DREAMS KILLED
Exeter coach Shawn Ganter headed into his final season with a loaded roster, but now the Eagles can only wonder what might have been
Just weeks before what was supposed to be his final season, Exeter boys volleyball coach Shawn Ganter saw the potential his team possessed.
Not that Ganter didn’t already know the heights the Eagles could reach during his 30th year on the job. Exeter was coming off an 18-2 season in which it won its second straight Berks County title and had a solid nucleus of seniors.
“This group has been working together since seventh grade,” said Ganter, the only boys volleyball head coach in Exeter history. “It was definitely the best working unit I’ve ever seen or had.”
That says a lot for a program that has won 12 Berks I titles, 11 Berks titles and District 3 and PIAA championships in 2007.
The talent and chemistry of his son, Reese, with his senior classmates was on display in late February. Pagoda City, a team made up entirely of Exeter High School players, won the Northeast Atlantic Tournament at Spooky Nook over more than 40 teams, mostly all-star teams.
“It was a showcase of what was to come,” Ganter said. “We were definitely the favorite in the state this year.”
But the 2020 spring sports season won’t be played due to the coronavirus pandemic. The PIAA announced last week that the spring sports season has been canceled, ending what could have been a dream year for Exeter before it ever started.
Reese Ganter said he understood the reason for canceling the season, but it still hurt.
“We went into the season with high expectations,” Reese said. “We’ve been working very hard for this season. To have it taken from us is kind of heartbreaking.”
Shawn Ganter, who coached the varsity team for 25 years after running boys volleyball as a club sport for four years, finished with a 397-118 record, just three wins shy of 400.
“I wasn’t really looking for those numbers,” Shawn Ganter said. “My interests were just about what these guys could do.”
Some of the seniors also were chasing major milestones. Reese Ganter was expected to break the Berks League all-time record for assists and Luke Hoffman was closing in on 1,000 career kills.
They and classmates Tyler Goldsborough, Ryan Miller, Jason Garvin and Mike Pawlik will leave Exeter never knowing what they could have achieved this spring.
But their story may not be over. By winning the regional tournament, Pagoda City earned a trip to the USA Volleyball Nationals in Reno, Nev., in July. That tournament hasn’t been canceled yet, Ganter said.
“If that does go off or happens, it gives those guys one more chance to play together,” Shawn Ganter said. “But they were more concerned with the high school season.”
But that season — and the hopes to bring another state championship to Exeter — are over, leaving Reese and all of his senior teammates with only memories.
“My best memories would be all the behind-the-scenes things that no one else sees besides the team,” Reese said. “We just worked extremely hard. This year we would have been able to show everyone how hard we worked, but we didn’t get the chance.”