On the GEFA Trail: Dauphin County Comanche

Tagged under: Gameday Hub, GEFA, News

Guy Smith | April 9, 2024

Our GEFA choice this week was whittled down to either the Dauphin County Comanche, where we could see afternoon football and evening racing, or head west and knock off another of the farther away teams, the Indiana County Crusaders. In the end, the double won and we headed to the Comanche.

GEFA has made many strides this year in presenting themselves in a more professional manner.

The Comanche play their home games at Koons Park. This was one of the four sites we went to last year for GEFA, and the only one of the four that is still an active site in the league.

After a pair of weeks at high school stadiums, this week was back at a park. However, of the three parks we went to for GEFA last year, this was the nicest. On the plus side, there is plenty of paved parking, nice permanent restrooms, and three sets of nice bleachers that offer an unobstructed view of the field. Admission is free. There is a refreshment stand, but unfortunately it is not open for the GEFA games.

One nice improvement from last year is that the scoreboard was working, well, sort of, this year. Last year the score was shown on a hard to read cardboard flip chart, so this year being able to look at the scoreboard and see the current score was a definite plus from when we were there last season. Unfortunately, none of the other portions of the scoreboard were working, including the clock. But again, it’s a plus this year!

For the first two Saturdays, we saw GEFA on high school turf fields. Being a park, this field was grass. It was very soft from all the rain during the first half of the week.

This was the first game of the season for the Comanche, having not played in either the Kickoff Classic or the following week. For the expansion Monroeville Titans, it was already their third game of the season. Without a lot of players, they held off the Somerset County Miners to win their first-ever game in the league during the Kickoff Classic. The following week in their first home game they lost by a respectable two scores to the Coal County Nightmare, 19-6.

Monroeville has a challenge in that they are the farthest west team in the league, meaning they will have the most travel time of any team. On Saturday when they played in Dauphin County they only had 14 players, and that was reduced to 13 early in the game, despite the fact that their roster shows 37 players. There are four teams even further from Monroeville than the Comanche. The Comanche, on the other hand, had approximately three dozen players suited up on the sideline. Hopefully the Titans can get their numbers up so that their roster can at least get somewhat closer to the actual number of players on the sideline, or they may fall prey to a lack of bodies before the end of the season.

The Titans roster of 37 shows 36 rookies, while the Comanche roster of 39 lists only five rookies. Despite the huge gap in both experience and available players, the Titans hung in there and at the half were only down 14-0. The defense, who had to be tired as some of the players got little rest having to stay on the field both ways, continued to play hard, even in the second half and the team only gave up an additional 14 points.

The Titan offense was stymied for almost the entire game. A nice completion in the last quarter set up a first and goal and they put it in the end zone to avoid a shutout. A score of 28-6 nearing the end of the game was a decent showing by a short-handed expansion team playing on the road against a veteran playoff team that is one of the championship favorites. The Comanche demonstrated why they are a force to be reckoned with in the league.

Near the end of the game, a dustup involving a number of players erupted, and a non-player got involved. At that point the game was called by the game officials. A smart move. Non players do not belong on the field. Shame on that person. Hopefully the ship keeps sailing in the right direction. Some choppy waters are to be expected but overall another nice outing.

The Comanche, at 1-0, now top the Valley Division as the only unbeaten team. The Titans drop to 1-2 and are in fourth place of the six teams in the Mountain Division. Three of the four unbeaten teams are in the Mountain.

We have DeSales University track & field commitments next Saturday afternoon and will not be able to make a GEFA game. However, we will be able to give the Harrisburg Stampede, a new arena football franchise, a look in the evening.

GUY & PAM 2024 GEFA SCORECARD

Week 0—Kickoff Classic (Central Columbia High School, Bloomsburg)
Week 1—Bedford County Buffaloes (Claysburg-Kimmel High School, Claysburg)
Week 2—Dauphin County Comanche (Koons Park, Linglestown)

On the Radar: Coal County Nightmare, Indiana County Crusaders, Williamsport Wildcats, Wilkes Barre Warriors, Somerset County Miners, Moshannon Valley Vikings, Hazleton Mustangs, Berks County Raptors, Monroeville Titans, Keystone Bowl, All-Star Game.

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