By Harold Raker and Todd Hummel
HERSHEY — Forty-five minutes after Friday night’s state championship game, Selinsgrove quarterback Cory Briggs did a forward roll on the 50-yard line in celebration, took a knee and then was wracked by coughs.
It didn’t stop him from celebrating, nor did it stop him from playing in Friday night’s state championship game.
Briggs spent most of the week with walking pneumonia and even after the game with Manheim Central it wasn’t hard to see Briggs wasn’t 100 percent.
“I’m pretty sick. I was out of school most of the week with walking pneumonia.
I was coughing up a lung” Briggs said.
But there was no doubt that the Harvard- bound senior was going to play in the state final.
“I had to get it done for these guys,” Briggs said pointing around the field at his teammates. “I had some medicine in me, so I was fine.”
“He’s our guy. Cory was sick as a dog all week long. I can’t say how mentally tough that kid is,” Selinsgrove coach Dave Hess said. “He went through a whole a lot of adversity. He just a did a great job.”
After struggling through a 4-of-13 half with an interception, Briggs was 5-of-7 for 66 yards in the second half.
FRONT-ROW: Selinsgrove basketball coach Ray Moyer and English teacher Harvey Edwards got a bird’s eye view for Friday night’s state championship game. They both ended up with sideline passes for the game when the Seals forgot the kicking net for Spencer Hotaling to kick into.
Moyer and Edwards brought the net down from Selinsgrove for the Seals.
EMOTION: There was much emotion after Friday night’s win for the Seals, but maybe Logan Hetherington summed it up best.
“This was a dream for us since we were wee-little ones running around,” Hetherington said. “I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy we won the state title.”
LATE ARRIVALS: Heavy Harrisburg- area traffic, the result of it being the Christmas shopping season and an impending snowstorm (gotta buy that bread and milk), prevented the Selinsgrove band from getting to HersheyPark Stadium until a few minutes before kickoff.
But at least the Seals’ band members were able to watch the entire game. The same can’t be said for those who chose to ride the Seals’ fan buses. The buses, rumored to have not left Selinsgrove until 5:30, did not arrive in the parking lot until there was 6:49 left to play in the first quarter. Those fans missed much of the first quarter.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: They may have been a bit tardy, but the Seals band, which does a show filled with rock and roll vocals and guitars, was a big hit with the Manheim Central fans, who gave them several rousing standing ovations.
PROUD MOM: Seals coach Dave Hess received the best congratulatory phone call possible when, with the players celebrating with the fans, Hess’ brother, Craig, handed him a cell phone. Their ailing mother was on the other end, calling to congratulate her son, the state championship coach.
Coach Hess promised his mother he would visit her early this morning with the state championship trophy in hand.
NO REST: Asked jokingly if he would be in the wrestling room today, Selinsgrove defensive tackle Spencer Myers, the 2009 Class AAA 215-pound state runner-up said, “Yes, I will. Are you going to be there?”
BIG CROWD: The attendance for Friday afternoon’s Class A title game between Bishop McCort and Clairton was 1,723. For the Seals/Barons thriller, 8,155 packed the stands.
