It’s an ‘off’ week in District-3 with the preseason and division/section openers behind them. There’s plenty of big games (3-2s vs 3-2s, etc) but few that involve current power or historic power teams playing each other. Here are those that look impressive.
Cocalico 4-1, 5A at ELCO 4-1, 4A:
Cocalico won districts last year and will challenge again this year in a crowded field with four undefeated 5As (Ephrata, Exeter, Garden Spot, New Oxford) and five others like Cocalico at 4-1. Same with ELCO battling it out with three undefeated 4As (McDevitt, Twin Valley, East Pennsboro) and two others at 4-1. That makes this an important one beside being a LL-Section 4 game. Cocalico has a statement win over Manheim Central 48-28 while ELCO is looking for the same. Both are exclusive running teams with ELCO featuring Jake Williams already at 1274ry and Cocalico coming at you with a horde; Sam Steffey 580ry, Aaryn Longenecker 404 and Qb Josh Myer 316.
Ephrata 5-0, 5A at Garden Spot 5-0, 5A:
Three of the district’s undefeated teams reside in the LL-3. These two plus Twin Valley. Ephrata scores 40 a game behind a balanced offense of Qb Sam McCracken’s 67%, 747py, a 7/2 ratio and Brayden Brown’s 572 rush yards. The D allows 16. G-Spot (!) looks to Kye Harting for all things, throwing for 56%, 906py, 20/2ratio and rushing for 638 yards on 72 attempts with seven touchdowns. They also score 40ppg with a D at 13. The Spartans got them last year 24-21 at Ephrata, adding a little incentive. But Garden Spot will be a tough out in New Holland where they’ll be a big crowd and Kye Harting.
Governor Mifflin 3-2, 5A at Wilson 3-2, 6A:
This is a monster game every year with West Reading (Wilson) taking on the South Side in a real neighbourhood war. Strange scheduling but here it is with the Mustangs loaded with skill people as always but an erratic, youthful team who has failed road tests at Spring Ford 49-14 and Exeter 31-10. They are a one-dimensional running team. Wilson has a nice veteran line, a solid quarterback (66%, 1071, 1/2) four excellent receivers with a developing ground game. If they ever put that together, they’ll be a force in the postseason. Meanwhile, all bets are off in this heated rivalry with Wilson seemingly recovered from season opening losses to Roman Catholic and Central Dauphin. Wilson often makes their move about now so it could get out of hand despite being a rivalry.