Four Downs: Four big takeaways from Week 1 in Berks football

Four takeaways from Week 1 of the 2022 high school football season:

1ST DOWN

Many folks are under the misguided impression that lightning can’t strike the same place twice.

Not true. It has. It did Friday night at Brazinsky Field.

Almost one year to the day that Daniel Boone lost its starting quarterback to a season-ending injury in its opener, the Blazers saw quarterback Dean Rotter get knocked out with a shoulder injury.

Last year it was Carter Speyerer, poised for a breakout season, who went down with a broken fibula and torn ligaments in his right leg; he didn’t play another down all season.

Rotter stepped in and helped the Blazers make it to the district playoffs. He had a big season and was one of the key reasons Boone figured to be in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 race this season.

Boone coach Rob Flowers said the early diagnosis is that Rotter suffered a bruised collarbone and will miss Friday’s game against Conestoga Valley; it’s too early to tell how extensive the damage is at this point.

“It sucks, I know that,” Flowers said of the injury, “(but) we’re gonna figure it out.”

Chase Domenech, a sophomore with limited time at quarterback, finished the game in place of Rotter; he completed his only pass attempt in the 35-0 loss to Exeter. This is Domenech’s first varsity season; he played more receiver than quarterback last season at the JV level.

The Blazers are very young at quarterback. The other two players on the roster at that position are each freshmen.

2ND DOWN

Muhlenberg is working on another streak. A winning streak.

The Muhls shook off an early deficit Friday and rode Gio Cavanna to a 25-13 victory at Octorara, extending their winning streak to two. They ended last season with a 38-6 win over Reading High.

A two-game winning streak might not seem like much but to the Muhls it’s a big deal. They’ve gone through some tough times in recent years; their win over Reading snapped a 26-game losing streak, longest in the program’s proud history.

The Muhls will go for three in a row Friday at home against the Red Knights. They haven’t had a winning streak that long since 2017 when they ended the season by winning four in a row, the last of them a 26-23 win over Conrad Weiser — in overtime — to win an Eastern Conference championship.

Cavanna, by the way, had a breakout game at Atglen, scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 220 yards.

3RD DOWN

Harrisburg native Denny Green had a successful coaching career in college and the NFL but he’s most remembered for his rant following a Monday Night Football loss to the Chicago Bears, when he said: “They are who we thought they were!”

Well, we can say the same thing about the Wyomissing Spartans. We expected them to be good and they were Saturday in a measured 49-0 win over Kennard-Dale.

Veteran coach Bob Wolfrum will be scanning game film this weekend, looking for something — something — he can find to correct. There will be things, of course: Missed blocks, contain breakdowns on defense, a fumble after a catch, a few penalties.

“No game game is ever perfect,” he assured after seeing his team extend its regular season winning streak to 26 games.

The Spartans weren’t perfect in their opener but they confirmed they’ll be very difficult to beat. They have a plethora of offensive weapons and the defense again looks imposing now that Penn State recruit Jven Williams is paired on the front line along with Caleb Brewer and Pacen Ziegler. What other Class 3A team in the state is going to throw a wall of 300-pound bodies at you like that?

4TH DOWN

It was not a great opening week for Berks football in general — local teams went just 3-5 against non-Berks opponents — but it was a good one for most of the new head coaches.

Three of the four — Steve Pangburn at Fleetwood, Matt Hoffert at Hamburg and Brett Myers at Twin Valley — won their first game. Only Reading High, and first-year coach Troy Godinet, did not.

The three coaches each won handily, too.

The Raiders handled Schuylkill Valley 39-12; the Tigers beat Kutztown 58-12; and the Hawks topped Halifax 48-6.

Overall, Berks team went 6-8, with three of those wins in head-to-head match-ups.