Logan Nawrocki matches passing mark as Schuylkill Valley tops Kutztown
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Matt Gaffney — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
When good football teams lose key players to injury, a “next man up” philosophy is essential to winning games. Other times a change of philosophy is needed and it’s on to Plan B.
Friday night in Kutztown, Schuylkill Valley employed a little of both in a 49-21 win over the Cougars in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 opener. The victory gave Schuylkill Valley coach Bruce Harbach the 150th win of his career.
The Panthers lost All-State running back Dominic Giuffre to a hand injury after his fifth carry in the first half. Losing an impact player like Giuffre would derail most teams. But most teams don’t have a quarterback-wide receiver connection like Logan Nawrocki and Kowen Gerner.
Nawrocki tied a program record with five touchdown passes and hooked up with Gerner on three of them, from 12, 78, and 16 yards.
“It’s awesome,” said Nawrocki. “I just think we have a connection. I feel like I can throw anything to him and he’ll catch it.”
Nawrocki became the first Schuylkill Valley quarterback to throw five TD passes since Nicco Iaccarino in 2019. Kyle Beissel and Matt Korn also did it for the Panthers in 2012, and 2001, respectively.
“You talk about big-play kids,” Harbach said. “They’re only juniors and they’re play-makers.”
The third touchdown by Gerner was a leaping highlight reel in the back of the end zone with 1.2 seconds left in the first half.
“That was an insane catch,” said Nawrocki.
“That’s the stuff we work on every single day,” said Harbach. “Our receiver coach (Steve Heck) does a great job with high-pointing the ball. We go one-on-one every day, the best of the best and that’s what makes us better as a football team.”
For Harbach, dialing up pass plays was simply a reaction to the way the game unfolded
“It was tough running the ball inside, so we had to get outside,” he said. “I told Logan we’re going to open it up. So we’re going to ride him. If Dom’s out, with the skill kids we have, we’ll be fine.”
Nawrocki credited preparation, his offensive line and receivers for the record-setting performance.
“We prepared all week, and I barely had any pressure,” he said. “The line did great, the receivers were open. Just a great game by everyone.”
With Giuffre sidelined it was an opportunity for junior running back Cooper Hohenadel to step up. Hohenadel showed out as he scored touchdowns three different ways: running, receiving and on an 89-yard kickoff return to start the second half.
Hohenadel added 29 rushing yards and sophomore Logan Cammauf had 49 rushing yards on seven carries to help offset the loss of Giuffre.
Hohenadel also had a 30-yard punt return to help set up his first score, a 1-yard plunge.
If Giuffre misses any time with the injury, Harbach is confident in his young backs.
“We knew when Dom went down that our running game would be a little bit iffy at times,” Harbach said. “But Cammauf and ‘Coop’ did a nice job in there. And they might be our backs the next couple of weeks. Our kids didn’t hang their heads when Dom went out. Injuries are a part of football and when a player like that goes down I feel for him. My heart goes out to him. He’s such a great player, but he’ll be back.”
The Panthers didn’t take long to strike first at the start of the contest. After stopping the Cougars on fourth down near midfield, Schuylkill Valley put together a quick five-play, 56-yard drive capped off by Nawrocki’s first touchdown toss, 16 yards to junior Dillon Lackner for a 7-0 first quarter lead.
The points came in waves after that with Nawrocki slinging the rock all over the field with a very efficient 11-of-14 passing for 226 yards.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of kids to work with,” he said. “These kids are playing their tails off right now. I’m so happy for them. Kutztown tries to control the clock with their offense, so we needed to force some turnovers, which we did. And our quick-strike offense took care of business.”
Kutztown was able to move the ball on the ground with sophomore running back Mason Sherry rushing for 114 rushing yards and two touchdowns, Brenden Ackley going for 99 yards and Ethan Lafferty for 76.
Though the Cougars Power-T offense moved the ball effectively, with 296 yards rushing, turnovers did them in.
Kutztown lost four fumbles, three of which Schuylkill Valley turned into touchdowns. It was too much to overcome and left Kutztown coach Larry Chester shaking his head.
“Here at Kutztown Cougar football, the heart is not the question,” he said. “The skill is not the question. We fumbled six times and gave it up four times. The other team can’t score if they don’t have the ball and our offense is all about that. It’s very methodical, very machine-like, so if we fumble the ball four times, I don’t care who we play, it wouldn’t matter.”
Despite falling behind the Cougars showed a lot of heart as they played hard to the final whistle.
“That’s who they are, that’s what we train to be,” said Chester. “They’re good kids, they’re blue-collar kids and at the end of the day, we’re never going to give up. That’s our mindset.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Schuylkill Valley | 7 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 49 |
| Kutztown | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Lackner, 16 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 7:35 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Hohenadel, 1 run (Wamsher kick) | 8:54 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Gerner, 16 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 6:44 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Gerner, 78 pass from Nawrocki (kick failed) | 0:58 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Gerner, 16 pass from Nawrocki (Nawrocki pass) | 0:01 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Hohenadel, 89 kickoff return (Wamsher kick) | 11:31 |
| 3 | Kutztown | Sherry, 22 run (Kimpland kick) | 6:08 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Hohenadel, 26 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 9:17 |
| 4 | Kutztown | Sherry, 62 run (Ackley run) | 6:31 |
| 4 | Kutztown | Lafferty, 45 run (run failed) | 1:50 |
Team statistics
| Schuylkill Valley | Kutztown | |
| First downs | 17 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 26-118 | 42-296 |
| Passing yards | 230 | 8 |
| Total yards | 348 | 304 |
| Passes | 12-16-0 | 1-6-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 6-4 |
| Punts-average | 1-18 | 1-30 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-27 | 4-50 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Schuylkill Valley: Cammauf 7-49, Hohenadel 7-29, Giuffre 5-22, Pyle 4-17, Ortiz 2-1, Nawrocki 1-0.
Kutztown: Sherry 13-114, Ackley 14-99, Lafferty 10-76, Matthias 3-7, Swoyer 2-0.
PASSING
Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 11-14-0–226, A. Aletras 1-2-0–4.
Kutztown: Matthias 1-6-0–8.
RECEIVING
Schuylkill Valley: Crills 4-64, Gerner 3-106, Lackner 3-30, Hohenadel 1-26, Pyle 1-4.
Kutztown: Lafferty 1-8.
