A couple of thoughts . . . from Week 4

By Mike Drago Last updated Sep 15, 2025

Exeter was a dealt a difficult blow when it lost, arguably, its most important player, quarterback Riley Martinez early in a Week 2 win at Boyertown. He likely won’t play again this season after having surgery on his non-throwing shoulder. How have the Eagles responded? Like they’ve been down this road before. They plugged Jake Hafer in at quarterback last year when Martinez was injured and didn’t miss a beat. It’s been more of the same this season. Friday, in their first real challenge, they steamrolled Governor Mifflin, scoring on each of their first three possessions on the way to a 43-15 victory. Losing Martinez hurts, for sure; it could lower the ceiling for a postseason run. For now Exeter is as good enough to win the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 title. “When (Riley) told me the news, I was absolutely devastated,” said Eagles center and captain Joel Ummarino, “not only for our team but for him. Losing your senior season like that is just terrible. But we had a lot of trust in Jake; we knew he could do it. We felt confident we could keep this thing rolling.”

After some rough years at Daniel Boone, where his team won just four games over his final three seasons, Max Heffner in part of a winning football team. The freshman has joined Penn State as a walk-on. He’s been taking scout team reps as a defensive back the past few weeks and expects to dress for this week’s game vs. Oregon. It probably didn’t hurt his chances that former St. Pius X coach Jim Mich texted Nittany Lions coach James Franklin on his behalf. Mich was on the Kutztown University staff with Franklin in 1995. Mich had special interest in helping Heffner: His grandson, J.D. Okuniewski, was Heffner’s head coach at Boone.

Twin Valley made Berks football history Friday when it reached 60 points for a third straight game. The Raiders beat Selinsgrove 62-0 in Week 2, Simon Gratz 67-20 the following week and Elco 60 in their Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 opener. They’re not only the first Berks team to record 60 points in three straight weeks but the first to do it three times in the same season. Governor Mifflin, with Nick Singleton in the backfield, twice reached 60 points in an abbreviated 2020 season, but never did it a third time. Berks Catholic, in 2015 and 2018, and Fleetwood, in 2014, all scored 60 twice in a season – but not three times. The Raiders are averaging 58.5 points per game, highest in the state.

Muhlenberg is scoring a lot of points, too. After a 55-21 win over Lebanon the Muhls have scored 199 points, second-most in the L-L. Their 49.7 scoring average is eighth-highest in the state.

Twin Valley is scoring in every way imaginable but it has been especially productive in the kick return game. In Friday’s 60-0 win at Elco it got kickoff-return TDs from Ben Grundy and Drew Engle and a punt return score from Grundy. A week earlier against Simon Gratz Engle took a kickoff back 88 yards for a score and Vaughn Zielinski had a 76-yard TD on a kickoff. Grundy also took a kickoff to the house against Berks Catholic.

One week after throwing three touchdowns to beat Wilson Peyton Falzone was injured in Nazareth’s 56-21 win at Bethlehem Freedom. The top quarterback prospect in Pennsylvania could miss the rest of the season after suffering what was reported as a broken clavicle in his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

Jeremiah Camara made an instant impact with Berks Catholic. The junior halfback rushed for a game-high 120 yards on 12 carries in a 41-0 victory at Pequea Valley. He also had one tackle from his spot at cornerback. Camara transferred from Reading High just before the season. He was not eligible to play for 21 days, due to PIAA transfer rules, but he had been practicing with the team. His eligibility for the District 3 playoffs has not been determined yet.

Doug Dahms earned his 199^th victory as head coach Friday in Wilson’s 49-0 win over Reading High. His next win will make him just the third in Berks history to reach 200 (Hall of Famers Bob Wolfrum and Rick Keeley are the others.) That could happen Friday at Cedar Crest. Much more remarkable than Dahms’ win total is his winning percentage, a Berks-record .819. Or the fact that this is his 50^th season on the Bulldogs staff. He’s been on the sidelines for more than 75 percent of Wilson’s 615 victories.

Conrad Weiser’s regular season winning streak is now up to 14 games following a 26-23 win over Fleetwood. Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Anyone?

Solanco, the preseason favorite in Section 3, made that projection look good with a 35-7 whuppin’ of Warwick, which had been 3-0 with wins over Cedar Crest and Lampeter-Strasburg.

The most stunning result from Week 4 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League? No doubt it was Columbia’s 43-0 takedown of Lancaster Catholic, the Section 5 preseason favorite. The Tide held Villanova recruit Brandon Way to 18 yards on 11 carries. Overall the Crusaders, who were 2-1, were held to minus-4 yards rushing. Gotta figure that opens the door for Berks Catholic, which gets Lancaster Catholic at home this week.

Muhlenberg matched last season’s win total with its 55-21 win over Lebanon. The Muhls went 3-7 in the regular season in 2024, then beat William Allen in an Eastern Conference playoff game. In the six seasons before Rob Flowers was named head coach the Muhls won five games. They’ve gone 8-7 since and are 4-0 for the first time since 2013.

Muhlenberg has scored 50 points or more in consecutive weeks for the first time since . . . 1998, if you can believe that. That was at the tail end of the regular season when it beat Schuylkill Valley 54-15 and Twin Valley 55-6. Quarterbacking the Muhls during that run? Rob Flowers.