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They asked two kids to do something not many football players are anxious to do, much less high school quarterbacks.They wanted Kam Taylor and Talee Swinney to share the ball.Sharing?Most people braced for the swearing.See, Swinney was the starting quarterback for Meyers High School last season. Taylor started at GAR.They were the leaders of their respective teams, the ones other players turned to in times of turmoil, the guys coaches leaned on to make sure plays were run properly.They were the big guns.And suddenly, as they came together this year as players competing for the same position on one team, someone called an audible on them.If anything had the potential to blow up the notion that this new Wilkes-Barre Area sports jointure could work cohesively, this was it.&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t say it was difficult,&#8221; Swinney said of splitting the team&#8217;s quarterback duties with Taylor. &#8220;It was definitely different.&#8220;It&#8217;s not what I expected at all.&#8221;Neither was the first official sports season of the Wilkes-Barre Area Wolfpack, which meshed players from Coughlin, GAR and Meyers into one team this fall with hardly a problem at all.&#8220;At first, some people may have left the team because of the competition aspect,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;The players on the team now, we like to compete. You know, I&#8217;ve always wanted to see what all three schools could do together. There hasn&#8217;t really been any fighting. It&#8217;s been really fun.&#8221;Having a blast isn&#8217;t really what the naysayers had in mind for this new sports jointure.They predicted doom and gloom, jealousy and jostling, bitterness and bad behavior that would tear the Wolfpack sports teams apart.Instead, they developed a lasting bond.The first Wilkes-Barre Area field hockey team won the program&#8217;s first District 2 Class 3A title and played in its first state playoff game.&#8220;We all came together,&#8221; said senior Jolene Ulichney, who will go down in Wolfpack history after scoring the team&#8217;s first-ever regular season field hockey goal, first postseason goal and first goal of the state tournament.The Wilkes-Barre Area boys soccer team won the District 2 Class 4A championship last week and made it to states, also.And the Wolfpack football team advanced all the way to the District 2 Class 6A championship game, where it fought gallantly before falling 32-21 to heavily-favored Delaware Valley before finishing with a highly-successful 7-5 season.&#8220;To see three different sports doing it, I was definitely surprised,&#8221; Swinney said, insisting he welcomed the idea of bringing Meyers and Coughlin and GAR into one program. &#8220;I was always for it. You look at Hazleton (Area), Scranton all in one main school. It&#8217;s our time to have one big school. It&#8217;s bringing a lot of athletes together. We have three district title (appearances).&#8221;That&#8217;s three we probably wouldn&#8217;t have had without this.&#8221;They all had a chance to turn this whole idea sour, to stick to the idea of loyalty to their respective schools where they separately attend construction on the new Wilkes-Barre Area High School building is completed two years from now.But athletes who debuted in the inaugural season of the Wolfpack refused to build barriers or burn bridges in their quest for a future of hope.&#8220;This whole year, that has not been any issue at all,&#8221; Wilkes-Barre Area football coach Ciro Cinti said. &#8220;The kids, for the most part, knew each other. They do feel we are a family. That&#8217;s been our theme all year &#8212; &#8216;We are one.&#8217;&#8220;The issues have been practicing, with the busing.&#8221;Certainly, there have to be some issues with old school pride, right?GAR and Meyers engaged in an everlasting school rivalry, and Coughlin used to play both of them for city bragging rights pretty regularly at one time.&#8220;I have assistants who went to GAR, we always talk about that rivalry,&#8221; Cinti said. &#8220;But that was 40 years ago.&#8221;The GAR-Meyers rivalry is still very fresh on the minds of some people.Particularly, a couple write-in candidates who ran for the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board during this past week&#8217;s general election, while trying to form a new majority opposed to the city&#8217;s high school consolidation.&#8220;I could see why people may not like the idea,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;High school is supposed to be the best time of your life and some people are very loyal to their schools. But I mean, honestly, I think there are a lot of good reasons a new school should be built.&#8220;The people that don&#8217;t want it to be built, that&#8217;s their ego.&#8221;It&#8217;s interesting Taylor should mention ego, when he so selflessly put his aside to form a tandem with Swinney.&#8220;Overall, we both did well,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t care how many touchdowns I threw for, how many Talee threw for, how many he ran for, how many yards each other had. We weren&#8217;t keeping track. I don&#8217;t think our egos played into it at all. I didn&#8217;t care how much I was playing, or if I was even playing.&#8220;I just wanted to win.&#8221;For now, the winning stopped for Wilkes-Barre Area&#8217;s first set of sports programs.The fall season ended for the Wolfpack when the football team lost in the District 2 finals to Delaware Valley on Friday. But as far as players who are a part of the sports programs are concerned, the fall season was just the beginning of a bright future for Wilkes-Barre Area.Save our schools?Save a vote in there for a bunch of athletes who were not only willing to embrace major change, but make it work with the character of champions.&#8220;Sometimes,&#8221; Cinti said, &#8220;kids teach the adults.&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Paul Sokoloski covers area sports for the Times Leader. You may reach him at 570-991-6392, psokoloski@www.timesleader.com or on Twitter @SokoSports</shirttailMeta></div>

Paul Sokoloski: They came together to make Wilkes-Barre Area’s first sports season a success