Hamburg is looking to take flight
After a circuitous football journey that began so many years ago, Matt Hoffert is back where it all started.
The 2001 Hamburg grad is in his first preseason as head coach of the Hawks, happy to not have a 75-minute drive to teach the game he loves.
His players, too, seem excited to get going and settle in with their third head coach in three years, one who walked the same hallways as they do today.
“I think that helps because he was where we are,” said senior Kevin McFarland, a wide receiver and defensive back. “He was in our shoes, so he understands. This is his home, too.”
Hoffert takes over a program that is coming off a historic season. The Hawks went 7-4 a year ago, including 2-3 in Section 2 of the Berks Football League, and earned their first District 3 playoff win in coach Jeff Chillot’s only season. He resigned last December, which opened the door for Hoffert.
“It’s actually really strange coming back and being the head coach,” said Hoffert, who served two stints as a Hawks assistant (2005-09, 2012-13). “I never thought it was going to be at Hamburg. But it’s great. I’m coaching some of the kids of people I went to school with and it just feels like more of a community.”
No matter where he has coached — he’s been an assistant at Allentown Central Catholic, Boyertown, Fleetwood, Albright College and Chestnut Hill College, and the head coach at Kutztown High — Hoffert always lived in the Hamburg School District.
Now, he’s bringing all that he’s learned through the years to what he has called his dream job.
“It’s been a transition, but the guys have been doing a great job,” said Hoffert, who led Kutztown to 4-6 record in his final year as head coach in 2016 after it went 0-11 and 0-10 in his first two seasons. “They’ve been there all summer working hard.”
The biggest adjustment for the Hawks has been a change in offense. Gone is the Wing-T, which the Hawks have played “for a long, long time,” Hoffert said — including in his days as an offensive lineman for coach Rick Keeley — and in is a spread attack.
It’s the offense that Hoffert ran the last two seasons when he was the offensive coordinator at Chestnut Hill for its sprint football team, then before that as the OC at Fleetwood in 2019.
Triggering the offense will be senior quarterback Xander Menapace, who will be in his third year as the starter. Last season, he completed 62.5% of his passes (65-for-104) for 869 yards and nine touchdowns with four interceptions.
“Xander is a pretty good quarterback,” Hoffert said. “And he’s a really hardworking guy. He’s been probably the main piece of our getting our new offense together because I think he picked it up in a couple of days. And he’s out there pointing to everybody where they need to be.”
Menapace is excited to have more chances to throw the ball in his final high school season.
“I’m getting real comfortable in the offense,” he said. “I’ve been working with the OC, Tyler Hartranft. I’ve been working with him since pretty much since basketball. I was chalk-talking it with him for a while. And now we’re finally out on the field and it’s starting to come together.”
McFarland is the team’s leading returning receiver. He had 12 catches for 152 yards last season.
“I’m definitely excited,” McFarland said. “This is definitely going to put not only myself but the other skills in a position that we weren’t in before. And I feel like it should be going to shock a lot of people with the talent that we had hidden.”
One huge talent that the Hawks will have to replace is running back Diohnny Ruiz, who ran for a school single-season record 1,313 yards on 119 carries (11.0 per carry), caught 20 passes for 305 yards and scored 21 touchdowns last season. He was selected to the Class 3A All-State team by the Pennsylvania Football Writers.
“He’s a hard one to replace,” Hoffert said. “He checked a lot of boxes in the run category.”
Pierce Mason, who had 669 yards on 65 carries last season and scored nine TDs, returns. Another player to watch is Derek Ruiz, Diohnny’s brother, who had only five touches on offense last season as a junior.
“He is the fastest on our team,” said offensive tackle Charles Sheppard, a senior who also plays defensive end. “He runs like a 4.3 40.”
Sheppard is the key returnee on an offensive line that lost all-league center Daregan Motto, among others.
“We have a bunch of guys that got a lot of playing time throughout the year, which is always a good thing,” Hoffert said of the O-line. “Having Charles Shepherd around to build off is a good thing there at left tackle. So I think we’re gonna be OK.”
On defense, the Hawks lost a pair of all-league defenders in lineman Mitchell Watt and defensive back Cameron Harris, but return Mason at linebacker and Ruiz in the backfield.
“One thing I can say about my team is that we’re like a chain,” McFarland said. “So one link breaks, we always have someone to come in and step up. So I think that all of our links this year are strong and we have people coming off the bench that can come in and provide something. I think as a team we’re going to be very dangerous because of how well we work together and just how strong we are overall.”
The Hawks, as with all Berks teams, could get a boost by being part of the expanded Lancaster-Lebanon League. Hamburg is in Section 5 with Kutztown, Schuylkill Valley, AnnvilleCleona, Columbia, Lancaster Catholic, Northern Lebanon and Pequea Valley.
The players have their sights set on making more history.
“We got a taste of it,” McFarland said. “Now let’s do it again.”
“We’re all really determined to be the best team ever to play at Hamburg by a longshot,” Sheppard said.
Hoffert, for his part, is aiming for this year’s team to be an example to the Hawks of the future, including his two sons — he also has a daughter — who are involved in the youth program. That starts with effort, and it’s all part of trying to build something at his alma mater.
“They did a great job last year,” Hoffert said. “They had a great season. I want to build off that obviously, but at the same time I tell my guys, ‘You gotta look forward. A great year last year, but the most important thing is in front of us, especially with the new league and a bunch of new faces on the field. The most important play is the next one.’ So we want to build off the success last year, but we gotta create our own.”