Football Notes: Meeting the Chief, record run, repeat performance and more
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
The most celebrated quarterback in Berks football history will be celebrated a little more Friday night at Wilson’s league opener against Reading High.
Chad Henne, who retired earlier this year after 15 seasons in the NFL, will hold a meet and greet with fans at Gurski Stadium starting 90 minutes before kickoff against Reading High.
Henne will sign autographs, starting at 5:30, and will be honored during a short halftime ceremony commemorating his career.
Joe Mays, his former Bulldogs teammate and a member of the executive board of the Wilson Football Tradition Club, said it’s important that members of the community have access to the former Kansas City Chiefs and Michigan Wolverines quarterback.
“It’s important to give our fans a chance to interact with him and get him out in front of little kids,” said Mays, “especially after winning two Super Bowls.”
Henne, who played at Wilson from 2000-03, earned Super Bowl rings with the Chiefs in 2020 and 2023. The Chiefs topped the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, 38-35, and the 49ers 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV.
Henne and his family live in the Wilson school district where he coaches his son Chace in youth football and is a volunteer assistant coach on the Bulldogs staff. He also provides private instruction through his 24-7QB.com website.
Henne was inducted into the Wilson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014 and his No. 7 Bulldogs jersey has been retired for years. He was inducted into the Berks County Football Coaches Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Henne took over at quarterback midway through Wilson’s season-opener in 2000 and went on to set numerous Berks passing records. He remains the Berks all-time leader in career passing yards (7,071) and touchdown passes (74).
Small feat
Cameron Small’s 98-yard touchdown run in the final minute of Reading High’s 38-20 loss to Red Lion Monday may have looked like window dressing but it was much more than that.
It is the longest touchdown run for the Red Knights in more than a century, since Sky Henry went 99 yards for a TD in 1892.
Considering that Reading’s opponent in that 1892 game was Palatinate College, Small’s run could be considered the longest by a Red Knight against a high school opponent. Palatinate College later became Albright College.
It was not uncommon in that era for high school teams to play college teams, squads comprised of alumni or local club teams.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Lenny Moore – known as the “Reading Rocket” — scored on a 94-yard run in 1951 against Pottsville. Dante Owens topped that with a 96-yard run against Conrad Weiser in 2014.
Reading High was one of the first high schools in the nation to play 11-on-11 football.
Fast starters
Wyomissing won its 38th straight regular season game last week at Trinity. The only games the Spartans have lost over the past five seasons have come after Thanksgiving.
Wyomissing has won 27 straight August/September games dating back to 2018 when it lost in Week 2 at Pottsville.
Exeter is 3-0 for the second straight season and has won 15 straight regular season games. The Eagles have won 21 of their last 23 games.
Hamburg is 3-0 for the third straight season and 11-1 in August/September games over the last three seasons. The only loss came to Wyomissing in the delayed 2020 opener, on Sept. 18.
Twin Valley is 3-0 for just the second time in program history and has never been 4-0.
The Raiders won their first three games in 2009, beating Wyomissing, Holy Name and Kennett. They go for their first 4-0 start Friday against Fleetwood.
Tommy gun
Tommy Hunsicker’s 291 passing yards Monday against Cheltenham ranks as the fifth-highest total in Wilson history and more than either of the Bulldogs’ NFL-bound quarterbacks – Kerry Collins and Chad Henne – ever passed for in high school.
Only four Wilson quarterbacks have passed for 300 yards in a game, topped by Eric Hetrich’s program-record 359 yards against Manheim Township in 2005.
Henne’s career-high was 288 yards.
Most of Hunsicker’s yardage was picked up by Edison Case, who had six receptions for 173 yards in the 40-26 win.
That ranks seventh-highest in program history and just 18 yards behind the record, shared by Andy Lehatto (2002) and Josh Smith (2005).
Say it again
Three days after Wyomissing rallied from 20 points down to beat Trinity 35-34 the Spartans did it again.
In Monday’s JV game Wyomissing trailed Trinity 34-14 at the half only to come back for a 36-34 victory, scoring the go-ahead points with less than two minutes remaining.
The Spartans took their only lead of the varsity game after freshman Justice Hardy’s 1-yard TD pass from Logan Hyde with 14 seconds left.
Williams in a rush
Elco’s Jake Williams has rushed for 912 yards in three games, with 14 touchdowns. That may be the top figure in the state through three weeks.
The top mark in Pennsylvania reported to maxpreps.com is 760 yards, by Luke Hostetler of Windber. He’s averaging 13.1 yards per carry. Williams is averaging 20.3 yards on his 45 attempts.
The senior had five scoring runs of 50 or more yards in a 49-6 win over Columbia and finished with 358 yards on 16 carries.
Williams rushed for 1,824 yards as a junior.
Oil City’s Ethen Knox averaged a Pennsylvania-best 370 yards per game last season. Elco plays Conrad Weiser Friday.
