State-ranked Manheim Central too much for Muhlenberg
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Patrick Weidner — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
The Manheim Central Barons expect to make some memories next week when they play Lebanon, looking for the 600th victory.
Friday’s 42-0 win over Muhlenberg was one Barons coach Dave Hahn would sooner forget.
“I will take an ugly win over a pretty loss anytime,” said Hahn. “We had over 135 yards in penalties and we didn’t play well.”
Brycen Armold rushed for 157 yards and scored three touchdowns in the Barons’ Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 victory at Laureldale.
The Barons (2-0, 5-1) led 21-0 at the half.
The Muhls (1-2, 1-5) were shut out for the first time this season. It was the second straight shutout and third of the season for Manheim, which is ranked No. 9 in the state in Class 4A.
Muhlenberg was much more competitive than a year ago, when it lost 70-0 to Manheim.
Manheim’s Zac Hahn threw for 238 yards Friday, with a pair of scoring passes.
Armold opened the scoring with a 12-yard TD run with 6:05 left in the first quarter. On the Barons’ next possession Aaron Enterline scored on a 10-yard run. Enterline scored on a 20-yard pass with 9:15 left in the second quarter to make it 21-0.
“We didn’t start good at all,” said Enterline, “but when we go fast in practice things start to click for us, and we started to go fast in the second half.”
With 3:24 left in the second quarter a Muhlenberg player was injured and the game was stopped. The officials elected to end the first half at that point.
Hahn’s touchdown pass to Bode Sipel with 9:54 left in the third quarter made it 28-0.
Armold finished the scoring with an 18-yard TD run and a 57-yard reception.
The Muhls were playing without injured starting quarterback Aaden Lopez, who was hurt early in last week’s loss to Gov. Mifflin. Anthony Cipolla took over for him last week and completed 11-of-13 passes, including a touchdown to Isaih Dodson.
The positive on the night for the Muhls was the effort by Michael Miller and his defensive teammates. Even though they gave up 42 points they battled all night.
“I can say that as a whole group we played super-hard to every whistle,” Miller said. “We played our hearts out even though the outcome wasn’t what we wanted it to be.”
Friday’s meeting was the fourth in the series, all Manheim victories.
The Barons won the initial league meeting last season, matching the worst beating the Muhls have ever absorbed, a 77-7 loss to Exeter in 2021. It was the largest shutout loss ever for the Muhls.
Armold ran for 235 yards and four TDs in last year’s win; Hahn completed 11-of-14 passes for 235 yards, with four TDs.
Manheim’s lone loss came in Week 3, 48-28 to Cocalico. The Barons beat Warwick 49-0 last week.
The Barons won their first nine games last season before falling to Exeter in a Section 2 showdown of unbeatens in the final game of the regular season.
The Muhls picked up their lone win in Week 4, beating Lebanon 13-7 in their Section 2 opener.
Muhlenberg and Manheim Central met twice in District 3 playoffs, in 2004 and 2005. The Barons won each.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Manheim Centra | 14 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 42 |
| Muhlenberg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Manheim Central | Armold, 12 run (Greiner extra point) | 6:05 |
| 1 | Manheim Central | Enterline, 10 pass from Hahn (Greiner extra point) | 4:36 |
| 2 | Manheim Central | Enterline, 20 pass from Hahn (Greiner extra point) | 9:15 |
| 3 | Manheim Central | Sipel, 12 pass from Hahn (Greiner extra point) | 9:54 |
| 3 | Manheim Central | Armold, 18 run (Griener extra point) | 3:07 |
| 4 | Manheim Central | Armold, 57 pass from Hahn (White extra point) | 4:24 |
Team statistics
| Manheim Central | Muhlenberg | |
| First downs | 23 | 3 |
| Rushes-yards | 30-200 | 14–10 |
| Passing yards | 228 | 96 |
| Total yards | 428 | 86 |
| Passes | 17-28-1 | 10-22-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| Punts-average | 0-00 | 8-34 |
| Penalties-yards | 11-135 | 2-30 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Manheim Central: Armold 22-157, Hahn 8-43,
Muhlenberg: Miller 7-(-2), Cipolla 1-(-15), Torok 9-11, Dodson 1-(4).
PASSING
Manheim Central: Hahn 17-28-1-228.
Muhlenberg: Cipolla 10-22-1-96.
RECEIVING
Manheim Central: Enterline 7-88, Armold 6-93, Sipel 4-42, Callahan 2-5.
Muhlenberg: Dodson 4-68, Miller 4-22, Maduena 2-6.
INTERCEPTIONS
Manheim Central: Werner.
Muhlenberg: Collado.
