Grady Garner, Mustangs rush past Bears, eye district playoff berth
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Not too long ago Gov. Mifflin was a constant player in the District 3 playoffs.
The Mustangs qualified for the Class 4A bracket 10 consecutive seasons from 2007-16 and for the 5A bracket six consecutive seasons from 2017-22.
They went to back-to-back title games in 2007 and 2008, lost a heartbreaker to Manheim Central in the championship in 2018, then — behind Nick Singleton — won their first title in 2021. They suffered another heartbreaker at the hands of Exeter in the 2022 championship.
| Section 2 | ||
| Conestoga | 5-0 | 9-0 |
| Exeter | 4-1 | 8-1 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 3-2 | 5-4 |
| Ephrata | 3-2 | 5-4 |
| Elizabethtown | 2-2 | 2-7 |
| Muhlenberg | 1-4 | 3-5 |
| Lebanon | 0-6 | 0-9 |
Mifflin hasn’t been back to the tournament since and the cards were stacked against them to buck that trend this season with the move up to 6A.
“It would be incredible to get back to district playoffs at the 6A level,” Gov. Mifflin head coach Nick Morrissey said after the Mustangs defeated Elizabethtown 48-14 Friday night in Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 play in Shillington. “It’d be the first time we’d be back there in a while.”
The Mustangs (3-2, 5-4) entered Friday in the No. 9 spot in the District 3 Class 6A power rankings. Unofficially, they swapped spots with No. 8 Cumberland Valley, which fell to Chambersburg.
If the numbers posted on the District 3 website hold Mifflin would not only qualifiy for districts but would host a game on Nov. 1.
Before that happens, Ephrata looms as the regular season finale.
“After we took that tough loss to Conestoga Valley (28-21 in Week 7), we told ourselves we’d have to win the next three to get in,” said Gov. Mifflin senior running back Grady Garner, who rushed for 164 yards and three touchdowns Friday. “We’re 2-0 right now. We just need to go 1-0 next week.”
Fittingly, the last meeting between Gov. Mifflin and Elizabethtown occurred in the 2018 district playoffs, with the Mustangs winning 30-0. The Mustangs pushed their overall series lead to 4-0 over the Bears.
The Bears (2-3, 2-7) knew they’d have to stop Garner and the Mustangs’ ground attack, which had piled up the third-most rushing yards in the league entering the game. Garner was one of seven L-L rushers to top 1,000 yards. Both of those totals increased in a big way.
Javien Pletz pounded a 1-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone on the Mustangs’ first drive, which went 65 yards in seven plays.
Garner scored the next three TDs: a 20-yarder with 4:36 left in the first, a 9-yarder with 9:58 left in the second, and a 36-yarder with 5:47 left in the second.
The rushing attack opened up the play-action and Pletz hit Nick Kalis for a 19-yard touchdown up the seam with 3:16 left in the second quarter.
Lebron Leaf then took a direct snap 63 yards at the 1:17 mark to give Mifflin a 42-0 halftime lead.
Freshman running back Prince Wratto scored on a 6-yard run in the third and an 11-yard run in fourth for the Bears.
Antonio Alverez scored for Mifflin with less than 20 seconds left.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Elizabethtown | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 14 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 48 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | Pletz, 1 run (Koenig kick) | 8:48 |
| 1 | Gov. Mifflin | Garner, 20 run (Koenig kick) | 4:36 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Garner, 9 run (Koenig kick) | 9:58 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Garner, 36 run (Koenig kick) | 5:47 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Kalis, 19 pass from Pletz (Koenig kick) | 3:16 |
| 2 | Gov. Mifflin | Leaf, 63 run (Koenig kick) | 1:17 |
| 3 | Elizabethtown | Wratto, 6 run (Fuge kick) | 5:13 |
| 4 | Elizabethtown | Wratto, 11 run (Fuge kick) | 6:00 |
| 4 | Gov. Mifflin | Alverez, 1 run (run failed) | 0:20 |
Team statistics
| Elizabethtown | Gov. Mifflin | |
| First downs | 15 | 18 |
| Rushes-yards | 19-112 | 43-385 |
| Passing yards | 172 | 88 |
| Total yards | 284 | 473 |
| Passes | 17-30-1 | 3-3-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-28 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 8-80 | 4-40 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Elizabethtown: Shank 9-60, Wratto 6-41, Yohn 1-10, Huber 1-2, Moran 2-(-1).
Gov. Mifflin: Garner 17-164, Alverez 6-82, Leaf 2-78, Pletz 7-25, Hohl 2-16, Jimenez 3-10, Jenkins 2-5, Millisock 1-4, Steuer 3-1.
PASSING
Elizabethtown: Shank 15-25-0—156, Huber 2-5-1—16.
Gov. Mifflin: Pletz 3-3-0—88.
RECEIVING
Elizabethtown: Moran 5-39, Wratto 4-28, NDikwe 2-35, Yohn 2-7, Engle 1-23, Mohr 1-21, Capello 1-10, Cintron 1-9.
Gov. Mifflin: Kalis 2-52, Jenkins 1-36.
INTERCEPTIONS
Gov. Mifflin: Jenkins.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Elizabethtown: Fuge 35.
