Those who know me well know I loathe the “youth soccer” philosophy where everybody, regardless of record, gets a trophy and that losing somehow ruins someone’s self-esteem.
Losing can actually be a good thing. It can motivate teams and kids to want to do better. And if it wasn’t for a rare losing season, Abington Heights may not have been the ones donning District 2 AAA championship gold medals Saturday afternoon at Crispin Field in Berwick.
The Comets, who now have won five D2 football titles under Joe Repshis, went 3-7 a year ago. They missed the playoffs and snapped a streak of three consecutive seasons of 10 victories or more and a berth in the District 2 AAA championship game.
“The scoreboard (in 2011) didn’t always show the results we wanted,” Repshis said postgame Saturday, “but I give credit to all of the kids who learned from it and worked hard (in the offseason).”
Finding motivation wasn’t hard between seasons. Senior field general and career 3,418-yard passer Dante Pasqualichio confirmed that.
“Last season, we didn’t motivate each other (during offseason workouts),” Pasqualichio said. “This year, we got on people’s cases so that they’d go the extra mile. We’re a very strong-minded football team. Sure, we’ll make mistakes, but we just tell our teammates, ‘Hey, just go out there and make the next play.'”
That mindset was especially important Saturday – Berwick hit several big plays over the course of the game. Jeff Steeber scored on touchdown runs of 74 and 55 yards. Matt Cashman returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and a punt 70 yards to set up another touchdown.
But Abington Heights always had an answer for the Bulldogs. It answered Cashman’s return with a drive for a touchdown. It stopped Berwick two yards shy of the goal line as the first half expired to preserve a 10-point lead. After Berwick cut the Comets’ lead to three points early in the second half, AH got another touchdown.
“We talk about playing every down, not just about playing 48 minutes,” Repshis said. “We just get back in the huddle and play the next down.”
Abington Heights has won 10 games for the sixth time under Repshis and is 72-22 overall since the start of the 2005 season.
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Williams Valley head coach Tim Savage won a district football championship in his first season. Ditto for Imhotep Charter’s Albie Crosby. Both Williams Valley and Imhotep Charter are 12-0 overall.
Bristol’s Leo Plenski is in hist first season, and the Warriors are District 1/12 champions and are 8-1.
A fourth first-year head coach has also helped guide his team to a district championship game. Steve Mitten, of West Chester Henderson, is 9-3 overall since taking over for 130-game winner Joe Walsh and will face Interboro (10-2) for the District 1 AAA championship.
I can’t think of too many seasons where four first-year head coaches took their teams to a district championship game, let along having three coaches already winning district crowns with a shot at a fourth. If Mitten’s Warriors would win against the Bucs, I really couldn’t begin to formulate a year when four first-year head coaches won district titles in the same season. The PIAA playoffs have only been around since 1988, and some geographic districts didn’t begin playoff tournaments until as late as 1992.
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Spring-Ford’s incredible season continued with a 28-26 victory over Ridley Friday night. The Rams, who face Pennridge in the District 1 AAAA semifinals, are 11-1 overall, with the lone loss coming to Pottsgrove during the regular season. The Rams feature three 675+-yard rushers and a 1,597-yard passer in senior quarterback Hank Coyne.
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Cumberland Valley head football coach Tim Rimpfel announced his retirement, and ends his career with an overall record of 307-100-3. Rimpfel coached at Trinity (Camp Hill) and Bishop McDevitt before arriving at Cumberland Valley. He won 12 District 3 football championships – two with Bishop McDevitt and 10 with CV.
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Harrisburg, which eliminated Cumberland Valley from the District 3 AAAA playoffs Saturday, put up video game-esque numbers in its 47-28 victory. The Cougars amassed 733 yards of total offense (587 rushing, 146 passing) and saw junior running back Robert Martin III gain 360 of those yards and score three touchdowns on 26 carries. Martin has rushed for more than 1,630 yards.
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Dunmore claimed its sixth District 2 football championship (and first in Class A) with a 7-6 victory over Old Forge Friday. The Bucks (11-1) face Southern Columbia (12-0) for the first time in the history of either program’s football existence. Combined, Southern and Dunmore have won 28 district football crowns and seven state titles. Southern has claimed 22 District 4 titles – all since 1991.
Head coaches Jack Henzes and Jim Roth own a combined 710 victories. Henzes is 368-153-8 while Roth is 342-59-2.
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Imhotep Charter’s David Williams quietly surpassed the career 4,000-yard rushing benchmark a week ago and continues to add to his totals. The Panthers’ senior back has rushed for 1,454 yards and 17 touchdowns on 148 carries, giving him 4,316 yards and 50 rushing touchdowns in his career.
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Scranton’s Marlinn Waiters may have seen his varsity football career come to an end Friday in a 27-16 loss to Delaware Valley, but he capped an impressive two-year run at the helm of the Knights’ offensive arsenal. He finished his career with 3,451 yards passing and 41 touchdowns and helped lead the Knights to eight wins as a junior and 11 victories as a senior.
The Knights finished the 2012 season with 465 points scored, unofficially a team single season record.
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Coatesville senior quarterback Emmitt Hunt has thrown for 2,263 yards and 32 touchdown passes and has helped lead the Red Raiders to a berth in the District 1 AAAA semifinals opposite Neshaminy.
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Is there a bigger game than the District 3 AAA semifinal Friday night between Bishop McDevitt (12-0) and Lancaster Catholic (9-3)?
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And while we’re on the subject of Bishop McDevitt, the Crusaders have become the latest Pennsylvania team to enter the USA-Today’s Super 25 prep football poll. The Crusaders were ranked No. 24 in the nation a week ago before jumping three slots this week to No. 21. McDevitt was ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation in the USA-Today poll in 2005 before bowing in the PIAA AAAA semifinals to McKeesport, 14-13.
In addition to McDevitt, Central Dauphin, LaSalle College High School and St. Joseph’s Prep also spent at least two weeks ranked in the USA-Today poll during the 2012 season, which is compiled by Jim Halley.
If McDevitt wins out and claims the 2012 PIAA AAA championship trophy, it would mark the first time in the USA-Today poll that the Super-25 poll ended consecutive seasons with a Pennsylvania Class AAA team ranked since a five-year span from 1992-’96. In that five year window, Berwick finished ranked No. 1 in 1992, No. 18 in 1994, No. 1 in 1995 and No. 4 in 1996. Allentown Central Catholic was ranked No. 10 in 1993. Archbishop Wood, recall, finished the 2011 season ranked No. 21 in the final USA-Today Super 25 poll.
If the PIAA AAAA champion were to also finish nationally ranked by the USA-Today, it would mark the first time since 2007 that Pennsylvania placed two teams in the final edition of the poll, when Pittsburgh Central Catholic finished No. 11 and Jeannette finished No. 25.
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If Parkland is victorious Saturday afternoon in the District 2/11 AAAA subregional championship game against Delaware Valley, it will mark head coach Jim Morgans’ 225th career victory and his second berth in the PIAA AAAA quarterfinals during his time leading the Trojans’ program.
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Selinsgrove claimed its 12th District 4 Class AAA football championship with a 31-0 shutout of Milton Friday. The Seals’ latest D4 title is the program’s ninth in the last 13 years. District 4 began its football playoff tournaments in 1986.
Follow Josh Funk on Twitter @Funk_pafb.
