Around District 11: The Travels of Guy & Pam – Playoff Time for GEFA
Tagged under: Gameday Hub, GEFA, News
Guy Smith | June 21, 2023
2023.07. Last Saturday Pam and Guy headed to their 9th and final football game of the first half of 2023. We ended up at Manor Middle School in Lancaster for the Lancaster County Cyclones GEFA semi final game against the Dauphin County Comanche. That’s not the game we anticipated seeing when we left home that morning.
Our nine football games so far have been four GEFA 8-Man Semi Pro games, three high school all-star games, one NFL game, and one WFA game. Overall, it was sporting event #83 for the year.
This was not an easy week to fit in a football game, as it was possibly Guy’s favorite racing week of the year, the United States Auto Club “Eastern Storm” week for the USAC National Sprint Car Series. They ran at Grandview Speedway Tuesday, Bridgeport (NJ) Speedway Wednesday (rained out after Guy arrived), Big Diamond Speedway Thursday, Williams Grove Speedway Friday, Port Royal Speedway Saturday, and Kutztown Fairgrounds Action Track USA on Sunday. Tough to fit football into that schedule, but we decided to skip Port Royal for GEFA.
Originally we had dreams pulling a GEFA semi-final double. One of the two host teams was the Moshannon Valley Vikings, and they had played their previous two home games at 7:00. The other host team, the Lancaster County Cyclones, have played all of their home games at 1:00. Alas, the double was not to be as both games were scheduled for 1:00 kickoffs.
We were on the fence as to which game to attend, as Guy has made several friends on the Comanche, but we had just seen those two teams playing in Lancaster against each other two weeks earlier. We had not seen either of the teams playing farther west in Philipsburg (PA). So we decided on the Vikings game.
We left home Saturday morning headed to Philipsburg. However, just west of Route 81 on Route 80, we came to a dead stop. Didn’t move an inch. Traffic was parked as far as the eye could see in both directions. People were out of their cars milling about. This didn’t look good. Getting to Philipsburg by game time started to be in question. It was time for drastic action. Guy started the car, cut to the left, and drove across the grass in the median, re-entered Route 80 on the East bound side, and took the exit for 81 South. We’re going to Lancaster after all.
We arrived at Manor Middle School in plenty of time for the game. This was our fourth GEFA game at four different home fields. We had previously seen the Wilkes Barre Warriors play at The Bog, the Snyder County Spartans play at East Snyder Park in Selinsgrove, and the Dauphin County Comanche play at Koons Park in Linglestown.
As you would expect at a school, there was plenty of paved parking. There were no refreshments available and no permanent restrooms. There was a scoreboard, but as has been the case elsewhere it is not used and the typical GEFA flop scoreboard is used to meet the league rules.
This game was a rematch of the final regular season game held two weeks earlier. The Lancaster County Cyclones entered that game with a perfect 9-0 record and a 78-game regular season win streak. They had also clinched the number one seed for the playoffs. The Comanche were third in the Valley Conference, with a 5-4 record at the time. At the Comanche home field, they upset the Cyclones and ended their eight-year regular season streak.
Two weeks is a long time. The previous week in the quarterfinals, the Cyclones eliminated the 8th seeded Hazleton Mustangs, while the Comanche upset the higher seeded one-loss Wilkes-Barre Warriors. That set up the semi final rematch, this time at the home of the Cyclones.
All three previous GEFA games we saw were blowouts. Wilkes-Barre beat Snyder County 72-6. Snyder County beat Somerset County 42-12. Dauphin County beat Lancaster County 52-6. We really hoped that the playoffs would bring us a close game. It did.
This was a back and forth war all afternoon. GEFA games are often high scoring, not surprising with a 50-yard field. But the defenses stepped up in this game. At the half it was just 6-6. The Comanche took the lead 14-13, but it was the Cyclones that were back on top 21-13 at the end of three. The Comanche scored and retook the lead 21-20 in the fourth.
During the game, one player stood out to both Pam and Guy. That was Cyclones QB Greg Medina, a former Keystone Bowl MVP. Guy said to Pam he predicted Medina was going to put the team on his shoulders and win this one for the Cyclones. Pam said she had been thinking the same thing. And that’s what happened. The Cyclones scoring drive ended with three straight QB keepers and a 26-21 lead.
But there was still time left on the clock. The Comanche moved the ball down the field to try to retake the lead, but their final three offensive plays ended with a drop, a lost fumble, and a sack on the final play. As my mom would always ask us: “Was it a good game?” When the team behind has the ball on the last play and is still playing for the win, yes mom, that was a good game.
We invited pal Don Gillett, a former high school football coach in Georgia to the game. Don now lives in the Lancaster area but had never heard of GEFA. Don was amazed at how entertaining and high skill level this game was. He kept muttering: “This is great, this is great” over and over. Don called the Cyclones the best-kept sports secret in the area. He is pumped for next season, and I think he will become a regular part of Cyclone Nation in 2024.
The Cyclones earned a ninth Conference championship for owner and head coach Brent Melhorn. They now advance to the Keystone Bowl next Saturday in prime time at Kutztown University (where both Pam and Guy graduated). They will face the Williamsport Wildcats, as they go for their seventh Keystone Bowl championship. The other semi final game was a good one as well. Williamsport knocked off the defending champ Moshannon Valley Vikings 44-38 to advance to the Keystone Bowl for the first time since 2008. They are the lowest seed at number six to ever make it to the championship game. Also, their head coach Aaron Stoner is at age 24 the youngest head coach to lead a team to the championship game.
This will be the 19th year for the Keystone Bowl, dating back to 2005, the first year of GEFA play. Unfortunately, Guy and Pam cannot make it to the championship game this year due to a prior commitment. We had seen the date for last year’s game, which was one week earlier and assumed it would be the same weekend this year. If the game were at 1:00 we could make it, but an evening game is out for us, and we are both very disappointed about that. Oh well, next season.
Our four-team mini tour of GEFA this year found each field having something stand out. Wilkes-Barre had the best (and only) concessions. Selinsgrove had the best parking and tied for best restrooms. Linglestown had the best seating, best scoreboard location, and also tied for the best restrooms. And Lancaster had the most entertaining game.
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