Season opener
The roster has been released, the final few days of preparation are taking place and in just a short while, the 2017 Dallastown football season will commence.
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Enterting his 13th year as a head coach and 21st as a teacher in the district, Wildcats coach Kevin Myers has enjoyed the preseason and looks forward to seeing what the team can do when it counts.
"It just doesn't seem real," he said of how quickly the years fly by. "This year has been a lot of fun and it has really invigorated me. This is a good group of kids. The leadership is awesome. I've been watching this group of seniors since there were about 8-years-old so it's a special year."
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Running what has become one of the YAIAA's premier programs, Myers is looking at ways the Wildcats can improve upon their 7-3 record of 2016
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"Last year our line was very young," he said. "It just takes some time and you've got to keep at it. A lot of repetition, quality repetition. This year, these guys are making calls. They know what they are doing and are feeling confident."
Cats fall in opener at Hempfield
For the first time in several years, the Wildcats lost their opening game of the season, this one on the road at a very talented Hempfield squad, 38-14.
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Hempfield returned everybody, including Temple University commit, David Martin-Robinson, who played quarterback against the Cats in 2016, but has moved to receiver. Black Knights QB Mark Himmelsbach is also a senior standout, poised to have a terrific season.
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Dallastown's season got off to a great start when Nyzair Smith scored the first points of the year with an 80-yard touchdown run.
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Unfortunately, Hempfield had the answer and more. Wildcats coach Kevin Myers knows it was a game the team can learn from heading into this week's non-league home opener against West York.
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The Bulldogs are one of two YAIAA teams that played a "Week Zero" game. They are 0-2 with losses at Governor Mifflin and home against Central York.
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"We’ve got to play some smash mouth football. We have to grow up on the field," he said.
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Cats dominate Spring Grove
As YAIAA Division I openers go, Friday night's home performance against Spring Grove was a good one for the Wildcats.
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Dallastown rushed for 464 yards and threw for another 89 in a 52-13 win over the Rockets. Nyzair Smith led the way again with 161 yards and three touchdowns. The junior has 570 yards rushing in four games.
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Senior fullback Ben Ward averaged 8.3 yards per carry, plus had three catches for 59 yards and a score. Quarterback Brett Smith went for 107 yards on only six carries with a long touchdown run.
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Coach Kevin Myers credits not only his stable of athletes but the downfield blocking of the Wildcats' receiving corp for opening up running room.
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"This is probably best blocking we have had downfield in years," he said. "Our line is taking care of level one and the receivers are taking care of the next level."
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But what really had the coach pleased was the Wildcats' defense, which played its best game as a unit this season, helping the team improve to 3-1 overall.
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"We focused on being more solid across the board. We’d been giving up too many big plays and we only gave up one," he said. "Our offense is playing at a high level of expectations. If we keep rolling offensively and shore up our defense we will be pretty good.
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"West York and Penn Manor had three touchdown on us. The Penn Manor game was missed tackles and this week there was no missed tackles. Defensively we weren’t tackling well. That was the emphasis and is going to be the emphasis."
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Myers and staff hope that level of play continues as the Wildcats will face a vastly improved York High team on Friday night.
"Stopping big plays is going to be key this week," Myers said. "That team runs through (running back Khalid Dorsey) and as he gets going they do. If we can limit his touches … anybody’s game plan going in is to keep their offense off the field."
Smith runs wild at Cats top Northeastern
It was not the start the Wildcats wanted when they hosted Northeastern last Friday, but the end was just fine.
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The Bobcats ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, but Dallastown's defense - and the running of Nyzair Smith - keyed a huge 21-14 Division I victory.
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Smith got the Wildcats back right away, reeling off a 79-yard touchdown run, breaking several tackles over the final 25 yards. The junior would go to to total 231 yards on 29 carries with two TDs.
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"​I believed he was going to be good, but maybe not this good. He's pretty dynamic," Dallastown coach Kevin Myers said of Smith, who needs only 67 yards to top the coveted 1,000-yard plateau for the season.
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But as Myers is quick to point out, Smith isn't doing this all on his own.
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"Give credit to our offensive line … Our receivers have done an excellent job blocking downfield. They are doing a great job ... On that first play, the number of blue jerseys down the field was ridiculous .. They are getting that part of it, and are playing as a team."
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Another thing Myers liked seeing was his team respond to being down 20 seconds into the game.
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"Hopefully this was sort of a turnaround game for us, where we realize it was one play at a time and one play doesn’t make or break a game," he said. "We haven’t really handled pressure well until now. I thought our kids played very well within themselves. We didn’t try to do too much. Everyone did their job and the defense gave up only seven points."
Smith leads Wildcats to big win at Central
Wow, what a night for Nyzair Smith.
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The Wildcats junior running back rushed for a school record 377 yards and five touchdowns in Dallastown's 49-20 romp at Central York.
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"He has such great vision," Cats coach Kevin Myers said of Smith, who now has 1,670 yards rushing on the season. "He sees things that others don't see."
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Quarterback Brett Smith added 103 yards and two scores as the Wildcats racked up 503 yards on the ground to dominate the Panthers.
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The huge win also forged a four-way tie for first place in the YAIAA Division I standings with one week to play. With Dallastown hosting rival Red Lion and William Penn hosting Central, the two winners will share the league title.
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Now, it's rivalry night and Myers and Lions coach Jesse Shay expect the atmosphere to be incredible, especially with so much riding on the game.
Both coaches also know they need to slow down the other's weapon. Red Lion needs to keep Smith at bay, while the Wildcats need to slow down Red Lion quarterback Zach Throne, a running machine and threat to go to the house on every carry.
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Of course, it's also likely a battle of the two best offensive lines in the YAIAA.
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"Friday night will be a fun one, that's for sure. We are looking forward to it," said Myers.
Cats romp against West York
The Wildcats responded from their season-opening loss in a big way with a 56-20 win against West York.
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Dallastown took off early with a 28-point first quarter en route to the win. Wildcats coach Kevin Myers said the quick start was huge.
"We challenged the team to play a little angry. They came out and I think they proved they were mad about how things went last week," said Myers. "We wanted to set an identity and I think they found one .
Led by a pair of touchdown runs from fullback Noah Strine and another from Nyzair Smith, The Wildcats offense had quite a performance, which included 405 yards and eight touchdowns rushing. Smith finished with a game-high 145 yards on only 12 carries with two scores and Jordan Cook had four carries for 81 yards and two more TDs.
But it wasn't only that side of the ball that was successful.
"We did well, and it was also helpful to have some short fields. Our defense helped us get into position," Myers said.
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An increased intensity also played a big part in the success, which is what pleased Myers the most. Although West York is now 0-3, the coach added the Bulldogs have playmakers that can make life difficult.
"We came to hit. We challenged them that we had to come out and keep our feet running," he said. "(West York) has got some guys on the outside that can flat out fly. That is going to be a huge bonus for them the rest of their season. They've definitely got some downhill threats on that team."
Cats fall at York High
Friday was a tough one for the Wildcats, who paid a visit to the YAIAA's most-improved team, the William Penn Bearcats.
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William Penn, also known as York High, defeated Dallastown 26-16 as star running back Khalid Dorsey romped for 188 yards on 22 carries, including a 34-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
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Wildcats coach Kevin Myers said that it is hard to emulate the speed of Dorsey in practice, but Dallastown had plenty of chances to reverse the outcome.
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"We missed some blocks, had some dropped passes. It came down to we didn't execute the way we wanted to," he said. "I think (the players) knew what we had to, we just didn’t execute very well, playing in a big game. We tried to do too much at time.
Wildcats dominate South Western
Even if South Western has been struggling at times this season, the Mustangs do have speed that can cause concern for coaches.
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However, last Friday night the Wildcats defense came up big, with three interceptions and held the Mustangs to only a late touchdown in a 35-7 Dallastown victory.
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The one-sided win marked the second straight week the Wildcats held an opposing offense to only one touchdown. Coach Kevin Myers said the team needed to get back to hard-hitting football and did that in consecutive weeks against Northeastern and South Western.
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Nyzair Smith continued his brilliant campaign by rushing for 209 yards, on only 10 carries and two more touchdowns, including a dazzling 88-yard scamper in the first quarter. The junior topped the 1,000-yard plateau with his big night and quarterback Brett Smith ran for a pair of scores, from 21 and 22 yards out.
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Up next is a homecoming game against New Oxford and we wish our students a safe and fun time this weekend.
Wildcats maul New Oxford
Winning on Homecoming is always a good thing. The students are hyped, the alumni is psyched and the players are ready.
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The Wildcats did that and more, thrilling the home crowd with a 62-point performance and shutout victory over struggling New Oxford.
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Dallastown scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters to forge a 42-0 halftime lead and never looked back.
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"The kids have been playing to what level they think they should be playing the last couple weeks," said Cats coach Kevin Myers. "I think we've got some confidence we can throw the ball."
Of course, things only get tougher the rest of the way. Dallastown finishes the regular season at Central York and home against rival Red Lion.
At least, the team is likely playing its best football of the season entering those games.
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"I said that I felt like our team is getting better and better each week. We've got to continue to do that," Myers said. "We've got to be good in the passing game to open things up for Nyzair Smith to do his thing.
"From this point on, things are going to be a little faster each week. (Central coach) Josh has them playing well and believing. They are not going to give up."
Cats beat rival Red Lion for share of title
Playing a rival can always be a challenge. Spotting that rival two scores is an even greater one.
Yet, this 2017 version of the Wildcats is proving to be a special group, and because of it, Dallastown is the Division I co-champions after topping Red Lion 40-27 last Friday.
Will Anderson’s 18-yard interception return for a touchdown keyed the comeback and record-setting running back Nyzair Smith ran for 223 yards on 25 carries and five touchdowns, three in the second half.
The Lions tied the game at 27 with five minutes to play, but Smith took the next snap after the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for the go-ahead score and the rest was history.
“There was span of 40 seconds we were down two scores and went up at end of first half. Will’s interception before the half was huge,” Dallastown coach Kevin Myers said. “They had to earn that TD, then Smith took off, 80 yards later, there he is and we are up again.”
Smith now has 1,893 yards on the season, but it is not just the junior’s play that is leading the charge during the Cats’ five-game winning streak.
“Our defensive and offensive lines both had really good games. They are two areas that our kids have just improved since early on,” Myers said. “Nyzair is able to see lanes like nobody else I ever coached. It’s a combination of both without a doubt. You don’t have that without a good offensive line. At the same time, you are not getting 1,900 yards without being a good back.”
The victory not only earned Dallastown a share of the YAIAA Division I title with York High, but also made the Wildcats the No. 5 seed in the District 3 Class AAA playoffs, and set up a rematch with No. 4 Hempfield.
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The Black Knights defeated Dallastown in the opening week of the season, however, this is a different Wildcats team this time around.
“We are definitely a better team than we were 10 weeks ago,” Myers said. “The biggest area we have improved on is our tackling.
“The last two weeks the way we played, especially in the second half, has been great. We’ve got to stop spotting teams 20 points in the first half. We’ve got to make some faster adjustments at the beginning of the game. That is going to be the big area we are going to hound on is sharper in first quarter.
Myers is hoping that playing a team for the second time will be beneficial.
“With the sport of football, you don’t often get that chance,” he said. “It’s nice going in and we’ve been to Hempfield already. Week one was the first time we had ever been to Hempfield for football. Now we know what the layout is, and we have an idea going in.”