Four Downs: Four big takes from Week 7
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Four biggest takeaways from Week 7 of the 2023 high school football season:
1ST DOWN
Sometimes you don’t fully appreciate a streak until it’s over – often not until years later.
That was the case with “Iron Man” Cal Ripken’s consecutive-games streak, with Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak and now with Wyomissing’s Berks-record 41-game regular season winning streak. It’ll look even bigger a few years from now.
The Spartans have rolled over teams with such ease the past five seasons some took it for granted. And when they finally lost, Friday at Cocalico, some couldn’t believe it. Even some of the Cocalico players.
“When the clock was running down, I had to stop and look at it for a few seconds,” Cocalico’s Aaryn Longenecker told LancasterOnline.com. “I couldn’t believe we just beat this team.”
Believe it, the defending District 3 Class 5A champs were clearly the better team and their 34-14 win was no fluke. Next month they could very well pick up another district chip.
As for the Spartans, their five-year run has been incredible. They’ve gone 55-5 since the start of the 2019 season. That includes a 2021 win at Southern Columbia to end the nation’s longest winning streak; a win over unbeaten Danville last season in a PIAA quarterfinal; and four district championships.
A fifth district title awaits a few weeks down the line. Friday’s loss doesn’t change that.
2ND DOWN
The Lancaster-Lebanon League schedule-maker needs to take a bow.
With three weeks left in league play four of the five sections are in play and three look like they could come down to the final week.
Only Section 4, where Cocalico (4-0, 6-1) has beaten both Wyomissing (3-1, 6-1) and Lampeter-Strasburg (3-1, 6-1), seems wrapped up.
Wilson (3-0, 5-2) and Manheim Township (3-0, 7-0) are the only unbeatens in Section 1; they meet Week 10 in West Lawn.
A first-place round-round begins Friday in Section 2: Manheim Central (3-0, 6-1) plays at Conestoga Valley (3-0, 6-1) Friday; Exeter (4-0, 7-0) plays at Conestoga Valley in Week 9; Manheim Central plays at Exeter in Week 10.
In Section 3, first-place Twin Valley (4-0, 7-0) plays at Ephrata (3-1, 6-1) Friday; the Raiders can essentially clinch the crown with a win.
In Section 5, Schuylkill Valley (4-0, 6-1) plays at Annville-Cleona (4-0, 5-2) in Week 9 and at Lancaster Catholic (3-1, 6-1) in Week 10.
3RD DOWN
Twin Valley’s football program was dormant for much of its first 27 seasons.
No longer.
The Raiders are unbeaten seven weeks into the season after coming off back-to-back thrillers the likes of which few players or coaches ever experience.
One week after scoring a touchdown and two-pointer with 13 seconds left to beat Solanco 28-27 the Raiders put together another clutch drive and scored with 1:22 remaining to top unbeaten Garden Spot 35-34 in a first-place battle. To win it they needed a blocked PAT and to withstand a last-second field goal try by the Spartans.
Two wins, by a total of two points, each decided in the final seconds. That kind of stuff just doesn’t happen.
“Every week, somebody gets an unbelievable experience that they’ll remember forever,” said Raiders coach Brett Myers.
4TH DOWN
Next time you watch an NFL game you’ll surely hear a broadcaster mention an “untimely injury.”
Are there ever “timely” injuries?
Well, in Schuylkill Valley’s case, perhaps.
If the Panthers had to lose All-State running back Dominic Giuffre for a stretch they picked the right stretch. He broke his arm early n a Week 4 win over Kutztown (2-5) and has missed games against Pequea Valley (2-5), Northern Lebanon (3-4) and Columbia (1-6).
The Panthers won them all and remain in first place in Section 5 with their biggest games all dead ahead.
Giuffre could return Friday to play in the Frost Bowl against Hamburg. If not, he’ll almost certainly have the ball in his hands the final two weeks, against Annville-Cleona and Lancaster-Catholic. That’s when the Section 5 title will be determined.
