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MIDDLETOWN — The three towns that make up the Middletown High community — Middletown, Myersville and Wolfsville — are not accustomed to losing when it comes to Middletown High athletics. All of the Knights teams from the start of the fall sports season to the end of the spring sports season have a pedigree of success.
And, none contain the pedigree and represent the community more than the football team. Since the team broke ground in 1974, the Knights held a streak 36 consecutive winning seasons and had not finished worse than 4-6 since 1976-77.
Unfortunately for Middletown, two of those 4-6 seasons have come in the previous two years, and after three consecutive MPSSAA Class 2A state championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Obviously a drop off was going to be expected. For a team to win back-to-back state championships, let alone three in a row, is incredibly tough to do. Even amongst the frustration, there has been a belief that good things were soon to come down the road.
That time may be now for the Knights. After what could be considered a minor rebuilding phase during the past two years, this Middletown team has bulked up and added some new face while retaining a slew of returners to help the Knights get back to prominence.
One of the biggest changes over offseason happens to be in the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator, Roy Main, who after taking a year off at Middletown, has returned to the same role he had when the Knights won their first three state championships in program history.
“(Main) helps big time,” said junior quarterback Matt Evich. “He has so much knowledge of the game and it makes all of us better.”
In his time at Middletown, Main built an offense centered around a power rushing attack that wore the opponents down and put them under stress for 48 minutes.
More importantly for Main, this team now has restocked their weapons in order to execute the system. Middletown will have three running backs in the backfield, and all three will have the ability to satisfy different running roles for the Knights.
The Knights will utilize seniors Brandon Jones and Garrett Johnson, and junior Kyle Klink to wear down defenses and adjust to the styles the opponents throw at them. Jones roles as a speed back and is the quickest out of the three ball-carriers. Johnson is a balanced runner with good speed and strength, while Klink will be the power back for Middletown, using his ability to plow through defenders.
The versatility of the backfield will lift some of the pressure off the shoulders of Evich, who in his second full year under center is looking for a breakout campaign.
Middletown’s schedule has gotten lenient over the years, but it is still riddled with challenges, including two tough contests in Week 2 and Week 3 against Eastern Tech and Boonsboro, games the Knights lost last year.
If the Knights can get over those hurdles and go into Week 4 with two, or even three wins, then the road to qualifying for the Class 2A West playoffs just got that much easier.
The most important hurdle the Knights will have to face is self-applied pressure. Middletown hopes to flip that into a sense of motivation and get back to winning ways this year.
“Our team is focused on working as hard as possible no matter the circumstance,” Evich said. “The team chemistry is huge with us all.”
