Mike Vukovcan People associated with the Hopewell Vikings football program knew that they had a chance to be a good team this season.
However, the media and I’m sure other programs in the WPIAL were taking a wait and see approach considering Hopewell’s track record over the last decade.
The outside world has good reason to have some doubts considering Hopewell hasn’t qualified for the WPIAL playoffs since 2012, which is currently the longest active playoff drought in the WPIAL.
Longest Active WPIAL Playoff Drought:
Hopewell- 12 years
Valley and Yough- 11 years
Hempfield, Ringold, Northgate and Riverview- 8 years
Vikings head coach Matt Mottes consistently maintained over the offseason that his players haven’t done anything and need to prove it on the field before they can start reading the press clippings and talking about how good they are.
Well, unfortunately for Coach Mottes, his players are going to have no choice but to hear the outside noise because following their 31-6 win over New Castle, everyone is believing in Hopewell.
On Sunday, local media outlets and websites released their latest rankings and take a look at where Hopewell is ranked.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
1) Avonworth
2) Imani Christian
3) North Catholic
4) Elizabeth Forward
5) HOPEWELL
Pittsburgh Tribune Review:
1) Avonworth
2) Imani Christian
3) HOPEWELLÂ
4) Elizabeth Forward
5) North Catholic
Pittsburgh Union Progress:
(Publications of Striking Post-Gazette Writers)
1) Avonworth
2) Imani Christian
3) North Catholic
4) Elizabeth Forward
5) HOPEWELL
WPIAL SPORTSMEN:
1) Imani Christian
2) Avonworth
3) HOPEWELLÂ
4) Elizabeth Forward
5) North Catholic
