It’s not every day when life lobs you a do-over. Or a do-over of a do-over. Or a do-over of a do-over of a do-over. Yes, in layman’s terms, four consecutive opportunities to try and make amends for previous shortcomings.
Then again, while it may not be everyday occurrence necessarily, it has become an annual event in terms of the District 3-6A football of landscape of late, however.
Regarding a short list of the top programs that the Lancaster-Lebanon League has to offer when the topic of conversation shifts to football, the Manheim Township Blue Streaks occupy a backseat to just about nobody.
For years, after somewhat sporadically being a program that would cocoon itself and later emerge as an intriguing pick to challenge their divisional brethren in respect to that of L-L Section One, those caterpillar-like days for the Streaks are long behind them in the rearview mirror. Now, the Blue Streaks have since evolved into being a program far more than just a threat locally, but rather a franchise that is so self-sustaining that it has come to be regarded as one of the top outfits far beyond its nearby borders to that inside the entire central PA corridor overall.
Then again, if you’re looking for an even more specific example to best describe a program befitting the latter portion of that statement, there is one that fits the bill. So much so in fact that there really isn’t much of a debate when it comes to offering up a legitimate counterargument to go against them.
If nothing but unbridled success is what you seek, there’s a team residing inside the state’s capital city that routinely takes the field on Saturday afternoons that is worthy of your time and attention.
Over the last decade, there have been few programs inside all of District 3 that have a resume worthy of matching itself up against the one written, illustrated, and submitted by the Harrisburg Cougars relating to the 6A rank and file in particular.
A peek inside their trophy case backs that up.
Since 2021, the Cougars have literally been the gold standard when it comes to 6A supremacy in the land of District 3. In fact, heading into this weekend, only a once-in-century global pandemic has still been a strong enough foe to knock Harrisburg from winning a district championship, such as the case when the Cougars were forced to fold up shop that season, even after having their name revealed inside the 2020 bracket anyhow.
Which ironically leads us all the way back to point mentioned off the top.
You’ve surely heard of the third being the charm, yes? Well, forgive Manheim Township if you must when it comes to those in their camp hoping that the fourth time goes in their favor seeing as how the Streaks’ postseason excursions the last three years have been halted by, you guessed it, the neighborhood bully on the block, those very same Harrisburg Cougars.
And while it’d be nothing if not easy to merely look at the three-touchdown margin in which the Cougars have bested the Streaks inside that triumvirate of postseason matchups waged between the pair and assume that the pair’s fourth straight matchup would be another open-and-shut case, there’s actually a “there” there.
In 2022, Township prevailed head-to-head in a 24-20 decision during the early weeks of nonconference play. In 2023, essentially the same storyline took shape as the Streaks rolled through Harrisburg by a decisive 38-6 count in a game that was pushed back a day later due to severe weather experienced the night before.
So yes, while you can’t argue that those early season Township wins over Harrisburg somehow measure up equally in terms of significance to that of Cougars’ propensity to take the playoff games of course, it’s not as if Township needed to arrive to Severance Field on the campus of Harrisburg High on Saturday afternoon for this year’s donnybrook — a District 3-6A semifinal round affair — and feel as if the winds of opportunity blowing in their direction were quieter than that when water resembles glass. Yes, even if the opponent at hand not only came in undefeated on the year, but also had scored no fewer than 21 points the entire season, while also not allowing the opposition to score in double figures save for one time dating all the way back to Labor Day weekend.
As it turned out though, Manheim Township will have to wait and see if the fifth time ends up being the charm as the Streaks’ Harrisburg hex continued come the end of Saturday afternoon’s affair.
While it was true that both teams took turns trading three-and-outs with one another to conclude each of their first two offensive drives respectively, it appeared as if Harrisburg, field tilted heavily in their favor, was about to draw first blood against their houseguests.
Sure enough, after a 19-yard reception hauled in by way of Rutgers commit, Elias Coke, which preceded a 10-yard quarterback scamper courtesy of another fellow Harrisburg senior, Jaiyon Lewis, the Cougars found themselves suddenly down to the Blue Streaks’ 12-yard line.
Yet for as prosperous as this march had appeared to be, four holding calls whistled against the Cougars not just backed the hosts up and sputtered the overall operation in totality, it quite literally took a touchdown off the board.
From there, a Harrisburg drive bathed in fits and starts ended in dramatic fashion – and not in the positive direction from their perspective – as a Daryus Dixon interception for Manheim Township at the 1-yard line kept this Cougars’ threat to nothing more a flirtatious threat.
No matter.
While Messiah Mickens, a blue-chip recruit whose phone has been buzzing over the last few years for hopes of securing his collegiate services has shined while toting the rock for the Cougars from his running back spot over the course of his career, his work of the defensive side of the ball is certainly nothing to sneeze at either. And right then and there, with Township staring down the barrel of a 3rd & 5 attempt while at their own 35-yard line, Mickens rose up alarmingly fast from his defensive end position before snatching the Township pass out of the air, returning with his prize to the grey-colored endzone for the 30-yard interception return for a touchdown, making it a 7-0 Harrisburg lead with a mere 23 seconds left in the opening frame in a slobber-knocker type of game.
Surely we could assume then that the roughly last two dozen seconds on the first quarter clock wouldn’t net much of anything in terms of further production, right? Right?
As if Harrisburg’s collective defensive unit hadn’t already proven themselves to be frightening enough, how does a pair of back-to-back pick 6’s over the course of two consecutive plays from scrimmage sound?
This time, Jeremy Beroa was the one reaping the benefits as the Harrisburg junior linebacker read his keys perfectly before sitting on the route and snaring an interception returned for a score of his own, this of the 20-yard variety, as the Cougars’ lead had suddenly swelled upwards to a 14-0 difference with all of 11 seconds now left to play in the game’s first period, two Cougars’ scores over a dozen seconds worth of gametime.
Granted, while in-game metrics will indicate that giving up two defensive touchdowns would all but extinguish any hopes of possibly overcoming such gratuity extended to the other team, Manheim Township seemed to be on teetering on the verge of bucking such a trend as the first half drug onward.
Yes, while the Blue Streaks’ offensive output throughout the first 24 minutes was negligible at best, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Cougars the likes of Derrick Brown and Isaac John Lewis to name a very select few wreaking havoc for the Township offensive attack, Harrisburg could also not generate all that much when it came to navigating against the Blue Streaks’ defense in their own right.
And in a first half that was colored in the form of a defensive struggle turned rock fight, the Cougars’ pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns over the span of 12 seconds were quite literally the difference and margin of separation at the intermission as Harrisburg trotted into the halftime break with a 14-0 lead, all while despite the Cougars emphatically dictating the terms of engagement nonetheless, especially along the line of scrimmage in particular.
Suffice to say, as if Harrisburg hadn’t already turned in a first half masterpiece on the defensive side of the ball, the first few seconds of the third quarter on Saturday just lent even further credence to the body of work they were putting together on this day.
For the hat trick – hat trick meaning Harrisburg interceptions – the third of the bunch was hauled in by way of Noah Ewell, as the Cougars’ senior linebacker picked off a Township pass before seeing his offensive mates take to the field with all of 40 yards which to traverse following his theft.
One play.
One play was all it took for Harrisburg to author their first offensive touchdown on the afternoon as a beautiful dart thrown by another in the Cougars’ quarterback rotation, Mikal Shank Jr, found the mitts of Elias Coke on the waiting end as the 40-yard touchdown strike between the pair upped the Harrisburg lead out to a 21-0 count with just 36 seconds have evaporated off the third quarter clock at that point.
More of the same via the Harrisburg defense if you please.
In this instance, in a way that so incredibly pronounced, Harrisburg gobbling up of a Manheim Township 4th & 1 attempt on the Streaks’ ensuing offensive drive, triggered the Harrisburg offense to come back out on the field with now 41 yards separating them from tallying yet another score.
However, even though it may have appeared as if a Cougars’ score was all but a formality, a timely Manheim Township fumble recovery courtesy of MT sophomore defensive back, Chase Fletcher, halted the Cougars’ drive and promptly sent the Streaks back out on offense.
But the ball giveth and the ball taketh away.
Ironically, while Fletcher dons the #22 jersey for Manheim Township, his counterpart wearing the same number on the other side of the field, Noah Ewell, kept playing at his incredibly-high level on Saturday afternoon as Ewell’s fumble recovery – his second takeaway of the day – just as quickly gave the pill right back to the Cougars with this Cougars’ drive getting underway at the Township 4-yard line.
This time, there would be no need for further drama.
As had been proven to be a pretty successful formula up until that point on the day – handing the ball off to Messiah Mickens – Harrisburg didn’t need to overthink the operation here either as a forthcoming 1-yard touchdown plunge by way of Mickens, his first offensive score of the day to pair with his earlier defensive TD, made it a comfortable 28-0 Cougars’ cushion over Township with 5:46 left to play in the third by that juncture.
Without question, time was now running short on Manheim Township if the Streaks had any hopes at all of reeling Harrisburg back to within reach somewhat. Fortunately, certainly not a moment too soon as far as their contingent had to be concerned, MT rattled off what was without a shadow of a doubt their most fruitful series of the entire contest.
PJ Myers would be the one kick-starting this series in motion as the Streaks’ talented sophomore running back rattled off a tough run up through the heart of the Harrisburg defense before seeing his travels yield a 29-yard jaunt that moved things down the Cougars’ 38-yard line in short order. From there, even while having to work around a pair of sacks tallied by way of Isaac John Lewis shortly thereafter to aid in the ongoing sultry Harrisburg defensive effort, a busted coverage defensively from Harrisburg on a 3rd & 12 play would culminate in a 23-yard touchdown toss from Jack Kenneff to Chase Fletcher as the senior to sophomore duo from Manheim Township made it a 28-7 contest following a Rowan Crispeno PAT with just 1:21 left to play in the third.
Yet there would be even more positive news for the Blue Streaks’ cast upcoming.
On the ensuing Harrisburg offensive series, despite seeing junior running back Princeton Dent rattle off a monstrous run through the line before falling victim to the turf monster which ended an almost surefire touchdown run at the Cougars’ 42-yard line instead, a critical turnover would aid in the MT cause right behind it.
For these spoils, a Zach Bomberger interception would not only end another Cougars’ drive, but Bomberger’s thievery also allowed the Streaks’ offense to retake the field with the ball now resting at the Harrisburg 45-yard line following his subsequent return of the pick.
But as would be a microcosm for the day at large, this Township drive too would also go in reverse.
For this sack, what would be another in the Cougars’ half dozen tallied throughout the entirety of the day, Messiah Mickens continued to be his usual game-wrecking self as his 6-yard sack not just ended a Township 3rd & 8 attempt in a resounding thud, but it set up a forthcoming 4th & 14 attempt which resulted in an incomplete Blue Streaks’ pass, formally ending what was Township’s most positive bit of momentum enjoyed all game long.
Now, with the ball back in their clutches, Harrisburg knew exactly what to do with it to formally put this game on ice with the ball sitting just a smidge past the midfield stripe.
A pass to Ja’auan Johnson for 11 yards. A 9-yard tote by Dent to pierce the redzone and move the proceedings down to the Township 16-yard line. Another pass to Johnson. Suddenly, the Cougars found themselves down at the Township 8-yard line. From there, Princeton Dent capped things off with an 8-yard TD plunge to make it a 34-7 Cougars’ lead with 6:15 remaining following a Grant Sages block for MT on the ensuing PAT attempt for a score that was the formal dagger on any possible MT frantic late-game charge.
Lastly, in the most apropos way possible, it seemed only fitting that the Cougars end this contest with another defensive highlight.
In this example, the Cougars were able to stiffen and holding Manheim Township out of the endzone via a goal line stand, even with the eventual outcome a foregone formality by that point. That formality crystalizing itself in the form of a final 34-7 Harrisburg victory Manheim Township for the fourth straight time in the postseason on Saturday afternoon at Severance Field with the Cougars now set to return to the District 3-6A title fight for the fifth straight campaign.
“We just made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes,” Manheim Township head man Mark Evans summed up in defeat. “Offsides, missed tackles, not the right protections…You just can’t do that against a good football team like (Harrisburg). You have to execute. Give Harrisburg the credit, but we made a lot of fatal errors that certainly didn’t help us out.”
“The kids certainly didn’t quit,” Evans continued while his team was in the midst of their formal goodbye ceremony to one another taking place nearby. “I just wanted more for them,” he added. “I wanted more for them.”
And that’s part of the implied pain associated in coming this far but falling short inside the postseason.
“When you get to this level of football, you either win it all or it ends on a loss. Period. That’s what sucks about this,” said Evans. “This (loss) takes none of the great things that this group was able to do all year long away. (His team) developed an identity. They didn’t break. Yeah, they might’ve been broken today in terms of the scoreboard, but they’ve been unbreakable in their collective spirit. When you talk about teams that have an identity like this one does, you have the chance to go far. And we did.”
All that is to say, the elephant, er Cougar, in the room is that this now is the fourth straight time Township has fallen to Harrisburg in the playoffs. The results might indicate that there’s space between the two programs. If there is, Evans and crew only know one way to go about trimming down the distance.
“We gotta do work,” the Streaks’ boss said on how to best go about an action plan for potentially reversing these results in the future. “We have a championship program here. These kids have been committed to a lot of standards we’ve asked of them. We don’t have rules, we have standards,” Evans remarked. “This team weathered a lot of storms this year and never once wavered. They committed to each other. The whole, “We versus me” thing. Now, how do we close the gap? I’m not quite sure how to close the gap other than to go back to work and improve.”
As for when that process starts, Evans said “Immediately,” before then turning his focus back to his senior class having worked their way through the line of teammates and having now reached the coaching staff for their final goodbye hugs and thank you’s.
That’s the pain involved in days like today. There’s no shying away from that. However, when your program has a forward-looking focus the likes of which the Blue Streaks have been able to consistently demonstrate, there’s little doubt that Manheim Township will be back in this situation of playoff football. Whether Harrisburg happens to be waiting there for them yet again remains to be seen. Until then, there’s only one thing to do – go back to work.