The number of YAIAA football teams left in the District playoffs was whittled from six down to two last night. Dreams of a District title live on at Delone Catholic and West York -- the Squires will play for their second District 3 title in three years Friday against No. 1 seed Lancaster Catholic.

But how does the YAIAA performance in this year's District tournament compare to years past?

Earlier, I took a look back at how the league has fared in the District playoffs the last four years. Why the last four? Because in 2006, the District playoffs were expanded to 16 teams in Class AAAA and AAA, and eight teams in AA and A.

The numbers seem to indicate that the YAIAA has improved in that time. This season, the league had 12 teams qualify for Districts and six advance to the second -- both four-year highs.

Below, I've broken down how YAIAA teams from each class have fared in the last four District 3 playoffs. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the numbers.

2009 (12 qualifiers, 8-10 overall so far)

AAAA: Five teams, 2-5 overall (Central, South Western reached quarterfinals)
AAA: Three teams, 2-2 overall (West York in semifinals)
AA: Three teams, 3-2 overall (Delone Catholic in finals)
A: One teams, 1-1 overall (York Catholic reached semifinals)

Central York meets Wilson at 7 p.m. today in the District 3 Class AAAA. Chat live with York Daily Record/Sunday News copy editor/reporter Matt Goul during the game.

On Wednesday evening, I spent about 15 minutes chatting with Central York offensive coordinator Matt Baker and his son, sophomore quarterback Brandon Baker, for a feature on the pair.

Toward the tail end of our conversation, I asked Matt Baker, a former quarterback at Temple, what he thought about the Owls resurgent 2009 season (Temple is 8-2). At which point he bought up an interesting fact I didn't know.

Turns out the last time the Owls had a winning season before this year was the 1990 campaign -- Baker's senior year at the school. Temple went 7-4 that season with Baker at the helm.

"In one aspect, I'm proud of that," Baker said. "But in the other aspect, it's disappointing that it's taken this long."

Baker made quite a name for himself in the area, first as a standout quarterback at Central York and then with the Owls. He was named to the AP All-East team in 1990.

That success has stuck with him. After Wednesday's practice, a fellow coach on the Central staff jokingly referred to him as "Coach Golden Boy."

Speaking of Golden, Baker had plenty of good things to say about Temple coach Al Golden. (Let's all pause to admire that transition). Golden has turned Temple around in his four seasons, and Baker said he's gotten a chance to meet the coach a few times.

It's no secret what the Conestoga Valley football team will try to do Friday night when they visit third-seeded West York in a District 3-AAA quarterfinal matchup.

The Buckskins will pound the football. More specifically, they'll pound the football with senior tailback Kevin Kelley. A lot.

There isn't a lot of smoke and mirrors when the comes to No. 7 Conestoga Valley (7-4), and Bulldogs coach Ron Miller is well aware of what his team will see Friday at 7 p.m.

"The scheme they run they do a lot of power and counter-type action," Miller said. "Our defensive ends are going to have to play well, and we're going to have to tackle."

Of course, Kelley's eye-popping numbers (2,078 rushing yards, 26 TDs) merit attention. But could Conestoga Valley's no-frills, power-run style actually play into the hands of the West York defense, which has struggled at times the past two weeks?

It's worth considering.

West York (10-1) has allowed its two highest single-game point totals of the season the last two weeks. It's opponents in those games -- Littlestown and Mechanicsburg -- both presented formidable passing attacks.

Mechanicsburg moved the ball primarily through the air (225 passing yards vs. 75 rushing yards). And though Littlestown burned West York on the ground (264 rushing yards), the Bolts spread the field at times and presented the threat of its passing game. Littlestown led the YAIAA in passing offense this year.

Against Conestoga Valley, defending the pass will be an afterthought. Last Friday against Northern York, the Buckskins ran the ball 47 times versus three passing plays.

Central York head coach Brad Livingston had plenty of compliments Wednesday evening for his team's District 3 quarterfinal opponent Wilson.

The Bulldogs (10-1), of course, demand respect. They're the defending District champs and scored a No. 2 seed in this year's playoffs.

But Livingston also make it abundantly clear the Panthers (8-3) won't play timid when they walk into John Gurski Stadium Friday night.

"I think they're going to come out and play pretty good football, they're not going to make mistakes and hurt themselves," Livingston said of Wilson. "By the same token, it's going to be really interesting to see how they handle what we do defensively. Because basically we're going to unleash hell."

And if that doesn't get you amped up for Friday's game, I don't know what will.

Central's blitz-happy defense -- led by Penn State-bound linebacker Kyle Baublitz -- has earned the quite the reputation. Earlier this season, South Western coach Don Seidenstricker used the term "chaos" when describing the Panthers' D, which is allowing 10.7 points per game this year.

"That's the impression we want people to have," Livingston said. "It's pretty specific chaos. There's really not a lot that's random about it. The defensive staff does a great job of getting tendencies and stuff. "

And then there were six.

Twelve YAIAA teams entered the first round of District 3 playoff play this Friday. Six emerged victorious. And naturally, those teams have to occupy the top six spots in our power rankings.

In what order should those teams go? That's up for debate. I certainly had a few hesitant moments myself while arranging this week's Top 10 -- teams 1 through 5 are just so close to one another.

In any event, this is what I came up with. Check it out.

1. Delone Catholic (1) -- Wow. That's all you can say about the 436 rushing yards the Squires (10-1) rolled up Friday against Wyomissing. It's not every game you get two running backs with more than 180 yards. That said, Delone will have to be as good, if not even better, in its rematch with Littlestown on Friday.

2. West York (2) -- Last Friday's 35-28 win over Mechanicsburg wasn't exactly vintage-West York. But the Bulldogs (10-1) moved on, and at this point that's the name of the game. What's more, Corey Harris (258 rushing yards, 4 TDs) showed he can put the Bulldogs on his back if he needs to.

3. Littlestown (3) -- The Bolts (9-2) survived a close shave with Milton Hershey last Friday, needing a late field goal to secure a two-point victory. Now, Littlestown gets a rematch with Delone, and this time they'll have quarterback Matt Zuber at the helm -- he missed the first matchup with the flu.

After a little over 13 months on the job, Jerry Higgins (above) is out as Susquehannock head football coach.

The school announced the coaching vacancy via email Tuesday morning, 11 days after the Warriors completed a dismal 0-10 season.

It was not immediately clear whether Higgins resigned or was forced to leave. When reached by phone Tuesday, Susquehannock athletic director Chuck Abbott refused to comment on the situation.

Higgins took over the Warriors after former coach Tom Waranavage abruptly resigned midway through the 2008 season. The Warriors were 1-14 with Higgins at the helm.

This year, Susquehannock was shut out its first three games and managed 57 points the entire season. The Warriors lost their 10 contests by an average of 37.8 points.

Update: Got off the phone a little while ago with Higgins, who said that he was informed Monday during a regular evaluation meeting that he would not be returning to the program.

What's more, Higgins -- who in all spent 11 seasons with the Warriors program as an assistant and head coach -- didn't feel he was given ample time to succeed.

"It's very difficult having the rug pulled out from under you," said Higgins. "I felt I went the extra mile and gave them what I had, and I don't know that a year was enough to show them what I could do."

Higgins blamed the winless season on a combination of factors -- namely injuries, inexperience and a tough schedule.

"I think I probably overestimated some of the talent that we had," Higgins said. "We were very short on senior leadership. We had a total of six seniors, and only four of those played football before.

"We threw our best shot at it. The administration wasn't happy with the progress. They didn't feel the kids were getting better."

For more of what Higgins had to say, check out the full story on GametimePA.com.

New Oxford and York Suburban will each move up one PIAA classification for the next two seasons, according to the latest figures released by the PIAA. And they're among a slew of YAIAA fall sports teams that will be bumping up.

New Oxford's football team will move up from AAA to AAAA for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The Colonials will be the second smallest quad-A school in District 3.

York Suburban football will compete in AAA the next two seasons, after spending the last few in AA.

Both schools made the District playoffs in their respective classes this year, but were eliminated in the first round.

In volleyball, four schools -- Susquehannock, Dover, West York and Kennard-Dale -- will bump up to AAA. Susquehannock and Dover were among the top four finishers in the District 3 AA tournament this year. The Warriors were PIAA runners up in 2008.

West York will also move up a classification in field hockey and boys' soccer, from AA to AAA.

Last but certainly not least, York Suburban boys' cross county -- the recently crowned AA state champions -- will push up to AAA for the next two falls.

This all happened fast for Ben Kline.

It started with a strong showing at a West Virginia camp this summer.

A few months later, the Dallastown junior has seen his recruiting stock soar. He has two verbal scholarship offers in hand -- from West Virginia and Connecticut -- and recently visited Michigan. He's also received contact from Penn State and Rutgers, among other Division I schools.

"It all changed real quick, definitely," Kline said earlier this week. "It was through the summer, and then it all started happening around here during the school year."

One look and it's easy to see why Kline has drawn interest. His 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame gives him ideal size for a linebacker, while his quickness and speed have helped him become Dallastown's best receiver. He leads the Wildcats with 26 catches for 402 yards and four scores.

Kline is being primarily recruited as a linebacker, something the junior is just fine with.

"I like playing defense," he said.

The York-Adams football teams sure know how to makes things exciting, don't they?

Five of the ten YAIAA teams in action last night moved onto the second round of Districts. Of those five teams, four won in nail-biting fashion by a touchdown or less.

- Defending District champion West York rode Corey Harris' 258 yards and four touchdowns to a 35-28 win over Mechanicsburg. The third-seeded Bulldogs were sluggish through parts of the contests, but sealed the game on an interception by Darion Bundy late in the fourth quarter.

- In quad-A action, South Western needed a dramatic comeback to outlast Cedar Cliff, 41-34. The fourth-seeded Mustangs trailed by a touchdown going into the fourth quarter, only to be rescued by a J.R. Mummert touchdown run and a 76-yard interception return for a touchdown by Mike Felton

-Littlestown needed a 23-yard field goal by Adam Hunt, who had never made a field goal at the varsity level, to topple Milton Hershey 24-22 in a Class AA contest. The third-seeded Bolts led 21-0 before Milton Hershey came storming back.

-In Class A, a missed field goal as time expired handed fifth-seeded York Catholic a thrilling 23-22 victory at Reading Holy name. Gary Laucks had 135 receiving yards for the Irish.

-Delone Catholic won in slightly less dramatic fashion, beating Wyomissing 49-28. The No. 2 Squires will host Littlestown in a Class AA semifinal next week.

Kennard-Dale almost joined those five in the second round, but lost to No. 5 Hershey, 24-21, at Hersheypark Stadium.

A sixth YAIAA team will head to the next level of Districts tonight. Central York hosts Dallastown in a quad-A contest a 7 p.m.