Week 1 was about the best start to high school football that the YAIAA could ask for. Aside from the heat on Saturday afternoon, the weather was near perfect and the football, as always, was exciting.
The GameTimePA staff made it out to seven games over the weekend and saw plenty of impressive performances. As the weekend winds down and Monday rears its head once again, we wanted to settle down and reflect on the first round of regular-season football.
Here's this week's Monday Morning Coming Down:
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Week 1 takeaways
1. Congratulations to West York on finally breaking its losing skid. A full season and change − 11 games in total − is a long time to wait for a win, and the Bulldogs' patience finally paid off. That 33-6 rout of Elco is bound to inspire confidence in the Bulldogs, especially with a rivalry game against Red Lion on the docket for next week.
2. On the topic of steaks coming to an end, Dallastown finally got the monkey off its back by whupping Hempfield at home. The win snaps the Wildcats' six-game losing streak to the Black Knights and puts them at 1-0 to start a season for the first time since 2020, when they defeated Northeastern to start the year. Is it a sign for things to come for the Wildcats? Time will tell, and so will a road game at Penn Manor on Friday.
3. Was Central York's win over Central Dauphin more impressive or expected? It's fair to say a bit of both. Central York walked into last Friday as a solid favorite for good reason. They'd taken two games against the Rams last year and returned a good portion of the defense that made them so unstoppable last year. Friday, however, they made it look easy. Queue the running clock, and the Panthers cruised to an easy Week 1 win.
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Impact Players of the Week
Quarterbacks Issac Roberts of West York and Eastern York's Quinn Bramble both got off to a roaring start under center last week, and Central York's Tyler Frey had a night of his own.
In the Bulldogs' win over Elco , Roberts scored on a 79-yard keeper and completed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Julius Madden. He did that while also splitting time at quarterback with freshman Jensen Ferber.
Bramble had a standout night for Eastern York after routing Columbia's defense. The junior completed 70 percent of his passes, threw for 255 total yards and had five touchdowns come game's end. Two of those going to freshman Demarcus Murray might signal a new fresh duo emerging in Wrightsville.
Frey was among the top reasons the Panthers ran away with their win over Central Dauphin. He punched in a 1-yard score on fourth down, blocked a punt that resulted in a touchdown and almost made it to the end zone again on a free return.
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Concession confessions
I spent Friday night watching the now-regular season opener between Bermudian Springs and New Oxford on the Eagles' home turf. I'd neglected to eat dinner before I left, so I settled on a double cheeseburger from the Bermudian Springs concession stand − thankfully I took my card since I was low on cash.
The burger itself was delicious and cheap, but what surprised me was the cheese. Not a slice of American or Kraft as I've come to expect from most concession stands, but a white cheese. Probably provolone, but I forgot to ask and didn't have a refined enough palate for cheese to make the distinction. Regardless, it tasted awesome.
Jack Gleckler is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be found on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @thejackgleckler.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Monday Morning Coming Down: Dissecting highlights from YAIAA Week 1 football
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