By Kevin Freeman 

I wanted to expand a bit on the item that appeared in both the Intelligencer Journal and New Era concerning the meeting of Lancaster-Lebanon League officials Wednesday afternoon.

When voting to accept the league’s realignment for the 2010-11 season, two proposals were put to a vote, one that passed and one that did not.

First, the proposal that passed. Ephrata athletic director Tommy Long asked the association to vote to change boys’ lacrosse from two sections to one. Long explained the reasoning behind the proposal.

“This is something the coaches wanted to do this year,” Long said. “We looked at how teams were qualifying for the district playoffs and the feeling was that our teams are so strong that they are beating up on each other, thereby hurting their chances for making the district playoffs.”

 Garden Spot AD Todd Reinouer spoke up against the move, saying that the weaker teams would take a beating. With one section, the weaker teams would be beaten  by more than just the strong teams in their section in the current two-section set-up.

“(In the one-section set-up, the weaker teams) would only have to play the stronger teams once and it would also give those weaker teams six opportunities to schedule six nonleague opponents of equal talent,” Long said. “Having one section would also enable the stronger teams to play other more talented teams.”

Under the one-section league, teams would play 12 league matches and then schedule as many as six nonleague matches.

Ten schools voted for one section, five voted against the measure and nine schools (presumably without lacrosse teams) abstained. 

Note, too, that the league will add Lancaster Mennonite and Cedar Crest in 2010.

The other item, the one defeated by the association, would have moved L-L football from a three-section league to a four-section league.

Greg Fantazzi, the AD at Pequea Valley, made the four-section proposal.

“Going from three to four sections helps the smaller schools be a little more competitive within the league and would give them a chance to win a seciton title,” he said. “It would also allow the smaller schools to find nonleague opponents that would be on the same competition level, so that they could build the program.”

Under his four-section plan, Fantazzi said Section Four would have one less school than the other three sections but that Pequea Valley would be willing to find the extra nonleague games.

“For smaller schools, it’s tough to compete against a team like Manheim Central,” he said. “Our numbers are in the 30s and theirs are in the 60s. That makes it difficult. The idea is to create a little more parity.”

The motion received only three favorable votes. Ephrata and Elizabethtown joined Pequea Valley in voting for the measure. Two schools, Lancaster Mennonite and Lebanon Catholic (schools without football) abstained.

Although the motion was defeated, Fantazzi said he expects to bring the measure up for another vote in the future.

In other decisions made by the association, cross country coaches will not have to designate their top eight runners prior to a meet. Under the new rule, each meet is an open meet whereby all runners from a particular school would “score” if he or she finished high enough. … Realignment is now based on enrollments from grades 7, 8 and 9 instead of grades 8, 9 and 10. … Annville-Cleona was voted the league’s sportsmanship award for the spring. Penn Manor was voted the sportsmanship award for the 2008-09 school year.

We interrupt The Huddle’s offseason hiatus to bring you some sad news: Scott Feldman has stepped down as head coach at McCaskey. Click here for an updated story with quotes from the coach.

Feldman’s decision is not entirely unexpected. In fact, the only real surprise is that he lasted this long. His frustration level with what he perceives as a lack of cooperation from the McCaskey administration has been at the red line for quite some time. Rumors that he was considering such a move had been circulating around the L-L League grapevine for at least two years. [Read more →]

Not much going on as we hit the high school football dead zone between the end of the 2008 season and the start of 2009 spring practice, but I do have one bit of news to report: Nick Schmalhofer, Lancaster Catholic’s star offensive and defensive lineman, has given his verbal committment to the University of New Hampshire. You can read my story about it here.

Schmalhofer made the AP’s Class AA All-State Second Team and was voted the L-L League Coaches Association’s Offensive Lineman of the Year, Defensive Lineman of the Year and Outstanding Lineman of the Year (are there any accolades he DIDN’T get?). It’s undecided where he’ll play for New Hampshire, which has become a perennial playoff team in the Football Championship Series (the old NCAA Division I-AA).

KEITH SCHWEIGERT, Online Sports Editor

By now, the aches and pains are fading, and the numbing cold has left their fingers and toes. Lancaster Catholic’s football team and their fans woke up this morning to the reality that their season — a record-setting, 13-2 ride — came to an end with last night’s 37-14 loss to Philadelphia West Catholic in the PIAA Class AA semifinals.

The Crusaders have little to hang their heads about. And, happily, that seems to be the attitude that most of the players and coaches had after the clock ran out last night. They ran into a better football team. Sometimes it’s just as simple as that. There’s no shame in falling to West Catholic. It will take a miracle to deny the Burrs the state championship next Saturday. And if you’re going to get knocked out, you might as well get knocked out by the best.

West Catholic’s fantastic quarterback, the Penn State-bound Curtis Drake, rushed for 187 yards on just nine carries and scored three times. Running back Raymond Maples, the bruiser of the Burrs’ backfield, added 112 yards on eight rushes. And Rob Hollomon, the other Division I prospect in the West Catholic backfield, scored on a 30-yard shovel pass from Drake. The Burrs racked up 427 total yards last night, while their defense held the Crusaders to 243 yards, sacked quarterback Kyle Smith five times and forced a crucial interception late in the game.

Watching the game last night, it looked like West Catholic was playing at a different speed — and it was. I lost count of the times that Lancaster Catholic seemed to have Drake, Maples or Hollomon wrapped up in the backfield, only to watch them slither away for a big gain. The Crusader defense is good, but speed like West Catholic reduces the margin of error down to near zero. If you miss one assignment, or are a half-step late getting to your lane, the Burrs will make you pay.

Yet Lancaster Catholic still had its chances in this one. Penalties helped scuttle their first drive of the game, a marathon 16-play march that died on downs at the West Catholic 33. A holding call late in the drive proved to be fatal. The Crusaders have had their issues with the flag all season long, and this time it finally came up to bite them.

But the biggest turning point came early in the fourth quarter, with the Crusaders trailing 29-14 but driving inside the West Catholic 10. But Smithcommitted the Cardinal sin of scrambling one way and throwing back across the field in the opposite direction. The Burrs’ Haleem Hayward intercepted him at the goal line and returned it to the 8.

On the very next play, Drake called his own number on an option run, broke through a hole in the Crusader line and raced to the opposite end zone, outrunning Travis Jankowski along the way. It was a back-breaking touchdown that essentially settled the issue for West Catholic. There was no coming back from that kind of swing.

And, really, even if the Crusaders had scored on their drive to cut the lead to seven, asking their defense to stop the Burrs would have been a tall order anyway.

So the Crusaders’ season ends, just two wins short of the ultimate goal. But the healing will quickly begin. In time, they’ll come to savor the District 3 championship they captured this year and appreciate the magnitude of this postseason run. And with 16 key players returning next year – including Smith, wideout Tyler Purvis and running back Jordan Stewart — the preparations for next season will begin.

You can go ahead and pencil the Crusaders in as District 3 title contenders for 2009 right now.

KEITH SCHWEIGERT, Online Sports Editor

Well, one thing’s for certain: Lancaster Catholic’s defense will have its hands full.

I’ve spent the last day or so gathering info on West Catholic, the Philadelphia school that the Crusaders will face Friday night in the PIAA Class AA semifinals at Philly’s Northeast High School (cheap plug alert — LancSports.com will be all over this one, blogging live from the game starting around 6:30 p.m.)

And after looking at the Burrs’ season stats, one word springs immediately to mind:

Yikes.
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KEITH SCHWEIGERT, Online Sports Editor

While I was blogging live from Lancaster Catholic’s 45-7 rout of Wyomissing last Friday in the District 3 Class AA semifinals, some Crusader fans in the audience wondered where quarterback Kyle Smith’s career numbers stack up against the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s elite.

I didn’t have that information at my fingertips then, but after a few hours of obsessively poring over old newspaper records and stats, I think I can provide a rough estimate.

Here’s the short version: He stacks up very well.
[Read more →]

By KEITH SCHWEIGERT 

Dave Caldwell is a former New Era sports writer who went on to a great career covering college football for the Dallas Morning News and now writes on a free-lance basis for the New York Times. He recently sent me the link to a story he wrote about coming back to his alma mater, Warwick High School, to watch a football game earlier this season.

 I don’t know Dave personally — he had moved on well before my tenure at the New Era began — but we’ve been exchanging emails for quite some time. He’s a very good writer, and this piece on his unofficial homecoming struck a chord with me. I get some of the same feelings he describes when I’m walking into whatever high school stadium I’m heading to on Friday nights. I’m hoping to take a similar trip down memory lane sometime soon to watch my alma mater, Schuylkill Haven, in its quest for a District 11 Class A title.

Anyway, I thought it would be something a L-L League football fan would enjoy. If you’ve got a few minutes, check out this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/travel/escapes/24ritual.html?_r=1&ref=escapes&oref=slogin

By KEITH SCHWEIGERT 

Hi there! Long time, no see.

If you’re wondering why there haven’t been many blog posts lately, let me apologize. It’s a busy time of year, what with the district football playoffs going on and all. And now we here at LancSports.com are gearing up for the winter sports season, which is just a mere three weeks or so away.

So as this is posted, I’m knee-deep in winter sports schedules, trying to type them all into our database. By the time I finish that, it will be time to move on to entering rosters and player headshots. We plan on tracking stats for boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball and wrestling — and that’s a lot of stats.

Incidentally, if you play in a sport that you feel is under-represented on our website, be sure to get in touch. Perhaps you can even do something about it by volunteering to maintain your team’s page here at LancSports.com. There are a lot of sports to cover, and right now we have two full-time employees working on maintaining this site. If you want to lend a hand, email me at kschweigert@lnpnews.com or call me at 940-6018. Thanks!

KEITH SCHWEIGERT, Online Sports Editor

I can hardly believe it. The 10 weeks of the regular season flew by, and here we are, getting ready to kick off the District 3 football playoffs.

For 13 Lancaster-Lebanon League teams, the season continues. But from here on out, the margin for error is down to zero. One bad game, one missed tackle, one dropped pass … all potentially fatal. As the stakes go up, so does the pressure.

The District 3 playoff committee released its official brackets on Sunday. There are several intriguing matchups for L-L League teams. For example, in the Class AAA field, two pairs of local teams will be squaring off in the first round: Section 2 champ Manheim Central will take on Section 3 neighbor Elco, and Section 2 foes Garden Spot and Lebanon will bang heads again in a rematch of the section clash won by the Spartans in Week Five. Two other L-L League squads will face off in the Class AAAA bracket, as top-seeded Wilson hosts Section 2 contender Elizabethtown.

Here’s my first impression of the district brackets and how the L-L League teams will fare. We’ll have more thorough previews later this week.

AAAA

Wilson vs. E-town: Tough draw for the Bears, whose reward for a third-place finish in Section 2 is a date with the L-L League’s toughest team. Wilson roared through the regular season, going 10-0 and Mercy Ruling seven of its 10 opponents. The Dawgs were my pick to reach the district finals a few weeks ago, but their road got a lot tougher when Bishop McDevitt fell to State College in Week 9. That loss dropped the Crusaders to the fifth seed and put them in Wilson’s half of the bracket. Now the Bulldogs will have to go through McDevitt to reach the title game.

Hempfield vs. Muhlenberg:This is one of those 8-9 toss-up games, but I’ll give the Black Knights a slight edge because they won the right to play at home. Hempfield has looked great at times, but its two losses were blowouts. The Knights got crushed by Penn Manor 31-14 in Week 4, then were mangled by Wilson, 45-13. Still, they’ve won four in a row since that loss to the Bulldogs.

Muhlenberg (7-3) is limping into the playoffs after falling 43-20 to Governor Mifflin last Friday. The Muhls started the season 5-0, but faltered in the second half.

Warwick vs. Cumberland Valley: It’s been an up-and-down season for the Warriors, who peaked with a blowout victory over Penn Manor in Week 8. They lost to Wilson last Friday, but became the only Section 1 team NOT to get Mercy Ruled by the Bulldogs, which I guess is impressive in its own right.

However, that loss to Wilson dropped Warwick down to the 15th seed in the district bracket, which means the Warriors draw Mid-Penn powerhouse Cumberland Valley in the first round. Facing the Eagles on the road will be a daunting task for Warwick, but the Warriors have made a habit out of surprising people this year. We’ll see if they have one more trick up their sleeves.

Penn Manor vs. Dallastown: After suffering back-to-back losses to Warwick and Wilson, the Comets righted their ship with a 39-7 rout of Cedar Crest last Friday. This has already been a season to remember for Penn Manor, a perennial league doormat that exploded for seven straight wins to open the season.  The Comets have known they were a playoff team for about three weeks — now they want to prove they belong there, and can with a win on Friday.

Dallastown dropped a 20-14 decision to Red Lion last week. The Wildcats lost three of their last five games after a 5-0 start. Two of those defeats came in consecutive weeks, against Central York and York High, who are a combined 18-2.

AAA

Cocalico vs. Susquehanna Township:The Eagles didn’t win Section 2, but they could argue that they are still the best team. With the spectacular Kyle Fisher leading the offense, Cocalico can score on just about anyone. The Eagles’ only loss came to Section 2 champ Manheim Central — no shame in that one — which is what makes a potential second-round rematch with the Barons so tantalizing.

Susquehanna Township (5-5) should not provide much of an obstacle for Cocalico as it tries to set that up.

Manheim Central vs. Elco: Yay, the Raiders made the playoffs! Who do they get in the first round?

Oh.

Well, nice effort anyway, Elco.

Seriously, Manheim Central has won seven in a row after dropping two of its first three games. Those losses came to Wilson and Lancaster Catholic, who are 19-1 combined. Central gave the undefeated Bulldogs everything they could handle before succumbing, and the loss to the Crusaders came in monsoon conditions.

How did Elco do against Catholic? The Raiders got stomped. Emphatically. To the tune of 42-7 — and that was last Friday.

If I were a bookie, I’d make Central a 21-point favorite. And then take them anyway.

Garden Spot vs. Lebanon: This should be one of the best first-round games in AAA. The Spartans were a nice little sleeper team in Section 2 this season, and defeated the Cedars 35-21 in their regular-season meeting. Last week, they hung around with Manheim Central before falling 24-19. And they did it without scoring an offensive touchdown, returning an interception and two kickoffs for scores.

Lebanon upended E-town last Friday to finish 7-3. The Cedars’ quirky Air Raid No-Huddle offense, expertly run by QB James Capello, should make them a tough out in the postseason. Look for them to get their revenge against the upstart Spartans.

Northern Lebanon vs. Conrad Weiser: The Vikings started out hot, but cooled off just as fast. They got manhandled by Lampeter-Strasburg and Lancaster Catholic down the stretch, and now have to try and rev up the engines in time to save their season against Conrad Weiser — a team with impressive wins over Governor Mifflin and Muhlenberg on its resume. Look for the Scouts to prevail.

AA

Lancaster Catholic vs. Biglerville: If there’s a hotter team in the AA field, I’d love to see it. Lancaster Catholic has outscored its last five opponents by a combined count of 275-47, including a 42-7 bludgeoning of Elco last week. Crusader quarterback Kyle Smith has thrown 28 touchdown passes — including a single-game record six in Catholic’s win over Annville-Cleona in Week 9 — and has been picked off just three times all year.

Biglerville, out of the York Area League, is in over its head.

Columbia vs. Steel-High: When I’m asked why I think eight teams are too many in the Class A playoff field in the future, I’ll list this game as Exhibit A. Columbia, with a 2-8 record, earned the right to be served up as cannon fodder to the top-seeded Rollers, a state-title contender. When the dust settles after this one, it will be clear that the Class A bracket was fine with just four teams. Columbia did nothing wrong — they earned the right for an extra game. But they are the king of all underdogs going into this one, and rightfully so.

KEITH SCHWEIGERT, Online Sports Editor

As we head into the final week of the regular season, we finally have a sense of clarity in the District 3 football playoff picture. By my extremely unofficial projections, 11 L-L League teams have already clinched playoff berths, and another three can do so with a win in their regular-season finales.

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