Milestones: 10 important numbers to chase this season in Berks football
No. 1
One of the biggest storylines in Berks this season is Nick Singleton’s pursuit of the all-time Berks rushing mark. He would’ve grabbed that record last year had Gov. Mifflin played a full schedule, but COVID got in the way. The Penn State recruit enters his final high school season with 4,267 career yards, currently fourth on the Berks list but just 511 away from Iggy Reynoso’s record of 4,778.
Those 511 yards might take only a handful of games for Singleton, who averaged a staggering 12.5 yards per carry and 163 yards per game last season.
Despite the reduced schedule and relatively few touches he still managed a third straight 1,000-yard season, finishing with 1,303 yards in eight games.
No Berks back has ever strung together four straight 1,000-yard seasons, and only a handful have recorded three in a row.
No. 2
Only someone of Nick Singleton’s stature could’ve kept Wilson from the No. 1 spot on the list.
The Bulldogs recorded their 45th straight winning season in 2020, going 6-1. That is now the longest streak of consecutive winning seasons in Pennsylvania.
For years the Bulldogs were No. 2 on the list, trailing Ridley. The Green Wave finally saw its streak snapped last season, when it finished 3-3. It was riding a streak of 54 straight winning seasons.
Wilson’s program has been a model of consistency. It has recorded 57 consecutive non-losing seasons. Most of us take that for granted, but really it’s simply remarkable when you think about it.
The Bulldogs’ last non-winning season came in 1975 when they went 5-5 under John Gurski. Their last losing season was 1963, the year before Gurski arrived in West Lawn and changed the face of Berks football.
To put the Bulldogs’ 45-year winning streak in proper perspective, consider this: That’s longer than the combined total of Berks’ next four most consistent programs: Gov. Mifflin (17 straight winning seasons), Berks Catholic (10), Exeter (10) and Wyomissing (7).
No. 3
Bob Wolfrum celebrates his golden anniversary in coaching this season, which marks his 50th on the sidelines.
This will be Wolfrum’s 35th season as head coach at Wyomissing. Prior to becoming head coach in 1987 he was a Spartans assistant for 13 seasons, and for two seasons at Muhlenberg before that.
All told Wolfrum has experienced 419 victories, a Berks-record 322 of them as head coach.
He enters the season ranked No. 11 among Pennsylvania head coaches in all-time wins and second among active coaches to Southern Columbia’s Jim Roth.
No. 4
Back to Nick Singleton again. He’ll be breaking a lot of records this season, including the all-time Berks mark for touchdowns.
He opens his senior season with 72; he’s chasing Iggy Reynoso, who scored 79 during his seasons at Hamburg and Wilson.
(If you want to split hairs you could say that Singleton’s already scored more TDs for a team than anyone else in Berks history, but let’s not quibble.)
Singleton scores touchdowns in bunches. Twice as a sophomore he scored five in a game (against Reading High and Muhlenberg). Six other times he’s scored four in a game, including once as a freshman (against Twin Valley).
Again, he could’ve had this record a year ago but the Mustangs were up four or more touchdowns at halftime in most games last season, so there was no need.
No. 5
Gov. Mifflin needs three wins to reach 400. Good chance the Mustangs get there — in September.
The Mustangs will be just the fifth Berks team to reach the milestone, joining Wilson, Reading High, Wyomissing and Muhlenberg.
Mifflin enters the season 397-305.
By the way, this program had more losses than wins as of 1994. In the 26 seasons since the Mustangs are 200-99.
No. 6
Logan Klitsch is on target to set Conrad Weiser career records for passing yards and touchdown passes.
He threw for 1,330 yards during a seven-game season in 2020 and now is less than 1,000 yards away from Jim Debeic’s program-record 3,682 career total.
Also, Klitsch is just two TDs short of Tyler Hoss’ career total of 29. He threw 15 TDs with just three interceptions a year ago. He’ll again be targeting Aanjay Feliciano, one of the league’s best receivers.
No. 7
Dominic Caruso ran down most of the significant rushing and scoring records at Twin Valley as a junior. Now he’s just 259 yards away from reaching 3,000 career yards
He’ll become the 29th player in Berks history to reach that milestone.
Caruso went for 929 yards in a six-game season a year ago; with a full season he’s within range of becoming just the sixth in Berks history to reach 4,000 yards.
No. 8
Berks Catholic coach Rick Keeley will break the same record this season that he broke last season, and the season before that: Longest tenure as a Berks head coach.
This will be his record 36th season.
He has also coached more games than anyone else in Berks history, 409 — but just barely.
Wyomissing’s Bob Wolfrum is entering his 35th season, and he’s coached 408 games.
As for Keeley, his years have been split between Holy Name (22 seasons), Hamburg (3) and Berks Catholic (11).
Overall, this is Keeley’s 46th season on the sidelines (including his years as an assistant). That ties Wilson’s Doug Dahms. Wolfrum is at 50.
Wyomissing assistant coach Al Silveri is the dean of Berks coaches; this will be season No. 51 for him.
No. 9
(Photo courtesy of Bill Snook.)
Gov. Mifflin is shooting for an 18th straight postseason berth in 2021.
The Mustangs’ streak of 17 straight playoff appearances is the longest active in Berks.
Wyomissing made it for the 15th straight season in 2020.
Conrad Weiser’s streak is at three.
And that’s it, that’s the list. Those were the only three Berks teams to reach the postseason in 2020.
COVID, and the truncated playoff format, brought an end to a lot of streaks.
No. 10
Hamburg needs three wins to reach 200.
The Hawks are one of the younger programs in Berks; they didn’t start playing until 1969 — and didn’t start winning until 1973.
Their program opened with 38 consecutive losses. Ouch.
The first victory didn’t come until Season 5, when they opened the season with a 12-0 win over Palisades.
