Exeter moves up, Fleetwood, BC bumped down in Berks Conference playoff bracket

Berks II champ Exeter moved up two spots Thursday at the coaches seeding meeting and will host Berks IV champ Oley Valley Monday at 7 when the Berks Conference playoffs open with quarterfinals at four sites.

Berks IV champ Fleetwood and Berks II runner-up Berks Catholic were each bumped down one spot at the seeding meeting, where coaches can challenge to move up and the eight qualifying coaches vote on potential changes.

Berks Catholic, the No. 3 seed, and Fleetwood, the No. 4 seed, will still host games, unlike last season, when Berks IV champ Antietam was dropped three spots and ended up as the No. 7 seed.

The qualifiers were initially seeded by power ratings published on the District 3 website. That order was:

1. Reading High (.819); 2. Berks Catholic (.757); 3. Fleetwood (.725); 4. Exeter (.718); 5. Wilson (.708); 6. Muhlenberg (.685); 7. Oley Valley (.637); 8. Schuylkill Valley (.636).

All quarterfinal games will be played Monday at 7 at the site of the higher-seeded team.

The semifinals will be Wednesday at Santander Arena, starting at 6, with the second game to follow.

The championship game will be Friday at Santander Arena, at 8, following the girls championship game, which begins at 6.

Reading High entered last season’s tournament as the No. 1 seed and rolled to the title, winning its games by 41, 19, and 16 points, the last 51-35 over Berks Catholic.

The county title was Reading’s first since 2019 and fifth in eight years. Over the past 10 seasons the Red Knights have won five titles, Wilson three and Berks Catholic two. In fact, one of those three teams have claimed each of the last 16 Berks titles. You’d have to go back to 2006, when Central Catholic beat Wilson, to find a different champion.

1	Reading High	vs.	8	Schuylkill Valley	7:00
4	Fleetwood	vs.	5	Wilson	7:00
2	Exeter	vs.	7	Oley Valley	7:00
3	Berks Catholic	vs.	6	Muhlenberg	7:00