District 3 highlights: York Suburban snaps 36-year-old playoff victory drought

Big wins and nail-biters.

The opening week of the district football postseason didn't disappoint.

Who called a 35-point York Suburban victory to end the Trojans' 36-year playoff victory drought? Mikey Bentivegna broke the York Suburban single game rushing record in the 41-6 victory against Donegal in the first round of the Class 4A tournament.

The last time the Trojans won a playoff game was 1986. Bentivegna finished the game with six touchdowns, with five of those runs over 50 yards.

Dover, which saw the YAIAA's most dramatic turnaround from last season to now, made sure it would be around for another week with a win against Garden Spot.

South Western put up a valiant fight but dropped a one-point heartbreaker to Northern York. Delone Catholic and Kennard-Dale both saw their seasons come to an end.

Check back for more on Friday's games.

Dig into the stats: Check out the players that topped the YAIAA statistical leaders list this past fall

District 3 girls' volleyball: York Catholic avenges previous losses, takes 2A title

District 3 playoffs

Class 5A

First round

(7) Dover 40, (10) Garden Spot 21: The last time Dover won a playoff game, Wayne Snelbaker was in attendance as a fan.

Eight years into his tenure as head coach, he’s led the Eagles to their next one.

Dover used a great offensive first half and a great defensive second half to win its first playoff game since 2013 – also the last time the Eagles appeared in a postseason contest. The Eagles led the Spartans 28-21 at halftime before shutting them out after halftime.

The win continues an incredible turnaround season for Dover, which is now 9-2 after going 1-9 a year ago. The Eagles last winning season was a 6-4 campaign in 2017.

“It’s perseverance all the way around,” said Snelbaker, who was an assistant coach at West York in 2013. “Our coaching staff and our players. It’s maturity. Last year we were so young but (what we went through) has boiled over to now.”

Dover will now face No. 2 seed and defending district champion Exeter Township in the quarterfinals next week. The Berks County Eagles are undefeated this season and feature Penn State commit tight end Joey Schlaffer.

Snelbaker acknowledged playing Exeter will be a huge challenge but said his team has responded to adversity all season. He said his players “couldn’t catch a pass” at practice Wednesday while in front of television cameras but he never doubted they would play well Friday against Garden Spot.

“That’s this team,” Snelbaker said. “We take care of business throughout the week and Friday night we’re OK.”

Dover remained poised during a wacky first quarter that featured three touchdowns longer than 70 yards. The Eagles got on the board first when Tanner Querry blocked a punt and Gavin Hake recovered for a touchdown.

But the Eagles struggled to contain Garden Spot’s 6-foot, 180-pound multi-purpose back Blake Weaver, who rushed for a 72-yard touchdown and caught a 81-yard score from dual-threat quarterback Kyle Harting early on. But an 80-yard touchdown pass from Aric Campbell to Gavin Mullins put Dover back ahead in the first quarter. The Eagles again retook the lead late in the second quarter when Garon Quillen finished off an 80-yard drive with a rushing score.

The Eagles then shutout the Spartans in the second half and ended up intercepting Harting three times while recovering two fumbles.

“We knew it would be close,” Snelbaker said. “We had to play disciplined defensively. We changed our coverage up a little bit to throw (Harting) off a little and it really took (Weaver) out of the game.

“We were able to breathe and survive the first half and offensively we just kept doing what we were doing.”

Campbell finished the game 9-of-19 for 213 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for two more scores. Thomas Smyser caught five passes for 84 yards and fullback Lucas Runk rushed for 87 yards on just seven carries.

But the best player on the field was Mullins, who continued his incredible senior season. The 5-foot-6 dynamo rushed 24 times for 140 yards, caught that 80-yard touchdown pass and sealed the win with a leaping interception late in the fourth quarter.

“He’s just the man,” Snelbaker said about Mullins. “That interception? That was so fitting. That’s him and his entire season in a nutshell. He’s just phenomenal. We just ride him. He doesn’t want to come out.”

Mullins has now racked up more than 1,600 all-purpose yards this season. Snelbaker said the senior missed Dover’s one-point win over Northern York in Week 3 with a concussion, but learned from the experience that he didn’t need to do everything for the Eagles and improved as a result.

“It’s been so fun watching him grow up,” Snelbaker said.

Dover’s players celebrated after the win but didn’t seem surprised by the outcome. Still, Campbell said the team’s stunning turnaround from last season is still hard to fathom.

He said the Eagles will try to upset Exeter next week “one play at a time.”

“This team has done something that nobody would’ve thought of and I truly love them all,” the junior quarterback said. “This was a big stage and we showed out. The coaches have stepped up and they pushed us so much after last year. The seniors helped our whole team and I got to give all the love to them.”

(11) Northern York 21, (6) South Western 20: One point. That’s all that separated the teams from opposite ends of York County.

It’s easy to say that it came down to a blocked point after late in the game, but games rarely come down to a single play. And while important, it certainly wasn’t the only play that decided the outcome.

It was a normal football game. Passes were dropped and targets were missed.

These teams were very similar.

Both have big players on their lines, which meant passes by Northern’s Timothy Bonin and South Western’s Max Wisensale always had the potential to be tipped.

Both quarterbacks were dual threats. Bonin had touchdown passes of 16 yards to Talon Belluscio and 49 yards to Mason Yahn. Although he didn’t score, he ran the ball on numerous keepers.

Wisensale threw a 10-yard TD pass to Cohen Bull and ran for a touchdown late in the game to pull the Mustangs within one.

Both defenses controlled the tempo of the game. South Western’s defense sacked Bonin several times and had numerous tackles for loss. Northern’s Magarrin Macke picked off Wisensale and ran 67 yards for the pick 6.

South Western’s season ends at 7-4, and instead of getting a second meeting with New Oxford, Northern York will be headed to Adams County to take on the Colonials in the District 3 Class 5A second round.

Class 4A

First round

(8) East Pennsboro 43, (9) Kennard-Dale 0

(7) York Suburban 41, (10) Donegal 6: History was made Friday night at Dick May Field. Senior running back Mikey Bentivegna rushed for 382 yards and six touchdowns. Bentivegna performance broke York Suburban’s single game rushing record, and the win ends a 36-year playoff victory drought.

The rematch from Week 2 (a York Suburban 41-18 win) started out a bit differently as each defense came out and made a stop, but on the first play of the second Trojan drive, Bentivegna raced for a 78-yard touchdown. York Suburban never looked back as Bentivegna then scored touchdowns of 80, 51, 11 and 61 yards to end the half with York Suburban up 34-0. On the second play of the second half, Bentivegna took off for a 63-yard touchdown for his sixth of the night that also broke the single game rushing record.

-- Leif Johnson

Class 2A

Semifinals

(3) Trinity 56, (2) Delone Catholic 17: On a night when the Delone marching band was absent and the home crowd a little sparse due to the opening of Delone's fall musical, "Clue", the Squires were unable to generate their own momentum.

What little air of anticipation the crowd had was quickly deflated on the first play of the game when Trinity's Messiah Mickens cut, danced, and raced 60 yards for a touchdown.

The Shamrocks' freshman running back ran for 143 yards and 4 touchdowns, outscoring Delone and nearly outgaining the Squires as well.

Delone was also without starting quarterback Denver Ostrum, who was ineligble for the playoffs due to PIAA transfer rules. Ostrum, who transferred from South Western, was replaced under center by Ryder Noel.

Noel, a senior playing in his last game, performed admirably, going 6-of-11 for 75 yards and a fourth quarter touchdown to Landon Smith.

The Squires finish the 2022 season with a YAIAA Division III title and a 7-4 record.

Class 1A

Championship

(2) Fairfield 2-7 at (1) Steel-High 8-1, Saturday, Nov. 5, 1 p.m.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: District 3 playoffs: Scores, results from Friday's YAIAA games