Hard-nosed Scouts find path to early success starts with defense
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
MYERSTOWN — The Conrad Weiser Scouts still line up the same on defense as they did a year ago but they look like totally different right now.
They win the line of scrimmage, they fly to the football, and they tackle surely.
“Coach (Alan Moyer) has been telling us to get back to being us,” senior safety Evan Rittle after the Scouts pitched another strong defensive effort in a 31-7 non-league win over Elco Thursday. “We believe that’s hard-nosed football, just (come) right at ‘em. That’s what we focus on.”
The Scouts kept the Raiders on their heels throughout, forcing the action with some timely blitzes and wrapping up ballcarriers with strong open-field tackling.
The Scouts (2-0) allowed just 36 first-half yards and didn’t surrender a point until the final minutes, after the Raiders (0-2) picked off a pass at the Weiser 25.
They played just as well on defense last week in a 21-7 win over Abington.
“It feels good,” Moyer said of the strong start, “(but) it’s not by accident. These kids have worked their butts off to be where they are. Guys are just aggressive. They’re comfortable with what the defensive (coaches) are doing. And they’re playing without doing a lot of thinking.”
The Scouts got beat up last season when they finished 3-7. They finished last in Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League in rushing defense, total defense, and scoring defense. They held just one opponent below 28 points.
They’ve allowed just two TDs in two weeks. The one Thursday came in the final minutes, with the Scouts leading 31-0 and after the second-team offense turned it over deep in Weiser territory. Elco’s Zane Trostle took an option pitch from Steven Rosado and finished off a 13-yard scoring run with 2:08 remaining.
The Raiders didn’t get much else.
Rosado rarely had time to set up and throw and completed just 8-of-15 passes for 57 yards – nearly half of it on an early pass to Justin Smucker. Only three of his completions went for more than 6 yards as Rittle, cornerback Dylan Parr, and outside linebackers Jonathan McQuillen and Owen Kerns came up quickly to make tackles after the catch.
“He was taking shots back there,” Elco coach Bob Miller said of Rosado. “It’s a tough thing to deal with. Their defense was certainly coming at us.”
Rittle had an interception. Defensive tackle Eugene Booth had a strip sack that forced a turnover. McQuillen, Kerns, and defensive ends Ashton Kiebach and Mason Gechter each recorded tackles for loss.
Last season the Scouts allowed 252 rushing yards per game; through two games they’re allowing one-third as much.
“Our defense is very good,” McQuillen said. “After what happened to us the last two years, our defense is showing that we can step it up.”
Moyer credits Defensive Coordinator Dan Browne and defensive backs coach Ernie Woolf for the turnaround.
“Coach Browne and Coach Woolf have tirelessly worked since last year, and the kids have worked hard,” he said. “It’s no secret: We’re where we’re at now because these kids really bought in. They didn’t like losing. They wanted to do something about it, and they worked hard.”
The Scouts were just as good on offense Thursday, scoring on each of their first five possessions to lead 31-0 late in the third quarter.
Donovan Gingrich completed 9-of-11 passes for 127 yards in the first half and the Scouts took a 24-0 lead into halftime after Alex Malone’s 32-yard field goal in the final seconds.
Gingrich passed for the first score, a 4-yard toss to Rittle on fourth-and-goal to cap Weiser’s first possession.
Gingrich made it 14-0 three plays into the second quarter on a 6-yard run that saw him smash through two defenders at the goal line.
The first of Javien Rivera’s two TDs, from 5 yards out, made it 21-0 two minutes before halftime. Rivera, who finished with 82 yards on 11 carries, scored on a 5-yard run on Weiser’s first possession of the second half.
The Scouts punted just once, and not until early in the fourth quarter.
Conrad Weiser hasn’t been 2-0 since 2020, when it 6-0 in the Covid-shortened regular season.
Moyer played a lot of people last season because he was dealing with so many injuries. The experience gained by younger players is paying off now. With nine return starters on defense Moyer was expecting to see improvement there, and he has.
“The last few years, obviously, we took a beating,” said McQuillen. “With the experience we have, defense is definitely going to be a big part in our game.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Conrad Weiser | 7 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 31 |
| Elco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Conrad Weiser | Rittle, 4 pass from Gingrich (Malone kick) | 7:39 |
| 2 | Conrad Weiser | Gingrich, 6 run (Malone kick) | 10:25 |
| 2 | Conrad Weiser | Rivera, 5 run (Malone kick) | 2:03 |
| 3 | Conrad Weiser | Malone, 32 FG | 0:13 |
| 3 | Conrad Weiser | Rivera, 5 run (Malone kick) | 3:43 |
| 4 | Elco | Trostle, 13 run (Goodison kick) | 208 |
Team statistics
| CONRAD WEISER | ELCO | |
| First downs | 12 | 10 |
| Rushes-yards | 26-191 | 30-96 |
| Passing yards | 127 | 57 |
| Total yards | 318 | 153 |
| Passes | 9-13-1 | 8-15-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 1-6.0 | 3-24.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-40 | 5-33 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Conrad Weiser: Rivera 11-82, McQuillen 7-41, Gingrich 5-35, Sweitzer 2-11, Miller 2-7, Morgan 2-(-2), Kupper 1-(-2), Team 1-(-1).
Elco: Rosado 11-60, Trostle 3-17, Frederick 7-7, Donmoyer 2-5, Kreider 2-4, Yeiser 1-3, Gensamer 3-1, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING
Conrad Weiser: Gingrich 9-12-0–127, Sellars 0-1-1–0.
Elco: Rosado 8-15-1–57.
RECEIVING
Conrad Weiser: Rittle 5-42, Parr 2-66, DePrince 1-13, Leed 1-6.
Elco: Smucker 3-36, Pyszka 3-4, Boyer 1-11, Frederick 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS
Conrad Weiser: DePrince.
Elco: Fisher.
