The "The Ride Is Finally Over!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Walked out for the Sunday morning newspaper and opened it to the sports section to read about the Manheim Township football team.  This year's Manheim Township High School football team in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania went as far into the State Playoffs as any team in the history of the school.  And that, my readers, goes way, way back.  The school district was founded in 1729 in the years when Pennsylvania was still a British colony.  Three of the five men appointed by the Second Continental Congress to draft a Declaration of Independence in 1776 hadn't even been born when the township was created.  So, history really has been set this past football season.  Now, I must admit that Manheim Township High School only opened in September of 1929, but the township existed long before the school was built.  As far as football is concerned, Lancaster Catholic High School, also located in Manheim Township, began football long before the public high school did.  Catholic started high school football in 1930, the year after Manheim Township opened their high school.  It wasn't until 1944 that the board of directors of the township approved the varsity sport of football.  Then in 1945 they played, and won, their very first football game.  So, reaching the semi-finals in the State 6A (largest size school in the state) Playoffs this year has been 72 years in the making.

My friend Jere, seated, and myself
played football together in 1958.

I graduated from Manheim Township High School in 1962 and as a 6 foot, 150 pound freshman, played football.  All my friends were playing football so I naturally had to play also.  One of my childhood friends, neighbors and now traveling companions, Jere played also.  We played on the freshman team, Jere being the center and me being the quarterback.  Actually got to play one play with the Varsity when the coach had me play defense one play in a blow-out win the final game of the year.  Guy came running through a hole, knocked me on my butt and kept on going.  Following Monday I turned in my equipment and that was it for me and football.  When I graduated from college I returned to Manheim Township to teach and the first year was asked to help coach football.  

The 1958 Freshman team at Manheim Township High School.
Jere is #72 in the right front and I am #68 in the center of the photo.

Luckily the head coach at the time, Eugene Kruis, never read my high school stats from years before.  Once again, after the season I turned in my locker room key and that was the end of my football coaching.  Over the years Manheim Township had some of the best football teams in the county.  

Eugene Kruis was the head coach when Manheim Township
went undefeated in 1962 when I was a senior.  Gene ended
his career as one of the best high school coaches in
Lancaster County as well as the state of Pennsylvania.

When I was a senior our team was undefeated, but that was as far as your team could go at the time.  When my brother played, his team also won the league title, but once again, that was as far as you could go.  It wasn't until 1987 that state playoffs in high school football in Pennsylvania began.  Then in 2012 Manheim Township hired a hulk of a man by the name of Mark Evans who in no time had the "Blue Steaks" playing in the District Tournament.  

The 2017 Manheim Township High School football team who were the 6A (big school) District III Champions. 

This year they went undefeated in league play, losing only 1 non-league game.  They won their first round District game and finally won the school's first District Championship the week after to a team that had been picked to win by a large margin.  In the state semi-finals the following week they faced an opponent whose quarterback will go to Notre Dame next year.  Their opponent, Pine-Richland, had a record of 15-0 coming into the game and Manheim Township ended up playing defense too much and ended their season losing 28-7.  It was a great ride this year for the "Blue Streaks" who have set the bar a notch higher for the football program.  So what's next.  A taste of play-off winning can only help the Township program.  Time will tell.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.