Bar is set high for Gov. Mifflin in GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week vs. Wilson
GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week
Gov. Mifflin set a Berks record last season by averaging 54.5 points per game.
The Mustangs’ average margin of victory was nearly 40 points.
They won their first district championship and reached the PIAA Class 5A semifinals.
And now they’re better?
That’s what Doug Dahms, the Wilson coach tasked with slowing them down tonight, is suggesting.
“Their skill set is better,” said Dahms, bracing for tonight’s 7 p.m. kickoff in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week at Mifflin Stadium.
“Obviously, (Nick) Singleton’s a step up from last year,” Dahms said. “(Ayden) Martin’s a step up from where he was. (Quarterback Eden) Johnson gives them a much better run threat than they had last year. And up front they get low and come off the ball. They might be better.”
That assessment might be part hyperbole, part pre-game psych job. Or it might be accurate. Dahms is a pretty straight shooter when it comes to this sort of thing and he knows a thing or two about the game.
He’s been there, done that, seen it all in 45 years on the Wilson sidelines. He knows a good football team when he studies one.
Granted, the Mustangs don’t have two-time All-State lineman Cam’Ron Stewart any longer, nor All-State linebacker Brandon Strausser, but they’ve got plenty back from the team that went 8-1 and came within a play or two of winning a state championship.
They showed as much a week ago when they ran the York High Bearcats off their home field in a devastating 55-6 debut.
Singleton ran wild, with a career-high 287 yards and five touchdowns, but even more disconcerting for Mifflin opponents might’ve been the play of its quarterbacks, Johnson and junior Delsin McNeil. They were each making their debut at that spot with Mifflin and each earned high marks.
Johnson, a senior who started at quarterback as a sophomore at Philadelphia West Catholic before transferring last year, is strong and athletic and a threat in his own right. He ran for 70 yards on 10 carries against York, one of them ending in the end zone.
McNeil is a junior and subbed in when Johnson — a hard-hitting safety who goes full-time on defense — needed a breather. The Mustangs didn’t miss a beat. In fact, just before half McNeil made a brilliant play on double-move fake pitch, then tossed to Singleton who sprinted 50 yards for a score.
“Eden’s more experienced, he brings a little more power, (and) we like that,” said Mifflin coach Jeff Lang. “As soon as he had a big run Delsin was in and finished the series. If Eden had a big play on defense, or a turnover on downs, Delsin was in. I’m not gonna blink an eye to put Delsin in.
“We did it with (Kam) Wolfe and (Austin) Baker (in 2016), and we’ll do it with these two. (They’re) two quality kids we’ll put on the field and have no qualms about it.”
Singleton is within 224 yards of the all-time Berks rushing record of 4,778 yards and, even as good as Wilson’s defense is, he’s a threat to get it tonight. He went for 160 yards and four TDs in last year’s 48-7 romp at West Lawn, the most-lopsided win ever for Mifflin in a series that began during the Eisenhower presidency.
Before his senior season is finished the Penn State recruit will have smashed just about every Berks rushing and scoring record anyone keeps. Dahms had to go back 40 years or more to come up with comparable backs the Bulldogs have faced. He mentioned Ernie Haynes of Pottsville, who went on to play at West Virginia in the 1970s and Dwayne Denson of Norristown, who played at Florida State in the 1980s.
“He’s about as good as it can get,” Dahms said of Singleton. “I don’t know that we’ve seen better; we’ve certainly seen comparable. He’s got all the tools: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast. He’s not afraid to lower his shoulder. You don’t get ’em that big and that strong and that fast very often.”
| 2020 | Gov. Mifflin | 48-7 |
| 2019 | Wilson | 61-14 |
| 2018 | Wilson | 42-28 |
| 2017 | Gov. Mifflin | 21-14 |
| 2016 | Wilson | 38-7 |
| 2015 | Wilson | 14-3 |
| 2014 | Wilson | 35-34 OT |
| 2013 | Wilson | 38-7 |
| 2012 | Wilson | 21-14 (D3 playoff) |
| 2012 | Wilson | 21-0 |
The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive win of their own, 27-21 over Central Dauphin. They led 27-7 in the fourth quarter before injuries and attrition started catching up with them.
Cam Jones, a dynamic kick returner and offensive weapon, came out in the first half with an ankle injury; Dahms on Thursday listed him as questionable. Linebacker Gavin Lenart also came out of the game briefly with an ankle injury. Lead back Jadyn Jones left with cramps in the second half and did not return. Prior to that he rushed for 110 yards and a TD, and the offensive line gave him and the other backs room to operate.
Wilson was down to its third-string quarterback and tailback during one crucial stretch.
Dahms said the Bulldogs are dealing with other assorted bumps and bruises, par for the course when playing a physical team such as the Rams.
At stake tonight is the Gurski/Linn Trophy, which was added for the 2012 game and honors two men who shaped each school’s program: John Gurski at Wilson and Ray Linn at Mifflin.
There’s more to it than that. Much more. This is an intense rivalry, and the stories made tonight will be retold for years.
“They’re one of the top programs in the state,” Lang said of Wilson. “They’re well-coached, they have oodles of talent. They put close to 100 players on the field every year. They just do a wonderful job with their program. To me it is a measuring stick (for us) every single year.”