The 7th Annual MaxPreps Football Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard paraded into Warminster, PA early Friday morning, February 17th to honor the Vikings of Archbishop Wood for their first ever state football championship and No. 43 ranking from over 16,000 teams in the country. The Vikings put an exclamation point on their amazing 14-1 season by defeating a strong Bishop McDevitt team 52-0 at Hershey Park Stadium in the Class AAA state championship on December 16, 2011, setting a record for the largest margin of victory in the 24-year history of the PIAA state championship in the process.
The tour arrived on the campus of Archbishop Wood at the break of daylight, and we were immediately greeted by Athletic Director Joe Sette and head football coach Steve Devlin who showed us the auditorium where the pep rally would take place. They also expressed their gratitude for receiving this honor and their excitement about getting their hands on the prestigious Army National Guard national ranking trophy was evident.
The pep rally celebration was scheduled to take place during the students' homeroom period at 7:45am. Despite the early hour of the presentation, the 1,000+ students in attendance were energized and eager to congratulate their state champion football team on their remarkable season and witness the trophy presentation by MaxPreps representative Patrick Djamoos and Staff Sergeant Christina Hoffman of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
With the entire student body poised for the ceremony to begin, Assistant Principal of Student Affairs Ms. Mary McDonald briefly expressed her gratitude to MaxPreps and the Army National Guard for selecting Archbishop Wood and congratulated the players and coaches on their success. The ceremony was then turned over to Patrick Djamoos of MaxPreps who talked about the Vikings' outstanding on-field accomplishments leading to their first ever state championship and No. 43 national ranking in the MaxPreps Freeman Poll. Staff Sergeant Christina Hoffman then took the microphone and spoke of the similarities between a championship football team and the Army National Guard. SSG Hoffman then gladly handed the coveted "Minuteman" trophy, as it's known in the Army National Guard, to Coach Devlin. Finally, Coach Devlin thanked MaxPreps, the students, his players and coaches, and the Army National Guard for making this season so special for him and the Vikings.
The 2011 Archbishop Wood Vikings truly demonstrated the characteristics of excellence and dedication embodied in the Army National Guard national ranking trophy, and was certainly worthy of the honor for the 2011 season.
Congratulations to Coach Devlin and the Vikings of Archbishop Wood on winning their first ever state championship and their top 50 national ranking!!