Here are 10 Berks football games you won’t want to miss this season
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The 2025 high school football season kicks off in less than seven weeks.
Here’s an early look at 10 Berks games you’ll want to circle on your calendar (plus 10 more, just for good measure):
Wyomissing at Southern Columbia
What better way to open the season then with a clash of two longtime state powers and former PIAA champs.
After a surprisingly one-sided 35-21 victory last year at Wolfrum Field, the Spartans head to Catawissa on Friday, Aug. 22.
That was the site of the first meeting between the programs, and where the Spartans stunned the Tigers with a resounding 41-21 victory, snapping Southern’s 65-game winning streak, which was the longest active winning streak in the country and one short of tying Clairton’s state record of 66 in a row. It also snapped the Tigers’ 93-game regular-season winning streak.
Amory Thompson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score and Drew Eisenhower took a fumble back 66 yards for a TD to highlight that 2021 victory.
Last season the Spartans dominated from the jump, getting a pair of first-quarter touchdown runs from Justice Hardy on the way to building a 28-0 halftime lead. Hardy’s fourth TD of the game made it 35-7 late in the third quarter.
Southern entered that game missing a couple of key players; it never achieved its usual high level of play, finishing 7-5 and with a loss in the district semifinals.
Wyomissing finished 10-3 and lost to just one PIAA opponent, Lampeter-Strasburg, which beat the Spartans in the regular season and then again in the district championship game.
Nazareth at Wilson
The Bulldogs were 1 yard away from a perfect regular season in 2024 but a fumble at the goal line in the waning seconds at Nazareth in Week 3 left them on the short end of a 35-31 score.
That, and the fact that the Blue Eagles will bring one of the nation’s top high school quarterbacks to West Lawn, make this Sept. 5 rematch a game that can’t come soon enough.
The Bulldogs found themselves trailing for much of the game last year because of the arm and feet of Nazareth quarterback Peyton Falzone, who blitzed them with four long touchdown passes, then gave his team the lead for good with four minutes left when he busted off a 50-yard scoring run.
Falzone is considered one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the nation after throwing for more than 4,500 yards and 42 touchdowns and running for 1,100 yards as a junior. Every school, it seems, wants him, and he wants to play for just about all of them.
He announced late last month that he plans to play at Auburn next season after breaking a verbal commitment to Penn State. He initially committed to Virginia Tech.
The Bulldogs will be ready for him. One year after winning the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 title they could be even better this season, should they find a quarterback to replace the dynamic Madyx Gruber.
Twin Valley at Wyomissing
The Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 title could come down to the Raiders and Spartans and their Oct. 11 meeting at Wolfrum Field.
Defending champ Lampeter-Strasburg graduated a ton of talent and Wyomissing enters the summer as the early section favorite. The Spartans could be even better than a year ago with the return of All-State pick Justice Hardy, Berks Defensive Player of the Year Tyler Niedrowski, and all-league fullback and linebacker Chase Eisenhower.
The Raiders graduated a ton of talent, too, but return dynamic play-makers Drew Engle and Ben Gundy, linebacker standout Lucas Myers and all-league lineman Greyson Miller.
The Spartans ended the Raiders’ perfect start last season with a 34-24 Week 8 victory at Twin Valley Stadium when Justice Hardy ran for a pair of scores and Keegan Maher kicked a pair of key field goals.
Hardy ran for 196 yards and caught two passes for 101 yards.
When they meet on Oct. 11, the Raiders will be looking for their first win in the series since 2009.
(Joe Mays photo)
Manheim Township at Wilson
Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League always seems to come down to the Bulldogs or Blue Streaks and it likely will again this season when they wrap up the regular season Oct. 24 at Gurski Stadium.
The Bulldogs are the early section favorite but that has mattered little in this intriguing series, which heated up immensely when Mark Evans took over Township’s program in 2013. The Blue Streaks won the 2017, 2019, and 2023 meetings to clinch the Section 1 title.
They were unbeaten and in position to do that again last season but the Bulldogs – as they’ve done several times recently in this series – came up with one of their better performances in a 34-16 victory at Neffsville.
Tailback Correll Akings scored a pair of touchdowns and tight end Michael Glover had a 10-yard TD reception for Wilson in last year’s win; both return this season.
Wilson historically has dominated this series but over the last eight seasons has just a 5-4 lead over the Streaks.
For the week-by-week Lancaster-Lebanon League schedule, click here.
Wyomissing at Lampeter-Strasburg
The Spartans close out the regular season at Pioneer Field and you know they’ll be champing at the bit to exact a little revenge after last season.
Lampeter-Strasburg ended Wyomissing’s Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 title hopes, as well as the Spartans’ program-record 36-game home winning streak, one that stretched over six seasons, with a 20-7 win in Week 10.
Then the Pioneers ended the Spartans’ season with an excruciating 30-27 overtime defeat in the District 3 Class 4A championship game; that also snapped Wyo’s streak of five straight district titles.
The Spartans had the unbeaten Pioneers on the ropes, leading 27-20 into the final minute before magical quarterback Caileb Howse pulled his team out the fire, converting a fourth-and-13 on the final drive after scrambling out of danger; that set up the tying TD and sent the game to OT.
Lampeter-Strasburg went on to play for the PIAA championship; it was the only PIAA team to beat Wyomissing last year.
Before last season, the Spartans had won each of the teams’ previous two meetings.
( (Purdon Photography/Brad Drey)
Exeter at Conestoga Valley
Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League looks like it’ll again come down to the Eagles and Buckskins and to their Week 9 meeting at Conestoga Valley.
The Bucks claimed the Section 2 title last season on the strength of a controversial 28-27 win at Don Thomas Stadium, a game in which Exeter’s Jayden Zandier was ruled down short of the goal line in the final seconds; photo and video evidence of the play suggests he reached the end zone.
That cost the Eagles a perfect regular season. They took out their frustrations over the blown call a month later when they tore the Buckskins apart 48-14 in a District 3 semifinal.
Conestoga Valley took some big graduation hits, losing Section 2 Defensive Lineman of the Year Justin Corson and all-league linebacker Seth Morgan. It does return all-league quarterback Sawyer Esbenshade.
The Eagles have plenty of talent back, including quarterback Riley Martinez, who was injured and missed all but a couple snaps of last year’s meetings with the Bucks.
(Purdon Photography/Brad Drey)
Lancaster Catholic at Berks Catholic
The Crusaders and Saints look like the two strongest teams in Section 5 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League; they’ll meet five weeks into the season, Sept. 19, at Forino Sports complex.
The Saints nearly dug out of an early 24-7 hole last season at Lancaster Catholic, getting a monster effort from Bryce Gumby, who rushed for 268 yards and scored four TDs. They were headed in for the go-ahead scored before a fumble in the red zone with 31 seconds left.
The meeting was the first in league play between the schools after Berks Catholic moved from Section 4 to Section 5. They met twice a decade earlier in non-league play, the Saints winning each time.
Lancaster Catholic returns all-league players at five positions, most notably Section 5 Offensive Back of the Year Brandon Way. Berks Catholic has a strong crew back as well, including Section 5 Offensive Lineman of the Year Palmer Reber.
The Saints took some offseason hits when lead running back Nate Rose and Jackson Kozik, a second-team all-league pick at both tight end and defensive end, transferred. Rose is now at Germantown Academy; Kozik is at Exeter.
Berks Catholic at Schuylkill Valley
The Saints saw their chances for a share of the Section 5 title slip away last season when Kowen Gerner pulled in a 68-yard touchdown pass in the final minutes to lift the Panthers to a pulsating 20-14 victory.
Schuylkill Valley went on to complete an unbeaten run through the league to earn its first outright championship.
Last year’s win over the Saints was the first for the Panthers in a dozen years, since a District 3 quarterfinal in 2012. Overall, Berks Catholic has a commanding lead in the series, 9-2.
They’ll meet for the 12th time in Week 5 at Forino Sports Complex.
Lampeter-Strasburg at Twin Valley
The Raiders were sailing along last season at 7-0 before absorbing a one-two punch from Wyomissing and Lampeter-Strasburg. The first punch stung; the second floored them.
One week after a 34-24 loss to the Spartans, Twin Valley was blitzed by the Pioneers, who scored four first-quarter touchdowns, had 56 points by halftime and pinned a devastating 62-14 loss on the reeling Raiders.
Quarterback Caileb Howse rushed for 334 yards, ran for seven touchdowns and passed for an eighth in one of the greatest performances in Lancaster-Lebanon League history.
Twin Valley was much more competitive in the rematch three weeks later in districts but couldn’t stop the unbeaten Pioneers, falling 31-13.
The Raiders won’t have to deal with Howse or 11 other graduated first-team all-league picks this time, and they won’t have to travel to L-S; they’ll play at Twin Valley Stadium in Week 9, on Oct. 17.
Haverford School at Wyomissing
No team – not even PIAA finalist Lampeter-Strasburg — dominated the Spartans last season the way the Fords did in a 20-3 victory at Bryn Athyn.
The Inter-Ac powerhouse, which collects top players from programs throughout the Philadelphia region, limited the Spartans to a mere five first downs and 101 total yards; All-State pick Justice Hardy managed only 19 rushing yards on 13 carries. Wyomissing’s only points came on Keegan Maher’s 33-yard, second-half field goal.
The Fords played most of the game without their starting quarterback, who was knocked out of the game early in the second quarter.
Haverford overpowered Wyo up front, much because of the presence of Stanford recruit Josh Williams and Buffalo recruit Thomas Barr. They are among eight senior starters who have graduated.
The Fords’ top returning player is 6-3, 295-pound lineman Walt Frazier, who is committed to Syracuse. He’s sure to again provide headaches for the Spartans when they meet in Week 2 at Wolfrum field.
Haverford School finished 7-3 last season; two years earlier it went 10-0.
(Tim Macrina photo)
Here are 10 more key games to look for:
- Plymouth-Whitemarsh at Wilson, Aug. 29
- Reading High at Muhlenberg, Aug. 29
- Twin Valley at Selinsgrove, Aug. 29
- Gov. Mifflin at Wilson, Sept. 26
- Lancaster Catholic at Hamburg, Sept. 26
- Exeter at Muhlenberg, Oct. 3
- Gov. Mifflin at Exeter, Oct. 10
- Hamburg at Schuylkill Valley, Oct. 10
- Schuylkill Valley at Lancaster Catholic, Oct. 24
- Ephrata at Gov. Mifflin, Oct. 24
