Manheim Central has a score to settle in GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week vs. Wilson
Manheim Central may have one of the most dominant football programs in the state but it had no defense against the coronavirus.
Like every other team in Pennsylvania the Barons’ offseason was disrupted heading into 2020; the effects were just a little more noticeable in Manheim, which went from 9-3 the year before to 3-5.
“We weren’t very good,” said Barons coach Dave Hahn, who saw his program finish with a losing record for the first time since 1971 and miss the postseason for the first time in 29 years.
Manheim Central has won 18 District 3 titles in large part because it outworks everyone else in the offseason.
“We didn’t get a chance to do the things we (normally) do in the offseason — no one did,” Hahn said. “For a program like us, it’s vitally important.”
Given a somewhat normal spring and summer to prepare the Barons have bounced back.
They’re 4-0 as they head to Wilson Friday in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week, and looking to make amends for a pair of one-sided losses to the Bulldogs the past two seasons.
Manheim is ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 5A and the presumptive top challenger to Gov. Mifflin for that district championship.
They have logged some good wins, against Cumberland Valley and Hempfield, and appear to be all the way back. Are they?
“I don’t know if we are, yet,” Hahn said cautiously. “We’ve played four games, we’ve had some success, but we still have a long way to go.”
The Barons will know a lot more about themselves Friday, as will the Bulldogs (2-2), whose season remains on the edge after a Week 3 loss at Exeter and a string of injuries and a suspension that have decimated their lineup.
They got quarterback Brad Hoffman and linebacker/receiver T.J. Flite back for last week’s walk-over against Martin Luther King and they could get linebacker/running back Gavin Lenart back this week; he injured his shoulder against Exeter.
They definitely won’t have leading rusher and starting linebacker Jadyn Jones, who is serving the second game of a two-game suspension after being ejected late in the Exeter game.
The match-up against Manheim might’ve looked even on paper with Jones on the field. Without him?
“He’s a force, both sides of the ball,” said Wilson coach Doug Dahms. “It just means everybody else is going to have to pick up the slack a little more. You go into it not being full strength, but that’s football.”
This Manheim/Wilson series has been determined by the smallest of margins. Five of the 10 games played between the two since 1998 have been decided by five points or less. A play here, a play there … the result is different.
Wilson has won four of the last five meetings, and Dahms is probably still steaming about that fifth one, a 20-10 loss at Manheim in 2018 in which his team led 10-0, then let it slip away.
He knows the Barons will come into this one sky-high after what’s happened recently in the series.
“They had a losing season, they have a storied program like us, that doesn’t sit well,” he said, “so I’m sure their offseason wasn’t a lot of fun, I’m sure every one of those kid coming back has a chip on their shoulder.
“Then you throw in the fact that we scored the first four times we touched the football (against them last year in Manheim) to the point where their fans were booing them; that couldn’t have sat well with them.”
The Barons are a much different team now than then, that’s for sure.
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They’ve got 15 starters back, including quarterback Judd Novak, who couldn’t throw during the offseason leading into the 2020 season following shoulder surgery. He’s been very good so far, connecting on 66 percent of his passes for 814 yards and eight TDs.
Dahms says he’s the best player on the roster and presents problems.
“He’s very accurate, runs well, is very calm back there,” he said.
Novak has some good receivers in all-league pick Owen Sensenig and Brady Harbach, and a big, offensive line to work behind.
“They’re pretty big, they run the ball downhill very well,” Dahms said. “And then you throw in a quarterback that’s really good. You don’t stop their running game, you’re in trouble.
“This is a very typical Manheim Central team. They’re very well coached, they’re not making mistakes, they’re very active defensively; they’re just solid across the board.”
One of Hahn’s biggest jobs this week has been convincing his guys to ignore Wilson’s record.
“I know they’re 2-2 right now and people might feel like the wheels are falling off there but you look at ’em and they’re as good as they’ve been,” he said. “I know they were missing some players; they get everybody together, they’re as good as anybody.”