In Lebanon, PA, there are few rivalries found around town – much less Lebanon County itself – that move the needle more than Lebanon High and Cedar Crest. Fittingly, the matchup between these two neighboring foes — one largely representing the city demographic with the other primarily repping suburbia — is dubbed “The Cedar Bowl.”
However, with all due respect and due deference to that particular series of 50+ years that has since grown incredibly lobsided of late in the favor of Cedar Crest, Friday night, Halloween night in 2025 as the calendar fell, was truly a “Cedar Bowl” fit for a title over on the West Shore as opposed to the game with the official title that was played last Thursday evening – one that ended in a 41-7 Cedar Crest victory, a baker’s dozen now when it comes to consecutive triumphs over their most fiercest of rivals.
Why? The fact of the matter being that we have now descended upon Week 11 of the high school football season, the first week of postseason play. So yes, if you conclude your next game with fewer points scored than your opposition, that means your 2025 season abruptly comes to an end with no possibility of do-overs.
Secondly, as to why this game was worthy of its own nickname? How about taking a lesson from Captain Obvious in that both schools just so happen to have the word “Cedar” ironically come before their topography of choice, whether it be a Crest or a Cliff. And if these two couldn’t possibly have more in common even despite coming in from two different conferences, how about the fact that neither could outrun the other from afar all throughout this entire season considering that Friday night at West Shore Stadium on the campus of Cedar Cliff High School was a #8 vs #9 matchup in the District 3-6A playoff field, the proverbial “coin flip” of coin flip type games.
And as you’d expect for two teams jostling over the same seed line, the margin of separation between the pair couldn’t have seemed more miniscule.
Even records? Check, with both coming into the playoffs with shared 5-5 marks. Divisional finishes? Almost dead-even there too with Cedar Crest finishing fourth this season in Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One play with Cedar Cliff finishing in the fifth slot in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth respectively. Season within the season you ask? Well, that probably goes in Cedar Cliff’s favor there considering how the Colts rattled off two separate stints of back-to-back wins during the regular season with Cedar Crest meanwhile being unable to string two W’s consecutively together at any one point during 2025. Lastly, if you fancy yourself as a “stat nerd” even the numbers wouldn’t lead you in any great direction considering how Cedar Crest scored 267 points this season while yielding 263. On the other hand, Cedar Cliff racked up 225 total points to their name this year while also giving up 240. Drum roll please, but you’re looking at a grand total of 19 points separating these two near-namesakes throughout ten weeks of play.
So yeah, maybe this game didn’t have an official title set to it aside from the rather mundane, “District 3-6A Opening Round.” Maybe it didn’t come with a trophy. But when it came to the implications involved in what figured to be nothing but a nip-and-tuck game considering the shared resumes of both coming into this wildly windy night over in Camp Hill, maybe this was in its own unique way its own so-called “Cedar Bowl” after all.
And if was in fact the start of a newfound series of sorts, you can best believe that Cedar Cliff has clear ownership of the bragging rights coming out of Friday night.
Perhaps it should’ve been a precursor as it turned out, but Cedar Crest’s first drive of the contest really was a harbinger of things to come in terms of how this game ended up taking shape.
To start things off, Crest’s sensational junior tailback, Isaiah Zimmerman, busted off a nice kickoff return to begin the proceedings for he and his fellow Falcons’ offensive mates while starting things off at their own 32-yard line. From there however, the good mojo accrued on the kick took an abrupt turn – on the very first play from scrimmage no less – as Cedar Cliff’s Josh Gillen blasted through the Falcons’ line from his defensive lineman spot and came away with a sack to start the guests off behind the 8-ball in short order. And after a Falcons’ pass on 3rd & 17 sailed incomplete, an abrupt three-and-out to begin the night besmirched the Cedar Crest offensive unit.
Or so one thought.
Instead of witnessing the Colts’ offense take the field for the first time on Friday night, Cedar Cliff would instead provide some ill-timed generosity in the form of a roughing the punter call, awarding Cedar Crest a newfound lease on life – or their initial offensive series at least.
Then, after then yet again going three consecutive plays without making the chain gang move forward, another punting situation fell upon the Falcons.
Or so one thought (again).
This time, Cedar Crest needn’t rely on their hosts to extend the drive for them. Instead, a successful fake punt that culminated in a Jackson Smith first down-gaining reception thrown in his direction by way of Falcons’ senior punter, Landyn Kline, moved those sticks, as this oddity of an opening march still had yet to expire following the sophomore’s catch that also moved the ball down to the Cedar Cliff 41-yard line in the process.
Suffice to say, bearing witness to Cedar Crest continuing to possess the pill courtesy of some of the strangest of ways possible certainly had to grow tiresome for the Colts collectively. Fortunately for them, Amarion Autry must’ve felt the same considering how the Colts’ junior defensive back promptly ended this prolonged Cedar Crest drive for good with an interception off a tipped pass, finally sending the Cedar Cliff offensive troops onto the pitch with 7:12 remaining in the opening frame.
And in making up for lost time, Cedar Cliff ended up landing the game’s first punch.
For as hard as it seemed that their opposition hard to work when it came to giving themselves a fresh set of downs to play with their first time with it, it conversely took the homestanding Colts all of one play to do precisely that as a quick 15-yard pitch and catch thrown from Cedar Cliff junior triggerman, Jalen Hinton, thrown to senior wideout, Owen Anastasi, propelled the Colts down to the Cedar Crest 23-yard line to conclude the hosts’ first offensive play from scrimmage.
Yet even when a minor bit of adversity would creep up on Cedar Cliff here, they didn’t seem any worse for the wear considering how when even staring down the barrel of a 4th & 8 on the outside fringes of the red zone, it still proved to be a rousing success story for the Colts’ contingent once Hinton was able to locate another senior receiver, Isaiah Jones, all by his lonesome behind the Falcons’ secondary, as the 22-yard touchdown strike between the pair made it a 7-0 Cedar Cliff cushion which is where things would remain once the final 5:20 ticked off the first quarter clock with both teams later taking turns in going three-and-out against one another as the opening frame later wound down.
But once the second stanza got underway, Cedar Crest appeared to be in the midst of authoring a solid response to what they hoped would tie things up halfway through the first half.
Unfortunately for those who had made the trek to the west shore of the state’s capital city’s by way of Lebanon County, this drive too – crossing the midfield stripe and all – would also come up empty as the aforementioned stalwart of the Colts’ defensive line, Josh Gillen, took his turn at thievery this time as the 6’2 250lb senior lineman came away with an interception on a 4th & 3 attempt for Cedar Crest at the Colts’ 33-yard line, once again staving off a legitimate Cedar Crest threat with absolutely nothing to show for it.
Ironically, much in the same manner as their earlier drive following the previous takeaway, this drive too would end in a trip to the paint for the Cedar Cliff offense in a perfect display of complementary football.
The early jab here? A 31-yard strike through the air from Hinton to another member of the 2026 graduation class found residing in the Colts’ receiver room, Jaden Heckard, as Heckard’s reception moved the attack down to the Crest 24-yard line in one fell swoop.
More irony on this drive too? How about another successful fourth down conversion to add into the concoction yet again.
This time, while it wouldn’t directly lead to points, it very nearly did as a laser lobbed from Hinton into the mitts of Anastasi not only extended the drive with the do-or-die conversion, but the senior wideout would get pushed out just a whisker from the pylon following the 21-yard pitch and catch between the lethal duo.
And even when they tried to make difficult on themselves, such as the case when Cedar Cliff was whistled for a dead-ball, personal foul in the aftermath of said chain-moving play, the Colts’ nose for the endzone remained undeterred as a beautiful play action fake on a bootleg later in the drive resulted in Blake Secrest leaking out from his fullback spot with the junior Swiss army knife for the Cedar Cliff contingent coming away with the 5-yard touchdown reception for his troubles thrown to him by Hinton, now making it a 14-0 Colts’ advantage following Wyatt Easton’s second successful PAT of the evening with 7:10 left to play before the intermission.
More points off turnovers is what you seek? Cedar Cliff heard that loud and clear.
After then seeing both teams trade punts with one another following the Hinton to Secrest TD toss, Cedar Crest’s offense would later set up shop at their own 35-yard line with 3:27 now left before half.
Miraculously though, seeing as how much of what could go wrong had indeed gone wrong from Cedar Crest’s perspective all the way down towards the waning stages of the first half on this blustery autumnal night, a break in the form of a fumble following the reception off a tunnel screen pass was not only recovered by the Falcons, but it actually went to the visitors’ benefit considering how they picked up an additional five yards on the play once the scrum of humanity descended upon the loose ball. Yet the glass slipper wouldn’t fit much longer given how another of the Colts’ defensive linemen – arguably the unit that was most dominant throughout from start to finish on Friday night – Travis Drake starring in this particular instance, would indeed make the Falcons pay dearly for their slippery fingers as the senior’s fumble recovery saw the Cedar Cliff offense trot back out while obviously eager to inflict even greater separation up on the scoreboard.
Then, following a prompt, 10-yard pickup on the first play of the ensuing series via the legs of senior running back, Alex Otero, Cedar Cliff was primed and ready to strike as the Otero chunk play pushed the attack down towards the front door of the Cedar Crest redzone.
But the Colts wouldn’t need to even enter into said area once Amarion Autry hauled in a 28-yard reception across the middle on a third down play down to the Falcons’ 7-yard line, fumbling once gaining control, yet nonetheless crawling in hot pursuit after the bounding ball along the artificial grass before falling on it in the navy-painted endzone himself to make amends, suddenly making it a 21-0 buffer between Cedar Cliff and Cedar Crest with now 1:29 left in the half following Autry’s grand example of sticktoitiveness.
By this point, even though Cedar Cliff had largely dictated the terms over the course of the game’s first two dozen minutes, even though Autry’s touchdown mere moments prior could’ve easily been the gale-force winds that propelled the Colts’ ship off into the sunset known as next week’s second round of the postseason, Cedar Crest still had a chance to keep the door open — even if it was just a smidge ajar.
Then again, if Cedar Cliff continued to serve in the role as hospitable hosts in the sense of awarding Cedar Crest even more opportunities by way of penalties whistled against them, the Falcons weren’t about to turn down such favors.
With that in mind, courtesy of a another roughing the punter call dinged against the Colts, the second of the first half no less, the Falcons were allowed to prolong this late first half drive via the costly Cedar Cliff penalty. Then, certainly not a moment too soon from their perspective, a 51-yard touchdown toss between a pair of Crest juniors on the play immediately following the flag, quarterback Steven Reyes and running back Isaiah Zimmerman, not just allowed the Falcons to crack the proverbial goose egg, but it more importantly helped to breathe new life into their whole outfit despite not much if anything really going in their favor at any point until that point, 21-6 deficit showing up on the scoreboard at the half and all.
Yet even while Cedar Crest may have entered the locker room with a bit of momentum at recess with that late score, Cedar Cliff meanwhile would get the ball first coming out of the break, understandably eager to make a strong first impression.
And they nearly did just that.
After no sooner than taking over at their own 30-yard line following the kickoff return to begin the second half, the Colts were almost suddenly down to the Cedar Crest 32-yard line in relatively short order, much of that largely centered around the running totes of Alex Otero, as Cedar Cliff’s bruising tailback ripped off sizable jaunts to help raise the curtain on the game’s third period.
But just when it seemed as if a Cedar Cliff touchdown was all but a formality, the Cedar Crest defense rose to the impending challenge once called upon.
For that, there was arguably no takeaway tallied by the Falcons’ D all year long that was more punctual nor critical than the interception hauled in here by Crest sophomore defensive back, Jackson Smith, as Smith’s INT on the Cedar Cliff jump pass at the goal line effectively ended this impressive Colts’ march out of the locker room, even if it meant that Cedar Crest would be forced to travel 99 yards to paydirt the rest of the way.
That said, while the turnover staved off another Cedar Cliff score, this was still a night largely bathed in the navy and gold colorway of the hosts.
In fact, Cedar Crest would manage nary a first down following the Smith theft, only to then see their offensive possession end with emphatic fashion in the aftermath of a sack tallied by Colts’ two-way star, Blake Secrest, sending the Cliff offense back onto the field with an incredibly short field in which to traverse following the punt back to them.
This time around, Cedar Cliff would indeed get their sought-after touchdown as a wonderfully executed flea flicker play that featured a pass out of the backfield by Owen Anastasi to Tywuan Byrd — with Byrd coming away with a sensational pogo-stick 27-yard TD reception as the Colts’ senior wideout climbed the ladder and won his one-on-one battle against the Cedar Crest secondary man — making it a 28-6 Cedar Cliff lead following Wyatt Easton’s fourth PAT of the evening with 4:16 left in the third and the Colts’ snowball now rolling downhill.
By now, after having weathered the minor storm that was Cedar Crest going into half with a slight bit of momentum on their side, Cedar Cliff couldn’t have possibly been sitting in a more prosperous position prior to entering the final period on Friday night.
Then again, if you have the chance to add an insurance score, why not?
Fittingly, that’s exactly what the Colts got a mere 1:09 in the final act as Jalen Hinton was able to hook up with his fellow quarterback of sorts considering his earlier TD thrown in his own right, Owen Anastasi, as Anastasi this time found himself back on the receiving end of things, hauling in a 36-yard dart of a TD reception by Hinton – his fourth of the contest – as Cedar Cliff’s cushion then ballooned out to a 35-6 count with time running dry on the Cedar Crest 2025 season. And not to bury the lede here, but the final play of the third quarter that had set this all up was nothing if not fitting as a fake punt resulted in Josh Gillen rumbling his way to a 16-yard pickup from his upback position, another display of Cedar Cliff’s literal power on display on this night.
Yet to their credit, much as they always do, the Falcons would indeed scratch and claw their way in running through the tape before the final gun sounded.
Even still, it seemed nothing if apropos that the Cedar Cliff defense, the proverbial lid that suffocated almost anything the Falcons tried to muster throughout the game’s 48 minutes, continued to flash with the outcome now a foregone formality.
Case in point, a wonderful tandem of sacks compiled by way of Blake Secrest and Will Kocher respectively, the latter of which turned the lights off for good on the final Cedar Crest offensive possession of the night as Cedar Cliff was able to ride into the night with the spoils of the resounding 35-6 triumph over Cedar Crest. Not too shabby of a debut for a team making their maiden voyage into the 6A playoffs after spending previous years doing so in 5A mind you.
From here, tickets punched into the second round following this most decisive victory, the Colts now set their sights on one of the best teams not just in District 3, but arguably the entire state as a whole, as Cedar Cliff finds themselves with a date next Friday night down at Central York in the quarterfinal round of the 6A bracket. And while some on the outside may simply look at this upcoming matchup on paper and assume that the Panthers can just waltz their way into the semis, you better think again. For if Cedar Cliff can bring this same level of intensity and physicality into next week’s contest, a possible victory for any team pitted against this version of the Colts would most certainly have to be considered anything but a walk in the park.
For Cedar Crest on the other hand, this was obviously a tough way for the curtain to fall on their season-long journey, no doubt. Much like in this game itself, the Falcons’ 2025 ride had its iterations of fits and starts to where sustainability just seemed somehow out of reach. But make no mistake about it. This is far from the last time you’ll hear the words “Cedar Crest” not immediately be followed by “playoffs.”
As with any team, there will be various losses to graduation that all squads must account for. That much is expected. What isn’t expected perhaps though is just how many critical pieces won’t be in caps and gowns this upcoming spring as the Falcons have a bevy of returning playmakers set to reenter the fold once again in 2026, particularly at the skill positions most of all. Short of naming them all, Garret Starry, Isaiah Zimmerman, Kai Speaks, Steven Reyes. These are just a few of the names that figure to be that of the household variety in L-L League football circles next fall. The other topic in those circles – Who will be the team the team to potentially challenge “the big two” in L-L Section One opposite of Manheim Township and Wilson? Well, may we present to you right here arguably one of the best choices. Yes, even mentioning them nine months ahead of time so you may start investing early.