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LLOYD REIGEL, For The Patriot-News, January 15, 2010 12:04 p.m.
Anticipation ran high as the lights were lowered last Saturday at the Allen Theatre in Annville. No one quite knew what they were about to see with the premiere of the Palmyra Soccer Experience.
Would it be a home movie, a highlight film version of the Cougars' exciting 25-2 season that included 22 straight wins?
Indeed not.
The film opened with a splashy ESPN promo that led to veteran sports center host Bob Ley seated behind his desk on the ESPN set. Ley opened and closed the film by extolling the virtues of the Palmyra soccer team and its season.
Palmyra's Chris Oscilowski, the creative force behind the project who served as writer, director, producer and cinematographer, said Ben Houser, a former Palmyra soccer player, works for ESPN and assisted with the footage of Ley.
Closing remarks in the film were made by recently retired D.C. United star Ben Olsen, who played against Houser while Olsen was at Middletown.
"I could get shot in parts of Middletown for saying this," said Olsen, "but congratulations to the Palmyra soccer team for its outstanding season. It's always great to see good soccer coming from central Pa."
In his remarks, Olsen, widely considered the best player to come from this area based on his appearances in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2006 World Cup in Germany, urged the players to embrace the memory of their time together and to enjoy it.
Between the flashy opening and closing were miles of footage shot by Oscilowski, with segments on each player and comments made by coaches Craig Tyrrell and Vince Major, as well as athletic director Brian Weidler.
But the real stars of the show were former coaches Dave Lineaweaver, Pat Wagner and Jerry Hoffsmith, who told the story of this team from its infancy.
Lineaweaver's son, Josh, anchored this year's team in goal and was the primary source of information, dating back to his days as youth coach of the Campbelltown Wildcats.
"These kids started out very young as the Wildcats," Dave Lineaweaver said. "Josh and Tommy Miller were probably the first two. Slowly, we built this team by adding a player here and there.
"But the core of the team remained together. I saw we had something, and by the time they were 7 and 8, they were already playing kids 9 and 10. Slowly the team came together, but the important thing is, they stayed together all the way through high school.
"They were the Wildcats, and will always be the Wildcats. There were times I felt bad. I remember one day... there was a 9-on-1 break, and they scored the goal on Josh that won the game. I yelled at Josh and he cried. But Josh was always a good goalkeeper. He always knew his angles and always was in good position. I'm just thankful he kept listening and didn't turn into one of those kids who quit, or worse yet, didn't listen at all."
Wagner coached the team through middle school and delivered a quality team to Hoffsmith, who coached Palmyra through the magical state championship season of 2007.
The star of the team the past three years turned out to be forward Brett Jankouskas, who scored 85 career goals.
Hoffsmith said he knew good things were ahead for his 2007 team, but it wouldn't happen without hard work.
"I told the guys they had to work for it," he said. "I told them iron sharpens iron. The only way we were going to get better, and do what we wanted to do, was if they showed up at practice every day and worked hard. They had to challenge each other every day in practice and practice as if it were a game."
Hoffsmith also had to rein in the talents of his hyperactive sophomore star, Jankouskas.
"I remember one day, I had had it with Brett and told him to sit on the bench," said Hoffsmith. "I told him when he was ready to play soccer like I wanted him to play to let me know.
"Well, it took him five or 10 minutes before he came over to me and said he was ready to play like I wanted him to play. Then in the final game of the season, when he danced around the Mars goalie to score in the state championship game, I knew my job was pretty much complete."
Hoffsmith was instrumental in turning the program over to Tyrrell, who has followed up the state championship with a District 3 title in 2008 and a Mid-Penn Conference championship this year.
"In the last three years," said Bob Jankouskas, who served as executive producer on the film, "this team has won every piece of major hardware it could win."
Brett Jankouskas has moved on to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he plans to expand his game in hopes of finding the right place to continue his education and career. The leading candidates at the moment are Syracuse, Villanova and Hartwick.
But while this film included tons of footage of goals and skilled first touches by the likes of Jankouskas, Kyle Schneider, Zach Lee, Chris Parks, Michael Thompson and others, it always highlighted the team concept -- right down to the last player on the bench.
"It was a great film, in that it told the whole story of this team from the beginning," said Jankouskas. "And it showed what can be accomplished if a group of kids gets together and stay together through high school, especially when a community like Palmyra pulls together to support it."
The only discouraging word heard came from former Palmyra player Molly Cooper, at Kutztown.
"That was a great movie, but it was too long," said Cooper, of the two-hour saga. But Cooper wasn't complaining when her favorite Cougar, Reed Kreider, was running across the silver screen.
LLOYD REIGEL: ljreigel@gmail.com
GO COUGARS!!
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