Eagles focused on reaching 9-0, not what happened this time last season
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Exeter won its first eight games a year ago, mauling opponents by an average of five touchdowns per game.
Genuine Stutzman would rather forget about it. Not so much the 8-0 start but what came after it.
“We just kind of fell apart,” the senior linebacker painfully recalls.
| Section 2 | ||
| Exeter | 4-0 | 8-0 |
| Conestoga | 4-0 | 8-0 |
| Elizabethtown | 2-2 | 2-6 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 2-2 | 4-4 |
| Ephrata | 2-2 | 4-4 |
| Muhlenberg | 1-4 | 3-5 |
| Lebanon | 0-5 | 0-8 |
The Eagles were positioned for a second straight Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 championship but lost their final three games, including their district opener.
“I just throw everything that happened last season out the window,” said Stutzman.
Fifty-two weeks later the Eagles have the same view as their peer out the front window: They’re 8-0, blowing teams out week after week, bidding for their second Section 2 title in three seasons.
And they have a Week 9 date vs. Conestoga Valley, just like last year.
After running on cruise control for the first two months of last season the Eagles were forced to shift into high gear against the Buckskins. They went back-and-forth, taking the lead on a long Jayden Zandier run in the fourth quarter.
Conestoga Valley’s Jayden Johnson answered with a 58-yard TD run that sent the Bucks to a 34-27 win and the Eagles into a season-ending tailspin.
“We just weren’t used to getting challenged,” Exeter senior lineman Logan Wegman said. “We didn’t step up to it. Now that a lot of our starting guys are returning we’re gonna be ready for that. Now we know how to adapt. When times get tough we’re gonna be able to fight back.”
Times are tough right now for the Eagles (4-0, 8-0). Not only are they playing on the road against an unbeaten team but they’ll again be without their No. 1 quarterback Riley Martinez.
The league’s top passer went down with a lower leg injury in Week 7 against Muhlenberg and hasn’t played since. The Eagles are hoping get him back for a District 3 playoff run.
Until then Zandier, one of the league’s most dynamic runners, will be behind center. He hadn’t played quarterback on a full-time basis since junior high but he took over late in the second quarter in the 56-28 win over Muhlenberg, then chaperoned the Eagles to a 36-3 win last week against Hempfield.
He ran out of the Wildcat at times against the Muhls; in other sets he played more of a traditional quarterback role. He threw the ball four times last week, one for a touchdown to Jayden Ware; against Muhlenberg his only pass attempt went for a TD, to Aidan Dauble.
Obviously it’s not an ideal situation for the Eagles, who have had to revamp their offense without Martinez taking snaps. They seem to be undaunted by changes made on the fly.
“I’m confident with what we’ve got right now,” said Stutzman, a dangerous receiver and physical presence at tight end/H-back. “Jayden can do both running back and QB.”
“Jayden’s an all-around great athlete,” Wegman said. “He can fill the hole of Riley missing. He can pass the ball, run, do anything.”
All true. Zandier was an All-State pick as a junior and he’s been even more explosive this season. He has rushed for 1,173 yards, scored a league-leading 21 touchdowns, and is averaging a league-best 14.5 yards per carry.
Last week he opened the game with a 95-yard kickoff return – his second game-opening return TD this year.
He plays cornerback and is part of the league’s top-ranked pass defense. He even had a Pick-Six earlier this year against Lebanon.
The question remains: Are the Eagles ready for a big-time challenge? Their non-league games were a breeze and no one in Section 2, outside of Muhlenberg, has been able to push them. They’re winning games by an even wider margin (37.6 points) than a year ago.
They haven’t trailed for a single second this year. They haven’t been faced with a critical third- or fourth-down conversion or with needing to make a defensive stop.
“You’re never adequately challenged to play an 8-0 team,” Eagles coach Matt Bauer said of the Buckskins (4-0, 8-0). “I think our kids have responded. We’ve gotten better each week; that’s an important thing.”
Conestoga Valley has been nearly as dominant this season as Exeter. The Bucks are winning their games by an average of 30.1 points – third-highest in the league – are ranked No. 3 in the league in scoring defense (7.6), No. 4 in total defense (196 yards per game), and No. 5 in rushing defense. They have held six teams to one touchdown or less.
Unlike the Eagles they have had a couple of close calls. They needed a late TD to pull past Gov. Mifflin 28-21; they held off Spring Grove 13-7.
None of this was unexpected: The Bucks returned 15 starters from a 9-3 team, including Johnson, the Section 2 Offensive Back of the Year; Section 2 Linebacker of the Year Seth Morgan; and four starting offensive linemen.
They’ve gotten a big season from first-year quarterback Sawyer Esbenshade, who had thrown for 1,338 yards with 17 TDs and just three interceptions.
They haven’t gotten a big year from Johnson, who went out with an injury in Week 4 and missed the next three games. He returned last week against Elizabethtown but had just five carries for 19 yards.
The winner clinches at least a share of the section title. Exeter wraps up league play next week against Elizabethtown (2-6). Conestoga Valley finishes against Muhlenberg (3-5).
Wegman looks forward to the Section 2 showdown.
“They’re going to be the most physical team we’ve gone against,” he said. “We’re going to be more physical. When they punch us, we’re gonna punch back harder.”
(Chris Knight/LNP photo)