Cedars’ coach chats about 3-game winning streak
Not the best start of all time for Lebanon’s football team this season.
The Cedars stumbled out of the gates with losses to Spring Grove and to cross-town rivals Cedar Crest and Elco. The in-county games in particular really stung, with Lebanon dropping a 33-14 decision to Cedar Crest in the Cedar Bowl, and Elco pinned a 51-14 loss on the Cedars.
Lebanon was 0-3 and wasn’t going anywhere.
That’s when Jason Capello scribbled this on the board inside Lebanon’s locker room:
“Team meeting. Players only. 10 minutes.”
The whole team piled into a meeting room in the field house and had at it for about an hour. Everyone cleared the air. Some talked. Some shouted. Some even cried.
What happened next is even more incredible:
Lebanon hasn’t lost since the players-only pow-wow.
Three games. Three wins, capped by a 33-13 upset special over Cocalico last Friday. Three rugged defensive efforts. Three games of the ‘Air Raid’ clicking.
Three wins in a row, and don’t look now, but Lebanon, once left for dead at 0-3, is tied for first place in the Section 2 chase with Conestoga Valley (3-0, 5-1) and Manheim Central (3-0, 6-0). And CV hosts Central on Friday, so one of them is losing there.
So Lebanon will need a win Friday at Solanco (0-3, 2-4) to keep pace in the Section 2 race. And oh by the way, the Cedars are at Central a week from Friday for what they hope is first-place showdown.
Sat down with Lebanon coach Gerry Yonchiuk after practice Monday, and we chatted about his team’s big Week 6 win over Cocalico, about this three-week run, and about the players-only meeting that got this whole ball rolling.
You can listen to the interview with Coach Yonchiuk by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.
You can also download the Podcast and play it on your favorite mp3 device by clicking here.
