Todd Mealy knew about the situation, about each team's records, and — considering he spent nine seasons as an assistant under McCaskey football coach Scott Feldman — about what he was up against from a coaching standpoint.
But none of that mattered.
Because Mealy also knew something else.
"Strange things happen on this field," Penn Manor's coach said, standing in the bowels of McCaskey's Barney Ewell Stadium Friday night. "So this was a scary game."
Fortunately for the Comets, there was no such drama Friday night.
Taking advantage of its dominance on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and 108 yards on 18 carries by running back Sean Noll, Penn Manor remained undefeated with a 23-0 Section One shutout of McCaskey in Lancaster.
Equally important as keeping the Comets (3-0 league, 6-0 overall) tied with Wilson and Manheim Township for the section lead, Friday's victory guaranteed Manor its first six-win season since 1990. The last time the Comets started the season 6-0 was 1984.
And while Mealy took the liberty of mentioning that fact to his players afterward, he was also content to leave it at that.
"For continued success we have to play a near-perfect football season from here on out, because every game is going to get tougher," said Mealy, whose team will face Township, Warwick and Wilson, respectively, in its next three outings.
Friday's game was tough for a while, due in part to a game-opening drive that was killed by an interception from the McCaskey 13 and a lost fumble at the McCaskey 20, 1:44 into the second quarter.
Regardless, the Comets built a 10-0 halftime lead thanks to Noll's 32-yard interception return for a touchdown on McCaskey's first series of the game and Josh Bitner's 37-yard field goal with 6:56 left in the half.
Meanwhile, McCaskey (0-3, 0-6) — spreading the field with its athletes in an attempt to counter Manor's advantage up front — hung around, missing out on a prime opportunity when quarterback Nathan Schaeffer's fourth-and-2 pass from the Manor 18 fell incomplete with 51 seconds left in the second quarter.
"We just can't make plays," Feldman said afterward. "It just seems like every time we have an opportunity to catch a ball or make a run … something bad happens. It's just a microcosm of our season. Just the way things are going."
After a six-yard run from Noll gave Manor a 17-0 lead 3:13 into the second half, Feldman's point was proven further later in the third quarter.
Despite surviving a seven-play, 51-yard Comet drive when Manor quarterback Patrick Rehm fumbled on fourth-and-1 from the McCaskey 18, the Red Tornado — fueled by an 18-yard scramble from Schaeffer and a 30-yard pass from Schaeffer to Taylor Schmalhofer — went 51 yards to the Manor 13 before Jimmy Dominguez missed a 30-yard field goal attempt.
Set up by Jake Rebman's interception return to the McCaskey 4 with 6:54 remaining, the Comets put it out of reach with Rehm's 4-yard run on Manor's ensuing possession.
E-mail: jfulginiti@lnpnews.com