Fleetwood Tigers enjoy first championship, hope to build on success
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Tanner Maddocks said the Fleetwood Tigers were disappointed about missing the District 3 playoff field.
They didn’t play like a disappointed team in a 48-35 mercy-rule win over Boyertown in the Eastern Conference Class 5A-6A title game Friday at Tigers Stadium. It was the first championship of any sort for the program.
The top-seeded Tigers (7-4) were aggressive from the jump with a successful flea-flicker on the first play of the game. They never punted and they went for it on fourth down multiple times.
“Our goal was to put 40 points up on the board and if you want to do that you have to take chances,” Maddocks said. “Coach (Steve) Pangburn, our offensive coordinator, did a great job being aggressive. I love being coached by him because he’s aggressive and that’s the kind of player I am.”
Maddocks, a Villanova commit, put up his customary outstanding stat line throwing for 218 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 69 yards and a touchdown. He had plenty of help in a balanced offensive performance.
Gavin Morris led the Tigers with 102 rushing yards and Gage Moyer had three rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown on the prettiest passing play of the night. Maddocks hit Moyer in stride over the middle for a 49-yard score on a dart that was as seamless and quick as a backfield handoff.
“We knew there was a linebacker shaded over me in man (coverage) and with my speed we knew I could beat him,” Moyer said. “Tanner placed that ball perfectly right in my hands and I took it to the house.”
The house call put the Tigers ahead 16-0 late in the first quarter. They didn’t stop there as they tacked on a third touchdown before the second-seeded Bears (3-7) registered a first down. Maddocks fumbled the ball in the pocket but calmly picked it back up and found Mason Musitano for a touchdown without a defender within 5 yards in the end zone.
Boyertown gained some life with a Leo Egbe touchdown before the half but the Tigers came out in the second half and kept to their task. They forced a three-and-out and quickly tacked on two more touchdowns utilizing their ground attack. The Fleetwood offensive line was dominant in both pass protection and run-blocking schemes against the Boyertown front seven.
“We went in at halftime and we really let them know the game’s not over,” Fleetwood coach Steve Beatty said. “They changed the momentum a bit there and we let them know they had 24 minutes left in the season and they responded.”
The Tigers invoked the mercy rule on another trick play late in the third quarter when they successfully ran a double-reverse flea-flicker for a 58-yard touchdown from Maddocks to Musitano.
“We installed it on Wednesday, and I didn’t think it was going to work, honestly,” said Musitano, who finished with a career-high 142 yards.
After the mercy rule clock started there was absolute pandemonium in the fourth quarter. While the game was never really in doubt, Boyertown ripped off touchdowns on three consecutive possessions. These were truly consecutive possessions because of two successful onside kick recoveries.
The teams combined to score 35 points in less than six minutes of game time and that was all done with a running clock. Egbe led all rushers with 166 yards and had three touchdowns.
“They did a good job with the onside kick,” Beatty said. “We tried to prepare for it and we didn’t handle it well.”
Maddocks, Morris and Moyer are all seniors and this Fleetwood team has a lot of contributors in this senior class. This class is responsible for two of the three winning seasons in the program’s 21 seasons.
“(The Eastern Conference Championship) is great for the seniors that are here,” Beatty said. “The program has improved and it’s moving up; 7-4 and winning this game will get a few more guys to play football for us, I believe.”
While this class didn’t go back to districts the emotion was clear for many of the players while waiting to be awarded their medals and the Eastern Conference Champions plaque.
“I was happy we got to play in front of our home crowd,” Maddocks said. “When I came here as a sophomore the first game I ever played was on this field and here is the same crowd again for me to walk off and play my last game as a Fleetwood Tiger.”
Maddocks and the Tigers went out as winners, and there is nothing to be disappointed about that.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Boyertown | 0 | 7 | 0 | 28 | 35 |
| Fleetwood | 16 | 6 | 20 | 6 | 48 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Fleetwood | Safety | 9:46 |
| 1 | Fleetwood | Moyer, 3 run (Maddocks kick) | 5:05 |
| 1 | Fleetwood | Moyer, 49 pass from Maddocks (Maddocks kick) | 2:35 |
| 2 | Fleetwood | Musitano, 10 pass from Maddocks (pass failed) | 9:58 |
| 2 | Boyertown | Egbe, 5 run (Foskey kick) | 1:27 |
| 3 | Fleetwood | Moyer, 23 run (Maddocks kick) | 10:05 |
| 3 | Fleetwood | Moyer, 11 run (Maddocks kick) | 4:17 |
| 3 | Fleetwood | Musitano, 58 pass from Maddocks (Maddocks kick) | 2:48 |
| 4 | Boyertown | Egbe, 14 run (Foskey kick) | 7:34 |
| 4 | Boyertown | Egbe, 52 run (Foskey kick) | 6:51 |
| 4 | Boyertown | Marinello, 24 run (Foskey kick) | 4:45 |
| 4 | Fleetwood | Maddocks, 45 run (kick failed) | 3:45 |
| 4 | Boyertown | Marinello, 57 run (Foskey kick) | 1:36 |
Team statistics
| Boyertown | Fleetwood | |
| First downs | 17 | 20 |
| Rushes-yards | 42-250 | 36-245 |
| Passing yards | 114 | 218 |
| Total yards | 364 | 463 |
| Passes | 4-11-1 | 9-17-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 4-1 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 4-24.50 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 9-84 | 9-70 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Boyertown: Egbe 25-166, Marinello 7-87, Panarello 7-6, Sennott 1-6, Team 2-(-15).
Fleetwood: Morris 17-120, Moyer 9-74, Maddocks 10-69.
PASSING
Boyertown: Panarello 4-11-1–114.
Fleetwood: Maddocks 9-17-0–218.
RECEIVING
Boyertown: Ordway 3-90, Daddario 1-24.
Fleetwood: Musitano 5-142, Moyer 2-58, Morris 1-9, Ryan 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS
Fleetwood: Musitano.
