Wrapped it up early to get it out there with hopefully few typos. As always, feel free to jump in or on and enjoy. Looks like a wild ride in 3!
District-3 Playoffs, all classifications: Nov 5, 6 games.
6A (8 teams, highest seed home)
The big news in the Harrisburg area is Central Dauphin (5-3) and Cumberland Valley (5-5) both missed the playoffs. Central Dauphin had no eye catching wins although they beat Carlisle 24-21 and Berks Catholic 41-22 at home while losing to Cumberland Valley 24-14 and Wilson 27-21 away and to CD East 31-14 at Landis Field where both play. Cumberland Valley had a far more difficult slate losing to Manheim Central 35-7, Central York 21-3, CD East 17-10 and Harrisburg 45-7 while beating Spring Ford 23-19, Carlisle 27-24 and Central Dauphin 24-17.
Other Mid Penn Conference notes:
MPC teams from District-6 including State College and Altoona who play in the MP-Commonwealth and Juniata who won the MP-Liberty will playoff in District-6.
6A #1 State College 5-5 bye
6A #3 Altoona 4-6 at #2 Williamsport 5-5 of District-4, Nov 5th at Williamsport
4A #1 Juniata 8-2 vs #2 Bellefonte 2-7 Nov 6th at Mansion Park, Altoona
November 5th games, Quarterfinals (Harrisburg plays Nov 6th)
#1 Central York 10-0 vs #8 Manheim Township 6-4
Central York enters the postseason undefeated for the second straight year with a huge offense averaging 41ppg, led by quarterback Beau Pribula. He has been unstoppable this year, completing 78% of his passes for 2078 yards. The bad news is they’ve lost star middle linebacker Carter Glassmyre, their best defensive player for the year against Dallastown from a defense allowing 13ppg. Still, they throttled York 60-14 last week to enter the playoffs on a run, averaging 53ppg the last 6 games. Manheim Township comes in with a talented but young team with three point losses to three of the best teams in the district; Dallastown, Harrisburg, Hempfield. They enter the postseason with a bit of a limp, losing two of the last three including last week at Wilson 27-21. They also have a fine quarterback in sophomore Hayden Johnson (69%, 1911, 25/6) and will sling it. Like Central they are balanced, and big enough at 33ppg with a D allowing 20.
#4 York-Wm. Penn 7-2 vs #5 Wilson 7-3
With a back like Jaheim White at 1896 yards rushing, the Bearcats are a threat to score every play. Even in the slop of last week’s blowout loss to Central York, he got over 200 yards rushing. Qb Sam Stoner is also a threat at 68%, 1644 yards. But which York team will show up, the one that lost to Governor Mifflin 55-6 and Central 60-14, or the one that gave 9-1 Coatesville their only loss of the season, 44-39, at Coatesville. While York comes in off a blowout by Central, Wilson comes in on a five game winning streak including wins against Hempfield and Township. They’re a mugger with FB Jadyn Jones (6-1, 210, sr) at 948 yards and Qb Brad Johnson (6-1, 215, sr) bashing you for 693 yards but are rarely a passing threat.
#2 Harrisburg 9-1 vs #7 Carlisle 7-3
These two met back on Sept 25th in Harrisburg where the Cougars prevailed 34-14. Since that loss, Carlisle turned it up a notch winning 4 of their last 5 (lost to CD by 3), then another few notches last week getting a 28-20 win at 3rd seeded Central Dauphin East. Harrisburg is also rolling, winning 6 straight to clinch the Mid Penn-Commonwealth title undefeated at 6-0. In the first encounter, Harrisburg held Carlisle to 212 yards and 8 first downs, slamming their runners hard allowing 76 rushing to their 238 rush yards and 358 total. Bottom line and despite their youth, Harrisburg has more weapons.
#3 Central Dauphin East 7-3 vs #6 Hempfield 6-4
Except for Central York who Hempfield lost to 35-21, East High will put more speed and talent on the field that can beat you on any given play than anyone on Hempfield’s schedule. Then there’s their swarming-gang tackling defense that gives teams fits. Plug in tandem, quarterbacks, Terrence Jackson-Copney and Tony Powell, running back in Marcel McDaniels (1272ry) and one of the best receiver corps in Mehki Flowers (6-1, 195, 811py) and Tymere Thornton (6-5, 210, 542py) to see the Panthers are a complete football team. But, this is new turf for them with a first year coach and coming off 3-7, 3-7 and 0-6 seasons. For the Black Knights to be competitive in the postseason, they’ll need more from the running game to compliment a solid but modest passing game from Cam Harbaugh (57%, 1617, 12/4 ratio) who is also their leading rusher at 592 yards. Both have played top shelf schedules and won’t be intimidated by circumstance.
5A (14 teams, highest seed home)
November 5th games, First round
#8 Warwick 6-4 vs #9 Gettysburg 7-3
Except for the “Hail Mary” 30-28 loss to Penn Manor Sept 17th at home….!!....Warwick is a 7-3 team with competitive losses to good teams. They gave 9-1 Manheim Central and 9-1 Lampeter Strasburg their only loss of the season with a 7-point loss to Central Dauphin East and 6 point losses to Hempfield and Cocalico. Scoring 30ppg while allowing 22 makes them an entertaining bunch with standouts at quarterback Jack Reed (58%, 2072, 16/4), running back Christian Royer (1075ry) and wide out Cooper Eckert (982py). Gettysburg’s defense failed big time against the 2nd tier quality on their schedule losing to Cedar Crest (5-4) 52-14, Waynesboro (8-2) 55-49 and Kennard Dale (9-1) 62-22. Warwick comes in hot, winning 3 of their last 4 games to share the LL-2 with Cocalico and Manheim Central, while Gettysburg came in 2nd in the York Adams-2, winning their last 3 games and 6 of their last 7. That’s a L O N G bus ride of 80 miles to Lititz and probably an even longer ride home for Gettysburg who has not seen a big and balanced team like Warwick this year.
#4 Spring Grove 8-1 vs #13 Twin Valley 6-4
Spring Grove is a newcomer to the postseason, last appearing in 2013. Since then, they’ve had one winning season. But here they are with the top rushing offense in the York Adams featuring Zyree Brooks with 1633 yards before last week’s game where he had at least a 74-yard Td run in the 35-0 rout of South Western. The shutout exemplifies their strong defense (4th in the YA) that allowed 16ppg; 12 minus the 48-17 loss to Central York. Twin Valley of the Berks-2 got to 6-4 with the 37-34 upset of Conrad Weiser before losing to Fleetwood (6-4) 26-9, Wyomissing (10-0) 56-7 and Gettysburg (7-3) 31-28 last week. Qb Evan Myers is solid at 56% for 1360 yards with most of his throws going to Trey Freeman who has 1070 yards, a healthy 20.98 yards per catch average. Spring Grove has advantages in the home field, a tougher schedule and Zyree Brooks.
#5 Waynesboro 8-2 vs #12 Boone 5-3
Waynesboro has a grinding running attack with Aiden Mencia (1039) and Mikel Holden (505), a 2nd place finish at 6-1 in the competitive Mid Penn-Colonial and a 5 game winning streak entering the playoffs. They opened the season with a competitive loss to Spring Grove (see #4 SG above), with their other loss coming against MP-Colonial champ Shippensburg 33-14. Boone (5-3, 2-1) of the Berks Section-1 has not played the last two weeks, with Covid-19 preventing games against the two best teams in their conference, Governor Mifflin (8-0, 3-0) and Exeter (6-3. 3-1). Interesting! Prior to this they had uncompetitive losses to Wyomissing 41-14, Berks Catholic 40-7 and a competitive loss to Twin Valley 19-10. As a veteran team, Boone has some players but are a mild disappointment with the Twin Valley loss and blowouts to Wyomissing and Berks Catholic. Otherwise, they routed Garden Spot, Conestoga Valley, Ephrata, Muhlenberg and Reading by an average score of 35-10.
#7 Exeter Township 6-3 vs #10 South Western 6-4
Exeter is one of the top 3 loss teams in the district, knowing the losses came to Central York 35-28, Hempfield 17-14 and of course a blowout by Governor Mifflin 54-21. The wins of note were Wilson 42-14 in a shocker and Berks Catholic 33-21. They’re led by first year starter Qb Colin Payne at (59%, 1368, 13/5), D1 receiver Jeff Schlaffer (31/572), a 6-6, 210 junior, and TE J.R. Strauss (6-3, 215, 18/328). The backs are quick and powerful in Eric Nangle (848), Cabraun Woody (372) and FB Ty Yocum (340). Together they score 40ppg with a defense at 18ppg. With Boone bailing last week, Exeter should be healed and rested, ready to take down a swooning South Western team coming off a pounding by Spring Grove 35-0 last week, York 70-24 two weeks before that and a 60-0 fiasco to Central York two weeks before that. They’ve lost to every winning team on their schedule since getting out to a 3-0 start.
#3 Shippensburg 10-0 vs #14 New Oxford 6-4
Make that 14 straight wins for the Mid Penn-Colonial champ Greyhounds counting last year’s 4-0 finish. More impressive is their defense allowing 9ppg, a defense built around their defensive end and Minnesota recruit Anthony Smith (6-6, 265, sr) and 6 other return starters. At 30ppg with the clock eating Wing-T supported by running backs Amari Kerr, Traevon Kater Nathan Bean and Diesel Koser, they’re a frustrating opponent. New Oxford is a lesser version of Ship with a good D at 13ppg that held up well until losing to Conrad Weiser’s big attack 48-26 and Gettysburg 27-10, both on the road recently. In fact, things have gone south since the 4-1 start. Conversely, impressive wins against Big Spring (8-2, 34-14), Waynesboro (8-2, 33-14) and Northern (6-3, 21-3) says the Hounds roll here.
#6 Cedar Cliff 8-2 vs #11 Lower Dauphin 6-3
The Colts are getting things done with one of the top running backs in the district in Jontae Smith with 1711 yards, quarterback Ethan Dorrell at 56% for 1220 yards and the versatile Trenton Smith at 680 yards in receptions. Smith was leading the conference in rushing until Dion Bryant of Milton Hershey got 468 yards last week, bringing his total to 1921 yards. About the Colts; their O-Line is a good one, led by LT Claude Godineaux (6-1, 310), Center Gabe Kocher (6-1, 240), LG Jacob Sheaffer (6-0, 265), Hunter Garced (6-3, 265) and Logan Heiple (6-0, 230). All that averages out to 33ppg and a defense allowing 23. The game against Lower Dauphin is a dreaded rematch with a fellow Mid Penn-Keystone Division member. They played Sept 24th at Hershey Park Stadium where Lower Dauphin lost 48-20. Weird game where Cedar Cliff scored 21 second quarter points and Lower Dauphin falling victim to a big plays by special teams, a muffed punt for a touchdown and a kickoff returned for a score, plus a pick! The Falcons will feed Cedar Cliff a steady diet of Jaquan Murphy (6-1, 250, sr) and speedster Jacob Kauffman (5-10, 165, sr) who is way underrated motoring for 1244 yards. This should be a good game as most rematches are.
November 12th games, Quarterfinals
Warwick-Gettysburg winner gets #1 Governor Mifflin 8-0
Exeter-South Western winner gets #2 Manheim Central 9-1
4A (10 teams, highest seed home)
November 5th games. First Round
#8 Northern York 6-3 vs #9 Octorara 7-2
Northern York, which is not in York is really Northern York County which everyone back there calls Northern. Anyway, the Polar Bears have always been a tough, physical, pounding team from the Mid Penn-Colonial Division where they came in 3rd behind Waynesboro and Shippensburg. They lost to both; 6-0 last week to Waynesboro and 21-3 to Ship a month ago. The other loss to help measure them was to Spring Grove 39-7 (York Adams). Like many from the Colonial, they have a modest run oriented offense at 23ppg with good defense allowing 14ppg. Their opponent this week is Octorara, the 2nd place finisher in the Lancaster Lebanon-4 behind Columbia. They are a huge and diverse offense at 38ppg with one of the top dual threats in the playoffs in Weston Stoltzfus. He’s thrown for 1254 yards and 20 touchdowns without an interception at 67% while rushing for 448 yards and 7 more touchdowns. Mike Trainor is a solid running back with 1006 yards at 10 yards per carry. The defense is one of the best in the LL at 15ppg. They’re inexperienced in the postseason but will be a handful for Northern.
#7 Conrad Weiser 7-3 vs #10 Big Spring 7-3
Conrad Weiser fields one of the more exciting teams in the district and postseason because of quarterback Logan Klitsch. He’s thrown for 2063 yards with a Td/Pick ratio of 20 to 6 at 67%, and is their leading rusher at 658 yards. His top receiver Aanjay Feliciano has a 19.6 yards per catch average for 1076 yards. If these guys played any kind of defense, and at 30ppg they don’t, they’d be a very high seed. Still, they’re exciting with Klitsch at 6-3, 195 being a legitimate runner who crushes people and happens to throw well. Their opponent Big Spring finished in a tie with Steel High in the Mid Penn-Capital behind Boiling Springs. They averaged 40ppg with a balanced offense and a defense allowing 20ppg, but had power outages against Shippensburg losing 34-14, and in the season finale losing at Middletown 7-0. They have good skill people in quarterback Ethan Eisenberg (59%, 1370, 19/9), running back Dillon Wakefield (5-11, 215, 1081) and the versatile Logan Schmidt (543ry, 545py) who at 5-9, 150 can motor. That’s good stuff. But with Conrad Weiser 5-0 at home averaging 50ppg, they may be too much for the Bulldogs to overcome until thinking about CW’s defense that allows 30 points per game.
Quarterfinals Nov 12th
Northern-Octorara winner gets #1 Bishop McDevitt 8-1
Weiser-Big Spring winner gets #2 Lampeter Strasburg 9-1
#4 Berks Catholic 6-4 vs #5 Cocalico 6-4
#3 Kennard dale 8-1 vs #6 Donegal 7-2
3A (8 teams, highest seed home)
November 5th Quarterfinals
#1 Wyomissing 10-0 vs #8 Northern Lebanon 4-6
Wyomissing vs Northern Lebanon is going to get real ugly real fast with Wyo overwhelming all their opponents by a combined score of 250 to 35 in the first half alone. They average 46ppg allowing 9, with wins against Pottsville (8-2) 42-14 and Southern Columbia (9-1) 41-20 and have an array of quality backs in Thomas Grabowski (103-766), Andrew Eisenhower (64-563), Amory Thompson (54-557) and Charles McIntyre (40-344) running behind a massive/mobile O-Line. Qb Ben Zechman is at 64% with no picks for 552 yards. Northern Lebanon’s offense is pedestrian at 20ppg, averaging 96 rushing a game and 128 passing with wins over Pine Grove (1-9) 13-7, York Tech (0-9) 33-6, Lebanon (0-10) 27-0 and Pequea Valley (1-8) 42-7.
#4 West Perry 5-5 vs #5 Middletown 5-4
Good luck figuring this one out with both team stumbling through the season with no rhythm. Middletown played a slightly more aggressive schedule losing to McDevitt (4A, 8-1), Juniata (4A, 8-2), Steel High (1A, 7-2) and Boiling Springs (3A, 9-1), then ended the season with a 7-0 win over Big Spring (7-3). They were more of a mystery this year with Brett Myers stepping down after a highly successful eight year run (73-22), guiding the Blue Raiders to three straight (2016-18) finals appearances. New Coach Scott Acri formerly headed the Susquenita program the last 6 years. Add to that the transfer of Qb Tony Powell to CD East to know it’s been an awkward year of transition. While this year’s team struggled against the top teams they looked good in losing to Boiling Springs 26-23 three weeks ago then beat Big Spring last week. Maybe they’ve turned it around. Across the field, West Perry pulls no punches coming straight at you trying to run you out of the stadium. Trent Herrera leads them with 951 yards (230 last week) with quarterback Marcus Quaker rushing for 585 yards. They’re tough at home going 4-1 with wins against East Pennsboro and Mechanicsburg, two talented but inconsistent 5-5 teams, and the impressive 25-14 win against Juniata (4A, 8-2).
#2 Boiling Springs 9-1 vs #7 Lancaster Catholic 4-6
Boiling Springs is going to be a tough out for many teams having demonstrated the ability to go with the athletic/quick teams, beating Middletown and Steelton, and banging with the bruisers, beating Bermudian Springs and Big Spring. Excepting the late-scheduled-covid related anomaly of the 39-34 loss to Mechanicsburg, the Bubblers have defeated everyone by an average score of 45-14. They won the Mid Penn-Capital last week beating Steel High in Steelton 29-28 on a 2-point conversion toss. They’re ground pounders led by seniors Joey Menke at 929 yards, Aiden Metzger at 524 yards and the competent Colin Lunde under center. Lancaster Catholic’s stats look good at a glance averaging 27ppg until digging to see 58% of the points (155) were scored against teams with a combined won-loss of 8-30. They play in the LL-3 but have faced their share of tough hombres losing to York Catholic (2A, 8-0) 24-7, Columbia (2A 8-1) 60-41, Lampeter Strasburg (4A 9-1) 42-14 and Donegal (4A, 7-2) 27-0. Any way you cut it they’re in big trouble here with Boiling Springs going 5-0 at home with a winning margin of 44-10.
#3 Hamburg 6-3 vs #6 Bermudian Springs 5-5
Hamburg comes into the postseason off a win but not a lot of mo, losing to Berks-2 bullies Conrad Weiser 28-7 and Fleetwood 28-26 in a tussle, then edging downtrodden Schuylkill Valley (2-8) 21-13 last week. Not too confidence inspiring but they got here and will open at home. They’re balanced with Qb Xander Menapace (6-4, 195) at 60% for 692 yards with a 7/2 ratio and Diohnny Ruiz (5-10, 190) rushing for 1098 with Pierce Mason (5-11,190) at 541 yards. Bermudian Springs battled through the season on a major rebuild, surviving at 5-5 and winning their last 3 games. They were close to 7-3 with losses at New Oxford (6-4) 7-0 and Fairfield (4-4) 14-13, games they would likely have won at home in York Springs. They resemble Hamburg with quarterback Ethan Beachy (5-8, 165) at 68% for 940 yards with a 11/2 ratio. FB Chanse Boyer (5-8, 180) is at 883 yards for the season with Ricky Pancana (6-0, 165) at 763 yards. The Eagles don’t have their typical bulk this year making it look like an evenly matched game with Hamburg’s size in the backfield and home field tipping the scales.
2A (4 teams, highest seed home)
#1 York Catholic 9-0 vs #4 Susquenita 5-4
This one will likely go like the Wyomissing-Northern Lebanon game projects unless Susquenita does an about face from performances against Big Spring, Boiling Springs, Upper Dauphin and Juanita, teams with a combined 32-9 record, where they lost on average 50-14! York Catholic’s Qb Levan Mcfadden is a dual threat at 576ry and 532py with Andrew Adams toting it for 1009 yards. The offense is balanced scoring 30ppg with a shutdown defense allowing 10. They’re the York-Adams-3 champ and the real deal over the years at 50-13 since 2016. Nita is in big trouble here scoring 20ppg and allowing 35 not counting the 70-18 win against Halifax who suited 17 players.
#2 Columbia 8-1 vs # 3 Upper Dauphin 8-1
It’s too bad these two have to meet in the first round as both are exciting teams that could win districts. Columbia has the best dual threat in the district in Robert Footman who exceeded Stoltzfus’s stats at Octorara. Footman threw for 2548 yards at 60% with a 29/9 ratio, rushing for 440 yards and 14 more touchdowns! They won the head-to-head with Octorara 48-46 to secure the LL-4 crown. At 44ppg, they are explosive. But the D is a liability at 29ppg yield. They’re extremely hard to guard with Footman under center and 4 capable receivers with 20 or more receptions; Dom Diaz-Ellis (40-793), J’von Collazo (33-602), Artie Poindexter (37-426) and Jayden Boone (20-386). That’s a lot of people to keep track of. Thanks to the guys at Lancaster Online for all the stats. Their opponent this week is Upper Dauphin who finished 2nd in the Mid Penn-Liberty, a game behind the only team to beat them, Juniata (4A, 8-2), the top seed in the District-6 tournament. UDA has a big offense at 36ppg supported by an impressive defense allowing 14. The Trojans are real simple. They line up and come at you with a ton of running backs, headed by Brady Morgan with 688 yards and Christian Snyder with 683. Three other backs have at least 200 yards. Quarterback Wil Laskowski is an asset at 65% for 750 yards with a 7/3 ratio to keep opposing defenses looking. Footman and the Crimson Tide will be a new experience for Upper Dauphin who has to hike 60-plus miles all the way downriver, hugging the Susquehanna the whole way.
1A (2 teams, highest seed home)
#1 Steelton Highspire 7-2 vs #2 Delone Catholic 6-4
The big question coming into this one is how will proud Steelton Highspire respond after losing two straight games? Keep in mind they’re coming off a home loss to Boiling Springs where the Bubblers converted a 2-point conversion to win 29-28. This followed the unusual 49-14 loss at Big Spring. Who knows how they come out here. Quarterback Alex Erby leads the entire Mid Penn throwing for 2674 yards at 75% with 34 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Running back Daivin Pryor needs to get more press with 817 rush yards at 10.4ypc. Like Erby, wide out Tyrone Moore leads the entire Mid Penn with 1053 yards in receptions, a 19.1 yards per catch average. Good luck keeping up with this receiver corps with Rell Ceasar at 40 catches for 588 yards, a 14.7 average, and Jaieon Perry at 442 yards on 20 receptions, a 22.1 average. They need to get it right with their old nemesis Delone Cathoic up next. The two have fought many battles recently with Steelton winning last year 23-13 and Delone taking the previous two years, 39-27 and 54-19. The Squires also won 28-13 in 2012 in districts before losing to powerful Bellwood Antis (13-2) in double overtime 33-26. They’ll have to play like that here just to keep up with their run oriented offense scoring a meager 19ppg. Their strength is defense, allowing 15ppg, putting them 5th in the York Adams behind Central York at 13.1ppg. They’re probably catching the Rollers at a bad time but never underestimate this tough little Catholic school from McSherrystown who has gone 117-47 since 2007.
