Coach Weider’s Notebook

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Every Monday after High School football games I will be writing a coach's notebook. The notebook will contain different news, notes, and other items from High School Football in District 3. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Coach of the week</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bryan Strohl Cocalico. Strohl has constantly shown he is one of the best coaches in the Lancaster-Lebanon League and District 3. Last year he led his team to a District Championship. This year they lost to Warwick in week one 17-14. Then the last two weeks his team rebounded and got two big wins in a row. 1st they blew Solanco out 49-14 and then beat Manheim Central 48-28 in an upset by my book. Manheim Central is a loaded team and Cocalico was able to take care of business vs. their rival. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Team of the week</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wyomissing. Wyomissing has a heart of a champion. Coming into this game they had won 37 straight regular season games. They were trailing by 20 points with 18 minutes left in the game and they were able to come back to win 35-34. Wyomissing was able to get their run game going in the second half and slow down the Trinity offense. Great effort by Wyomissing to keep their win streak going.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Play of the week</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wide receiver screen. This is a play that a lot of High School Football teams have started to run in the last few years. They will throw to their best wide receiver in space and let them make people miss with a few blockers in front. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":989092,"width":576,"height":396,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/09/image-5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-989092" style="width:576px;height:396px" width="576" height="396" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Prospects of the week</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["618711"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f44f1f"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='618711' first='Czion' last='Brickle'] Fleetwood. </strong>In a 28-24 loss against Upper Perkioman Brickle was one of the bright spots. He rushed for 197 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brickle is a good running back who shows good elusiveness and speed, especially in the open field. He is a talented running back who should continue to play well this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["827551"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f44fb6"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='827551' first='Sam' last='Steffey'] Cocalico</strong>. Steffey rushed for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 48-28 win over Cocalico. In the veer offense that Cocalico runs, Steffey plays fullback and is the featured running back. He has also chipped in 5 touchdowns on the year. Steffey is a physical runner who is hard to bring down and usually takes more than one tackler to bring him down. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["222655"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f44ff9"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='914950' first='Hayden' last='Johnson'] Manheim Township.</strong> Johnson threw for 277 yards and rushed for 29 yards for Township when they beat Harrisburg 38-6 on Saturday. Johnson a 3 year starter has Township 3-0 on the year and is poised to make a District Title run. He has been really impressive in the first three weeks of the season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["768750"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f4503b"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='768750' first='Drew' last='Branstetter'] Camp Hill. </strong>Branstetter is someone I have not written about yet, so I am late to the party with this impressive quarterback. The Junior quarterback has helped Camp Hill start 3-0 on the year. On Friday night against Upper Dauphin Branstetter threw for 340 yards and a whopping 5 touchdowns. Branstetter is a quarterback to keep an eye on in the future. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["647404"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f4507c"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='647404' first='Chase' last='Eisenhower'] Wyomissing. </strong>In Wyomissing's offense, it is hard to shine because they constantly rotate through many ball carriers on offense. Eisenhower on Friday ran for 172 yards and two touchdowns against Trinity. Eisenhower is just a Sophomore so just starting to scratch the surface of his talent. Keep an eye on Eisenhower going forward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["377420"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f450bd"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='377420' first='Jonathan' last='Mellinger'] Lampeter-Strasburg. </strong>Mellinger ran for 144 yards and 3 touchdowns this weekend against Kennard-Dale. Mellinger is a player I have written about in the past and he is a talented player running back who also plays defense. He and Lampeter-Strasburg improved to 3-0 on the year with the win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["377422"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64fe6c3f450fe"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Eugune Green Steelton-Highspire.</strong> Green is a difference-maker at the defensive line. This weekend against West Catholic he has four sacks in the 29-22 win. Green is a really tough player to block for offensive lineman one-on-one. He also has great size for the position. He is a force at the defensive line for Steelton. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nobody asked me, but …</strong> It is so hard for players and coaches to start a game, play a half of football then stop the game until the next day. This happened all over District 3 this weekend. I understand that no one can predict the weather, but it might be better to just start the game fresh like York High and Carlisle are doing tonight or how Harrisburg and Manheim Township moved their game to Saturday morning. Just a thought. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nobody asked me, but</strong> ...Township and Wyomissing had two of the biggest games I have seen in a while. For Township to stomp Harrisburg like that was super impressive. Then for Wyomissing to bounce back and get the win against a talented Trinity team was super impressive. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nobody asked me, but</strong> ...Camp Hill has been super impressive through 3 weeks. The capital division of the Mid-Penn Conference will be fun to see who wins it with them, Trinity and Steelton. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nobody asked me, but</strong> ... East Pennsboro is another impressive team starting 3-0. They should have a good chance to compete in the Colonial division of the Mid-Penn Conference. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nobody asked me, but</strong> ...The amount of passing yards I see every week is staggering. It is no longer 3 yards and a cloud of dust anymore. I think teams are spending a lot more time throwing the ball, especially in the off-season and we are seeing the by-product of it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->