Todd Hummel's Week 11 Predictions

Class A Northwest at Canton The Rangers started the season at 4-0, and now have lost their last six games. They played and lost to three Heartland Athletic Conference teams in that stretch. You know what you are getting with Northwest: It is going to run right at you. It averages eight yards per carry on the ground, while sophomore quarterback Cole Cavuto has thrown for just 490 yards. The Warriors come into the game on their own four-game skid, and gave up 73 points to Troy in last week’s Old Shoe Game. The Warriors are young this season, though senior lineman Marcus Solomon leads the team with eight sacks. Northwest 14, Canton 13 Class 2A Warrior Run at South Williamsport A rematch of last year’s quarterfinal won pretty easily by the Defenders. This is not last year’s Warrior Run team, but the Defenders have figured out what they can do in the latter half of the season with an injury-ravaged roster. Jackson Albright is back up front for Warrior Run, and Bryson Weigel scored both touchdowns, including the game-winner with no time left on the clock and led Warrior Run with 11 tackles against Milton. Will it be enough to get by the Mounties? Eli White has 922 yards rushing to lead South Williamsport, while Garrett Lorson has played well in place of baseball standout Cole Gerber at quarterback. Levi Butler had another outstanding season at wide receiver as well. I think this is where the Defenders’ schedule pays off again. Warrior Run 21, South Williamsport 20 Towanda at Southern Columbia As Jazick Brown goes, so do the Black Knights. The 5-foot-7, 160-pound senior averages 11.7 yards per carry, but 649 of his 879 yards have come in the Black Knights’ five wins. Towanda is pretty one-dimensional — quarterback Reese Sluyter has thrown four touchdowns and eight interceptions this season — that is usually a death knell against the Tigers’ defense. The Tigers have been rolling since the one-point loss to Mount Carmel. Junior Grady Garcia has rushed for 1,500 yards and leads the area in scoring — the third Garcia brother to accomplish that feat. The Tigers shouldn’t have much issue in their first step on the quest to repeat as state champions. Southern Columbia 42, Towanda 7 Hughesville at Troy The Spartans were as hot as anybody in the district until running into Muncy last week, and it’s probably not going to get much better on the road against the Trojans. Is it the state championship team of two years ago? Not quite, but Troy is going to be a dangerous out for anybody. The Trojans lost their opener to Montoursville, and haven’t lost since. A fourth straight year with a meeting in the playoffs with Southern Columbia in the offing. Troy 35, Hughesville 7 Class 3A Wellsboro at Mount Carmel It’s the first-ever meeting between the Hornets and the Red Tornadoes, and it’s not a good matchup for this group of Hornets. Mount Carmel completed the school’s first undefeated season since 2023. It’s been much longer since Mount Carmel won a district title (2011), and everyone has them as the favorite to win this year. Looking at the numbers, I’m not sure how this Hornets team holds up in the Silver Bowl on Friday night. Mount Carmel 42, Wellsboro 7 Lewisburg at Montoursville The Green Dragons hit a roadblock in the Little Brown Jug last week, but if Lewisburg’s passing offense gets back on track, a trip to the Silver Bowl might be in the offing for the Green Dragons. If Lewisburg’s secondary can contain the Montoursville passing game, Jaylen Walker leads the area with eight interceptions, and the Green Dragons have picked off 15 as a team this season. Turnovers hurt Lewisburg last week, so taking care of the ball will be key. Lewisburg 35, Montoursville 31 Danville at Mifflinburg Midd-West’s victory over Holy Redeemer allowed the Wildcats to jump into the No. 2 seed late on Saturday night and get a home game in the semifinals as well. Landon Moser has been outstanding over the back half of the season, but Mifflinburg’s defense has taken a huge step forward. In their eight-game winning streak, Mifflinburg has allowed 68 points — 27 of those in a win over Loyalsock. The Wildcats have 29 sacks, and 11 different Mifflinburg defenders have sacks. Seth Hartman and Isaiah Kurtz each have five sacks, while Luke Brubaker has four sacks. Danville’s front is beat up, but the Ironmen have been game in some of these matchups against favored opponents. Mifflinburg 28, Danville 7 Loyalsock at Athens If we get the midseason Lancers, Loyalsock could pull off the upset. I’m not sold on the Northern Tier other than Troy this season, and the Trojans have a two-score win over the Wildcats. Connor Davidson is an outstanding athlete — 1,631 yards passing and 24 touchdowns along with 953 yards and 16 scores on the ground. The opponents’ winning percentage scares me — the only team with a lower opponents’ winning percentage in the district is Northwest at .283 (which is wild because it played 10-0 Bloomsburg to end the season, so it actually went up). I think we’ll find out a lot about Athens on Friday night. Athens 14, Loyalsock 13 Class 4A Selinsgrove at Shikellamy It would mean nothing more to this Seals team than to end the Braves’ dream season in the first round of the playoffs. That’s probably exactly why the Braves won’t look past a 3-7 team in the opening round. Thomas Pollock has moved into the top 10 in the state in career receiving yards with last week’s performance, moving past John Klingerman’s total of 3,595. Pollock now has 3,613 yards in his career. Next up is No. 9 Nazir Burnett of Bishop McDevitt, who had 3,705 yards from 2015-2018. He’s also now No. 3 in District 4 history behind Julian Fleming of Southern Columbia and Carson Persing of Danville. No receiver has been hotter over the last few weeks than Jonathan Neidig — I can’t type without hearing the Seals’ student section singing “Johnny Neidig” — the junior has 27 catches over the last three games. Like last week, the Seals’ passing game keeps them in it for a while, but Shikellamy wears down the battered Seals front. Shikellamy 42, Selinsgrove 21 Jersey Shore at Shamokin The Indians are obviously a different team without Logan Steele, but freshman quarterback Evan Panchar was impressive, thrown into a no-win situation against Mount Carmel in the Coal Bucket. He endured six sacks and had the Indians still within a touchdown going into the fourth quarter. Health is a huge question mark for this game. Jersey Shore might be as healthy as it has been since that first meeting with Shamokin nearly two months ago. Carter Rhinehart finished the regular season with more than 1,000 yards receiving despite missing 2 1/2 games with an injury. I think Shamokin’s line makes the difference with or without Steele. Shamokin 21, Jersey Shore 17