Force-of-nature Nick Singleton scores 7 TDs as Mifflin runs past Warwick
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Warwick tried absolutely everything it could. Onside kicks, two fake punts and a wide receiver pass were not enough.
It would have taken an act of God to stop Nick Singleton and Gov. Mifflin Friday in a District 3 Class 5A quarterfinal. The Penn State-bound tailback tied a Berks record with seven touchdowns and ran for a career-high 330 yards in an electrifying performance as the Mustangs advanced with a 63-35 win in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week.
Singleton becomes just the second player in the 40-year history of the tournament to score seven touchdowns in a game; the other was Shady McCoy of Bishop McDevitt, who did it in 2004 vs. Carlisle. He went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL.
Singleton also broke program records for rushing yards and touchdowns in a season. His 1,832 rushing yards broke the record of 1,789, set by Issac Ruoss in 2017. His 39 TDs tied the Berks single-season record, set by Jason Reinhart of Muhlenberg in 1998.
The only back in Berks history to top 5,000 yards is now over 6,000; he has 6,099 yards and 111 touchdowns.
Singleton worked in tandem with fullback Aiden Gallen throughout the game. Gallen gashed the Warriors (7-5) for 92 yards and two touchdowns and did his work up the middle of the field.
Singleton did his damage all over the field. The play of the night was his 60-yard touchdown run at the end of the first half. It was his third consecutive touch and the fifth-straight Mifflin drive that resulted in a touchdown. He took a toss, broke into the open field, then hesitated for a moment to freeze a defender before outracing two more defenders that seemingly held every angle. The score gave the Mustangs a 49-14 lead at halftime and initiated the running clock for the second half.
“I was about to take a knee, but you never take a knee with him in the backfield,” Mifflin coach Jeff Lang said. “That’s happened before, and you think you are done with five or six seconds left and you pitch it to him and see what happens.”
The eighth-seeded Warriors were able to match the Mustangs (9-0) on its first two possessions. They converted a key fourth down on each and tied the game 14-14 on a Christian Royer 4-yard touchdown run.
“I was happy that offensively we were able to answer and score each time with them because that’s what it turned into early,” Lang said.
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It would be all Mustangs from there. Singleton scored on a 55-yard run that featured him running over a defender in the open field. The Mifflin defense then got its first stop of the game when Jose Landrom strip-sacked Jack Reed and Kenndry Arias-Hernandez recovered the fumble.
“I’m thankful it happened because otherwise we had our hands full stopping them,” Lang said.
Despite the lopsided score at halftime, the Mustangs were tested a bit more than normal in the early going.
“We know from now on that teams are going to be like Warwick and how they played,” Singleton said.
The Warriors had some success moving the ball through the air and Jack Reed threw for 190 yards and three touchdowns. The Mustangs were without the services of defensive back Tyler Minick due to illness but did get defensive back Alonzo Anderson back in the lineup; he last played Week 2 against Wilson.
“It was a tough game and I felt like it’s a good test,” quarterback Eden Johnson said. “Just some stuff we have to work on, and we will be right back at it at practice this week.”
Singleton’s seven touchdown runs (13, 55, 26, 2, 18, 60, 65) tied a Berks record that hadn’t been touched for 67 years. Dan Capozello of West Reading was the last to score seven TDs, in 1954 against Collegeville; John P. Charlton of Reading High was the first Berks player to do it, in 1912 against Allentown.
“(With) the stuff they were doing (on defense), that’s what I expect out of him,” Lang said of Singleton. “That’s an expectation I have out of him.”
It’s a lofty expectation but there is a reason that Singleton is considered the top running back in the country and holds every major Berks rushing record. He only carried the ball 15 times and averaged over 21 yards per rush Friday. He indicated after the game that he was more than happy to get to play into the fourth quarter, which has rarely happened this season.
The Mustangs will host fourth-seeded Spring Grove (10-1), a 21-6 winner over Waynesboro, Friday in a semifinal back at Mifflin Stadium.
“We are just playing at the level I expect us to play at and that we really need to play at to keep this going,” Lang said. “I don’t care who is lining up against us. I keep preaching to these guys that we just have to keep playing Mifflin football and worry about ourselves.”
One thing he doesn’t have to worry about is Nick Singleton. Singleton lines up for the Mustangs and that makes all the difference.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Warwick | 14 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 21 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 63 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 10 run (Schools kick) | 10:00 |
| 1 | Warwick | Fink, 14 pass from Reed (Meckley kick) | 4:49 |
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | Gallen, 6 run (Schools kick) | 3:54 |
| 1 | Warwick | Royer, 4 run (Meckley kick) | 1:18 |
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 55 run (Schools kick) | 1:07 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 26 run (Schools kick) | 10:48 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 2 run (Schools kick) | 4:30 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 18 run (Schools kick) | 3:21 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 60 run (Schools kick) | :06.9 |
| 3 | Warwick | Eckert, 11 pass from Reed (Meckley kick) | 4:28 |
| 3 | Gov. Mifflin | Gallen, 15 run (Schools kick) | 3:12 |
| 4 | Warwick | McClune, 4 run (Meckley kick) | 9:33 |
| 4 | Gov. Mifflin | Singleton, 65 run (Schools kick) | 9:22 |
| 4 | Warwick | Jeanes, 10 pass from Reed (Meckley kick) | 3:02 |
Team statistics
| Warwick | Gov. Mifflin | |
| First downs | 19 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 31-95 | 31-444 |
| Passing yards | 190 | 44 |
| Total yards | 285 | 488 |
| Passes | 18-33-0 | 1-2-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-14.5 | None |
| Penalties-yards | 5-30 | 8-69 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Warwick: McClune 11-46, Royer 13-44, Winters 3-9, Reed 3-0, Evans 1-(-4).
Gov. Mifflin: Singleton 15-325, Gallen 10-92, Johnson 3-18, Jones 1-8, D. McNeil 2-1.
PASSING
Warwick: Reed 18-32-0–190, Reckert 0-1-0–0.
Gov. Mifflin: Johnson 1-1-0–44, D. McNeil 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Warwick: Eckert 6-91, Sapovchak 5-45, Fink 4-41, Jeanes 2-13, Royer 1-0.
Gov. Mifflin: A. McNeil 1-44.
