Exeter stuns Gov. Mifflin, wins first District 3 championship

Exeter pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Berks football history Friday, knocking off top-ranked Gov. Mifflin 31-28 in the District 3 Class 5A championship game at Mifflin Stadium.

The game came seven weeks after the Eagles lost to the Mustangs by 33 points in a Berks Football League Section 1 game at Don Thomas Stadium.

Exeter (10-3) advances to the PIAA semifinals next week against the District 7 champ, either Moon or Penn-Trafford; those teams play Saturday night.Gov. Mifflin advanced to the state semifinals last season, losing to eventual state champ Pine-Richland, 48-44.

The Mustangs (10-1), ranked No. 1 in the state for more than three months, fell short of a second straight district championship.

Exeter took the lead for good when Eric Nangle broke out of a pileup at the line on fourth-and-1 and went 31 yards for a TD with 9:15 remaining, making it 31-28. Nangle appered to be stopped on the play but kept pushing through.

“I just kept my legs running, the line kept pushing, that was a team effort, and then it just broke free,” he said. “Yeah, they had me for a little bit . . . but they didn’t have Exeter. We pushed through, the whole team did.”

Nangle finished with 221 yards on 40 carries, 20 in each half. The Eagles finished with 397 yards and 21 first downs, and ran 68 plays.

Gov. Mifflin’s Nick Singleton was held to 40 yards on just eight carries, the first time all season the Berks Player of the Year was held under 100 yards. He had just one carry in the second half. He scored a pair of touchdowns.

“We knew if we could control the line of scrimmage and control the clock, we’d have a chance,” said Exeter coach Matt Bauer. “The kids believed in that.”

The Mustangs took their first lead at 28-21 on Eden Johnson’s 28-yard run midway through the second half, Mifflin’s second score in two possessions in the half.

The Eagles appeared to going in for the tying score when Ty Yocum dove to the 1, but a motion penalty pushed them back 5 yards and Singleton broke up a pass in the end zone on third down. Exeter settled for a Mike Moser field goal that cut the lead to 28-24 with 10:53 remaining.

Exeter got the ball right back after that when Mifflin fumbled the kickoff at its own 40. Four plays later Nangle broke away for the go-ahead score.

“We’ve been clicking ever since the playoffs started,” said quarterback Colin Payne, who withstood a heavy rush and threw thre touchdown passes. “We knew what we were capable of, and we showed up tonight.”

The Mustangs were on the ropes midway through the second quarter when Nangle took a short swing pass and weaved his way 33 yards to the end zone, giving Exeter a 21-7 lead.

It was the first time this season Mifflin had been down by more than seven points. Until last week, when Spring Grove scored the first touchdown of the game, the Mustangs hadn’t trailed all season.

The Mustangs answered with an 11-play scoring drive, cutting the lead to 21-14 when quarterback Eden Johnson sprinted out of the pocket and scored from the 9. The key play on the drive came on fourth-and-3 at the Exeter 46. Singleton patiently worke his way around the right edge for a 14-yard gain.

Exeter opened the game crisply, taking the opening kickoff and moving 65 yards to go up 7-0. Nangle took advantage of a big push up front from his offensive line, setting up Colin Payne’s 4-yard toss to Joey Schlaffer for the TD.

It took Mifflin just two plays to tie it, the second a 51-yard reception by Singleton, who snuck out of the backfield uncovered.

Exeter used the same formula to go up 14-7, with Nangle running behind the moving pile and Payne finishing it with a pass to Schlaffer, this time from 15 yards out to make it 14-7.

A rare Mifflin turnover set the Eagles up for a two-touchdown advantage, as they took over at the Mustangs’ 32. It took just three plays for Nangle to get loose and make it 21-7.

The Eagles ran nearly twice as many plays in the first half (35 to 18) and had more than twice as many total yards (240 to 118). Exeter had 14 first downs in the first half.