Gritty Saints beat Cougars to the punch, claim fourth straight win
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
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By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
Berks Catholic linebacker Coy Koller understands Kutztown’s offensive philosophy.
“They just want to punch it down your throats,” he said of the Cougars, who lead the Lancaster-Lebanon League in rushing and are known for their long, punishing drives.
| Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 31 |
| Kutztown | 7 |
The upset-minded Cougars were at it again Saturday, challenging the Section 5-leading Saints with their bevy of hard-running backs and no-surrender mentality.
Four plays into the game the Cougars converted on fourth-and-2 from their own 28.
“They are hard to play against,” admitted Berks Catholic coach Dave Stahler.
The Cougars kept pushing for four quarters. They went for it almost every time they faced fourth down. They challenged the Saints to stop them.
The Saints did.
“We came up with the stops when we had to,” said Koller after the Saints defense turned back the Cougars repeatedly in a 31-7 Section 5 win at Kutztown.
The Cougars (0-4, 1-6) went for it seven times on fourth down; the Saints (4-0, 5-2) successfully met that challenge the final six times.
The biggest play of the came late in third quarter, after Kutztown’s Mason Sherry ran for a first down to the 15. The Cougars trailed 17-7; a touchdown would’ve put the pressure on the Saints, who are fighting for their first Section 5 championship. They couldn’t afford to slip up against the last-place team.
A second-down holding call put the Cougars behind the sticks. Wyatt Stoess’ 9-yard completion to Ryan Walters on third down gave them a chance to score. On fourth-and-6 from the 11 Sherry, one of the most punishing backs in the section, went right on a sweep.
Koller read it the entire way.
“I thought (Sherry) was going to get the ball there,” Koller said. “I chased him down. There was no one in front of me to block (me), so I made the tackle. I was pretty happy with that.”
Koller closed off the edge and pushed Sherry further to the outside. Defensive back Mason Mace closed quickly. Together that Saints duo took Sherry down and halted the threat.
“I thought we strung it out (well),” Stahler said of the play. “That was a team defensive play. Our D-line spilled it outside, the outside guys set the edge and everybody was able to run to it. That’s the way defense is supposed to work.”
The win will go down as perhaps the Saints’ best defensive effort of the season. Yes, they shut out Pequea Valley and held both the Braves and Lancaster to fewer total yards. Stopping Kutztown is a whole different ballgame.
A week ago the Cougars ran it 54 times for 427 yards against Annville-Cleona, the team that shares first place with Berks Catholic. A couple weeks earlier they piled up 405 rushing yards against Schuylkill Valley. Early in the season they ran it a staggering 71 times and scored 66 points against York Tech.
“They do a great job of blocking,” Stahler said, “and they run it right at you.”
The Saints, as Kutztown coach Larry Chester said, play with “grit.” The Cougars run a tight formation and have big linemen who can bang. The Saints didn’t back down. Linebacker Ryan Spatz had seven tackles and broke up a pass. Tackle Damoni Daglas had five tackles, one for loss. Mace was in on six stops. Defensive end Faith Judie had five tackles and partially blocked a punt. There were a lot of hats on the ball on most plays.
| SECTION 5 | League | Overall |
| Ann.-Cleona | 4-0 | 6-1 |
| Berks Cath. | 4-0 | 5-2 |
| Sch. Valley | 3-1 | 4-3 |
| Columbia | 2-2 | 3-4 |
| Lanc. Cath. | 1-3 | 3-4 |
| Hamburg | 1-3 | 2-5 |
| Pequea Valley | 1-3 | 3-4 |
| Kutztown | 0-4 | 1-6 |
Through six games Kutztown averaged a league-high 393 rushing yards per game; it finished with 145 on 44 tries Saturday.
In fact, the defense earned another shutout. Kutztown’s only points came in the final minute of the first half when Ryan Walters jumped a sideline route and went 53 yards for a Pick-Six.
That great defensive work would’ve been for naught had junior halfback Jeremiah Camara not come up with a career performance. In his first start he rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s a tough runner,” Stahler said. “He has great balance; he has good vision. He’s starting to run away from people. It was fun to watch him get to be himself a little bit.”
Camara, who joined the Saints just days before season began after transferring from Reading High, got his first start in the backfield. He was filling in for dynamic senior halfback Owen Schalk, who got dinged up in last week’s win over Schuylkill Valley.
The Saints struggled to put points on the board against the Cougars; they led just 10-7 at the half. Camara kept bailing them out with big runs, including a 75-yard breakaway that set up Alex Reali’s short field goal seconds before halftime.
Camara scored on runs of 33, 2 and 17, the last two coming in the final nine minutes to break open a tight game.
“I feel like my line carried it for us,” Camara said. “(They) opened it up for me, so I was able to read my blockers and get downfield. I thank my line for that.
“Owen went down, so I knew I had to step it up. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to fill his role, because he’s been doing a good job running the ball for us.”
It’ll go down as another frustrating loss for the Cougars, who have pushed their Section 5 rivals to the limit but have yet to come up with a league win. They lost to Annville-Cleona 42-39 last week, Hamburg 21-20 the week before and Schuylkill Valley 35-28 in Week 4.
They were down just 10 points entering the final quarter Saturday but could never get one of their backs past the first level.
“We have some talented backs,” Chester said. “If you give them a crease, like we’ve been doing all year, that’s an opportunity for us to do well. We tried to match ’em (up front), but we couldn’t match ’em as long as the game lasted.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 31 |
| Kutztown | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Camara, 33 run (Reali kick) | 5:47 |
| 2 | Kutztown | Walters, 53 interception return (Moriarty kick) | 0:37 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Reali, 24 FG | 2.1 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Sauppee, 1 run (Reali kick) | 8:58 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Camara, 2 run (Reali kick) | 8:58 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Camara, 17 run (Reali kick) | 3:15 |
Team statistics
| BERKS CATHOLIC | KUTZTOWN | |
| First downs | 12 | 10 |
| Rushes-yards | 41-310 | 44-145 |
| Passing yards | 31 | 22 |
| Total yards | 341 | 167 |
| Passes | 1-4-1 | 3-7-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-28.0 | 1-23.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-60 | 2-15 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks Catholic: Camara 17-241, Koller 10-38, Curley 3-24, Gerald 5-11, Sauppee 2-2, Harter 1-(-3), Team 3-(-3).
Kutztown: Sherry 17-64, Walters 12-36, Bahr 10-30, Stoess 3-10, Renninger 1-3, Amato 1-2.
PASSING
Berks Catholic: Sauppee 1-3-0–31, Harter 0-1-1–0.
Kutztown: Stoess 3-7-1–22.
RECEIVING
Berks Catholic: Turman 1-31.
Kutztown: Walters 3-22.
INTERCEPTIONS
Berks Catholic: Curley.
Kutztown: Walters.
These photos and others from the game can be purchased from PhilMarPhoto.
