’22 Preview: Conrad Weiser Scouts
Classification: Class 4A
League: Lancaster-Lebanon Section 4
Schedule: Click here
Last season: 4-2 Berks 2, 7-4 overall
Last District 3 playoff appearance: 2021
Head coach: Alan Moyer, 20th season, 133-80.
Key losses: All-League QB Logan Klitsch, all-league second-team RB Cole Rothermel, all-league WR Aanjay Feliciano, all-league T & DT Cameron Swanson, all-league LB Brett Organtini.
Top offensive players: QB Donovan Gingrich, RB Sevon Parham, RB Ousmane Conde, RB Dillon Britting, WR Trey Dianna, WR Evan Rittle, WR Josh Miller, WR Davis Keppley, WR Luis Huertas, TE Evan Miller, C Aiden Fitzgerald, G Ethan Rex, G Isiah Solorio, T Kaleb Britting, T Charlie Shimp, PK Adam Noll.
| LL4 | Projected finish |
| 1 | Wyomissing |
| 2 | Lampeter-Strasburg |
| 3 | Berks Catholic |
| 4 | Cocalico |
| 5 | Donegal |
| 6 | Conrad Weiser |
| 7 | Octorara |
| 8 | Elco |
Top defensive players: E Evan Miller, NG Ethan Rex, DL Nate Casiano, DL Jake Fox, DL Adam Williams, LB Sevon Parham, LB Ashton Kiebach, DB Trey Dianna, DB Evan Rittle, DB Ousmane Conde, DB Luis Huertas, DB Davis Keppley, DB Josh Miller.
Did you know? Conrad Weiser and Tulpehocken completed a joint sponsorship program that for the first time allows Tulpy student-athletes to play football for the Scouts. Six players, all freshman and sophomores, are on the Scouts roster.
For the record: The Scouts have had just one losing season over the last 15 seasons, in 2017 when they went 5-5 in the regular season and lost to Muhlenberg in an Eastern Conference playoff game.
On schedule: Conrad Weiser has kept a pair of former Berks II rivals, Fleetwood and Twin Valley, on the schedule as non-leaguers, for Weeks 2 and 3, respectively. The Tigers and Raiders each play in Section 3.
Quotable: “It sounds like a cliche to say that (our success) depends on how quickly we mature, but it’s really its true. We do not have a lot of Friday night experience. We have to grow up (quickly). With our (league) schedule it’s important for us to get off to a good jump and win some games up front.” — Scouts coach Alan Moyer.
Outlook: If the Scouts are a little less excited than most about Berks football’s migration to the Lancaster-Lebanon League it’s understandable. They’ve been thrown into the bubbling cauldron that is Section 4.
They’re all too familiar with past District 3 champs Wyomissing and Berks Catholic — they played in the same section with the Spartans the past two seasons and have taken it on the chin twice from the Saints in non-leaguers.
They also know Cocalico, a team they’ve never beaten in five tries, and Lampeter-Strasburg, both also district championship contenders in recent years.
Weiser’s been a perennial playoff team but it’s not in the class of those programs right now. It’s inexperienced on both sides of the ball, returning just five players who were starters a year ago (Trey Dianna was a two-way starter, at WR and DB).
The Scouts have promise but their best players are underclassmen, such as sophomore QB Donovan Gingrich, who takes over for record-setting QB Logan Klitsch. Gingrich didn’t see the field much last season but he’s shown flashes and has the potential to be the kind of dual-threat game-changer Klitsch was the past three seasons.
Gingrich, a top basketball player, has a big arm and the ability to make an impact with his feet, though he probably won’t do much running this season because are no reliable options behind him should he go down.
Though he lacks game experience Gingrich will be surrounded by enough talent to help him develop quickly. The O-line, led by all-league G Ethan Rex, is big and the strength of the team.
“That’s usually not a place where we’re heavy (with depth),” said Scouts coach Alan Moyer, “but we are this year. Usually we’re heavy on skill kids.”
There’s plenty of depth at WR but not an endzone-buster such as Aanjay Feliciano, who takes up most of the space in Weiser’s receiving record book. Dianna, who caught 36 balls last year, leads a group that includes Evan Rittle, Davis Keppley and Josh Miller. 6-foot TE Evan Miller figures to be an inviting target, too.
The Scouts don’t appear to have a big-time running back who can handle the full load, as they often have in the past — Codie Butler, D.J. Robinson, Angel Cruz. They could approach this more like a committee. Sevon Parham, who averaged 13.4 yards on a handful of touches last season, can be a punishing runner but he’ll be going full-time at LB, so he’s unlikely to get the bulk of the carries. He’ll share the role with Ousmane Conde and newcomere Dillon Britting.
Defense was a big issue last season when the Scouts yielded more yards than any team in the Berks League. It’s just as big a concern this year, with only three starters back and needing to replace five all-league players. As they are on offense, they’re big up front, but unproven. They’ll be counting on 6-4, 320-pound senior Nate Casiano and 6-4, 320-pound senior Jake Fox to come through, along with Rex, who will play NG.
“If they can clog up some things in the middle, we’ll be alright,” Moyer said of his line.
The Scouts traditionally have taken pride in their special teams play and they’ll have a kicker as good as any in Section 4 with the return of Adam Noll, an all-league PK and P last season.
At the wire: Middle of the pack.
Lancaster-Lebanon League
| Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 |
| Cedar Crest | Conestoga Valley | Daniel Boone | Berks Catholic | Annville-Cleona |
| Hempfield | Exeter | Elizabethtown | Cocalico | Columbia |
| Manheim Twp. | Gov. Mifflin | Ephrata | Conrad Weiser | Hamburg |
| McCaskey | Lebanon | Fleetwood | Donegal | Kutztown |
| Penn Manor | Manheim Central | Garden Spot | Elco | Lancaster Catholic |
| Reading High | Muhlenberg | Solanco | Lampeter-Strasburg | Northern Lebanon |
| Wilson | Warwick | Twin Valley | Octorara | Pequea Valley |
| | | | Wyomissing | Schuylkill Valley |
