Football notebook: Noll, Levering, Millard getting their kicks
It turns out the most prolific field goal kicker in Berks football history is a pretty good punter, too.
Conrad Weiser grad Matt Noll, a freshman at Delaware State, has been been named to the HBCU All-America Team.
Noll was tops in the MEAC in punting with a 40.4 average. He had 11 punts of 50-or-more yards, including a long of 64 yards, and placed 16 kicks inside the opponents’ 20-yard line this past season.
Noll is in his second year and first season at Delaware State. (The 2020 season was not played due to COVID.)
He was a two-time, two-way All-Berks pick with the Scouts, as both a punter and placekicker his junor and senior seasons. He set the Berks career record for field goals with 23. As a junior he set the Berks single-season mark with 12 field goals, on 15 attempts.
Noll got a chance to kick some placements for the Hornets. He made a 25-yard field goal vs. Howard, and was good 13-of-14 PATs over final four games. He had five kickoffs in season finale vs N.C. Central.
He had a season-long punt of 64 yards vs. Norfolk State, and 62-yarders vs. Georgetown and East Tennessee State.
In addition to all-league honors Noll also received MEAC all-academic honors.
The All-America teams are selected via voting by national media who cover HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) football.
For the record
Ian Levering has a spot in the Berks record book; Wyomissing teammates Tommy Grabowski, Amory Thompson and Drew Eisenhower helped put him in position for that.
The junior placekicker booted 74 PATs, breaking the Berks record of 70 set by Jonah Bowman, the placekicker on Wyomissing’s 2012 PIAA championship team.
Levering was good on 74-of-79 kicks; he broke the record with six PATs in the state semifinal against Neumann Goretti.
Levering had plenty of opportunities: The Spartans scored a Berks-record 671 points. That crushed the record of 629, set by the Spartans in 2012.
Levering’s 83 points are third-most by a Berks kicker. Bowman had 97 points and Wilson’s Hunter Rubright had 85, in 2013.
Special specialist
Daniel Boone’s Nate Millard was named Berks Specialist of the Year at the Berks County Football Coaches banquet. He had a Berks-leading 19 touchbacks, shared the Berks lead with four field goals and had a league-best 44.3 punting average.
Conrad Weiser’s Adam Noll was runner-up for the award. He also kicked four field goals and had 47 PATs, second most in Berks.
The winner is determined by a formula that includes PATs attempted and made, field goals attempted and made, long field goal, touchbacks, punting average and longest punt.
Berks kicking guru John Zima of Kick It devised the award and presents it annually.
Cooper on the move
Former Berks Catholic running back Cooper Lutz is looking for a new football home after four seasons at Syracuse. He entered his name into the transfer portal earlier this month.
Lutz was a special teams captain and led the Orange in special teams tackles with nine but didn’t get many opportunities in the backfield. He was the recipient of the Syracuse Football Club’s Joe Szombathy Special Teams Award at the program’s end-of-season banquet.
Lutz was an All-State pick and selected for the Big 33 Classic while playing for the Saints. He rushed for 3,141 yards and scored 55 TDs.
Lutz wrote on Twitter that he will “hold all of the memories I have made” at Syracuse close.
“The Syracuse football program has truly developed me into a better player and helped me grow to become a better man,” he wrote. “I’m forever grateful for my teammates; you guys are like brothers to me and it was my greatest honor to be elected as a captain. Forever Orange.”
Lutz has two years of eligibility remaining.
He was the 12th Syracuse player to enter the portal.
