Panthers clean up their act, hold off Haydn Moyer, hard-charging Blazers for 1st win

By Sean McBryan Last updated Aug 31, 2024

Schuylkill Valley's Cooper Hohenadel celebrates his Pick-Six against Daniel Boone. (PhilMarPhoto)

2024 Berks football coverage

presented by UECU

By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Football is a weird game. Sometimes the better team doesn’t win. Turnovers, penalties, and special teams can flip momentum and put the favorite on the ropes.

Schuylkill Valley knows this all too well after being upset by Muhlenberg in Week 1 when it allowed a 95-yard kickoff return TD, committed eight penalties, and lost the turnover battle — one of which was returned for a touchdown.

The Panthers cleaned those areas up Thursday night in Leesport to come away with a 31-27 non-league victory over feisty Daniel Boone, which piled up nearly 400 yards of offense.

“It was tough last week,” said Schuylkill Valley quarterback Logan Nawrocki, who led the way with 181 passing yards and two TDs. “We were expected to win and we didn’t pull through. We moved on to this game, which we knew was going to be tough, and that’s exactly what we got.”

Schuylkill Valley forced the Blazers into four turnovers — one of which was returned for a touchdown — while not committing any turnovers. Daniel Boone had more than double the amount of penalties as Schuylkill Valley (1-1).

“We moved past last week,” Nawrocki said. “It was a shocker, but we had to throw it behind us. We talked about it for a bit, then moved on to this game. Now we’ll move on from this game and go to the next.”

The Blazers (0-2) pushed them to the brink with running-back-turned-quarterback Haydn Moyer passing for 292 yards and two TDs and running for 78 and two scores.

Moyer, who completed 15-of-23 passes, made a spectacular play for the first touchdown of the game when he corralled a snap that went over his head and launched it to Blake Elliot for a 44-yard touchdown with 9:09 left in the first quarter to give Daniel Boone a 7-0 lead.

Panthers’ Logan Nawrocki. (PhilMarPhoto)

Reese Wamsher knocked through a 27-yard field goal for the Panthers with 12.9 seconds left in the first quarter.

Cooper Hohenadel intercepted Moyer on the second play of the second quarter and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown to give Schuylkill Valley the lead.

Moyer answered on the next drive with a 2-yard TD run to cap a nine-play, 64-yard drive that chewed up nearly five minutes for the Blazers.

Nawrocki hit Luke Spotts for a 36-yard TD just 17 seconds later with 6:24 left in the second quarter that gave the Panthers the lead for good at 17-14.

“That was momentum for us,” Nawrocki said. “We were going back and forth.”

Daniel Boone fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Panthers drove 60 yards in eight plays before John Kowalski scored from the 13 on a reverse to put them up 24-14 with 3:49 left before halftime.

“That was huge for us to get a touchdown there,” Nawrocki said. “Special teams made a big play to get that turnover and that took all of the momentum from (them).”

Nawrocki’s slipperiness in the pocket was on full display in the third quarter as the Blazers continuously sent multiple blitzers at him but had a hard time taking him to the ground.

His most impressive play came on the first drive of the third quarter when he evaded at least three rushers in the backfield, kept his eyes surveying downfield, and hit Spotts for a first down along the right sideline.

“We’ve got to finish plays because we had our hands on the quarterback,” Daniel Boone coach J.D. Okuniewski said. “(Nawrocki) is a nice player; it’s like he had grease on him.”

Nawrocki hit Dillon Lackner for a 12-yard touchdown to end the drive with 8:39 left in the third quarter to push the lead to 31-14 but the Blazers didn’t quit.

Moyer finished a strong drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter.

He then found Max Heffner behind the defense for a 57-yard touchdown with 3:53 left to cut Schuylkill Valley’s lead to 31-27.

“Sometimes the problem with (switching a player’s) position can be that too much is put on them,” Okuniewski said of Moyer. “They don’t go through their progressions. They just kind of try to make something happen.

“It doesn’t appear he’s doing that, which is very good and very mature to be able to do it. He’s taking off or throwing the ball when he needs to. He’s playing really well at quarterback right now and I’m pleased with our decision to play him there.”

Moyer never got the ball in his hands again as the Panthers converted two first downs to run out the clock, the second of which came on Logan Cammauf’s 24-yard run, Schuylkill Valley’s longest of the night.

Blazers’ Haydn Moyer stretches for the end zone. (PhilMarPhoto)

	1	2	3	4	Final
Daniel Boone	7	7	0	13	27
Schuylkill Valley	3	21	7	0	31

Scoring summary

1	Daniel Boone	Elliot, 44 pass from Moyer (Heffner kick)	9:09
1	Schuylkill Valley	Wamsher, 27 FG	0:12
2	Schuylkill Valley	Hohenadel, 26 interception return (Wamsher kick)	11:02
2	Daniel Boone	Moyer, 2 run (Heffner kick)	6:41
2	Schuylkill Valley	Spotts, 36 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick)	6:24
2	Schuylkill Valley	Kowalski, 13 run (Wamsher kick)	3:49
3	Schuylkill Valley	Lackner, 12 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick)	8:39
4	Daniel Boone	Moyer, 1 run (Heffner kick)	11:31
4	Daniel Boone	Heffner, 57 pass from Moyer (Heffner kick blocked)	3:53

Team statistics

	DANIEL BOONE	SCHUYLKILL VALLEY
First downs	15	14
Rushes-yards	28-105	28-53
Passing yards	292	181
Total yards	397	234
Passes	15-24-2	13-20-0
Fumbles-lost	3-2	0-0
Punts-average	1-26	4-40
Penalties-yards	9-80	4-40