Bulldogs’ Madyx Gruber picks apart Mustangs with five-TD performance

By Mike Drago Last updated Sep 29, 2024

Wilson’s Madyx Gruber. (Jeremy Drey photo)

2024 Berks football coverage presented by

Utilities Employees Credit Union

By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Madyx Gruber threw an interception in the red zone on Wilson’s first possession Friday night.

“I always tell myself to not put my head down,” Gruber said. “Because that’s when the whole game goes down. I just had to make the next play.”

Gruber made the next play. And the next play. And the next.

He passed for 232 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 204 yards as Wilson defeated backyard rival Gov. Mifflin 43-20 Friday night in a non-league game in Shillington.

“It’s always fun to play your rivals,” Gruber said. “It’s a war, so I always look forward to it. It was super-fun.”

Gruber’s five TD passes matched a program record shared by Chad Henne and Eric Hetrich.

“It just feels amazing,” Gruber said. “Especially to do it with this group of guys. We knew this whole season that no one expected us to be good, but we came out fired up.”

The Bulldogs (5-1) went five-wide right away to try and spread out the bulk along the Mustangs’ defensive line. They’d motion a player into the backfield to block on designed quarterback draws and Gruber used his athleticism to gash the Mustangs for large gains.

“We knew that if we spread it out, it gave me a good chance to run it up the middle and then bounce to the outside and get some points on the board,” Gruber said.

He didn’t score with his legs but had runs of 61, 41, 18, 16, 15, 14, and 13 yards. The threat of his running opened up the screen passing game and once the run-heavy Mustangs (3-3) fell behind, they couldn’t catch up.

Bulldogs hold aloft the Gurski/Linn Trophy Friday in Shillington. (Jeremy Drey photo)

Gruber hit Jaiden Carpenter for a 21-yard score on a screen pass with 1:58 left in the first quarter.

Grady Garner, the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s leading touchdown scorer and fourth-leading rusher coming into the game, answered with a 38-yard run for Gov. Mifflin just 46 seconds into the second quarter after the Mustangs were set up with a short field.

Wilson punter Christo Hunsicker couldn’t handle the snap on the Bulldogs’ next drive and he had to fall on it — taking the turnover on downs — as Mifflin defensive lineman Ismael Vargas was bearing down on him at the 12.

Two plays later, Mifflin quarterback Javien Pletz scored on a 10-yard run to take a 14-7 lead and the Mustangs’ recipe for victory appeared to be in effect: get an early lead, win the turnover battle, and pound the rock.

But Wilson embarked on a long 10-play, 86-yard drive finished with a 4-yard TD from Gruber to Monty Greer, converted a 2-point conversion after a Mifflin penalty moved the ball to the 1, and the momentum shifted in the Bulldogs’ favor.

The Mustangs punted on their next drive and Wilson went 70 yards in five plays as Gruber hit Correll Akings for a contested 10-yard TD grab with 16.7 seconds left before halftime to give the Bulldogs a 22-14 lead.

The Mustangs received the ball to start the second half and needed to steal momentum back. Their first drive consisted of a 4-yard loss, incompletion, false start, incompletion, punt.

Gruber hit Carpenter for a nearly identical screen-pass touchdown as the first, this time from 29 yards, and Wilson went ahead 29-14 with 8:14 left in the third quarter.

The two-score deficit made it difficult for the run-oriented Mustangs to catch up.

A huge key for Wilson coming into the game was limiting the Mustangs’ rushing offense, which was No. 4 in the league, and Garner.

Other than his 21-yard run late in the third quarter, the Bulldogs did not allow a run to the Mustangs’ bruiser longer than 10 yards. Garner finished the game with 127 rushing yards and averaged 5.5 yards per carry, both below his lofty season averages.

“We knew he was a hard runner, so we had to stay lower than their offensive line,” Wilson senior defensive lineman Junior Catul said. “Stuff the holes and stop the run. I love playing games like these where I can get low, get into the offensive line, blow them back, and let the linebackers run free.”

Wilson sophomore linebacker EJ Brownback had nine tackles, two for loss, and a sack.

Pletz broke free for a 45-yard TD run and pulled Mifflin within striking distance at 29-20 with 6:09 left in the third.

Wilson answered with Gruber’s 17-yard TD strike to Brady Kline with 3:37 left and Akings’ 46-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:50 left in the quarter.

Mifflin drove deep into Wilson territory at the end of the third quarter, but Kline recovered a Garner fumble for the Bulldogs.

Who was the player to force that fumble? Gruber, who atoned for his early interception by forcing a turnover on defense. As if anyone even remembered his interception by that point.

Bulldogs Cam Zullinger tries to wrap up Grady Garner. (Jeremy Drey photo)

	1	2	3	4	Final
Wilson	7	15	21	0	43
Gov. Mifflin	0	14	6	0	20

Scoring summary

1	Wilson	Carpenter, 21 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick)	1:28
2	Gov. Mifflin	Garner, 38 run (Koenig kick)	11:14
2	Gov. Mifflin	Pletz, 10 run (Koenig kick)	8:52
2	Wilson	Greer, 4 pass from Gruber (Gruber pass to Hunsicker)	4:05
2	Wilson	Akings, 10 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick)	0:16
3	Wilson	Carpenter, 29 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick)	8:35
3	Gov. Mifflin	Pletz, 45 run (Pletz run failed)	6:09
3	Wilson	Kline, 17 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick)	3:37
3	Wilson	Akings, 46 interception return (Hunsicker kick)	2:50

Team statistics

	Wilson	Gov. Mifflin
First downs	26	11
Rushes-yards	38-300	32-219
Passing yards	232	24
Total yards	532	243
Passes	15-20-1	1-7-1
Fumbles-lost	1-0	1-1
Punts-average	1-28	4-43.5
Penalties-yards	11-120	9-70