By GARY SIEGRIST
It’s one of those games that when the schedules come out, you tend to circle it, whether consciously or not.
Sure, it’s merely a non-league matchup, the last for each team before it heads into the Lancaster-Lebanon League portion of its season. But it’s more than that around here. It’s two Lebanon County schools butting heads, and now not only for bragging rights but for positioning for a possible District III AAA playoff berth at season’s end.
This Lebanon vs. Elco thing has all the makings for a rivalry, which is no doubt the reason the respective schools got together a few years back to make it happen.
“You can throw the records out the window,” said Elco coach Mark Evans in his best coach-speak voice. “Any time you play against another county opponent, it brings a different element. You are talking about guys who go against each other in wrestling, basketball, track, etc. And it’s football that starts the year off, that gives you the bragging rights.”
This year’s matchup looked much better on paper before the season began. The Cedars and Raiders both earned a spot in those district playoffs a year ago. And while Elco is the team with the majority of experience returning, Lebanon did throw a 45-10 spot on the Raiders at Lebanon Alumni Stadium a year ago.
But two games into this young season, the Cedars are struggling a bit to find themselves offensively. They didn’t get on track until late in the Cedar Crest game, and managed a mere safety in a rain-soaked match-up with Spring Grove last week.
The Raiders, meanwhile, are clicking on all cylinders after a 43-12 win over Pine Grove last week. That makes for an interesting match-up between Elco’s offense and Lebanon’s defense, which at least kept the Cedars within striking distance against Spring Grove.
“Lebanon’s offensive and defensive lines are solid,” Evans said. “It will be a great challenge for our offense. They are pretty sound defensively inside the tackle box, so it will be a good test.”
And Evans has experience growing with a young quarterback, as the Cedars are doing now. It was just two years ago when Arron Achey was a sophomore starter for the Raiders.
“The Trautman kid (QB Alex) has been coming along each week,” Evans said. “So it will be a good test for us defensively, as well.”
—-
GAME: Lebanon (0-2) at Elco (2-0)
WHERE: Elco High School, 7 p.m.
LAST YEAR: Lebanon 45, Elco 10
KEYS: Not only does Lebanon have to find away to contain Arron Achey and the powerful Elco offense, the Cedars must put some points of their own on the board this week. If they can get on track, look for a high scoring game. To this point in the season, that has been a big if.
OUTLOOK: The Cedars’ defense kept them in the game last week against Spring Grove, but has been burned by the big play before (see Cedar Bowl, week one). Taking that into consideration, Elco’s offensive firepower is scary. Mark Evans would like his defense to become more consistent as time goes on, but we don’t see that as a major issue here.
THE PICK: Elco 34, Lebanon 16
September 17, 2009
ELCO PRIMED FOR CEDAR CHALLENGE
September 10, 2009
CEDARS SEEK RECOVERY
By GARY SIEGRIST
Once upon a time, this Cedar Bowl thing had a season shelf life of its own, so to speak.
A crisp November night in 1984 comes to mind for this space, when Lebanon entered the annual contest in South Lebanon sporting a 0-9 record and a losing streak which spanned the greater part of almost three seasons.
The Cedars’ victory at Cedar Crest that night didn’t propel them to greatness for that otherwise forgetful season. Neither did it launch the Falcons into a year of gloom and doom.
It was simply one game, the last one of a football season, long before the expansion of the District III playoff system. It was simply the game in Lebanon County, the one that would carry bragging rights throughout the long off-season and make people forget about the “nine” part of that Lebanon record.
And, if nothing else, it quieted the chants from the Cedar Crest student section during those two winter meetings on the hardwood that year.
There would be no “We beat you in fooooootballlllllll.”
Times have changed, of course. And while the pomp and circumstance surrounding this annual ballyhooed match-up are still there, you can’t help but to notice the meaning of the outcome has changed a bit in the overall scheme of things.
“We were beaten by the better team that night,” said Lebanon coach Gerry Yunchiuk of his team’s 33-14 loss to the Falcons last week.
“We’ve talked about the fact that the game is gone, the hype is over. You can’t bring it back. Being so young, the key for our team’s season right now is to recover from that.”
That being said, Lebanon’s home opener against Spring Grove Friday night takes on a new importance. A new beginning to this 2009 football campaign, if you will.
In his fourth season, Yunchiuk now has experience in this sort of thing. Yunchiuk says, as a matter of fact, that he is unfamiliar with the Cedar Bowl being played at the end of the season.
“That must have been like the Super Bowl around here,” he said.
Yunchiuk, now 2-2 against Cedar Crest in his tenure, is therefore familiar with both sides of how to handle the importance of putting that emotional opener behind.
“We came out nervous,” he said about last week. “There was a lot of electricity in the air, it was a packed house.
“(Once the Cedars) settled down a little bit, we played extremely fast. We did do a lot of positive things in that second half.”
Not the least of which was the sophomore debut of quarterback Alex Trautman, which may have gone a bit unnoticed the way the outcome of the game turned out.
Trautman finished with 18 completions in 40 attempts for 191 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown and threw just one interception.
And he found a go-to guy in senior wideout Jesse Sales, who finished with six catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Spring Grove is certainly no pushover, though, coming off a 30-18 win over Kenard-Dale in week one. And they bring to town senior FB Bobby Bailey, who rushed for 120 yards and a score on 23 carries in that game.
“Cedar Crest had a lot of different weapons that hurt us,” Yunchiuk said. “Spring Grove has good skill players, but that one exceptional player that we can focus on.
“And it’s good to be home. I would hate to make that (two hour) drive down there coming off last week.”
GAME: Spring Grove (1-0) at Lebanon (0-1)
WHERE: Lebanon Alumni Stadium, 7 p.m.
LAST YEAR: Lebanon 38, Spring Grove 32
KEYS: For the Cedars, this game serves as both a chance to start over and a chance to build on what worked in the second half of last week’s loss to Cedar Crest. Sophomore QB Alex Trautman must continue to find senior WR Jesse Sales as the Cedars look to replace the James Capello-Jordan Clentimack connection which produced the kind of high-scoring affairs like this game produced last year.
On defense, Lebanon must find a way to contain FB Bobby Bailey, who carried the ball as many as nine consecutive times during last weeks win at Kenard-Dale.
OUTLOOK: Don’t underestimate the two-hour drive that Spring Grove must take to Lebanon Alumni Stadium for a non-league game on a Friday night. Last week’s emotional first half is gone for Lebanon, and the Cedars must now continue to build on the offensive progress they showed flashes of against Cedar Crest.
THE PICK: Lebanon 28, Spring Grove 24
September 9, 2009
PIGSKIN PUNDIT: Raiders will deck Cards
High school:
Elco 24, Pine Grove 16: Raiders quarterback Arron Achey is too much for Cards.
Hamburg 24, Annville-Cleona 6: Hamburg recovers from tough loss; Annville-Cleona needs some offense.
Spring Grove 22, Lebanon 14: Cedars still reeling from loss to Cedar Crest.
Conrad Weiser 28, Cedar Crest 9: Scouts bounce back with easy win.
Palmyra 17, Boiling Spring 13: Cougars keep on rolling
New Oxford 21, Northern Lebanon 12: Inexperience catches up with Vikes.
College:
Notre Dame 30, Michigan 27: Notre Dame has too many weapons for upstart Wolverines.
Penn State 48, Syracuse 17
Ohio State 20, USC 16: Big Ten pride is on the line.
NFL
Titans 24, Steelers 21: Titans jump out quickly and hold on.
Panthers 34, Eagles 17: Panthers will shred Eagles’ dreadful defense.
Falcons 17, Dolphins 13
Ravens, 27, Chiefs 10
Bengals 30, Broncos 14: Broncos will be lucky to win five games this year.
Vikings 21, Browns 20
Texans 24, Jets 10
Colts 31, Jaguars 14
Saints 38, Lions 17
Buccaneers 17, Cowboys 13: Bucs face rough schedule and this might be the only chance of a win in seven weeks.
Cardinals 31, 49ers 24
Giants 27, Redskins 17
Bears 28, Packers 24
Patriots 31, Bills 13
Chargers 41, Raiders 3
