Undermanned Berks-Lebanon squad proud of effort in Tri-County All-Star Game loss
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MANHEIM – In his final game with Fleetwood, Jack Riffle and his teammates trailed Shamokin by three touchdowns at the half. They rallied for a thrilling overtime victory.
The Tigers quarterback was thinking about that at halftime Friday as the Berks-Lebanon senior stars faced a similar deficit in the 22nd annual Tri-County All-Star Game.
“The message (at halftime) was come out and win the (second) half,” Riffle said.
The undermanned Berks-Lebanon stars played much better in the second half, nearly doubling Lancaster in total yards, but couldn’t turn that production into points in a 35-0 loss at Manheim Central’s Rettew Stadium.
“That was a really good ballclub over there,” Riffle said, nodding to a Lancaster squad stuffed with All-State picks. “It didn’t turn out in our favor but I know everyone on this team played their hearts out and I’m proud of them.”
The Berks-Lebanon stars didn’t suffer from a lack of effort, that’s for sure. They battled the whole way despite falling behind quickly.
Lancaster took advantage of its speed advantage and its outstanding quarterback play, pulling off huge gainers on its early possessions.
Lancaster rotated a pair of All-State picks at quarterback: Manheim Central’s Zac Hahn and Garden Spot’s Kye Harting.
Hahn threw a 43-yard strike on the third play of the game and ended the first possession with a 9-yard TD pass to his All-State teammate, tight end Bode Sipel.
Harting took Lancaster to the end zone on its next possession, throwing a pair of 40-yard passes, the second for a TD to Lampeter-Strasburg’s Dean Herr.
It was 21-0 at the half but Berks-Lebanon squad continued to compete.
“I’m gonna play football, regardless (of the score),” said Berks-Lebanon MVP Sevon Parham of Conrad Weiser, who had several strong kickoff returns and rushed for a game-high 66 yards. “I had a point to prove.”
The Berks-Lebanon offense managed just one first down in the first half but it put together several impressive drives in the second half.
Riffle hit a couple of short passes and Fleetwood’s Czion Brickle ran 13 yards to a first down to the 20. On the next play Siple stepped in front of a pass at the 13 and took it all the way to the house for a Pick-Six and 28-0 lead.
It was Lancaster’s second interception of the game.
Parham’s 22-yard kickoff return midway through the final quarter sparked Berks-Lebanon’s best drive. Riffle found Hamburg tight end Mason Semmel for gains of 28 and 12 yards, moving the ball to the 31, and Parham broke off a 24-yard run to the 7 with two minutes left.
Three inside runs moved the ball to the 2 before a personal foul penalty pushed Berks-Lebanon 15 yards back. Riffle’s fourth-down pass to Semmel in the end zone fell just short.
“The idea was keep driving the ball down the field, we’ll get it in the end zone eventually,” said Semmel, the only All-State pick on the Berks-Lebanon roster. “It stunk that I couldn’t get in but I was just hoping that one of us could get a score.”
The Berks-Lebanon squad was hurt by the fact that two of the league’s strongest teams, Wilson and Cedar Crest, did not have any players participate. Neither did Gov. Mifflin or Kutztown. Exeter and Wyomissing, the District 3 Class 3A champ, each had just one player on the roster.
The Lancaster squad was minus some of its county’s best players, what with four players unavailable because of their participation in Sunday’s Big 33 Classic. Still, the field was tilted heavily toward the home team.
“They have a really good team over there, and we knew that,” said Hamburg coach Matt Hoffert, the head coach for Berks-Lebanon. “We knew we were a little undermanned but these guys weren’t afraid. They were going to do what they could to win this game; it just didn’t work out in their favor.”
“We put in as much as we had,” Semmel said. “A lot of us were fighting, playing both sides, playing positions we’ve never played before. I’m really proud of the guys and how we all worked together; we really meshed. I thought we did a good job for (having) just four practices.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks-Lebanon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lancaster | 14 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Lancaster | Bode Sipel, 9 pass from Zac Hahn (Drew Greiner kick) | 8:23 |
| 1 | Lancaster | Dean Herr, 40 pass from Kye Harting (Drew Greiner kick) | 0:51 |
| 2 | Lancaster | Bryce Armold, 7 run (Drew Greiner kick) | 6:08 |
| 3 | Lancaster | Bode Sipel, 87 interception return (Drew Greiner kick) | 0:48 |
| 4 | Lancaster | Aaryn Longenecker, 15 pass from Zac Hahn (Drew Greiner kick) | 7:04 |
Team statistics
| Berks-Lebanon | Lancaster | |
| First downs | 10 | 11 |
| Rushes-yards | 22-123 | 14-42 |
| Passing yards | 66 | 241 |
| Total yards | 189 | 283 |
| Passes | 8-23-2 | 11-16-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 4-37.0 | 3-38.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 8-61 | 6-65 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks-Lebanon: Sevon Parham 7-66, Czion Brickle 9-57, Kyle Koennecke 2-4, Jack Riffle 1-4, Will Hess 3-(-8).
Lancaster: Eli Cunningham 4-23, Kye Harting 3-12, Bryce Armold 3-8, Sam Steffey 2-0, Saquan Shakespeare 1-(-1).
PASSING
Berks-Lebanon: Jack Riffle 8-23-2–66.
Lancaster: Zac Hahn 7-11-0–134, Kye Harting 4-5-0–107.
RECEIVING
Berks-Lebanon: Mason Semmel 3-51, Mason Musitano 3-17, Will Hess 1-14, Manuel Cordero 1-(-14).
Lancaster: Aaryn Longenecker 5-42, Quintin Pfautz 2-91, Dean Herr 2-80, Angel Collazo 1-19, Bode Sipel 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS
Lancaster: Sonny Callahan, Bode Sipel.
