The summer has yielded some memorable highlights for this year’s Whitehall football team as they’ve made their mark in a number of passing camps as well as in the trenches where the lineman got to showcase their skills.

The team has participated in three passing camps, winning two of those competitions, while their offensive line claimed the championship at the Battle of the Hogs at Lansdale Catholic High School.

“It has been a great summer, it really has,” said head coach Brian Gilbert.

While the summer may be geared toward getting a team’s skill players lots of reps, Gilbert was probably more excited about the performance of his offensive line at the June 11 competition that saw his players compete in a variety of events to earn the distinction as Top Hogs.

Gilbert said that they were divided into teams of four that competed in monster tire flipping, a school bus push, bench press competition, a dumbbell relay, a sandbag-laden wheelbarrow race/relay, and a tug-of-war which closed out the competition.

Whitehall’s Hogs emerged as the best in the field, joining previous school winners from 2006 and 2012 as Top Hogs.

“It was a long, grueling day for our guys, but they won it,” said Gilbert.

They also competed in the Rutgers 7-on-7 Passing Camp that followed their win at Penn State. At the Rutgers camp, they were among 66 teams competing to see who would emerge from the pack as champions.

Gilbert said the format allowed for each team to play four games. Gilbert said it was a fierce competition, but they made the first cut, entering the sweet sixteen. From there, they advanced to the final four before losing in the semifinals to Sayreville High School.

Gilbert said that a notable win came against Don Bosco Prep, a perennial powerhouse who are currently the reigning New Jersey State champs. They beat them 28-0, putting them into the final four.

Their next college trip was to Lehigh where they entered the 7-on-7 competition as the reigning champs. In fact, they’ve won it the last three years and teams were looking to topple them from that perch.

They had to play Liberty and Delaware Valley Charter, two of the 26 teams that were looking to spoil their run, but Whitehall made it four in a row with another victory.

“They certainly made it tough on us,” said Gilbert. “But our kids persevered.”

Their Saturday competition at Goodman Stadium happened to coincide with the Stellar “Catch A Rising Star Basketball Showcase,” which saw a number of players pulling double duty for the maroon and gold. They wound up playing two basketball games following their afternoon of football at Lehigh, and then followed that by playing six games the next day.

“It was a real busy weekend for a lot of our guys,” he said. “Needless to say, I gave them Monday off.”

Gilbert said a number of players have made an impact this summer, including quarterback Zach Gilbert, who led the team to those two wins this season, along with that final four appearance. Under his leadership, they were 22-2 this summer.

“He’s had a really good summer,” said Gilbert.

Gilbert also said that Devin Martinez and Jackson Buskirk have consistently played outstanding football throughout the summer. In addition to those two players, Kasai Harrison, Ryan Klaugh, Tavion George and Dez Boykin, who was the MVP at the Penn State camp, have all made an impact this summer.

“We’ve had a bunch of kids step up this summer,” he said.

Gilbert was also encouraged by their participation throughout the summer. He said the effort they gave while competing was a good indication of what type of team they’ll be this year, noting that they did a lot of good thins leading up to their preseason.

Finally, Gilbert said that they’ll host their annual youth camp which begins the first week of August. He said that anyone interested in attending should contact him at 610-762-4125.