A year ago this week, high school football fans around here were giddy.
Southern Columbia and Shamokin had each already won state playoff games, and Mount Carmel had won its first District 4 AA title since 2008 and was preparing for its first state playoff game.
This year is different. Around here, high school football season is over.
There's no way the 2012 season can be called a down year, since Southern, Shamokin, Mount Carmel, Line Mountain and North Schuylkill were a combined 38-22, and 33-15 when not playing each other.
Yet, there is a sense of disappointment.
Probably no team was more disappointed than Shamokin, which expected to follow up its Cinderella district title of 2011 by contending again and improving its 6-8 record. More on the Indians later.
But even traditional powers Southern Columbia and Mount Carmel ended the season disappointed.
Tigers inconsistent
Southern really needn't be. The Tigers had a 12-1 record and won their 21st district title in 22 years. Although Southern was eliminated in the state tournament by Dunmore, the betting here says that the Bucks will be the team that eventually tries to end Clairton's now 60-game winning streak and Class A title stranglehold in Hershey in a few weeks.
Southern's biggest problem all season was inconsistency, despite its unbeaten regular season. Sometimes the Tigers looked every bit the state title contender; sometimes they didn't. The midseason ACL injury to one of their better athletes, Nate Hunter, probably hurt the Tigers as much as any other recent injury they've had.
Ultimately though, this Southern team was probably a year away. With a dominant junior class, the Tigers should be ready to roar again next August.
Too much expected?
As for Mount Carmel, the Red Tornadoes had one of the stranger seasons a team has had around here in memory. Coming off a 12-2 season, the Red Tornadoes had a big, strong senior class. Many people saw them as legitimate Class AA state title contenders.
So their ultimate 8-5 record and district runner-up finish can be labeled disappointing. But perhaps a little too much was expected of this team, too. The Red Tornadoes had to replace not one, but two, 1,000-yard rushers, one of whom was also their defensive leader.
Offensively, the Tornadoes were just fine, averaging better than 31 points per game. But defensively, they seemed to have problems from the start. Their three-game losing streak in September had them scrambling even to qualify for the postseason. They answered that challenge well and won two playoff games but ultimately this team's talent level probably didn't match the hopes of its sometimes overly hopeful fans.
Same old, same old
Line Mountain had the kind of season the Eagles have become used to - a solid 8-3 record, contending for a Tri-Valley League title and ultimately, a loss to Southern Columbia in the district playoffs.
First-year head coach Rodney Knock fit comfortably in replacing Mike Carson, and the Eagles were able to overcome a midseason injury to quarterback Cole Rickert thanks to Codi Morris.
The Eagles lost a competitive game to District 11 and league champ Williams Valley, were less competitive in their season finale loss to Tri-Valley, then had Southern on the ropes before losing 28-21 in the first round of districts.
Line Mountain has kind of become the strong program nobody knows about. Some people tend to dismiss the Tri-Valley League but over the years, some of the most competitive football around is played in that league. Unfortunately, the league sometimes seems to stumble in the postseason. Williams Valley's 20-0 loss to Bristol this past weekend was stunning, not so much that the Vikings lost but that they were shut out.
But Line Mountain, year in and year out, plays good football. That the Eagles have the daunting challenge of being in the same district as Southern is not their fault.
A title, but...
North Schuylkill actually won a championship, the Eastern Conference AA title, to finish its season but the Spartans had a rough year, nonetheless. Their string of three straight unbeaten regular seasons and Anthracite League titles ended, and then head coach Rick Geist was bounced before the final regular season game.
At halftime during the next-to-last regular season game, Geist allegedly used terminology which, in these politically correct times, is apparently one of the greatest wrongs a person can now do. It didn't matter what the offending player(s) did - Geist had to go.
That's fine, but it's upsetting that the same old crap is making the rounds about Geist.
Yes, Geist is a little rough around the edges, and yes, he's undeniably old school. But he's also very successful. He expects a lot, and gets it, from his players.
And he's a pleasure to work with. He returns calls, he cooperates whenever you want something and, despite what some people think, he can talk intelligently about a lot of things other than football.
We wish him luck in whatever he chooses to do in the future.
Indians searching again
Which brings us to Shamokin.
The district's reputation as a graveyard for coaches continues with the resignation of Dan Foor. There's no doubt this season's 2-9 record was disappointing, but if ever there was a guy who was up against it, it was Foor.
His hiring was controversial. It came on the heels of Dave Zielinskie's unceremonious ouster. Foor was seen by some as the previous school board's man. Some viewed him as an "outsider," whatever that is, and worse, treated him that way. Yet many of the same people who say you can't have an outsider as coach continually moan about the number of "insiders," or the same old guys, who are assistant coaches. It's not as if the district will be flooded with resumes from interested applicants with NFL experience.
A black cloud seemed to follow the Indians. Their best player, linebacker Andrew Hasuga, was injured in the summertime and missed the first three games. Their starting center, Brody Young, was lost for the season with an injury in the second scrimmage, and the Indians had trouble with the center-quarterback exchange all season. They lost other players for stretches during the season, notably fullback Draven Miller.
They were competitive in most games but made killer mistakes. They fumbled the ball 37 times and lost 23 of them. Add nine interceptions and you get 32 turnovers, not counting muffs and blocked kicks. Their takeaway ratio was minus-13.
You can lay a lot of things on coaches, but sorry, that one's on the players. You can't play the game for them.
As with Mount Carmel, expectations were probably too high for this group, especially after the injuries started. The talent pool just isn't as deep as it used to be, but the demands are sometimes higher.
As for Foor, we wish him well, too. He's a good man and a good football man. But at Shamokin, that never seems to be enough.