WEST PITTSTON – It’s been eight weeks since the Wyoming Area Warriors football team captured the PIAA 3A state championship at Hersheypark Stadium on a brisk sunny day in December and the accolades are still coming. This past week, Blue Ribbon Farm Dairy hosted and treated the players, coaches and cheer squad to sundaes.
“A lot of the football players and cheerleaders frequent the store and, when they won the championship, we felt we had to do something,” said Kiki Sorick, co-owner of the dairy bar. “Dominic DeLuca (Warrior starting quarterback) is in here two or three times a week getting a vanilla milkshake, for example.”
Blue Ribbon, established in 1945, has been a supporter of the school district with the owners being alumni of Wyoming Area. The dairy bar is also co-owned by Sorick’s parents Ann and Ken and her brother Kenny.
“We did see some of the local businesses doing something for the kids and we just felt like we wanted to contribute, as well,” Ann Sorick said. “The community has been good to us so we try to give back when we can.”
To accommodate the large group of students and coaches, the owners brought in extra staff.
Head coach Randy Spencer and some of his staff members were present for the tasty delights offered.
“It’s still a very surreal feeling,” Spencer said of winning the state championship. “That idea that it’s such an historic event and it was a magical ride and we’re still enjoying it. The continued outpouring of support and the expression of how proud our community is really has been extra special.”
Spencer, 49, and a 1988 graduate of Wyoming Area, is in his 12th year as head coach and has seen plenty of great athletes go through the program at Wyoming Area.
“We’ve always been a program that has had talented teams; we’ve been right there in terms of teams that were either district champions that we ran into a state champion or we just didn’t play our best game in a state playoff game,” Spencer said. “But this team put it all together to go on that magical run.”
Spencer offers a great deal of credit to his coaching staff since he needed a heart procedure late summer going into the beginning of the football season.
“Never so evident as in this year is the importance of our staff and the talent of our staff and how critical they are to our program,” he said. “What I went through early in the year and go through my process and reengage and support in a certain capacity and the blessing of that was really exposing everyone to the talent and the significance that our staff plays in our program.”
Spencer was recognized at the state level as Coach of the Year but isn’t taking all the credit.
“I was fortunate to be recognized as Coach of the Year at the state level, along with other honors but it’s truly, in our case, a staff award,” he said.
DeLuca was also recognized by the state and said the victory still doesn’t feel real.
“I still see pictures everywhere, posters everywhere and I’m signing posters; it’s just a different feeling,” he said. “It probably won’t feel real for a couple of years.”
DeLuca and his teammates and coaches will head to the State Capitol at Harrisburg Feb. 5 where PA Sen. John Yudichak, PA Rep. Aaron Kaufer and Gov. Wolf will honor them.
National signing day or commitment day to a college begins Feb. 5. DeLuca is expected to make his choice on Feb. 6. Teammate Derek Ambrosino has already committed to West Virginia University.
