Muhls are pass-happy after resounding win over Panthers

By Mike Drago Last updated Aug 24, 2025

Muhlenberg's Freddy Lacey breaks free on kickoff return Friday at Schuylkill Valley. (Brad Drey/Purdon Photography)

2025 Berks football coverage presented by

Utilities Employees Credit Union

By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor

Final
Muhlenberg	45
Sch. Valley	14

With All-State tailback Cameron Small in the backfield Muhlenberg had a potent ground game last season.

But the passing game?

“Atrocious,” is the way Muhls coach Rob Flowers describes it.

Priority No. 1 during the offseason was to beef up the passing part of the Muhls attack. Quarterback Adriel Baez, the starter last year as a freshman, took that message to heart. He spent a lot of time outside of team practices working with his receivers to get their timing and patterns down.

That much was pretty evident in Friday’s season opener as Baez threw a pair of touchdown passes and nearly matched last season’s passing total in a 45-14 non-league romp at Schuylkill Valley.

“He’s been putting in work all summer,” senior wide receiver Michael Miller Jr. said of his quarterback. “(Each night) it was me and Adriel at the field and we finally came out (and did it in a game), and we’re so excited.”

The Panthers stacked the box to take away Small. The Muhls single-season rushing leader was pretty much wearing Logan Cammauf on his back all night. The Panthers’ All-State linebacker made it his mission to not let Small take over the game, and he and his defensive teammates succeeded.

Small managed just 69 yards; his season-low a year ago was 66. He carried the ball 19 times Friday; he had just three runs longer than 6 yards and none more than 12.

The Panthers paid a price for focusing so much attention on the 2,000-yard rusher: They left themselves exposed in other areas.

Michael Miller Jr. pulls in a touchdown pass for Muhlenberg. (Brad Drey/Purdon Photography)

“We saw they were stacking the box,” Baez said, “so we had to attack outside.”

They did it right away. On their first series Baez swung a pass to Miller Jr. in the right flank. In a flash he covered 62 yards for a score and 14-0 lead.

“I ran past the safety and my receiver blocked the corner and nobody touched me,” Miller Jr. said.

That same combination helped pretty much put the game away early in the third quarter. When Baez noticed Miller Jr. had single coverage at the line on a second-and-6 from his 27 he knew what to do. So did his receiver.

“Let it fly,” Miller Jr. said. “We know. (The corner) was pressing, and I’m gonna go.”

Nothing needed to be said.

“I saw the corner pressed up on him and, one-on-one,” Baez said, “I’m gonna take Mike every time.”

Baez threw a perfect pass hitting Miller Jr. in stride around Schuylkill Valley’s 40; his receiver sprinted away to finish the 73-yard play that put his team on top 25-7.

“You can’t throw it much better,” Flowers said, “you can’t run (your route) much better. They’ve been getting in work all summer, and they ran it the correct way, and it was so beautiful to see.”

Baez finished 8-of-15 for 233 yards. A year ago he totaled 349 passing yards the entire season.

Miller was responsible for 156 of those yards, on four catches. A year ago he led the team in receptions but totaled just 312 receiving yards and three TDs.

“Our quarterback definitely improved in the second half,” said Flowers of Baez, who completed each of his three attempts for 125 yards after intermission. “The first half, he threw some good balls that were dropped; then he threw some bad balls. We talked to him, we changed some things at halftime, and he completed every ball in the second half.”

Just like a year ago, when the Muhls stunned the heavily favored Panthers in the season-opener, speed was the difference. The Muhls had advantages all over the field and they wasted little time exploiting them.

Muhls quarterback Adriel Baez looks for a target. (Brad Drey/Purdon Photography)

Freddy Lacey took the opening kickoff back 89 yards for a touchdown and Muhlenberg had the lead in just 13 seconds.

Lacey kick-started the Muhls the same way last year against Schuylkill Valley, taking a kick back 95 yards for the first score in a 29-20 win.

“I was thinking I could take another one to the crib, like last year,” Lacey said of his thoughts as the ball hurtled toward him.

The Panthers showed some speed of their own, namely from sprinter Brandon Pyle, who scored on a 10-yard run around left end cut the deficit to 14-7 and pulled in a 40-yard pass on the final play of the third quarter to make it 31-14.

Flowers got the kind of offensive balances he was seeking with 225 rushing yards and 233 passing. Even with Small not taking a lead role the Muhls were lethal.

“That’s why we have other weapons, and we’re gonna keep using them,” Flowers promised.

Good as the Muhls looked, Flowers insists his guys can play better.

“We scored 45 points,” Baez said, “but there’s another level we can take it to. You’re gonna see that as we go on in the season.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Muhlenberg	14	5	12	14	45
Schuylkill Valley	0	7	7	0	14

Scoring summary

1	Muhlenberg	Lacey, 89 kickoff return (Shupp kick)	11:47
1	Muhlenberg	Miller Jr., 62 pass from Baez (Shupp kick)	7:56
2	Schuylkill Valley	Pyle, 10 run (Wamsher kick)	10:40
2	Muhlenberg	Safety, ball snapped out of end zone	6:53
2	Muhlenberg	Shupp, 26 FG	4:25
3	Muhlenberg	Miller Jr., 73 pass from Baez (run failed)	7:58
3	Muhlenberg	Small, 2 run (run failed)	3:30
3	Schuylkill Valley	Pyle, 40 pass from Aletras (Wamsher kick)	0:00
4	Muhlenberg	Baez, 23 run (Shupp kick)	10:12
4	Muhlenberg	Small, 12 run (Shupp kick)	4:25

Team statistics

	MUHLENBERG	SCHUYLKILL VALLEY
First downs	18	14
Rushes-yards	36-225	29-64
Passing yards	233	151
Total yards	458	215
Passes	8-15-1	13-27-1
Fumbles-lost	0-0	1-0
Punts-average	2-48.5	3-43.7
Penalties-yards	8-85	10-54