Boyertown PA
6-27-2026 4:23am

Boyertown Soccer Alumni Game Celebrates Friendship, Tradition, Lasting Connections

by Phil Repko

Coaches, especially those trying to develop high school athletes, often remind their players that what they learn in sports will color their perspectives and their outlooks for the rest of their lives.

What coaches tend to downplay, however, is the enduring value of the friendships that these athletes make and retain with one another. Moreover, connections with groups, associations, or legacies also provide meaning to lives and careers.

With this in mind, the Boyertown Senior High Soccer Alumni Association (BSHSAA) has been gathering for fun, connections, and camaraderie for the past six years. The Alumni group, which is open to all male and female former BASH soccer players, coaches, and team personnel -- set a record with more than 60 players and 20 more spectators in their 2022 gathering. They have since then been searching for an optimal date and time each year to replicate the showing. The goal: to form traditions and relationships that are tied to Boyertown Soccer, an institution that celebrated its 50thanniversary just last year.

Morgan Davidheiser

On June 12, 2026, in the shadow of the FIFA World Cup celebration of “The Beautiful Game” right here in the United States, BSHAA  gathered to address these goals.

Players spanning more than 30 years BASH soccer convened to sustain, renew, or create friendships. The game was held on the North Campus of New Ridge Fellowship Church, the former New Hanover YMCA grounds.

“Pulchritude” is an unglamorous word with a resplendent meaning: beautiful. Perhaps this is the perfect adjective for the game played a week or so ago. Players participated, rather than competed, because beauty can be fleeing, especially as the years take a toll on skills and capacity. Consequently, the wide range of age and ability may have forced a reconsideration of the prevailing aesthetics: the game they played that day may not have been sublime in the same way, but the community-building on display certainly was. What was beautiful about the game, was the far-reaching connection between the players.

Ed Becker, from the class of '91, can remember the glory of achievement for the 1988 squad, which extended their season into PIAA State competition. Becker was the lone connection to one of the early coaches, Lou Brooks. His recall is most certainly sublime in its intensity and endurance. The only thing athletes remember more clearly than the thrill of the victories is the agony of defeats. On this day, for Becker and the others, there was only joy.

Greg Grey and Connor McKeown

Connor McKeown ('17) touts the dominant run that resulted in back-to-back PAC 10 titles during his tenure. Morgan Davidheiser ('06) hangs his hat on an overtime victory over then-perennial favorite Owen J Roberts. So, while the recent exhibition may have featured players from almost 40 years ago, up to and including ones from this decade, the friendships – some old and some just being made – stand even taller.

Alex Kidwell ('17) focused his sense of accomplishment and joy on a single 3-1 victory over arch-rival Spring Ford his senior year. Sean Pavlik and Tyler Snyder ('14) have fond memories of team dinners during their time att high school, focusing almost completely on the elements of shared mission that go beyond the athletic competition. All of the attendees were ready to talk about the highlights and the lowlights. The passage of time tends to invite people to re-evaluate experiences to find what is or what was most precious. Without reunions like these, valuable reminiscences have no footing.

The history of Boyertown Soccer, at least at the high school level, dates back to the middle 70s, when a community travel team morphed into a high school JV program under the direction of Bill Krause. Other coaches during the early years included Bob Boles, Lou Brooks, and Bob Ballantyne. However, the longest tenure belongs to Coach Scott Didyoung, who guided the Varsity to a PIAA state playoff appearance in 1996. The Bears also advanced to States in 1991. In more recent years, the program had its third ever appearance in states in 2019 under coach Mark chambers.  It subsequently was guided by BASH soccer alum Matt Danner, who stepped down after the 2025 season.

Dave D’Aiello, Morgan Davidheiser, and Ryan Kratz

Danner and current head coach Dave D’Aiello have been active in establishing the Alumni Games, and maintain an aggressive approach to making contact with all the players who share connection to Boyertown Boys Soccer. The effort is on to find an optimal time to hold the games so that participation continues to grow. Many of the former players keep in touch with teammates, but the game is on to bridge the gap between eras and histories.

Assistant coach Dave A’eillo took over the reins at the end of last season, and looks forward to guiding the team from this point on. D’Aiello, a participant and product of the BASH Boys Soccer program, is a key example of the values and principles behind the Alumni Games. He is the head coach, but also an ambassador for the program itself, and all its history.

His message to the former players, from 1976 to the present, is “Gotta make it next time! So much fun!”

If you are a former player, or know a former player, please reach out in one of the following ways:

Yes, Soccer is the “the beautiful game,” but your addition to the list of members just might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Coaches Brian Sheehan, Scott Didyoung, Larry Bartolucci

Phil Repko is a career educator in the PA public school system who has been writing for fun and no profit since he was a teenager. Phil lives with his wife Julie in Gilbertsville and is the father of three outstanding children, two of whom are also poets and writers. He vacillates between poetry and prose, as the spirit beckons, and has published two books of poetry “Pieces of April” and "Homestretch," both available on Amazon.

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