Football Notebook: Close calls, passing marks, receiving honors and more
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Rick Keeley has been a head football coach for 38 seasons. He’s never experienced one quite like this where he’s been sweating it out until the final seconds so often.
The Saints have had five games decided by five points or less, winning four. Their last two victories have been nailbiters: They beat Conrad Weiser 30-26 when Connor Pennington scored with 13 seconds left and topped Octorara 22-19 last week when Bryce Gumby scored with 21 seconds left.
“That keeps coaching exciting,” Keeley joked.
The Saints beat Executive Education 19-14 in Week 2 when Michael Bradley broke off an 83-yard scoring run with 2:57 left. The Saints needed to knock down a pass in the end zone on the final play of the game to preserve the win.
In a 19-16 win over Donegal in Week 5 the Saints forced a late turnover on downs at their 2 after a fourth-down pass from the 13.
Berks Catholic lost its season-opener at Loyalsock 25-21, the Lancers taking the lead for good with a TD early in the fourth quarter.
“That’s just part of the deal,” Keeley said of all the close calls. “I enjoy it when you see the kids playing hard and not giving up and coming back; that’s what I like to see as a coach.”
Keeley has seen a lot of that over the years, and he’s been able to fully enjoy most of the close calls. His teams have won over 70 percent (59-25) of their games decided by seven points or less and 75 percent (24-8) of those decided by three points or less. His teams at Holy Name, Hamburg and Berks Catholic have gone a combined 14-4 in one-point games.
Keeley must be living right: His teams claimed 10 straight wins in one-point decisions from 2000 to 2020 before losing 35-34 at Cedar Cliff when the Saints were stuffed on a late two-point conversion try in the second overtime.
Keeley’s 1987 Holy Name team went 5-0 in games decided by a touchdown or less on the way to a program-record 11-2 finish. The Blue Jays beat Daniel Boone, Exeter and Central Catholic each 7-0 and Wyomissing 7-6 on the way to an Inter-County League title.
The Blue Jays went 5-1 in close games in 2004 on the way to a 10-2 finish and Berks I-C Section 3 title.
With 279 victories, Keeley is among the winningest active coaches in Pennsylvania. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame earlier this year – his fifth Hall of Fame.
This is no ‘regular’ season for Shuey
Hamburg quarterback Tyler Shuey continues to add entries to his historic season.
In throwing for 201 yards last week he became just the second passer in Berks history to top 2,000 yards in the regular season – and he did it with two games remaining.
Shuey has thrown for 2,169 yards in eight games, tops in the Lancaster-Lebanon League and more than any Berks quarterback at this point of the season.
Only Daniel Boone’s Jon Monteiro has thrown for more yards in the regular season: 2,575 in 2008. Monteiro had 2,145 yards through eight games.
Monteiro finished with a Berks-record 2,969 yards in 12 games.
| Passing yards/regular season | School | Season | Yards | |
| Jon Monteiro | Daniel Boone | 2008 | 2,575 | |
| Tyler Shuey | Hamburg | 2023 | 2,169 | |
| Logan Klitsch | Conrad Weiser | 2021 | 2,073 | |
| Zach Koenig | Fleetwood | 2014 | 2,053 | |
| Luke Emge | Fleetwood | 2015 | 2,032 | |
| Kyle Beissel | Sch. Valley | 2012 | 2,003 | |
| Eric Hetrich | Wilson | 2005 | 1,982 | |
| Jeff Harner | Sch. Valley | 2000 | 1,924 |
Shuey’s total of 2,169 is ninth-most in Berks history. He will have a shot at Monteiro’s record if the Hawks qualify for the postseason and get an 11th game. They’re 4-4 and likely out of the District 3 Class 3A race but are in position to earn an Eastern Conference berth.
He is the fifth Berks passer to top 2,000 yards in the regular season.
He already owns Hamburg records for passing yards and TD passes (20) in a season.
Shuey has thrown for 200 yards in seven of eight games and topped 300 three times.
Only one player is Pennsylvania is listed with more than 2,000 passing yards on maxpreps.com: Eli Muthler of Central (Martinsburg), with 2,020. Matt Zollers of Spring-Ford has thrown for 1,913 yards and Stone Saunders of Bishop McDevitt for 1,839.
Not all schools list their stats on maxpreps.com.
Hawks catching on
Tyler Shuey is not the only Hamburg player breaking program records; so are his talented receivers.
One week after Ty Werley broke the Hamburg record for career receiving yards, teammate Cohen Correll broke the program career record for receptions.
Correll, a 6-foot senior, had seven catches last week in the Frost Bowl, giving him 79 over three seasons. That topped the record of 76 set by Shay Moyer from 2008-09.
Werley passed Moyer’s program mark of 1,003 career receiving yards a week earlier in a win over Pequea Valley. The 6-2 junior has 1,097 career yards.
Tight end Mason Semmel matched the program record of 14 touchdown receptions against Pequea with a pair of scoring catches. Brenden Forrest set the record in 2010-11.
Semmel, with nine TD catches this season, is two shy of Forrest’s single-season mark, set in 2011.
Tiger earns his stripes
Mason Musitano became the leading receiver in Fleetwood history last week, his nine receptions against Elizabethtown giving him 92 over three seasons.
That topped the mark of 89, set by Michael Allen from 2012-14.
Musitano’s 1,303 career receiving yards are second in program history to Allen’s 1,672.
The 6-2, 179-pound senior Musitano has 36 catches this season; the program record is 46.
He was a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 second-team all-league pick as a junior, when he had 27 catches.
Extra points
Schuylkill Valley leads Berks with 13 interceptions. Eight different Panthers have picked off a pass; five have two. . .
Daniel Boone’s Joe DiGiacomo caught 11 passes last week against Solanco; that’s the most by a Berks player this season and tied for second-most in program history. Kelly Saylor set the record in 2008 with 14 catches against Pottsville. . .
Berks Catholic offensive lineman Joey Polinsky has received his first Division I offer, from Cornell. . .
Twin Valley junior Evan Myers is less than 300 yards from the program career passing mark of 3,935, set by Zack Gardner in 2018. . .
Schuylkill Valley’s Kowen Gerner has tied the program record with 10 TD receptions, set by Michael Knowles in 2019. . . With 827 yards Gerner is on pace to top Dave Golden’s program record of 1,094 receiving yards in a season. . . The Berks record is within range, too.
