Local grads guiding upstart Oley program

by Darryl Grumling

Posted on October 9, 2009

OLEY - Every Monday night, Hank Williams Jr. asks "Are you ready for some football?"

At Oley, 30 players have answered that call.

The fledgling Oley Colts - a private squad not affiliated with the PIAA which draws players from both Oley Valley and Brandywine Heights school districts - are in their second season of competition.

Former Hill School standout Randy Yerger, who played collegiately at Lehigh and Wilkes and previously served as an assistant coach at Albright College and The Hill School, is the team's head coach and Director of Football.

Area grads Justin Konnick (Boyertown), John Verno (St. Pius X) and Troy Lambert (Boyertown) are assistants for the Colts (1-3), who host Perkiomen School 4 p.m. today.

"Our goals are simple," Yerger explained. "We will measure success by how committed we are to reaching our full potential, whether that be a school program, a private program, a varsity program or a JV program. We want to give the kids an opportunity at the experience of the extension of the classroom we call the game of football."

The genesis of the program came about three years ago, when Yerger sat down with Andy Gruber, the president of the Oley Valley Football Alliance.

After several meetings with members of the community, a football squad was proposed to the Oley Valley School Board, which voted against it.

Gruber then changed his focus to starting a private team, and the dream became a reality last year when the Colts played a junior varsity schedule and finished 2-6-1.

"I won't say we struggled," Yerger said. "But we struggled with understanding how to finish a football game. We only lost one game by more than 11 points, and that was to Archbishop Carroll's JV team. We had to come to grips with how to start, how to give effort, and how to finish a game."

This season, the Colts are playing a nine-game schedule (seven varsity, two JV) that includes upcoming contests against Silver Oak (Md.) Academy (twice), and Valley Forge Military Academy.

Since the team is not recognized by the PIAA, its schedule is confined to out-of-state opponents or non-PIAA schools. The squad supports itself financially by conducting events such as ticket sales, golf outings and other fundraisers, according to Yerger.

The Colts opened the season with consecutive 44-7 losses to Freedom Valley Academy from Lakemont, N.Y. and Prep Charter before notching their first win, 14-0, against Lawrenceville, N.J. Last week, Oley trailed 7-6 at the half against Maryland Christian Academy before eventually falling, 27-6.

"The problem we're having is that we're playing exceptional football for 24 minutes, but we have to play exceptional football for 48 minutes," Yerger said. "The positive thing is that last year we only played exceptional football for 12 minutes."

Yerger, who also has Methacton grad Erik Malmberg and Exeter grad Jimi Mitchell on his staff, said roughly two-thirds of his roster (and seven of the 11 starters on offense) reside in the Oley Valley district. There are just six seniors, up from zero last year.

"The thing about us is we're young and aren't ready to handle a 75-player roster or even a 50-player roster," Yerger said. "We're ready to handle a 30-player roster and do it the right way with an academic game plan and weekly proactive planning guide checks that each kid must fill out to play."

Middle linebacker-fullback Anthony Lupo, guard-defensive end Aaron Levan, center-nose tackle Derek Carl, and running back-corner back Andrew Lupo are the team captains.

A couple of talented freshmen who head the first group from the youth program to reach this level - quarterback-safety Josh Mendenhall and tailback-linebacker Kyle Kramer - have Yerger excited about the team's future.

"What I'm happy about is that we're making adjustments from week to week so far, where last year it took us until like Week 10 to make them," Yerger said. "That tells me our kids and our program are starting to come of age and understand the game better."

The Wildcats host a Perkiomen School team that is 2-1 and coming off a bye week. The Indians' last outing was a 35-14 rout of George School two weeks ago. ... Head coach Kevin Manferdini has exceptionally pleased with Nick Pirri, who moved from running back to the offensive line; junior offensive lineman Cusay Thomas, in his first season of football; and two-way tackle Danny Chen. ... Quarterback Julian Gentile has accounted for most of the offense, throwing for 435 yards and five touchdowns in three games, with 15 of his 24 completions and all five scoring tosses going to O.C. Hightower and Bruce Brittingham.

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