By Thomas D. McGlinchey
Sportswriter
As his baritone singing voice ascends to the top of the German cathedral's arched sanctuary late last month, Chad Clemens can hear the beauty:
The many layers of young voices from the Christopher Dock Touring Choir sweetly cascading down from the stained glass windows and into the ears of the audience.
It really doesn't matter if the locals crammed in the pews can't understand the songs in English, they don't have to. Because music transcends language, and the loveliness of their voices as one would sound nice in any language.
And Clemens knows it too. Rolling and tumbling through a sea of minor and major notes, he's in his element.
"I really like the four-part harmony and even in some songs it goes and splits into eight parts at times," said Clemens, who also sang for audiences in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France during last month's trip.
With Dock's choir, Clemens sang in Carnegie Hall last year and earlier this year they sang at the MSC Choral Festival in Kitchener, Ontario.
"I just like how it sounds when the entire choir comes together and it culminates in an amazing piece of art," Clemens said.
Clemens—Christopher Dock's winner of the David J. Clemmer Award—knows a thing or two about coming together. In the same way Dock's choir can only sound good if all the members sing on pitch and in unison, Dock's 2009 soccer team could only find ultimate success if the Pioneers played as one organized unit.
In the end, the Pioneers did just that and beat Seton-La Salle, 2-1, to win the PIAA Class A boys' soccer title—Dock's fourth title since 2002.
"There's definitely a connection there for me," Clemens said. "It's just—I don't know, it just all comes together and that's what makes it work.
"It was really special to see it develop," added Clemens of the Pioneers' state title run in the fall. "I came into Dock with the goal of achieving a state championship."
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Christopher Dock coach Matt Moyer still remembers Chad Clemens' first day at soccer practice when he was just a bright-eyed freshman.
"To be honest, I thought he had a great potential," Moyer said. "He had some raw talent that needed to be developed."
What Moyer didn't know, though, was that Clemens would develop into a First Team All-League, shut down central defender that led Dock's back line made up of Kevin Detweiler and Clemens in the middle, and Brooke Moyer and Andrew Gordon on the outside. The foursome, along with goalkeeper David Brelsford, earned a whopping 11 shutouts in 2009, five of which came in the postseason.
"He supplied great leadership out of the back," Moyer said. "He was very consistent. We knew that we could count on him day in and day out. The players respected him for how he approached the game work ethic wise. He came to practice every day to work hard and get better. Just a solid individual."
Clemens played on the jayvee team his freshmen and sophomore seasons before earning a starting spot as a central back on the varsity squad his junior year—a team with high expectations in preseason.
After missing the state playoffs in 2006, the Pioneers bounced back in 2007 and reached the state quarterfinals only to lose, 3-1, to Antietam. They finished the season 16-6-1 and had a healthy group of veterans returning, but would need new players, like Clemens, to step up in order to make another deep run.
Clemens did that and more in Dock's 2008 campaign as he helped the Pioneers reach the state semifinals where they lost, 1-0, to Camp Hill.
As a junior, he earned Honorable Mention Bicentennial Athletic League All-League honors and won the Most Improved Player Award on his team.
"He's one of those players that had to work extremely hard to get where he's at," Moyer said. "You could see some nice development over the years just because he was committed to the game and committed to the program."
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While Clemens loved the team element of soccer, he also enjoyed going solo for a bit and playing tennis in the spring.
"I guess after playing soccer in the fall, I wanted a sport that was more individual," said Clemens, who is planning on studying computer engineering at Messiah College in the fall where he'll most likely play club soccer. "I only had myself to blame if I screwed up. It was more on myself and I had to prepare myself mentally for that."
Clemens was a four-year varsity starter on Dock's tennis team. He played third doubles as a freshman and first doubles as a sophomore. As a junior, he made the switch to singles.
"It was hard at first getting used to playing on the smaller court, but once I got used to it, I enjoyed singles a lot more than doubles," said Clemens, who earned Honorable Mention All-League honors as a senior.
As a freshman and sophomore, Clemens won Dock's MVP Doubles Award and as a junior he won the Most Dedicated Award.
*****
Back on the soccer field, after the heartbreaking loss to Camp Hill in 2008, the Pioneers regrouped, refocused and rededicated themselves to success. Clemens was at the center of it all. His teammates respected him so much so that after just one year of being a varsity starter, they voted him as one of their captains, along with Brandon Reichart and Caleb MacMain.
"Chad is one of those players that has worked extremely hard to get in the position he was at," Moyer said. "He was only a varsity starter his junior year. He worked extremely hard to get there and he won the respect of the players to where he was voted captain his senior year."
Clemens' leadership was in much need on defense since he and Detweiler were the only veteran faces in the back. Dock had lost two starting defenders and its starting goalie to graduation the previous June. Moyer knew he could always count on him, though, for his play and his guidance of younger players.
"He was very coachable," Moyer said. "He's one of those we as coaches felt like we could come to and talk to. In many ways, he was a coach on the field because players respected him. We could come to him to communicate to other players during the course of the game."
"I thought more than anything else, with him, he's not the type of the player where you're going to say there are amazing moments," Moyer said. "I define him by consistency. I thought he played very consistent and steady out of the back. He remains at an even keel. His emotions don't get too high or too low. I think that's really the strong point for him.
"I look at him as a player that defines how things should be done on and off the field. He was not a person of many words, but his actions were just defined by who he was. Players respected him for that. He's an exceptional student. Just a good spirit on campus, at school. He took all of that to the field. He just worked really hard to get where he was at."
After a tough non-league schedule at the beginning of the 2009 season, the Pioneers entered league play 1-1-1 where they sent a message to Bicentennial Athletic League rivals Delco Christian by pinning a 2-0 loss on the Knights that sparked a five-game winning streak for Dock that was snapped by non-league foe Strath Haven on Sept. 26.
The Pioneers then beat New Hope-Solebury, 5-2, but followed up with an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Delco. Call it a wake up call, but after that, Clemens and company were on lockdown mode.
Although not the vocal leader of the team, Reichart said Clemens didn't shy away from challenging his teammates.
"Chad was definitely more of a body language kind of a leader," Reichart said. "A kid that would lead with actions rather than words."
But?
"If we were just playing down to our ability, he was the first to jump on us," Reichart said. "He saw the potential in our team."
After losing to Delco, the Pioneers won 13 straight en route to winning the state championship. Among the 13 wins, eight were shutouts, including six straight starting on Oct. 16 in a run where the Pioneers outscored their opponents 33-0.
"This final season, with him and Kevin, they locked it down pretty much," said Reichart, a forward and Dock's top goal scorer. "He takes on personal challenges with kids. He's not going to let a kid beat him. He's just a dog fighter is what it is. He's just going to fight until the end.
"I think that's one of the reasons our team had success, its starts with defense. Having Chad lock down the back with the other three kids, it gives you a sense of calmness. Not worrying about the counter attack."
The Pioneers cruised through the district playoffs and the first round of states. In the state quarterfinals they had to rally to beat Benton, 2-1, before impressively crushing Camp Hill, 3-0, to reach the final against Seton-La Salle. Against the Lions, Dock's defense only allowed three shots on goal.
On the big stage at Hersheypark Stadium, Clemens knew he had to bring his 'A' game against the battle-tested Rebels. And after 80 minutes of going all out, his career crescendoed into a dizzying series of joyous notes.
"It didn't really register at first," said Clemens, who earned First Team All-League honors and won the team's Defensive Award in his final season. "It took a while for it to settle in that we had won the state championship. I was just in awe and disbelief, and it was just pure excitement out on the field.
"That was our goal right from the beginning was to win the triple crown, which is leagues, districts and states. We knew coming into it that we had a good shot at it, but we had to work hard toward it."
"He just exploded with emotion," Reichart said.
Like the harmony of the choir music he likes to sing, Clemens will remember Dock's famous run for one reason:
"I think I'll remember the team coming together and playing as a unit, and that is why we won the state championship because everyone meshed together and we worked together as a team, and we were able to achieve our highest goal," said Clemens.
He sure must love how that tune goes.
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