Four Downs: Four big takes from Week 7
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Four biggest takeaways from Week 7 of the 2024 high school football season.
1ST DOWN
We’re set up for an incredible finish in Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
Twin Valley, Wyomissing, and Lampeter-Strasburg – each ranked in the Top 10 in the state – face off in a round-robin tournament over the final three weeks of the season.
This week the Spartans (4-0, 6-1) play the Raiders (4-0, 7-0) at Twin Valley. Week 9 has the Raiders playing the Pioneers (4-0, 7-0) at Lampeter. On the final day of the season Lampeter plays at Wyomissing.
“This is what you coach for,” said Wyomissing’s Bob Wolfrum, “games like this.”
Anticipation has been building for weeks around the Wyomissing/Twin Valley game – actually for longer than that. This one looked like a head-on collision the moment the league realigned and we knew the Raiders would move from Section 3 to Section 4.
Adding juice to Friday’s game is the fact that Wolfrum and Brett Myers, Twin Valley’s head coach, waged a series of intense district playoff games several years when Myers was at Middletown.
They’re about to see even more of each other. Twin Valley and Wyomissing, along with Lampeter-Strasburg, are all in Class 4A which means they’re sure to clash again in November once the District 3 Tournament begins.
2ND DOWN
Cameron Small and Jayden Zandier put on a show Friday the likes of which we won’t soon forget.
Small ran for a Muhlenberg record 346 yards; Zandier ran for an Exeter regular season record 312 yards.
They became the first pair of Berks ballcarriers to top 300 yards in the same game.
Small’s figure ranks No. 8 all-time in Berks history. It’s all the more extraordinary became it came against an Exeter defense that had allowed just four touchdowns in its first six games. Small scored three.
Zandier’s mark, which lands among the top 20 is Berks history, is extraordinary because much of it came when he was playing quarterback in a Wildcat set after starting quarterback Riley Martinez went out with an ankle injury.
He attempted one pass out of the Wildcat – and it went for a touchdown.
3RD DOWN
Logan Nawrocki says becoming Schuylkill Valley’s all-time passing leader “sort of just happened.”
He broke the Panthers’ all-time record Friday by throwing for 247 yards in a win over Columbia. He’s now thrown for 3,911 yards over the past three seasons. That didn’t happen by accident.
He worked at, has played with talented receivers, and has worked with coaches who understand what he does best and how to take advantage of it.
Nawrocki is one of three Berks senior quarterbacks who will leave behind some big numbers come season’s end.
Nawrocki’s five touchdown passes Friday give him 48 for his career, fifth-most in Berks history.
He’s No. 14 on the all-time passing list, with 3,911 yards; by season’s end he could be around 4,500 and challenging for a spot in the top five or six spots.
Twin Valley’s Evan Myers is already No. 4 on the all-time passing list, with 5,151 yards. He’ll be No. 2 soon and could finish with over 6,000 yards.
Hamburg’s Tyler Shuey, who didn’t start until his junior season, is closing in on 4,000 career yards and should finish in Berks’ all-time Top 10, as well.
4TH DOWN
Hamburg’s head-scratching 24-17 loss to Pequea Valley Friday took a little of the luster off this week’s Frost Bowl; still, the Section 5 race remains the most fascinating of the five in the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
The Hawks (3-1, 5-2) still have a path to at least a share of the title; if they win out, starting Friday against Schuylkill Valley, they’ll finish first.
Lancaster Catholic (3-1, 4-3) can finish also first, with wins over Kutztown, Pequea Valley, and at Schuylkill Valley in Week 10.
The Panthers (4-0, 5-2) are in the best position to win the section outright, but they’ve also got the toughest path: at Hamburg, Annville-Cleona, and Lancaster Catholic.
They biggest of those games, against Catholic, is at home in Week 10. The ball is in the Panthers’ court.
After getting a share of a title for the first time in program history last year they have a chance at their first outright title, but they’ll have to get past that Crusaders bugaboo first. Two years ago Schuylkill Valley had a chance to share the Section 5 title but lost to Catholic 44-41. Last year it had a chance to win the outright title but lost to Catholic 35-14 in Week 10.
