Here we go again...
On a night when two of the YAIAA's top teams absorbed upsets, a pair of big-school rivals were left standings. Both Dallastown and Red Lion earned the first district playoff victories in their respective histories Friday. And that sets up an unprecedented rematch next Friday at Dallastown, this time with a spot in the District 3 semifinals on the line. I was at Red Lion's rather ugly 14-13 win against J.P. McCaskey on Friday. As the Lions gathered for their postgame huddle, the public address announcer's voice blared throughout the stadium with an update of what was going on in the Dallastown game (the Wildcats were winning at the time, 21-14, in the fourth quarter). Immediately, you could see the excitement in the Lions' huddle ratchet up. "Our kids were like 'Let's get on a bus and go cheer Dallastown on," Red Lion coach Pat Conrad joked. When asked how much he and his teammates waned a rematch with Dallastown, standout senior Andrew Zeller simply smiled. "More than anything," he said. "I couldn't ask for anything else right now." We'll have plenty of articles and analysis in the next week as we build up to Red Lion-Dallastown, Part Deux. In the meantime, check out our coverage from the teams' Week 10 clash. (Games story here, sidebar on the game's atmosphere here, videos, including the entire game, here.)