Berks Catholic receiver the only player to join exclusive 20/20 club in 2024
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Baseball’s 20/20 club is an exclusive one, despite how easy Shohei Ohtani made it look last season.
It takes a rare combination of power and speed to hit 20 or more homers and steal 20 or more bases in a season at the major league level. Superstars such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Alex Rodriguez did it often but many top players never achieve that combination.
The 20/20 club among Berks receivers is a small group, too. To average 20 or more yards per catch on 20 or more receptions in the same season doesn’t happen often.
Over the last half century fewer than 75 Berks players have made the list.
Just one joined the club last season: Berks Catholic’s Scott Duffy.
The Saints don’t traditionally throw the ball around much in their Wing-T offense but last year was an exception. They had, arguably, the deepest set of receivers in program history and they had a quarterback in Zach Suski who could get the ball to them.
Suski, in his first season as starting quarterback, threw for a program-record 1,638 yards and set a Berks record by completing 69.4 percent of his throws.
He spread the ball around a lot, finding four different receivers 17 times or more. None did more with the ball than the 6-1, 160-pound Duffy, a sprinter who had a team-leading six touchdowns catches and averaged 23.7 yards per reception.
Over the last 48 seasons only eight Berks receivers have averaged more on their 20-plus receptions.
The all-time leader – by a hair – is Holy Name’s Jared Heins, who averaged 27.33 yards on his 24 receptions in 2002. Just behind is Daniel Boone’s Pete Colon, who averaged 27.32 yards on 25 catches. Each, coincidentally, had 10 TD catches in those seasons.
Only two Berks players have averaged better than 20 yards on 50-plus catches – one a bit of a surprise because he also played in the run-oriented Wing-T, the other not surprising at all.
Wyomissing’s Nolan McCready had a season for the ages in 2001, averaging 22.6 on his 51 catches. He set the Berks single-season receiving record with 1,153 yards and became the first receiver in Berks history to go over 2,000 career yards.
Tony Hardy was one of Berks’ all-time greats and was the featured target in Reading High’s famed “Air Jet” attack. He averaged 20.7 yards on 50 receptions in 1991.
Only six others have averaged 20 yards or more on 40-plus catches. Schuylkill Valley’s Kowen Gerner tops that list: He averaged 20.3 yards on 48 receptions as a junior in 2023.
That exclusive club of 40/20 guys includes Schuylkill Valley’s Garrett Strobel in 2012 (45 catches; 20.0 average); Fleetwood’s Michael Allen in 2014 (44 catches; 21.9 average); Hamburg’s Mason Semmel in 2023 (43 catches, 20.6 average); Daniel Boone’s Ryan Okuniewski in 2016 (41 catches, 20.4 average); and Schuylkill Valley’s Michael Knowles in 2019 (40 catches, 21.1 average).
Available statistics date back to 1982, the first year the Reading Eagle published county-wide football stats.
The first recorded 20/20 season came in 1987, by Muhlenberg’s Matt Malinowski, though were likely earlier incidents.
Here’s a list of the highest averages for Berks players with 20 or more receptions in a season:
| Player | School | Season | Receptions | Avg. |
| Jared Heins | Holy Name | 2002 | 24 | 27.33 |
| Pete Colon | Daniel Boone | 2000 | 25 | 27.32 |
| Ajay Sczepkowski | Gov. Mifflin | 2016 | 20 | 26.5 |
| Patrick Fahey | Schuylkill Valley | 2007 | 21 | 25.9 |
| Josh Kline | Exeter | 2002 | 20 | 25.3 |
| Trey Freeman | Twin Valley | 2020 | 21 | 24.1 |
| Colin Naugle | Central Catholic | 2006 | 22 | 23.9 |
| Todd Bradburn | Wilson | 1989 | 26 | 23.9 |
| Bryce Stubler | Gov. Mifflin | 2017 | 20 | 24.5 |
| Scott Duffy | Berks Catholic | 2024 | 20 | 23.7 |
| Gabe Schappell | Exeter | 2014 | 27 | 23.5 |
| Jamie Albrecht | Holy Name | 1994 | 22 | 23.5 |
| Joey Schlaffer | Exeter | 2020 | 20 | 23.3 |
| Sean Early | Daniel Boone | 2003 | 35 | 23.3 |
| Brian McCarty | Wilson | 1989 | 36 | 23.3 |
| Mark Rozzi | Muhlenberg | 1988 | 28 | 23.2 |
| Joey Schlaffer | Exeter | 2022 | 38 | 23.1 |
| Dylan Walker | Daniel Boone | 2017 | 23 | 23.1 |
| Brian Wright | Wilson | 2016 | 29 | 23.0 |
| Paul Mohr | Twin Valley | 1999 | 22 | 22.9 |
| Matt Malinowski | Muhlenberg | 1987 | 21 | 22.9 |
| Nolan Prevoznik | Kutztown | 2016 | 28 | 22.8 |
| Jon Charles | Daniel Boone | 2014 | 37 | 22.7 |
| Dontae Owens | Reading High | 2013 | 23 | 22.6 |
| Nolan McCready | Wyomissing | 2001 | 51 | 22.6 |
