New season means a new start for four Berks coaches, several first-time QBs
Four head coaches will make their debuts this weekend as the Berks football season kicks off, but none of them are new to Friday nights.
Brett Myers sure isn’t. The first-year Twin Valley coach has an impressive resume that includes three straight District 3 championships and a pair of PIAA championship-game appearances over eight seasons at Middletown.
Hamburg’s Matt Hoffert has been a head coach before, at Kutztown, was a successful offensive coordinator at Fleetwood and served two previous stints as an assistant coach with the Hawks.
Steve Pangburn is in his first season as a head coach at Fleetwood but knows the program well, serving as the offensive coordinator the past two seasons.
Troy Godinet will be making his first appearance as a head coach Friday when Reading High travels to C.D. East but he’s coached in the program the past four seasons and was a standout linebacker with the Red Knights back in the day, when they were competing for championships.
On the other end of the spectrum are Rick Keeley of Berks Catholic and Bob Wolfrum of Wyomissing, the greybeards of Berks football. They’re beginning their 37th and 36th seasons, respectively, as head coaches; each has spent half a century coaching football.
No matter, they’ll have opening-night butterflies like all the rest, as will the players — at least until that first big hit.
The Berks season kicks off with 10 non-league games Friday and one Saturday, when Wyomissing opens at home. The Spartans, who play Kennard-Dale, will be looking for their 26th straight regular season victory; the Berks record is 30.
Wyomissing, ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A, is also looking for a fourth straight District 3 championship and a third straight trip to the PIAA championship game. Only four other programs — Manheim Central, Bishop McDevitt, Cumberland Valley and Steel-High — have won four straight District 3 titles. That’s an elite group.
Exeter and Gov. Mifflin, who met last season for the District 3 Class 5A championship, are the only other Berks teams ranked in the Top 10 by PennLive.com. The Eagles are No. 7 in Class 5A, the Mustangs No. 8
Exeter is among four Berks teams selected as a preseason favorite in the newly expanded, five-section Lancaster-Lebanon League.
The Eagles have been tabbed the team to beat in Section 2 by both MikeDragoSports.com and Lancasteronline, as has Wilson in Section 1, Wyomissing in Section 4 and Hamburg in Section 5.
Section 3 appears to be a guessing game.
MikeDragoSports.com lists Ephrata as the favorite, followed by Daniel Boone and Twin Valley.
Lancasteronline tabbed Solanco the favorite, followed by Ephrata and Elizabethtown. It picked the three Berks entries — Daniel Boone, Fleetwood and Twin Valley — to finish fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the seven-team section.
League play begins Week 4 in all five sections.
Seven Berks teams enter the season with a new quarterback; Wilson enters with two.
After months of a head-to-head battle juniors Tommy Hunsicker and Adam Woods each performed well enough to earn playing time. Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms said they will share the job at this point.
In another close competition Mason Rotelli emerged as the starter at Exeter over Joey Schlaffer, the Penn State tight end recruit who has made the transition back to a spot he once played regularly. Eagles coach Matt Bauer said Schlaffer will see time at quarterback but that Rotelli earned the starting job based on his familiarity with the position.
The starting jobs are more defined at other schools. First-time starters include Delsin McNeil at Gov. Mifflin, Will Hess at Berks Catholic, Jack Riffle at Fleetwood and Donovan Gingrich at Conrad Weiser.
Muhlenberg is going with Drew Fidler and Schuylkill Valley with Michael Goad; each saw time at QB last season.
Among the return starters are Xander Menapace at Hamburg, Dean Rotter at Daniel Boone, Evan Myers at Twin Valley and Ben Zechman at Wyomissing.
Joining the Lancaster-Lebanon League has meant some schedule interuptions for Berks rivals. Exeter and Daniel Boone and Fleetwood and Kutztown, traditionally Week 10 opponents, are opening the season against each other Friday. The teams no longer reside in the same section, so they can’t meet in the final week of the regular season under the current format.
Here’s the Week 1 schedule:
Friday
Roman Catholic at Wilson, 7
Reading High at C.D. East, 7
Exeter at Daniel Boone, 7
Spring-Ford at Gov. Mifflin, 7
Muhlenberg at Octorara, 7
Fleetwood at Kutztown, 7
Twin Valley at Schuylkill Valley, 7
Loyalsock at Berks Catholic, 7
Garden Spot at Conrad Weiser, 7
Hamburg at Halifax, 7
Saturday
Kennard-Dale at Wyomissing, 1:30
