC Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n

No. 14: East Stroudsburg South
\n\"EastEast Stroudsburg South football coach Matt Walters talks with former NFL coach and current NBC analyst Tony Dungy in 2025 during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Coaching Academy in Tampa. (Contributed photo\/Tampa Bay Buccaneers)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 14th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Wallenpaupack 35-13<\/p>\n

Next game: At Delaware Valley, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Cavaliers, much like Pocono Mountain West, had to be disappointed by their loss. They gave up 341 yards rushing, including 242 yards on 29 carries by Edward Kiesendahl, who also scored three TDs. South\u2019s scores came on a 45-yard TD pass from Greyson Fuller to Darin Coplena and an 85-yard TD run by Chris Bowman.<\/p>\n

13: Pleasant Valley
\n\"PleasantPleasant Valley football coach Blaec Saeger talks to his players on the field at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown on Thursday night following a 51-6 win over Dieruff. (Keith Groller)<\/p>\n

Record: 2-0<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 15th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Dieruff 51-6<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Pottsville, 7 p.m. Thursday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Bears have a hard-to-defend offense in the triple option. It\u2019s even more difficult to defend when you have talented people running it and coach Blaec Saeger has some talent, starting with senior Chris Ward who ran for 152 yards and two TDs against Dieruff. The schedule will get tougher, starting with Pottsville on Friday night.<\/p>\n

12: Liberty
\n\"Liberty'sLiberty\u2019s Zyaire Davis on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, during football practice in Bethlehem. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call). (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 0-2<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 10th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Central Bucks East 35-26<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Stroudsburg, 7 p.m. Thursday<\/p>\n

Comment: After being shut out by Pennridge, the Hurricanes showed plenty of life on offense against East. Alsaiah Gross threw for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Zyaire Davis had six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown. Jayvion White added five receptions for 56 yards.<\/p>\n

No. 11: Emmaus
\n\"EmmausEmmaus head football coach Harold Fairclough instructs his players Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, on the first day of high school football practice. Emmaus is a team looking for a turnaround season in 2026. (Monica Cabrera\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 0-2<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 12th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Phillipsburg 24-10<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Scranton, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Green Hornets have been competitive in their first two games but need to find a way to get into the win column. Ty Laird caught a 76-yard TD pass from Kellen Hafner and Anthony Attar ran for 50 yards against P\u2019burg. Nik Castro had 11 tackles, but Emmaus was outgained 332-199 by the Stateliners.<\/p>\n

10: Allentown Central Catholic
\n\"AllentownAllentown Central Catholic\u2019s Trey Torres-Johnson is tackled Bethlehem Catholic\u2019s Great Chifirst on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown.. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 5th<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Bethlehem Catholic 35-24<\/p>\n

Next game: At Nazareth, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Vikings showed plenty of resiliency in roaring back from a 21-0 deficit to take the lead on Bethlehem Catholic but had some key breakdowns that cost them. Some offensive sparks were provided by Janiel Pena, who threw for 53 yards in the second half, and change-of-pace running back Quaid Eisenhard who ran for 44 yards and two TDs to back up workhorse Trey Torres-Johnson.<\/p>\n

9: Whitehall
\n\"Whitehall'sWhitehall\u2019s Tanner Dogmanits throws the ball Friday, Sept.5, 2025, against East Stroudsburg South at Whitehall High School. (Amy Shortell\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 3rd<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Nazareth 49-13<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Northampton, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Zephrys had no answers on defense against Nazareth. The Blue Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their seven possessions and piled up 452 yards in total offense. Whitehall got a TD pass from Tanner Dogmanits to Henry Shultz and a rushing TD by Dogmanits, but there is much to fix in time for the Cement Bowl rivalry game against Northampton, which also features a 100th anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n

No. 8: Pocono Mountain East<\/p>\n

Record: 2-0<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 11th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Bangor 34-7<\/p>\n

Next game: At Allen, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: In the win at Bangor, Ceejay Serfass threw for 180 yards and a TD, but the biggest night was had by Evan Garrett, who ran for 225 yards and four TDs. The Cardinals are entering a touch stretch of schedule with Allen followed by Emmaus, Stroudsburg and Easton.<\/p>\n

No: 7: Stroudsburg<\/p>\n

Record: 2-0<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 9th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Wilkes-Barre Area 38-20<\/p>\n

Next game: At Liberty, 7 p.m. Thursday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Mounties avenged a 2025 loss to Wilkes Barre as Jack Mitchell threw for 262 yards and three TDs. He also ran for a score. Josh Ivers-Green had six catches for 125 yards. Keyen Johnson powered the running game with 192 yards on 28 carries.<\/p>\n

No. 6: Easton
\n\"EastonEaston Area High School players run drills Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, during football practice at Cottingham Stadium in Easton. Easton is the defending District 11 6A champion and figures to be successful again under head coach Matt Senneca. (Monica Cabrera\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 8th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Pennsbury 32-7<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Parkland, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Red Rovers rebounded from the opening-night loss at Central Bucks West with a solid win at Cottingham Stadium. It was a big confidence-builder for a young team trying to find its way. Zahviay McGurn had three TD passes and now it\u2019s on to a district rematch against a Parkland team that has been looking forward to this meeting since last November.<\/p>\n

5: Freedom
\n\"Freedom'sFreedom\u2019s Lashawn Johnson breaks several tackles on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, at Bethlehem School District Stadium. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 1st<\/p>\n

Last game: Lost to Parkland 41-21<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Phillipsburg, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Patriots did some good things against Parkland, but not enough of them. Most notably, they scuffled on defense as Finn Coen passed for nearly 200 yards in the first half and TJ Lawrence ran for close to 200 in the second half. Lashawn Johnson ran for 122 yards, but Freedom needs to get more out of the passing game.<\/p>\n

4: Nazareth
\n\"NazarethNazareth coach Tom Falzone watches his players run drills Tuesday, August 18, 2026, during a practice session in Nazareth. (Jonathan Broady\/Special to The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 6th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Whitehall 49-13<\/p>\n

Next game: Host Allentown Central Catholic, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Comment: The Blue Eagles scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions against Whitehall. Cooper Madson threw for 246 yards and five touchdowns. Luke DiPietro had six catches for 114 yards and three scores.<\/p>\n

3: Northampton
\n\"NorthamptonNorthampton coach John Toman directs football players as they run drills Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, at Northampton Area High School. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 2-0<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 7th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Delaware Valley 28-24<\/p>\n

Next game: At Whitehall, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: The Konkrete Kids showed some resiliency they may have lacked last year by fighting back from a 14-0 deficit. Zion McKinney ran for 128 yards and a TD while Chase Kessler added 112 yards and three scores. Northampton will want to make another statement this week at Whitehall.<\/p>\n

2: Bethlehem Catholic
\n\"BethlehemBethlehem Catholic\u2019s Carter Vassa scores his 3rd touchdown in the first half against Allentown Central Catholic on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, at J. Birney Crum Stadium. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record: 2-0<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 4th<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Allentown Central Catholic 35-24<\/p>\n

Next game: At Berks Catholic, 7 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n

Comment: Golden Hawks coach Joe Bernard wasn\u2019t pleased with the some of the execution issues his team had on Saturday afternoon and he wasn\u2019t thrilled with the numerous penalties his team committed. But what did please him was that when the game was the on the line, his team went on a time-consuming drive, mostly on the ground, to put the game away. It was the second week in a row they did that. Axel Burkart has emerged as one of the league\u2019s top quarterbacks. He threw for 223 yards and ran for 91 against Central.<\/p>\n

1: Parkland
\n\"ParklandParkland bounced back from a Week 1 loss with a win over Freedom. (David Garrett\/Special to The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

Record 1-1<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s rankings: 2nd<\/p>\n

Last game: Beat Freedom 41-21<\/p>\n

Next game: At Easton, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Comment: The Trojans had a physical week of practice \u2014 old-school is how coach Tim Moncman described it \u2014 and it paid dividends against Freedom. Expect more of the same they prepare for a trip to Easton. Parkland is not used to getting embarrassed but that\u2019s what happened in last year\u2019s district final against Easton and they haven\u2019t forgotten. Perhaps no one looks forward more to this game than TJ Lawrence, who is coming off a 257-yard, 3-TD performance against Freedom. He was injured in the first half against Easton last year and never returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you look at the football power rankings on the District 11 website and peek at the Class…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,304,305,726,432],"class_list":["post-281266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-high-school-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}