Hawks roll Tide, keep hopes alive for postseason berth
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Hennelly — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
There’s no better way to send seniors off than with a win.
Hamburg defeated winless Columbia 59-0 in a Lancaster-Lebanon Section 5 matchup Friday night to close out the regular season at Hawks Stadium.
The 59-point margin-of-victory is the largest in program history. The preview record came in a 58-0 win over Fleetwood in 2006.
The season may not be over yet for the Hawks. They’re hopeful of getting an Eastern Conference playoff berth.
“We want that extra week,” said Hawks senior quarterback Tyler Shuey said. “We’re going to go in hungry to go for another win.”
Shuey returned after missing last week’s game due to injury, but he didn’t need to do much. The school’s all-time leading passer attempted just five passes with one of them finding senior Ty Werley for a 58-yard touchdown to give the Hawks a 14-0 lead.
That touchdown was Werley’s 100th career reception. Shuey went 2-for-5 for 76 yards and a touchdown.
“Tyler is a great guy and a great kid,” Hawks coach Matt Hoffert said about his starting quarterback. “He came a long way since we started a couple years ago. He was a pudgy sophomore a couple years ago when I came here, and he turned into what he is now.
“He’s just a smart kid, and I’m proud of him. I’m glad he could finish the season on the field and not off because it’s a terrible thing to go out as a senior not playing.”
Senior running back Misael Oviedo ran for a 64-yard touchdown in the second quarter and a 40-yard touchdown one minute into the third quarter. He bounced back after losing a fumble on his first carry of the game and finished with 117 yards on the ground on just three carries.
Senior running back Leland Moore ran for a 4-yard touchdown with 3:59 left in the third quarter and senior wide receiver Daniel Brady ran in a successful two-point try on a fake extra point attempt to give the Hawks a 45-0 lead.
“The biggest thing is we sent our seniors out with a win the last time they’re playing at home,” Hoffert said. “Our seniors are going out learning something and getting us rolling. Hopefully we get a game next week and we can keep it going.”
The Hawks’ defense created big plays of their own forcing a safety and recovering four fumbles, including a 25-yard touchdown return by William Marchiano. The defense held Columbia (0-7, 0-10) to 160 total yards of offense.
“It’s huge,” Shuey said about the defense’s performance. “We need the defense making plays like that, getting the energy up on the sidelines boosting the offense and everything.”
Luis Ortiz and Blaise Ernst scored the remaining touchdowns for the Hawks. Ernst rushed for two touchdowns.
The Hawks (4-3, 6-4) clinched their fourth straight winning season after never having more than two winning seasons in a row in program history. Hoffert is excited for what the future holds.
“We’ve gotta keep it rolling,” Hoffert said. “These guys started something when I came here a couple years ago, and we just gotta keep it rolling. We have the program going in the right direction. We gotta keep building.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hamburg | 14 | 7 | 31 | 7 | 59 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Hamburg | Ernst, 5 run (Blatt kick) | 7:13 |
| 1 | Hamburg | Werley, 58 pass from Shuey (Blatt kick) | 4:19 |
| 2 | Hamburg | Oviedo, 64 run (Blatt kick) | 2:50 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Oviedo, 20 run (Blatt kick) | 11:00 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Ernst, 13 run (Blatt kick) | 8:03 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Safety, Alviles tackled in end zone | 5:15 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Moore, 4 run (Brady run) | 3:59 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Marchiano, 25 fumble return (Blatt kick) | 2:25 |
| 4 | Hamburg | Ortiz, 8 run (Blatt kick) | 8:49 |
Team statistics
| Columbia | Hamburg | |
| First downs | 13 | 11 |
| Rushes-yards | 46-106 | 24-231 |
| Passing yards | 54 | 76 |
| Total yards | 160 | 307 |
| Passes | 7-19-0 | 2-5-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 4-4 | 2-2 |
| Punts-average | 3-29.3 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-40 | 8-80 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Columbia: Brommer 24-99, Duncan 1-25, McClair 14-23, Munoz Caez 1-5, Rupp 1-(-2), Aviles 2-(-6), Team 3-(-38).
Hamburg: Oviedo 3-117, Ernst 9-78, Moore 2-24, Shuey 6-14, Ortiz 1-8, Johnson 3-(-10).
PASSING
Columbia: McClair 4-15-0–37, Aviles 2-3-0–11, Rupp 1-1-0–6.
Hamburg: Shuey 2-5-1–76.
RECEIVING
Columbia: Rupp 3-22, Aviles 2-21, Baez 1-7, Brommer 1-4.
Hamburg: Werley 2-76.
INTERCEPTIONS
Columbia: Baez.
