JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Holy cow … a Lancaster-Lebanon League football post on June 30.
Yeah, it’s true – hey, it’s never too early to talk about L-L football, one of my all-time favorite subjects.
I just got finished typing in the 2008 master schedule, which you can find in all of its glory right here.
I’ll break down the games another time, but for now, I wanted to pass along some of my favorite anomalies, from when I sat down and scoured the complete schedule for the first time, starting with this gem:
* There is a Thursday game this season: Cocalico at Annville-Cleona in a non-league clash on September 11. Cocalico coach Dave Gingrich played for A-C, and since A-C is (finally) moving back into its home stadium, and since Gingrich is an alum, they decided to do a little something different. So a Thursday game it is. Kick time is 7 p.m., and it’ll be the only game in town.
By the way, Annville-Cleona’s first home game (after spending the last two full seasons on the road because of on-campus construction) is August 29 against cross-town rival Palmyra. Kick time is 7 p.m. Welcome home, Little Dutchmen. Enjoy your new digs.
* Speaking of 7 p.m. … glad to see pretty much every school is going with a 7 p.m. start time. Just a few 7:30 start times this season … looks like Garden Spot, Pequea Valley and Donegal are still going with 7:30 start times for home games. Didn’t every game used to start at 8 p.m. back in the day? Just between you and me, I like the 7 p.m. starts.
Some other oddities to pass along, in no particular order …
* Trick or treat! The final night of league play is on Halloween, October 31. Cue the scary music. The bleachers across the area could look mighty interesting that night, eh?
* Columbia will play six (6) home games, including a Section 3 date against Lampeter-Strasburg, when the first Columbia Hall of Fame class will be inducted. Should be a big night on the hill on September 19.
* Pequea Valley will have a three-game home stand in Kinzers: September 5 against Springfield Township, September 12 against Fleetwood and September 19 in the Section 3 opener against Annville-Cleona.
* Northern Lebanon will play six (6) home games, including the first three games in a row to open the season: the Vikings will host Pine Grove on August 29, New Oxford on September 5 and Hamburg on September 12. No bus rides for the Vikes until Week 4. Nothing like a big old pot of home cooking.
* Donegal will have a three-game road trip: The Indians are at Eastern York on September 5, at Interboro on September 12, and travel to Lancaster Catholic on September 19 for the Section 3 opener. I’ll have my hands full trying to preview that Interboro game, by the way.
* Lampeter-Strasburg will open defense of its District 3 Triple-A title with back-to-back road games: August 29 at Cocalico (the Eagles knocked off the Pioneers in last year’s opener, remember?) and September 5 at Penn Manor. And L-S should find out where it stacks up in the Section 3 race right away, with a trip to Columbia on September 19, followed by a home date with Lancaster Catholic seven days later on September 26. Is this great or what?
* Penn Manor will play six (6) home games on the turf at MU.
* Manheim Township faces a three-game road trip: September 5 at Red Lion (in a rematch of a District 3 Quad-A playoff game last fall), September 12 at Elizabethtown (think the Blue Streaks will be thinking revenge in that one?) and September 19 at Reading in the Section 1 opener.
* Solanco, fresh off a co-Section 2 title and a trip to Districts, has perhaps the toughest schedule (on paper, at least). The Golden Mules will play (gulp) seven (7) road games, including all three non-league games right out of the chute: August 29 at Penn Manor, September 6 (a Saturday game) at Kennard-Dale and September 12 at Oxford. Just three home games? Wow. Solanco finishes Section 2 play October 24 at Garden Spot and October 31 at Cocalico. That’s an awful lot of bus rides to and from Quarryville. And an awful lot of (expensive) gas, come to think of it. P.S. Solanco AD Dan Baughman told me earlier this spring about the new grass project on the sports fields at Solanco. They’re not getting turf, but fresh sod on the playing surfaces at the school. That very likely has something to do with some games being shifted.
* Just two (2) Saturday games all season, and Solanco is in both of them: September 6 is Solanco at Kennard-Dale (non-league; 1 p.m. start), and September 20 is Elizabethtown at Solanco (Section 2), in a rare home game for the Mules.
Much more L-L football chatter to come … I’m going to scour the schedule again and post my must-see games to watch. For now, I wanted to get the schedule posted, and share some of those notes. Stay tuned.
