The best of the non-conference best

Of the games that involve coverage area teams stepping out of the Mid-Penn Conference this season, the one that will take place in Lampeter on Friday night is at the top of the list.

Cedar Cliff (2-0) takes its high-flying offense, powered by dual quarterbacks Tim Kelly (right) and Tyler Orris, into Lancaster-Lebanon League country to meet Section II member Lampeter-Strasburg (2-0) on Friday at 7 p.m.

This will be the Colts' final warm-up before they enter Mid-Penn Keystone Division play and the Pioneers should easily prepare Cedar Cliff for what it will face in the division.

L-S has blasted Class AAAA teams Hempfield and Penn Manor in the first two weeks of the season by a combined score of 82-7. The plus-75 point differential is second in the L-L and the Pioneers' total points are third behind Lancaster McCaskey's 92 and Lancaster Catholic's 84.

The game offers Cedar Cliff and coach Jim Cantafio a chance to make noise on the district level. If this weren't the weekend that Bishop McDevitt is playing Cumberland Valley, Cantafio's team might have been playing under the brightest lights in District 3. Regardless, the fact that the Colts are involved in a game that is generating a decent amount of buzz isn't something to be taken lightly.

"It's great that we're finally getting some respect," Cantafio said Monday night. "My hats off to my coaching staff, the players, the booster club ... everybody that worked together to get this program turned around. We have it turned around and it's great. Cedar Cliff hasn't had this type of excitement for football in many years."

Despite previous coaching stops at L-L schools Conestoga Valley and Wilson, Friday night will mark the first time Cantafio will coach at Pioneer Stadium.

"This will be the first test our kids have faced in a long time on the road," Cantafio said. "On the road in hostile, unfamiliar territory, this is where you really have to toughen up."

For more on this game, please pick up a copy of Football This Week in the Friday edition of The Sentinel.