Mustangs find no answers, few points, against Rams
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Matt Hagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
ROYERSFORD – Entering the season, Gov. Mifflin’s quarterback situation was a mystery. The team had two athletes, Bryce Wunderlich and Javien Pletz, compete for the starting job that remained uncertain to public knowledge entering Friday’s season-opener against Spring-Ford.
One thing was certain Friday: The Mustangs had no answers for a dynamic Rams passing attack led by , Matt Zollers. Spring-Ford used a run of 35 unanswered points over the span of two quarters to dispatch the Mustangs 49-19 at Coach McNally Stadium.
“They are an extremely good football team and they handled up us front,” Mustangs coach Jeff Lang said. “Spring-Ford is exceptionally talented and experienced in their offensive backfield and they showed it tonight.”
Wunderlich got the start for Mifflin and threw an interception on the opening drive to set the Rams up at their own 35. Zollers quickly sliced through the Mifflin defense and put Spring-Ford up 7-0 after scampering in from six yards out.
Things seemed to change on the ensuing kickoff when Mifflin’s Reese Hohl responded with a brilliant 96-yard return for a touchdown and left the Mustangs down 7-6 after a missed extra point. Hohl was one of the bright spots for the Mustangs both on special teams and defense.
Zollers burned the Mustangs twice in the first half by finding his favorite target, Mason Scott, for wide open touchdown passes of 67 and 21 yards that extended the Rams lead to 21-6 in the second quarter. He nearly hit Scott again for a third first half touchdown but was denied on a jump ball by Hohl. The junior later broke up a pass at the goal line.
“Reese is a great athlete and has a tremendous burst,” Lang said. “We knew what he was capable of all along, and he stepped up even despite battling cramping from the heat in the contest.”
Despite those strong plays from Hohl, the Rams managed to score on nine of 10 drives with their full starting lineup on the field. Zollers accounted for six of the seven Spring-Ford touchdowns, four through the air and two on the ground.
“We took what we could get from them all night,” Spring-Ford coach Chad Brubaker said. “They kept guys in the box a lot and their two defensive tackles were hard to move. We are fortunate to have multiple guys who can go out and catch the ball when we need to.”
Pletz entered the game on the Mustangs’ second drive and showcased his speed. Pletz finished with 56 yards on seven carries and eventually snuck his way into the end zone in the third quarter.
Pletz broke up the middle into the Rams secondary during his touchdown scoring drive, accounting for 40 of his 56 rushing yards. Pletz had just one passing attempt, a completion back to the line of scrimmage on a screen pass to fullback Brandon Jones.
“Javien just gives a little bit more with his athleticism and getting to the outside which we unfortunately could not do much tonight,” Lang said. “Bryce is a great team player and even played a little receiver for us as well. Right now, we are still going to go with both (at quarterback) for now.”
Pletz was under center for six of the Mustangs’ eight drives.
“We had Bryce start with the game plan of our alignments, but they did a good job jumping around and screwing that up for us,” Lang added. “Then when we threw Javien into the mix to use his speed and counter that.”
With the game slipping out of contention for the Mustangs, the Rams delivered the decisive gut punch with 15 seconds left in the first half when Zollers found tight end Ryan Kerchner in the flat on a screen pass. He raced 21 yards for the touchdown on fourth-and-15 that made it 35-6 at halftime.
Spring-Ford was going to settle for a 33-yard field goal before a delay of game penalty changed things.
“I was actually mad at myself for not calling a screen the play before because we knew they were coming,” Brubaker said. “We felt like we were on the edge of our field goal range and if he missed they were backed up with under 20 seconds left in the half.”
Spring-Ford out-gained the Mustangs 415-187 with Zollers accounting for 378 of those yards behind 306 through the air. Scott had seven catches for 204 yards while adding a third touchdown to open the second half.
Grady Garner led the Mustangs on the ground with 64 yards on 12 carries while Jones was bottled up for just 35 yards in addition to scoring the Mustangs final touchdown.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Gov. Mifflin | 6 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 19 |
| Spring-Ford | 14 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 49 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Spring-Ford | Zollers, 6 run (Fields kick) | 6:48 |
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | Hohl, 96 return (kick failed) | 6:32 |
| 1 | Spring-Ford | Scott, 67 pass from Zollers (Fields kick) | 4:42 |
| 2 | Spring-Ford | Scott, 21 pass from Zollers (Fields kick) | 11:09 |
| 2 | Spring-Ford | Zollers, 17 run (Fields kick) | 4:03 |
| 2 | Spring-Ford | Kerchner, 21 pass from Zollers (Fields kick) | 0:15 |
| 3 | Spring-Ford | Scott, 28 pass from Zollers (Fields kick) | 8:31 |
| 3 | Gov. Mifflin | Pletz, 3 rush (Kick failed) | 3:52 |
| 4 | Spring-Ford | Bendowski, 6 rush (Fields kick) | 7:28 |
| 4 | Gov. Mifflin | Jones, 18 rush (Koenig kick) | 1:04 |
Team statistics
| Gov. Mifflin | Spring-Ford | |
| First downs | 8 | 22 |
| Rushes-yards | 32-187 | 25-109 |
| Passing yards | 0 | 306 |
| Total yards | 187 | 415 |
| Passes | 1-2-1 | 19-26-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-37.0 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-25 | 7-45 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Gov. Mifflin: Garner 12-64, Pletz 7-56, Jones 7-35, Hohl 3-18, Huber 1-10, Sanchez 1-2, Alvarez 1-2.
Spring-Ford: Zollers 6-72, Lewis 10-37, Bendowski 5-22, Broderick 2-0, Yoder 1-(-1), TEAM 1-(-21).
PASSING
Gov. Mifflin: Pletz 1-1-0-0, Wunderlich 0-1-1-0.
Spring-Ford: Zollers 19-25-0-306, Yoder 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING
Gov. Mifflin: Jones 1-0.
Spring-Ford: Scott 7-204, Kerchner 4-55, Abdelrahman 2-25, Marsilio 2-8, Bendowski 2-7, Moyer 1-5, Finney 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
Spring-Ford: Earley.
