Week 1 Glance: No one’s looking past the Muhls as new season opens
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When Muhlenberg opened its football season a year ago against Schuylkill Valley not many people thought the Muhls could win.
They were coming off a 1-9 season and had a new coaching staff. They were facing a veteran Panthers team picked to win Section 5 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League (which they did).
“We’re used to not being somebody’s first choice,” Muhls coach Rob Flowers said of a program that had scraped together just four wins over the previous five seasons.
Then Freddy Lacey returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and Cameron Small followed it with a two-point conversion that gave the Muhls the lead. They didn’t give it up, pulling off what would remain one of the biggest upsets of the season.
Fifty-two weeks later the Muhls head to Leesport Friday as the favorite, not as a team to be looked past. They are coming off a breakthrough year that saw them win four times and end the season holding aloft a trophy after beating William Allen for an Eastern Conference championship.
That may not seem like much to most programs but for one that had fallen on hard times it was a major step forward. Now the Muhls, with Small, their All-State tailback, and most of their other key parts returning, are expected to win.
If they beat Schuylkill Valley for the second year in a row no one will consider it an upset.
Flowers, now in the second year of his program, is confident that his players have taken a full step forward in terms of the way they train in the offseason and prepare for each week’s game.
“This year guys know what to expect in a Friday night lights situation, (they know) the way we operate,” he said.
Muhlenberg vs. Schuylkill Valley is one of the highlights of an opening night that sees all 14 Berks teams in action, spread across 10 games. Among the highlights:
- Wilson begins pursuit of its 50th straight winning season against Cheltenham, which it defeated 28-20 in last year’s opener. Madyx Gruber, in his first start at quarterback, completed 15-of-21 passes, including a 37-yard TD on the final play of the first half to sophomore tight end Michael Glover, who would end up on the All-State team along with Gruber. The Bulldogs return 12 starters from a team that won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 title and reached the District 3 Class 6A title game. The Panthers, who finished 3-7 last season, have a new head coach, Terence Tolbert; he previously coached at Abington and went 1-9 in his only season at the school.
- Rivals Daniel Boone and Exeter will compete for the Pig Iron Trophy for the 60th time when they meet Friday at Don Thomas Stadium. The Eagles have won 12 straight in the series and few have been close; they’ve outscored the Blazers 113-7 over the past three years. Exeter is coming off a program-best 12-win season and figures to be just as strong; it opens the season ranked No. 6 in the state in Class 5A after reaching the District 3 Class 5A title game for the third time in four seasons last year.
- Twin Valley and Berks Catholic, each replacing record-setting passers, will debut new quarterbacks when they meet Friday at Elverson. Junior Maverik Foster makes his first start for the Raiders; he’s replacing Evan Myers, who started every game the past four years. Junior Cole Harter takes over for Zach Suski, who set the Berks record for completion percentage. Despite heavy graduation losses the Raiders are loaded again with the return of record-setting tailback Drew Engle, Section 4 Receiver of the Year Ben Grundy, and all-league lineman Drew Miller. The Saints return eight all-league players, including Section 5 Lineman of the Year Palmer Reber. Twin Valley broke through for its first win in the series last year, 42-16, after dropping the first six meetings.
- Wyomissing heads to Southern Columbia in what looms as one of the marquee matchups in the state. The Spartans, led by All-State running back Justice Hardy, are loaded again, considered a top contender in Section 4 and ranked No. 5 in the state in Class 4A. The Tigers are expected to bounce back after their worst season in five decades; they’re ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 2A. Hardy scored four TDs in last year’s 35-21 win at Wyomissing.
- Kutztown and Fleetwood meet at Tigers Stadium in the annual Hall of Fame Trophy game. The Tigers have won seven straight and 13-of-14 in the series, most of them one-sided. With just six starters back this figures to be a much tougher battle for them. The Cougars, with quarterback Wyatt Stoess and Mason Sherry returning to their backfield, have high hopes they can improve on their 1-9 season.
The Muhls used their team speed to beat the Panthers last year. Michael Miller Jr. ran for 136 yards, including a 29-yard scoring run and a 40-yard run to the 1 to set up the clinching score in the fourth quarter.
Small, who finished the season with a program-record 2,051 yards, was held relatively in check: He went for 88 yards, one of only two times all season didn’t top 100 yards (he topped 200 five times).
Schuylkill Valley actually had the advantage in total yards, most of it coming in the second half when Logan Nawrocki and the passing game began to heat up. The All-State quarterback threw for 221 yards and three TDs, the last of which pulled his team within 22-20 with 10:37 remaining. The potential game-tying two-point conversion pass went incomplete.
The Panthers will look like a different team this year, with Nawrocki, All-State tight end and Section 5 Defensive Back of the Year Cooper Hohenadel having graduated.
They return four starters on the offensive line and All-State linebacker Logan Cammauf, their leading rusher a year ago. Alex Aletras, the new quarterback, also figures to be a running threat.
“They have more guys coming back inside the box than people realize,” Flowers said. “I’m looking to see them do a lot of things with their line play.”
Despite heavy losses the Panthers are still expected to challenge for the Section 5 title. They open the season ranked No. 10 in the state in Class 3A, a perch they reached only briefly last year.
“This is a new team but we’re still a good team,” insists senior tackle Nicholas Moyer, “and we’re still going to compete for a title.”
