Jayden Zandier, Eagles, come out on top in historic shootout with Muhls
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
Logan Wegman has sprung Jayden Zandier for a bunch of touchdowns this season. The Exeter tackle would like to enjoy the fruits of his labor every once in a while by taking part in an end zone celebration.
He hasn’t been able to; Zandier’s too fast.
“I try to run down and catch up with him and he’s already gone,” lamented Wegman.
Zandier’s explosion out of the backfield has been a problem for a lot of people. The All-State tailback has added another gear since last season. He put that on display again Friday when he ran for a career-high 312 yards in wild 56-28 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 shootout over visiting Muhlenberg.
| Section 2 | ||
| Exeter | 4-0 | 7-0 |
| Conestoga | 3-0 | 7-0 |
| Elizabethtown | 2-1 | 2-5 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 1-2 | 3-4 |
| Ephrata | 1-2 | 3-4 |
| Muhlenberg | 1-3 | 3-4 |
| Lebanon | 0-4 | 0-7 |
Zandier scored four touchdowns, ran for a two-point conversion, caught a conversion pass – even threw a touchdown pass.
“Could you ask for anything more?” said Eagles coach Matt Bauer.
Big as Zandier’s rushing numbers were he wasn’t the most productive ballcarrier in the game.
Muhlenberg’s irrepressible Cameron Small went for a program-record 346 yards, turning the match-up between these longtime rivals into a historic game of “Can you top this?”
Small found the end zone three times, on runs of 78, 32 and 1 yard, to keep the pressure on the Eagles (4-0, 7-0).
Zandier and Small teamed up to make history: Never before had two Berks running backs topped 300 yards in the same game.
Small, the league’s rushing leader, pushed his season totals to 1,367 yards and 17 rushing TDs; he’s averaging 9.1 yards per carry.
“He’s a hard runner,” Zandier said, “and I give props to him.”
Zandier, who had been lightly used the first six weeks because the Eagles didn’t need to push him, carried a season-high 21 times and topped the 1,000-yard mark. He’s averaging a staggering 15.6 yards per carry – by far the best in the league – and has run for 15 TDs.
Small certainly had the harder job, going against an Exeter defense that had allowed fewer points than all but one team in the entire state. The Eagles were ranked No. 2 in the league in total defense, No. 5 against the rush; only one back, Gov. Mifflin’s Grady Garner, had topped 100 yards against them.
Small had that much by the end of the first quarter; by halftime the Muhls (1-3, 3-4) had 22 points – almost as many as Exeter had allowed the first six weeks (26).
The 5-9, 182-pound junior went for 78 yards and a score on his second carry and gave the Eagles fits the rest of the way.
“He was one of the fastest backs we’ve ever faced,” Wegman said. “He’s really shifty. One time I went to tackle him and he ducked under my arm. We knew exactly where the play was going and we couldn’t stop it (because of) how quick that guy was.”
Wegman’s lucky he didn’t have to try to stop Zandier: He’s even faster and shiftier.
Zandier was a weapon last season when he ran for 1,358 yards and averaged 10.7 yards a crack. Now he’s bigger, faster, and more lethal.
“He’s more elusive (now),” Bauer said. “He’s definitely faster, but he’s hard to get a direct hit on because he is so agile. He has exceptional body control.”
Zandier could’ve had another touchdown and 20 more yards. On his final carry of the night he broke free from the Muhlenberg 45 with a clear path to the end zone but chose to slide at the 20, hoping to kill the clock and prevent Muhlenberg from getting another possession.
Had he run to the end zone he would’ve finished with 332 yards, tying the program record set by Eric Nangle in a 2021 District 3 playoff game against Cedar Crest. As it is his total is the most ever by an Exeter player in a regular season game.
Zandier ended up playing quarterback after Riley Martinez, the league’s leading passer, went out with an ankle injury midway through the second quarter.
Zandier took snaps from the Wildcat formation and twice ran for TDs out of it. He also found Aidan Dauble with a 27-yard TD pass on the final play of the first half to push Exeter’s lead to 41-22.
Exeter scored twice in the final 1:42 of the half after Muhlenberg had pulled within 27-22 on Michael Miller’s 3-yard TD run and Christian Coley’s two-point conversion pass to Ryan Rosenberry.
“You talk about taking a game and running with it,” Bauer said of Zandier. “He was exceptional. He made great decisions all night long. He just executed to perfection.”
Muhlenberg coach Rob Flowers was proud of his team’s effort; he believes it could prove to be a breakout game for his young team.
“They kept fighting when we were down 21-6, and we got it to 27-22,” he said. “They started to believe. We haven’t seen that in their eyes, or in their movement (before).”
The win keeps the Eagles tied for first place in Section 2 with Conestoga Valley two weeks ahead of their meeting at Don Thomas Stadium.
They dodged a bullet Friday when they played nearly two-thirds of the game without their starting quarterback; they led just 21-14 when Martinez left the game.
Bauer put the ball in the hands of his best player and challenged his offensive line to take over the game. Wegman and the other guys up front – tackle Kevin Oswalt, guards Aven Acuna and Andre Osborne, and center Joel Ummarino – answered that call.
Zandier wasn’t worried.
“I always trust myself when I have the ball in my hands,” he said.
“We didn’t want to live and die in it,” Bauer said of Zandier running out of the Wildcat, “but it was pretty effective tonight.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Muhlenberg | 6 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 28 |
| Exeter | 21 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 56 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Exeter | Zandier, 51 run (kick failed) | 11:43 |
| 1 | Exeter | Zandier, 30 run (Zandier, pass from Martinez) | 8:07 |
| 1 | Muhlenberg | Small, 78 run (kick failed) | 7:05 |
| 1 | Exeter | Prizer, 6 run (Gaston kick) | 3:29 |
| 2 | Muhlenberg | Small, 32 run (Miller, pass from BaeZ) | 9:59 |
| 2 | Exeter | Prizer, 4 run (kick failed) | 5:53 |
| 2 | Muhlenberg | Miller, 3 run (Rosenberry, pass from Coley) | 4:17 |
| 2 | Exeter | Zandier, 35 run (Zandier run) | 1:42 |
| 2 | Exeter | Dauble, 13 pass from Zandier (kick failed) | 0:07 |
| 3 | Muhlenberg | Small, 1 run (pass failed) | 2:36 |
| 3 | Exeter | Zandier, 18 run (Stutzman run) | 0:00 |
| 4 | Exeter | Gerhart 3 run (Gaston kick) | 1:29 |
Team statistics
| Muhlenberg | Exeter | |
| First downs | 17 | 19 |
| Rushes-yards | 44-408 | 35-387 |
| Passing yards | 3 | 63 |
| Total yards | 411 | 450 |
| Passes | 3-9-1 | 5-11-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-31.0 | 1-46.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-20 | 9-96 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Muhlenberg: C. Small 28-346, Miller 4-19, Ortiz 2-17, Baez 6-15, Lacey 4-11.
Exeter: Zandier 21-312, Prizer 5-33, Brown 1-17, Stutzman 2-13, Redding 3-9, Gerhart 1-3, Martinez 2-0.
PASSING
Muhlenberg: Baez 3-9-1–3.
Exeter: Martinez 4-9-0–36, Zandier 1-1–27, Hafer 0-1.,
RECEIVING
Muhlenberg: C. Small 2-2, Miller 1-1.
Exeter: Redding 3-28, Dauble 1-27, Stutzman 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS
Exeter: Ware.
