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1. Williamsport (6-3): Williamsport has bigger goals it wants to attain than this, but a win tonight would give it the program’s first seven-win regular season since 2017. That’s long enough ago that current Ravens backup Joe Fagnano was the team’s all-state quarterback that season.
2. Montgomery (8-1): Montgomery was trying to capture a second straight outright NTL-II championship Thursday night in a game which ended after deadline. Speaking of Montgomery, saw some online critics questioning the 84 points it scored last Friday. Calm down and get a grip, people. Teams can’t just tell their JV players, who were in the whole second half, to not play hard. They work their rears off, too and deserve opportunities to shine. It’s not like Montgomery was airing the ball out or anything. Growing up, I was on basketball teams which lost, 73-12 and baseball teams which lost, 23-0. Trust me, we survived and never thought the opponent was doing anything wrong. Neither did Montgomery. The young players picked up where the starters left off; Montgomery ran basic plays, so chill.
3. South Williamsport (7-2): As successful as South has been over the years, next week will be the first time since 2021 that it hosts a playoff game. The Mounties have played their last eight playoff games either on the road or at neutral state tournament sites. South’s last home game was a 36-7 district quarterfinal win against Wellsboro in 2021.
4. Lewisburg (5-4): Owen Fellon was in beast mode last Friday at Milton. In addition to producing 71 yards receiving and a touchdown, the junior linebacker generated 16 tackles, 3 ½ for loss, an interception and a forced fumble.
5. Montoursville (5-4): One of many juniors who has flourished this season, linebacker Jacob Schon is closing in on 100 tackles. The defensive catalyst needs 12 more to reach the century mark, averaging 9.8 per game and making eight stops for loss.
6. Jersey Shore (4-5): It’s pretty remarkable that in an area rich in receiving talent, Carter Rhinehart leads it in both catches (48) and yards (850) despite missing 2 ½ games. The junior receiver also has topped 100 yards a district-best six times.
7. Muncy (5-4): Muncy sure has played some excellent defense this season. It has held six opponents to 14 or fewer points. Its performance against Athens may have been the unit’s best despite a 9-0 loss. Muncy became the first team in 24 regular-season games to hold the Wildcats (17-3) the last two years to single digits.
8. Hughesville (4-5): The Spartans defense sure has been clutch down the stretch. Hughesville has allowed just 12 second-half points in its four wins over the last five weeks. Nick Stubbs pointed the way to victory against Warrior Run two weeks ago with an end zone interception before the entire unit swarmed and stopped Loyalsock on third-and-fourth-and-1s from the 4-yard line in the closing minute.
9. Loyalsock (4-5): A year ago it was Lewisburg which was so close to having a much different record than it concluded with. This year, it is Loyalsock which is a few plays here or there from having three more wins. Three losses have come by 15 points with the winning scores twice coming late in the game.
10. Warrior Run (3-6): Give Warrior Run coaches credit for finding ways to plug holes and keep the offense going despite so many injuries. The Defenders are second among area teams in passing yards, trailing only Jersey Shore, with 1,986 yards produced by five players.
11. Milton (3-6): Speaking of passing games, Milton quarterbacks Kamryn Wilson and Paxton Humphrey have done nice work spreading the ball around. Five different players, including Wilson since moving to receiver in Week 6, have caught at least 11 passes, totaled 106 yards and caught touchdowns.
12. Canton (4-5): Senior Bailey Gardner has become one of the area’s more versatile players and is among the top 20 in both rushing and receptions, totaling 760 yards.
13. Wellsboro (3-6): Reed Richardson was all over the field early against South Williamsport. The junior linebacker produced six tackles before being injured in the second quarter’s opening two minutes. Richardson has enjoyed a breakout year and is a player to watch next season for sure.
14. Cowanesque Valley (3-6): Dave Hess produced his 50th career offensive touchdown in last Saturday’s win at Sayre. The senior Swiss Army Knife has topped both 1,000 rushing and receiving yards, thrown for 714 more and totaled 4,522 yards with 50 scores.
15. Central Mountain (0-9): The record does not show it, but Central Mountain has shown nice progress the past two weeks. The defense played its best game in Week 8 and the offense last week. Now, if Central Mountain can get both clicking at the same time, it can really make things interesting.
16. Bucktail (1-6): Bucktail returns several starters next year, so if it could win Saturday and take two of its last three games, that would be a nice launching pad moving toward 2027.
17. North Penn-Mansfield (0-9): It’s been a rough season, but North Penn-Mansfield will grow in the coming years. Nearly every team on this list has endured winless and/or one-win seasons and come back stronger down the road. With a strong, youthful foundation, I believe that will be the case here, too.