District 3 playoff preview: Exeter vs. Lower Dauphin
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District 3 Class 5A first round
No. 7 Exeter (8-2 ) vs. No. 10 Lower Dauphin (7-3)
Kick: Friday, 7, at Don Thomas Stadium, Reiffton.
Series: Lower Dauphin leads 3-0.
Last meeting: Lower Dauphin won 2013 District 3 Class 4A quarterfinal 28-0.
District playoff history: Exeter is making its 16th appearance. It is 13-14 overall, with a championship in 2021 and championship-game appearances in 2022 and 2024. Have won 9 of last 12 games, including a pair of road wins last season, which ended with 48-14 loss to Bishop McDevitt. . . Lower Dauphin is making its 17th appearance. It is 11-13 overall, with championships in 1995, 2002 and 2013. Have not won a game since 2015. Went out in first round last year 42-7 to eventual 5A champ Bishop McDevitt.
Falcons update: Ended season with four straight wins. . . Tied for second in Mid-Penn Conference Keystone with Shippensburg, and behind Mechanicsburg. . . Beat Mechanicsburg 22-21 in Week 4. . . Only other win over playoff-qualifier came in Week 8 over Mifflin County, 35-26. . . Suffered three close losses, all to district qualifiers: Shippensburg (23-20), Cedar Crest (25-21) and Red Land (14-6). . . Nearly went to overtime with Shippensburg before a last-second field goal try hit the upright and bounced back. . . Run-oriented offense is averaging 321 yards per game, 251 on the ground. . . Cranked out season-high 347 rushing yards last week in 35-14 win over Gettysburg. . .Senior Hunter Strohm, committed to play baseball at the Mississippi State, leads team with 1,308 rushing yards and 23 TDs. . . He scored four TDs in last week’s 35-14 win over Gettysburg. . . Junior Tyler Newman, the team’s leading receiver through 6 games, has started the past 4 games at QB in place of injured senior Braeden Heckard. . . He has passed just 26 times over the last 4 games. . . Threw just 3 passes in last week’s. . . Team has 2 TD passes for the season. . . Strohm leads team with 100 tackles, including 25 tackles for loss, with 5 sacks. . . . Have finished 6-4 each of the past two seasons before losing a first-round playoff game.
Did you know? Leo Brown needs 94 yards to make Exeter the first team in Berks history to produce 2,000-yard rushers in back-to-back seasons. He needs 188 yards to top Jayden Zandier’s single-season program record of 2,093 yards, set last season.
Eagles update: Rebounded from back-to-back losses to Hempfield and Conestoga Valley with resounding 42-7 win over Elizabethtown to return to districts for 13th time in 14 seasons. . . Senior RB Leo Brown rushed for 156 yards and 2 TDs. . . He has rushed for a league-leading 1,906 yards and has topped 100 in 9 straight games. . . Ranked No. 4 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League in scoring (39.4), No. 6 in total offense (377.8) and No. 7 in rushing (261.1). . . Senior QB Jake Hafer, who threw a career-high 4 TDs last week, has thrown for 980 yards and 13 TDs. . .Top target is senior WR Jayden Ware, who has 23 catches and 556 receiving yards. . . Ranked No. 1 in the league in rush defense, allowing 67.4 yards per game. . . Ranked No. 3 in total defense (175.6) and No. 3 in scoring defense (10.8). . . Senior LB Aidan Dauble leads team with 70 tackles. . . Junior LB Donovon Alvarez is second with 57 tackles. . . Senior DT Joel Ummarino leads team with 12 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks and 11 hurries. . . Ware leads team with 4 INTs.
Fast fact: Exeter is 6-3 in home playoff games. Its only home playoff loss in the last nine years came against Cocalico in the 2022 District 3 Class 5A championship game.
Quotable:”(Hunter) Strohm has been getting a lot of recognition and deservingly so. He is a high-level football player that can probably play at the highest level in college, but he is playing baseball. He has been our focal point on both sides of the ball.” – Lower Dauphin coach Josh Borreli, to PennLive.com
Winner plays: At No. 2 Conestoga Valley (10-0) Nov. 7 in a quarterfinal.
