23 numbers to wrap up the 2023 Berks football season
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
1
Football titles by Schuylkill Valley.
The Panthers went without a championship of any kind over their first 50 seasons. They shared the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 title this season with Lancaster Catholic and Annville-Cleona, each finishing 6-1 in the league.
3
(PhilMarPhoto)
Consecutive 1,000-yard passing seasons, by Twin Valley’s Evan Myers.
Myers, a junior, has a chance to be just the second Berks passer to throw for 1,000 yards in four straight seasons. The first? That would be Chad Henne, who threw for 1,835 yards as a freshman in 2000.
Myers is the 11th Berks passer with three straight 1,000-yard seasons; Mike Malinowski of Muhlenberg was the first, in 1988-90.
3
Consecutive winning seasons for Hamburg, a first for the program.
The Hawks went 6-5 this season after 9-3 and 7-4 finishes.
Second-year coach Matt Hoffert is just the third coach in the program’s 55 seasons to experience back-to-back winning records.
5
Consecutive District 3 Class 3A championships by Wyomissing, extending the Berks record it set last season.
The Spartans have won 11 straight district playoff games, tying Berks Catholic’s record; that’s the longest current streak in District 3.
Only two programs have won more than five consecutive District 3 championships: Manheim Central (10) and Bishop McDevitt (6).
9
Wins by Schuylkill Valley, a program record.
The Panthers had reached eight wins twice in their history, the last time in 2012. This year they recorded eight straight wins, setting another program record.
10
Wins by Twin Valley, a program record – by a lot.
Before this season the Raiders had never won more than seven games in a season. They had that many a week into October.
The win total includes a district playoff win over Elco, their second in as many years.
(PhilMarPhoto)
15
Receptions in a game, by Fleetwood’s Mason Musitano. That’s a program record and just two off the Berks record, which has been on the books for 48 years, since Boyertown’s Mike McHugh snagged 17 catches against Coatesville.
17
Interceptions by Schuylkill Valley, tops in Berks.
Eight different players picked off at least one pass, six had multiple picks.
19
Consecutive district playoff appearances by Wyomissing, the longest active streak among Berks team. The last time the Spartans missed was 2004.
The toughest part about keeping this streak alive was doing it in the COVID season, 2020, when playoff fields were truncated. That led to the end of lengthy streaks by Berks Catholic and Exeter.
Gov. Mifflin saw it’s 18-season streak stopped last year, when it finished 3-7.
After Wyomissing the longest current streak in Berks is three, by Exeter, Hamburg, Twin Valley and Wilson.
20
Exeter’s regular season winning streak, the longest in program history.
The Eagles won their final two games of 2021 before an extended playoff run, went 10-0 last year in the regular season and won their first eight games this season before a 34-27 loss at Conestoga Valley.
33
Seasons on the sidelines at Gov. Mifflin for Jeff Lang, who with long-time head coach Mick Vecchio built a Berks Football League dynasty that cranked out 14 Section 1 titles.
He was the head coach for seven seasons and such a respected offensive line coach during his first quarter-century with the Mustangs that he was elected to the BCFCA Hall of Fame, a rare honor for an assistant coach.
Lang was head coach when Mifflin won its first district championship in 2020 and when it rose to No. 1 in the state ranking for the first time the following season.
38
Seasons as a head coach by Rick Keeley, a Berks record.
The only football coach Berks Catholic has ever known officially ended his 60-year association with the game last month, leaving behind a legacy of fellowship, sportsmanship, and faith.
He won a few games, too; his teams claimed five district championship and he’s the only Berks football coach to take his teams to seven straight district finals.
He coached the Saints for 12 seasons, Holy Name for 23 seasons and Hamburg for three.
(Tim Macrina photo)
40
Wins by Wyomissing over the last three seasons, more than any Berks team over a three-year span.
For the first time in five years the Spartans lost a game before December; they fell at Cocalico in Week 8. They finished 12-2, which followed 13-1 and 15-1 finishes.
Wilson had the three-year record after going 39-4 from 2012-14.
The Spartans would have the record for four- and five-year spans if not for COVID-19, which cost them five wins in the 2020 season, when they played a five-game regular season due to the outbreak.
They’ve gone 49-5 the last four years; that’s two short of the four-year record. They’re 61-6 over the past five seasons; that’s two short of the five-year record.
41
Wyomissing’s regular season winning streak, the longest in Berks football history.
It began in 2019 and wasn’t snapped until a 34-14 loss at Cocalico in Week 7.
The longest previous streak was 30, by Wilson.
48
Consecutive winning seasons by Wilson, the longest streak in Pennsylvania.
The Bulldogs have strung together 60 straight non-losing seasons. Their last losing mark came in 1963. That was before the Beatles arrived in America and changed everything.
98
The longest scoring play in Berks this season, a run by Reading High’s Cameron Small against Red Lion.
362
Wins by Bob Wolfrum, most ever by a football coach in District 3 and second-most among active coaches in Pennsylvania.
His achievement was recognized by the Wyomissing School District when it renamed the Spartans home field in his honor.
Wolfrum’s winning percentage of .802 is sixth-highest in Pennsylvania history among coaches with 300 or more wins.
415
Passing yards by Jack Riffle in Fleetwood’s wild 42-41 overtime victory at Shamokin in the Eastern Conference Class 4A championship game.
The senior completed a program-record 26 passes, attempted a program-record 49 passes and wasn’t intercepted in recording just the fifth 400-yard passing game in Berks history.
600
Just 10 years after winning its 500th game Wilson reached 600 with a 47-20 victory over McCaskey.
Wilson became just the fourth program in District 3 to reach the milestone, joining Steel-High, Bishop McDevitt, Middletown, and Manheim Central, which got there just the week before.
619
Total yards Twin Valley, a program-record, in its season-opening 44-13 win over Schuylkill Valley.
Evan Johnson ran for 278 yards and Drew Engle for 192 yards. The Raiders piled up 479 yards on the ground and another 140 through the air.
The only thing that stopped them from getting more were four lost fumbles.
1,006
Passing yards by Hamburg’s Tyler Shuey in his first three starts, most ever by a Berks quarterback.
Shuey became the first Berks quarterback to throw for 300 or more yards in three consecutive games when he opened the season with 356 yards against Halifax and followed with 303 vs. Warrior Run and 347 against Fairfield.
2,688
Combined rushing yards by Twin Valley’s Drew Engle and Evan Johnson, most ever by a Berks running back tandem and second-most ever by teammates in the same season.
Engle, a sophomore, ran for a program-record 1,599 yards. Johnson, a junior, ran for 1,089 yards, despite a late-season injury that curtained his touches over the final month of the season.
The amazing thing is that they piled up that many yards essentially sharing the tailback spot; they rotated in by series throughout much of the season.
2,762
Passing yards by Hamburg’s Tyler Shuey, the most ever by a Berks junior and second-most ever in Berks history.
Shuey passed for over 1,000 yards in his first three starts and became just the second quarterback in Berks history to throw for 2,000 yards in the regular season, joining Daniel Boone’s Jon Monteiro.
He set program records for completions, passing yards and TD passes in a season.
