YORK, Pa. — The top four teams in the bracket all get the week off, but the District 3 Class 5A playoffs get underway Friday night with four first-round games.
In the upper half of the bracket, No. 8 Hershey hosts No. 9 Exeter Township and No. 12 Lower Dauphin visits No. 5 Ephrata. On the other side, No. 7 South Western hosts No. 10 Greencastle-Antrim, while No. 11 Dover travels to No. 6 Conestoga Valley.
Top-seeded New Oxford, No. 2 Cedar Crest, No. 3 Cocalico and No. 4 Garden Spot all get first-round byes, and will have to wait until next week to take the field.
Here's a look at this week's matchups.
No. 9 Exeter Township (8-2) at No. 8 Hershey (7-3)
Winner faces No. 1 New Oxford
ABOUT HERSHEY: The Trojans finished tied for third with Lower Dauphin in the Mid-Penn Keystone race behind Bishop McDevitt and Cedar Cliff. LD, McDevitt and Cedar Cliff are responsible for Hershey's three regular-season losses. The Trojans dropped a 41-21 decision to Cedar Cliff, fell 42-7 to McDevitt, and lost 21-14 in overtime against Lower Dauphin.
Five of Hershey's seven wins came against teams with losing records, and the other two came against a pair of teams that finished 5-5.
Hershey's biggest offensive weapon is senior RB Angel Cabrera, who racked up 1,408 yards and 20 touchdowns on 233 rush attempts this season. The Trojans average 318 yards per game, with Cabrera accounting for a lot of it (140.8 yards per game on the ground).
ABOUT EXETER TOWNSHIP: The Eagles won their first eight games, but enter the playoffs on a two-game skid after dropping back-to-back decisions to Conestoga Valley (34-27) and Manheim Central (42-14) in Weeks 9 and 10. The losses dropped Exeter to third place in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 race and cost them a first-round bye in Districts.
Exeter's offense is powered by the tandem of QB Riley Martinez (69-131-7, 1,237 yards, 15 TDs) and RB Jayden Zandier (102-1,136, 14 TDs).
The Eagles won the Class 5A championship in 2021 and returned to the title game last year, falling to Cocalico (34-14).
No. 12 Lower Dauphin (6-4) at No. 5 Ephrata (9-1)
Winner faces No. 4 Garden Spot
ABOUT EPHRATA: The Mountaineers finished in a three-way tie with Garden Spot and Twin Valley in the L-L League Section 3 race. Ephrata won its head-to-head matchup with Twin Valley (52-33), but lost 42-22 to Garden Spot -- a setback that wound up being the only blemish on the Mounts' regular-season record, cost them sole possession of the section crown, and prevented them from earning a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Ephrata QB Sam McCracken was one of the league's top passers in the regular season, throwing for 1,709 yards and 18 touchdowns. He completed 59 percent of his pass attempts and was only intercepted four times. RB Brayden Brown finished just short of the 1,000-yard milestone in the regular season, racking up 994 yards and 10 touchdowns on 138 carries. The trio of Nick Keller, Angel Collazo and Jeremiah Knowles have a combined 73 catches, 1,388 yards and 14 touchdowns to lead the receiving corps.
ABOUT LOWER DAUPHIN: The Falcons lost three of their last four regular-season games, including a 61-10 drubbing against Bishop McDevitt in Week 10. LD finished tied for third in the Mid-Penn Keystone race. Their only win this month was a 21-14 overtime victory over Hershey that also qualifies as their most-impressive victory of the season. LD and Ephrata both faced Twin Valley this year; the Mounts beat TV by 19 points, while LD fell 24-21 back in Week 2.
Junior QB Carter Burton is the Falcons' second-leading rusher with 706 yards and 12 touchdowns on 100 carries. He also completed 56 of 104 passes for 723 yards and four scores. Lower Dauphin's top rusher is senior Dakota Sary, who has 730 yards and six touchdowns on 106 rush attempts.
No. 10 Greencastle-Antrim (7-3) at No. 7 South Western (7-3)
Winner faces No. 2 Cedar Cliff
ABOUT SOUTH WESTERN: The Mustangs finished second behind undefeated Central York in the York-Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 race, shaking off a 2-3 start to win their last five games. South Western's three losses all came in one brutal stretch where they dropped consecutive decisions to New Oxford (41-27), Dallastown (24-20) and Central York (29-7). Included in their current five-game winning streak is their most-impressive victory of the season, a 35-8 rout of Class 6A playoff qualifier William Penn.
South Western's offense is powered by junior quarterback Bryce Graham, who has completed 131 of 225 passes for 1,577 yards and 13 touchdowns (with 8 INTs). Junior RB Austin Rollman leads the ground game, with 944 yards and 17 scores on 184 rushes.
ABOUT GREENCASTLE-ANTRIM: The Blue Devils finished fourth in the Mid-Penn Colonial race, alternating between losses and wins for the season's final six weeks after starting out 4-0. Two of their three losses came against playoff qualifiers; G-A fell 24-13 to East Pennsboro on Sept. 22 and 25-0 to Susquehanna Township on Oct. 6. The other loss was to Mechanicsburg (34-22 on Oct. 20). The Blue Devils' two most noteworthy wins came early in the season, when they defeated Big Spring (17-14 in Week 1 and Delone Catholic (35-21 in Week 3).
G-A has found ways to win despite an offense that generates just 252 yards per game. The trio of Xzavier Ramsey, Carter Coons, and Surzano Solomon power the ground attack, which averages 141 yards per game. Ramsey is the leading rusher, with 486 yards and five scores on 93 carries. Quarterback Logan Alvey has completed 96 of 154 passes for 1,013 yards and six touchdowns.
No. 11 Dover (7-3) at No. 6 Conestoga Valley (8-2)
Winner faces No. 3 Cocalico
ABOUT CONESTOGA VALLEY: The Buckskins finished second to Manheim Central in the L-L League Section 2 race in the regular season, dropping a 47-14 decision to the Barons in Week 8. CV's other loss was a 27-26 heartbreaker to fourth-seeded Garden Spot back in Week 3. The Buckskins were hard to slow down other than that; they knocked off No. 9 Exeter in Week 9 and routed Muhlenberg 49-0 last week.
QB Liam Cheek and RB Jayden Johnson lead the Buckskin offense, which averages 331.5 yards per game. Cheek has completed 70 of 141 passes for 1,180 yards and 16 touchdowns, while Johnson finished the regular season with 941 yards and 14 TDs on 119 carries.
CV won its only District 3 title in 1991.
ABOUT DOVER: The Eagles finished second behind top-seeded New Oxford in the YAIAA Division 2 race, dropping their head-to-head matchup with the Colonials (30-7) back in Week 4. Dover's other two setbacks came against South Western (31-12 in Week 2) and Dallastown (51-13 in Week 8). The Eagles' most noteworthy victory of the regular season came in Week 7, when they beat Eastern York 21-7.
The Dover offense averages 383 yards per game, paced by quarterback Aric Campbell, who has passed for 2,021 yards and 19 touchdowns and is the team's second-leading rusher with 493 yards and 11 scores on 56 carries. RB Garon Quillen (98-608, 9 TDs) and WR Thomas Smyser (34-661, 6 TDs) are weapons to watch out for as well.
