Still a banner moment: Manheim Township’s 1972 rifle title still a conversation starter [commentary] | High School Sports

I’ve been in a lot of high school gyms in my career.

All of the Lancaster-Lebanon League gyms, and too many times to count in all of those. Gyms in Harrisburg. And Reading. And York.

Heck, gyms across the state, from Philadelphia to Scranton to Altoona to Pittsburgh, and pretty much everywhere in between in 33-plus years on the job.

I’m usually good for roundabout 75 basketball games or so per winter — I think I eclipsed 100 games, believe it or not, a few years back — and another couple of dozen volleyball matches in the spring.

So yeah, I spend a good chunk of my life in gyms, parked in a bleacher seat with a trusty notebook and pen in hand, chronicling all the action.

A lot of gyms means a lot of banners. And I study all of them. Championship banners. League title banners. Basketball banners listing 1,000-point scorers. Wrestling banners with 100-win performers.

There’s a great, oversized banner hanging behind a backboard in the gym at Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast in the Philly burbs in Drexel Hill that simply reads: “John Cappelletti, 1973 Heisman Award winner.”

That’s an attention-grabber.

But my absolute favorite banner I’ve come across in three-plus decades of gym duty is right here in our own backyard, at Manheim Township in Neffsville.

Way up top, tucked neatly in a far corner, high above the gym floor, it hangs there peacefully in all of its blue-and-white glory.

“State Champions Rifle 1972.”

It’s certainly not a flashy banner. The message is short but sweet. And it captures a moment in time that I usually picture in black and white for some reason.

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen it up there,” said Ava Culbertson, a senior and four-year shooter for the current Blue Streaks’ rifle team. “It’s been up there quite a long time. In my mind it gives me motivation that we could be that good again.”

I get such a kick out of that banner that pretty much every time I cover something in Manheim Township’s sparkling arena, I snap a photo of it and blast it out on my social media.

“I notice it every time I’m in the gym,” Culbertson said. “I always see it up there at the top, looking lonely.”

In all of my travels and all of my gym visits over the years, it is the lone rifle-only banner I’ve seen.

Allison Noecker knows all about that banner. She is Manheim Township’s rifle coach. It’s her second stint on the job; she previously coached the Streaks from 2010-14 before heading to grad school.

She’s been back since 2021.

“I saw the position open up,” Noecker said, “and I snagged it.”

Noecker herself is a Manheim Township grad, and she competed on the rifle team in the 1998 and 1999 seasons. She went on to shoot air rifles and .22-caliber small-bore rifles at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where she served as team captain.

When it comes to all things rifle, Noecker knows her stuff.

That 1971-72 team shot .22-caliber small-bore rifles. The L-L League switched to air rifles in 2001. Those fire tiny, hourglass-shaped pellets that flatten out after they hit the target.

Manheim Township gets its air rifles from Germany — they cost up to $4,000 a pop, which also got my attention — and last about 20 years, if kept clean and in good working order.

The air rifles the L-L League shooters use are the same models Olympians compete with. That’s also an eye-opener. We’re talking finely tuned, precision equipment here.

The 1971-72 Manheim Township rifle squad was the only Lancaster County team to win a state championship that school year. In fact, the Intelligencer Journal — the morning newspaper back in those days — named the Streaks its Team of the Year.

Manheim Township went 12-0 in the regular season and topped Conestoga Valley to capture the county crown. Then came a victory in the District 3 event.

In the PIAA tournament, Manheim Township knocked off defending state champ Interboro in the regionals and then won state gold at Penn State with a perfect 1,000 score, bettering Churchill — which later became Woodland Hills, near Pittsburgh, in 1987 — and Pocono Mountain.

“That had to be the best match any Manheim Township team has ever fired,” Streaks coach Larry Woods told the Intelligencer Journal after winning the state championship.

Manheim Township’s rifle program, by the way, was launched in 1936.

The team received a citation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in recognition of their state title. Noecker still has it, preserved under glass, at the ready in Manheim Township’s rifle room.

And there’s the banner. That glorious banner.

Manheim Township’s top five shooters that magical season included Dave Ament, who averaged a perfect, mind-boggling 100 score per match; Kristin Hill, a district champ; plus Bob Ulrich, Suzi Zipperlein and Steve Weibel.

They had plenty of help, with Tim Konrad, Dave Miller, Charles Morrison, Jeff Brand, Jim Horst, Mary Eckman, Dave Hamby, Dave Aurand, John Garbeczi, Bob Spalding, Keith Williams, Jay Lockard and Scott Bennett all contributing under Woods.

There are no more state championships in rifle, though. The L-L crew has its annual league finals, held each February. But there are no tournaments after that.

“That’s all we have,” Noecker said. “That’s it.”

So, the local rifle crew cherishes the regular season. And everyone shows up at the league finals with dreams of a perfect 100 score and L-L glory.

“I’m proud of that banner and I’m proud of my sport,” Noecker said. “It’s such a niche sport, and it is its own animal for sure. What other sport do you have senior boys and freshmen girls on the same team together? They all work together. It’s a unique and special sport we have.”

And Manheim Township has the most unique and special banner I’ve come across. The world slows down for a minute, and I smile when I see it.

I didn’t cover the 1971-72 Manheim Township rifle team. Heck, I was 3 years old. But I feel like I know every member of that squad, thanks to that banner. The one hanging peacefully way up top, tucked neatly in a far corner, high above the gym floor, in all of its glory.

X: @JeffReinhart77