Fans choose overachieving underdog over postseason titles as 'most impressive YAIAA team'

Eastern York went into the 2023 football season with a chip on their shoulder.

The Knights had graduated their quarterback and top running back, hadn't won more than three games in five years, but felt they had the tools to turn things around.

"The edge that our coaches bring, their edge and swag has given us confidence," senior Talan Knaub said at media day. "We haven't done anything good in years, so, yes, we have a chip. We want to turn that around."

And turn it around, they did.

Check the results:GameTimePA's most impressive YAIAA high school team for 2023-24

The Knights won the first four games of the season, outscoring their opponents 159-34. They didn't reach their goal of winning the YAIAA Division II title, but they finished third and qualified for the District 3 Class 4A playoffs for the first time since 2014.

That was enough for voters to select the Eastern York football team as GameTimePA's Most Impressive Team of 2023-24. We narrowed the success of YAIAA teams across 23 sports to 20 candidates and gave fans four days to vote for their favorite.

The Golden Knights were the overwhelming winners. They were selected over South Western softball, Dallastown girls' volleyball, Central York boys' basketball and Eastern York boys' basketball.

South Western won the District 3 Class 5A softball title and took an unbeaten record into the PIAA semifinals, where they were handed a 2-0 loss by Pittston Area.

Dallastown won the YAIAA girls' volleyball title, finished third in the District 3 Class 4A tournament and reached the second round of the state tournament.

Central York won the boys' basketball league title and was eliminated by Red Lion in the District 3 Class 6A tournament after reaching the state tournament. They used that loss as motivation to win the program's first PIAA title.

Eastern York rounded out the top five in the poll with a boys' basketball team that won the District 3 Class 4A title as the fifth seed and reached the PIAA quarterfinals.

How can a team that didn't win its division secure more votes than teams that won district or state titles? To be fair, there is a popularity element to the poll. All it takes is a coordinated effort to accumulate votes.

But there is also the argument that a team that far surpassed previous seasons is more impressive than teams that did exactly what they were expected to do. Either way, all of the teams are to be commended for their success.

Some folks thought we missed the boat on a few teams when we narrowed the field.

New Oxford's football and boys' track and field teams won Division II titles. The Colonials were the top seeds in the District 3 Class 5A football playoffs, but lost their opener to Hershey in a nail-biter. The track and field team had a pair of district champs.

Dallastown's bowling team was also mentioned. The Wildcats won the league title and did well in the postseason.

Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on Twitter @ShelStallsmith.