YAIAA Week 4 scores: Eastern York, Dallastown, Bermudian Springs win

It was a breakthrough night for YAIAA football teams in Week 4.

Eastern York kept its record perfect, holding off Kennard-Dale. The Golden Knights are now 4-0 for the first time in program history.

Dallastown held off South Western in a Division I clash, and Bermudian Springs romped past York Catholic as the Wildcats and Eagles both earned their first victories of the season.

And Red Lion shut out Elizabethtown for its third straight win.

Week 4 YAIAA football scores

Eastern York 26, Kennard-Dale 20: Sophomore quarterback Quinn Bramble didn’t have time to overthink it.

Last play of the first half … his team down by one and 30 yards from the end zone … the odds of converting a prayer of a throw weren’t high.

Still, there was senior tight end Johnathan Rose streaking down the sideline seemingly behind Kennard-Dale’s secondary.

After a first half full of near misses in the passing game, Bramble finally connected on a big play — a 30-yard touchdown pass to Rose that flipped the momentum of Friday’s game and propelled Eastern York to the best start in program history.

The eventual 26-20 home win moved Eastern York to 4-0 for the first time. The Golden Knights haven’t had a winning season since 2014 but now appear to be a playoff contender.

“I got hyped and that’s just football. That’s how you do it,” Bramble said about his Hail Mary. “We got so close every other time and it felt so good to hit that. The relief … the monkey off my back. I knew we could do it. We were winning that game.”

Eastern York has now doubled last year’s win total four weeks into coach Bud Kyle’s second season. While the Knights beat their first three opponents by an average score of 44-5, they didn’t face the toughest competition.

They faced adversity for the first time Friday. Kennard-Dale scored first and led until Rose’s touchdown at the end of the first half. Bramble started 1-of-9 as a number of his passes were dropped. The Golden Knights faced a fourth-and-2 from the Kennard-Dale 4-yard line and got stuffed.

But they bounced back from those mistakes to win — something their young players might not have done a year ago.

“The kids had a great offseason and bought into what we wanted to do,” Kyle said. “Last year they saw if we were a little stronger and more in shape we could’ve pulled out some more games. That was the motivation this year.”

Eastern still has plenty to work on. The Knights led 26-7 in the fourth quarter but gave up two long touchdown passes from Jessup Sharp to David Smith that allowed the game to come down to an onside kick.

Still, Kyle likes the toughness and maturity he’s seen from his players. Bramble is just 14 years old but has emerged as a leader. Senior lineman Justin Strausbaugh played Friday despite fracturing his hand last week against Olney.

Bramble finished 11-of-26 for 118 yards with two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. Ethan Sgrignoli caught the first touchdown and fellow sophomore running back Nuh’si Valenti rushed 18 times for 83 yards.

Kennard-Dale (1-3) played competitively despite missing three of its four captains due injury. The Rams got a passing attack going late, but struggled to establish a consistent running game, which has been their bread-and-butter under coach Chris Grube.

“In high school football it’s unbelievable the drop from your starters to your backups,” Grube said. “You try so hard to get the kids reps at practice but I’m playing freshmen. It’s exciting for the future but right now it stinks.”

Eastern York’s stadium was packed on Friday – something that hasn’t always been the case but the Knights hope continues this season.

“This is good for the community. We’ve been down and these seniors have stuck with it,” Bramble said. “We’re here, but we’re not done yet. We’ve always been up but then back down. But now we’re up and we’re gonna keep going up and up and up.”

Manheim Central 28, Susquehannock 7: The Warriors (2-2) couldn't get their offense going, despite testing the Barons in a Thursday night nonconference game. At one point, Susky took more than eight minutes off the clock on one possession. Josh Pecunes scored the lone touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Mike Fox rushed for 92 yards.

Bermudian Springs 44, York Catholic 7: The Eagles earned their first victory of the season in a decisive manner. York Catholic's Evan Kipple tied the game early with a 60-yard touchdown run, but it was all Eagles from there. Tyson Carpenter threw long touchdown passes to Tyler Staub, Nayel Lua and Jack Gautsch before halftime.

Biglerville 19, Fairfield 0: Two desperate football teams met at Musselman Stadium on Friday night, and it was the homestanding Canners coming out with a victory in the home opener.

Both teams entered Week 4 of the season on the outside looking in for the district playoffs, but Biglerville laid claim to the league opener early by forcing four first-half turnovers, including three in the first quarter.

Capitalizing on a fumbled punt by Fairfield, the Canners struck first midway through the first when Bo Forney dropped a 16-yard touchdown pass into the arms of Tyler Spadacino in stride at the goal line. The extra point was blocked, but Biglerville led 6-0.

Tavian McAuliffe snagged the first of two interceptions with 2 minutes left in the first half. This set the stage for Landen Taylor's 4-yard touchdown run up the gut with 36.2 seconds left until halftime, putting the Canners up 13-0.

McAuliffe, who entered as Biglerville's leading reciever on the season, caught more balls on defense than he did on offense on the night, as he secured a second interception in the second half.

The Canners scored in the final minute of the fourth quarter as Aidan Hoffman took the ball across from two yards out to complete the scoring.

Dallastown 24, South Western 20: Special teams was the name of the game as the Wildcats (1-3) earned their first victory of the season. Dallastown’s unit stole the show in the fourth. A blocked punt deep in South Western territory by Christoper Chromartie was returned by star DB/WR Jalen Cook (who added two interceptions and some highlight reel catches). Not to be out done by his teammate, Michael Scott added the game-winning kickoff return late in the fourth to put the game away for the Wildcats.

South Western’s (2-2) Gavin Fraim went 2-for-2 on field goal attempts as well as being perfect on his two PAT attempts following touchdown runs of 29 and 3 yards by Austin Rollman.

New Oxford 30, Dover 7: A squirrel almost ruined New Oxford’s plans on Friday. 

The Colonials spent the week preparing to face Aric Campbell throwing to Thomas Smyser by setting up Brody Holmes on the scout team. 

“My son came to practice this week and asked why one boy was wearing a white jersey,” Colonials coach Jason Werner said. “We practice in blue jerseys, but we had [Holmes] wearing a white jersey with No. 3. I tried to explain that’s the best player on the other team, so we want to make sure we know where he is on the field at all times.” 

The Colonials even went as far as calling Holmes, the sophomore brother of senior Brennan Holmes, Thomas all week during practice. 

Then a squirrel chewed through some wires just as school started Friday, causing a transformer to blow and leaving the campus without electricity. The students were sent home, and Met-Ed employees worked feverishly to restore power in time for the game. 

Just in time for the Colonials to work their plan. 

Brennan Holmes and sophomore Brayden Billman kept Smyser, who had 350 receiving yards and four touchdowns coming into Friday’s game, quiet except for a handful of catches. And when Campbell tried to work the ball to other receivers, the Colonials shut them down, too. 

Without a successful passing game, which normally provides two-thirds of the Eagles’ offense, they couldn’t find the red zone. Dover’s points came as the third quarter was winding down. Noah Wentz picked off Idriz Ahmetovic and returned it 40 yards for the touchdown. 

Billman, who ended the Eagles’ last drive of the game with an interception, credited Brody Holmes’ work in practice and the play of the defensive line for the Colonials’ success. 

“Our defensive line is huge,” said Billman, who just missed interceptions earlier in the half on consecutive plays. “Everything goes through them.” 

The New Oxford defense picked Campbell, forced a fumble and special teams blocked a punt to set up Brennan Holmes’ 21-yard TD catch from Ahmetovic. Clayton Nieves scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and Ahmetovic scored one to put the unbeaten Colonials in the driver’s seat for the Division II title. 

“The target’s definitely on our back every week now,” Billman said. “But this gives us a lot of momentum for the rest of the season. We are going to go next game to next game. And our next focus is York Suburban.” 

Central York 56, Spring Grove 7: The Panthers led 35-0 at halftime and cruised to a 4-0 start.

Delone Catholic 37, York County Tech 20: The Squires earned their first win after an 0-3 start this season.

Littlestown 42, Hanover 0: Trailing 7-0 early, Hanover drove to Littlestown's 7-yard line but couldn't get in the end zone and missed a field goal. It snowballed from there. Littlestown's Alex Popoff threw for over 200 yards and rushed for a score. Dylan Herr rushed for 75 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries.

Red Lion 39, Elizabethtown 0: The Lions won their third game in a row. Chris Price got the scoring started with a touchdown pass to Elijah Morales and the Lions didn't let up. Price threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns. Damien Cedrone caught seven passes for 61 yards and tossed a 56-yard score on a trick play.

York High 61, Northeastern 7: The Bearcats led 34-0 at halftime and cruised to a blowout win. Shavane Anderson and Samir Gwynn both scored twice.

Saturday's schedule

West York at York Suburban, 7 p.m.