BY JEFF FALK

NEFFSVILLE – Wow. What to do with this one? There’s really only two ways to go.

You can either totally throw it away, flush it and forget about it. Or you can push it to the forefront, remember it and use it as motivation.

But how the Cedar Crest football team handles it will determine how it finishes the season, and it could ultimately determine the success of the Falcons’ campaign.

On a star-lit Friday night at Manheim Township, Cedar Crest endured an epic and humbling defeat, falling to the home-standing Blue Streaks 62-0. Powerful Manheim Township enjoyed a 45-0 halftime bulge, on its way to scoring points on its first nine possessions of the game and bringing the mercy rule into effect.

Manheim Township out gained Cedar Crest 314 total yards to 96. The Falcons turned the ball over five times and the Blue Streaks never punted.

Eight different Manheim Township players scored points.

While it was one of the most lopsided Cedar Crest losses in recent memory, it was only the Falcons’ second of the season. Cedar Crest is 6-2 overall, 3-2 in Section One of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and situated fourth in the latest District Three Class AAAAAA power rankings.

The result kept Manheim Township unbeaten, at 8-0 on the year and 5-0 in Section One. The Blue Streaks are the top seeded Class AAAAAA squad in District Three.

“We didn’t play very well,” said Cedar Crest head coach Rob Wildasin. “But that’s one of the best high school football teams I’ve ever seen. They’re just bigger, faster and stronger than us. The difference in the weight room was very evident. And that gap is just going to continue to widen if we don’t do something about it.”

“This group is hungry,” said Manheim Township head coach Mark Evans, himself a Cedar Crest graduate. “They epitomize hard work. They took a workmanlike approach to the game tonight.”

Blue Streak superstar Anthony Ivey returned the opening kickoff 91 yards to the Cedar Crest one-yard line. It was all downhill for the Falcons after that.

Two plays later, Township’s Harrison Kirk scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak, a mere 40 seconds into the game. Then after a Cedar Crest three-and-out, Bryce Casey’s 48-yard rumble set up Kirk for another one-yard plunge, to make it 14-0.

“We’ve got to get better,” said Wildasin. “We have to go back to assignment football. When the going gets tough, you don’t try to do more. We tried to do things we couldn’t do.”

“I don’t think we’ve played our best football yet,” said Evans. “We’ve played good football. We can find things to get better at. We continue to look for improvement and that elusive perfect game. We’ll come back to work and keep on grinding.”

Cedar Crest did drive its second possession 47 yards to the Manheim Township 30-yard line, thanks to a 22-yard run from Tyler Cruz and four completions by quarterback Chris Danz. But the march was stalled by a sack.

With 26 seconds left in the opening quarter, the Blue Streaks upped their advantage to 21-0 on a Jaden Floyd two-yard touchdown run that capped a six-play, 75-yard possession. The lead grew to 28 points 1:17 into the second stanza when Mickey Stokes hauled in a 46-yard scoring strike from Kirk.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen that way,” said Wildasin to the start of the game. “It was 14-0 and we got a big run from Tyler, but we came away with nothing. That was it. If you want to hang around with a team that good, you’ve got to get points on the board when you have an opportunity.”

“We came out and capitalized on key turnovers,” said Evans. “The opening kickoff certainly helped the momentum. We put it down there and scored. We got a key stop and five offensive players later it’s 14-0.

“When Uncle Mo (momentum) gets on your side, you want to keep him there,” added Evans. “We did, and we kept grinding.”

A 27-yard field goal off the right foot of Jackson Wright upped the Blue Streak lead to 31-0 in the middle of the second quarter. That was before Cade Clancy got into the act, with a 12-yard jaunt to pay dirt.

Then 1:47 before the half, Jon Engel returned an interception 52 yards to ‘the house’ to make it 45-0.

“I thought they were very good,” said Wildasin of the Blue Streaks. “Seeing them on the field up close, if they don’t win the state championship, I think they’ll be disappointed. They’re good, very good.”

“Our task was to take him (Cruz) out of the game,” said Evans. “Our task was to stop the run.”

Manheim Township reserves played the entire second half.

“We’ll find out what we’re made of next Friday night,” said Wildasin. “If things don’t change, that same result will occur against Wilson.”

“We’ve been building this brick by brick for eight years,” said Evans. “We’ve been working on the culture. Coming into the season we knew we had a chance to be a pretty good football team. 1-0 is our focus every week. We’re trying to work on our grit and toughness.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

2019 Cedar Crest Football Results

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
8/23 7:00 pm	Lebanon at Cedar Crest	6 28
8/30 7:00 pm	Hershey at Cedar Crest	13 42
9/06 7:00 pm	Cedar Crest at York High	17 14
9/13 7:00 pm	Cedar Crest at McCaskey	49 20
9/20 7:00 pm	Hempfield at Cedar Crest	21 34
9/27 7:00 pm	Cedar Crest at Warwick	14 34
10/04 7:00 pm	Penn Manor at Cedar Crest	10 37
10/11 7:00 pm	Cedar Crest at Manheim Township
10/18 7:00 pm	Wilson at Cedar Crest
10/25 7:00 pm	Cedar Crest at Garden Spot

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Manheim Township	7-	0-	0	0.820971	1.000000	0.602158	8.6	41.9	0.0	27.7
2	Wilson	6-	1-	0	0.811396	0.906832	0.694751	7.3	50.3	0.8	22.1
3	Central Dauphin	5-	2-	0	0.759037	0.801325	0.707353	6.1	48.1	1.5	19.9
4	Cedar Crest	6-	1-	0	0.750899	0.895706	0.573913	7.3	39.6	0.9	29.4
5	Central York	6-	1-	0	0.737145	0.903226	0.534157	7.0	36.8	0.8	32.1
6	Harrisburg	4-	2-	0	0.718893	0.765625	0.661777	4.9	40.6	1.5	20.8
7	Chambersburg Area	5-	2-	0	0.690417	0.798658	0.558122	6.0	37.5	1.5	29.7
8	Red Lion	4-	3-	0	0.630983	0.662069	0.592990	4.8	41.5	2.5	28.5
9	Lebanon	5-	2-	0	0.623157	0.732283	0.489781	4.7	33.6	1.7	35.0
10	Cumberland Valley	3-	4-	0	0.610510	0.541985	0.694263	3.6	47.8	3.0	21.1
11	Reading	4-	2-	0	0.546186	0.725806	0.326650	4.5	19.6	1.7	40.3
12	HEMPFIELD	2-	5-	0	0.524972	0.368000	0.716826	2.3	52.4	4.0	20.7
13	Carlisle	2-	5-	0	0.517974	0.377953	0.689112	2.4	48.1	4.0	21.7
14	Central Dauphin East	2-	5-	0	0.502841	0.384000	0.648092	2.4	42.5	3.9	23.1
15	Penn Manor	2-	5-	0	0.493378	0.377953	0.634454	2.4	45.3	4.0	26.1
16	Dallastown	1-	6-	0	0.416255	0.203252	0.676593	1.3	48.9	4.9	23.4
17	J P McCaskey	0-	7-	0	0.342610	0.000000	0.761356	0.0	56.2	5.6	17.6
18	York County School of Technology	0-	7-	0	0.183140	0.000000	0.406977	0.0	28.0	7.4	40.8

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section One Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PS	PA
Manheim Township	4	0	100.00	8	0	100.00	350	55
Wilson	3	1	75.00	7	1	87.50	294	132
Cedar Crest	3	2	60.00	6	2	75.00	221	180
Warwick	3	2	60.00	6	2	75.00	306	89
Hempfield	1	3	25.00	3	5	37.50	176	208
Penn Manor	1	3	25.00	3	5	37.50	178	250
McCaskey	0	4	0.00	0	8	0.00	86	382

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