No matter what transpires in Hershey today, the Wyoming Area Warriors put together arguably the most memorable football season in school history.
It comes to a climax starting at noon at Hersheypark Stadium as District 2 champion Wyoming Area (13-1) plays District 7 champion Central Valley (13-1) for the PIAA Class 3A championship.
Here are some points to consider:
• It will be the first time a Wyoming Area team in any sport plays for a state title. The field hockey team lost in the Class A semifinals this year and the softball lost in the Class 3A semifinals in 1981. Wyoming Area was formed for the 1966-67 school year.
• Coach Randy Spencer underwent heart surgery before the season, relegating him to the press box for the opening games of the season.
• The Warriors lost running back/linebacker Corey Mruk, a 1,000-yard rusher and the team’s second-leading tackler in 2018, to a season-ending knee injury in the third game of the season. Backup Darren Rodney took over, and the running game didn’t miss a beat. Rodney, though, missed the state quarterfinal game with Montoursville with an injury. He returned for the semifinal game against Tamaqua.
• While Mruk’s injury was season-ending, there were others that sidelined players thoughout the season, including junior defensive back Jake Williams and senior defensive lineman Dante Bovani. Bovani didn’t get on the field until midway through the regular season.
• The team had to deal with the on-off-on situation with the Southern Columbia game. Some Heartland Conference officials didn’t like the perennial state power Tigers switching a conference game for a third time to play better competition and made a last-ditch effort to prevent it. Their attempt failed.
• The season featured three teams Wyoming Area never played before — Southern Columbia, Montoursville and Tamaqua. And now another in Central Valley.
• The team set the school record for victories in a season, eclipsing the 1980 team, which finished 12-0 but didn’t have the benefit of a state playoff system.
Now comes the biggest game in program history.
“I really don’t think it’s difficult,” Spencer said. “It seems to be that natural progression and you have to have that mindset of going 1-0 and focusing that week. We’ve been able to do a great job of doing that. Now that it’s in Hershey it’s the state championship game, but it’s also the last opportunity to play together.
“The kids have really rallied around that and responded to it.”
A group of seniors led by the pitch-catch duo of quarterback Dominic DeLuca and receiver Brian Williams has been the core to success. They, along with Rodney and Mruk, have been contributing since their freshman seasons.
Two-way lineman Sam Solomon started as a freshman and sophomore at Wyoming Valley West before hopping aboard. Defensive end/tight end Derek Ambrosino and linebacker FJ Braccini have done the same since their sophomore seasons. A pair of juniors — Bryce Hinkle at center and Williams at defensive back — joined the varsity as freshmen. Sophomore lineman Nick Elko was a super-sized fullback last season.
“Once that group came together and started to play, we were able to project that we have a chance to be pretty successful,” Spencer said. “I don’t know you would have expectations to be at this point even though that’s always the goal. They’ve not just been able to play at a high level athletically, but they’ve come together as an amazing team and got us to the point we are on Saturday.”
Like Wyoming Area, Central Valley had a key injury early when linebacker Montel Sims tore his ACL. But big-play linebacker Reed Fitzsimmons has made it difficult for opponents to run between the tackles. He is among five Central Valley players with over 100 tackles.
The defensive unit has 119 tackles for loss and 42 sacks, with outside linebacker Amarian Saunders collecting 10 of them. Opponents have scored 25 total points in four postseason games.
Central Valley quarterback Ameer Dudley has been beating opponents with his arm and legs in his two seasons as a starter. Receivers Jawon Hall, Mike Barbuto and Myles Walker are also playmakers on the other side of the ball.
Central Valley also has a 1,200-yard rusher in Jaylen Guy, who looks like the fastest running back Wyoming Area has faced other than the Garcia brothers from Southern Columbia.
