Football Notebook: Grand trio, new-look L-L, brother act, cash-out, and more
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Hitting the trifecta
With a couple flicks of the wrist Tyler Shuey will pull his Hamburg receiving corps into the Berks record books along with him.
Shuey, on the way to the most productive regular season ever by a Berks passer, is a couple of completions away from having three 1,000-yard receivers on the field with him at the same time.
That’s never happened before in Berks football.
Only three programs – Conrad Weiser, Fleetwood and Wilson – have had as many as two 1,000-yard career receivers on the field together.
The Hawks could soon have three: Wide receivers Ty Werley and Cohen Correll and tight end Mason Semmel.
Werley, a junior, is the Hawks’ career receiving leader, with 1,097 yards on 66 catches. He recently passed Shay Moyer’s program receiving mark of 1,003 career yards.
(Photo by Jeremy Drey)
Correll and Semmel are close behind: Each needs just 24 receiving yards to reach 1,000.
Correll led Berks with 39 receptions last season as a junior; he has 36 catches this season.
Semmel is averaging 20.5 yards on his 30 catches this season after collecting 21 balls as a junior.
Weiser had the most productive receiving duo in Berks history: Tight end Matt Weiser and running back DJ Robinson. Each were seniors in 2010.
Matt Weiser had a program-record 1,615 receiving yards over his three seasons; Robinson had 1,554 over four seasons.
Tyler Strunk (1,291) and Sampson Lerch (1,121) of Fleetwood were seniors in 2015.
Wilson had the first grand receiving duo with tight end Todd Bradburn (1,044) and running back Brian McCarty (1,003) in 1989.
New-look L-L
The Lancaster-Lebanon League is expected to announce realignment plans Wednesday for the 2024 and 2025 football seasons.
The league’s five sections will be realigned according to enrollment figures; expect changes in at least four of the five.
Cocalico, unbeaten in Section 4 this season, should move up to Section 3; Twin Valley or Fleetwood, the smallest schools in Section 3, could slide down.
Berks Catholic, which has struggled to compete with the powerhouse teams in Section 4, likely will drop to Section 5. Northern Lebanon was clearly the largest school in Section 5 in the last enrollment cycle; it could be moving up.
If Ephrata moves up from Section 3 that could give Muhlenberg a chance to drop to Section 3. Manheim Central is the easily the smallest school in Section 2 but it opted last cycle to play up and is expected to again.
Berks Catholic opted to play up for the current cycle. Same goes for Wyomissing: Its enrollment was smaller than half the schools in Section 5 but Bob Wolfrum prefers the competition Section 4 offers.
If the Saints go to Section 5 what becomes of the “Backyard Brawl?” When Berks Catholic moved to Section 1 of the Berks Football League a few years ago the rivalry game was suspended until they were again paired in the same section.
The wildcard in all of this is the PIAA’s new rule regarding home-schooled and vo-tech students. Schools are now required to count 100 percent of those students; previously only 10 percent of those students counted against a school’s enrollment.
Some public schools will see their PIAA enrollment figures increase by 25 to 40 percent, or more. Parochial, charter and private schools won’t see their enrollment figures affected noticeably by the change.
Oh, brother
You don’t often see brothers lined up in the same backfield, or even on the field together. To see siblings each rush for 100 yards in the same game? Very rare.
Twin Valley quarterback Evan Myers and running back Lucas Myers accomplished the feat last week in a 54-7 win over Daniel Boone.
Evan, a junior, rushed for a team-high 135 yards on just eight carries. Lucas, a freshman starting due to injuries, went for 102 yards on seven carries.
Over the last 30 years it is believed only one other Berks brother tandem accomplished such a feat: Isaac and Cooper Lutz of Berks Catholic.
They were paired together in the backfield in 2015 when Isaac was a senior and Cooper a sophomore. Each finished the season with more than 1,000 rushing yards.
They each went over 100 yards in the same game three times that season, against Twin Valley and Hamburg in the regular season and Newport in the postseason.
Isaac went on to play at Penn State; Cooper played at Syracuse and Vanderbilt.
Wild finish
The eight-team District 3 Class 6A field is pretty much set; what order those eight end up in is very much up in the air.
Due to an odd scheduling quirk six of the top eight teams in the power rankings play each other this weekend: No. 1 Manheim Township vs. No. 4 Wilson; No. 2 Harrisburg vs. No. 5 Central Dauphin; and No. 3 Central York vs. No. 7 York High.
If those games go as expected Township, Harrisburg and Central will be the top three seeds – and Wilson could drop as many as four slots, to No. 7.
The Bulldogs likely will need to pull off the upset over the unbeaten Blue Streaks in order to get an opening-round home game in the tournament, which begins Nov. 10 (after a Week 11 bye for each of the eight teams).
Wilson (.738) has a razor-thin lead over No. 5 Central Dauphin (.734) in the power ratings. Cumberland Valley (.705) and Cedar Crest (.689) aren’t far behind.
The determining factor – assuming no major Week 10 upsets – will be how each team’s non-league opponents fare. Wins and losses by a team’s opponent factor into its power rating.
For the Bulldogs that’s not looking good. It’s possible each of their four non-league opponents could lose: Roman Catholic (to St. Joseph’s Prep), Central Dauphin (to Harrisburg), Cheltenham (to Wissahickon) and Gov. Mifflin (to Warwick). Wissahickon and Mifflin could win; those games should be close.
A Warwick win would benefit No. 8 Cedar Crest, which could – with a win over winless Lebanon – vault to the No. 5 spot.
Safe to say there will be a lot of finger-crossing and number-crunching Friday evening.
That’s the ticket
Don’t forget your phone at home when you’re on the way to a playoff game this season – otherwise you might not get in.
District 3 is going to on-line ticketing for all postseason events, in all sports. A credit card is required for purchase.
Cash: non grata.
You can purchase tickets for all events at: piaad3.hometownticketing.com/embed/all.
Tickets are $6 through the early rounds, $8 for championship games. They can be purchased once the brackets for that particular sport become official and posted on the D3 website. The cross country championships are $10 per car.
Extra points
Lucas Myers became the first Twin Valley freshman to score four touchdowns in a game last week in a win over Daniel Boone; the four TDs matched a program record. Hard to say who the last Berks freshman was to score four TDs in a game, but you can be certain it’s a pretty short list. . .
Here’s another potential record: Three two-point conversion runs in the same game. Czion Brickle did that last week in matching the Fleetwood record for points in a game, with 30. He had four TDs. . .
Roman Catholic, which rocked Wilson 49-14 in Week 1, has lost just one game this season: 25-23 to DeMatha Catholic of Maryland – in five overtimes. The Cahillites may be looking at a second loss Saturday when they host St. Joseph’s Prep, the No. 1 team in the state. . .
Evan Myers needs 195 yards to become Twin Valley’s all-time passing leader. The junior and three-year starter has thrown for 3,741 yards. Zach Gardner set the record with 3,935 yards, from 2016-18. . .
Logan Nawrocki is closing in on Schuylkill Valley’s single-season touchdown passes record. The junior connected for his 18th last week. The record is 22, shared by Kyle Beissel (2012) and Nicco Iaccarino (221). The Panthers have at least two games remaining. . .
Paul McClune, one of the hammers on that impressive Twin Valley offensive line, has received a Preferred Walk-On offer from Boston College. The 6-4, 295-pound senior has a game-day invite for Penn State’s game Saturday vs. Indiana. . .
Tommy Grabowski, a sophomore at Susquehanna University, leads the team in rushing with 756 yards and in TDs with 10. The River Hawks are 8-0 and ranked No. 11 in the nation among Division III schools. . .
