Keystone Division: Preseason Records, Breakdowns, MVP and More
It’s time to get into the third division preview of my fall sports previews, and it’s certainly one with a lot of parody. There’s a lot of teams on this list that I could see pick up a couple more wins than predicted, and vice versa. The new additions to this Keystone division are Waynesboro, Gettysburg, Mechanicsburg, Northern and Shippensburg.
Preseason Keystone MVP: Eli Reider, Mechanicsburg
Reider's 2023 performance was certainly one of note, passing for 2,358 yards and 25 TD's. Quietly, his stats post him as the Mid-Penn's third top returning quarterback, right behind Kentucky commit Stone Saunders and Camp Hill's Drew Branstetter. Despite the stats, Reider was an honorable mention selection after last season as East Penn's senior leader Keith Oates was the Keystone first team pick, Gettysburg's Brady Heiser the second team and Reider was thrown in with Logan Alvey from Greencastle and Torin Evans from Susquehanna Township in the honorable mentions. I'm expecting and predicting much bigger things from Reider this season.
1. Hershey Trojans (9-1)
Hershey ended up with nine wins in 2023 in 13 games played after a run into the District III postseason. I don’t want to say their division is necessarily easier, but they get McDevitt and Cedar Cliff off their schedule, which is big because they’d be looking at an 8-2 record at best with those two there in my eyes. The big and obvious loss for Hershey is Angel Cabrera, the powerful running back who barreled his way to 1,782 yards and 27 touchdowns in his senior campaign. Yes, not a typo, 27 touchdowns in one season as a running back. That beats the Mid-Penn’s top returning rusher, CD East’s Jared Porter, by 13 touchdowns from last season. Cabrera is now at Millersville, and if the Marauders act in any similar fashion to Hershey, he will get the ball inside the five yard line almost every time they’re there. Carter Klein is next in line for the Trojans as a rusher, and he comes into his final season this year in Chocolatetown. Klein quietly put together an 84 carry, 365 yard season and two trips to the endzone to go with it. In the writeup for Sweeney’s MVP nod, I mentioned Hershey would need to rely more on the pass game, but the issue is the team doesn’t return any player who recorded more than ten receptions for the team last year. It is going to be a year full of guys stepping up to aid Klein and Sweeney in their attempt to bring this team a winning regular season followed by potentially something more. The Trojans start the year with their crosstown classic rivalry against Milton Hershey in the Cocoa Bean Bowl, which is the only place they’re predicted to lose. Not to discredit the team, but it’s not exactly a 9-1 team, rather it’s a division that allows them to be that good. If Hershey were to play the ten teams in the commonwealth, I’d take them to go 5-5, and in the Colonial I think they could beat four of nine teams. With the 9-1 regular season, it could very well give the Trojans enough momentum to make a deep run into playoffs.
2. Mechanicsburg Wildcats (8-2)
Eli Reider comes in as the Wildcats starter this season after a really solid 175/278, 2,358 yard, 25 touchdown season. Behind McDevitt’s Stone Saunders and Camp Hill’s Drew Branstetter, it’s the third best season out of any returning passer in the conference. Reider will have a top target to throw to this season with Josh Smith at wide receiver. Many basketball fans will remember Smith’s name from being the key piece and point guard to the Wildcats basketball team that won the first Mechanicsburg basketball District III title since 1995. Mechanicsburg also brings back Isaac Dollman, who had by far the most carries with 115 rushing attempts last season. He made some stats out of it as well, rushing for 556 yards and three trips to the endzone. In terms of ball carriers, the Wildcats only lose three guys who had a rushing attempt last season, and even then it’s a combined six carries between the three seniors. They’ll get back Dominick Baker, Drake Dawson, Brady Spotts and Justin Bardo in addition to the three already mentioned. Bardo, by the way, also starred on the champion basketball team and led the football team in total tackles on the defensive side with 90, 34 better than the runner up Willie Travis, who also returns for his senior year. The group of Smith, Reider, Dollman and Drake Dawson combined for 196 carries, 881 yards and four touchdowns in 2023. Henry Notarfransesco is the big loss in receivers for the Wildcats. The senior, who starred on the field in the fall, and track in the spring, is now at Susquehanna and hauled in 25 receptions for 492 yards and 5 TD’s last season, placing third among Wildcats in receiving. The Wildcats lead off with rival Carlisle in the Backyard Brawl, where I see them earning a 6A win which is sure to help for District III power rankings. From there, it’s just two losses in division with Lower Dauphin and Hershey. Make no mistake, this is a Mechanicsburg team that returned nearly everyone and is ready for a breakthrough season under the new direction of 2024 hire Dave Heckard, who is a football alumni at Cumberland Valley before he teamed up with, at the time, future Eagle Brian Westbrook playing together at Villanova. Heckard came back to the area, coached wrestling at CV for 17 seasons, came to Mechanicsburg as head wrestling coach and football assistant, and is now in the head role for the Wildcats.
3. Lower Dauphin Falcons (7-3)
LD Head Coach Josh Borreli is a focused coach on a mission almost all the time, and this year the mission is to make a deeper run into playoffs, but it won’t be easy. After a 6-4 regular season, the Falcons snuck into the District III playoffs as a 12 seed and visited fifth seeded Ephrata, who handed them a 14-13 loss to end the season 6-5 in the quarterfinals. Despite the seven seeds of difference between the teams, the Falcons led at half and late into the playoff meeting. That was until Ephrata’s Brayden Brown made a trip to the endzone with 3:57 left, tying the game at 13 apiece. An extra point gave the Mounts a late lead that the Lower Dauphin offense could not answer to on their final eight play drive. The Falcons defense, however, turned Ephrata over on downs three times in the second half. It’s a defense that Borelli, who doubles as head coach and defensive coordinator, returns a lot of in 2024. Hunter Strohm, who led by far in tackles with 93, comes back for just his junior season in 2024. 59 of those 93 total tackles were solo. Strohm, by the way, has a sister who is going into sophomore year and is making waves on the LD field hockey field and made it to the PIAA semifinals in 2023. Wesley Heagy follows Strohm in the total tackles category with 64 total. There’s seven guys that had 40 or more total tackles for LD’s defense and four of them return, as Owen Tucker and Brandon Fitz join Strohm and Heagy. This season, the Falcons kick off with Cedar Crest in the “Falcon Battle” before getting into conference play. In the Keystone, I predict LD to take down everyone but Hershey and Gettysburg in a really close week ten battle. Returning to the playoff conversation, it won’t be easy with McDevitt now up in 4A, who Lower Dauphin had to tolerate in their division in years prior. After a 7-3 regular season, LD might be able to position themselves for a home playoff game at Hersheypark Stadium, and after that, it’s all up to how high the Falcons can fly at the right time.
4. Gettysburg Warriors (7-3)
It seems like Brady Heiser is the Grayson Allen of HS football because he’s been in a key role for so long at the helm of a Gettysburg that, like LD, has made short runs into playoffs. Heiser has been the starter since he was a freshman, and he plays for his dad Matt Heiser, who may also be his social studies teacher. Heiser tossed for 1,609 yards and 9 TD’s in 2022, when he led the Warriors to an 8-3 season that ended in a 23-13 to Cocalico in the quarterfinals at home, upset as the four seed to 12th ranked Cocalico. After that, Heiser lost his top running back Jayden Johnson and three top targets, Tanner Newman, Sean Higgins, and Jayden Johnson again. The three had been the recipient of 65 receptions from Heiser, and it was back to square one for the next season. In that 2023 season, the Warriors dropped six games and won four. They lost their week one opener to Hershey by one point and everything else by two touchdowns or more. Now, the Warriors have developed players that are ready for another solid regular season and to get back to the District III playoffs. Preston Burnett carried 241 times last season, the most of anyone returning in the conference. His 1,279 yards, 6 TD’s and average of 127.9 yards per game land him as the third best returning rusher in the Mid-Penn, just behind Jared Porter and Shawn Lee Jr. Shayde Schultz, the team’s leading wide receiver also returns for a senior year. Gettysburg kicks off with Chambersburg, which I’m a big fan of as they could get the District III power ranking points for playing a 6A school, and it’s a beatable team as Chambersburg is in recovery mode. From there, it’s just losses to the teams listed above in conference games. A 7-3 regular season is certainly enough for Gettysburg to be seeded well in the 5A playoffs. They went 8-2 to earn their fourth seeded spot in 2022.
5. Shippensburg Greyhounds (5-5)
This time last year, Shippensburg was gearing up to replace their longtime QB Tucker Chamberlin. Now, the Greyhounds are firm with Brady Maciejewski, who looks to improve upon his 49.1% completion rate and add more than 762 yards and 4 TD’s, 4 INT’s in 2023. It’s safe to say the Greyhounds run it like the bus line as an offense, though. Ja’nye Statum was the team’s leading rusher, the younger brother of former Shippensburg standout Jayden Statum, who showed his toughness and adversity by playing his senior basketball season with a torn labrum and is now at Susquehanna University playing hoops. His teammate, Anthony Smith, is perhaps one of Ship’s biggest football standouts, who was part of the 2021 Shippensburg team that went 11-1. Going into last season, Shippensburg’s football Facebook account posted that they had awarded Ja’nye the “Savage Hound” award, saying “It’s hard to outwork Ja’nye Statum. His work on offense earns Savage Hound of the day.” Statum will be big in his senior year for Ship. They’ll begin with the Little Brown Jug, an intense rivalry against Big Spring, which I don’t see going their way with a loaded Bulldog team coming back. Shippensburg is predicted to win over Waynesboro, Palmyra, Mifflin County, Red Land and Northern. In 5A, it might be just enough to get into the playoffs, but it’ll certainly help if Shippensburg can steal some extra wins in the regular season.
6. Northern Polar Bears (4-6)
Similar to Shippensburg, Northern was gearing up for a QB change this time last year. It wasn’t just between player to player, how about brother to brother? Timmy Bonin threw for 1,031 yards in 2022 before graduating and heading off to play baseball at Merrimack,where he’s on the baseball team. Bonin handed the reins at QB to his younger brother Grady to handle things on the football field, which is made of grass at Bostic Field, one of the few true grass fields left in the Mid-Penn. The Polar Bears went 3-7 in 2023, but they had a six point loss to Shippensburg, one point loss to Waynesboro and seven points to Greencastle. The huge loss for Northern will be Cole Bartram, the do it all running back who rushed on 313 attempts for 1,848 yards and 22 TD’s, leading all rushers by the end of last season. It’s impossible to overstate Bartram’s impact at Northern, as a continuous state qualifier on the wrestling mat. For 2024, it’ll be important for Bonin to take a big leap, with a lot lost from seniors. Northern scheduled Spring Grove in week one, and while the Rockets are without Maryland committed lineman Michael Hershey, it’s still a good team that Northern will likely drop to 0-1 against before starting their Keystone schedule. In my book, they beat Mifflin County, Red Land, Waynesboro and Palmyra.
7. Mifflin County Huskies (4-6)
It’s another 4-6 pick for me with Mifflin County, who are slimming that number of grass fields as they will play on a brand new turf field, part of the Husky Stadium Project that will give the Huskies much more of a home-field advantage. Mifflin County is used to McDevitt and Cedar Cliff on the yearly docket, so they have to be thrilled with some of the Mid-Penn realignment that gives them an easier time. The one thing about their schedule, though, is they could schedule three non-conference games that were closer to them geographically and fit their play level. Last year, they started off 2-1 with wins over Central Mountain and Shikellamy and a loss to Altoona before diving into division play. They finished the year with another loss to Altoona in District 6 playoffs. Now, the 5-6 team from 2023 only gets Central Mountain on the schedule, where a win is predicted along with three division wins against Palmyra, Waynesboro and Red Land. Landen Eichhorn was last year’s starting passer, but Fletcher Wilson saw action with 19 passing attempts, 119 yards and the growing pains of two interceptions should have him ready for a presumed starting role for the Huskies in 2024.
8. Red Land Patriots (3-7)
It’s Eric Depew’s third season at the lead role for the Patriots program after he was hired in June 2022 to fill Frank Gay’s spot. Depew was coming from York Catholic, and now he leads a Patriots team trying to turn it around in 2024. Quinlin Shearer doubles as the Pats’ dual-threat QB heading into junior year after 621 passing yards and 142 rushing yards. Red Land keeps tradition alive with a meeting against Cedar Cliff in week one, but it may not serve the Patriots well in terms of getting an out of division win because Cedar Cliff brings a strong attack into the season. In my book, the Patriots are fortunate to pull out wins against Waynesboro, Palmyra and Mifflin County.
9. Waynesboro Indians (1-9)
Head Coach Mark Saunders brings a lot of experience to the table as the Indians leader. He’s spent time coaching college, with the Philadelphia Eagles, plenty of high school teams between states, and even sent his own son through homemade coaching until he was ready to go to the University of Delaware. His Indians went 2-8 last season, pulling out upset wins over Spring Grove and Northern. This year, the predicted win comes over Palmyra in week five. Rayshawn Hewitt gears up for another season under center, passing for 1,042 yards and 8 TD’s in 2023.
10. Palmyra Cougars (1-9)
The Cougars went 2-8 last season after losing their stud running back Juan Figueroa in an attempted transfer to McDevitt. Ryan Kowalski gears up for his senior season at QB for the Cougars. The predicted win comes against Lebanon in non-conference play, but there’s potential to grab wins against Waynesboro and Red Land.