By Pat Cummings
D3sports.com
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. -- A sun-soaked late autumn morning at Delaware Valley College is unlike many scenes played out throughout Division III on any weekend. The Aggies hosted the Cardinals of St. John Fisher in a regional semifinal, but two hours before kickoff, you would not have guessed.
"The question of the morning," Del Val offensive line coach Greg Fedick asked, "is whether or not we are going to have enough propane."
Not exactly the main concern one would expect from the coach of a team that finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in school history, earned its first playoff berth, and subsequent victory, just last week.
"We're on our third grill of the season," Fedick continued, "would have had two going today but someone left the charcoal out after last week and we don't have any more. So now we hope the propane holds out."
Fedick was cooking hamburgers for sale during the game.
This is no ordinary football program.
Del Val has squeaked through the bulk of its season, easily admitting that while the Aggies are touting an 11-0 record, the chances of being 4-6 were just as good.
Four regular-season fourth-quarter comebacks highlighted a season that has been filled with as many ups as downs.
After a 35-0 blowout victory against William Paterson in Week 1, the Aggies enjoyed a bye week before hosting Juniata.
Monsoon rains deluged the Philadelphia-area and left the Work Stadium natural grass a boggy mess. An inch of standing water met the Aggies and Eagles for their Middle Atlantic Conference opener.
At the same time, Jack Fedick, Greg's father and one of the rising program's biggest supporters set off on a charity bike ride from downtown Philadelphia to Ocean City, N.J.
While the MAC foes floated in the swamp that had become Work Stadium, Jack Fedick began to struggle on his ride. His sister-in-law was riding with him every step of the way, but Jack failed to make it to the destination, suffering a fatal heart attack on the side of a New Jersey highway.
Del Val moved on to a narrow 12-7 win over Juniata after which they learned that arguably their biggest supporter, and the father of an enormously popular coach, had shockingly died.
One week later, with heavy hearts, the Aggies trekked to Susquehanna for their first MAC road test. Trailing 39-25 with seven minutes remaining, the Aggies led two, 80-yard drives to tie the game with 1:34 remaining. Following a Sean Raftery interception return on an ill-advised Crusaders pass, the Aggies punched it in to cap off 21 unanswered points for the victory.
"I think we had a little bit of help, there," head coach G.A. Mangus told reporters. "You just don't see that. What these kids did today shows one thing: character. My guys have character and after the week we had, we needed all the character we could get to win."
Just another week in Aggie-land.
"The hooded sweatshirts that say '2004 MAC Champs,' these go for $40," instructed Mangus, as the crowd began to file into Work Stadium, less than two hours before the Aggies' third-year coach would lead his team onto the field for its first-round contest against Shenandoah.
A group of volunteers joined Mangus in the souvenir tent to the east of the home grandstand, hawking a plethora of Aggies apparel, now joined by non-negotiable NCAA playoff merchandise.
"Those prices are set," Mangus barked, as if calling in a play from the sideline.
Donning his white "Aggies" visor -- which will invariably be muddied after any game with ripping the Spurrier-esque headwear and aiming towards the ground below -- Mangus roams the complex with disjointed purpose, fine-tuning just about anything he can.
"When's the concession stand opening? If it was me, I'd want a hot dog," Mangus panned.
Parents and friends approach the tent where Mangus delivers money to the cash drawer, shaking hands with the 1992 Florida graduate, oblivious to the fact that this is the man who calls the plays for one of the handful of undefeated teams left in D3, and who will do it again in a mere hour and a half.
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"It never stops, man. For anyone who thinks coaching is glamorous, they need to see this," Mangus says after listing all prices on a piece of frayed cardboard.
Mangus served as a graduate assistant under Spurrier and accepted a position at Widener as an offensive assistant as the Pioneers began to inch back towards the playoffs. Mangus had been an offensive coordinator at Ursinus, a high school coach, a private football consultant, and now the boss at DVC.
His obsessive style would make one think that there was a creature inside his 6-3 frame saying, "Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat." The energy emitted from Mangus is infectious.
Midway through the first quarter of Del Val's Week 6 game at King's, Mangus' father, visiting from Marietta, Ga., fell into cardiac arrest.
"I thought there was a fight in the crowd," recalled Mangus, "but then I saw my mother there crying and I couldn't see my dad."
The family members of two Del Val players revived the elder Mangus in the stands before being taken to a nearby hospital. The contest was stopped briefly and Mangus told his father he would see him soon after the game.
Mangus returned to the sideline and began calling the plays in to junior quarterback Adam Knoblauch. A stunned Aggies squad went through the motions for the next three quarters.
After struggling all afternoon, and down to their final chances, a fourth-and-8 situation from the King's 33 was converted when Knoblauch found David Carmon in the back of the end zone with 55 seconds remaining for the improbable game winning score.
It has not been an ordinary year for a much-improved football program.
Prior to posting a 9-2 record in 2003, you would have to browse back more than a decade to find the last Aggies season above .500, 1985 specifically.
When Mangus arrived in Doylestown, without the benefit of his own recruiting class, life was none too fun for many of the existing players.
"I cleaned house," glowed Mangus, proud of the startling turnaround he has engineered. "I wanted guys with character, who would do everything they could to win."
Scores of players left, but a new breed of recruits signed on to Mangus' style. Make no mistake, G.A. Mangus is an obsessive coach. He patrols the sideline, his voice echoing. If a player drops a pass, misses a block, throws an interception -- he lets you know about it ... loudly.
But still, they come. Knoblauch was working in a hardware store, resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to go to college, let alone play football. Mangus was relentless in his pursuit of the man who now owns just about every school passing record. Sports Information Director Matt Levy has no need to change the names in the record book, just the numbers.
What makes the Aggies so frightening is that Mangus and his staff have recruited so many talented players who would have never looked at Del Val when they began their high school play. Now, the overwhelming talent they boast continue to matriculate.
One offensive starter, left tackle Jamie Kleinle, is a senior. Three defensive starters will graduate after this season. Their youth and growing power in recruiting has the Middle Atlantic Conference taking notice.
Naturally, when starting nose tackle Clint LaStella came down with appendicitis on Tuesday last week, hackneyed phrases such as "par for the course" came to mind. The Aggies would have to push forward without their second-leading tackler, calling on a freshman in the biggest game in school history.
Despite an 11-0 record after another nail-biting victory in their first playoff foray, a 21-17 win against Shenandoah, the Aggies found themselves unable to seal the deal in Saturday's game against St. John Fisher.
St. John Fisher jumped out to an early 3-0 start after a 43-yard field goal from Will Bean. Del Val went three-and-out while the Cardinals fumbled on their next possession. Ten seconds and one flea-flicker later, the Aggies jumped in front, 6-3.
Forget the notion of field goals or extra points. The kicker, Bill Miller, had been suspended by Mangus for a violation of team rules but has struggled mightily as a sophomore after being named a preseason All-American.
Just another wrinkle.
The Aggies' next possession would also result in a scoreboard change as Knoblauch found sophomore receiver David Carmon with a 20-yard touchdown. Naturally, the second two-point conversion attempt of the afternoon failed and the Aggies held a 12-3 lead before a second Will Bean field goal cut the lead to six.
Sealing the deal was Del Val's greatest problem Saturday. On three consecutive second quarter possessions, the Aggies failed to score. Knoblauch threw an interception in the end zone and fumbled on the 3-yard-line while wideout Don Marshall failed to break the plane of the goal as time expired in the half.
"I felt pretty darn good at halftime. We had 327 yards and if my quarterback doesn't fumble on the six-inch line, and the officials see the ball crossed, we lead 28-6," Mangus pondered.
But the Aggies failed to score on their first six possessions of the second half, still moving the ball without scoring.
So when DVC had 523 yards and trailed the Cardinals by eight with three minutes remaining, a dedicated Aggies fan would believe that the real game was to begin.
Knoblauch moved his squad with precision, engineering a ten-play, 65-yard drive culminating in a 16-yard touchdown strike with 1:02 remaining. After failing to convert on two previous two-point attempts, the Aggies went to slotback John Kiphorn for the all-important deuce and tied the game.
"Don (fellow receiver, Marshall) and I tend to get all the press, but John can play," said Carmon, "he's been fantastic."
The Cardinals, averaging 220 passing yards coming into the game, failed to move the ball in the air, completing five passes for a total of 43 yards. Meanwhile, one of the nation's leading rushers, Mark Robinson, trucked all over the Aggies, tallying 254 yards on the afternoon.
That made Saturday's contest all the more curious when SJF coach Paul Vosburgh called a passing play on third-and-5 with 47 seconds remaining and the Cardinals entrenched at their own 31-yard line.
Junior cornerback Kevin Bliss stepped in front of the Curt Fitzpatrick pass and returned the ball to the 26-yard line with 41 seconds remaining.
"I didn't think they were going to pass," Bliss said, in a sentiment echoed by Mangus. "But they I saw the quarterback drop back and thought, 'wow, they really are going to try this.' So I just stepped in front."
Once again, the Aggies effortlessly moved down the field and Knoblauch called his own number to complete a wild 62 seconds, propelling Del Val further along on its magical ride.
"You having fun yet?" Mangus asked the media assembled after yet another improbable victory.
If and when the Aggies lose a game this season, the least surprised of the bunch will be the Aggies themselves.
Emerging from the brink of defeat on an abnormally regular basis, any Del Val observer would freely admit that while the Aggies are 12-0, they could have easily been 4-6.
"This is the season of seasons, but I wish it never happened," Fedick said while flipping burgers in the crisp November air.
Both Fedick, and the Aggies family, have already lost.
It makes every win that more special.