Bulldogs, Mustangs set for annual trophy battle
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Battle for the Gurski-Linn Trophy
Governor Mifflin (2-3) vs. Wilson (4-1)
Kick: Friday, 7, at Gurski Stadium.
Series: Bulldogs lead 40-27.
Last meeting: Madyx Gruber passed for 232 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 204 yards last year as Wilson won 43-20 at Shillington. Gruber’s five TD passes matched a program record shared by Chad Henne and Eric Hetrich. He didn’t score a TD but had runs of 61, 41, 18, 16, 15, 14, and 13 yards. Mifflin led 14-7 in the second quarter before Wilson gained control with three Gruber touchdown passes in the third quarter. Wilson finished with 532 total yards. “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.”
Fast fact: Wilson’s Doug Dahms and Mifflin’s Ray Linn are tied for the best coaching record in this storied series, each with a 14-7 record. John Gurski went 11-8 against the Mustangs; Gerry Slemmer went 10-3.
Mustangs update: Lost the past two weeks to unbeaten teams, Exeter and Muhlenberg. . . Turned it over three times last week in 35-17 loss to Muhls. . . Got a 72-yard kickoff return for touchdown from Lucas Kreider vs. Muhls. . . Patrick Steuer leads team in rushing with 251 yards. . . QB Lebon Leaf has scored team-high 6 TDs. . . Allowing 363 yards per game, the most in the 37-team Lancaster-Lebanon League. . . Have surrendered a league-high 842 passing yards. . . Despite losing record still remain in playoff hunt, ranked No. 7 in District 3 Class 6A power ratings. . . Strength-of-schedule rating is third-highest in district, behind only Cocalico and Lebanon.
Did you know? Ray Linn, who coached at Gov. Mifflin, and John Gurski, who coached at Wilson, went head-to-head 10 times in the series, each winning five times. Gurski went 11-8 vs. the Mustangs; the final game of his career, in 1982, was an 8-7 loss to Mifflin. Linn went 14-7 vs. the Bulldogs; the final game of his career, in 1988, was a 17-0 loss to Wilson.
Bulldogs update: Have outscored Reading and Cedar Crest 111-20 the past two weeks. . . QB Mason Young passed for four TDs and rushed for 62 yards in the 62-20 win over Cedar Crest. . . Young is second in the Lancaster-Lebanon League with 13 touchdown passes and third with 906 passing yards; he is completing 68 percent of his throws, third-best in the league. . . Overall, he’s ranked No. 7 in passing efficiency. . . RB Correll Akings leads team with 311 rushing yards and 9 TDs overall. . . TE Michael Glover is tied for second in the league with 20 receptions. . . WR Jaiden Carpenter has 6 TD receptions, tied for the most in the league. . . Averaging 344 yards per game, tops among Section 1 teams and No. 9 overall in the 37-team Lancaster-Lebanon League. . . LB EJ Brownback, who had his third Pick-Six of the season last week, leads team with 42 tackles, and 4 tackles for loss. . . S Chase Herb is second with 24 tackles; he also had an INT last week. . . Glover leads team with 3 sacks. . . Allowing 252 yards per game, second-best among Section 1 teams. . . Ranked No. 4 in District 3 Class 6A power ratings. . . 10 teams qualify; top six get opening-round byes.
Did you know? From 2006-2016, and again in 2020, Mifflin and Wilson met in a season-opener. The Mustangs won the first two of those Week 1 encounters but is just 4-8 overall in opening-week games. Two of those games went to overtime: Mifflin won 34-28 in 2011, Wilson won 35-34 in 2014.
About the trophy: The Gurski-Linn Trophy was added for the 2012 game. It honors two men who shaped each school’s program.
John Gurski coached the Bulldogs from 1964-82 and transformed the program from an also-ran into the most powerful in Berks history. He retired as the winningest coach in program history with 151 victories in 19 seasons.
Ray Linn took the Mustangs to great heights during his first run with the program, from 1956-73; they were a dominant force in the Tri-County League throughout the 1960s. He returned to coach from 1985-87 and retired as the winningest coach in program history with 124 victories in 21 seasons.
The trophy travels to the winning school and remains there until the next game, where it is displayed on the sideline.
It has spent considerable time in West Lawn; the Bulldogs have won 10-of-13 trophy games, including the first five (playoff meetings do not count in the trophy series).
About the series: Games have gotten out of hand several times recently. Wilson won 61-14 at Mifflin in 2019 and 38-7 in both 2016 and 2013. Mifflin won 42-14 in 2021, Nick Singleton’s senior year, and 48-7 the year before.
Two of the games have gone to overtime. Mifflin won 34-28 at home in 2011 and Wilson won 35-34 at home in 2014. In the latter game the Bulldogs trailed 28-13 with 10 minutes left before QB Jake Templin rallied them with his third and fourth TD passes. Jake Gehman caught a TD pass, then ran for the two-point conversion to tie it with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.
The teams first met in 1954, with Wilson winning 25-0. Mifflin won the next 12, 11 of them with Ray Linn as its coach.
