Four Downs: Four big takes from Week
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Four biggest takeaways from Week 9 of the 2024 high school football season.
1ST DOWN
Conrad Weiser is on the verge of the greatest bounce-back season in Berks football history.
After winning just twice during a frustrating and injury-filled 2023 season the Scouts have done an about-face. They are the most compelling story in the Lancaster-Lebanon League after winning their first nine games.
No Berks football team has ever gone from two (or fewer) wins in one season to 10 (or more) in the next.
The Scouts know all about bouncing back. They were down 21-3 in the first half Friday against two-time defending District 3 Class 5A champion Cocalico before roaring back for a 24-21 victory.
Even more amazing: They did it without their leading rusher and leading receiver, who were among three starters who went out with season-ending injuries the week before.
The Scouts go for their first perfect regular season in 28 years when they play Unionville Friday at Weiser Stadium.
(Chris Knight/LNP photos)
2ND DOWN
The final week of the regular season couldn’t line up much better, with championship games spread across three of the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s five sections.
In Section 1 Wilson heads to Manheim Township in a match-up of state-ranked teams and District 3 Class 6A title contenders. In recent years this rivalry has become one of the best in the league.
Section 3 also features a match-up of state-ranked teams, with unbeaten Lampeter-Strasburg playing at Wyomissing Saturday in what will be the final regular season game of the season across the league. All eyes will be on Bob Wolfrum Field.
The Section 5 finale is just as enticing, with Schuylkill Valley having another chance to shake nemesis Lancaster Catholic. The Panthers had a chance to share the Section 5 title in 2022 and to win it outright last year but got stopped in Week 10 each time by the Crusaders.
The cherry on top of this one is that Bruce Harbach, who quickly turned the program around at Schuylkill Valley, once coached Lancaster Catholic to greatness. He would like nothing better than to bring his new school its first outright championship at the expense of his former school.
(benschafferphotography)
3RD DOWN
When a pair of 8-0 teams meet you expect a tight game and hope for a close finish: What Exeter and Conestoga Valley provided was beyond that.
The Eagles, trailing 28-21, drove the field in the final minute, scored a TD with eight seconds left, then went for two and the win.
Nothing could be better, right?
Actually, a definitive conclusion would’ve been better, but we didn’t get one. The Eagles have no doubt Jayden Zandier crossed the goal-line on his two-point conversion run to take a 29-28 lead. The officiating crew, after a lengthy discussion, didn’t agree.
(Conspiracy theorists please note: It was a Berks officiating crew.)
Before that controversial ending it was an incredible game. The Buckskins played at a high level, moving the ball consistently, and without a turnover, against an Exeter defense that hadn’t yielded much all season.
The Eagles – without their starting quarterback, and without their best lineman for most of the second half – played courageously in the 28-27 loss.
All they came away with is a chip on their shoulder.
(Purdon Photo/Brad Drey)
4TH DOWN
Power ratings can be a cruel mistress.
Berks Catholic headed into last week sitting at No. 6 in the District 3 Class 4A rankings and thinking that if it won its final two games it would grab, at worst, the sixth and final spot in the tournament.
The Saints beat Hamburg Friday and woke up the next morning to find . . . they had slipped to No. 7.
What happened?
District 3’s power rating formula includes a strength-of-schedule factor: When your opponents win, you score ratings points; when they lose you get zilch.
The Saints dropped because their three non-league opponents – Twin Valley, Executive Education, and Bethlehem Catholic – each lost their Week 9 games. Those teams were a combined 16-8 going into Friday. What are the odds all three would lose?
(Twenty-seven to one, if my math is right.)
The Saints finish their regular season Friday at Annville-Cleona. To pass No. 6 Big Spring, or even No. 5 Biglerville, they’ll need to win and see one of those teams lose. . . or get lots of help from their non-league opponents and from the opponents of the teams they’re chasing.
