It was a busy Friday night for the young Susquenita quarterback.
Derek Gibney scored four touchdowns — two rushing and two passing — and ran in and threw for two two-point conversions as well. If he was on your fantasy team this weekend, you probably won.
Gibney’s monster performance for the Blackhawks turned away Camp Hill in a Friday shootout 39-34 and convinced the ‘Nita faithful to vote in droves. The sophomore won this week’s Small School Player of the Week, snagging a whopping 1,909 votes. And in keeping with the weekend’s shootout, he won in a barnburner at the polls as well, edging Upper Dauphin running back Brady Morgan’s 1,759 tallies.
Gibney is just a sophomore running first-year coach Augie Glass’s offense for the 2-0 Blackhawks. He was 10-of-22 for 163 yards through the air and added another 108 stripes on 11 carries. His TD tosses covered 10 and 27 yards, while the TD trots went for 1 and 36 yards.
It was an impressive improvement for Gibney, who the week before in ‘Nita’s season opener — delayed 10 days due to a COVID-19 issue — when he was 5-of-27 for 55 yards, a touchdown and an interception while rushing for just 8 yards on five carries.
There were 4,996 votes cast in the small-school poll this week. Gibney tracked down 38% of those. He and the unbeaten Blackhawks face 2-1 Big Spring on Friday.
Jeffrey Lougee will be known more for his baseball accomplishments over the next three years — and more once he steps onto the Duke baseball field, where he’s committed to play beginning in 2025 — but his high school football career is off to a fine start.
The sophomore inspired the Mechanicsburg faithful following a comeback win over Red Land on Friday, hauling in a monster 6,009 votes to win our Big School Player of the Week honor for Week 3. Lougee and the Wildcats stormed back from a 14-0 deficit to beat the Patriots 27-17 and improve to 2-1.
Lougee scored three times on the ground in the comeback, outsourcing the Red Land offense by himself with touchdown sprints of 27, 30 and 70 yards. According to Hudl, the ‘Cats racked up 333 yards and four scores on 38 carries. Mechanicsburg’s passing attack was 1-of-8 for 34 yards and an interception.
Lougee, who is tasked with replacing the graduated dual-threat dynamo Micah Brubaker at QB, has had a fine season to date. Since a Week 1 loss to Carlisle, he’s led wins over Elizabethtown and now Red Land before this week’s non-division rivalry meeting with Northern (2-1).
His big voting numbers edged out Shippensburg junior Erby Weller in an entertaining race to top honors. Weller, a WR/DB, picked up 5,498 votes. Lougee earned 44% of the vote, and combined the two snagged 85% of the vote. Not bad.
With its ground game humming behind sophomore feature back Alex Achenbach — 400-plus rushing yards and four running touchdowns the past two weeks in wins over Pine Grove and Schuylkill haven — unbeaten Williams Valley (3-0) will try to make it four straight when the Vikings visit Minersville. Junior quarterback Isaac Whiteash, who completed 7-of-13 passes for 152 yards and three scores, appears to be rounding into form as well. Whiteash spread the ball around, targeting Brady Evans, Achenbach and Nathan Cole for touchdown tosses.
Minersville (2-1) has rebounded from its season-opening loss to Tri-Valley by blanking Marian Catholic and Shenandoah Valley. QB John Adams was 8-of-15 passing for 246 yards and three touchdowns as the Miners prevailed 43-0 Sunday. Like Whiteash, Adams’ TD passes were spread around to Lorenzo Yourey, Jason Cullen and Jared Graeff.
PG looking for first victory; hot Tri-Valley on idle
Searching for an offensive spark as well as consistency, Pine Grove’s fourth-year head coach Frank Gaffney inserted freshman Carson Lengle in at quarterback in the second half of the Cardinals’ Week 2 loss to Williams Valley. Well, Lengle received the starting nod last weekend against Tri-Valley, targeting 10 of his 27 aerials for 105 yards in the Cards’ 34-0 setback — Pine Grove’s third straight loss. Junior Mason Kroh, who had been the starter at QB, moved to the flanks and caught several Lengle passes. Dalton Geesey also was involved, catching several balls as well.
Gaffney’s bunch also picked up 100 rushing yards on 16 carries from sophomore Lane Lehman. … Uncorking its most efficient outing in last week’s conquest of Pine Grove — 217 yards rushing and 219 through the air — Tri-Valley (3-0) is dealing with a COVID-19 flareup, and that means Jeff Sampson’s Bulldogs will not meet Shenandoah Valley. Senior quarterback Jonas McGrath was 10-for-16 passing for 219 yards, with TD passes going to Jake Tietsworth, Layne Yoder and Levi Murray. Yoder was McGrath’s favorite target, catching five passes for 109 yards.
Each week during the 2021 season we’ll offer some news, notes, tidbits and opinions from each of the five divisions in the Mid-Penn Conference.
1. UD rebounds nicely on Homecoming Night
With junior Brady Morgan darting all over the place, Upper Dauphin erupted early and tacked on a third score late in its 22-14 triumph over Trinity. Morgan rushed 17 times for 202 yards and banked all three touchdowns as Kent Smelt’s Trojans (2-1) rebounded from their 20-0 loss to Juniata by claiming the Mid-Penn crossover.
Although Morgan scored twice before the break to give UD a 16-0 advantage, Jordan Hill’s Shamrocks (1-1) were able to pull within a deuce (16-14) in the second half. Morgan, though, was able to break off a 30-yard score with just less than 4:30 to go to put the contest away. Christian Snyder added 77 yards on 17 carries for Smeltz’s Trojans, who rang up 350-plus rushing yards against their Mid-Penn Capital adversary. Morgan also caught two passes for 14 yards and swiped a Trinity pass attempt, returning it 8 yards.
Juniata’s Caleb Smith rushes against West Perry Friday night in Elliottsburg. (Adam Kulikowski/4th Down)
2. Breaks, breaks and more breaks
Although Juniata (2-1) zipped to a 14-0 lead at West Perry, the Mustangs collected 25 unanswered and walked off with a 25-14 victory. Compounding Juniata’s issues was Kurt Condo’s club watched senior quarterback Jacob Condo leave the game with a broken collarbone. The younger Condo limped off one week earlier with a lower leg injury, giving way to Aaron Kanagy before returning when Juniata unveiled its Victory formation at the tail end of a 20-0 whitewash of Upper Dauphin. … As if getting humbled 68-7 Saturday at Steel-High wasn’t difficult enough to absorb, Newport quarterback Andrew Bates was forced to the sidelines by an apparent fractured wrist.
The Buffaloes (1-2) will try to halt their two-game skid when they visit Middletown (1-1) in yet another Mid-Penn crossover. … While Line Mountain (0-3) was showing signs of shucking its offensive struggles, Brandon Carson’s Eagles will be idle this week since their Mid-Penn crossover at unbeaten Boiling Springs has been shelved. What hasn’t changed since the opening week has been the Eagles’ passionate play on the defensive side of the football. Sophomore linebacker Chandon Maurer and Beau Keim, his counterpart on the inside, combined to make 26 tackles in a 28-6 loss to Middletown. Keim also registered three tackles for loss and two sacks. Senior defensive end Wyatt Shaffer also played really well, totaling 13 stops, 3.5 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.
Susquenita looking to remain perfect
Still flashing huge grins following its come-from-behind 39-34 victory over Camp Hill, Susquenita will try to make it three in a tow when it visits Big Spring. Sophomore QB Derek Gibney was sensational in the Blackhawks’ win, throwing for 163 yards (10-for-22, 2 touchdowns) and rushing for 108 more (11 carries, 2 scores).
Halifax looking to halt skid; JB welcomes Maryland side
Halifax (0-3) hopes to bring an end to its season-opening slide Friday night, when Earl Mosley’s Wildcats take on Trinity (1-1) in a Mid-Penn crossover. Halifax picked up five more receptions in its 63-13 loss to Big Spring from sophomore wideout Peter Ranck. … James Buchanan (1-2) will try to get back in a winning frame of mind when Cliff Pine’s Rockets host Baltimore’s Green Street Academy. JB was thumped 53-8 by Boiling Springs. The Bubblers owned a 47-0 lead at halftime.
Colonial division offering plenty of entertainment:
We call this the Crazy Colonial for a reason, and as the Mid-Penn Conference gets ready to enter division play for 2021, this division will once again live up to its billing. I’m convinced of this. All you need to know after three games: Shippensburg is the only undefeated club, and Susquehanna Township is the only winless squad.
The other six teams are 2-1 overall. Saddle up and enjoy this ride because something tells me there could be some dramatic week-to-week shifts in the power table for this group. The matchup this week that will give us a taste is Greencastle-Antrim at East Pennsboro.
Waynesboro a wild card who could shake the division standings:
The team I’m eyeing as the potential standings wrecker in the Colonial is Waynesboro. The Indians outlasted Gettysburg in a wild triple overtime affair to complete a solid three-game test in terms of a schedule to open the season, finishing 2-1 during that stretch.
They are primed to enter Colonial action because they have experienced a little bit of everything already. Waynesboro can come at you in waves on offense, and that presents some problems. It starts with RB’s Aidan Mencia and Mikel Holden. Mencia is averaging 9.2 yards per carry so far. QB Louis Lindsay is a dual threat with more than 600 total yards. The Indians have five receivers with four or more catches. Their defense has been shaky, but when you bring a diverse and deep offense to the table you ride that firepower as far as it will take you.
Each week during the 2021 season we’ll offer some news, notes, tidbits and opinions from each of the five divisions in the Mid-Penn Conference.
Clean play a key to the Blue Raider’s success:
Lost in the shuffle during this early part of the season is Middletown. The perennial Capital kingpin for the last half-dozen years is going through the process of a regime change in terms of its coaching staff, and they are a little light on the talent front right now. The Blue Raiders lost their opening game against Lower Dauphin to COVID-19 and then had to play McDevitt — there was nothing to gain for them in that contest. I would argue the Line Mountain game was Middletown’s Week 1 game.
And as expected it was a little choppy in spots, but the end result was a comfortable and efficient three-score win. Defensively they were solid against the Eagles. Nice matchup with Juniata this week to put some more of the foundation in place. I will say that 9-95 in terms of penalties has to stop. This club no longer has the talent and firepower to overcome mistakes at that level. In years past it wasn’t a big deal. Now it is.
Could Big Spring be a player in the Capital?:
The sleeper team I have my eye on in the Capital as we enter division play is Big Spring. On many fronts this team looks and feels ready to compete. Are the Bulldogs potential division champions? No. That’s not what I’m talking about. My hunch is Big Spring is going to be a tough out in 2021, forcing teams to earn a hard W. They feature a pair of running backs in Dillon Wakefield and Logan Schmidt who combined have nearly 450 yards, seven touchdowns and average 7.9 and 10.4 yards per carry, respectively.
QB Ethan Eisenberg is averaging nearly 100 yards a game and has three touchdowns. He’s also thrown three picks, which is a big-time target area to improve in terms of the passing game for the Bulldogs. On the other side of the ball, they have 15 TFLs, five sacks and five interceptions in three games. Those are key measuring sticks that tell me they are physically competing up front, which was an issue in the recent past. I’m keeping an eye on this club. I think they are going to be a prickly squad.
Each week during the 2021 season we’ll offer some news, notes, tidbits and opinions from each of the five divisions in the Mid-Penn Conference.
Palmyra puts a tally on the good side of the ledger:
Add another team to the winning side of the ledger in the Keystone as the Palmrya Cougars picked up victory No. 1 this season by doubling up West York in a Monday evening affair. The Cougars are the fifth squad in the eight-team division to get a win in 2021. Senior running back Richie Kowalski had himself a career night at Buck Swank. Kowalski carried the load with 30 totes for a staggering 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns. I think he should be the Monday Night Football Player of the Week with that kind of performance. Cougars have to turn around on a short week and play a rested McDevitt squad.
Cedar Cliff’s test against speedy CD East should pay dividends later:
Watching Cedar Cliff struggle on offense like it did against CD East was a mild surprise. I was certain the Colts were not going to come out and continue to light it up against the Panthers, but I was surprised the struggles lingered all game. CD East is FAST on defense. You can only play against that kind of speed. Something tells me the Colts offense will be better moving forward because they had a taste of that kind of in-your-face speed. It was good to see the Colts defense throw their hat in the ring and try to stake a claim to having a say in the final outcome of that contest. They had sort of been along for the ride with the offense keeping the scoreboard moving to help them out. Cliff’s defense kept it a game the entire way. Cedar Cliff will take the lessons it learned from loss No. 1 and apply them against West Shore School District rival Red Land, which is 0-3 this season. The Patriots are going to get a taste of the angry Colts. Not like this rivalry needs any more juice to ignite the sparks.
Each week during the 2021 season we’ll offer some news, notes, tidbits and opinions from each of the five divisions in the Mid-Penn Conference.
Marquee matchup on tap at Ken Millen Stadium
Ken Millen Stadium is home to a marquee matchup for the first time in a long time Friday when the Carlisle Thundering Herd welcome the Eagles of Cumberland Valley from just down Route 11. Carlisle is 3-0 with a couple of blowout wins the last few weeks against Hershey and Cedar Crest. This is a big game for the Herd because, well, it’s been forever since Carlisle beat CV. And it was close last year, going to the Eagles 20-14. QB Louis Shank is comfortable and has a live arm. His weapons on the outside are wicked slick and fast. Ezeekai Thomas is a natural RB1, and we hope he returns after missing the last game. The Eagles counter with a defense that is growing rapidly in confidence. You could make a fair argument CV could easily be 2-1 instead of 1-2 the way Josh Oswalt’s defense played against Central York in a loss. The win over Spring-Ford was a huge confidence boost, too. This matchup, taking place on a real grass surface, comes down to the Carlisle offense vs. CV defense. Who wins that battle? I know the Eagles are the more battle tested side.
Terrence Jackson-Copney and the Panthers travel to Mansion Park in Altoona to battle the Mountain Lions Friday night. (Aaron Wright/4th Down)
Undefeated Mountains Lions welcoming CD East to Mansion Park
CD East will take a trip headed west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike most likely to pay a visit to Mansion Park (aka The Ravens Den) in Altoona to square off with the undefeated Mountain Lions. This is going to be a physical chess match. Altoona has some horses up front and a tailback in Ethan Stroup who is averaging 127 yards a game, 6.2 yards per carry and has six touchdowns. He’s not the only weapon, but he’s the big gun. The Panthers defense has been a lockdown crew all season against the run. I also wonder if both quarterbacks at CD East, Tony Powell and Terrence Jackson-Copney, are healthy, who is the QB1 for the Panthers? It’s not an easy call. Powell wasn’t available last week, so Jackson-Copney took over as the starter and was solid. He’s a run threat that opens up options. Powell is the better pure passer. Mix-and-match, perhaps? The keys for CD East, no matter who plays quarterback, are its defense and avoiding mistakes. When the Panthers play clean, they are a tough out this year.
