Nice résumé booster

Ty’Meere Wilkerson is playing in the upper echelon of high school football all-star games. But to ‌his high school football coach, CJ Curry, he’s just getting started.
The senior is the 38th player from Berwick, and the first since Andy Decker in 2002, to represent Pennsylvania in the Big 33 on Sunday. It’s also the latest accomplishment in a year full of them for the University of New Hampshire commit, and one he is not taking lightly.

He’s so adamant to play in the exhibition game that if he had qualified for the PIAA Class 3A state meet like he had his sophomore year in the 100, 400-meter relay and long jump, which takes place over the course of the same weekend and conflicts with practice, Wilkerson would have given up any of his spots. The versatile athlete says he already experienced the state meet, but not the Big 33.

His passion is football. Good thing, too, as he not only takes off for Division I football the day after he graduates high school, but he is practicing with and against some of the state’s best in preparation to go against Maryland’s best on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Cumberland Valley High School. Wilkerson, one of two running backs — along with Susquehanna Township’s Rakhi Seville — is out to show he not only belongs amongst that talent, but that he can excel, as well.

“I love the competition. Seeing someone better than me makes me strive to be better,” Wilkerson said. “I’ve been staying in the weight room three times a week and staying on the track to maintain my speed. … There’s nothing more exciting than playing football and being on the football field. Playing with and against the best prepares me for college.

“It’s super exciting, and I don’t want to be anywhere else besides that game. I’ll be locked into that mindset of ‘I want to be better than them.’”

There’s no reason to doubt him. After all, Wilkerson — who has not been told a plan about playing time by coach Tom Hetrick of Gateway — is coming off a season where nobody could slow him down. He broke his own single-game rushing record from his junior season with 390 yards against Williamsport in Week 7. Wilkerson was removed from that game with over 7 minutes remaining and according to Curry, the back was “angry because he wanted 400 yards.” He also shattered a pair of records set by Brant Quick in 2004, rushing for 2,844 yards and 40 touchdowns — and doing both on 129 fewer carries than Quick had in 2004 to average 12.75 yards per carry.

“The season he had was so special,” Curry said. “You took advantage of him rushing for 200 yards, sometimes 300 yards.”

Snow day gets better

But the season was not as special as the phone call Curry got to make, delivering the news to Wilkerson that the all-state back was Berwick’s first Big 33 representative in nearly 25 years.

Curry says he got chills, even exciting his girlfriend Suzy Pribulova’s dog, Nika, when he got the initial news. When it came time to tell the star player, neither he nor Wilkerson could hold back their excitement over the selection.

“You could see his million-dollar smile through the phone,” Curry said. “Seeing someone not having much going on in his sophomore year to becoming the face of the team and being one of the best rushers in the nation in his senior year. He’s still working at it because he’s not where he wants to be. He still wants to prove that he’s the best in the state, and he’s working at it. Ty wants to prove it to Maryland, too.”

Curry says the phone call was the culmination of hours put in by Wilkerson even before the coach made the position switch for Wilkerson last year in Week 5 from wide receiver to running back, but especially when the back knew his full-time role was going to be in the backfield.

“He’s always been a home run hitter with the ball. Where he struggled was with vision and making a cut. The work he put in, not only on improving as a back, but with our offense, made him and the unit a lot more confident,” Curry said. “In the opening week, he had a pair of fumbles in the first half, but we knew we were onto something special because he broke eight tackles in that same half. He kept his eyes up and feet moving. His vision and cuts were much improved, and he never stopped improving as the season went on.”

And to think the results came because the coach saw that potential and wanted the playmaker to touch the ball more. Looking back, it was one that made sense for the player who put together a season unlike any other in Berwick history and team, which is fresh off its first undefeated regular season since 2013.

Home cooking

Wilkerson says there will be over a dozen family members in attendance at his Big 33 performance, including his mom, Olivia Wilkerson, and dad, Roscoe Williams. The football team will also be there to support him, and Wilkerson says he’s heard from others around school saying they’ve bought tickets for the event, offering potential vibes of a Friday night at Crispin Field.

That’s one place his legacy will live forever.

Outside the Bulldogs’ locker room lies the Big 33 Wall of Fame. Much like Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park, it has names of lore that have left a lasting impression. Legacies that live forever in the building such as Ron Powlus, Bo Orlando, Gus Felder, Keith Seely, Dave Robbins and Jon Pruitt. Wilkerson joins that elusive list that first began in 1961.

“I’ve gone and looked at the wall and looked at the names and said, ‘I know this guy, I know this guy,’” Wilkerson said. “It’s really cool to be among that group of guys. I feel like I get to carry the Berwick legacy and keep it going until someone else takes it."

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