On some level, of course, it's ridiculous to say any high school team, in any sport, had to win any game.

But McCaskey had to beat Reading in football Friday, Nov. 6.

McCaskey, the biggest school in the Lancaster-Lebanon League with, according to some, the greatest athletic potential, had lost 20 straight football games.

That streak had cost one coach, Scott Feldman, his job. It made the new coach's first year a strenuous one that included several near-misses and one brief, perhaps overblown, parent/fan insurrection.

The Red Tornado were competitive most Friday nights this fall.

There was a surprising upset bid against powerful Wilson, a very near miss against Hempfield, and a very, very, very near miss against Cedar Crest.

There were signs of deep commitment from the players, to the program and each other.

All good. But at some point, for progress to be real, you have to look at the scoreboard with 0:00 on the clock and like what you see.

Which is why McCaskey 14, Reading 10 might be one of the Tornado's biggest wins ever.

"It's a huge boost," the no-longer-new coach, David Given, said Wednesday. "It validates everything we've been preaching since last summer."

Given came here from Arizona, where he'd been a high school and junior-college coach.

He got the job in May. Soon after that, when he and his wife were beginning the drive from Arizona to Lancaster, she was stricken with a brain aneurysm.

Chris Given spent four scary days in intensive care in a Phoenix hospital before her life was out of danger. Her husband spent much of the summer shuttling back and forth across the country, understandably not able to have the summer football program he'd have liked.

When he was here, it became clear to Given that the task he'd signed up for was even bigger than he thought.

"The knowledge level among the kids was about void," he said. "We were starting basically fron scratch.

"Then there was the fact that I was hired late, no spring football, not the normal summer stuff, strength training ...

"I told the kids — and this is one of our mottos — you need to be a man for other men. My wife's fighting for her life. I need your help now."

In addition to all of the above, Given had five assistants, which was, and still is, a couple short compared to most high school staffs.

At halftime of the Reading game, Given admitted to his players that, "I didn't want to tell you the size of the mountain we had to climb."

They climbed. Furiously, at times.

Less than two minutes into the season, running back Markeith Williams went 77 yards for a touchdown, and the lead, against Elizabethtown.

The following week, Williams went 88 yards for an early TD and the lead. Week 3, Williams again, for 62 yards and the lead.

Incredibly, the Tornado led in seven of their 10 games, and were tied at halftime in another one.

They outgained L-L Section One champion Wilson, and led the Bulldogs 14-6 and, at halftime, 14-13, before losing 24-14.

It all seemed to be building toward a a Week 8 game at home with Cedar Crest, also rebuilding under a first-year coach, which came in 2-5, 0-4 in the section.

McCaskey led that game 22-6. It was inside the Crest 1-yard line, with a 22-20 lead early in the fourth quarter, and couldn't score.

On one of four cracks at it McCaskey had from there, quarterback Adrian Westbrook powered in, but the McCaskey sideline had called its final timeout, which was granted, an instant before the play.

Down 27-22 in the middle of the final period, McCaskey drove to a first-and-goal inside the 1.

On first down, a QB sneak got nothing. On second down, a toss from Westbrook went over Williams' head, leading to a wild scramble.

The Falcons recovered and ran out the clock.

As it ended, Given said, one of his senior leaders turned to his coach and said, "Please, no more speeches tonight."

To which Given said, "OK, let's shake hands and get in the house."

Given says he was the last guy to shake hands with the Cedar Crest coaches.

"We all started walking in," Given said. "Some of our kids lingered on the field a bit. That created the perception that I left the kids on the field."

Angry parents staked out the McCaskey locker room, apparently intending to confront Given.

One of them actually came inside the locker area and complained about play-calling.

When game managers called for police assistance, the group dispersed. Given did not speak to the media afterward.

"Emotions were running high, but walking into a coaches' office after a game is not acceptable," Given said.

"One thing we try to teach is win with class, lose with dignity. I would hope that handful of parents would learn something from the kids."

In the aftermath, Given said, he got one angry voice-mail. McCaskey Athletic Director Jon Mitchell said he received a few complaints from parents, but no one initiated the process of having a meeting with Given or Mitchell.

"That sounds to me like it was a heat-of-the-moment thing," Mitchell said last week.

And two weeks later they won.

As things stand as this is written, Given will be back next year. He should be able to add an assistant coach.

Chris Given has taken some time to get comfortable living here, but it's coming.

"It was a lot harder for her, because I had a focus," Given said. "On top of being sick, she was away from her whole support system."

Given is relentlessly optimistic, and says nothing that happened this year has shaken that.

"We didn't talk about playoffs at all this year," he said. "Next year, that's goal No. 1. We're gonna get in the [district] playoffs."

First things first, though.

"I'm thinking about Elizabethtown," he added, referring to next season's opener. "I can't wait to play Elizabethtown."

Two days after beating Reading, Given said, next year's team was in the weight room.