Overtime loss won’t diminish Schuylkill Valley’s rise to the top
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
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Trinity 20, Schuylkill Valley 17 (OT)
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
CAMP HILL — The tears were flowing after Schuylkill Valley fell to Trinity 20-17 in overtime Friday night at COBO Field with a spot in the District 3 Class 3A championship game at stake.
One reason for those tears was the brutal nature of a three-point overtime loss in a playoff game and the constant wondering of what could’ve been done differently to change the outcome.
The main reason for those tears was a senior class and legendary coach, who came to Schuylkill Valley when those players were freshmen, realizing they’ve taken the field for the last time together after winning back-to-back Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 championships.
That’s unprecedented in Leesport.
“This senior class, we started a program here at SV,” senior tight Luke Spotts said. “SV was never a football school. These past four years, it has meant everything to us. We created a winning program.”
The Panthers season ends at 9-3 for the second consecutive season, the two best records the program has ever had. Schuylkill Valley had never won any championship before last season. It had gone to the district semifinals twice prior to last season. For a program that started in 1968 and now only has 13 winning seasons, these past two should be cherished.
Once the tears dry, the record-breaking (and setting) senior class will be able to look back fondly at their success. Whether that’s seeing Logan Nawrocki’s name at or near the top of many passing records in Berks and throwing to a slew of playmakers, such as Dillon Lackner, Kowen Gerner, John Kowalski, Spotts, and Cooper Hohenadel, or recognizing they won more district playoff games (two) than the school had in its entire history (one).
“When we came in our ninth grade year, we knew we had everything,” Spotts said. “We knew we had a quarterback and skill players. We just had to trust the process. We bought into everything and worked hard every day in practice. It showed in the games.”
The gut-wrenching conclusion came Friday night when Mason Boyer hit Christian Joy for a 16-yard touchdown pass to give second-seeded Trinity (9-2) the victory over the third-seeded Panthers (9-3).
The Panthers’ first possession of overtime resulted in a sack and two incompletions. They settled for a 29-yard field goal from Reese Wamsher and banked on their defense to keep the Shamrocks out of the end zone.
After a holding call backed the Shamrocks up to the 16-yard-line on third down, Joy caught the ball on a crossing route in the middle of the field and powered his way into the end zone to advance Trinity to the district title game, where it will face top-seeded Bermudian Springs, which defeated Berks Catholic 42-25.
It’s the third consecutive appearance in the district championship for Trinity, a surprise team this season after Penn State commit Messiah Mickens transferred to Harrisburg before the season and head coach Jordan Hill resigned to take a position with the Penn State football program.
Coming off a 55-point barrage in a quarterfinal win over Littlestown, Schuylkill Valley’s high-powered offense didn’t score a touchdown in the first half. The Panthers had their lowest point total since scoring 10 in a loss to Fleetwood in early September.
The Shamrocks scored on a 32-yard touchdown run by Jacob Ness on the fourth play of the game following three consecutive false starts.
Logan Cammauf returned a fumble 16 yards for a touchdown after the snap went over Boyer’s head to keep the Panthers in it.
The Shamrocks responded with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Boyer to Amil Way two plays later to make it 14-7 with 2:05 left before halftime.
Schuylkill Valley recovered another Trinity fumble in the beginning of the third quarter before Nawrocki hit Spotts for a 16-yard touchdown to tie the game with 7:33 left.
The touchdown pass placed Nawrocki alone atop the Berks single-season passing touchdowns list with 35, passing Jon Monteiro. Nawrocki also became just the sixth Berks quarterback to pass for over 5,000 yards in his career and passed Conrad Weiser’s Logan Klitsch for No. 3 on the single-season passing yards list.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Final | |
| Schuylkill Valley | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| Trinity | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 20 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Trinity | Ness, 32 run (Finegan kick) | 9:24 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Cammauf, 16 fumble return (Wamsher kick) | 2:44 |
| 2 | Trinity | Way, 43 pass from Boyer (Finegan kick) | 2:05 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Spotts, 16 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 7:33 |
| OT | Schuylkill Valley | Wamsher, 29 FG | |
| OT | Trinity | Joy, 16 pass from Boyer |
Team statistics
| Schuylkill Valley | Trinity | |
| First downs | 14 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 28-71 | 30-110 |
| Passing yards | 130 | 198 |
| Total yards | 201 | 308 |
| Passes | 17-30-0 | 17-26-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 3-2 |
| Punts-average | 6-30.8 | 3-37.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-50 | 12-110 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Schuylkill Valley: Cammauf 13-53, Hohenadel 6-19, Nawrocki 6-14, Pyle 2-(-3), Team 1-(-12).
Trinity: Ness 8-61, Joy 15-46, Boyer 6-19, Team 1-(-16).
PASSING
Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 17-28-0—130, Team 0-2-0—0.
Trinity: Boyer 16-25-0—175, Joy 1-1-0—23.
RECEIVING
Schuylkill Valley: Hohenadel 5-32, Spotts 4-39, Kowalski 3-16, Lackner 2-20, Gerner 1-11, Gehret 1-8, Pyle 1-4.
Trinity: Way 6-71, Yeager 4-66, Joy 4-46, Jarzynski 3-15.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Schuylkill Valley: Wamsher 33.
Trinity: Finegan 22.
