West York's night: 'Every kid's dream'

If there were fairy tales in football, Friday night at West York would have been the perfect setting.

A brisk cold in the air and a layer of snow on the field before the District 3 Class AAA semifinal against Garden Spot. West York coach Ron Miller called it "championship football weather." Cornerback Dan Gay said it was "every kid's dream" to play a big football game in such conditions.

And the Bulldogs delivered with a shutdown defensive effort and an efficient rushing attack, forcing six turnovers and gaining 256 yards on the ground in a 20-0 victory that gave No. 3 West York (12-1) a berth in next week's district title game against the winner of today's contest between No. 1 Mechanicsburg (12-0) and No. 5 Manheim Central (10-2).

It was almost enough to make West York forget what went horribly wrong early in the third quarter.

After scoring two first-half touchdowns to increase his season total to 51 and give the Bulldogs the lead at the break, Real suffered a shoulder injury during his first carry of the second half. The senior left the game and was carted away by members of the West York medical staff.

"We're hearing it's a broken collarbone," Miller said. "I only got it on the sidelines. One of the guys said it might be a broken collarbone, but he never came back down with him, so I'm assuming it's broken."

Real finished the game with 180 yards rushing on 25 carries to give him 2,513 yards for the season on 252 carries.

Without their superstar running back, the West York defense stepped up even more. The Bulldogs held Garden Spot to only two first downs in the second half and kept the No. 10 Spartans (8-5) from getting any closer than the West York 49-yard line over the final two quarters.

The Spartans gained only 110 yards of total offense for the game, and the Bulldogs recorded their second shutout of the postseason to increase their home winning streak to 17 games.

"It's been our

goal all year to get a shutout," said Gay, who had two of West York's three interceptions of Garden Spot quarterback Weston Martin. "Getting one in the first round of districts (in a 38-0 win over Hershey) was amazing but to get one now -- I can't even explain the feeling. It's just awesome."

The Bulldogs struggled to increase their two-touchdown lead early in the second half, as their first three drives ended with a punt, a fumble and a failed fourth-down conversion attempt. But time was running out on Garden Spot, which had its fake-punt attempt with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter snuffed when Chadd Hinds sacked Martin for a 5-yard loss.

West York started the ensuing drive from the Garden Spot 36 and, after rushing for a first down, junior Corey Harris broke off his longest run of the night -- a 20-yard scamper up the middle into the end zone to give the Bulldogs their winning margin. Harris was effective filling in for Real, finishing with 63 yards on 19 carries.

Garden Spot almost struck back on the next play from scrimmage, but a wide-open Kyle Kelley dropped a downfield pass that would have almost definitely led to a touchdown. Two plays later, Gay snagged his second pick of the night on another downfield pass to essentially seal the West York victory.

After the final whistle, Miller took off his jacket to reveal a chocolate-brown Hershey T-shirt that his wife bought for him early in the week. The Bulldogs will head up there the day after Thanksgiving to try to become the first YAIAA squad in history to win a Class AAA or AAAA championship.

Miller acknowledged that task will be much harder if Real misses the title contest with his injury, but said the Bulldogs have enough firepower to make York County history.

"We're going to have to do things differently," Miller said. "Everybody says we're a one-dimensional team. We don't think we are. I think Alex (George) can throw the football just fine. With the Blaine Fissels, the Nate Jacobs, the Dan Gays -- they're playmakers. Maybe we're not going to be running the ball 55 times next week, or whatever we average a game, but we're a veteran group that plays good defense, obviously.

"We're going to Hersheypark to win. We're not going up there to just show up."

smclernon@ydr.com; 771-2045

 

Garden Spot  0    0    0    0 --   0
West York  7    7    0    6 -- 20

First Quarter
   WY -- Brandon Real 7 run (Drew Shaffer kick), 4:12
Second Quarter
   WY -- Real 7 run (Shaffer kick), 9:27
Fourth Quarter
   WY -- Corey Harris 20 run (kick failed), 5:59
 
-- GS -- WY
First downs -- 6 -- 13
Rushes-yards -- 19-4 -- 55-256
Passing -- 10-20-3 -- 8-14-0
Passing yards -- 106 -- 92
Total yards -- 110 -- 348
Punts -- 4-29.5 -- 2-23.5
Fumbles-lost -- 4-3 -- 5-3
Penalties-yards -- 2-10 -- 7-64

 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
   Rushing -- Garden Spot, Andersan Beamer 6-11, Joe Strangarity 3-10, Adam Zimmerman 3-8, Weston Martin 7-(-25); West York, Brandon Real 25-180, Corey Harris 19-63, Alex George 6-10, Blake Campbell 3-8, Team 2-(-5).
   Passing -- Garden Spot, Weston Martin 10-20-3-106; West York, Alex George 8-14-0-92.
   Receiving -- Garden Spot, Tyler Eby 4-41, Derek Deshaw 3-38, Kyle Kelley 2-14, Andersan Beamer 1-13; West York, Nate Jacobs 5-84, Corey Harris 2-6, Blaine Fissel 1-2.

WHO'S NEXT FOR BULLDOGS?

West York has to wait until today to find out who it will play in the District 3 Class AAA title game.

The other semifinal between No. 1 Mechanicsburg (12-0) and No. 5 Manheim Central (10-2) was postponed
because of problems with the lights.

That game will be played at noon today.

LIVE STREAM ICED OUT

Friday night's extreme weather conditions created technical difficulties that
made it impossible for
GameTimePA.com to show a live-stream broadcast of the West York-Garden Spot game, as planned.

We regret any inconvenience caused by this unanticipated issue.