Narrative
Tim Rimpfel had quickly turned Cumberland Valley in to one of the premier football programs in District 3. His 1989 team pushed state finalist Wilson West Lawn in a 7-3 defeat in the D3 semis, in 1990, they again fell to Wilson, this time in a 34-32 classic decided in the final minutes. In 1991, they broke through with their first D3 title since 1984, but an early season loss to Chambersburg kept them out of the state playoffs.
The 1992 iteration of Cumberland Valley was a solid favorite in the Mid-Penn Conference and District 3. The big reason being returning fullback Jon Ritchie. After rushing for 1,000 yards as a sophomore when an injury forced him in to the lineup, Richie ran for 1,563 yards as a junior and earned third team All State honors from the Associated Press. Ritchie was rated as the best fullback in the United States and was beating off college coaches with a stick. He was the feature player in their Wing-T offense, running behind a veteran offensive line and joined by halfbacks Brandon McKillip and East Pennsboro transfer Cory Gumby. Although there were questions at quarterback, it was common wisdom that the Eagles would be able to pound the ball down the throats of most teams on their schedule. The only question was if they could finally punch a ticket to the four team state tournament. The Eagles were the preseason #4 team in the state, behind CB West, Butler, and Easton.
The Eagles opened the season with back-to-back blowouts, setting up their revenge game against Chambersburg. The Eagles scored a touchdown in each quarter, including sophomore sensation Askari Adams returning an interception 102 yards for a school record TD and Ritchie ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns, while CV held Chambersburg to 39 yards on 26 carries.
The win over Chambersburg started a four game shutout streak, that included a dominant performance against D3 co-favorite Harrisburg. Adams intercepted four passes, Ritchie ran for 139 yards and 3 TDs and Cory Gumby added 101 yards on 11 carries. Amazingly, CV held Harrisburg to 45 yards of total offense in the game in a dominant 38-0 win. It was the second straight week holding an opponent under 100 yards of offense.
Cumberland Valley wouldn’t see their first real test until a week 9 non-conference clash with Coatesville. The Red Raiders came in ranked #4 in the state (Cumberland Valley had moved up to #1 after throttling Harrisburg). The Coatesville coaches thought they had an advantage as only two players went both ways for the Raiders, as opposed to eight for the Eagles, and the plan was to wear them down with their two dynamic running backs, Walt Washington and Eric Towles.
Brandon McKillip had two long touchdown runs in the first half, while Coatesville countered with a 47 yard run by quarterback Mike Como and a 31 yard pass from Como to Greg Fisher on a one play drive after a shanked punt. A missed extra point by Coatesville accounted for the second half difference. Coatesville opened the second half with a touchdown, going 69 yards in 8 plays, punctuated by a touchdown by Towles. Cumberland Valley punched right back to retake a 21-19 lead. When it was Coatesville’s turn to strike, Washington and Towles marched the REd Raiders from the 25 all the way to a first down at the CV 12 to start the fourth quarter. But a penalty got them behind the chains, and Coatesville had to line up for a 28 yard field goal, which was tipped at the line of scrimmage and picked up by Cumberland Valley at the one yard line. For the next six minutes, Cumberland Valley marched 99 yards down the field, with 56 yards coming from Jon Ritchie, including a 25 yard touchdown to ice the game.
In District 3 playoffs, Cumberland Valley opened with perennial power Wilson West Lawn, who had thwarted their previous playoff hopes in 1990 with a touchdown on the final play of the game in a 34-32 win the D3 title game. In the 1992 iteration, Wilson opened the game with a touchdown drive, which Cumberland Valley answered but missed the extra point. In the second quarter, Wilson drove down to the CV 20, when Brandon McKillip jumped a comeback route and returned it 87 yards for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead at the break. in the second half, CV opened with a TD drive with Cory Gumby and Jon Ritchie combining for 60 yards capped by a Ritchie TD. Wilson scored with 5 minutes left in the game and had a shot to pull the upset if they could force an Eagle punt. But Cumberland Valley leaned on their star, and handed the ball to Ritchie on eight consecutive plays to kick the clock and advance to D3 finals.
The final was a rematch with the Harrisburg Cougars, who CV throttled during the regular season. On the first play from scrimmage, Sam Kinback faked to Ritchie and hit McKillip for a 79 yard TD pass out of the backfield and it looked like the route was on. But unlike the regular season match-up, Harrisburg took care of the football and frustrated CV defensively. They tied the game with a 76 yard TD drive in the second quarter, and a pair of Cumberland Valley turnovers, a Cory Gumby missed field goal, and an astonishing goal line stand against Ritchie kept the game in doubt. But after the goal line stand, Cumberland Valley forced a punt, and Gumby dunked a 36 yard field goal with 1:56 left in the game for the Eagles to escape with a D3 title.
Cumberland Valley comfortably had enough points to earn the state playoff bid when 9-2 William Allen beat 10-1 Dieruff in the D11 title game the week after losing to Dieruff for the East Penn regular season title. District 1 instituted a playoff for the first time in 1992, with Coatesville upsetting defending state champ CB West on a monster day from Walt Washington. Out west, Upper St. Clair had been a death machine all season (and had passed Cumberland Valley for the #1 ranking in the state) and District 6 champ State College stopped Erie Cathedral Prep’s two year streak of state playoff appearances with a 10-9 win the Region III final.
After playing an excellent regular season game, there was plenty of anticipation for the rematch between Cumberland Valley and Coatesville, played at Villanova. The only difference between games was Coatesville was without quarterback Mike Como, who was out with an injury suffered the week after the regular season tilt. But it was not the day for the Red Raiders. Cumberland Valley scored on their opening possession, forced a three and out, kicked a field goal to take a 10-0 lead before Coatesville could blink. An Askari Adams circus catch for a touchdown just before halftime stretched the lead to 16-0. After halftime, Cory Gumby took the kickoff back to the Coatesville 10, and Ritchie scored to put the Eagles up 22-0. Coatesville finished with just 160 yards of offense, while Ritchie starred again with 136 yards and a touchdown. Out west, Upper St. Clair slaughtered State College in a 42-13 game, to that point the biggest blowout in 4A state tournament history.
Upper St. Clair was the first 4A team to make a second state finals appearance. Running back Alan Hamrick led the Panther offense with 1,398 yards and 18 touchdowns headed in to finals, while defensively they featured Parade All American Mark Hondru, and had pitched seven shutouts on the season. This was the first year that the #1 and #2 teams in the state polls met in the 4A finals, with Upper St. Clair also ranked #15 nationally by the USA Today.
The week of state playoffs, host site Altoona got 28 inches of snow. The setting was fitting for two smash mouth, December football teams. Upper St. Clair drove right down the field on their first drive, but Cumberland Valley bulled their necks at the goal line, with Askari Adams and Mic Sadler combining to stand up Zach Ellis at the 1. Cumberland Valley responded with an 8 play, 97 yard touchdown drive, with Brandon McKillip bursting off of the left side for 37 yards and a touchdown to open the second quarter. Upper St. Clair answered with a touchdown, but McKillip came up big on the next Cumberland Valley drive, catching a 37 yard pass to put the Eagles in the red zone, then catching a 12 yard touchdown. In the second half, Ritchie took over, running for 122 of his 177 yards after the break. After Upper St. Clair cut the lead to 14-13, CV handed the ball to Ritchie, who ran straight up the middle for 55 yards, punctuated by dragging two USC defensive backs for the final 15 yards before he was dragged down at the 1. He scored on the next snap, and Cumberland Valley did not look back, scoring again, then finishing the game with a 14 play 64 drive that burned the final 6:31 of the game. In addition to Ritchie’s 177 yards, McKillip ran for 78 yard and had 70 yards receiving. After the game, Jim Render called Ritchie the best high school football player he’s ever coached against.
The postseason honors were similarly gaudy for Ritchie. He was the first team All State fullback, finalist for AP State Player of the Year (losing out to USA Today National Player of the Year and wunderkid recruit Ron Powlus of 3A champ Berwick) and earning second team All American honors from Parade Magazine. He was rated by early recruiting guru Tom Lemming as one of the twenty best players in America. He finished his year with 1,980 yards and 29 touchdowns. Backfield mate Cory Gumby was also a first team All State pick as the offensive athlete after gaining over 1,000 all purpose yards. Offensive guard Brian Potteiger was a third team All State selection. The Eagles would take Upper St. Clair's spot in the national poll after their state title win, finishing the year ranked #14 in the country by the USA Today.
Jon Ritchie would live up to his billing as a national caliber player, signing to play with Michigan and starting at fullback for the Wolverines as a true freshman. After his sophomore season Ritchie transferred to Stanford (where he had originally committed) and played his final two seasons for Ty Willingham, initially as a linebacker, then moving back to fullback for the Cardinal. He was a third round pick in the 1998 NFL draft, taken 68th overall by the Oakland Raiders.. Although he only carried the ball 15 times in the NFL, he spent 7 years as one of the best blocking fullbacks in the game, clearing the way for a number of 1,000 yard rushers and starting in the 2002 Super Bowl for the Raiders. Super sophomore Askari Adams also ended up in the Big Ten as a three-year starter at safety for Penn State and played a season with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL. McKillip and Potteiger both started on the Millersville team that made the first NCAA Playoff appearance in school history. Tim Rimpfel went on to coach twenty more years at Cumberland Valley, winning another seven District 3 titles and playing in nine more D3 title games. However, he would never make it back to a state final, losing in semis three times. He retired in 2012 with a career record of 307-100 in his 43 years as a head coach, the final two and a half decades running the Wing T with the Eagles. He is one of 11 coaches in state history with more than 300 wins.
