BY JEFF FALK

ANNVILLE – He would like to build upon the success fostered by his predecessor. But Matt Gingrich would like to do it in his own way, with his own personal touch.

When it’s put that way, it almost sounds simple. Sometimes there’s no reason to make things harder than they really are.

The success of Annville-Cleona’s 2015 season rests squarely on how quickly first-year head man Gingrich adjusts to his new position, and how quickly his charges adapt to him. Certainly the pieces are in place, the talent is there and the experience is available to be drawn from.

Of course, settling a fluent, good-problem, quarterback situation wouldn’t hurt either.

“Each day I learn,” said Gingrich, a former offensive coordinator who took over for local coaching legend Terry Lehman six months ago. “I have Coach (Joe) Heckard, Coach (Mike) Miller, Coach (Frank) Hetrick to lean on. Those guys are amazing. I’ve got a lot of people helping me out. They keep me sailing. So far, it’s been pretty smooth.

“I first came in as a math teacher a year-and-a-half ago, and I think it’s easier at a small school,” Gingrich continued. “I’ve coached track the last two springs, so I’ve actually coached these kids longer than some coaches who only coach football. These kids know what I want out of them. This isn’t about football. I want them sitting in the front of class rooms. I want them taking tough classes. What I want is their best effort, all the time, in every situation. As long as your heart is in the right place, you’re going to be OK.”

Certainly having two talented quarterbacks like senior Adam Fox and sophomore Noah Myers is a positive thing for the Little Dutchmen. But these uncertain, platoon scenarios have a way of lingering and festering.

The sooner it is revolved, the better for Annville-Cleona. Whether it’s Fox as the starter, or Myers starting and Fox playing a wide receiver position.

It would be prudent to keep in mind that Fox is also a stand-out defensive player.

“For me, running option football at a small school, you  need two good quarterbacks,” said Gingrich, who was a lineman during his playing days at Annville-Cleona. “But as soon as Noah can be a better starting quarterback, the better we’re going to be. Adam is Nate’s biggest cheerleader. Adam is a little better right now, and Noah knows it. We’re going to have to use them both at quarterback, and we want to use both.

“On the field, my biggest thing is I’d like to see us in every game,” Gingrich continued. “I want these kids to walk out of here every night with their heads held  high, and with them knowing that they represented their town well. Seventy percent of our students are involved in an extra-curricular activity, and if you put band in there, I’d bet it’s 80 percent. It’s tough to find kids here who don’t play a sport. We’re trying to get it that this is a three-sport school.”

Annville-Cleona is taking a bit of an outside-in approach to the make-up of this year’s team. The Little Dutchmen are hoping good backs and skill people will make their offensive line better.

In addition to Fox and Myers, senior back Will Langan, senior receiver Alec Barr and junior back Cameron Hoch are proven and known commodities. Senior Chris Boltz will play all over the field, on defense, special teams, offense, and in supporting roles.

“We’ve got a hundred kids per grade, and we’ve got 42 kids out for football,” said Gingrich. “Those are awesome numbers. And we’ve got great numbers at the junior-high level. We have depth. We have talent. We’re going to rely on our backs and secondary to make up for any shortcomings up front. Last year, we were better up front.

“For me, it’s not a concern,” Gingrich added. “High school football is not college football. If you’re willing to lay it on the line, you’re going to win a lot of games. If we can come off the ball, get after people and don’t turn the ball over, we’re going to win. These kids know they can do great things together.”

Annville-Cleona’s offensive line will be built around senior Brandon Light, senior Lucas Bush, 6-8 junior Isaac Burris and converted center Drew Speraw. Senior kicker Matt Light is an offensive threat in his own right.

“I think they love each other,” said Gingrich, of his squad. “They like being around each other. They’re good friends and they enjoy being together. I don’t have to deal with much garbage. I’ve got 42 kids, and with 38 of them, I know when I go to bed what I’m going to get when I wake up. And we have really knowledgeable kids.

“We’re always concerned about our depth,” added Gingrich. “Another question is: ‘Can we get a passing game that’s serviceable?’ We will always not come off the ball fast enough for me. And we’ve got to do a better job with turnovers. Every game we lost last year, we had four or five turnovers.”

The men who will anchor the Annville-Cleona defense are linebackers Kurtis Reigle and Mark Wagner, end Brandon Uhrich and back Griffin Hertz.

“The approach to training camp is different each year,” said Gingrich. “With this training camp, we had backs and receivers who knew what they were doing. Our focus has been coming off the ball. I knew we had six or seven good linemen, but we need 12 to 14. We’ve been trying to get the kids to go fast and be on time.

“Going into this year in Section Three (of the Lancaster-Lebanon League), Northern Lebanon is clearly the favorite, and right behind them is Elco,” continued Gingrich. “It’s nice to see that there’s some juices between Northern Lebanon and us, and the same with Elco. It would be neat to keep this section championship in the county for years to come. I think they’re clearly the teams to watch. If we play as hard and as well and as smart as we can, we can compete with anyone. If we ended up with the section championship at the end of the year, I don’t think anyone would be surprised. There’s certainly something to be said for not being talked about.”

As it turned out, Lehman’s last season proved to be a memorable one. The Little Dutchmen went 8-3 in 2014, finished second in Section Three of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and hosted a District Three Class AA opener.

“Last year we started running the offense you saw out there today,” said Gingrich. “We had some talented linemen. When we look back at all of our losses, the thing we couldn’t get through to ourselves was how fast we needed to be playing. A big focus for us is eliminating mistakes.

“You can let it (the effect of last season) be what you want it to be,” Gingrich added. “You’ve got to take the good things from it and work on the mistakes. The thing is, we can’t rest on our laurels.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to see more go to www.http://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/gallery-nine/.

 

 

 2015 Annville-Cleona Football Roster

NO	NAME	POS	GRAD YEAR
50	Brad Balmer	MLB, OT	2017
4	Caleb Barnhart	CB, RB	2016
23	Alec Barr	CB, WR	2016
24	Zak Barr	MLB, RB	2018
9	Chris Boltz	OLB, WR	2016
33	Dylan Bomgardner	MLB, RB	2017
62	Cedric Brandt	DT, OG	2017
75	Isaac Burris	DE, OT	2017
56	Lucas Bush	DT, OG	2016
40	Saen Domencic	CB, WR	2016
10	Julian Dyreyes-Kapp	CB, FS, WR	2016
5	Adam Fox	CB, QB	2016
3	Luke Frattaroli	CB, WR	2016
78	Nate Gardner	DE, OT, OG	2018
64	Morrison Greg	DT, OT	2016
65	Matt Heisey	DL, OL	2017
36	Griffin Hertz	SS, WR	2017
22	Cameron Hoch	CB, WR	2017
11	Victor Hoffer	MLB, RB	2017
76	Mark Jimenez	DT, OG	2017
68	Hunter Kelley	DE, DT, OT	2018
14	Will Langan	CB, RB	2016
52	Brandon Light	MLB, OG	2016
88	Matt Light	K	2016
52	Devon Long	MLB, OG	2016
26	Dominic Macmillan	CB, RB, WR	2018
77	Robert Mayfield	MLB, OT	2017
8	Sam Mintz	CB, WR	2017
73	Alex Musante	DE, OT	2016
15	Noah Myers	QB, SS	2018
53	Darien Peris	DT, OG	2017
28	Noah Pfautz	OLB, WR	2018
30	Kurtis Reigle	OLB, SR	2016
62	Chris Schearer	DT, OT	2016
66	Joe Schubert	C, DT	2017
68	Dylan Seward	DT, OT	2016
44	Mike Sowers	MLB, QB, RB	2018
70	Andrew Speraw	OLB, QB	2017
55	Kole Stout	OG, OLB	2017
45	Damien Thompson	CB, FS, RB	2016
58	Brayden Turner	DE, OT, OLB	2017
12	Brandon Uhrich	MLB, TE	2017
31	Mark Wagner	OLB, RB	2016
6	Cameron Watts	CB, WR	2017
72	Warran Willets	DT, OG	2018
77	Alex Wilson	DL, OL	2017
71	Jack Yengo	DE, DT, OG	2018

 

 

2015 Annville-Cleona Football Schedule

DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION
09/04	@Biglerville	7:00 PM	Biglerville High School
09/11	Hamburg	7:00 PM	Annville-Cleona High School
09/18	Schuylkill Valley	7:00 PM	Annville-Cleona High School
09/25 *	@Donegal	7:00 PM	Donegal High School
10/02 *	Elco	7:00 PM	Annville-Cleona High School
10/09 *	@Ephrata	7:00 PM	Ephrata High School
10/16	@Kutztown	7:00 PM	Kutztown High School
10/23 *	@Northern Lebanon	7:00 PM	Northern Lebanon High School
10/30 *	Columbia	7:00 PM	Annville-Cleona High School
11/06 *	Pequea Valley	7:00 PM	Annville-Cleona High School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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