2014 preview

By Matt Goul

mgoul@GameTimePA.com,@mgoul on Twitter

The last time York and Adams County teams played a meaningful football game it was a bitter cold November day at Hersheypark Stadium.

One warming comfort for the YAIAA came in the fact that two of its teams had made it to the District 3 championship stage. A year earlier, in 2012, three made it to district finals. Before then, the league hadn’t had multiple teams make it that far since 2002, when York Catholic and Delone Catholic advanced there.

York County has sent just two teams to the big-school Class AAAA district final since the PIAA expanded to four classifications in 1985.

Dallastown came close to being the third before its 33-17 loss at Cumberland Valley last fall during the district semifinals in Mechanicsburg. Wildcats coach Kevin Myers agreed that night it could be a crucial step for his program and, by extension, perhaps the league.

“We got here. Are we going to get back?” he said that night.

It’s a big question and goal for the now 23 YAIAA schools, so let’s examine what’s on the horizon with 14 points for 2014:

1. Speaking of that number, 23, the addition of Gettysburg finally comes to fruition this August. In football, it means realignment among the three divisions.

The 10-team Division III, which made for nine-game league schedules the last four years is no more. Now those teams have more than just the Week 1 opener to fit in non-league opponents.

“It gives you some variety and other teams you haven’t played before,” York Catholic coach Eric Depew said. “I think it helps you prepare for your division instead of one game and, bam, you’re in division play.”

York Suburban and Eastern York, both in AAA for football, moved up from Division III to Division II. New Oxford and Northeastern moved up to Division I to expand it to an eight-team division, which appeals to Dallastown’s Myers.

“The last few years we had a divisional champ out of five games,” he said. “I like that there’s going to be eight teams in our division. I think it gives the division title a little more validity.”

Division II, however, will have an odd number of teams. Gettysburg makes it seven, forcing each of those schools to find a non-league opponent at different times during the season.

For example, defending champion Dover will travel to Reading in Week 7. West York will host Pius X in Week 6, and so on.

“To me, it’s not a big deal going from division to non-division,” said York Suburban coach Jeremy Jones, whose Trojans travel to Ephrata in Week 5. “Your goal is to win every game every week. To me, it’s just another week of preparation.”

2. Nine of last year’s 22 YAIAA teams last year made playoff appearances. That number actually has seen a slight and steady decline since 2009, when 12 teams made the postseason.

3. A few rules changes were made last winter by the National Federation of State High School Associations, including a definition of “targeting” that will penalize certain hits.

The NFHS says targeting “is an act of taking aim and initiating contact to an opponent above the shoulders with the helmet, forearm, hand, fist, elbow or shoulders.”

“Defenseless” players also are now defined as players who, “because of his physical position and focus of concentration, is especially vulnerable to injury.”

Central York coach Brad Livingston remembers a play early in Week 1 last year at West York where one of his players was penalized for hitting a punt returner the moment he caught the football.

“I clearly didn’t agree with the call, but it was one of those things when something’s brought in new there’s going to be a learning curve for all involved,” Livingston said.

Additional rules will require at least four members of a kicking team to line up on each side of the kicker. This could affect strategies on onside kicks or short pooch kicks designed to force a turnover or prevent a big return.

Also, only the kicker can line up more than 5 yards behind the kicking line — a move to prevent tacklers from building up extra momentum.

4. With such changes, old-fashioned football is still alive. Look no further than Dover and Bermudian Springs, who made postseason runs last year with run-heavy, Wing-T offenses and suffocating defenses.

Their leading rushers, fullbacks Colton Dull of Bermudian and Isaiah Green of Dover, are back, too. The YAIAA has four returning players who rushed for at least 1,000 yards last year. Dull and Green are the only running backs of the group.

5. The other two to break 1,000 yards on the ground?

They happened to be quarterbacks.

William Penn’s James Way and York Catholic’s Hakeem Kinard ran for a grand on the ground while each throwing for more than 1,500. Dual-threat quarterbacks could be commonplace this fall. In addition to Way and Kinard, West York senior Ross Campbell (1,112 yards passing, 700 rushing last year) and Northeastern junior Marcus Josey (1,309 passing, 309 rushing) can give opposing defenses considerable grief.

6. Central’s Brad Livingston earned career win No. 200 last year at South Western in Week 7. Bermudian Springs’ Jon DeFoe achieved win No. 100 in Week 4 against York County Tech.

The milestone watch should continue this fall. Littlestown coach Mike Lippy enters the season at 92-35.

7. Four coaches will seek their first career victory come Aug. 29.

Dave Kemmick takes over Eastern York after spending last season as an assistant at Donegal. Patrick Weider was promoted from receivers and defensive backs coach to the top job at Kennard-Dale. Meanwhile, J.C. Lewis takes over for Bill Kerr at Susquehannock.

Bill Reichart took over Hanover midway through last season for Mike Ketterman.

8. A number of second-year coaches already have momentum building toward this fall.

Eric Lam guided Dover to a YAIAA Division II title. Jeremy Jones took a rebuilding project at York Suburban and saw the Trojans finish 5-5, while Jesse Shay did something similar at Red Lion.

The Lions are quickly looking like a team that resembles its coach. Shay arrived last year after serving as Bishop McDevitt’s defensive coordinator. Red Lion returns All-YAIAA defensive lineman Sam Lowe, Kenny Holloway, junior linebacker Stone Hill and cornerback Nate Orji, to name a few.

9. Come Week 1, when Red Lion plays host to Hershey, the school will debut a new video scoreboard. It’s one of two such commodities in York County, where Central York also will debut one.

“We felt it was the right time to do it,” Red Lion district marketing and communications manager Don Dimoff said this summer. “If we did anything else, we might look down the line and wish we had done it.”

Dimoff, who is known for coaching the girls’ basketball team at Red Lion, compared the new scoreboards to what Shippensburg University uses at its football stadium.

Elsewhere, Dallastown is adding artificial turf. Bermudian Springs will add FieldTurf next summer.

10. Dallastown’s turf will debut Week 1 against Lancaster Catholic. Other opening night games to keep an eye on:

- Dover at Shippensburg: Two playoff teams go head-to-head as the YAIAA Division II champs visit the Mid-Penn Colonial winners. This will be a new opponent for Dover, which opened last year against Hanover.

- Gettysburg at South Western: The Warriors visit their traditional rival but in the similar sense that teams like Central York and West York meet as interdivisional foes.

- York Catholic at Northeastern: These games have been close calls for both sides in past years. Last year, a long fumble return saved York Catholic with a 19-point fourth-quarter rally in a 25-20 win. In 2012, Northeastern scored last to post a 33-28 win. This one should be fun with Kinard and Josey leading their respective offenses.

11. By Week 1, you — yes, you, the reader — will be able to pick the games just like the GameTimePA.com staff. In fact, you can compete against us.

Readers will be allowed — and encouraged — to enter their weekly picks online. A prize will be handed out each week. More details to come as the season draws near.

12. Talk of picks means it’s time for a little preseason prognostication. Let’s start with Division I of the YAIAA.

Central York enters as the incumbent, but graduated a senior class that held things together on both sides of the football.

"We had such a big senior class last year; 31 kids. It’s natural to assume wow there’s 31 guys walking out the door,” coach Brad Livingston said. “The good news is we played a lot of kids and had returning starters in some way shape or form. It’s not like the cupboard is bare.”

A prime example was at quarterback, where Dylan Hose won All-YAIAA honors but shared the position at times with Nik Strine, who enters his junior season as a favorite to have the position to himself.

A team like Red Lion will not have that experience at quarterback. The new starter emerging from this offseason and summer will replace two-year starter Blake Cahill. The defense should be strong and enough to entice an early preseason pick as the favorite.

William Penn, with plenty of experience back, could be a sleeper. The Bearcats’ question will be depth.

13. Dover reclaimed Division II last year and should be a strong favorite to repeat. The Eagles have linemen back, a number of strong defensive players and their trio of running backs who made life miserable for opponents.

Their Week 9 visit to West York will be worth the wait for both sides. The only question worth asking now is: will the 44-13 win serve more to Dover’s confidence or the Bulldogs’ motivation?

14. This could be fun.

Littlestown lit up the scoreboards on offense and the opposition on defense last year. The Bolts will not be as proven entering this year, but York Catholic should have plenty of fireworks to steal the show.

However, there’s Bermudian Springs. Simple. Consistent.

An easy pick in August.

We’ll see about October.