Blazers take one step closer to postseason berth with 35-0 win

Dean Rotter threw three touchdown passes as Daniel Boone kept its playoff hopes alive with a 35-0 win over Reading High in a Berks Football League Section 1 game Friday at Birdsboro.

The Blazers (2-1, 5-2) have won five of their last six and remain in position to make the District 3 playoffs, though they face a tough final stretch.

Boone closes the regular season at unbeaten Gov. Mifflin and with a finale against rival Exeter, which is also bidding for a spot in the District 3 Class 5A tournament field.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Red Knights (0-2, 1-5).

The Blazers scored on each of their three first-half possessions to go up 21-0. Tight end Draven Klick caught scoring passes of 30 and 13 yards, and AJ Hofer scored on a 5-yard run.

Hofer finished with 160 yards on 22 carries.

Boone went up 28-0 early in the third quarter on Rotter’s third scoring pass, an 11-yarder to Alex Vasallo.

Rotter completed 5-of-6 passes for 83 yards. Klick accounted for 43 of those passing yards on his two catches.

The Blazers went up 35-0 on Hofer’s second TD, a 1-yard run that came three plays after Xavier Coleman forced on a turnover on a sack, giving Boone possession at the Reading 23. Coleman recovered the fumble.

The Blazers also got a turnover on Jaxson Mace’s interception.

Linebacker Ryan Souder had a team-high 11 tackles, nine solos.

This is Boone’s best start since it was 7-0 in 2011; it last reached the district playoffs in 2014.

It made the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2018, Rob Flowers’ first season as head coach.

Boone finished 2-6 last season, then lost its best player, quarterback/safety Carter Speyerer, in this year’s season-opener against Wyomissing. It’s only two losses are to Wyomissing and Berks Catholic, each of which are ranked in the state.