Coach Weider’s @Go_Rout Coaches Notebook: Weekly awards after the 1st weekend of Playoffs and top 5 games in District 3

Tagged under: District 3, News, pfn

Pat Weider | November 7, 2022

Visit GoRout

 get the most out of your practices!

I covered Cocalico at Elizabethtown Friday night. Cocalico the 12th seed took it to the 5th seed Elizabethtown 42-2. Cocalico ran all over the Elizabethtown defense. Elizabethtown’s offense also couldn’t move the ball or score on Cocalico’s defense. So Cocalico dominated and advanced to face Gettysburg in the next round of the playoffs. Before I move on congrats to Elizabethtown on a nice season. Going 8-2 is a huge accomplishment after several down years. 

Correction: I congratulated all the undefeated teams in the Lancaster-Lebanon league in last week’s coaches’ notebook, but I forgot to mention Solanco. Huge thank you to David Duda for pointing it out. Congrats on Solanco for completing a 10-0 season for the first time ever in their school history. Incredible accomplishment. 

Coach of the week: Bryan Strohl of Cocalico. It doesnt happen every year that you see a 12th seed win 42-2 over a 5th seed. That is what happened with Cocalico when they beat Elizabethtown on Friday night. I heard several players and Coach Strohl repeat the following phrase “When you make the playoffs seeds don’t matter”. Coach Strohl got his team fired up and ready to play Friday night. 

Team of the week: Dover. Dover won its 2nd playoff game in it’s school history. A great accomplishment by them. Dover beat Garden Spot 40-21. Dover continued its great season after a 8-2 regular season. This is after they went 1-9 last year. Finally, they get Exeter Township next week. If they can beat them it be a huge accomplishment. 

Player of the week: Gavin Mullins Dover Running Back. 24 carries and 140 yards. 2 touchdowns and a 80 yard catch. Great effort by Mullins and his offensive line. He is now up to 1195 yards rushing on the year. 

My Top 5 District 3 Playoff Games for the week of 11/11/22

******Me and CJ Frederick will have a full preview later this week on District 3 Playoffs. 

1)6A Harrisburg vs. Wilson. Both teams are power house programs in the area. Both have had good years. This game should be a close affair between two even teams. I expect it to go to the 4th quarter in a tight game. 

2) 5A Solanco vs. Shippensburg. Solanco has had an amazing year going 10-0. Now comes the tough test for them. Shippensburg has had a nice year, going 8-3 including winning 32-14 against Cedar Cliff in the 1st round of the playoff last week. A really intriguing match up here. 

3) 3A Lancaster Catholic vs. West Perry. Lancaster Catholic completed a 10-0 regular season and now will face 10-1 West Perry after they had a great year and won last week in the 1st round against Schuylkill Valley. This should be an intriguing match up against 2 good teams. 

4) 2A Annville-Cleona vs. Trinity. This is a district championship game, so for all the marbles. Annville has had a good year going 8-3 including a 42-13 win over Camp Hill. Trinity comes into the game with a 7-4 win after a 56-17 win over Delone Catholic. This one has two explosive offenses, it should be a good one to watch. 

5) 6A Cumberland Valley vs. Manheim Township. This is a great game. Also a rematch from week 1 when Cumberland Valley beat Manheim Township 31-27. Both went on and had a great season and now are re-matching on Friday night. 

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews