There’s no stopping Donovan Gingrich or unbeaten Scouts right now

By Chris Deantonio Last updated Sep 14, 2024

2024 Berks football coverage

presented by UECU

By Chris DeAntonio — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

It didn’t take long for Conrad Weiser to get on the board Friday. Just two plays into the game quarterback Donovan Gingrich found Evan Rittle for a 70-yard score, setting the tone for the unbeaten Scouts.

Conrad Weiser scored early and often, defeating Fleetwood 35-7 in a Lancaster-Lebanon Section 3 matchup Tigers Stadium.

“That was impressive,” said Conrad Weiser head coach Alan Moyer. “I said to the kids that we want to get off to a good start, and I challenged them to be great from the start and they certainly did that. Taking the jump on a team like this, early on was huge.”

While the early season results are impressive, the turnaround for the Scouts (4-0) started last year, according to Rittle.

“We struggled last year, and we put in a lot of work (in the offseason),” said the all-league receiver. “We finished last year strong and came back out going strong, and we’re not done.”

The Scouts built up a 21-point first quarter lead. After a Fleetwood punt, a 37-yard pass from Gingrich to Dylan Parr set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Javien Rivera.

The first quarter scoring continued on another touchdown pass from Gingrich to Rittle. The Scouts recovered a Fleetwood fumble on a kickoff, setting them up on Fleetwood’s half of the field. Rittle took a short pass 34 yards to the end zone to put the Scouts up 21-0.

Rittle finished with six catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think our connection was good tonight,” said Rittle. “Donovan knows I wanted the ball, knows Dylan wanted the ball. And we knew he was going to give us a good shot at making a play.”

When Fleetwood focused on stopping the run, Conrad Weiser’s receivers were able to break free, setting up quick scoring drives.

“We always say, ‘Take what they give you,’ and early on they were bringing people up the middle, leaving us with one-on-ones on the outside,” said Moyer.

Conrad Weiser extended its lead to four scores with a 16-yard run by Jonathon McQuillen in the second quarter. McQuillen was the Scouts most effective runner, carrying the ball for 39 yards on four carries.

The Scouts were strong on defense, too, sacking Fleetwood’s quarterbacks five times.

The Scouts final score came on a 1-yard touchdown run by Gingrich in the third quarter.

Fleetwood had no defense for Gingrich, who went 11-for-11 for 222 yards. He also ran seven times for 31 yards and a score.

Fleetwood (2-2) struggled on offense; it didn’t picked up its first first down until the second quarter. It was led by Tristan McFarland, who completed 7-of-11 passes for 83 yard and ran seven times for 55 yards and a touchdown.

McFarland scored the Tigers only touchdown on a 2-yard run in the third quarter.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Conrad Weiser	21	7	7	0	35
Fleetwood	0	0	7	0	7

Scoring summary

1	Conrad Weisesr	Rittle, 70 pass from Gingrich (Malone kick)	10:34
1	Conrad Weiser	Rivera, 2 run (Malone kick)	8:30
1	Conrad Weiser	Rittle, 34 pass from Gingrich (Malone kick)	0:23
2	Conrad Weiser	McQuillen, 16 run (Malone kick)	11:36
3	Conrad Weiser	Gingrich, 1 run (Malone kick)	5:54
3	Fleetwood	McFarland, 2 run (Cappellano kick)	0:56

Team statistics

	Conrad Weiser	Fleetwood
First downs	14	8
Rushes-yards	28-135	25-74
Passing yards	222	92
Total yards	357	166
Passes	11-11-0	8-15-0
Fumbles-lost	2-2	2-1
Punts-average	2-50.5	6-39.5
Penalties-yards	8-62	10-89

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Conrad Weiser: Rivera 11-45, McQuillen 4-39, Gingrich 7-31, McGarrigle 3-22, Miller 2-3, Sellars 1-(-5).

Fleetwood: McFarland 7-55, Moore 2-23, Killian 3-12, Hare 2-8, Domenech 2-8, Petion 4-7, Team 5-(-39).

PASSING

Conrad Weiser: Gingrich 11-11-0—222.

Fleetwood: McFarland 7-11-0—83, Domenech 1-2-0—9, McMonagle 0-2-0—0.

RECEIVING

Conrad Weiser: Rittle 6-126, Miller 3-54, Parr 1-37, Rivera 1-5.

Fleetwood: Killian 2-29, Hare 2-27, Moore 2-21, Ryan 1-19, Petition 1-(-4).