Be sure to pick up Friday’s New Era for my story on the L-L League’s girls’ Coach of the Year: L-S rookie Matt Wieand. If you can’t get a copy, here’s my story. Enjoy. And congrats to Matt.
The predictions hit the streets on Nov. 29.
- Manheim Central
- Lebanon
- Elco
- Lampeter-Strasburg
L-S fourth?
That might have had something to do with the fact that the Pioneers had a first-year coach, and he was starting one senior and four sophomores. And two key reserves were also sophomores.
“If they stay healthy, the Pioneers should be in Districts,” Lampeter-Strasburg’s team outlook read. “And they’ll make the section favorites earn their keep.”
It turns out L-S, with that first-year coach and those four sophomore starters, was in the section race right up until the last night of league play, when the Pioneers knocked off Lebanon to force a one-game playoff for the title the very next night against the Cedars.
L-S didn’t win that game, but got there after being picked to finish fourth.
The Pioneers went on to reach the league semifinals before knocking off the No. 1 seed, Muhlenberg, in the District 3 Triple-A quarterfinals.
L-S finished fourth in the district after falling in the semifinals and the playback round, but advanced to States for the first time in the history of the program and won its first-round game before bowing out in the second round.
L-S finished 13-4 in league games and 21-11 overall and made believers out of a lot of people.
And they did it under that first-year coach, Matt Wieand, who was named Coach of the Year by his peers.
Twenty-three of the league’s 24 coaches voted for Coach of the Year. One coach politely declined to vote. Mark Silcox, who resigned his post at Garden Spot, and Ken Barlett, who stepped down at Northern Lebanon, did vote.
Wieand received seven votes, finishing ahead of Cedar Crest rookie coach Gretchen Hall (4), Lebanon’s Carlos Sanchez (3) and first-year Solanco coach Tom McDonald (2).
“It’s an honor,” said Wieand, who teaches eighth-grade science in the L-S district. “I’ve spent the last seven years as an assistant coach watching all of these great coaches. So to be rewarded as the coach of the year in my first year … it’s humbling and it’s just an honor.”
Wieand inherited the keys to the program from Tina Pugh, who resigned her post after last season after she took another job in her native
Texas. He had previously served as the junior high girls’ coach for four years and was Pugh’s varsity assistant for three years before getting the head-coaching gig.
His staff includes varsity assistant Marshall Krebbs, ninth-grade coach Jeremy Messinger, and junior high coach Davy Meister.
One of the first things Wieand and his staff did was install a pressing defense and a wide open, fun-and-gun offense where everyone shared the ball and got plenty of shot attempts.
“They bought into it right away,” said Wieand, a Collegeville native, Methacton High School and Eastern University grad.
“My goal was to come in and establish a winning tradition, and I think we were able to do that this year.”
And how.
L-S finished in the top 16 in the state, led by gritty senior guard Lil Snyder, an Alvernia recruit, and those four super sophomores: guards Lisa Boyer and Danielle Rittenhouse and forwards Renee Fritz and Katie Lynch.
“I knew we had a good team with some talented players,” Wieand said, “but I didn’t think we’d do all of those things this year. I thought it would take a year to lay the groundwork and establish things. So to accomplish all of those things is miraculous.”
Here’s another miraculous fact from the Pioneers’ season: Wieand, 32, coached the team while he and his wife, Katie, prepared for the birth of their first child, which is due in July.
“It’s been an exciting year,” Wieand said.
And the next couple of years should be even more exciting for Wieand and his Pioneers, what with those four sophomore starters and two key sophomore reserves coming back next year. And rumor has it L-S will have a freshman who could be ready for primetime when the season tips.
“I’m very excited about the future,” Wieand said. “But I’m sure we’ll have more of a bullseye from here on out.”
Thanks to Wieand’s wildly successful head-coaching debut, it’s safe to say L-S won’t be sneaking up on anybody next season. It’s also safe to say the Pioneers will be up a couple of rungs on those preseason predictions.
JEFFREY REINHART
