Montgomery football’s turnaround has been noteworthy | News, Sports, Jobs

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Montgomery’s Trace Furman (41) and Josh Knoebel (9) celebrate a touchdown by Knoebel during a District 4 Class A football playoff game at Montgomery last Friday. The Red Raiders won 33-0.

Montgomery recently won two games … over two years.

Friday, the Red Raiders will play at Line Mountain for the District 4 Class A championship. Montgomery enters that game 10-1, winning 10 games for the first time since 1987 and capturing its first league championship since 2001.

What a rapid transformation it has been.

“It’s just good to see how much as a team we’ve grown. It shows with the record that we have,” senior linebacker/tight end Ethan Tupper said following last Friday’s 33-0 semifinal win against Muncy. “We’ve made a lot of progress.”

That is an understatement. Montgomery went 1-9 in each of this senior group’s first two seasons. Montgomery then dramatically altered the script last year, making a six-win improvement and going 7-4. It was the program’s first winning season since 2000 but it was not all sunshine and rainbows early in the offseason.

Previous coach Cory Tice was not retained and many inside and affiliated with the program were upset. Former Southern Columbia assistant Joel Knoebel was hired as the new head coach and faced a daunting task. Before implementing a new offense, Knoebel helped pull the team together and Montgomery moved forward, putting together an outstanding offseason.

So, what happened last fall became a launching pad. Montgomery tasted success; wanted more and achieved it. Now it has a shot at history, trying to become the program’s first district champion.

“The chance to have the first district title in school history is an unbelievable opportunity to have as a group of kids. They’re relishing every moment,” Knoebel said. “We are exactly where we want to be going into that game next Friday. I can guarantee you that this team is going to load that bus and off-load it ready to give everything that they’ve got.”

That has been the Montgomery way these past two seasons. Leaving the past there, Montgomery forged forward, determined to write its own history. Since starting last fall 0-2, the Raiders are 17-3 and bulldozed their way to the NTL-II championship this year, dethroning five-time defending champion Muncy before thumping South Williamsport, 42-14 in a Week 9 showdown which basically served as a title game.

Now, these seniors who experienced frustration their first two years at Montgomery will leave it in a new place. The work continues but this group already has done wonders and lifted the program to, by 2000s standards, unprecedented heights.

“The bond that we seniors have is amazing,” two-way lineman Caleb Parkyn said. “We’ve been playing together forever. You can’t beat it. We’re just all one.”

That has shined through again this fall. This group plays as a unit, not as individuals. There is no room for egos or personal agendas. Everyone has a common goal and that’s winning. Whatever price it takes to achieve victory, this team is eager to pay it.

Since Week 2 at Warrior Run, that is all Montgomery has done. Its nine-game winning streak is among the longest in program history and the Raiders kept rolling in the semifinals, allowing just 110 yards, scoring touchdowns on five straight possesses and again dethroning a defending Muncy champion. It also marked the program’s first playoff win since 2017.

“The 2017 class is a lot of our coaching staff and they’ve kind of sent it down to us and gave us the note. They said this is how you do it, so let’s go do it,” Parkyn said. “We know we have the kids to do it and we just have to execute.”

Montgomery has done that well in all facets. The defense leads the district in points and yards allowed while the offense has set a program record for points during the 21st century. The lines have surged, Josh Knoebel and Trace Furman became the first 1,000-yard rushing tandem there since 1991 and every player has embraced his role.

Montgomery has blown out several opponents along the way, but nothing about this climb has come easy. The work started long before the Friday Night Lights went on and continued once they did. Montgomery has not just become a better team, but a faster, stronger and tougher one as well.

This was a team built for the long haul.

“Our approach since Week 1 of camp was that we’re not looking to play a 10-game season. We want an extended season and I know as their coach, because I’ve been there in the past, the physical ability of their body has to got to be there when we arrive in Week 11,” said Knoebel who was part of multiple state championship coaching staffs at Southern. “You still have to be in peak shape and we work hard every week in that weight room.

“Every week we’re lifting and you can see we’re getting the results we need right now in the postseason with the bodies holding up, and the level of physicality they’re playing with is lights out.”

Montgomery fans sure have noticed and are loving the results. A sports-passionate town has embraced not just the wins, but how its team plays.

The boys and girls wrestling programs captured individual and team state championships last winter. The softball team did so in 2022. But, at this moment, the football team is the talk of the town.

“The community has bought in so great,” Knoebel said. “Since the (Old Shoe) win at Muncy the first time, the shift and focus from the community has been unbelievable, from the number of fans we’ve had; what people are saying around town. That really motivates these guys.”

Montgomery has added motivation for tonight. First, it’s a championship, so that immediately lights a competitive fire. But it’s also the opponent because a year ago, it was Line Mountain who ended Montgomery’s turnaround season in the district semifinals.

A year and a week later, Montgomery gets a second chance. Line Mountain (10-0) is ranked third in the state and has routed all but one opponent this year. Maybe because of its recent history, people around the state have possibly slept on Montgomery. It is unranked and did not appear as a “team to watch,” in the state rankings until two weeks ago.

Montgomery welcomes both the doubters and the opportunity to try and silence them.

“It’s been that way all year. Nobody picks us; everybody has that (old) Montgomery mentality but we’ve been proving them wrong,” Parkyn said. “I can’t wait … I cannot wait.”

Montgomery has waited a long time for a district championship opportunity, eight years to be exact. Before that, it had been 16 years. The point being that championship opportunities are hard to come by and present success never guarantees future results.

The time is now for Montgomery. The result is 48 minutes away, but Montgomery can make one guarantee and that is its effort will be remain constant. Because aside from the talent and dedication, it is that effort which earned Montgomery this opportunity and it sure is not changing things now.

“I’m pumped; the whole team is pumped. We’re all ready,” Tupper said. “Rankings don’t mean anything to us. We’re going to show up ready, and we’re going to show up ready to play hard.”