RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lewisburg's Viktor Permyashkin (20) moves the ball past Midd-West's Connor Stolzfus (3) during the District 4 Class AA boys soccer championship match at Milton on Saturday. Lewisburg won 2-0.

Some programs strive to have a winning season and make playoff appearances and hope to continue to get better. For Lewisburg, the expectations each year are extremely high.

After all, when you have a championship pedigree program, there’s no settling for simply a playoff berth. Lewisburg expects every year to be in the district championship game and competing in states. Lewisburg lives and breathes a championship-caliber program.

“It’s a goal every time you walk into the season,” Lewisburg senior Viktor Permyashkin said with his district gold medal after beating Midd-West on Saturday, 2-0. “Every kid on the field wants to get their time and wants to win that. It’s becoming something that happens over the years. It’s not given, we know that every time we have a target on our back when we keep winning.”

It’s true as well. As former professional wrestler Ric Flair once said, to be the man you’ve got to beat the man and more times than not, teams don’t often beat Lewisburg. Especially in the postseason. And for the Green Dragon players, they love having that target on their backs.

“We enjoy the feeling and we want to keep having that target on our back every year,” Permyashkin said.

Lewisburg won the program’s first state championship in 2000. That lifted an already talented program to another level. After a run of four consecutive years falling in the District 4 Class AA championship from 1997-2000, the Green Dragons finally claimed their first district title in 2004.

That began the era of Lewisburg becoming the true gold standard in District 4.

Since that 2004 district banner, Lewisburg has claimed 16 championships, and this year will be the 18th state tournament appearance in 22 years. Oh, and three state championships as well in that span, including two which capped undefeated seasons.

“It’s a culture. There are three managers on our team right now that are living and breathing this. and our junior high team. Viktor, he goes down and leads all the young guys and all the young guys kind of believe in what we’re doing,” Lewisburg coach Ben Kettlewell said. “I would say it makes my job easier when the upper classmen are helping me do everything. I’m pleased. Success builds success.”

That it does. Lewisburg’s current players were in elementary school and watched players like Joey Bhangdia, Logan Cho, Tommy Bhangdia, Ben Liscum and Tony Burns win state championships. They knew that was the expectation when you put on a green and white Green Dragon uniform.

And now, those former kids are among the stars younger players are currently looking up to.

But while Lewisburg knows it’s an outstanding program and know they’re among the best teams in the state this year, they aren’t looking ahead. They’re focused on the next opponent and that’s it. That opponent is Lake Lehman on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m.

“All we’re promised is one more practice and one more game and that’s what we have to keep looking at. The guys were and they were focused on doing this,” Kettlewell said. “I’ve known a lot of these guys when they were little and looked up to those teams that were great before with Joey Bhangdia and Ben Liscum, all of those guys. That kind of helps this whole thing and they kind of establish some of that one-game-at-a-time mentality.”

One game at a time, one win at a time.