Two years in a row Hannibal has gone 9-0 only to lose the Section III Championship Game in a heartbreaker. Last year it was a 13-6 slugfest to Westmoreland. Can the third time be the charm?
That would be the Cinderella story but the Warriors lost 17 seniors from their league winning squad and 5 of those were good enough to head off to play at the college level. The 2007 collegians include: Kevin Matteson who has gone to Hobart College, Doug Morgan to St John Fisher, Eric Sherman to Brockport State, Chris Swain to the US Military Academy and Derek Wiebel to Hartwick College.
Class C West Coach-of-the-Year John Manion does have a substantial roster with 40 players but they aren’t as experienced as in the most recent past. “ We’re considerably younger” he stated but added “We’re hoping the younger kids can step up in time and make their own mark.”
The Warriors were an offensive juggernaut in 2006 scoring 363 points. Coach Manion made few changes to the playbook for the upcoming season. “We have a lot of young kids so we wont have as much as we’ve had in the past; we’ll concentrate more on the basics of the Wing-T” he said. “Last year we had a lot of veterans and could throw a lot more out there in the beginning. We’ll see how well they grasp it and add as the season goes on”
Back to lead the offense is senior Shane Crandall (5’11 200) and junior Jared Cuyler (5’10 165) as the main ball carriers. Crandall had 774 yards and 9 TDs rushing while Cuyler added 244 and 4 in 2006. Between them they’ll try and fill the void left by the graduation of two-time Albright Award winner Eric Sherman.
At QB will be Tyler Baker (Jr, 5’9 160) taking over for 3 year starter Doug Morgan.
On defense Hannibal will still employee the 4-3. “Our strength on both sides of the ball is quickness and size” Manion stated. “Defensively the secondary and linebacking corp are a little more seasoned”
Out front will be DE Dustin Eells (Sr, 6’1 185) and LBers Crandall and Derek Shoults (Jr, 6’1 185). All three garnered All-League 1st, 2nd or honorable mention teams.
Manion doesn’t anticipate another 9 win season. “We are going to try and be consistent and get better every week, learn our basics; if we can take care of the little things then the wins will come.” He said “We just want to get better every week.”
2007 Roster