Seven years into his run at Lancaster Catholic, Bruce Harbach has what every high school football coach wants.
The varsity/JV roster has 72 kids on it, a monster number for a Class AA school that is likely to get bigger. Next year, Harbach says he expects 25-28 freshmen to replace 17 seniors.
"The first year, we had 25 to 28 kids on the sidelines," Harbach said Friday. "It's nice when the athletic director has to order new equipment."
The varsity is now 12-1. The lower-level teams lost a combined three games this season. And all those kids are doing the never-ending-season thing, the lifting and conditioning and team camps and seven-on-seven.
The varsity has won four straight Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three titles, has qualified for the District Three playoffs five straight years and been the No. 1 seed four of those times.
It's been a monstrous program build for Harbach, the former Wilson assistant. But you can't build a Kyle Smith. You can craft him, guide him, improve him. Can't create him.
Smith is Catholic's junior quarterback. A 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior, Smith is considered a pro-style QB by the many schools, including Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, Florida State, Pitt, UCLA, Stanford and a dozen or so others who are recruiting him.
He's been starting since his sophomore year, and he's done about all you can in that time, statistically and in every other way.
All that remains, Harbach said Friday, "is for him to lead us to a gold medal tonight."
Done.
Smith and the Crusaders had their tour de force at frozen Hersheypark Stadium, blasting Middletown, 41-0 for the District Three Class AA title. The Smith numbers: 11-for-15 for 264 yards, three touchdown passes and a rushing TD.
That's 18 yards per pass attempt. For the season: 149-for-227 for 2,690 yards, 39 touchdowns and three (that's three) interceptions.
Smith's receivers and the o-line and the defense were just as good Friday.
It's Catholic's fourth district title and second under Harbach.
"These kids just keep making history," Harbach said.
The Crusaders fumbled at the 1-foot line on the game's first possessions. They messed up a couple extra points. Otherwise, they were about as good as you can be. The second half was 27-0. For the game, passing yardage was 264-7.
"Not exactly perfect," Harbach said. "But we came to play, and that second half was one of our best."
Smith showed the ability to buy time in the pocket, to fit the ball into tight spaces, to throw the deep ball and even to make plays with his feet. His touchdown run, a 35-yarder, came after a fake-handoff that fooled most of the Middletown defense and even Harbach.
He's a 4.5 grade-point-average student on a 4.5 scale, ranked sixth in his class. He has attended the Peyton Manning Camp in Louisiana, and prospect camps at Penn State, Princeton, Duke and Temple.
He's taken unofficial visits to Notre Dame and Michigan. And there's still another full high school season ahead.
Bill McDonald, Catholic's quarterbacks' coach and offense coordinator, got to go from working with Nick Downey, now at William & Mary, immediately to Smith, and thus considers himself a lucky guy.
"He listens very intently, almost with the same intensity he brings when playing in the game," McDonald said.
The two were watching film of Middletown last week when a kind of mind-meld took place.
"He said right away what he saw that he liked, what we could take advantage of," McDonald said. "I told him, 'Kyle, you're thinking exactly the right way.' "
Catholic lost three times in 2007. This was expected to be a good, but perhaps not epic season. But people who know this sport have suggested Catholic might be the best District Three team outside of Class AAAA. The Crusaders' September blowout of Class AAA Manheim Central in Manheim lends credence to that theory.
It can get epic over the next couple weeks, beginning with Saturday's game with storied and undefeated Mount Carmel at noon Saturday back at Hershey.
"Definitely, tonight we stepped up on the big stage," Smith said Friday, adding that he wasn't even noticing the weather.
"I'm too happy to feel anything."
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com.
