Mifflin not about to forget painful history lesson delivered by Cocalico

Jeff Lang enjoyed watching his Gov. Mifflin Mustangs celebrate their retention of the Gurski-Linn Trophy last week but he knew the party wasn’t going to last long.

Before the Mustangs had finished posing for pictures with the giant-sized trophy Lang was looking ahead — and threw down a warning.

“You go back (to 2017) and look what happened after we beat Wilson,” the Mifflin coach said. “We got smoked the next week.”

Seven days after their 21-14 breakthrough victory over the Bulldogs four seasons ago the Mustangs went to Cocalico and lost, 42-21. It took the luster off the Wilson victory and cost them a perfect season. Isaac Ruoss, Kam Wolfe and the Mustangs ended that regular season 9-1 and advanced to the District 3 Class 5A championship game.

They have similar visions of a perfect season and an extended playoff run this year and don’t intend to get tripped up Friday when they return to Denver to face an Eagles team that has been a thorn in their side.

“We learned from the past,” Lang said. “We’ll make sure these guys are ready this week.”

Cocalico had an outstanding team in 2019 when it beat the Mustangs twice, including in the district quarterfinals.

Noah Palm, the All-State quarterback who led them to the District 3 Class 5A championship that season, is gone and the jury remains out on this team. It opened with an impressive 36-21 win over Conrad Weiser before Cedar Cliff scored a last-minute touchdown last week for a 33-27win.

Successful head coach Dave Gingrich left following that 2019 championship season but the Eagles, now coached by long-time assistant Bryan Strohl, continue to run the always-tricky-to-defend Veer.

If this Mifflin team has been questioned, even after its 2-0 start, its because of its line play; that happens to be the strength of the Eagles, and where you’ll find their top player.

Ryan Brubaker is a 6-6, 290-pound guard who has committed to play at the University of South Carolina. Expect to see the Eagles running behind him often.

“When you have an offense like ours, it all starts up front,” said Strohl. “Against Weiser we were able to move the line of scrimmage a little bit and we felt like we did some good things up front.”

Cocalico hasn’t been able to slow its opponents too well so far and that could be an issue Friday. The Mustangs’ offense is a juggernaut and led by one of the nation’s top prep running backs, Nick Singleton.

The Penn State commit has averaged 13.2 yards per carry and rushed for 424 yards and eight touchdowns in two games. He needs just 88 yards to become Berks’ all-time rushing leader.

Strohl, of course, knows all about about him. He saw Singleton take a kickoff back 92 yards for a touchdown against Cocalico as a freshman, then rush for 148 yards against them as a sophomore.

The last time they met, in a district playoff game, the Eagles controlled Singleton, limiting him to 21 yards on 13 carries.

That was two years ago. Much has changed. Singleton evolved from a top high school back into a phenom sought by nearly every major college program in the nation.

“As a sophomore he stood out as a good running back,” Strohl said. “Now, when you hear he’s the second-ranked running back in the country and you see him on film, (you believe) it’s legit. He runs much more determined. He’s full-speed ahead, and he’s able to make cuts at full speed. He refuses to go down.

“I was watching film on a fourth-and-7. He was not stopped until he got 8 yards. He just went full speed ahead, lowered his shoulder, fell forward. He can get you tough yards, he can be the home run hitter. He’s certainly quite a weapon.”

The Mustangs have a lot of those in their backfield. That’s concerning, Strohl said.

“Both quarterbacks (Eden Johnson and Delsin McNeil) seem very skilled,” he said. “Johnson, he’s fast, he’s elusive, and I’ve seen him run through arm tackles. He’s certainly a handful. (Ayden) Martin, they get the ball in his hands, and he’s a good blocker. Same with their fullback (Trey Rock): He can carry the ball but he’s also a tremendous blocker.

“When you see a team who’s got a bunch of ball-carriers who are also unselfish, that makes it challenging to stop. You try to pick your poison.”

The Eagles have their own workhorse running back in Anthony Bourassa, who ran for 206 and three TDs vs. Weiser and 183 yards and three TDs vs. Cedar Cliff.

The Mustangs enter with a 15-game regular season winning streak.

They don’t need to be reminded that the last team that beat them was Cocalico.