L-L League football notebook

October 15th, 2008 12:02 am · 0 comments

News, notes and other random thoughts as the weather gets cooler, the Phillies continue to amaze, and L-L League football hits (gulp) Week 8 … almost time to get out the basketballs. I said almost …

ONE FOR ONE: Thought this was an interesting stat from last Friday’s Pequea Valley vs. Elco Section 3 game – the Braves (who are playing with 18 varsity players these days, by the way) had one (uno) rushing attempt for one (uno) yard in Elco’s 47-6 victory. QB Ben Meyers cranked it up 45 times (23 completions) for Pequea Valley.

FIVE IS UNKIND: A pair of L-L League quarterbacks were intercepted five times last Friday – Meyers at Pequea Valley and Ephrata’s Lance Kopp both threw five picks.

TRIVIA TIME: Three (3) L-L League teams have three backs with more than 400 rushing yards. Name them. And for extra credit, name the backs. And for a ridiculous amount of extra credit, tell me how many yards each of them has. Talk amongst yourselves …

GNARLY D: Wilson and Lancaster Catholic have the top-ranked defenses in the league. And the Bulldogs and the Crusaders both flexed their defensive muscles in victories last Friday. Try these numbers on for size – against Reading, Wilson held the Red Knights to 34 rushing yards, 9 passing yards and 5 first downs. And against Northern Lebanon, Catholic held the Vikings to 35 rushing yards, 1 passing yard and 3 first downs. That’s some serious D.

ONE TO TIE: Manheim Central coach Mike Williams, already the winningest football coach in L-L League history, is one victory shy of tying the record for most career wins by a football coach in District 3 history. Former Cedar Cliff and Newport coach Bob Craig went 282-144-11. Williams is sitting on 281-58-3 with Elizabethtown coming to Manheim for a key Section 2 battle on Friday night. … Craig coached Newport from 1957-59, and then Cedar Cliff from 1963-2000.

LIVE CHAT COMING: Been kicking this around for a while, and it looks like it’s going to fly — starting soon (next week, perhaps?) I’m going to do a live chat on our L-L League Insider page at lancsports.com. We have an excellent live blogging program, and the live blogs from games on Friday nights have gone well. So I thought I’d try a live chat, where L-L League sports fans (or sports fans in general) can login and lob questions at me. No funny stuff. Just sports questions that I’ll try and answer — or, at the very least, make it sound like I know what the heck I’m talking about. So stay tuned for that — I’m sure we’ll plug it like crazy when it’s coming up. And be sure to tell a friend. Or 20.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Any luck? Elizabethtown (Conrad Heisey 600, Shane Rosenberry 492 and Mitch Weidman 466), Elco (Arron Achey 712, Ben Arnold 537 and Justin Weatherholtz 463) and Cocalico (Kyle Fisher 1,102, Austin Hartman 853 and Matt Carty 479) all have three backs with more than 400 rushing yards through seven weeks. Yeah, I have entirely too much time on my hands.

UGH: Anyone else sick and tired of that Toyota “Saved by Zero” commercial? Try as I might, I can’t get that stupid song out of my head … which is the exact point of the commercial, come to think of it. That song was brutal back in the 80s, and the remake in the jingle isn’t much better either.

MOST SURPRISING TEAMS: In Section 1 – Penn Manor. I pegged the Comets to go, um, I dunno, 2-8. Maybe 3-7. And here they are, 7-0 overall and tied for first with Wilson (which visits Millersville next week, don’t forget). … In Section 2 – Gonna say Lebanon. I know the Cedars got tripped up there in back-to-back weeks. But they were 4-0 out of the gates, and senior James Capello is the best QB I’ve seen this season – bar none. … In Section 3 – Annville-Cleona. Break up the Little Dutchmen, who are 4-0 and tied with Lancaster Catholic for first place with three weeks to go.

TWO GRAND: A pair of L-L League running backs have cracked the century mark – Columbia’s Dakotah Lightfoot (1,115) and Cocalico’s Kyle Fisher (1,102) have reached that milestone through seven weeks. … Two more backs should join Lightfoot and Fisher on Friday: Warwick’s Eric Resch (983) and Donegal’s Kyle Witmer (911) are closing in fast, and should/could get there Friday.

TEAMS THAT MAKE ME SCRATH MY HEAD: In Section 1 – McCaskey. Can’t believe the Red Tornado is 0-7. I know they took Warwick to the wire last week, but they can’t hold onto the ball and they can’t score. That’s not very good math when you add it up. … In Section 2 – Conestoga Valley. Losing streak is up to 14 games in a row. With a couple of athletic quarterbacks, some speedy wideouts and third-year starter Kevin Kelley shouldering the load, I didn’t think CV would be struggling this mightily. … In Section 3 – Lampeter-Strasburg. The reigning District 3 Triple-A champs have had to deal with some key injuries and some dumb luck. I think I’ve picked them to win like every week.

DYNAMIC DUO: Speaking of Cocalico … Fisher (1,102) and Hartman (853) have combined for 1,955 yards – the top 1-2 punch in the league. Pick your poison there, gang. And just when you get sick and tired of chasing Fisher, and lugging Hartman around, QB Matt Carty yanks one on a Midline and goes 15 yards. Fun.

SLASH: Conestoga Valley coach Gerad Novak took a page from Manheim Township’s playbook last week, inserting scatback Kevin Kelley behind center, taking direct snaps and (more times than not) taking off. He rushed for 168 yards and a TD in CV’s 34-7 loss to Manheim Central last Friday. … L-S has had scads of injuries, so last Friday, coach John Manion put RB Chad Frey under center to take some snaps. He played a good chunk of the first half in the Pioneers’ 39-0 win over Donegal (the third time the Indians have been blanked this season, by the way).

BEST WISHES: Found out that there was a death in the Northern Lebanon football family last week, leading up the Vikings 61-0 loss at Lancaster Catholic last Friday. So there were a lot of heavy hearts on the Northern Lebanon sideline that night.

SHAMELESS PLUGS: Just a friendly reminder that Keith Schweigert will be blogging live from Lititz on Friday, where Warwick will welcome unbeaten Penn Manor in a Section 1 showdown. Should be a good one there. Didn’t make my silly predictions for Week 8 yet, but I’ll struggle with that game for sure. Keith will provide scoring updates, answer any questions, and post scores from around the league. … I’ll be blogging live from Manheim where the Barons will be hosting Elizabethtown in a much-anticipated Section 2 game. Too bad E-town lost last week, eh? Takes a tad of the luster off this game, but it should still be a whopper, considering what E-town did to Central last year (56-14). You know the Barons have had this one circled ever since. And you know they’d love to stay alone in first place, and not drop into some wacky tie. Could be a classic.