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Where Red Lion's run ranks in program history


By all accounts, this has been a historic season for the Red Lion football program. The program notched its first three District 3 playoff victories, and in the process become just the second YAIAA team to qualify for the District 3-AAAA championship. But does that make this Red Lion team the most successful in program history? Probably not. The Red Lion teams of the mid-1960s were certainly among the best the school has ever seen. Those squads strung together 37 straight victories at one point, a streak that stretched from the 1963 to 1967 seasons. Red Lion went undefeated in the 1964, 1965 and 1966 seasons. The streak was so impressive that shortly following the 1966 season, a resolution was introduced in the Pennsylvania state senate to honor the Lions' unbeaten run, which at that point stood at 35 games. Those sixties teams were coached by Ronald Fitzkee, who finished with a 86-42-1 record in his 13 seasons as a coach at the school. Red Lion may have had an even better run in the early 1970s. Red Lion went undefeated for four consecutive seasons then, remaining perfect from 1971-74 under head coach Donald Dyke. That included a 10-win campaign in 1973. Dyke remains the winningest coach in Red Lion history, compiling a 87-33-3 record in 12 seasons from 1969-1980. Remember, there were no district playoffs until the early 1980s, so we'll never know quite where those Red Lion teams ranked on a district and state level.