Bulldogs will have to aim high to top this season
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Wilson’s season was over for only a few minutes before Doug Dahms began preparing the Bulldogs for the next one.
The wounds from a 42-14 beating at the hands of Harrisburg in Saturday’s District 3 Class 6A championship game were still fresh as the longtime Bulldogs coach laid down the gauntlet for his underclassmen.
“Hey, you want to beat ’em?” Dahms said of the four-time district champion Cougars, who have distanced themselves from the rest of the Class 6A pack. “It’s gonna happen between now and next September; it’s not gonna happen during the (2025) season. That means you’ve gotta get bigger and you’ve gotta get stronger and you’ve gotta get faster.”
Simply put: Get in the gym and work hard to make up ground on the champs.
There was obviously a big gap between the Bulldogs (11-2) and the Cougars (11-2). This championship game was no contest. Harrisburg dominated every facet of it because it was faster at almost every position and strong enough to out-play a Wilson team that has long taken pride in its physicality.
For the Bulldogs to beat a team with that kind of athleticism and speed across the board they needed to dominate the front lines, play power football, and set the tone with a grinding, ball-control running game. This Wilson team wasn’t built that way.
“We knew all year long we were undersized up front,” Dahms said. “When you play a team with the kind of speed they have you need some size where you can run the ball north and south.”
Wilson’s roster includes a lot of promising underclassmen: Leading tackler EJ Brownback and leading receiver Michael Glover are sophomores, as is speedy tailback Monty Greer. Leading rusher Correll Akings is a junior. So are starting defensive backs Chase Herb and Jaiden Carpenter. So are lineman Rahmel Gaston, Jesse Etchberger, and Avery Manara.
There’s a strong chance the Bulldogs can get back to the championship game; if they do there’s a high probability the Cougars will be waiting for them. Harrisburg’s best player, Penn State recruit Messiah Mickens, is a junior. So is its best lineman, Penn State recruit Kevin Brown, an impressive-looking 6-5, 270-pounder. So is its top receiver, speedy Elias Coke. And running back D’Antae Sheffey, a Syracuse recruit. And quarterback Jaiyon Lewis. And . . .
“They’re all gonna be back, and they’re only going to be better,” Dahms warned. “They’ll pick up a couple more kids from somewhere next year.”
That was a reference to the fact that Mickens came over this season from Trinity, where he played his first two seasons. And that Sheffey transferred from State College. And that Micah Parsons, now a linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys, also transferred to the ’Burg a few years back. That’s what happens when you’re on top; top players tend to gravitate to your program.
“They’ve got those athletes, and they’re always gonna have ’em,” Dahms said. “They’ve got things moving right now.”
There’s only one way to combat that.
“We’ve gotta just be better,” said Glover. “This game got away from us and it’s not the outcome we wanted. Our juniors, our sophomores, they’re gonna get back in the lab, they’re gonna get back to it, they’re gonna work hard. We’re gonna keep this (defeat) in the back of our minds and we’re gonna come out stronger next year.”
Akings, Greer, Glover, Brownback and the others will have to aim high to match what this year’s senior class achieved.
No one, Dahms included, was quite sure back in August what was in store for this Wilson team. There were too many unproven parts, especially at quarterback.
Madyx Gruber, an all-league receiver as a junior, transitioned back to quarterback and quickly set the tone. He completed 15-of-21 passes in his first start behind center. He threw four touchdown passes in his first league game. Two weeks later, against Gov. Mifflin, he matched a program record with five TD passes and both ran and passed for over 200 yards.
The Bulldogs gambled that the same guy who led their basketball team to a county championship could lead their football team back to the top. And he did, putting together one of the best seasons in program history.
Gruber passed for 2,018 yards and 24 touchdowns – second-most in program history. He completed 66 percent of his passes, second-best in program history. His passing efficiency rating of 172.6 was also second-highest ever at the school.
Gruber was more than just numbers. He pulled plays out of his hat at times and earned the reputation as a magician. His teammates believed he could take them places and everything seemed to fall into place.
The defense came along quickly, too. Brownback emerged as a prototypical Wilson linebacker; he led the charge on that season-saving goal-line stand against Cedar Crest at midseason. They got big contributions from juniors Herb, Gaston, Carpenter and Ethan Harding.
Christo Hunsicker became a jack-of-all trades. He was the glue guy on defense at linebacker. He was an invaluable piece on offense, as an H-back who could both catch and throw the ball. He handled kickoffs, punts, and placements.
Wilson was No. 3 in the league in total defense during the regular season, No. 2 against the rush.
The Bulldogs were one fumble away from a perfect regular season. Their lone loss came in Week 3 at Nazareth – ranked No. 5 in the state at the time — when Akings fumbled the ball going into the end zone in the final minute.
They won nine straight after that, including a resounding 34-16 finale at Manheim Township, to win their 30th Lancaster-Lebanon League section title and first in three years.
The 11 wins are the most since a 12-2 record in 2016; it’s the first time in five years they won 10 or more.
Wilson was ranked as high as No. 5 in the state but tumbled out of the rankings after the one-sided loss in the title game.
Next year the Bulldogs go for their 50th consecutive winning season – an unfathomable notion for most. The bar will be set high.
“This hurts,” Dahms said after the loss to Harrisburg, “but you can’t overlook what (they) did this year. (They) beat a lot of teams that nobody expected (them) to beat. The seniors did a heck of a job. It was a great senior group. They did everything that was asked.”
(Chris Knight/LNP photo)
