Week 1 YAIAA football notebook: Lightning crashes Biglerville-Annville-Cleona game
Click here for more photos from this story.As the football teams from Biglerville and Annville-Cleona prepared for overtime on Friday night, the press box at Biglerville High School cranked up a classic tune to energize the town: "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature took that as an order with the evening's first flash of lightning appearing just as the Little Dutchmen lined up for the first play of the extra session. Officials removed the teams from the field and cleared the stadium for safety reasons.
During the ensuing weather delay, a strong storm came through, but the weather appeared to clear near the end of the mandated 30-minute time period. The officials gathered on the field and eventually called the teams back.
Then lighting literally struck again.
Recap all of the Week 1 action from York/Adams football
A few brief flashes set off another 30-minute weather delay. The rain held off during this time period, and the teams eventually made their way back to the field to finish the game, won by Annville-Cleona, 39-36 after two overtime possessions. A small percentage of the fans returned to Musselman Stadium for the exciting ending.
Because of the long distance between the two schools, some fans wondered if they would have been able to resume the game if Friday's weather had continued to be uncooperative. According to District 3's Rod Frisco, a tie would have still counted in the standings if the teams had been unable to finish the contest. He said each team would have received 50 percent of a weighted win and 50 percent of a weighted loss in the power rankings if that would have happened.
-- Brian Shea
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Andy Loucks said the view is a "little bit more intense on the field."
The first-year York Suburban coach returned to the sidelines Friday night. It didn't go as well as he hoped as the Trojans dropped a 17-7 game to the Red Land Patriots.
View a photo gallery from Red Land and York Suburban' game
Loucks spent last season at Franklin & Marshall, working from a box upstairs. Loucks previously served as a high school scout for York and Adams counties and coached four seasons in Kennard-Dale. He compiled an 8-33 record and was not retained after a 1-9 season in 2013.
York Suburban gives him some talent to work with, including quarterback Thomas Merkle and receiver Collin Mailman, who were among the league leaders last season. While they played well Friday, Loucks said the team needs to keep working on the little things.
"We made a couple mistakes early on that got us off track," he said. "We'll fix those things, and we'll be in good shape."
A 1991 Dallastown graduate, Loucks previously coached at La Plata High School in southern Maryland and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster.
-- John Hilton
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A little more than 10 months ago, Derek Breneman of Dover saw his junior season of football come to a horrific stop.
Breneman suffered a broken fibula, dislocated ankle and torn ligaments while returning a punt in Dover's homecoming game against York Suburban.
Almost miraculously, he made it back for the season opener this year, starting at tight end and linebacker for the Eagles against Shippensburg on Friday evening.