Hawks’ Ty Werley makes big plays on both sides of the ball in win over Fairfield
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By John Nagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
“Firsts” can be uncomfortable. The anxiety coupled with the unfamiliarity can blend together like water and oil.
You would’ve never known it was junior Ty Werley’s first career start on defense against Friday night against Fairfield.
“We moved him to safety this past week,” second-year coach Matt Hoffert said. “He was filling in, doing a really great job, so I told him: ‘Let’s see you on both sides of the ball.’ ”
Werley stepped into his new role with aplomb, intercepting a pair of passes in in Hamburg’s 48-28 non-league victory over at Hawk Hill.
Werley’s first interception off Knights quarterback Wyatt Kuhn came midway through the second quarter. One play later, Hawks quarterback Tyler Shuey connected with wideout Daniel Brady for a 46-yard score.
With the microscope hovering over him, Werley stepped up.
On the third play of the third quarter he intercepted Kuhn a second time, running it back 41 yards for the score.
“I saw the quarterback scrambling.” Werley said. “I stayed with my guy — he threw it. I didn’t expect it.”
On the opposite side of the ball Werley had four receptions for 72 yards.
“We have guys like him and Mason Semmel who make big plays and it’s great,” Hoffert said, “but there’s 11 of us for a reason. We’ve got to get all 11 of them (involved) in the game.”
Shuey and Semmel connected five times for 119 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Semmel also had three touchdown catches last week and now has seven for the season.
“He knows where to be,” Shuey said of his tight end. “He’s smart, he’s a great leader, he builds us up when we’re down. He’s just a player you want on your team.”
Shuey was nearly perfect, completing 17-of-21 passes for 347 yards and four touchdowns, without an interception.
In his first three starts he has passed for a league-leading 1,017 yards – the fastest Hamburg player ever to throw for 1,000 yards. He owns three of the four 300-yard passing games in program history.
“He’s keeping himself calm,” Hoffert said. “He’s completing the proper reads, being really smart
with the ball.”
With the game tied at 14 early in the second quarter the Hawks went on a 35-point run to blow the game open.
Freshman running back Blaise Ernest scored once to open the game’s scoring and burst out for a 13-yard rushing score to end the scoring.
The game ended on a third Hamburg interception, by sophomore Ethan Horvath.
“One game at a time.” Hoffert said. “We’re 1-0 at the beginning of the week, and we want to be 1-0 at the end of the week.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Fairfield | 6 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 28 |
| Hamburg | 14 | 14 | 20 | 0 | 48 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Hamburg | Ernest, 2 run (Blatt Kick) | 10:35 |
| 1 | Hamburg | Semmel, 5 pass from Shuey (Blatt Kick) | 8:29 |
| 1 | Fairfield | Bryant, 4 pass from Kuhn (pass failed) | 2:18 |
| 2 | Fairfield | Higgs, 12 pass from Kuhn (Higgs pass from Kuhn) | 11:40 |
| 2 | Hamburg | Brady, 46 pass from Shuey (Blatt Kick) | 7:05 |
| 2 | Hamburg | Semmel, 29 pass from Shuey (Blatt Kick) | 0:03 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Werley, 41 interception return (Blatt kick) | 11:01 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Semmel, 18 pass from Shuey (kick failed) | 5:12 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Ernest, 13 run (Blatt kick) | 1:19 |
| 4 | Fairfield | Bell, 21 pass from Kuhn (Eichenlaub, pass from Kuhn) | 7:25 |
| 4 | Fairfield | Higgs, 36 pass from Kuhn (rush failed) | 3:36 |
Team statistics
| Fairfield | Hamburg | |
| First downs | 15 | 12 |
| Rushes-yards | 34-116 | 21-23 |
| Passing yards | 224 | 347 |
| Total yards | 340 | 370 |
| Passes | 15-25-3 | 17-21-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-31 | 3-26 |
| Penalties-yards | 9-65 | 9-70 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Fairfield: Smitley 11-66, Higgs 11-43, Kuhn 12-7.
Hamburg: Ernest 4-19, Oviedo 3-5, Villafane 2-1, Brandstatter 6-0, Shuey 6-(-2).
PASSING
Fairfield: 15-25-3– 224.
Hamburg: Shuey 17-21-0–347.
RECEIVING
Fairfield: Higgs 4-57, Devilbiss 4-28, Bell 2-57, Reinke 2-50, Eichenlaub 2-28, Bryant 1-4.
Hamburg: Semmel 5-119, Werley 4-72, Brady 3-109, Correll 3-27, Bentz 2-20.
INTERCEPTIONS
Hamburg: Werley 2, Horvath 1.
