Four Downs: Four big takes from Week 6
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Four biggest takeaways from Week 6 of the 2023 high school football season:
1ST DOWN
Has a team with a 41-game winning streak ever gone into Game 42 as an underdog?
That might be the case Friday when Wyomissing plays at Cocalico with the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 title on the line.
The Spartans have been plenty good this season and are on track for a fifth straight District 3 Class 3A championship.
The Eagles? They might be better right now than they were a year ago when they won the District 3 Class 5A championship. They are destroying opponents.
One week after finding itself in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter at Wyomissing, Elco – playing at home – fell behind Cocalico 28-0 in the first quarter and 42-0 at the half.
That’s not a blip on the screen, either. One week earlier Cocalico rushed for 349 yards in a 24-10 win over a Lampeter-Strasburg team that had won its first four games. In Week 4 Cocalico beat Manheim Central 48-28.
2ND DOWN
Twin Valley has rolled up some big wins this season, beating Schuylkill Valley by 31 points, Conrad Weiser by 49 and Elizabethtown by 41.
The Raiders have also shown they can come through in the clutch. Four weeks after running out the clock to protect a 24-21 win at Lower Dauphin the Raiders scored a touchdown with 26 seconds left Friday, then went for two and the win to beat Solanco 29-28.
They didn’t pound it down the field with their big offensive line, either; there was no time for that. With a perfect season on the line they went up top, with Evan Myers hooking up with speedy back Evan Johnson on a deep ball down the right sideline that went for a 71-yard TD. That came on a third-and-11 from their own 29 with 30 seconds to play.
“We just worry about the next play,” said Myers, a junior now in his third season as a starter at quarterback. “If there is time left on the board, we are going to play football until the horn (sounds).”
3RD DOWN
The Fleetwood Tigers overcame all kinds of obstacles to earn their third win Saturday.
First, there was a 10 a.m. start in southern York County, which required a 6:15 a.m. exit from school.
Then there was a 17-0 deficit in the first half.
And finally, after taking the lead with 20 straight points, the Tigers had to withstand three field goal attempts by the Rams in the final seconds.
The first two were good but were waved off – the first by a Fleetwood timeout just before the snap, the second by a Tigers encroachment penalty. The third try, from 36 yards, went wide.
The Tigers should’ve been singing that Meatloaf classic “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad” on their way home Saturday. Great song; great win.
comeback over Conrad Weiser. (PhilMarPhoto)
4TH DOWN
This will go down as one of the most exciting weekends in Berks football history, at least in the regular season.
Eight of the 12 games involving Berks teams went down to the wire; three were decided by one point. In an era when many high school games end up as 30- and 40-point victories, that’s remarkable.
- Berks Catholic scored with 13 seconds left to beat Conrad Weiser 30-26.
- Twin Valley scored a touchdown and went for two with 26 seconds left to beat Solanco 29-28.
- Daniel Boone lost in overtime to Elizabethtown, 22-16.
- Schuylkill Valley partially blocked a field goal in the final minute to hold off Northern Lebanon, 7-6.
- Kutztown went for two and the win in the fourth quarter but came up short, 41-40 at Annville-Cleona.
- And Fleetwood survived a wild finish at Kennard-Dale to win 20-17.
after go-ahead touchdown. (PhilMarPhoto)