Fred Lacey, Muhls stun Panthers in Rob Flowers’ triumphant return home
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Rob Flowers let out an enormous fist pump when Fred Lacey raced 95 yards on a kickoff return for a Muhlenberg touchdown.
The huge play ignited the rest of the Muhls, too. They played inspired football for their new head coach and shocked Schuylkill Valley 29-20 Friday night on their new turf field at Muhlenberg Stadium.
The win itself is a big feat considering the program had only five wins over the past six seasons but for it to come against a Schuylkill Valley team favored to win Section 5 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League adds another layer.
“We appreciate everybody counting us out,” Flowers said. “We know what it is here at Muhlenberg. There is a natural chip on our shoulder. We always get looked down upon. We are going to keep getting better.”
Lacey, a Daniel Boone transfer, gave the Muhls a big lift when he put them on the board with the first-quarter kickoff return. It answered a Schuylkill Valley touchdown pass from Logan Nawrocki to Logan Cammauf and breathed life into the stadium and team.
“We schemed that up,” Flowers said. “We’ve got kids who can run; we have to continue to put them in spaces to run.”
The Muhls worked out of the Shotgun set for the entire game and their offensive line was able to carve up the Panthers. It comes as a surprise since the Schuylkill Valley defense returned eight starters. Mike Miller Jr. ran for 136 yards on 12 carries, including a 29-yard touchdown run, and Reading High transfer Cameron Small had 88 yards on the ground and 47 yards receiving to lead the Muhls.
“The line was putting in work,” Small said. “We have all been waiting for this and now since it’s here we are just very happy.”
Muhlenberg led 16-7 at the half but Schuylkill Valley, a veteran team, would not go away. Nawrocki threw for 182 of his 221 yards in the second half.
Three plays into the second half he hit Luke Spotts for a 50-yard touchdown. Schuylkill Valley had chances on its next two possessions to take the lead but the Muhls forced a turnover on downs before Lacey made his second game-changing play with a 10-yard interception return for touchdown to put the lead back to eight, 22-14.
A team with so few wins in its recent history and not much close-game experience found a way to stick together when things got tight.
“All I do is believe in my team day after day,” Lacey said. “When I first got here (earlier this year) I got a bond with them. Since I was growing up my pops told me to keep working and your time will come. So when I got here I kept grinding and grinding and I finally got it.”
The Panthers still had their chances to avoid an upset when Nawrocki threw his third touchdown, to Kowen Gerner. The 45-yard touchdown made it 22-20 but the two-point conversion pass attempt failed.
Muhlenberg leaned on its run game to close it out and Miller Jr. rattled off a 40-yard run to the 1-yard line that was finished off by a Small touchdown run.
“This is what I came to this school for, to win some games, put points on the board and go into battles,” Small said “It feels great.”
Flowers is a 1999 Muhlenberg graduate and the quarterback of the 1998 and 1999 teams that won the Berks I-C League. The Muhls were the dominant team of the 1990s in the I-C under coach John Yocum with at least shares of six I-C titles in the decade. The program has hit all-time lows recently including a program worst 26-game losing streak across 2019-2021.
“We don’t forget that (tradition), we speak about our tradition here,” Flowers said. “Our young men have no idea about the history we have here because they were young or not born. So we constantly have to keep talking about that.”
If Flowers can get more wins like he did on Friday night then the next generation of young Muhls may not need the reminders.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Schuylkill Valley | 7 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| Muhlenberg | 8 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 29 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Cammauf, 34 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 2:22 |
| 1 | Muhlenberg | Lacey, 95 kickoff return (C. Small run) | 2:08 |
| 2 | Muhlenberg | Miller Jr., 29 run (Baez run) | 3:35 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Spotts, 50 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 10:39 |
| 4 | Muhlenberg | Lacey, 10 interception return (run failed) | 10:57 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Gerner, 45 pass from Nawrocki (pass failed) | 10:37 |
| 4 | Muhlenberg | C. Small, 1 run (Shupp kick) | 8:10 |
Team statistics
| Schuylkill Valley | Muhlenberg | |
| First downs | 15 | 17 |
| Rushes-yards | 23-98 | 37-245 |
| Passing yards | 221 | 69 |
| Total yards | 319 | 314 |
| Passes | 17-26-2 | 4-10-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 3-45.66 | 2-38 |
| Penalties-yards | 8-58 | 8-62 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Schuylkill Valley: Cammauf 7-43, Hohenadel 10-32, Pyle 1-23, Nawrocki 5-0.
Muhlenberg: Miller Jr. 12-136, C. Small 21-88, Ortiz 1-19, Lacey 3-2.
PASSING
Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 17-26-2—221.
Muhlenberg: Coley 4-10-1—69.
RECEIVING
Schuylkill Valley: Gerner 5-77, Lackner 5-56, Hohenadel 3-26, Spotts 2-54, Cammauf 1-7, Kowalski 1-1.
Muhlenberg: Miller Jr. 2-15, C. Small 1-47, Cruz 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS
Schuylkill Valley: Cammauf.
Muhlenberg: Lacey 2.
