Football notebook: Jven Williams is ‘blowing up’ on recruiting circuit (updated)
Jven Williams is having a better week than you — and just about everybody else.
In the span of four days the 6-5, 310-pound Wyomissing junior has picked up six Division I offers, from Pittsburgh, Boston College, Temple Michigan, Virginia Tech and Illinois.
Williams is a massive force on the offensive line for the unbeaten Spartans, who are ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 3A.
“I said it since last November that this kid is special,” Wyomissing offensive line coach Steve O’Neil wrote on Twitter. “Big boys typically don’t move like he does. College coaches better check the tape, you don’t want to be left out.”
Williams told rivals.com that he has also been contacted by Notre Dame and Rice.
He went to a Penn State prospects camp in the summer.
Williams won the District 3 Class AA shot put as a sophomore with a throw of 52-3 and finished third in the state at 54-7.5.
He set a program record in the discus with a 176-2 at the FiringMeet but fouled out at districts.
Williams Monday on Twitter that he received his his first scholarship offer, from Pitt. BC and Temple followed suit on Wednesday; on Thursday he announced offers from Virginia Tech, Michigan and Illinois.
Last call?
Wilson and Manheim Central meet Friday for the fourth and final of their mandated Lancaster-Lebanon League crossover games. It could be the last meeting between the two District 3 powerhouses.
Fans love this series between the all-time Section 1 and Section 2 champs. To be honest, neither coach likes it.
Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms doesn’t like playing schools smaller than Class 6A, because it could potentially hurt his team’s power rating.
Barons’ coach Dave Hahn feels at a disadvantage playing a roster with 30 or more players, such as Wilson’s. He knows that can take a toll on his team for several weeks.
It’s been a great series since they started playing regularly in 2008. Wilson’s won decidedly the last two seasons but before that it had generally been a one-possession game in the fourth quarter almost every time before that.
Both schools currently have open spots next season in Week 1, but a re-match is unlikely.
There’s a chance, Hahn said, that Manheim Central could be reclassified as 4A for the next two-year cycle, which begins in 2022. If that’s the case there’s no way Wilson takes the game.
When the L-L expands to a five-division format for 2022 there will be no mandated crossover games (cheers throughout the league are cheering about that).
The Bulldogs and Barons play for the 13th time Friday; it could be a long while before they line up for No. 14.
“I would suspect we won’t be playing them any more,” Dahms offered.
Martin getting noticed
Ayden Martin is on Penn State’s radar, as well as a lot of other schools.
A couple weeks after making a trip to the U.S. Military Academy to watch the Black Knights play Western Kentucky, the Gov. Mifflin junior will be on the sidelines Saturday at Penn State, for the Villanova game.
The 5-11, 180-pound Martin is a big hitter in the Mifflin secondary and a dangerous offensive weapon; he caught a pair of TDs last week in a 49-13 rout of Harrisburg.
He showed off those skills in the spring when he ran a 4.57 40 and won three events at the annual Chris Nunn Memorial Berks Football Combine.
Martin received his first scholarship offer in early September, from Temple.
New rule pinches Bulldogs
Wilson’s running back and linebacker Jadyn Jones is sitting out the second of a two-game suspension Friday against Manheim Central.
Jones was ejected late in a Week 3 loss at Exeter.
The PIAA approved of a “supplemental suspension” in 2020 for extreme cases, when a coach or player is ejected for “confronting, contacting or addressing a coach, contestant or official using foul or vulgar language, ethnic or racially insensitive comments or physical contact.”
The rule applies to all sports.
All other ejections require a one-game suspension.
Many, including Wilson coach Doug Dahms, thinks the rule is too severe in football, because two games accounts for 20 percent of a regular season. In a sport such as soccer, where teams may play 20 or more games, the penalty accounts for less than 10 percent of a season.
The rule was implemented last year because PIAA officials saw an up-tick in extreme penalties, including verbal abuse.
It is up to the discretion of the game official to determine if the suspension is for one game or two.
Working overtime
Boyertown became just the second Berks team to play four overtimes last week in a 42-35 win over Pottsgrove.
That matched the record as the longest game in Berks history with Hamburg’s 5549 win over Fleetwood last season.
There had been just three triple-overtime games before last season. Wyomissing played in the first, losing to Littlestown 25-19 in a 1989 District 3 playoff game.
The overtime rule was not used for regular season games until 1995.
In 2008, Kutztown beat Fleetwood 45-44 in three OTs. That same year Wilson lost a PIAA semifinal to Bethel Park 38-38 in three OTs.
In high school football an overtime period consists of each team having one possession starting at the 10-yard line.