Hard as it may be to believe, we're officially halfway through the regular season in high school football. Five weeks down, five to go. Before too long, our attention will turn to the District 3 power points rankings as the postseason approaches.
But before we do that, let's pause to catch our breath at the season's halfway point and size up the section races from here on out.
Section 1
Top Dawgs: The preseason pick to win the section, Wilson lived up to the hype in the first half of the season. The Bulldogs are a perfect 5-0 overall, and improved to 2-0 in Section 1 play with last Friday's rout of Cedar Crest.
Led by its fearsome defense, which has yielded just 10 points and 174.4 yards per game, Wilson has firmly established itself as the team to beat. The Bulldogs even survived the absence of quarterback Steve Huber, who is back under center after being banged up in the early going.
The only bad news for the 'Dawgs is that their scheduled is back-loaded with a bunch of tough games. After Friday night's showdown with Hempfield - a team that has section title aspirations of its own - Wilson faces a date with bitter rival Reading, then takes on upstart Penn Manor before closing out with back-to-back tough games against Manheim Township and Warwick.
If the Dawgs emerge from that run unscathed, they'll be battle tested and ready to make a long district playoff run.
Biggest surprise: This is an easy one - Penn Manor. The Comets are an astounding 5-0 overall, just one season after going 1-9 in head coach Todd Mealy's first year at the helm. Mealy, a former defensive coordinator under Scott Feldman at McCaskey, has turned things around in a hurry, putting his stamp on Penn Manor by shoring up its defense.
The Comets went into last week with the league's top-ranked defense, and made its biggest statement of the season in Week 4 by upsetting Hempfield in a battle of unbeatens in Landisville. Penn Manor forced five turnovers in that game and held the high-flying Black Knights to just under 250 yards of total offense.
Penn Manor faces a winnable rivalry game at McCaskey this week before getting into the meat of its schedule: a brutal three-week run against Manheim Township, Warwick and Wilson. The Comets then close the season with Cedar Crest.
Assuming Penn Manor wins the games it should win - McCaskey and Crest - it would have seven wins and be a sure bet to make the district playoffs. And if they can steal a couple games during that tough three-week stretch, the Comets would get in the playoffs with a very high seed.
Not bad for a team that until recently considered a 5-5 season to be a high achievement.
Best of the rest: Hempfield rebounded from its upset loss to Penn Manor in style, throttling McCaskey 45-26 last Friday. The Knights' spread offense is dangerous, and its defense is coming around. If the top contenders falter, they'll be ready to make their move.
Manheim Township survived a tough game with neighborhood rival Warwick in Week 5, winning 27-25 when the Warriors missed a potential game-winning field goal on the game's final play. The Streaks have struggled a bit on offense in the first half, but they still could be a sleeper. They're 3-2 overall, but those two losses have come by a total of four points.
Can Warwick ride on the shoulders of running back Eric Resch for five more weeks? If they play like they did against Township, they might not have to. Quarterback Randy Yost had a breakout game against the Streaks, completing 11 of 16 passes for 205 yards. Fullback Chris Schaffer (13 carries, 94 yards, two TDs) and wideout Matt Rissinger (seven catches, 80 yards) proved that Warwick is far from a one-man team.
Playing out the string: It looks like another long year for McCaskey and Cedar Crest. The Red Tornado fell to 0-5 with last week's loss to Hempfield, and though it has shown signs of improvement every week, has yet to put a complete game together. Ditto that for the Falcons, whose only win of the season came over struggling Conestoga Valley in Week 3.
Section 2
Gentlemen, start your engines: This year's Section 2 race is shaping up to be one for the ages, as five of the section's seven teams appear to be legit title contenders. Preseason pick Manheim Central, a perennial favorite, has a pedestrian 3-2 record at the halfway mark. But those two losses are against quality foes; the Barons nearly knocked off unbeaten Section 1 fave Wilson in Week 2 and lost to Section 3 kingpin Lancaster Catholic in Week 3. Since then, they've rebounded to post impressive wins over Cocalico (56-33) and Solanco (24-14), and they appear to be back in the driver's seat.
But there are a lot of teams in Central's rearview mirror, led by Elizabethtown - last year's section co-champ. The Bears look like they haven't lost a step from last year, when they went 11-1, shared the section crown with Solanco and reached the District 3 AAA playoffs. This season, E-town is 4-1 overall (2-0 in the section) and boast one of the league's most powerful rushing attacks. The three-headed monster of Conrad Heisey, Shane Rosenberry and Mitch Weidman have helped the Bears rack up an average of 235 yards per game on the ground. E-town's only loss of the season is a 28-27 setback against undefeated Berks County powerhouse Muhlenberg in Week 2.
Mark your calendar for the Bears' showdown with Manheim Central on Oct. 17 - it could go a long way toward deciding the section championship.
The next tier of title contenders is led by Lebanon, which is running it's pass-happy "Air Raid" offense to perfection behind quarterback James Capello. The Cedars are 4-1 overall after suffering their first loss of the season at Garden Spot last Friday, but they are going to have a say in the title race. Any team that can put up 453 yards and 37 points a game is going to be a tough one to beat.
Garden Spot is also 4-1 on the season and has won two in a row since falling to Section 1 contender Hempfield 28-14 in Week 3. The Spartans have a balanced offense, led by quarterback Weston Martin (827 pass yards, 13 TDs), wideouts Tyler Eby and Kyle Kelley (609 yards and nine TDs combined) and running back Andersan Beamer (370 rush yards, two TDs).
Another 4-1 team to watch is Cocalico. Armed with arguably the league's most dangerous running back, senior Kyle Fisher (732 rush yards, 10 TDs), the Eagles are averaging 329 rushing yards per game. Cocalico gave Central a fight before succumbing two weeks ago and will be breathing down the leaders' necks for the rest of the season.
Then there's Solanco, last year's section co-champ. The Golden Mules are 2-3 after dropping a pair of tough losses to Central and E-town in back-to-back weeks. This after falling to Section 1 upstart Penn Manor in the season opener. It doesn't look like the Mules have the ammo to make a second straight title run, but in this race, you never know. A lot of the teams ahead of the Mules will be beating up on one another for the rest of the season. If Solanco can right its ship, it might be able to sneak in under the radar.
The only Section 2 teams you can count out at this point are Conestoga Valley and Ephrata, who are a combined 0-10 and appear to be in for long seasons. Both teams are averaging under seven points per game, while giving up around 200. That's not a formula for success, especially in a tough section like this one.
Section 3
Unlike the league's other two sections, this race has a clear front-runner. Defending section co-champ Lancaster Catholic is back at its accustomed spot on top of the heap, though the Crusaders are joined - for now - by Annville-Cleona, while Northern Lebanon lurks just a game behind.
Catholic has won four in a row since dropping its season opener to Mid-Penn foe Trinity. The Crusaders survived a fierce upset bid from Lampeter-Strasburg last Friday, rallying from 10 points down in the final quarter to post a 21-17 victory. Catholic is 2-0 in section play, and with a date with struggling Pequea Valley on Friday night, it seems unlikely to lose again. Led by all-star quarterback Kyle Smith - can you believe this kid's only a junior? - the Crusaders are almost unstoppable on offense and have a dominating 'D.' That's going to be a tough combination to beat, especially in a section that seems down this year.
Other than Catholic, Annville-Cleona and Northern Lebanon are the only teams in the section with winning records. The Little Dutchmen (3-2 overall) jumped over the Vikings with last Friday's 21-20 upset victory, moving into a first-place tie with Catholic at 2-0 in the section.
The Vikings are probably the more dangerous of the two, in spite of last Friday's loss to Annville. Northern Lebanon is 4-1 overall and takes on Catholic on Oct. 10. Last year, the Vikes upset Catholic in the final week of the season, costing the Crusaders sole possession of the section crown. It's unlikely they'll be able to sneak up on Catholic this time around.
Annville-Cleona gets its date with the Crusaders on Oct. 24.
As for the rest of the section...yikes. The remaining five teams are a mismash of mediocrity. Defending section co-champ and District 3 AAA titlist Lampeter-Strasburg is a disappointing 1-4 on the season. Columbia, another perennial contender, is also 1-4 - and apparently defenseless. Donegal and Elco are both 2-3, but neither has shown many signs of surging down the stretch. And Pequea Valley...well, we feel for the Braves. They just don't have the horses.