Districts 3, 4, 5, 6
1 Manheim Central 5A 9-0
Manheim Central won their 25th Section-2 title by overwhelming winless Garden Spot 63-0 to maintain the top seed ahead of fellow Section-2 member Cocalico. Special Teams and defense were prominent with a 77 yard punt return touchdown, an 89 yard kickoff TD and a 56 yard Pick-Six deflating whatever hopes the Spartans may have had. They were held to 140 total yards of offense. MC closes out the regular season Friday at home against Solanco (6-3) who’s coming off a 42-7 loss to Cocalico. The Mules have good size and some nice parts but are way too slow for MC.
2 Harrisburg 6A 8-1
Harrisburg had no trouble with Carlisle, breaking out to a 44-3 lead at the half in an easy win over the slumping Herd, 64-10. This was total domination with 44 unanswered points to open the game with Harrisburg leading in total yardage 498 to 266. The Cougars will go into the postseason with the top seed after closing things out at another slumping program Friday in Altoona (3-6) who’ve lost 5 of their last 6 games.
3 State College 6A 8-1
The Lions were all over Altoona last week pounding out 386 yards of their 508 total yards in a dominating 49-14 victory in their last home game of the regular season. This sets up an interesting finale in Mechanicsburg Friday against red hot Cumberland Valley who’ve won 3 straight after a 0-6 start. Ok, lukewarm. CV won last year, 36-21, giving State their first loss of the year while snapping their 5 game winning streak. Like Ridley in District-1, they’ve struggled this year, but are a prideful program with a long history and tradition of success. Ridley hasn’t had a losing season since 1955 (!), while the Eagles haven’t lost since 2006. The challenge this season was playing one of the most difficult schedules in memory during a major rebuilding year against Bishop McDevitt 8-1, Central York 8-1, Coatesville 9-0, Central Dauphin 6-3, Harrisburg 8-1 and Chambersburg 6-3….to open the season! A veteran group might go 3-3 against that slate! SC should win this one comfortably but don’t be surprised to see a fine effort from a down but not out CV squad, something like Riley at Haverford this week.
4 Bishop McDevitt 4A 8-1
McDevitt bludgeoned another opponent this week, taking a 42-0 lead at the half then easing up for a 49-7 MP-Keystone win against 1-8 Mechanicsburg. Would you believe 384 to 55 total yardage advantage to the Crusaders....while holding them to 4-1st downs. They’re home this week to Susquehanna Township (6-3) who had it handed to them last week by division leader Cedar Cliff 30-0. McDevitt has the #1 seed in a field of 10 for the postseason tournament.
5 Manheim Township 6A 8-1
The blowouts continued last week with Manheim Township defeating J.P. McCaskey (1-8) 49-13 in Section-1 action. The Blue Streaks caught many prognosticators off guard this year after graduating nearly everyone from last year’s 12-2 district title team. That group averaged 42ppg with a D allowing 15. This year’s is at 29ppg with the strength of the team resting with their defense that’s allowing 12ppg. With up tempo, spread offenses dominating, 12ppg is impressive. Against JPM, they scored early, taking a 10-0 1st quarter lead that ballooned following a 26-pt 2nd quarter. The win keeps them abreast of Warwick and Wilson at 4-1 in the section while a win at rival Hempfield (5-4), who’s right there at 3-2, assures them a piece of the crown. They currently have the 2nd seed behind Harrisburg. How about these Streaks!
6 Central Dauphin 6A 6-3
CD rebounded from the 35-28 loss to State College last week defeating Chambersburg (6-3) 35-14. It was over at the half with the Rams building a 28-0 lead, then winning the total yardage battle 354 to 216. The defense swarmed league rushing leader Keyshawn Jones, holding him to 42 yards. Adam Burkhart (5-11, 220) was a force again rushing for 140 yards (2 Tds), and a terror at linebacker where he leads the team in tackles at 58. Noah Hoffman was sharp completing 9 of 15 passes for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s at 65% for the year. Although they are going nowhere in the MP-Commonwealth at 4-2 behind SC at 5-1 and Harrisburg at 6-0, they are well positioned in the district standings with the 4 seed atop Wilson who has the 5th. Rematch anyone? They close at home against neighboring rival CD East (3-6) who beat them last year 35-31 but lost to Cumberland Valley last week 48-17.
7 Berks Catholic 4A 7-2
Terrance Derr completed 6 of 10 passes for 86 yards and 4 touchdowns while sophomore Colby Newton got some time rushing for 76 yards on 4 carries as the Saints cruised to a 57-7 win against Fleetwood. Next up is their historic rival Wyomissing (8-1) with whom they are tied atop the Berks-2 at 4-0. Both schools are on the West side of Reading a few blocks from each other, like Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt and Harrisburg High were up to a few years ago before McDevitt moved to the burbs. Wyomissing is good stuff, on the level of a Gettysburg, Shippensburg, Jim Thorpe type, putting them at some disadvantage here against a BC group that battled Central Dauphin (Lost 0-7), Exeter (Won 31-7), McDonogh (Won 14-13) and Malvern Prep (Lost 32-42).
8 Warwick 5A 7-2
Warwick showed they are far more balanced than many might have felt with all the attention their passing attack has earned after crushing an inconsistent Conestoga Valley (5-4) team with 238 yards rushing. Nick Fucci had 152 of those yards on 25 carries with Qb Joey McCracken lighting things up completing 12 of 16 passes for 274 yards. The win keeps them deadlocked atop the LL-1 at 4-1 with Township and Wilson, sitting pretty with the 6th seed and 1-8 Penn Manor up next at their place to close out the regular season.
9 Southern Columbia 2A 9-0
Once again Southern overwhelmed a non-competitive opponent scoring 8-1st half touchdowns to gain a 55-0 halftime advantage in a 69-8 rout of 0-9 Hughesville. Rbs Gaige Garcia and brother Gavin had 138 and 116 yards rushing respectively with the Tigers holding a 552 to 206 total yardage advantage. The win clinched the Heartland Athletic Conference-Division 3 title. Qb Stone Hollenbach is still out with a left wrist fracture and surgery. He has not played since game #4 v Shamokin, being replaced by junior Preston Zachman, 6-2, 195. HAC Div-2 champ Danville (8-1) is next. The Ironmen are a veteran team with great tradition, but don’t have the horses SCA has. Still, they have a sophomore Qb in Kayden Riley (2nd year, 6-0, 160) who has thrown for 1875 yards (60%) with a Td/Pick ratio of 18 to 5. He could keep it interesting with a sizeable offense scoring 35ppg with a defense allowing 15.
10 Cocalico 5A 7-2
Cocalico took on the big, strong and physical Solanco (6-3) team but made it look easy in a 42-7 romp over the slow footed Mules. Qb Noah Palm ran at will for 154 yards and 4 scores with Garrett Longenecker contributing 131 yards. Solanco did some damage at 242 total yards but couldn’t finish, not with a 34.57 yard per point average. Scoring 36ppg and allowing 21 is decent stuff excepting the defense until you look at the schedule that shows quality opponents in Conrad Weiser 6-2, Cedar Cliff 6-2, Governor Mifflin 6-3, Township 8-1 and Manheim Central at 9-0. The Eagles move on to play Lampeter Strasburg (5-4), a lesser offensive version of Solanco with the 2nd seed.
11 Cedar Cliff 5A 7-2
Cedar Cliff took a giant step towards clinching the Mid Penn-Keystone defeating Susquehanna Township in Harrisburg 30-0. Barring a major upset against Red Land (1-8), the win clinches the division, having already defeated McDevitt 5 weeks ago 50-43. Against Hanna, Jaheim Morris was awesome, rushing for 206 yards of the teams 256 yards rushing. The defense was also special, allowing 137 total yards on 8-1st downs with DT Johnathan Hammond 6-1 250, DE Justin Resto 6-1 240 and Donovan Bell 6-0, 210 controlling the front. The Colts are looking good with the 5th seed, just ahead of Warwick and a slot behind York.
12 Wilson 6A 6-3
After losing to Warwick last week, the Bulldogs got it going again with a convincing 42-21 win over Cedar Crest. The win allowed them to keep pace with Warwick and Township in the LL-1 and to jump Chambersburg in the rankings with their loss to Central Dauphin. Anthony Futrick had a confidence boosting game completing 12 of 16 for 194 yards with 3 Tds. Elijah Morales broke loose for 150 yards on 22 carries for 3 scores with Isaiah Gilmore and Brady Gibble gaining 72 and 70 yards in receptions respectively. Wilson has the 5th of 8 seeds in D3’s 6A classification with McCaskey (1-8) next in Lancaster.
13 Chambersburg 6A 6-3
The Trojans sustained their second straight loss following a 6-1 start, losing at home to Central Dauphin 35-14. Still, this is a great season for them, knowing their won-loss the last 4 years was 1-9, 1-9, 1-9 and 0-10! Heck of a turnaround and when was playing Harrisburg and Central Dauphin back-to-back ever easy. This one looked bad from the beginning with CD coming in after losing a tight one at home the previous week to SC. But they still have a lot to play for, holding the 7th seed just ahead of Hempfield with their long standing bitter historic rival Carlisle up next. The Thundering Herd has stumbled recently, losing their last 6 after a 3-0 start. But all that means nothing against Chambersburg. Carlisle has a quality back in Tyler Sulich who had 108 yards rushing against Harrisburg last week to match Chambersburg’s Keyshawn Jones.
14 Middletown 3A 8-1
The Blue Raiders moved a game closer to securing the Mid Penn-Capital Division crown with a 28-0 shutout of East Pennsboro (3-6). The East Penn Panthers won their last 3 games following a 0-5 start but had the door slammed on them at home in Enola with Middletown holding them to 101 total yards. Nice! Jose Lopez rushed for 212 yards and a score with Richie Sykes adding 76 more on 14 carries. Palmyra (7-1) is next, a game behind them but looking shaky after last week’s 14-13 win over 0-9 Trinity (nice team, young) and the previous week’s home loss to Milton Hershey. Palmyra has the 8th seed in 5A, Milton Hershey the 2nd in 4A with Middletown holding the 2nd seed behind undefeated Lancaster Catholic.
15 Red Lion 6A 7-2
Zach Mentzer threw for 288 yards and touchdowns of 49, 46, 48 and 69 yards, leading the Lions to an insurmountable 36-7 halftime lead against Spring Grove where they ultimately prevailed 46-21. Like Governor Mifflin, Red Lion has weathered the storm of significant graduation losses from an 8-3 team, improving the offense from 32ppg to 36 and the defense from 22 to 19ppg. Dallastown will zing them for a few Friday but they’ve really developed well. The York Adams remains deadlocked, with Red Lion, York and Central York all 5-1 with one game to go. It could be settled this weekend with 6th seeded Red Lion traveling to Dallastown (4-2, 5-4, 9th seed) and Central York (5-1, 8-1, 3rd seed) visiting York High (5-1, 8-1, 4th seed).
1 Manheim Central 5A 9-0
Manheim Central won their 25th Section-2 title by overwhelming winless Garden Spot 63-0 to maintain the top seed ahead of fellow Section-2 member Cocalico. Special Teams and defense were prominent with a 77 yard punt return touchdown, an 89 yard kickoff TD and a 56 yard Pick-Six deflating whatever hopes the Spartans may have had. They were held to 140 total yards of offense. MC closes out the regular season Friday at home against Solanco (6-3) who’s coming off a 42-7 loss to Cocalico. The Mules have good size and some nice parts but are way too slow for MC.
2 Harrisburg 6A 8-1
Harrisburg had no trouble with Carlisle, breaking out to a 44-3 lead at the half in an easy win over the slumping Herd, 64-10. This was total domination with 44 unanswered points to open the game with Harrisburg leading in total yardage 498 to 266. The Cougars will go into the postseason with the top seed after closing things out at another slumping program Friday in Altoona (3-6) who’ve lost 5 of their last 6 games.
3 State College 6A 8-1
The Lions were all over Altoona last week pounding out 386 yards of their 508 total yards in a dominating 49-14 victory in their last home game of the regular season. This sets up an interesting finale in Mechanicsburg Friday against red hot Cumberland Valley who’ve won 3 straight after a 0-6 start. Ok, lukewarm. CV won last year, 36-21, giving State their first loss of the year while snapping their 5 game winning streak. Like Ridley in District-1, they’ve struggled this year, but are a prideful program with a long history and tradition of success. Ridley hasn’t had a losing season since 1955 (!), while the Eagles haven’t lost since 2006. The challenge this season was playing one of the most difficult schedules in memory during a major rebuilding year against Bishop McDevitt 8-1, Central York 8-1, Coatesville 9-0, Central Dauphin 6-3, Harrisburg 8-1 and Chambersburg 6-3….to open the season! A veteran group might go 3-3 against that slate! SC should win this one comfortably but don’t be surprised to see a fine effort from a down but not out CV squad, something like Riley at Haverford this week.
4 Bishop McDevitt 4A 8-1
McDevitt bludgeoned another opponent this week, taking a 42-0 lead at the half then easing up for a 49-7 MP-Keystone win against 1-8 Mechanicsburg. Would you believe 384 to 55 total yardage advantage to the Crusaders....while holding them to 4-1st downs. They’re home this week to Susquehanna Township (6-3) who had it handed to them last week by division leader Cedar Cliff 30-0. McDevitt has the #1 seed in a field of 10 for the postseason tournament.
5 Manheim Township 6A 8-1
The blowouts continued last week with Manheim Township defeating J.P. McCaskey (1-8) 49-13 in Section-1 action. The Blue Streaks caught many prognosticators off guard this year after graduating nearly everyone from last year’s 12-2 district title team. That group averaged 42ppg with a D allowing 15. This year’s is at 29ppg with the strength of the team resting with their defense that’s allowing 12ppg. With up tempo, spread offenses dominating, 12ppg is impressive. Against JPM, they scored early, taking a 10-0 1st quarter lead that ballooned following a 26-pt 2nd quarter. The win keeps them abreast of Warwick and Wilson at 4-1 in the section while a win at rival Hempfield (5-4), who’s right there at 3-2, assures them a piece of the crown. They currently have the 2nd seed behind Harrisburg. How about these Streaks!
6 Central Dauphin 6A 6-3
CD rebounded from the 35-28 loss to State College last week defeating Chambersburg (6-3) 35-14. It was over at the half with the Rams building a 28-0 lead, then winning the total yardage battle 354 to 216. The defense swarmed league rushing leader Keyshawn Jones, holding him to 42 yards. Adam Burkhart (5-11, 220) was a force again rushing for 140 yards (2 Tds), and a terror at linebacker where he leads the team in tackles at 58. Noah Hoffman was sharp completing 9 of 15 passes for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s at 65% for the year. Although they are going nowhere in the MP-Commonwealth at 4-2 behind SC at 5-1 and Harrisburg at 6-0, they are well positioned in the district standings with the 4 seed atop Wilson who has the 5th. Rematch anyone? They close at home against neighboring rival CD East (3-6) who beat them last year 35-31 but lost to Cumberland Valley last week 48-17.
7 Berks Catholic 4A 7-2
Terrance Derr completed 6 of 10 passes for 86 yards and 4 touchdowns while sophomore Colby Newton got some time rushing for 76 yards on 4 carries as the Saints cruised to a 57-7 win against Fleetwood. Next up is their historic rival Wyomissing (8-1) with whom they are tied atop the Berks-2 at 4-0. Both schools are on the West side of Reading a few blocks from each other, like Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt and Harrisburg High were up to a few years ago before McDevitt moved to the burbs. Wyomissing is good stuff, on the level of a Gettysburg, Shippensburg, Jim Thorpe type, putting them at some disadvantage here against a BC group that battled Central Dauphin (Lost 0-7), Exeter (Won 31-7), McDonogh (Won 14-13) and Malvern Prep (Lost 32-42).
8 Warwick 5A 7-2
Warwick showed they are far more balanced than many might have felt with all the attention their passing attack has earned after crushing an inconsistent Conestoga Valley (5-4) team with 238 yards rushing. Nick Fucci had 152 of those yards on 25 carries with Qb Joey McCracken lighting things up completing 12 of 16 passes for 274 yards. The win keeps them deadlocked atop the LL-1 at 4-1 with Township and Wilson, sitting pretty with the 6th seed and 1-8 Penn Manor up next at their place to close out the regular season.
9 Southern Columbia 2A 9-0
Once again Southern overwhelmed a non-competitive opponent scoring 8-1st half touchdowns to gain a 55-0 halftime advantage in a 69-8 rout of 0-9 Hughesville. Rbs Gaige Garcia and brother Gavin had 138 and 116 yards rushing respectively with the Tigers holding a 552 to 206 total yardage advantage. The win clinched the Heartland Athletic Conference-Division 3 title. Qb Stone Hollenbach is still out with a left wrist fracture and surgery. He has not played since game #4 v Shamokin, being replaced by junior Preston Zachman, 6-2, 195. HAC Div-2 champ Danville (8-1) is next. The Ironmen are a veteran team with great tradition, but don’t have the horses SCA has. Still, they have a sophomore Qb in Kayden Riley (2nd year, 6-0, 160) who has thrown for 1875 yards (60%) with a Td/Pick ratio of 18 to 5. He could keep it interesting with a sizeable offense scoring 35ppg with a defense allowing 15.
10 Cocalico 5A 7-2
Cocalico took on the big, strong and physical Solanco (6-3) team but made it look easy in a 42-7 romp over the slow footed Mules. Qb Noah Palm ran at will for 154 yards and 4 scores with Garrett Longenecker contributing 131 yards. Solanco did some damage at 242 total yards but couldn’t finish, not with a 34.57 yard per point average. Scoring 36ppg and allowing 21 is decent stuff excepting the defense until you look at the schedule that shows quality opponents in Conrad Weiser 6-2, Cedar Cliff 6-2, Governor Mifflin 6-3, Township 8-1 and Manheim Central at 9-0. The Eagles move on to play Lampeter Strasburg (5-4), a lesser offensive version of Solanco with the 2nd seed.
11 Cedar Cliff 5A 7-2
Cedar Cliff took a giant step towards clinching the Mid Penn-Keystone defeating Susquehanna Township in Harrisburg 30-0. Barring a major upset against Red Land (1-8), the win clinches the division, having already defeated McDevitt 5 weeks ago 50-43. Against Hanna, Jaheim Morris was awesome, rushing for 206 yards of the teams 256 yards rushing. The defense was also special, allowing 137 total yards on 8-1st downs with DT Johnathan Hammond 6-1 250, DE Justin Resto 6-1 240 and Donovan Bell 6-0, 210 controlling the front. The Colts are looking good with the 5th seed, just ahead of Warwick and a slot behind York.
12 Wilson 6A 6-3
After losing to Warwick last week, the Bulldogs got it going again with a convincing 42-21 win over Cedar Crest. The win allowed them to keep pace with Warwick and Township in the LL-1 and to jump Chambersburg in the rankings with their loss to Central Dauphin. Anthony Futrick had a confidence boosting game completing 12 of 16 for 194 yards with 3 Tds. Elijah Morales broke loose for 150 yards on 22 carries for 3 scores with Isaiah Gilmore and Brady Gibble gaining 72 and 70 yards in receptions respectively. Wilson has the 5th of 8 seeds in D3’s 6A classification with McCaskey (1-8) next in Lancaster.
13 Chambersburg 6A 6-3
The Trojans sustained their second straight loss following a 6-1 start, losing at home to Central Dauphin 35-14. Still, this is a great season for them, knowing their won-loss the last 4 years was 1-9, 1-9, 1-9 and 0-10! Heck of a turnaround and when was playing Harrisburg and Central Dauphin back-to-back ever easy. This one looked bad from the beginning with CD coming in after losing a tight one at home the previous week to SC. But they still have a lot to play for, holding the 7th seed just ahead of Hempfield with their long standing bitter historic rival Carlisle up next. The Thundering Herd has stumbled recently, losing their last 6 after a 3-0 start. But all that means nothing against Chambersburg. Carlisle has a quality back in Tyler Sulich who had 108 yards rushing against Harrisburg last week to match Chambersburg’s Keyshawn Jones.
14 Middletown 3A 8-1
The Blue Raiders moved a game closer to securing the Mid Penn-Capital Division crown with a 28-0 shutout of East Pennsboro (3-6). The East Penn Panthers won their last 3 games following a 0-5 start but had the door slammed on them at home in Enola with Middletown holding them to 101 total yards. Nice! Jose Lopez rushed for 212 yards and a score with Richie Sykes adding 76 more on 14 carries. Palmyra (7-1) is next, a game behind them but looking shaky after last week’s 14-13 win over 0-9 Trinity (nice team, young) and the previous week’s home loss to Milton Hershey. Palmyra has the 8th seed in 5A, Milton Hershey the 2nd in 4A with Middletown holding the 2nd seed behind undefeated Lancaster Catholic.
15 Red Lion 6A 7-2
Zach Mentzer threw for 288 yards and touchdowns of 49, 46, 48 and 69 yards, leading the Lions to an insurmountable 36-7 halftime lead against Spring Grove where they ultimately prevailed 46-21. Like Governor Mifflin, Red Lion has weathered the storm of significant graduation losses from an 8-3 team, improving the offense from 32ppg to 36 and the defense from 22 to 19ppg. Dallastown will zing them for a few Friday but they’ve really developed well. The York Adams remains deadlocked, with Red Lion, York and Central York all 5-1 with one game to go. It could be settled this weekend with 6th seeded Red Lion traveling to Dallastown (4-2, 5-4, 9th seed) and Central York (5-1, 8-1, 3rd seed) visiting York High (5-1, 8-1, 4th seed).