Dream season was no fantasy for Offensive Player of the Year
Most running backs can only dream about a 2,000-yard season.
For Jayden Zandier it was a goal.
“I knew it was going to be hard with our schedule and knowing how I wasn’t going to play that much against some of those (weaker) teams,” said the Exeter senior. “I just had to go out there and do my thing.”
Did he ever.
He opened the season with a pair of first-half touchdowns against Daniel Boone and never slowed down, finishing with 2,093 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns, each among the highest figures in Berks history.
He scored at least one touchdown in each of the Eagles’ first 12 games, recorded 10 games of 100 or more rushing yards, five games of 200 or more, and averaged 11.4 yards-per-carry in earning the fourth annual Wyomissing Physical Therapy Offensive Player of the Year award.
Finalists for the award were: Donovan Gingrich, Conrad Weiser; Madyx Gruber, Wilson; Evan Myers, Twin Valley; Logan Nawrocki, Schuylkill Valley; Cameron Small, Muhlenberg; and Luke Spotts, Schuylkill Valley.
Zandier joins a prestigious list of award recipients that include Gov. Mifflin’s Nick Singleton (2021), Wilson’s Cam Jones (2022), and Wilson’s Tommy Hunsicker (2023).
Zandier was selected Wyomissing Physical Therapy Offensive Player of the Week three times this season; no other player was selected more than once.
Zandier finished with program records for touchdowns in a season and career (54), points in a season (212) and career (332), and rushing yards in a career (3,451).
He did all of that with a minimal number of carries and despite a midseason injury to Exeter quarterback Riley Martinez that disrupted the offense and forced Zandier to playing quarterback in the Wildcat set for several games. Even that didn’t slow him down; nothing did.
“I always trust myself when I have the ball in my hands,” he said of his move to quarterback midway through a game against rival Muhlenberg, one which saw him top 300 rushing yards.
He ended up scoring four touchdowns, running for a two-point conversion, catching a conversion pass, and throwing a touchdown pass in the wild 56-28 shootout.
“Could you ask for anything more?” Eagles coach Matt Bauer said afterward. “You talk about taking a game and running with it. He was exceptional. He made great decisions all night long. He just executed to perfection.”
Zandier’s production came as no big surprise. He was coming off a spectacular junior season that saw him rush for 1,352 yards, score 19 touchdowns and earn a spot on the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Class 5A All-State team.
He tuned up for his final high school season by dominating the Berks County Football Combine for the second straight year; he won the 40-yard dash, Vertical Leap and 3-Hop Drill and was second in the L-Cone Drill.
He had a big track season, too, qualifying for districts in the long jump and as part of Exeter’s 4×100 relay. He ran a personal best 11.36 in the 100 (and has clocked 4.48 in the 40).
He tacked on 20 pounds during offseason training and picked up a step. It’s no wonder he set such lofty goals.
“He’s more elusive (than he was last year),” Bauer said early in the season. “He’s definitely faster, but he’s hard to get a direct hit on because he is so agile. He has exceptional body control.
“Anyone who lines up against us, the first thing they’re going to do is figure out how to take No. 2 away from us.”
No one did.
Zandier ran for 205 yards and three scores in a Week 2 win over Boyertown, went for 212 and two TDs in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 opener against Gov. Mifflin, 317 and four scores against Muhlenberg, and 206 and three TDs in the District 3 playoff opener against Southwestern.
He wasn’t just lethal out of the backfield; he was a weapon on kickoffs, too, though few teams dared kick to him.
The ones that did got burned: He averaged 39.1 yards per return with a pair of TDs. He most critical return came in a district quarterfinal win at unbeaten New Oxford when he took a pitch from Carter Redding on the kickoff and raced 47 yards to set up the game-winning field goal on the final play of the game.
He was stopped only twice – well once, really.
The first came against Conestoga Valley in the Section 2 championship game. The Eagles scored a touchdown in the final minute to pull within a point, then gave it Zandier on a two-point conversion run that should’ve won it. He slammed across the goal line but the officials ruled he didn’t make it.
He and the Eagles enjoyed payback a month later when he ran for 263 yards and four TDs in a 48-14 romp.
“He’s just a clutch player in these types of games,” Bauer said.
The only time he was truly stopped came in the District 3 championship game, and it wasn’t by eventual PIAA champ Bishop McDevitt. Zandier suffered a leg injury four carries into the game and just like that his high school career was over.
He ended up with the second-highest single season rushing total in Berks history, trailing only Central Catholic’s David Gilmore, and with the fourth-most TDs in a season.
Zandier could’ve finished much closer to Gilmore’s record (2,403 yards) but he didn’t get many touches in the early weeks of the season. He carried just eight times in the season-opener against Daniel Boone and seven times the next week against Boyertown. He had four carries against both Pleasant Valley and Lebanon.
The Eagles – one of the highest-scoring team in Berks history — were ahead by so much, and so quickly, in those games he didn’t need to be on the field. Zandier didn’t get 20 carries in a game until Exeter’s seventh game.
“I just thank my O-line,” he said of his record-setting season. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. And I’m glad to have the support of my coaches; they gave me the confidence to go out there and do my thing.”
Selected Wyomissing Physical Therapy Offensive Player of the Week in 2024:
- Week 1: Evan Myers, Twin Valley
- Week 2: Kayson Fritz, Reading High
- Week 3: Cameron Small, Muhlenberg
- Week 4: Jayden Zandier, Exeter
- Week 5: Bryce Gumby, Berks Catholic
- Week 6: Madyx Gruber, Wilson
- Week 7: Jayden Zandier, Exeter
- Week 8: Justice Hardy, Wyomissing
- Week 9: Davis Keppley, Conrad Weiser
- Week 10: Evan Miller, Conrad Weiser
- Week 11: Cameron Small, Muhlenberg
- Week 12: Drew Engle, Twin Valley
- Week 13: Jayden Zandier, Exeter
- Week 14: Chase Eisenhower, Wyomissing
Berks single-season rushing leaders
| David Gilmore | Central Catholic | 2,403 | 1983 |
| Jayden Zandier | Exeter | 2,093 | 2024 |
| Nick Singleton | Gov. Mifflin | 2,059 | 2021 |
| Cameron Small | Muhlenberg | 2,051 | 2024 |
| Tyler Emge | Fleetwood | 2,000 | 2014 |
| Angel Cruz | Conrad Weiser | 1,885 | 2012 |
| Jason Reinhart | Muhlenberg | 1,883 | 1998 |
| Joe Rys | Central Catholic | 1,835 | 2010 |
| Rodney Gillin | Wilson | 1,829 | 2010 |
| Brian Roth | Boyertown | 1,825 | 1977 |
| Eric Nangle | Exeter | 1,814 | 2021 |
| Julio Pellegrini | Central Catholic | 1,814 | 1974 |
| Pete Gilmore | Wilson | 1,810 | 1999 |
| Nate Romig | Daniel Boone | 1,805 | 2005 |
| Isaac Ruoss | Gov. Mifflin | 1,789 | 2017 |
| Jeff Niedrowski | Wilson | 1,788 | 1991 |
| Dave Dykie | Boyertown | 1,781 | 1990 |
| Ben Ortiz | Muhlenberg | 1,748 | 2013 |
| Marc Panepinto | Boyertown | 1,705 | 2002 |
| Rodney Gillin | Wilson | 1,704 | 2011 |
| Zacc Groff | Wilson | 1,702 | 2008 |
| Mel Fegely | Muhlenberg | 1,691 | 1993 |
| Nick Singleton | Gov. Mifflin | 1,690 | 2019 |
| Dan Ciabattoni | Holy Name | 1,688 | 2008 |
| Nate Reinhart | Central Catholic | 1,679 | 2006 |
