Exeter defense lowers the boom on overmatched West York
By Sam Cavilieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Exeter football has become known around Berks as an offensive juggernaut.
The 2022 version of the Eagles is making it known it’s a defensive force, as well.
The Eagles shut out West York 35-0 Friday night in a non-league matchup at Don Thomas Stadium in Reiffton, their second shutout of the season.
Their first-team defense has not allowed a point through three games.
“We really practice the pursuit drill,” said Penn State commit Joey Schlaffer, playing defensive end for the first time. “It’s a big thing of ours that we do every single defensive practice. We have good schemes and good coaches that come in and film study for us every week on how we are going to exploit their offense. All that culminated together makes us a really scary front to play against.”
The Bulldogs (0-3) had scored 22 points against Elco and 32 against Red Lion but couldn’t find an inch of space against the Eagles (3-0). They finished the game with minus-52 rushing yards; the only player who finished in the positive was Jaxon Ferber, who gained his 1 yard on a failed fake punt.
“Our defense played very well,” Exeter coach Matt Bauer said. “We had a very nice push all night. We put pressure on the quarterback. Except for a couple of screen passes they really didn’t hurt us too bad. We kept everything in front of us and we tackled a lot better.”
Bauer was being respectful of the Bulldogs. The defense kept the West York offense in its own backfield. The Eagles allowed no gain or a loss on 13 consecutive plays and 19 out of 20 in a stretch stemming from early in the second quarter to midway through the third quarter.
Despite the domination, the game was scoreless at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles turned the ball over on downs at the West York 2 on their first drive and followed that with a fumble at the 3 on the next sequence.
“Offense was a little bit of an area of concern,” Bauer said. “We didn’t protect the football and coughed it up in key situations. We made a couple poor decisions. We definitely need to clean that up if we are going to be successful in big games.”
Exeter removed any doubt of the outcome in the second quarter, scoring three touchdowns in the course of 4:37. Pharrell Caceres ran for a 12-yard touchdown, Schlaffer scored on a 35-yard pass from Mason Rotelli and bellcow back Richie Karstien scored his first of two touchdowns.
The offense is attempting to gel under its new starting quarterback. His touchdown hookup with Schlaffer was the best thrown ball of the night. He completed 9-of-14 passes for 167 yards and had one interception at the goal line.
Rotelli also lowered his shoulder and bowled over a defender in the open field to a roar from the sideline. He was penalized on the play but Bauer was pleased with the tough run.
“Every week he is improving,” Schlaffer said of his quarterback. “Stuff is going to happen throughout any game. He handled adversity tonight very well. Every drive he went out there and had the same confidence as the last one. He didn’t take a step back. Next drive, next play, that’s the mentality.”
Karstien finished with 111 rushing yards and really got going in the second half as the Eagles asserted their will. The downhill style of running he employs has a tendency to wear down defenses as the game goes on.
“Richie is improving from week to week,” Bauer said. “He runs so hard and we are just seeing exponential improvement. It’s a pleasure to watch him run and it’s a pleasure to watch him run people over as well.”
Schlaffer, who will play tight end at Penn State, joined Karstien in the backfield for a few snaps. He had five touches in the game: three receptions for 108 yards and two carries for 28 yards.
He broke numerous tackles and carried defenders draped on him for additional yards. He credited the work he is putting in at Garage Strength for additional leg strength. He wanted to talk more about finally getting a toss in the run game than any of his catches.
“(That’s) one thing I have been waiting for a while to get it in on,” Schlaffer said. “We have installed it since the summer and I have been waiting for my number to be called on that one.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| West York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Exeter | 0 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 35 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Exeter | Caceres, 12 run (Zandier kick) | 7:44 |
| 2 | Exeter | Schlaffer, 35 pass from Rotelli (Zandier kick) | 5:11 |
| 2 | Exeter | Karstien, 7 run (Zandier kick) | 3:07 |
| 3 | Exeter | Karstien, 3 run (Zandier kick) | 8:09 |
| 3 | Exeter | Pashley, 0 fumble return (Zandier kick) | 3:26 |
Team statistics
| West York | Exeter | |
| First downs | 8 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 25-(-52) | 30-161 |
| Passing yards | 169 | 167 |
| Total yards | 117 | 328 |
| Passes | 8-25-1 | 9-14-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 5-2 | 2-2 |
| Punts-average | 7-31.14 | 3-72 |
| Penalties-yards | 14-122 | 8-85 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
West York: Ferber 1-1, DeJesus 6-(-1), Walker 7-(-12), Davis 3-(-13), Roberts 8-(-27).
Exeter: Karstien 16-111, Caceres 6-28, Schlaffer 2-28, Redding 1-(-1), Rotelli 5-(-5).
PASSING
West York: Roberts 5-12-0-90, Walker 3-13-1-79.
Exeter: Rotelli 9-14-1-167.
RECEIVING
West York: Davis 2-46, Goring-Pollard 2-30, Anderson 2-20, Nokes 1-39, Price 1-34.
Exeter: Schlaffer 3-108, Karstien 3-3, Zander 2-56, Choy 1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS
West York: Davis.
Exeter: Hollis.
