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By Sam Butler, Sentinel Reporter, Nov. 30, 2008

Last updated: Monday, December 1, 2008 7:25 AM EST

HERSHEY – They stood collectively on the turf at Hersheypark Stadium as their head coach handed out medals.

On the other side of the field was a celebration all too loud and rampant.

After falling to Wilson West Lawn in the District 3-AAAA championship game on Saturday night, Cumberland Valley head coach Tim Rimpfel handed out those medals, but it wasn’t the one he wanted to drape around his players’ shoulder pads.

“I told them it hurts right now,” Rimpfel said. “But we’ll be able to reflect back on what a great season we had. Lot of great victories, lot of great times. But it really hurts right now and it should. We really put in a lot of time for this game.”

Fresh in the minds of this Cumberland Valley team were the eight turnovers it committed Saturday night. Four fumbles all in the first half and four interceptions, three in the first half and one in the second.

Before CV could blink, Wilson had made them pay for the early turnovers.

“It was a great year,” Eagles running back Mike Frenette said. “We all fought hard, all the seniors fought hard. The whole team fought hard. I’m proud of what we did. I wish we would have went out a little better, but I’m proud of it. It was a good successful season.”

“It was like a nightmare,” Rimpfel added. “It just kept snowballing. You’ve got to give Wilson credit. They played one heck of a game. They’re a great team. A lot of turnovers, a lot of problems.”

Those eight turnovers lead to 20 Bulldog points in what was yet another blowout in the District 3 postseason, and really set the defensive tone.

“In the beginning of a big game like this you’re like two heavyweights slugging it out just trying to find an opening,” Wilson head coach Doug Dahm said. “Trying to find out what’s going to work. (Linebacker Jordan Holbert) came up and rocked the Frenette kid, caused the fumble and we recovered. It was huge.”

On its first four possessions Cumberland Valley coughed the ball up four times and trailed 14-0. While every turnover was key in CV’s downfall, perhaps the most critical, and ultimately fatal, was on the Eagles’ second possession.

Taking over on downs on its own 32-yard line the Eagles hit a quick pass from Nathan Rhodes to Matt Lengel. Frenette made it back to the line of scrimmage on the next play, and then broke free for 54 yards down to the Bulldogs 6-yard line and a first down. Frenette inched CV closer with two more yards.

On second-and-goal from the 4, Rhodes, who finished 5-of-15 for 31 yards and threw four interceptions, lost the handle and was unable to make the exchange. Wilson’s Rodney Hill snatched up the ball on the 6, saving what could have been the go-ahead score for CV.

“It hurt,” said Rimpfel of the fumble. “We thought we were in a good position. A few yards from the goal line, run a basic play and we fumble. A couple of the other fumbles, oh man. They popped right out. On the belly play with Travis down there, it popped right out.”

Seven plays and 94 yards later it was the Bulldogs with seven points when Wilson quarterback Steve Huber found Alex Fegley wide open in the middle of the field for a 56-yard touchdown. Fegley finished with six receptions for 148 yards.

“It took our kids a while to get things rolling (on offense),” Dahms said. “But that play sparked us. That play went to Fegley, he’s a gamer. The bigger the game the bigger he plays and we needed that.”

On the Eagles’ next play from scrimmage it was another fumble when Travis Friend lost the ball thanks to a Wilson player hitting the ball with his helmet. This time it was only two plays and 48 seconds for the Bulldogs to take a 14-0 lead when Zacc Groff scored the first of his three touchdowns.

“They were the better team,” said Rimpfel. “From their line to their running backs, to the quarterback, they were just solid. Defensively, that’s one of the better defense’s we’ve gone against.”

Groff made it 21-0 when he banged his way in from 12-yards out with 7:30 left in the half. That score forced CV to take to the air. On its next three plays CV gained one yard and was picked off twice leading to 13 points and a 33-0 Bulldog advantage.

“They stuffed our line and no one did that to us all year,” Rimpfel said of the Wilson run defense. “We moved quick ball against everybody, running the ball and all that and Wilson just stuffed us. It put us in a bad position. Having to throw we struggled.”

It was 35-0 and the mercy rule kicked in with 4:08 left in the third when Huber and Fegley hooked up again from 23 yards out this time. Huber found Tyler Beck on the right side of the end zone for the two-point conversion.

“Offensively we’ve been a big question mark,” Dahms said. “Our quarterback was back and he got hurt. We had a fullback back, he went out, a part time tight end and no offensive line. Defense wins championships as they say. The defense has been awesome, they continue to play awesome. The offense has been playing exceptional and our special teams have been really good. They’re about as complete a unit as you’re going to get.”

Cumberland Valley broke the score board with 43 seconds left when Kevin Snyder (5 carries 35 yards) broke in from 21 yards out ending the shutout bid.

Groff finished with 127 yards on 16 carries for Wilson, who will now travel to Memorial Field in State College to take on Bethel Park in the PIAA AAAA Western Final next Saturday at 1 p.m. CV’s season ends at 12-2 overall.

“We’ve progressed well over the last couple years,” Rimpfel said. “We’ve got to give a lot of credit to our seniors. They did a heck of a job for us. I really enjoyed coaching this group of young men. They just responded all though the season, did everything we asked.”