More than 30 years have shown me to practice caution when it comes to making big-picture assertions after four quarters of football. You can learn a little bit in Week 1, but it takes at least 8-12 quarters of football to drill down on the 2024 season.
Still no harm, though, in peeling back a few layers on the Mid-Penn Conference onion to see what grabbed our fancy.
Tragedy rocked the Shippensburg community earlier this week when the 13-year-old son of Shippensburg University head football coach Mark Maciejewski was found dead in the backyard of the family home from an apparent gunshot wound.
Older brother to Levi Maciejewski, Brady, is the starting quarterback for the Shippensburg Greyhounds and revealed his character for all to see by taking the field Friday night in the Little Brown Jug game against Big Spring.
He rushed for a touchdown and Ship won this nearly seven-decade-old rivalry comfortably. Peace to Brady and the entire Maciejewski family.
On the football front, the return of Greyhounds RB Ja’nye Statum, who missed 2023 with an injury, gives Ship some extra bite. He ripped off 162 yards and scored twice in his return to action.
HEY NOW, REALLY?
Friendly reminder, this is only one game and there are still 36 long quarters ahead for everybody. However, these tidbits grabbed our attention for the right reasons.
Sparked by versatile back Sawyer Young, Boiling Springs thumped Littlestown by four touchdowns. Not a whole lot is expected of this Bubblers outfit after a rough 2023 campaign. Young scored four touchdowns including a 90-yard kickoff return, a 48-yard TD reception, and a pair of rushing scores. The seven points Boiling Springs surrendered on defense is the key, though. It was the side of the ball where progress had to be made in order to be competitive this year. Job well done!
I did not think WSSD rivals Cedar Cliff and Red Land would combine for 80 points. The Colts of Cedar Cliff accounted for 50 of those points and won comfortably. Still, 80 is a very big number. Colts RB Princeton Dent galloped for 187 yards and a couple of scores on debut as a potential RB1. That’ll work.
Hershey winning the annual Cocoa Bean Bowl is worthy of recognition on its merit. However, the way the Trojans grabbed the trophy against rival Milton Hershey – posting a shutout – tells you a little something.
WINNING IS DEFINITELY BETTER THAN LOSING
If you’ve known greenhorn Mechanicsburg head football coach Dave Heckard as long as I have – watched him grow up around Twilight baseball, I covered him as a player at Cumberland Valley and wrote about his college career – then you will understand his quote following the Wildcats victory over Carlisle “winning is better than losing” is vintage Dave. Congrats coach.
The win also halted a streak of nine consecutive losses for Mechanicsburg against throwback rival Carlisle. Kind of surprised the Herd were that dominant in recent years considering Mechanicsburg has put some quality playoff caliber teams on the field during that time frame. The 28-point gap could indicate some very tough sledding ahead for Carlisle, though.
GO SEE HIM PLAY
If you enjoy high octane football and a quarterback who has zero fear of making any throw or failing, go watch the Camp Hill Lions and quarterback Drew Branstetter this season.
Branstetter accounted for more than 450 yards of offense and threw for six touchdowns to kick off his 2024 campaign. Now the Lions did lose to Lancaster Catholic in double overtime, but that is a toss-up game the other team just happened to win.
The 382 passing yards by the Lions quarterback came on only 22 completions. That’s a staggering 17.4 yards per completion. He also rushed for 81 yards. Do yourself a favor if you just enjoy the game and go see the Lions and Branstetter this season. You’ll be glad you did.
HEY NOW, REALLY? PART II
This is the other side of the coin. These were the game that made us internally say “what” or ask the are you sure that score is right question.
It was pretty obvious based on the preseason Central Dauphin is going to struggle this season and that starts up front in the trenches. I must admit my jaw dropped when I sat down at halftime Friday night at Chapman Field and pulled out my phone and saw on social media a post that said Central York 44, Central Dauphin 0 with 4:48 to play in the first half. Whoa!
I’m waiting for more body of work, but my initial reaction to Cedar Crest 45, Lower Dauphin 16 had me thinking red flags of all sorts for the Falcons from Dauphin County. It’s not that you lose more the how you lose that is relevant in my book early in the season. And clearly LD was not competitive.
Manheim Township is still a very good football team despite losing its All-State quarterback. Cumberland Valley had zero say in the outcome, a 42-14 drubbing by the Blue Streaks, at Chapman Field. What grabbed my attention was how overwhelmed the Eagles were up front on both sides of the ball. It was a massive mismatch. Plus Township was in late season form in terms of execution and discipline. I will say Cumberland Valley showed plenty of dog in the fight and that’s expected. This was just a matter of being outclassed football-wise.
