10 Things to Know about Berks’ entry into the Lancaster-Lebanon football league
It’s been more than two long years since the Lancaster-Lebanon League officially agreed to accept 13 Berks schools into the league as associate members for football.
The deal should be a boon for both sides, easing scheduling and competitive balance concerns that each faced.
The 13 Berks League teams initially applied for membership in 2018, but their bid was tabled at the time. Over the next two years talks continued and in May 2020 the L-L voted to accept the Berks teams by a 19-5 vote, with one abstention.
The first season of the new 37-team league kicks off in about seven weeks. For Berks football fans here are 10 Things to Know about Lancaster-Lebanon League football and the impending merge:
| SECTION 1 | Enrollment | Class |
| Reading High | 2222 | 6 |
| McCaskey | 1117 | 6 |
| Hempfield | 905 | 6 |
| Wilson | 751 | 6 |
| Manheim Township | 716 | 6 |
| Penn Manor | 699 | 6 |
| Cedar Crest | 593 | 6 |
| SECTION 2 | ||
| Lebanon | 618 | 6 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 523 | 5 |
| Conestoga Valley | 513 | 5 |
| Warwick | 503 | 5 |
| Exeter | 482 | 5 |
| Muhlenberg | 450 | 5 |
| Manheim Central | 382 | 4 |
| SECTION 3 | ||
| Ephrata | 524 | 5 |
| Elizabethtown | 482 | 5 |
| Solanco | 469 | 5 |
| Garden Spot | 386 | 5 |
| Daniel Boone | 379 | 4 |
| Fleetwood | 337 | 4 |
| Twin Valley | 332 | 4 |
| SECTION 4 | ||
| Cocalico | 387 | 5 |
| Donegal | 369 | 4 |
| Lampeter-Strasburg | 361 | 4 |
| Octorara | 297 | 4 |
| Elco | 295 | 4 |
| Conrad Weiser | 289 | 4 |
| Berks Catholic | 237 | 3 |
| Wyomissing | 201 | 3 |
| SECTION 5 | ||
| Northern Lebanon | 267 | 4 |
| Hamburg | 229 | 3 |
| Kutztown | 221 | 3 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 220 | 3 |
| Lancaster Catholic | 211 | 3 |
| Pequea Valley | 190 | 3 |
| Annville-Cleona | 166 | 2 |
| Columbia | 155 | 2 |
Format
The Lancaster-Lebanon League expands from 24 to 37 teams and from four divisions to five.
Alignment is based on enrollment with the largest schools in Section 1, the smallest in Section 5. Several schools, such as Wyomissing and Manheim Central, requested to move to a larger section, swapping spots with Kutztown and Elizabethtown, respectively.
There are seven teams in each of the top three sections and eight teams in each of the two smallest sections.
League games in Sections 1, 2 and 3 start in Week 4 and continue through Week 10; each team will have a bye week during that stretch with the option to play a non-league game.
Section 4 and 5 teams play seven straight league games, starting in Week 4.
There are no mandatory crossover games; only games against a division rival count in the league standings.
Membership
The 14 Berks schools — Wilson, plus the 13 new teams — are considered associate members. That means they will vote only on football-related matters, such as football realignment, but won’t have a vote in overall league matters, such as adding new members.
Despite what some have reported this is not a merger: It remains the Lancaster-Lebanon League, only a bigger version of it.
Travel
Travel will be greater for many teams, though that’s not as great a concern in football as it might be in other sports. For one thing the road trips are made once every two years rather than every year in a sports such as basketball and baseball, where league rivals generally play twice per season. The majority of the games are on Friday nights, not mid-week, on school nights, as in other sports.
Many of the most difficult trips will come in Section 5 where Hamburg, Kutztown and Schuylkill Valley are located in the northern end of Berks; they’ll make trips to Columbia and Octorara, which is located in Atglen in western-most Chester County.
The trip from Hamburg to Columbia is 62 miles; that might be the longest road trip of any in the league. Kutztown is 50 miles from Annville-Cleona, located in Annville, and 50 miles from Pequea Valley, located in Mount Joy.
There will be some long trips for Fleetwood to reach its Section 3 rivals at Solanco (59 miles to Quarryville) and Elizabethtown (59 miles). Daniel Boone’s trip to Elizabethtown is 55 miles.
Background
The Lancaster-Lebanon League was born in 1972 when four Lebanon County schools — Annville-Cleona, Cedar Crest, Elco and Lebanon — joined 13 members of the Lancaster County League to form a two-division, 17-team conference. Lampeter-Strasburg joined in 1973.
The league added five teams in 1975 — Gov. Mifflin, Muhlenberg, Wilson, Lancaster Catholic and McCaskey — and went to three divisions. Northern Lebanon became the 25th team in 1976.
After Muhlenberg left following 1980 the league went to three eight-team sections.
The most recent addition, prior to the Berks League teams, came in 2018 when Octorara was added.
Familiar ground
Though this move will be new to many Berks teams it’s somewhat familiar territory for four Berks schools.
The Bulldogs have been part of the Lancaster-Lebanon League since 1975. They haven’t just been part of the league, they’ve pretty much owned it, at least the top tier. Wilson has won 28 Lancaster-Lebanon League titles — 27 in Section 1, one in Section 2 — and set a league record by winning 68 straight league games, from 2008-17.
Mifflin and Muhlenberg joined the Bulldogs in the move to the L-L in 1975, after playing together in the Tri-County League. The Mustangs stayed in the L-L until 2003, sharing the Section 1 title in 1996. The Muhls lasted just six years and had little success.
The Red Knights were L-L members from 1987-2009 and shared the Section 1 title four times.
Rivalry games
Daniel Boone will continue to play Exeter in the Pig Iron Bowl and Hamburg will continue to meet Schuylkill Valley in the Frost Bowl but they won’t be played as traditional season-enders.
Boone and Exeter are in different sections now; they’ll meet as a season opener.
Hamburg and Schuylkill Valley are each in Section 5 but they’ll meet in Week 8, Oct. 14 — more than two weeks before Halloween. The game has generally been part of the King Frost weekend celebration.
Gov. Mifflin and Wilson, which used to meet in Week 10 when they were Section 1 rivals, have been Week 1 and Week 2 combatants in recent seasons. This year they’ll meet in Week 6. That’ll be a league bye week for the Section 1 Bulldogs and Section 2 Mustangs.
The Brawl is back
The best thing about the Berks/Lancaster-Lebanon jointure might be this: The return of the “Backyard Brawl.” After a two-year hiatus one of the hottest rivalries in Berks history is back: Wyomissing plays at Berks Catholic in Week 4. That will serve as the Section 4 opener for both.
Wyomissing, which by enrollment is smaller than five Section 5 schools, opted to move up to Section 4, otherwise this meeting doesn’t happen.
This likely won’t be the only BC/Wyo meeting of the season; now that they’re again in the same classification they could/should meet in the District 3 Tournament.
Berks Catholic, which had opted to play up a level in Class 4A the last two seasons when it was a member of Section 1 of the Berks League, is playing at its natural weight, in Class 3A.
Wyomissing, which was threatened with a move to Class 4A by the PIAA’s “Competition Formula,” won its challenge and remains in Class 3A. The Spartans are an early line favorite to win a fourth straight District 3 title; they could even make their way back to the PIAA title game for a third straight year.
The kingpins
You can’t talk Lancaster-Lebanon League football without mentioning Manheim Central. The Barons have been just as dominant in Section 2 as Wilson has been in Section 1. Their resume includes 26 section championships in 51 seasons.
Even better the Barons have won a record 18 District 3 championships, including a staggering 10 in a row from 1992-2001, plus state championships in 2004, 2009 and 2018.
The Barons will be slugging it out in Section 2 along with Exeter, Gov. Mifflin and Warwick.
All-Star Game
Berks seniors have been without a local All-Star game since the Berks Senior Classic fell apart due to lack of financial backing issues; that game was last played in 2016.
Discussions are underway between the Lancaster and Berks coaching association and the Manheim Touchdown Club, which runs the Tri-County League All-Star Game, to devise a format to include the 13 new teams.
They might use a North/South format, which the Tri-County currently uses, or try something else, such as a Lancaster County squad vs. a Berks/Lebanon squad.
Gone but not forgotten
The Lancaster-Lebanon League may be bigger and more competitive top to bottom than the Inter-County League ever was but it likely never will be as beloved locally.
Despite a long series of name changes — the Berks I-C League, the Intra-County League, the Berks League — former players and long-time fans continued to refer to it as the “I-C” likely always will.
The Inter-County League’s 65-year run officially came to an end Oct. 30, 2021 when Wyomissing and Conrad Weiser — which often met for championships over the decades — closed out their regular season schedules at the A-Field.
