One final Week 13 playoff primer: 3 L-L League football facts for Nov. 15
One last look at the Week 13 playoff games ...
. Central York's D must contain Wilson's three-pronged rushing attack, which includes 1,000-yard scat-back Correll Akings, breakaway back Monty Greer, who averages 10.6 yards per carry, and QB Madyx Gruber , who has spent the season making all the rights reads on RPO calls. He's been tough to drag down when he's called his own number. ... A pair of Panthers' defenders to know — and they're both juniors — when CY hits the field vs. the Bulldogs on Friday for a D3-6A semifinal in West Lawn: DB Tyler Frey (83 tackles, 8 TFL, 6 sacks, 3 QB hurries, 2 INT, 2 fumble recoveries) has been a handful, especially in cheat-up, safety-blitz situations, and DE Colin Gurley (36 tackles, 8 TFL, 6 sacks, 15 QB hurries) has blown up a lot of plays off the edge. ... Those guys have helped CY pile up 53 TFL, 31 sacks, 58 QB hurries and 10 takeaways. ... Heads up, Wilson O-line. Plenty of playmakers with a lot of fancy numbers on display in this showdown. But it should come down to trench play. As always. Bulldogs' line-of-scrimmage protectors must shed off Frey and Gurley and keep Gruber clean, and Akings and Greer moving full steam ahead.
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. The stats just jump off the page. Harrisburg's Messiah Mickens — known for his RB prowess; he's committed to Penn State — has been a terror off the edge on defense for the Cougars. A sampling: 65 tackles, 27 TFL, 13.5 sacks and 19 QB hurries. He's spent a good chunk of his season running out of the backfield, and crashing it on D. ... Mickens and the Cougars' D have registered 98 TFL, 27 sacks, 41 QB hurries and 20 takeaways. They will chase Manheim Township QB Carson Weisser and try and keep Blue Streaks' 1,700-yard rusher Declan Clancy under wraps on Friday, when Harrisburg and Township square off for the third year in a row in the D3-6A playoffs, this time in a semifinal clash in Neffsville. ... You should hear Mickens' name called quite a bit, whether the Cougars are on O or D. He's a game-changer.
. Interesting season for West York's Isaac Roberts. He was the Bulldogs' QB for a good chunk of the campaign, before freshman Jensen Ferber emerged, and he's piloted WY's attack all the way to the D3-4A semifinals. ... Roberts has shifted to an RB roll, and he's continued to be one of the Bulldogs' top playmakers, and they'll certainly need him Saturday when WY takes on Wyomissing. ... Roberts has rushed for 829 yards with 10 TD runs. He's also had some success against two other L-L League teams this fall: In WY's win over Elco, he rushed for 118 yards with a TD run and a TD pass, and in the Bulldogs' victory over Donegal, he threw for 229 yards with three TD tosses, and he had a TD keeper. ... Wyo's D pitched a shutout last week in a 31-0 D3-4A quarterfinal win over East Pennsboro. And the Spartans have long prided themselves in the shut-down, stuff-the-run D department. That crew (with 'backers Chase EisenhowerTyler Niedrowski leading the charge) will have Roberts — and the Bulldogs' freshman QB — very much in their crosshairs on Saturday.
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