All classes are 6A and District 3 teams unless otherwise shown; Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 9.
1 Manheim Township (11-0)
Good luck finding a better inter-conference rivalry anywhere in the state that tops games between the Lancaster Lebanon League-Section One and the Mid Penn-Commonwealth conferences. More often than not the games are epic. For example, Wilson opened the season with a nail biting 21-13 win over Central Dauphin. Two weeks later Manheim Township, also of the LL-1 beat Central Dauphin 10-7 for some district bragging rights. The rivalry continues into the postseason where the two have dominated for years. Last Friday was no different as “off” but always game Cumberland Valley battled the Streaks tooth and nail before dropping a physical (as an understatement) hard fought 32-26 decision in Lancaster. At 5-6 with the 7th seed, CV was clearly struggling, but they were almost at full health if there’s such a thing this time of year, holding a 4th quarter lead of 26-17 before Township rallied, with Jaden Floyd (18-72, 2 Tds) scoring on a 4 yard run to pull it out with 1:07 left in the game! Harrison Kirk completed 15 of 27 for 285 yards with two touchdown tosses and two picks. CV gave those back with two fumbles of their own. The District-3 semifinal is again between the LL-1 and MP-Commonwealth with Township playing 3rd seeded Central Dauphin Friday in a rematch while top seeded Wilson plays Harrisburg in West Lawn. Wow, it doesn’t’ get any better than that!
2 Central Dauphin (9-2)
The 6th seeded Cedar Crest (7-4, LL-1) Falcons showed no fear coming into Landis, giving the Rams a hard fought game, hanging through the first two quarters down only 15-0 at the half. This was not Central Dauphin’s best game but credit the team on the other side of the field for their fair share of that. Cedar Crest came to play, and were battle tested against Manheim Township (11-0), Warwick (9-2) and Wilson (10-1). They held CD to 196 total yards. But their first year starting quarterback Chris Danz (14/28/146) threw three picks, two returned for touchdowns, allowing the Rams to blow them out with a 21-0 3rd quarter where the Falcons turned the ball over on four straight possessions. A forced fumble on a kickoff resulted in another Ram touchdown and that was that. Timmy Smith rushed for 82 yards and scored twice. He has 809 yards for the year. Nyeem Sims had one of the Pick-6’s for 28 yards, Jackson Talbott the other for 16 yards. Once again CD’s special teams and defense were decisive. They move on to Manheim Township in a rematch Friday after losing to them 10-7 week-3. That game saw the Rams special teams again rise to the occasion blocking two field goals, one resulting in an 85 yard scoop and score before Township finally got one through the uprights from 27 yards out with 1:10 left to play. The Rams lack of a competitive passing attack (11/22/56) proved fatal against Harrison Kirk who played keep away moving the chains, completing 18 of 31 for 286 yards. Things have changed since then with the continued development of sophomore Qb Max Mosey (6-0, 170), completing 41of 64 (64%) for 649 yards the last four games. The running game that was stunted the first game will be bolstered by the return of starting tackles Chad Layton (6-2, 285, sr) and Blaise Heshler (6-4, 285, sr) who were both out/injured for Township.
3 State College (9-1, D6)
Although State College plays in the Mid Penn-Commonwealth Conference they are in District-6 where they had a bye week and the top seed awaiting District-10 final results where top seeded McDowell (9-1) beat 2nd seeded Erie High (3-7) 58-30. McDowell’s had a strong season, losing only to Cathedral Prep (9-2, 4A) 29-26. SC beat a younger 7-5 Trojan edition last year 55-20. Many are back, led by a powerful and veteran O-Line of seniors Kaidyn Langer (6-4, 275), Dylan Maciulewicz (6-4, 260) and Nashawn Jackson (6-3, 335). Second year starting quarterback Chris Juchno (6-2, 195, jr) is a cool customer with veteran wide outs and a solid back in Danny Blue. They average 41ppg and allow 18. But they appear to have issues with pass defense, escaping Austintown-Fitch 38-35 in spite of sophomore Qb Devin Sherwood denting them for 329 yards and 5 touchdowns, with the 6th that would have beat them ruled out of bounds as time expired. State and McDowell will play at Erie’s Veteran Stadium where the Lions will need to be at their best against a balanced and powerful team.
4 Wilson (10-1)
Wilson had a surprisingly easy time of it last week blowing Chambersburg’s doors off 41-13. Many expected this to be a highly competitive game; it wasn’t. But it started out that way with the Trojans jumping out to a 13-0, 1st quarter lead….at Wilson! That got Wilson’s attention as they fought back with a 13-0 2nd quarter, then made adjustments to come out in the 3rd quarter and outscore Chambersburg 28-0. Savvy Kaleb Brown (6-0, 175, sr) was too much for Chambersburg, completing 9 of 12 passes for 102 yards, throwing 2 touchdowns and rushing for 138 yards. To date he’s at 63%, 1234 yards passing with a ratio of 21 to 5. Add another 735 yards rushing to see why Wilson is so difficult to defend. Year after year Coach Dahms cranks out solid high school quarterbacks. Avanti Lockhart also did damage rushing for 114 yards on 17 carries as the Bulldogs piled up the yardage, outgaining Chambersburg 468 to 247. They advance to the semifinal playing 4th seeded Harrisburg who offer the stiffest challenge they’ve faced since losing to Manheim Township in November.
5 Harrisburg (8-3)
Harrisburg came out on fire, finding the end-zone on back-to-back series to open the game while Central York was held to three straight three and outs. Using big plays and a grinding offense, they pounded on the young Panthers for 525 total yards of offense while allowing 214 yards, only 60 rushing. The physicality of Harrisburg prompted Central’s head coach Josh Oswalt to say “our league (York-Adams) is not tough.” Many of us know that but had not heard a coach say that. About those big plays, Jahmir Plant (13-154) had scoring runs of 42 and 52 yards while Jaylon Hosby had a 66 yard Td run. Qb McNeil had scoring tosses of 9 and 57 yards completing 13 of 20 passes for 183 yards as the Cougars rolled 47-14. They move on to play top seeded Wilson Friday in West Lawn. The Bulldogs are the most talented and balanced team Harrisburg has played since back-to-back losses to Central Dauphin and State College in early October.
6 Southern Columbia (11-0, 2A, D4)
Top seeded Southern Columbia blew out to a 42-0 first quarter lead..(!).. that ballooned to 56-0 at the half where they emptied the benches in a 75-0 rout of outmanned Towanda. This was their 11th mercy ruled win of the season. Total yardage was 646 to 21, with the Tigers scoring 8 touchdowns on their first 9 plays. No typo! First half action saw Gavin Garcia rush for 144 yards on 3 carries, scoring on 37, 78 and 35 yard runs. Gaige Garcia had 3 carries for 178 yards in the first half also in the first half alone, scoring a 74 yard and 93 yard touchdown. It would be interesting seeing how SCA might respond if they ever had to play four quarters. 5th seeded North Penn-Mansfield (5-6) is next after upsetting 4th seeded Wellsboro (9-2) 17-14. Earlier in the year, North Penn lost to Towanda 35-32, the team Southern just routed 75-0.
7 Warwick (9-2, 5A)
Warwick ruined Mechanicsburg’s first postseason appearance since 2012, throttling the Wildcats 34-6 in a penalty filled game. Warwick big offense generated 431 total yards of offense, enough to overcame the flags. But 12 for 140 is extreme especially with 4 turnovers that kept the lid on this one. Conversely, there aren’t many 12 seeds that can overcome 98 yards of penalties on the road in a playoff game. Mechanicsburg didn’t, scoring 6 points on 204 yards of offense. Colton Miller was Warwick’s big gun gaining 158 yards on 24 carries with touchdowns of 1, 1 and 3 yards. They move on to play 4th seeded Manheim Central, a team they dominated 37-7 back on Sept 6th. That was a long time ago and this one is in Manheim.
8 Manheim Central (9-2, 5A)
13th seeded Waynesboro (5-6) came into the game with 4th seeded Manheim Central after losing to every winning team on their schedule; Red Lion, Gettysburg, Shippensburg, McDevitt and the regular season finale to Northern 49-25. Still, it’s the postseason and a whole new beginning, especially for teams like Waynesboro where little went their way in the regular season. Nothing went their way here either with the Barons scoring on their first play from scrimmage when quarterback Evan Simon hit Ben Wagner for a 52 yard scoring toss to begin the slide. Thereon it devolved to a 28-0 first quarter to shatter any hopes the Indians may have had on the way to a 48-0 rout. Simon had another special game, accounting for 343 total yards of offense; 123 rushing, 220 passing, or, 84% of their 406 total yards. Wagner ended up with 102 yards on 6 receptions with his brother Colby catching 4 for 76 yards. They move on to 2nd round action to host Warwick. This is no ordinary playoff game, knowing Warwick snapped their 27 game regular season unbeaten streak earlier in the year with a thorough 37-7 pounding. And….it was the first time Warwick beat MC since 1983! Look for a wild one here, maybe the best game in a district filled with great games this weekend since this pits two of the top quarterbacks in the mid-state against one another; Warwick’s Joey McCracken (62%, 2510, 25/4, 300 rushing) vs MC’s Evan Simon (58%, 2411, 23/8, 828 rushing).
9 Central York (9-2)
The young Central York team had a fine year but were outmuscled and manhandled by the size, speed and athleticism of Harrisburg in the opening round, going down hard in a 47-14 loss. It’s not much consolation following a loss of such proportions, outgained 525 to 214, but no one expected this group to win nine games following tremendous graduation losses, much less, win the York-Adams-Section 1 outright. With most of the offense returning that averaged 45ppg coming into the Harrisburg game there is a lot to look forward too for next season. Plus, a loss like that to Harrisburg tells you exactly where you stand in the District-3 landscape and power structure.
10 Chambersburg (6-5)
Chambersburg came out of the gate strong in the district opener at Wilson, taking a 13-0 first quarter lead that quieted the home town crowd in a big way. Up until then, there were very few penalties, blown assignments or fumbles. They looked stronger and quicker. Then Wilson came back, knotting the score at 13 all with quarterback Kaleb Brown scoring from 8 yards out with 0:19 left in the half. Not good. The second half saw Wilson’s adjustments unfold behind the power running of Avanti Lockhart who almost single handedly took Chambersburg apart, scoring on runs of 10 and 2 yards before hauling in a 14 yard pass from Kaleb Brown for another score, all in the third quarter. Four touchdowns and 28 points later (3rd qtr) and it was all over, with Chambersburg reeling from the Bulldog onslaught in a 41-13 loss. Few saw that coming! But it was still a strong year for them, losing narrowly to State College 27-17, Red Lion 26-21, Harrisburg 27-25 and Central Dauphin 28-23, especially considering they are two years removed from four consecutive 1-9 campaigns.
11 Shippensburg (11-0, 5A)
Shippensburg survived a major scare from an unlikely source with 14th seeded Solanco playing more like a conference champion than a fourth place team in the LL-2. They actually led 35-28 before Shippensburg answered with third and fourth quarter scores to escape with a 42-35 win. Alex Sharrow was special, gaining 244 yards on 9 carries with the Golden Mules focusing on fullback Jacob Foy who was held to 20 yards. This further allowed Ship to exploit holes in the defense, throwing two touchdown on six completions for 138 yards. Neither team really stopped the other with Shippensburg gaining 413 (275r, 138p) yards to Solanco’s 379 (262r, 117p) total offense. Solanco’s workhorse running back Nick Yannutz finished with 128 yards on 29 carries, ending the season with 1322 yards. Ship needs to tighten up the defense in a hurry if they hope to advance past 11th seeded Exeter who just destroyed 6th seeded York 42-14. Exeter will be ready, having played Berks Catholic, Spring Ford, Conrad Weiser and Governor Mifflin before routing 6th seeded York High last week.
12 Cedar Cliff (8-2, 5A)
Cedar Cliff had a bye last week getting healthy while their next opponent 10th seeded New Oxford played 7th seeded Northeastern in Manchester where they embarrassed the Bobcats 41-14! The two had played the week before in the York Adams-1 regular season final won by Northeastern 38-21. Nice turnaround for the Colonials from a 2-3 start with the 5-1 finish and road upset last week, getting to their first playoff appearance since 2013. Their primary weapon is record setting quarterback Brayden Long (6-3, 200, sr) who broke the Adams County career yardage record two weeks ago with a current total of 6490 yards. Good stuff, but playing at 2nd seeded Cedar Cliff is a step up for New Oxford where they’ll face the best back they’ve seen all year in Jaheim Morris (5-9, 190, sr). He’s at 1859 yards with 27 Tds and has not been stopped all year. While New Oxford was losing to Solanco 21-10, York 40-27 and Central York 43-7, Cedar Cliff was sharpening up against Governor Mifflin 18-13, Cocalico 15-43, Susquehanna Township 21-14, McDevitt 20-17 and Harrisburg 7-41. Bottom line, this one matches two diametrically opposed offenses, with the Colts pounding it on the ground while New Oxford goes up top all night.
13 Milton Hershey (9-1, 4A)
Last week saw Mid Penn-Capital champ Milton Hershey on the sidelines with a bye and the 2 seed while 10th seeded Conrad Weiser (6-5, Berks-1) went on the road to crush 7th seeded Fleetwood (7-3, Berks-1) 44-15, a team they lost to in the regular season 27-14. Nice job by the Scouts holding down Fleetwood’s ground game to 78 yards. Evidently Christian Moreno was injured coming in with 1070 yards, getting one carry for four yards. That was their first win against a winning team, losing to Cocalico 42-15, Fleetwood 27-14, Exeter 28-21, Susquehanna Township 24-7 and Governor Mifflin 21-20. Milton Hershey has notable wins against Middletown 33-21 and Steel High 49-27 and are unquestionably better than Weiser with athletes blanketing the field. But Weiser is a feisty bunch who have cranked it up a notch with the 21-20 loss to Governor Mifflin on a missed extra point and last week’s rout of Fleetwood. Qb is Logan Klitsch with 1450 yards passing at 56% and a 15/5 ratio can wing it to four solid receivers in Dalton Moyer (19-427), CJ Civiello (12-209) and Aanjay Feliciano (11-212). Owen Dautrich leads team in rushing with 841 yards and is main cog in the passing game with 295 yards on 18 receptions. They shouldn’t be taken lightly.
14 Middletown (9-1 3A)
Middletown had the week off with a bye and the #2 seed while Lancaster Catholic (10-1, LL-3) was defeating 6th seeded Bermudian Springs (6-5, YA-3) 30-7. The Crusaders are coached by Todd Mealy (former star at Harrisburg-McDevitt) who had success a few years ago at Penn Manor of the LL-1, going 56-35 from 2007 through 2014. At LC he replaced a legend when Bruce Harbach retired after his 16th season (138-54), winning 2A state titles in 2009 (15-1) and 2011 (16-0). Back to Mealy, pure and simple the man knows how to coach, guiding Catholic to an undefeated regular season last year in his first season before losing to Bermudian Springs (9-4) 20-10 in the opening round making last week’s game sweet revenge. This is the up and coming 3A in district-3 that is still likely a year away from challenging Middletown’s supremacy, but they are getting close.
15 Bishop McDevitt (7-3, 4A)
Bishop McDevitt had a bye last week with the 4th seed and will now play Susquehanna Township, the 5th seed. Both are in the Mid Penn-Keystone where McDevitt finishing a game behind Cedar Cliff at 5-1 and a game ahead of Susquehanna Township at 4-2. And both just closed out the regular season playing each other with McDevitt winning a tight one at Hanna 17-13. The rematch will be difficult for The Tribe playing at red hot McDevitt who has won five straight games by an average score of 39-8.
16 Susquehanna Township (7-3, 4A)
Susquehanna Township had a bye last week with the 5 seed, coming into this week’s game against Bishop McDevitt off losses to conference champion Cedar Cliff 21-14 and runner-up McDevitt 17-13 two weeks ago. The McDevitt score while close on the scoreboard disguised what was a particularly dominant performance by McDevitt’s defense, holding Hanna to 28 total yards of offense. McDevitt had 310 total yards. Susquehanna’s scoring came as a result of special teams on an 88 yard kickoff return and a 44 yard punt return. The winner here moves on to the district semifinal against the winner of the York Suburban (10-0, #1 seed)-Lampeter Strasburg (8-3. #8 Seed) game. Suburban has an exciting back in Savion Harrison with 1498 yards and 20 touchdowns while LS is paced by Bryan McKim with 1111 rushing and a balanced attack averaging 240 yards rushing and 149 passing a game.
17 Cocalico (8-2, 5A)
Cocalico comes off a bye week with the #1 seed for a rematch with 8th seeded Governor Mifflin who just defeated Northern 54-14. Cocalico won the first encounter Sept 6th at home 26-14, but were held to 208 total yards of offense, their second lowest of the season. Only Manheim Township held them to fewer. But the Eagles showed moxie, converting two fourth downs, one leading to a touchdown. A kickoff return of 76 yards for another score was the difference. Since Governor Mifflin lost to Cocalico they’ve won eight straight by an average score of 44-14. So its Mifflin’s tricky Mid-Line Option and speedy backs verses Cocalico’s Veer that features one of the best players in the state in quarterback Noah Palm (New Hampshire). His stats this year alone are special, completing 66% for 855 yards with a Td-Pick ratio of 8 to 2. He leads the team in rushing with 1075 yards and 24 touchdowns. Throw in RBs Ronald Zahm with 545 yards and Steven Flinton at 574 yards to see why the Eagles veer is so difficult to contain.
18 Wyomissing (10-0, 3A)
Wyomissing had a timely bye week with the top seed following a grueling 23-0 win over rival Berks Catholic the week before. You know they had people in Annville Cleona, 20 miles west on 422 checking out their next opponent who took apart 5th seeded Littlestown 39-12. With a boatload of players back from last year, the Dutchmen are 7-4 (?), finishing third in the LL-3 at 6-3 behind ELCO (Eastern Lebanon County, Myerstown, 7-4, 7-2) and Lancaster Catholic (10-1, 8-1). Their Veer offense revolves around the powerful running of junior Trevor Porche (5-9, 195) and quarterback Jeremy Bours (5-11, 185, jr). Porche is fast enough and powerful with 1605 rush yards. Qb Bours has a strong arm with accuracy issues, completing 39 of 96 (41%) with a Td/Pick ratio of 8/5. And he runs the Veer well, making smart choices, rushing for 727 yards. But they haven’t played a team like Wyomissing since losing the opener at Milton Hershey 48-16. Wyo’s D is too fast and veteran, especially against a one dimensional team like Annville whose defense at 29ppg is far too porous.
19 Governor Mifflin (8-3, 5A)
Governor Mifflin has it going now, winning their eighth straight game after routing Northern York County (known as Northern) 54-14. Mifflin appears to have belatedly evolved into the team that was once ranked 8th in the preseason write ups. That was overly optimistic combined with the usual exuberance of the preseason! Northern was largely stunted in this one, held to 269 total yards (160r, 109p) while allowing the Mustangs 478 yards of offense. GM’s Mid-Line Option got rolling (455 rush yards), especially against a 4-4 they had to be licking their chops to get at. That’s big stuff, fueled in part by sophomore Nicholas Singleton’s 208 rush yards (1669 season), scoring on runs of 51 and 59 yards. While the offense has yet to develop a credible passing attack, Kolbie Reeser gets it done, completing 3 of 5 passes for 23 yards with a Td toss and 124 yards rushing, scoring on 32, 3, 6, and 59 yard runs. The rematch with Cocalico is next.
20 Berks Catholic (6-4, 4A)
Berks Catholic and Gettysburg High should be well rested after having last week off with byes as the 3rd and 5th seeds. BC is coming off an injury plagued season that robbed them of their firepower for much of the year. They battled but just didn’t have it against a daunting schedule of Central Dauphin, losing 31-6, McDonogh School, losing 38-7, Malvern Prep, dropping a 42-7 decision and two weeks ago against area and Berks Inter County-Section 2 rival Wyomissing, losing 23-0. But when they’re healthy, they have an awesome array of speedsters including Abdul MacFoy (87/714), Colby Newton (55/372), CJ Carwll (42/275) and Nolan Larkin (28/196). Injuries and a one dimensional approach left them vulnerable against many, perhaps Gettysburg, who put together a decent rebuild at 8-2, finishing second behind York Suburban (10-0) in the York Adams-Section 2 after winning it last year. But a rebuilt Warrior team may not be enough against a damaged Saints team full of fight and battle hardened against one of the most difficult schedules of any team in the 4A classification.
TIE
Exeter Township (8-3, 5A, 11th seed)
Exeter managed to hang in there this season despite youth at the skill positions (next year!) and the disappointment that comes with narrow losses separating them from an outstanding season. The season opening 14-10 loss to Berks Catholic followed by a surprising 24-7 loss at home to Spring Ford three weeks later had them at 2-2 coming off their non-conference schedule. But the Spring Ford game was closer than the score might indicate, with Exeter holding the Rams to 27 yards rushing! And who could predict Ryan Engro especially on the road, completing 23 of 40 passes for 304 yards and 2 scores. Quite a performance. From there the Eagles soared, winning the next four by an average score of 39-9. Then they lost at Governor Mifflin 33-27, with Qb Gavin McCusker stopped on a 4th and 4 at the 14, despite outgaining the Mustangs 406 to 361 yards. It all came together last week when they defeated 6th seeded York (7-4) 42-14, at York, piling up 404 total yards of offense. Undefeated 3rd seed Shippensburg is next, coming off a narrow 42-35 win against 14th seeded Solanco.
Honorable Mention:
Gettysburg (8-2, 4A, 6th seed) off bye week at #3 Berks Catholic
York Suburban (10-0, 4A, 1st seed) home to Lampeter Strasburg off a bye
Lampeter Strasburg (8-3, 4A, 8th seed) beat #9 ELCO (7-4) 34-7, at Suburban
Upper Dauphin (11-0, 2A, 1st seed) beat #2 Newport (7-4) 44-14, home to Delone Catholic
Delone Catholic (8-3, 2A, 3rd seed) beat #2 Steel High (8-3) 39-27, at Upper Dauphin
Conrad Weiser (6-5, 4A, 10th seed) defeated #7 Fleetwood (8-3) 44-15, at Milton Hershey
Lancaster Catholic (10-1, 3A, 3rd seed) beat #6 Bermudian Springs (6-5) 30-7, at Middletown
Mount Carmel (9-2, 2A, D4, 3rd seed) beat #6 Bloomsburg (3-8) 2-0 forfeit, at #2 Troy (10-1) who beat #7 Line Mountain (3-8) 27-14
Montoursville (10-1, 3A, D4, 1st seed) beat #8 Shamokin (3-8) 42-0, home to #4 Warrior Run (7-4) who beat # 6 Lewisburg (5-6) 28-7
Cedar Crest (7-4, 6th seed) lost at Central Dauphin 36-6, season over
Cumberland Valley (5-6, 7th seed) lost at Manheim Township 32-26, season over
