Bulldogs shake off loss as Madyx Gruber torches Red Knights with 4 TD passes
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
By halftime, Wilson had already put up video game offensive numbers.
The Bulldogs accumulated 444 yards and scored six touchdowns in the first half en route to a 50-6 victory over Reading High in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 opener Friday at Albright College’s Shirk Stadium.
Madyx Gruber threw four touchdown passes, Monty Greer darted for a 95-yard score, and Christo Hunsicker hit Correll Akings for a 69-yard touchdown on a trick play, all in the first half for the Bulldogs (3-1), who were coming off a narrow defeat to state-ranked Nazareth.
“The message (at practice this week) was basically, ‘Hey you can dwell on the loss or you can come into this game with a little bit of an attitude,’ ” Wilson head coach Doug Dahms said.
Gruber went toe-to-toe with Nazareth quarterback and Virginia Tech commit Peyton Falzone last week and continues to stand out in his first season at quarterback.
“We knew we had to come into this game kicking butt,” Gruber said. “That loss really messed with us mentally, but we came back stronger. I’m taking it week by week. Trying to get better every day at practice. I can see the progression every day.”
Each team started the game with three plays and a punt. Akings’ 45-yard return set Wilson up on the Reading 25-yard-line and Gruber hit Brady Kline for a touchdown on a seam route on the next play with 9:05 left in the first quarter.
After forcing another Reading punt, Wilson embarked on a nine-play, 84-yard scoring drive capped with Gruber’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Jaiden Carpenter. Gruber hit Carpenter for a 41-yard gain two plays earlier to set the Bulldogs up in scoring position.
On the Bulldogs’ first drive of the second half Gruber tossed the ball back to Hunsicker on an end-around; the former quarterback lofted a pass to Akings, who leaked out of the backfield and pulled what became a 69-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown.
“It’s been in the game plan,” Gruber said of the trick play. “We knew it was a high possibility we’d run it today.”
Reading advanced into the red zone on its next drive behind a 52-yard pitch-and-catch from Kayson Fritz to Xavier Beatty but turned it over on downs at the 5.
Monty Greer went 95 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing play and Wilson extended its lead to 27-0 with 8:03 left before halftime.
“The coaches knew it was there,” Greer said. “They watched film on it. Then I just got the ball and the hole was open.”
The sophomore running back burst through the right side of the line and turned the corner up the sideline, but surprisingly a Reading defender caught up to him before Greer made a cutback move to free himself into the middle of the field.
“I was running for my life,” Greer said.
“He’s super-athletic,” Gruber said of Greer. “He’s a fast track star. He’s big, physical, and just is going to get better every year.”
Gruber hit Michael Glover for a 57-yard touchdown with 2:58 left and Cam Zullinger for a 6-yard touchdown as time expired in the second quarter. Wilson took a 41-0 lead into the locker room.
The Bulldogs had 272 passing yards and 172 rushing yards at the break.
“(Their) front six is tough,” Dahms said of Reading. “We knew that. We knew we were going to have a hard time running the ball inside. We did a pretty nice job running outside, but we also felt that we could throw against them because they were putting everything in to stop the run.”
Dahms gave the second- and third-stringers some spin in the second half as the starters rested.
“They work their butts off at practice,” Dahms said. “They’re always the nut squad. We told them at half, ‘Here’s your chance to play some varsity football.’ For the most part, they did a pretty good job.”
Hunsicker knocked through a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter to give Wilson a 44-0 lead.
Gabriel Laws scored on a 4-yard run as time expired in the third quarter for the Red Knights (1-3).
Colin Youtz reeled in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Mason Young with 5:17 left in the fourth quarter for the Bulldogs.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 14 | 27 | 3 | 6 | 50 |
| Reading High | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wilson | Kline, 25 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick) | 9:05 |
| 1 | Wilson | Carpenter, 5 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick) | 5:52 |
| 2 | Wilson | Akings, 69 pass from Hunsicker (Hunsicker kick) | 10:20 |
| 2 | Wilson | Greer, 95 run (Hunsicker kick failed) | 8:03 |
| 2 | Wilson | Glover, 57 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick) | 2:58 |
| 2 | Wilson | Zullinger, 6 pass from Gruber (Hunsicker kick) | 0:00 |
| 3 | Wilson | Hunsicker, 29 FG | 1:31 |
| 3 | Reading High | Laws, 4 run (Guzman kick failed) | 0:00 |
| 4 | Wilson | Youtz, 13 pass from Young (Sneij kick blocked) | 5:17 |
Team statistics
| Wilson | Reading High | |
| First downs | 16 | 7 |
| Rushes-yards | 25-238 | 30-64 |
| Passing yards | 319 | 57 |
| Total yards | 557 | 121 |
| Passes | 19-23-0 | 3-12-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 3-31.3 | 7-38 |
| Penalties-yards | 10-95 | 4-22 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wilson: M. Greer 3-125, Akings 8-54, Bailey 4-30, Gruber 4-14, D. Greer 2-12, Young 2-12, Becker 1-(-3), Team 1-(-6).
Reading High: Alvarado 15-49, Laws 6-16, Fritz 6-3, Camara 1-2, Wood 2-(-6).
PASSING
Wilson: Gruber 11-14-0—203, Young 7-8-0—47, Hunsicker 1-1-0—69.
Reading High: Fritz 3-10-0—57, Plyaharn 0-2-1—0.
RECEIVING
Wilson: Glover 4-97, Kline 3-54, Akings 2-79, Carpenter 2-41, Archampong 2-21, Zullinger 2-11, Hunsicker 2-1, Youtz 1-13, Becker 1-2.
Reading High: Beatty 3-57.
INTERCEPTIONS
Wilson: Becker.
