Sluggish Bulldogs maintain dominance against Penn Manor
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Matt Hagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
At the end of the night, the Gurski Stadium scoreboard showed a lopsided margin. Wilson had defeated Penn Manor 42-7 in Lancaster-Lebanon Section 1 play to maintain its perfect series record over the Comets. However, the Bulldogs were not satisfied with their performance.
| Final | |
| Wilson | 42 |
| Penn Manor | 7 |
“In the first half I felt we were not communicating well,” Wilson head coach Doug Dahms. “It allowed them to get some big plays as a result, but I feel like we turned it around in the second half.”
The Bulldogs (4-0, 7-1) never trailed in their 34th straight win over Penn Manor but the underdog Comets (1-3, 2-6) were very much hanging with Wilson through the first 24 minutes. A pair of interceptions of quarterback Mason Young gave the Comets their chances but the Bulldogs defense made sure the result was never really in doubt.
“Our guys pick each other up,” Young said. “From the coaching staff to the players we are there for each other and the defense bailed us out early.”
The Bulldogs defense did not allow a first down on either of the Comets’ first two drives, which helped the offense start with favorable field position. Correll Akings went untouched up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown to give Wilson a 7-0 lead with 3:10 left in the first quarter.
Yards were still hard to come by for Akings as he managed just 20 more yards on 11 carries against a stingy Comets defense.
Young doubled the Bulldogs lead to 14-0 at the 6:53-mark of the second quarter when he tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Dean in the back of the end zone. It seemed Wilson was ready to pull away.
Penn Manor was not ready to go away just yet after Jay Florentino made a brilliant 19-yard touchdown reception over a trio of Wilson defenders on fourth-and-10 to make it 14-7 with just over four minutes left in the half.
Young was intercepted once again by Jalen Dupree on the ensuing Wilson drive to continue the Bulldogs’ frustrations.
“I need to play a lot better,” Young said. “Two first-half interceptions does not win games and especially in big games.”
Young bounced back and executed a successful two-minute offense and tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Michael Glover with 23 seconds left in the half that gave Wilson a 21-7 lead.
The defense pitched a shutout in the second half and Wilson finally pulled away with 21 points over the last two quarters.
“We challenged them to get better at one aspect of the game,” Dahms said. “I felt the guys mentally locked in in the second half and showed why going in they knew they are a lot better football team than (Penn Manor).”
Jaiden Carpenter put the finishing touches on the win by grabbing a 32-yard touchdown pass at the 9:50-mark of the fourth quarter before returning a Comets fumble 60 yards for a touchdown three minutes later.
| SECTION 1 | League | Overall | PF | PA |
| Wilson | 4-0 | 7-1 | 315 | 126 |
| Manheim Twp. | 4-0 | 7-1 | 311 | 148 |
| Cedar Crest | 3-2 | 4-4 | 213 | 213 |
| Hempfield | 2-2 | 4-4 | 212 | 163 |
| Penn Manor | 1-3 | 2-6 | 130 | 225 |
| Reading High | 1-4 | 1-7 | 48 | 318 |
| McCaskey | 0-4 | 0-8 | 57 | 286 |
“(Jaiden) is a really good athlete,” Dahms said. “He has a lot of speed to make plays like that and we expect that out of him.”
The Bulldogs managed just 270 yards of offense but their defense limited the Comets to 164 total yards and just 28 in the second half.
Despite his first-half turnovers Young accounted for four of the six Wilson touchdowns. He went 13-for-21 for 135 yards with three touchdown passes while adding a team-high 55 rushing yards, with a 28-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
A showdown for the Section 1 title vs. Manheim Township looms in two weeks. First the Bulldogs head to Lancaster to face McCaskey.
“Practice will be really hard this week to make sure they are focused on McCaskey,” Dahms said. “The best way to handle lethargy is to work them hard and hopefully that pays off. We are still not where we want to be but we have the time to change that.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Penn Manor | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Wilson | 7 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 42 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wilson | Akings, 32 run (Oxenreider Kick) | 3:10 |
| 2 | Wilson | Dean, 17 pass from Young (Oxenreider Kick) | 6:53 |
| 2 | Penn Manor | Florentino, 19 pass from Smeigh (Brown Kick) | 4:22 |
| 2 | Wilson | Glover, 4 pass from Young (Oxenreider Kick) | 0:23 |
| 3 | Wilson | Young, 28 run (Oxenreider Kick) | 4:04 |
| 4 | Wilson | Carpenter, 32 pass from Young (Oxenreider Kick) | 9:54 |
| 4 | Wilson | Carpenter, 60 fumble return (Oxenreider Kick) | 6:50 |
Team statistics
| PENN MANOR | WILSON | |
| First downs | 9 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 19-82 | 30-135 |
| Passing yards | 82 | 135 |
| Total yards | 164 | 270 |
| Passes | 11-23-0 | 13-22-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-3 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 6-31.7 | 3-44.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-14 | 5-55 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Penn Manor: Guthrie 15-68, Dupree 3-23, Sleigh 1-(-9).
Wilson: Young 9-55, Akings 12-52, Glover 2-15, Becker 1-6, Ulrich 5-6, Greer 1-1.
PASSING
Penn Manor: Smeigh 11-20-0–82, Team 0-2-0–0, Robinson 0-1-0–0.
Wilson: Young 13-21-2–135, Challenger 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Penn Manor: Dupree 4-35, Guthrie 3-27, Florentino 2-18, Robinson 2-2.
Wilson: Carpenter 4-42, Dean 3-42, Glover 3-40, Greer 2-8, Becker 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS
Penn Manor: Dupree 2.
