Reading High can’t keep up with high-scoring Phoenixville
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Josh Micsky — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
At first glance Reading High’s 41-16 season-opening loss to Phoenixville looks like a blowout.
That’s not the full story, according to Red Knights coach Troy Godinet.
“That score on the scoreboard doesn’t indicate where this game was,” he said. “We are literally three plays away from that game being totally different. We (just) have to finish.”
Reading, coming off a 1-9 season, had a handful of key opportunities to stay in contention and trailed just 28-16 heading into the final quarter. It saw some good chances on offense wasted and couldn’t get enough stops on defense to keep up with the Phantoms, who finished 8-4 last season.
Phoenixville’s Talon Romance threw three touchdowns and running back Deacon Williams rushed for 231 yards and scored three touchdowns, one on a 41-yard reception.
Reading led 8-7 early in the second quarter, quickly responding to the first touchdown by Phoenixville with a Gabriel Laws 3-yard touchdown run and an Alexis Alvarado conversion run.
The Red Knights were unable to keep pace with the Phantoms, who ran for 307 yards, passed for another 127 and piled up 20 first downs.
After a flurry of late first-half touchdowns Phoenixville led 14-8 and was in position to score again before the quarter break. On first down from their 14, the Red Knights got a good pass rush on Romance, who was flushed to his left and looked to fire a pass to the end zone.
His pass improbably found its way through at least one set of Red Knights defensive hands in the end zone and was caught by Kevin Kingsbury for 21-8 lead.
Using a quick huddle offense that propelled the Red Knights to their first touchdown, they drove to the Phoenixville 12 before Fritz was sacked, and time ran out in the half.
After giving up a 72-yard touchdown run on the third play of the third quarter, Reading put together its longest possession of the night, a 15-play, 79-yard drive that ended with a turnover on downs at the 1.
“That’s something we’ve got to get over.” said Godinet. “We lost two games on the 1-yard line last year. We have to finish those.”
The Red Knights did not lack for offense. They had a pair of 100-yard rushers, totaled 249 yards on the ground and moved the sticks 20 times, same as the Phantoms.
Quarterback Kayson Fritz led the team in rushing with 126 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
“Anytime I ran the ball, saw the hole, I was gone through it,” he said.
Fritz was not surprised to see the Red Knights move the ball so well.
“During the whole summer, we’ve been really successful in practice going through our plays,” he said. “We just came out and did it.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Phoenixville | 7 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 41 |
| Reading High | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 16 |
Scoring Summary
| 1 | Phoenixville | Lear, 32 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick) | 1:51 |
| 2 | Reading | Laws, 3 run (Alvarado run) | 11:14 |
| 2 | Phoenixville | D. Williams, 41 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick) | 6:07 |
| 2 | Phoenixville | Kingsbury, 14 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick) | 1:12 |
| 3 | Phoenixville | D. Williams, 72 run (Jacobson kick) | 10:35 |
| 3 | Reading | Fritz, 10 run (Alvarado run) | 1:12 |
| 4 | Phoenixville | D. Williams, 33 run (pass failed) | 10:16 |
| 4 | Phoenixville | C. Howard, 19 run (Jacobson kick) | 4:18 |
Team statistics
| Phoenixville | Reading High | |
| First downs | 20 | 20 |
| Rushes-yards | 44-307 | 48-249 |
| Passing yards | 127 | 68 |
| Total yards | 434 | 317 |
| Passes | 5-8-0 | 4-14-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 3-1 |
| Punts-average | 3-39.0 | 4-27.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 9-64 | 8-74 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Phoenixville: D. Williams 30-231, C. Howard 5-33, Romance 4-33, Kingsbury 2-12, Zackzkiewicz 1-2, Cooper 2-(-4).
Reading High: Fritz 20-126, Alvarado 17-107, Laws 6-23, K. Blanding 1-11, Weaver 2-1, Plylaharn 2-(-19).
PASSING
Phoenixville: Romance 5-8-0-130.
Reading High: Fritz 4-12-0-68, Plylaharn 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING
Phoenixville: Kingsbury 2-31, D. Williams 1-41, Lear 1-32, Mull Jr. 1-14.
Reading High: Santos 1-39, Beatty 1-31, K. Blanding 1-1, Sheriff 1-(-3).
