Football notebook: Legend passes, Big 33 move, honor for Twin Valley
The Lancaster-Lebanon League lost a coaching icons last week when Norbie Danz, who won championships at three schools, died at age 88.
Danz was the first coach at Lebanon Catholic in 1959 and produced some of the finest teams in Tri-County League history, battling Ray Linn’s Gov. Mifflin teams for first place almost every season during his nine seasons with the Beavers.
He moved to Cedar Crest and later McCaskey and won Section 1 championships at each — six in all in the L-L, to go with three in the Tri-County League.
Cedar Crest coach Rob Wildasin, in a 2019 interview with lancasteronline.com, called Danz “the Godfather of Cedar Crest football.”
Danz coached at Cedar Crest for 14 seasons, over two stints.
His McCaskey teams battled Wilson for Section 1 supremacy in the late 70’s and won or shared three straight titles from 1982-84.
He returned to Cedar Crest for a second stint in 1986 and in his final season, 1995, dealt the Bulldogs one of their most painful losses. Wilson was unbeaten and top seed in the District 3 Class AAAA Tournament but was bounced by Danz’s Falcons 25-6 in the opening round of the playoffs — two weeks after the Bulldogs had beaten them 20-6 in regular season play.
Danz played at Lebanon Catholic and George Washington University and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Double helping
Neumann-Goretti, a top contender for the PIAA Class 3A championship after eliminating North Schuylkill, is playing twice this week. Before it meets District 4 champ Danville Friday in a state quarterfinal it plays South Philadelphia Thanksgiving morning.
The Saints are 11-1 and likely will have little trouble with the Rams, who have just three wins.
Praise for Berks League
Cedar Cliff coach Colin Gillen was impressed with Exeter after falling to the Eagles last week in the District 3 Class 5A semifinals.
“Exeter is a great football team,” Gillen told PennLive.com after the 42-35 loss. “That Berks League is absolutely loaded this year, I mean you could see it on film. You don’t win like that down in Manheim by just being a fluke. They’re a great football team— which we knew, so hat’s off to them.”
Honor for Raiders
The Reading Football Officials will honor Twin Valley and award scholarships to three Berks players at the annual Berks County Football Coaches Association awards banquet Dec. 1.
Twin Valley will receive the annual Joe McLaughlin Sportsmanship Award.
Adam Zaorski of Muhlenberg, Ryan Corros of Twin Valley and Drew Campbell of Schuylkill Valley will receive $1,000 Bert Moore Scholarships.
Big 33 on the move
The PSFCA is moving the Big 33 Classic and the East/West All-Star games to Bishop McDevitt’s Rocco Ortenzio Stadium in 2022.
Garry Cathell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Associations, said that McDevitt’s facilities will allow for all practices and special events to take place at the same location, improving logistics for the events.
The 65th annual Big 33 Game vs. Maryland is scheduled for Monday, May 30, which is Memorial Day. The Big School and Small School East/West games will be played Sunday, May 29.
The games had been played at Central Dauphin the past several years.
Movin’ on up
Wyomissing’s Bob Wolfrum has moved up to No. 9 on Pennsylvania’s all-time wins list, with 334. He’s second among active coaches, trailing only Southern Columbia’s Jim Roth.
Wolfrum is 14 wins away from matching Mike Williams, whose 348 victories are most among District 3 coaches.
Big numbers
Exeter’s 639 total yards in its 42-35 win over Cedar Cliff last week was its highest yardage total in 20 years and one of the highest in Berks over the last 30 seasons.
The most total yards on record over the last 30 seasons is 661, by Exeter vs Twin Valley in 2001. The Eagles’ total vs. Cedar Cliff is sixth-highest among Berks teams during that span.
Eric Nangle ran for 332 yards and Colin Payne passed for 265 against Cedar Cliff.