Reading High’s Kayson Fritz growing up quickly under the Friday night lights
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
It is not rare for a player to have to wait until he is a junior to start. It is rare for a player to play their first organized football games as the starting varsity quarterback.
Kayson Fritz led the Red Knights with two rushing touchdowns in a 25-7 non-league victory over Muhlenberg in the Battle of the Border at Shirk Stadium Friday.
“Kayson is starting to grow and he’s going to continue to grow,” Reading coach Troy Godinet said. “That’s a kid, it’s his first time coming on a football field and he’s playing on Friday nights 6A football. That’s not an easy feat at all.”
Fritz got very comfortable in the second half when offensive coordinator Sean Gaul switched up their formation. The Red Knights (1-1) led 12-7 in the third quarter when they made the switch to a cluster formation.
They used trips personnel and aligned them in a cluster wide near the boundary. The Muhls (0-2) matched up and that allowed Fritz to run the read option with Alexis Alvarado, who ran for a game-high 109 yards. Those two clicked for a three-play, 50-yard drive, all from the cluster look. Fritz finished it with a 19-yard touchdown run.
“The linebackers got pulled with the guard thinking that I was going that way,” Alvarado said. “But my QB pulled it and (there was) green grass.”
The Reading defense gave Fritz the ball back quickly when Xavier Beatty intercepted Anthony Cipolla and returned the ball to the Muhl 16. Two more plays of Reading’s favorite new formation and Fritz scored his second touchdown to essentially put the game away at 25-7. Fritz finished with 29 yards rushing, but his last four carries all out of the cluster went for 47 yards.
The Beatty interception set up the final Reading score and Beatty did it all on his own for the first Red Knight touchdown. His 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown gave Reading an instant answer to a Muhlenberg touchdown. Aaden Lopez just hit Isiah Dodson for a 43-yard touchdown on a seam route to give the Muhls a 7-0 lead. But, they made the mistake of kicking to Reading’s big playmaker.
“We count on X to make big plays,” Godinet said. “There is a reason he is back there. He’s playing all three aspects of the game because we know what he can be. We are going to push him to be what he can be and he’s stepping up to the plate.”
The new-look Muhlenberg spread offense struggled with consistently moving the chains. They finished with minus 22 yards rushing, but had some success through the air. Lopez and Cipolla combined for 191 yards on 37 attempts. Lopez played the first half and Cipolla played the second half. Dodson finished with 93 yards on seven receptions, but 90 of those yards came in the first half.
The second half belonged to the Red Knights and they kept the Battle of the Border trophy and extended the series lead to 11-9. More importantly, they got their first win of the season and for some of their players their first win period.
“It’s always good for kids that never tasted victory (to win),” Godinet said. “We have a lot of kids that never played football before.”
One of those kids is their starting quarterback and it seems like they may have found something in a new formation.
“Our first time ever trying it (cluster formation) and it went very well for us,” Fritz said.
Fritz is pretty good at trying new things.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Muhlenberg | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Reading High | 0 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 25 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Muhlenberg | Dodson, 43 pass from Lopez (Alcaraz kick) | 9:12 |
| 2 | Reading | Beatty, 93 kickoff return (kick failed) | 8:58 |
| 2 | Reading | Laws, 1 run (pass failed) | 0:00 |
| 3 | Reading | Fritz, 19 run (Murcia kick) | 7:00 |
| 3 | Reading | Fritz, 4 run (kick failed) | 3:39 |
Team statistics
| Muhlenberg | Reading High | |
| First downs | 10 | 14 |
| Rushes-yards | 24-(-22) | 32-151 |
| Passing yards | 191 | 78 |
| Total yards | 169 | 229 |
| Passes | 17-37-1 | 10-19-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-2 | 3-1 |
| Punts-average | 8-33.6 | 5-33.8 |
| Penalties-yards | 9-75 | 14-119 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Muhlenberg: Torok 8-12, Clemson 2-4, Miller 5-3, Colon 1-(-1), Cipolla 1-(-3), Lopez 5-(-10), Team 2-(-27).
Reading High: Alvarado 17-109, Fritz 8-29, Laws 4-8, Camara 2-6, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING
Muhlenberg: Lopez 9-18-0–98, Cipolla 8-19-1–93.
Reading High: Fritz 10-18-2–78, Team 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Muhlenberg: Dodson 7-93, Miller 6-58, Torok 3-14, Archie 1-26.
Reading High: Drayton 5-32, Santon 3-23, Beatty 1-13, Alvarado 1-10.
INTERCEPTIONS
Muhlenberg: Urbaez 2.
Reading High: Beatty.
