Annville-Cleona ready to take on Wyomissing in district football semifinals
It may sound like Mission Impossible, given that Wyomissing has 31 district playoff wins and A-C has one, but it's one that the Dutchmen are eager for.
Annville-Cleona ready to take on Wyomissing in district football semifinals It may sound like Mission Impossible, given that Wyomissing has 31 district playoff wins and A-C has one, but it's one that the Dutchmen are eager for. Check out this story on ldnews.com: https://www.ldnews.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2019/11/07/annville-cleona-set-challenge-facing-wyomissing-districts/2514048001/
Pat Huggins, Lebanon Daily News Published 1:12 p.m. ET Nov. 7, 2019
The Annville-Cleona Dutchmen storm the field prior to the start of their District 3 3A first round playoff game against the Littlestown Thunderbolts in Annville on Friday Nov.1,2019. (Photo: JEFF RUPPENTHAL )
The Annville-Cleona football team's mission, should it choose to accept it and it does, is to take its slim history of postseason success - A-C picked up its first-ever district playoff win vs. Littlestown last Friday - and match it against seven-time district champ Wyomissing on Saturday at 1 p.m. in a 3A district semifinal on the top-seeded Spartans' home turf.
It may sound like Mission Impossible, given that Wyomissing has 31 district playoff wins and A-C has one, but it's one that head coach Matt Gingrich and his squad can't wait to undertake as they look to take the first steps toward raising the program's profile to Wyomissing-like levels.
It's something Gingrich helped do during a decade as an assistant to his brother, Dave, at Cocalico and he believes it can happen again at Annville-Cleona. Not necessarily on Saturday, but all in good time.
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"At Cocalico this is something that was considered your responsibility," Gingrich said at practice on Wednesday. "So for 10 years that's what we did, the first couple years no, but then I think the next 6 or 7 straight years we went to the second round or the district final. Every program has to start somewhere in becoming great, and this is what great programs do. It can't be once, it's gotta be 10 years in a row like those other teams. It's great, it's awesome. The kids love it."
The Spartans, coached by the legendary Bob Wolfrum (311 career victories), enter the contest at 10-0 and won its 500th game overall earlier this season. They are led by senior back Max Hurleman and his 1,042 yards, and by a defense that has not allowed a first quarter touchdown all season long.
A-C's Evan Heilman (23) heads down the field on a 63 yard touchdown run during the second quarter of action against Littlestown last Friday. (Photo: Jeff Ruppenthal, For the Lebanon Daily News)
A-C, meanwhile, is 7-4 and led by fullback and 1,600-yard rusher Trevor Porche and quarterback Junior Bours and his 19 rushing touchdowns and has had a bumpy road to the postseason that included inconsistent play, injuries and a car crash that sidelined three players late in the regular season. But the Dutchmen have persevered and Saturday is a reward for that.
"They've had to start somewhere and hopefully this is us starting somewhere," Gingrich said. "Hopefully this is us becoming them. We've always talked about this as the 3A program we'd like to play like. They're very good, they've got a legend of a coach. He has more wins than I think we have in our school's history himself.
"We have nothing to lose, and we have not had anything to lose for a long time. We're just gonna try to keep playing as best we can."
But no matter what happens Saturday, nothing can take away the elation or sense of accomplishment that was felt after last week's victory against Littlestown.
"I couldn't be prouder of this group being the one that accomplished it, " Gingrich said."There's been some really good football teams come through here. For them to be the team that has gone through the most adversity and be the ones to do it is just really cool. For them to persevere through that is awesome."
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