A celebration is underway in Neffsville, the likes of which has not been seen since the days of disco music and the 13-cent postage stamp.

The good times came via Manheim Township's 45-7 win over Penn Manor Friday night, which secured the Blue Streaks' first outright Section One championship since 1977.

So you'll have to forgive the Streaks if they are not in much of a sharing mood.

"It feels awesome," said running back/linebacker Nick Sizemore. "Two years ago we had to share it with Hempfield, and it wasn't as good. This year, it's ours, and no one can take that away from us. It's just a great feeling."

Dan Wertz rushed for 136 yards and scored four touchdowns as Township capped off a perfect run through the section (7-0, 9-1 overall).

"I knew we had a great team," said Wertz, who also surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau along the way. "All of our players have been playing great this year."

That includes kicker David Soldner, who set a state record when he booted his 14th field goal of the season, a 27-yarder that opened the scoring.

It was full speed ahead from there for the Streaks, who will enter the District Three Class AAAA playoffs next Friday night as the No. 2 seed and will host a first-round game against an opponent to be determined. The brackets will be officially announced Sunday.

"We told our kids this year if you want to be champions, you have to be able to run the football and you have to be able to play defense," said Township coach Mike Melnyk. "We've doing both of those pretty well lately, so we just want to keep on doing that."

Township came into the final week of the regular season as the stingiest defense in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, having allowed only 90 points in nine games, including just 32 points in six section contests.

The Streaks' defense came within minutes of shutting out the Comets (0-7, 1-9) before allowing a late three-yard touchdown run by Ben Schober, a 5-foot-10, 230-pound offensive lineman who played running back on the final drive.

"They have some playmakers, but they're just a solid team overall," Comet coach Todd Mealy said of the Streaks. "They make the plays they have to to win."

Township scored on seven of its first eight drives, including five straight in a span stretching from the second quarter into the third.

Wertz scored on runs of three and 27 yards in the opening half and quarterback Jon Yuko tossed a five-yard TD pass to Nate Pagan as the Streaks opened up a 24-0 halftime lead.

The first time Township touched the ball in the third quarter, Dan Kauffman broke free for a 49-yard touchdown. Wertz then added TD runs of three and 30 yards later in the quarter, and the Streaks were, well, streaking.

The Township ground attack rolled up 290 yards rushing out of its so-called "Razorback" attack, which involves the running back getting the direct snap the majority of the time.

"It's awesome," said Wertz of the scheme put into play following the season-ending injury to starting QB Mark Mellinger six weeks ago. "I love getting the ball right away and making plays out of it."

The guys up front also dig it.

"It's a lot of fun," said lineman Roberto De La Rosa. "Wertz gets the snaps, and the O-line just pushes the D-line back."

All the way to an outright section title.

"That was our motivation this week," said Sizemore, who had 74 yards rushing. "We didn't want to tie with Warwick, we wanted to have it for ourselves."

Something worth celebrating.