Saints’ Alex Reali has midpoint lead in Berks Specialist of the Year race
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Berks Catholic’s Alex Reali has a leg up on the Berks County Specialist of the Year award but the competition is tight at the halfway point of the season.
Reali has been perfect on his PATs, has hit the longest field of the season in Berks, and has been booming the ball into the end zone on kickoffs. He’s leading the competition with a 67.5 percentage, just ahead of Schuylkill Valley’s Reese Wamsher, who’s at 60.5 percent.
Governor Mifflin’s Lance Koenig is third (55.0), followed by Wyomissing’s Keegan Maher (50.0), Hamburg’s Aron Moser (38.5), and Twin Valley’s Nate Schaffer (35.0).
The Specialist of the Year standings are based on rankings of extra-point and field goal accuracy, field goal distance, touchbacks, and punting average.
John Zima, founder of Kick-It and special teams coach at Wyomissing, collects the data and computes the standings. He awards the top finishers at the end of each season. This is the eighth season of the award.
Reali, a sophomore, is 30-for-30 on PATs and has connected on a pair of 44-yard field goals, as well as a 41-yarder. After sending all eight of his kickoffs into the end zone last week at Schuylkill Valley he leads all kickers with 20 touchbacks. He’s put 55.6 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone.
Koenig has been even better at that: He’s sending an incredible 61.9 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone. He’s second overall with 13 touchbacks because the Mustangs haven’t been kicking off as often as the high-scoring Saints.
Wamsher is second overall on the strength of his punting. His 46.9-yard average is tops among the kicking leaders. He’s also been good on 18-of-22 PATs and has converted his only field goal attempt.
Maher, who shared the award last year with Conrad Weiser’s Alex Malone, has been efficient but trails the leaders because he hasn’t had many chances to get on the field. Wyomissing’s potent offense has reached the end zone so often the senior hasn’t attempted a field goal. He’s averaging 40 yards on punts, with a long of 54, but has been needed to punt just four times. That’s dragging down his total score.
Maher’s been perfect on 31 PAT attempts and is putting 17.6% of his kickoffs into the end zone.
Moser is 7-of-8 on PATs and has made his only field goal attempt.
Shaffer has made 36-of-37 PATs but, like Maher, hasn’t had a field goal attempt because he plays for the highest-scoring team in the state.
Wilson freshman Preston Oxenreider is 31-for-33 on PATs and has scored touchbacks on 20 percent of his kickoffs.
Reali and Shaffer are tied for second in Berks in kicker scoring with 37 points. Exeter’s Jake Franek is leading with 41 points.
Fleetwood’s William Maurek won the award in 2023. Past winners include Conrad Weiser’s Adam Noll in 2022 and Daniel Boone’s Nate Millard in 2021.
