Early glimpse at next week's games

The final two area football teams still playing will invade the same stadium Saturday.

Cumberland Valley and Trinity will play their next game at Hersheypark Stadium. The Shamrocks open the day's doubleheader at noon against Lewisburg in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal before CV meets Red Lion in the District 3 Class AAAA final at 6 p.m.

Here's a closer look at the games.

Class AAAA

Red Lion (8, 10-3) vs. Cumberland Valley (7, 11-2) at Hersheypark Stadium -- In a rematch of Week 1, these two teams meet to decide the District 3 Class AAAA title.

Much like the first meeting, this one won't be pretty.

Sure, Red Lion is an improved bunch but so is CV. That's bad news for a Red Lion team that dropped a 45-6 decision at Chapman Field back in September.

CV is dealing with a few injuries but even if star running back/linebacker Kevin Snyder isn't at full strength, the Eagles should still roll.

CV came out of the more difficult bracket and will win its second straight 3-AAAA title and 10th overall.

Warm up the charter buses for a return trip to Altoona next week.

Class AA

Lewisburg (13-0) vs. Trinity (12-1) at Hersheypark Stadium -- The Shamrocks are rolling right along with 12 wins in a row and another shutout -- their second of the playoffs and fifth overall.

Lewisburg, the District 4 champion, is more battle-tested than the Shamrocks, who haven't been forced to play an entire 48 minutes this year. That's a major concern, especially if this game is close late.

The Green Dragons also force other teams to make mistakes. Lately, Trinity has made mistakes without any added help. It's going to take a special effort from the Shamrocks -- and this team is capable of that -- to keep their season going.

At this stage, we hate to say a team's season is over but the Green Dragons are our pick to reach the state semifinals.