Wilson’s Chase Herb is Body Zone Physical Therapy Defensive Player of the Week

By Mike Drago Last updated Oct 28, 2024

Wilson's Chase Herb makes a tackle against Manheim Township. (Joe Mays photo)

Chase Herb’s focus Friday in Wilson’s championship game at Manheim Township was strictly on No. 1.

Not on himself, mind you, but on Blue Streaks running back Declan Clancy, who wears No. 1 and is easily one of the hardest runners in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

“If you stop Clancy you make their team one-dimensional,” reasoned Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms.

Wilson didn’t exactly stop Clancy – he rushed for 137 yards and scored an early touchdown – but Herb and the Bulldogs slowed him down enough to pull out a 34-16 victory and with it the Section 1 championship.

Herb was one of the linchpins of Wilson’s defensive game plan and he came through, recording a team-high 12 tackles – most of them on Clancy – to earn Body Zone Physical Therapy Defensive Player of the Week for the first time.

Herb, a junior safety, goes 6-foot, 170 pounds. He’s one of the fastest players on his team and also one of the toughest. He showed that by not backing down from the bullish 195-pound Clancy. Herb threw himself at the Streaks’ top offensive weapon time and again and was a key to blunting one of the highest-scoring teams in the league.

“We just came out to play ball,” said Herb. “Everybody did their jobs and look what happened. How many touchdowns did (Clancy) have, one? ”

Herb played more of a linebacker role against the Blue Streaks because of Wilson’s desire to put as many bodies on Clancy as possible.

“We were set up so he didn’t have to worry about the pass,” Dahms said. “That made his job a little easier.”

Township went right down the field on its first possession, with Clancy carrying the ball on each of the four plays on a drive that was capped by his 5-yard run and set up by his 41-yard run. Clancy gained 62 yards on that drive; he got 75 the rest of the night on 23 carries.

“We didn’t stop him right away, but we eventually did,” Dahms said. “They had to learn you can’t let him go north and south, you’ve gotta make him bounce and go outside. And Chase was a big part of that. There were some seams that opened up that if he wasn’t filling, (Clancy) would’ve had a lot more yards.”

Herb didn’t get on the field much as a sophomore but he impressed Wilson’s coaches in the offseason with physical abilities.

“He’s long, he’s athletic, he’s fast,” Dahms said. “He’s a junior; he’s still learning. He’s got the physical tools to be a really good safety.”

In addition to defense Herb handles long-snaps on punts and play on the punt and kickoff teams.

Herb is a second-generation Bulldog: His father Chris was an all-league safety as a senior in 1996 for a team that went 9-1 in the regular season and earned a Section 1 title. His uncle Chris, a senior in 1996, also played safety.

Chase Herb was the Bulldogs’ Defensive Player of the Game in a win over Penn Manor earlier this season and had a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown against Hempfield. He is third on the team with 40 tackles and has three pass break-ups.

Herb is the second Wilson player to earn Defensive Player of the Week honors this season; EJ Brownback was the selection after a Week 2 win over Plymouth-Whitemarsh.

Players considered for Body Zone Physical Therapy Defensive Player of the Week honors are nominated by their coaches or by members of the MikeDragoSports.com coverage team.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Body Zone Physical Therapy is sponsoring the Defensive Player of the Week. At the end of the season a Defensive Player of the Year will be named.