Red Knights, ‘sunk in the sand,’ slip to 1-2 with loss at Red Lion
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Ryan Vandersloot — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
RED LION — Adversity was the theme for the Reading High football team in Week 3.
After a lengthy weather delay at Red Lion’s Horn Field Friday forced their contest to be suspended late in the first quarter, Reading High scrambled to find buses to take the team back to southern York County Monday evening.
Arriving a little over 30 minutes before the game, the Red Knights defense was put to the test right away. When play resumed in a scoreless contest with 3 minutes and 16 seconds left in the first quarterthe Lions marched down the field for the game’s first score.
The Red Knights (1-2) answered on the next series and reached 47 with a fourth-and-1. Opting to go for it, they muffed the handoff and lost the ball on downs.
Failure to convert on fourth down cost the Knights throughout. They turned the ball over on downs three times; they also fumbled a snap that set the Lions up with a short field.
Red Lion took full advantage of each of those opportunities and turned them into points in a 38-20 non-league victory.
The effective two-headed running attack of tailback Dain Strausbaugh (68 yards, two TDs) and quarterback Chris Price (74 yards) was more than enough to carry the Lions (2-1) to their second straight win.
“We were just sunk in sand,” Reading coach Troy Godinet said. “And we didn’t react the right way, and we have to react better as a team.”
Godinet was referencing an unsightly 13 penalties against his squad for 117 yards.
Such mental mistakes can be killers and the Knights paid the price, giving the Lions favorable field position.
Despite all of those troubles the Red Knights held their own. They churned out nearly 300 total yards, a third of that coming on a miraculous 98-yard by Cameron Small in the final minute.
“Our mistakes fall on me,” Godinet said. “We have to continue to fight to get better every day. (Red Lion) wasn’t really doing anything special . . . we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We had some really nice gains but then shot ourselves in the foot with penalties.”
Red Lion recorded the first two scores in the second quarter on TD receptions by Damien Cedrone (15 yards) and Elijah Morales (22 yards) that sandwiched a fourth-down stop defensively.
Reading was able to get a 5-yard TD run by Jahmir Drayton with 58 seconds left in the half but the Lions got a solid return from Strausbaugh on the kickoff to set up Price for a 42-yard field goal with 14.4 seconds left.
The Lions got back-to-back touchdowns late in the third quarter as Strausbaugh found the end zone for the first time before Cedrone hauled in a nifty 27-yard pass from Price to make it 31-7.
The Knights did come up with a goal line stand late in the fourth quarter against Red Lion’s second-team offense before Small (128 yards, two TDs) broke out of a pile and raced 98 yards.
“We just have to continue to be the best team that we can be,” said Godinet, whose team opens Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 play Friday at Wilson. “We have to work to get the program where we want it to be and that’s on every single one of us.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Reading High | 0 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 |
| Red Lion | 0 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 38 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Red Lion | Cedrone, 15 pass from Price (Price kick) | 10:14 |
| 2 | Red Lion | Morales 22 pass from Price (Price kick) | 5:54 |
| 2 | Reading High | Drayton, 5 pass from Fritz (Santos kick) | 58.2 |
| 2 | Red Lion | Price, 42 FG | 14.4 |
| 3 | Red Lion | Strausbaugh, 16 run (Price kick) | 5:47 |
| 3 | Red Lion | Cedrone, 27 pass from Price (Price kick) | 3:04 |
| 3 | Reading High | C. Small, 8 run (kick failed) | 1:48 |
| 4 | Red Lion | Strausbaugh, 21 run (Price kick) | 7:42 |
| 4 | Reading High | C. Small, 98 run (Santos kick) | 46.4 |
Team statistics
| Reading High | Red Lion | |
| First downs | 12 | 19 |
| Rushes-yards | 32-214 | 33-183 |
| Passing yards | 69 | 140 |
| Total yards | 283 | 323 |
| Passes | 8-18-1 | 14-20-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 3-27.3 | 1-29 |
| Penalties-yards | 13-117 | 9-60 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Reading High: Small 7-128, Alvardo 11-54, Fritz 12-53, Drayton 1-7, Team 1-(-14).
Red Lion: Price 12-74, Strausbaugh 10-68, Hollingshead 4-40,Thompson 2-6, Clippinger 1-4, Morales 1-3, Morales 1-(-2), Team 2-(-10).
PASSING
Reading High: Fritz 8-14-0–69, Plylaharn 0-4-1–0.
Red Lion: Price 14-20-0–140.
RECEIVING
Reading High: Drayton 5-31,Sheriff 1-27, Alvarado 1-8, Santos 1-3.
Red Lion:Cedrone 5-67, E. Morales 4-48, Strausbaugh 2-(-8), Dennis 1-24, Selby 1-7, Clippinger 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
Red Lion: Morales.
