Only one number matters to Exeter’s Eric Nangle: Wins
It figures that on the night Eric Nangle had the biggest game of his career — 230 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a district playoff win at Manheim Central — someone else did better and grabbed the big headline.
No matter.
Nangle isn’t concerned about those type of things. He just wants to keep playing football with his guys at Exeter, extending their playoff run as long as possible.
He just happens to be playing the same sport in the same era and in the same league as Gov. Mifflin’s Nick Singleton, considered by many the top high school running back in the nation. A guy who can scored seven touchdowns in a game, as Singleton did last week, can cast long shadows. Nangle doesn’t care.
“I try not to worry about all that,” said the senior tailback. “My teammates know what I can do. They believe in me. They trust me to go out there every night and give it my best. That’s all that matters to me.”
Nangle has rushed for 1,207 yards and is in position to break the program single-season record. He’s just 215 yards away. He could get that Friday at Cedar Cliff in a District 3 Class 5A semifinal or, if the Eagles advance, the following week in the championship game — maybe head-up against Singleton and Mifflin.
Nangle is positioned to finish among the top backs in program history but he isn’t keeping track.
“Playing with these guys is all that matters,” he said. “(Accolades) are nice, but having the guys (say): ‘Hell of a run Nangle, keep it up,’ when I get back to the huddle — that keeps me going. That makes me want to just not be tired and run harder the next play.”
Nangle was pretty tireless in the 43-26 win over Manheim. He carried 25 times and scored three first-period touchdowns, helping the Eagles build a 36-0 halftime lead. His 230 yards ended up fifth-best in program history, just 31 yards away from Gabe Schappell’s 2015 record.
“He ran so hard,” said Eagles coach Matt Bauer. “He broke tackle after tackle for extra yards; he was relentless. He’s played his best in all the big games.”
The Eagles have had a lot of big games — Central York, Wilson, Hempfield, Gov. Mifflin, Berks Catholic — one after another. Before Friday Nangle’s biggest game came in Week 3, against Wilson. That’s probably not a coincidence. He grew up in the Wilson district and probably wanted that game as much as any.
Nangle — who played in the Bulldogs program through eighth grade — went for 209 yards and three touchdowns against the Bulldogs; his 82-yard run in the second quarter gave Exeter the lead for good in what ended up a 42-14 win.
“It was awesome,” said Nangle, who said he still has friends on the Bulldogs. “Coming from there, it was cool for my parents to see that, because they always saw me in the red. It was cool to beat ’em.”
Nangle spent his ninth-grade year at Gov. Mifflin before landing at Exeter. The transition to a new program was easier than imagined.
| Exeter single-season rushing leaders | ||
| Jesse Reider | 1,422 | 2003 |
| Eric Nangle | 1,207 | 2021 |
| Nick Sarangoulis | 1,211 | 2016 |
| Chase Yocum | 1,196 | 2014 |
| Damon Feinberg | 1,173 | 1988 |
| Brandon Unterkoefler | 1,128 | 2016 |
| Brandon Unterkoefler | 1,127 | 2017 |
| Alex Mozo | 1,100 | 2011 |
“I thought it was going to be really hard, but these guys, they accepted me immediately,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been here since I started playing football. What a family. I love it here.
“I had to prove myself to the coaches, players, everyone. Get some respect. Show them that I should have the ball in my hands a little bit.”
Nangle had the ball in his hands plenty as a junior when he led the team with 774 yards rushing in eight games. His total was third-best in Berks.
He worked out with noted trainer Darryl Daniel in Manheim throughout the summer and has taken his game to another level. Daniel emphasized agility and form, and Nangle noticed the effects of the training right away.
“It helps you run more powerfully, smoother,” he said of Daniels’ training. “It just opens up the whole running game to you.”
Nangle has a quick first step, good balance and the ability break off big runs. Berks Football League Section 1 coaches saw that and placed him on the all-league first team for the second straight season.
Last week he became just the seventh back in program history to top 2,000 yards.
He’s within range of the program single-season touchdown mark (he’s four away) but things like that weren’t on his radar back in August.
“The goal was to have a great senior year,” he said. “I wanted to get a thousand (yards) but the stats weren’t big to me. I wanted to win the big games, that’s (most important). (Losing to) Central York hurt; we wanted that. We wanted the Wilson game and got that. We wanted BC, and we got it.
“We went against a lot of teams that were really good; they gave us challenges, gave us different looks. We’re ready for anyone; put anyone in front of us and we’re gonna go 100 percent, four quarters.”
