High-scoring Exeter among most prolific teams in Berks history
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Matt Bauer likes to point out that his Exeter offense has more weapons than just record-setting tailback Jayden Zandier.
There are wide receivers Carter Redding and Jayden Ware, who have combined for 16 touchdown receptions. H-back Genuine Stutzman has run for five TDs and caught six scoring passes. Backup running backs Leo Brown and Justin Prizer have combined for nine scores and average 8.7 and 9.8 yards per carry, respectively.
Mix them in with Zandier, who has scored a league-leading 34 touchdowns and rushed for a league-best 2,089 yards, and you have one of the highest-scoring teams in Berks football history.
The Eagles are averaging 44.9 points, currently fifth-highest in Berks history.
Exeter has scored 50 or more points four times and 40 or more eight times in its 13 games. It scored 71 against Elizabethtown.
The Eagles’ scoring average ranks ninth-highest in the state and tops among all teams in District 3 and all Class 5A teams in the state.
Exeter has stamped season-high point totals against seven opponents, including each of its three District 3 playoff foes. South Western had not yielded more than 48 points before a 56-3 loss at Don Thomas Stadium. Unbeaten New Oxford had not allowed more than 21 points before a 24-21 quarterfinal round loss.
Before last week’s semifinal unbeaten Conestoga Valley had not allowed more than 27 points in a game: The Eagles reached the end zone seven times and were stopped after reaching the 1 early in the 48-14 romp.
Before that the most points the Buckskins had allowed was 27, in a one-point win at Exeter. No other team scored more than 24 points against the Bucks this season.
The 27 points in the Week 9 loss to Conestoga Valley was the season-low for the Eagles.
Exeter’s opponent Friday in the District 3 Class 5A championship game, Bishop McDevitt, has been dented by some high-scoring teams: It lost to State College 58-55 and to Harrisburg 35-33 in regulation.
Prior to this season Exeter’s highest scoring average was 37.9, in 2021.
Exeter’s 584 points are 93 more than any team in the Lancaster-Lebanon League – unbeaten Lampeter-Strasburg is next at 491 – and seventh-most in Berks history. Wyomissing set the record in 2021, scoring 671 points over 16 games.
The Berks record for points through 13 games is 591, by Berks Catholic in 2017.
The Eagles have done a lot of this without their No. 1 quarterback, Riley Martinez, who went out with a broken leg in Week 7 against Muhlenberg. He did not return until last week when he played one series and threw one pass – a 31-yard touchdown to Redding.
Junior Jake Hafer has stepped in and thrown for 515 yards and six TDs.
Twin Valley has also cracked the Berks’ all-time list, averaging 40.2 points over 12 games this season. That ranks No. 15 all-time in Berks.
Berks’ highest-scoring teams
(minimum: eight games)
| Team | Year | Scoring avg. | Record | Coach |
| Gov. Mifflin | 2020 | 54.5 | 8-1 | Jeff Lang |
| Gov. Mifflin | 2021 | 47.7 | 10-1 | Jeff Lang |
| Berks Catholic | 2017 | 45.3 | 13-1 | Rick Keeley |
| Wyomissing | 2020 | 45.2 | 9-1 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Exeter | 2024 | 44.9 | 12-1 | Matt Bauer |
| Berks Catholic | 2015 | 44.5 | 12-2 | Rick Keeley |
| Reading High | 2001 | 43.5 | 8-2 | Al Wolski |
| Hamburg | 2022 | 42.2 | 9-3 | Matt Hoffert |
| Berks Catholic | 2014 | 42.2 | 12-1 | Rick Keeley |
| Wyomissing | 2021 | 41.9 | 15-1 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Fleetwood | 2014 | 41.8 | 7-5 | James Martinez |
| Wyomissing High | 1959 | 41.0 | 8-0 | Charlie Gebensleben |
| Wyomissing | 2022 | 40.8 | 13-1 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Wyomissing | 2011 | 40.8 | 11-1 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Twin Valley | 2024 | 40.2 | 9-3 | Brett Myers |
| Wyomissing | 2015 | 40.0 | 12-1 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Berks Catholic | 2016 | 39.9 | 12-2 | Rick Keeley |
| Twin Valley | 2023 | 39.7 | 10-2 | Brett Myers |
| Wilson | 2002 | 39.7 | 11-1 | Doug Dahms |
| Wilson | 2008 | 39.7 | 14-1 | Doug Dahms |
| Wyomissing | 2014 | 39.5 | 13-2 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Wyomissing | 2012 | 39.3 | 16-0 | Bob Wolfrum |
| Gov. Mifflin | 2017 | 39.2 | 11-2 | Mick Vecchio |
| Berks Catholic | 2020 | 39.0 | 5-3 | Rick Keeley |
