When it comes to the second week of a high school football season, flipping the script and bouncing back from a less-than-impactful opening four quarters is where my attention goes first.
Two teams jumped off the Week 2 docket to grab our Sunday Morning Quarterback attention.
Nobody has been rocked by more upheaval than the crew from the Catholic-based education private school in Shiremanstown. Trinity lost more than half its key players/starters from a year ago to graduation and transfers. The T-Rocks also lost their head coach and plenty of the assistants as well. Former Steel-High, Cedar Cliff, and Trinity assistant Kevin Yarnevich was inserted as “interim” head coach at the 11th hour.
Mix all that together and it showed up in spades in Week 1 whitewash to an equally ravaged Allentown Central Catholic outfit, 18-0. This team has been through the offseason ringer and it wasn’t a bad opening result and the expectation was more struggles would ensue.
Let’s just say the T-Rocks embraced that mantra of good teams making their biggest jumps in the time between the end of game No. 1 and the final horn of Week 2.
Powered by do-everything running back Christian Joy and his 223 rushing yards and four touchdowns, the T-Rocks turned a tight and tense contest at halftime into a runaway by leaving East Pennsboro in picking-up-the-pieces mode following a 37-14 victory.
Joy earned all the accolades and headlines he is getting after averaging a staggering 11.2 yards per carry on 20 totes. This victory had some well-rounded ingredients that could serve the T-Rocks well as they head into Week 3 with a little pep and zip in their step.
Fellow RB Jacob Ness pitched in 92 yards on 11 carries and helped power Trinity to 319 rushing yards against the Panther’s defense. Quarterback Mason Boyer completed 12 of 16 passes for 101 yards, which is a perfect number for him based on what the Shamrocks want to accomplish as an offense by using the run to set up the pass.
Finally, and this might be the hidden key to more wins for Trinity going forward, the Shamrocks’ defense played a major role in victory No. 1 in 2024. Hey, surrendering 18 points to ACC is a job well done. To follow up the T-Rocks D pitched a second-half shutout in a tied game at halftime and limited East Penn to fewer than 200 total yards and only 91 on the ground. Eight quarters and 32 total points allowed. That’s a foundation right there.
Cumberland Valley is not going to win or most likely even be a major player in the race to decide the new-look Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division in 2024. The Eagles, though, do fancy themselves as a Class 6A playoff contender. Week 1 was a reality check for CV as they were manhandled by a bigger, stronger, and faster Manheim Township outfit that played with a purpose. It wasn’t even a fair fight, really.
Unlike previous years when the first month of the season was a complete uphill battle, the Eagles caught a Week 2 schedule break and took full advantage of a Carlisle team that will struggle to compete. There will be mighty challenges ahead for CV, but putting a 35-0 victory on the board is the kind of all-around effort the Eagles desperately needed. From my chair it’s not that the Eagles beat Carlisle, more it was how they went about their business.
The Commonwealth is a crowded house at the top with State College, Bishop McDevitt, and Harrisburg all with clear “Top Dog” intentions. CV is in the next tier and needs to find continued balance in the run game to help out its QB to reach that playoff goal.
How would you like your very first start at the quarterback position to be against Bishop McDevitt on the road in the best high school football game rivalry these eyes have ever witnessed – Market Street Madness: Harrisburg vs. McDevitt?
Less than two weeks ago Jayion Lewis would have been considered the No. 3 option for the Cougars when it came to the quarterback position. Saturday afternoon he was QB1 and made his first start for Harrisburg.
The return of Harrisburg-McDevitt to the schedule for the first time since 2017 was an instant classic and Lewis will never forget his performance and the somewhat improbable overtime victory registered by the short-handed Cougars.
After getting smacked around by La Salle College HS in Week 1, Harrisburg was left with a laundry list of questions that left them as clear underdogs in this game. Lewis provided enough answers to sway the outcome in favor of the visitors from the city.
Lewis had an 80-yard touchdown run, threw an 80-yard catch-and-run TD pass to Elias Coke, and marched Harrisburg 62 yards in the dying minutes scoring a touchdown from four yards out with 76 seconds remaining in regulation. His two-point conversion run forced OT and set up the Cougars to win it all in extra time.
There was nobody else to play QB for the Cougars. Lewis was it. And he answered the bell with 353 total yards (236 passing, 117 rushing). More importantly, in case you forgot, this was a Commonwealth Division victory for Harrisburg. All championships matter and are celebrated on Market Street under head coach Calvin Everett.
The rebirth of the rivalry will go into the history books as another in a fairly long list of classics. Jayion Lewis will be the name that will roll off tongues when the 2024 clash is talked about a decade from now.
TWO WEEKS, TWO WINS
Keep an eye on Mechanicsburg and the combination of QB Eli Reider and WR Josh Smith. They are two known talents that every team knows they have to extinguish in order to keep the Wildcats offense from lighting up the scoreboard. The duo is no secret. And nobody has slowed them down through eight quarters.
Palmyra had no idea what hit them Friday as Reider and Smith connected for three touchdowns and 138 yards in the opening half as Mechanicsburg raced to a 35-0 lead to invite Mr. Mercy Rule to John H. Frederick Field for the second half. Smith not only had 138 receiving yards, but he also carried the ball twice for 41 yards and had an interception all in the first half.
Sometimes the hard is what makes it great, right? Cedar Cliff traveled the very hard road to pick up its first win as a Commonwealth Division side by nudging past Central Dauphin in overtime. Make no mistake this is a massive victory for the Colts in their first season with the biggest of the dogs in the MPC.
Glory seemed to be secured in the dying minutes when the Colts’ Secrest brothers, QB Bennett, and TE Blake, hooked up for a 17-yard touchdown with 2:31 to play on a fourth-and-10 play. That TD pulled the Colts and Rams level at 13-all. Extra point to follow, right? Bad snap – remember snap, hold, kick still matters.
With momentum on its side, the Colts were dominant in the extra session. Cedar Cliff is 2-0 and that’s very important. Because taking this massive step up in weekly competition will take its toll in the long run on their record. A perennial playoff squad under coach Colin Gillen has a tough road to a second-season invitation in 2024. The Rams are going to struggle this season and dropped to 0-2. They put in the work though after getting embarrassed in Week 1 and showed up. That still matters. Cliff is still finding its footing and this will help massively.
