The spirit of giving dooms Cumberland Valley; Wilson wins 4th title
Written by: Josh Funk on Saturday, November 29th, 2008. Follow Josh Funk on Twitter.
HERSHEY, Pa. – Christmas is still a month away. The start of the holiday gift-buying season started Friday.
But Cumberland Valley was in a very giving mood in the District 3 “AAAA” championship game. The Eagles practically gave Wilson the game.
Cumberland Valley (12-2) lost four fumbles and threw four interceptions as Wilson (14-0) rolled to an impressive 35-7 mercy rule victory at Hersheypark Stadium. Wilson claimed its fourth District 3 crown in school history and first since 1999.
With the win, the Bulldogs will take on Bethel Park (14-0) in a PIAA “AAAA” semifinal from State College’s Memorial Field next Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The winner will advance to the “AAAA” state final December 13 against the winner of Bethlehem Liberty/North Penn.
“It was like a nightmare,” Cumberland Valley head coach Tim Rimpfel said. “It just kept snowballing.
“Wilson stuffed our line, and no team has stuffed us like that all year.”
Truth is, no team has really faced a team with a defense as nasty as Wilson’s. Even though Cumberland Valley scored a late touchdown on a 21-yard Kevin Snyder run, it wasn’t enough to hit triple-figures.
For the season, Wilson has allowed a mere 99 points. Only one opponent has scored more than 14 points.
“The guys were flying around (defensively),” Wilson head man Doug Dahms said. “The kids played great.”
Great might be an understatement. Phenomenal might be a better term. Wilson forced fumbles on the Eagles’ first two possessions, and Wilson capitalized with 2:21 left in the period when Steve Huber hit Alex Fegley on a 56-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.
Wilson extended the lead to 14-0 after another CV fumble, and Zacc Groff scored on a 17-yard run two plays later.
Groff scored two more touchdowns on the night – his 13 yard run with 7:30 left in the half staked Wilson to a 21-0 lead. His nine yard run 28 seconds later made it 27-0.
“He’s a classic example of Wilson football,” Dahms said. “He didn’t play much in his first two years, but he worked his butt off, and here he is now.”
Groff finished the night with 16 totes for 128 yards and the trio of touchdowns.
The Huber-to-Fegley connection wasn’t done – the duo hooked up on a beautiful 23-yard fade pattern to the far corner of the south end zone to make it 35-0, invoking the mercy rule. Fegley had to go full-extension to make the catch.
“I thought he (Huber) threw it too far,” Fegley, who finished with six catches for 147 yards.
Eagles’ quarterback Nathan Rhodes was picked off once more to end the third quarter. Rhodes finished the night a disappointing 5-of-16 for 51 yards with four picks.
“It hurts right now,” Rimpfel said of the loss. “And it should. They’ve put in a lot of effort to get to this point.
“But you’ve got to give Wilson credit. That’s one of the best defenses we played against. They’re playing at a high level right now. They’re a very good football team.”
NOTES: Wilson claimed the title of Berks County’s highest scoring team for a season after Groff’s second touchdown run. It gave Wilson 545 points at the time – passing Governor Mifflin’s mark of 542 set last season. Wilson currently sits at 560 points scored for the season.
Cumberland Valley’s feature tailback Mike Frennette finished the game with 96 yards on 15 carries. He did not play in the second half.
The eight Eagle turnovers are a District 3 “AAAA” title game record – the previous record was five.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Well stated…exactly what I was thinking as I was reading this article. Wilson is a super powerhouse and is the best team I’ve seen in a LONG time.
November 30th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
nice research doug williams, i’m rooting for wilson.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I thought it would be a good point to bring up these facts. Wilson has allowed just 27pts in it’s 3 playoffs games, 14 to E-town, 6 to Bishop McDevitt and 7 to Cumberland Valley. But notone of those scores is against the Bulldogs starting Defense!! And all the scoring on them has been done in the 4th quarter. In fact the last time a team has scored in the first half against Wilson was in Week #7 against Reading, and that score was a FR for a TD by the Reading Defense. And for the record the last time a team scored a TD in the first half against the Bulldgos Defense was in Week #2 when Wilson defeated Manheim Central 20-15. Governor Mifflin in Week #1 also scored a TD in the first half. Those are the only TD’s against the 1st Team D. And of the 99pts allowed all season, 32 were given up by the starting D. The other 67pts are by the second team with, 61 of those 67pts coming in the 4th quarter.