20 significant numbers to take away from the 2022 Berks football season

1

Touchdowns allowed by Wyomissing in the first quarter over 14 games.

That score didn’t come until the Spartans’ 12th game when West Perry found the end zone on its first possession; the Spartans scored the next nine touchdowns.

They allowed 129 points, or 9.2 per game, lowest in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

2

Consecutive District 3 playoff appearances for Twin Valley, which didn’t qualify until its 25th season.

This year the Raiders earned their first home postseason game and their first playoff win, beating Milton Hershey 43-29.

3

That’s how many different Muhlenberg players returned kickoffs for touchdowns.

Jermicky Gumby took one back 91 yards against Daniel Boone — the longest of the season in Berks. Gio Cavanna returned one 90 yards against Lebanon — second-longest of the season. Freshman Michael Miller had an 80-yard return against Reading High.

5

The number of punts Wilson’s Cam Jones returned for touchdowns — easily a Berks record.

Making that number even more impressive is the fact that he did it on just six attempts.

Jones averaged 59.7 yards per return. No wonder no one wanted to kick to him.

6

Touchdowns in a game by Schuylkill Valley’s Dominic Giuffre, in a wild 44-41 loss to Lancaster Catholic in a season finale with the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 title on the line.

Giuffre scored on receptions of 25 and 50 yards and on runs of 7, 11, 8 and 21 yards to match the program record of six TDs, set by Ed Shuttleworth in 2014.

Three other times this season Giuffre scored four TDs in a game, including a win over Hamburg in the Frost Bowl when he crushed the program record with 302 rushing yards. He topped the previous mark by 41 yards.

9

Wins by Hamburg, second-most in program history and the most in 37 years.

The Hawks started 5-0, cracked the state’s Top 10 rankings in Class 3A and were a couple plays away from winning the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 title.

They qualified for the district playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time.

The Hawks averaged a Berks-leading 42.2 points per game, smashing the program record (34.5 in 2020).

The 16 wins in back-to-back seasons is also second-most in program history.

10.3

Yards-per-carry average for Hamburg’s Pierce Mason — second-best among backs in the Lancaster-Lebanon League with 50 or more carries. That number’s no fluke: Mason averaged 10.3 yards per carry as a junior and finished his career averaging 9.8 yards a pop.

Mason is one of just five Berks players to average 10 yards per carry in two different seasons (of 50 or more carries). He joins a pretty elite group: Nick Singleton, Issac Lutz, Cooper Lutz and Derek Gaul.

Mason’s 1,367 rushing yards are a program record, as are his 25 touchdowns, pretty big numbers when you realize his missed several games at midseason.

10.94

Charlie McIntyre’s yard-per-carry average. The Wyomissing senior rushed for 1,000 yards on less than 100 carries, which is pretty ridiculous. He was one of two Spartans to hit 1,000 yards — Matt Kramer was the other. Drew Eisenhower almost gave them a third; he finished with 884.

11

Catches in a game by Reading High’s Ruben Rodriguez, against McCaskey. That tied a program record set 46 years earlier by Mike Riley.

For a basketball player who hadn’t played much football in recent years Rodriguez turned out to be a revelation for the Red Knights. He earned Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 co-Receiver of the Year after pulling in 52 passes for 933 yards — third-most in the league after 10 games. He also had 12 TDs catches, third-most in program history

He matched a Red Knights record with four TD catches in a game, against McCaskey.

12

Wins by Exeter, a program-record and one more than the Eagles won in 2015 when they went 11-1.

With a 12-0 start the Eagles matched the longest winning streak in program history, dating to 1967-68.

Their 22 wins over back-to-back seasons is also a program-best, as is their 37-10 record over four seasons.

16

Number of interceptions by Exeter, a Berks-high.

Most impressive about that number is that 10 different players got at least one pick.

The biggest of them, of course, came in Week 10 when Nate Pashley picked off a pass in the end zone in the final seconds to preserve a 21-17 victory over previously unbeaten Manheim Central. That clinched the Section 2 title and completed a 10-0 regular season.

31

Touchdown catches for Exeter’s Joey Schlaffer, most in Berks history.

The Penn State recruit also set the Berks career record for receiving yards with 2,504.

He caught 15 or more passes in four straight seasons; his 122 career receptions rank sixth-best all-time in Berks.

35

Consecutive regular season wins by Wyomissing, the longest streak in Berks history.

The Spartans topped Wilson’s record of 30 straight with a Week 6 win over Donegal and kept going, recording a fourth straight perfect season.

47

Consecutive winning seasons by Wilson, the longest active streak in the state. The Bulldogs have been on the plus side every season after 1975, when they went 5-5 under John Gurski.

The streak has streched through head four coaches — Gurski, Gerry Slemmer, Jim Cantafio and, for the last 17 years, Doug Dahms. It has been in jeopardy just a few times, most recently in 2001 when the Bulldogs beat Gov. Mifflin 41-6 in Week 10 to finish 6-4.

Wilson has had 59 consecutive non-losing seasons, starting in 1964, Gurski’s first in West Lawn.

49

Wins by Wyomissing over the past four seasons, third-most in Berks history over a four-year stretch.

Wilson set the record, going 51-6 from 2011-14. Berks Catholic is next at 50-6.

Don’t forget, the Spartans saw five games scratched from their 2020 season due to COVID-19. They likely would’ve won them all, improving their four-year record from 54-4.

Wyomissing went 37-3 over the past three season, two wins short of the Berks record but with the highest winning percentage over any three-year span.

50

Seasons of football for Schuylkill Valley, which debuted at the varsity level in 1968, then suspended the program for five seasons from 1992-96 due to low numbers.

The Panthers’ golden anniversary season marked a return to the district playoffs for the first time in eight seasons.

They played for a share of the Section 5 title in the season finale, losing to Lancaster Catholic 44-41.

51

Field goal distance for Gov. Mifflin’s Jackson Schools, who set a program record with his kick in a 34-31 Week 7 loss to Conestoga Valley. That was the longest kick of the season in Berks and topped the program record of 45 yards, set by Brandon Snyder in 2008.

Schools hit a 33-yarder with 29 seconds left to give the Mustangs a 17-14 Week 3 win over Boyertown.

70

Consecutive league losses by Kutztown before beating Northern Lebanon 34-28 in Week 7.

The Cougars lost their final 67 league games in Section 2 of the Berks Football League and their first three in Section 5 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

It was their first league win since 2009.

Two weeks later the Cougars got another league win, beating Columbia 19-13.

Kutztown finished with three wins, matching its total over the five previous seasons.

85

Rushing allowed per game by Exeter, fewest in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

The Eagles held eight teams — including five straight at the end of the season — below 100 yards rushing. They held Section 1 champ Hempfield to minus-17 rushing yards (with the help of several sacks).

There’s a reason the Eagles had three defensive linemen — Kyle Lash, Anthony Caccese and Joey Reedy — and two linebackers — Lucas Palange and Jonathan Martin — named to the Section 2 all-league team.

350

Wins by Wyomissing’s Bob Wolfrum, second-most among active football coaches in Pennsylvania.

He’s the winningest coach in District 3 history after surpassing Manheim Central’s Mike Williams and now ranks No. 6 all-time in Pennsylvania history.

Southern Columbia’s Jim Roth, with 482 wins, is the only active coach in the state with more wins.