Riley Martinez throws three TDs as Exeter gains Pig Iron Bowl victory

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2024 Berks football coverage

presented by UECU

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By Mike Hennelly — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Exeter secured the 59th Pig Iron Bowl in a blowout fashion on Friday night with a 36-0 victory over longtime rival Daniel Boone at Brazinsky Field in Birdsboro.

The Eagles started the 2024 season off hot with a 25-yard touchdown completion from Riley Martinez to Genuine Stutzman on the game’s opening drive.

Martinez went on to toss two more touchdowns of 66 and 73 yards. The Eagles quarterback only threw the ball six times, but it’s all he needed to help deliver his team their first win of the season.

“We have a lot of explosive playmakers,” Eagles head coach Matt Bauer said. “Each of them answered the call at a different time.”

All-State running back Jayden Zandier continued his success from last season and ran all over the Blazers’ defense. He had three runs over 30 yards, including touchdown runs of 37 and 46 yards.

“He’s still relatively new to the position,” Bauer said of Zandier. “He’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten faster, he’s gotten stronger, but it’s going to be a little different. He’s not going to sneak up on people this year. Their No. 1 objective is going to be to stop No. 2.”

The Blazers couldn’t find an answer for Zandier this time around. He finished the night with 138 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries.

The Eagles finished last season with eight wins, but they ended the season on a losing streak that left a bitter taste in their mouths.

“Again, it’s a good start,” Bauer said. “Don’t get me wrong, the last three times we took the field before this, we came out on the short end. I challenged the kids tonight to come out and right the ship, and they did.”

The Eagles didn’t play a perfect game, but they didn’t need to. There were too many penalties which is something that Bauer’s team will need to fix moving forward to get to where they want to be at the end of the season.

“We need to improve a little bit on our discipline, but again those are all correctable things,” Bauer said. “I think all the mistakes we made tonight were aggressive mistakes.”

The Eagles are a championship-caliber team. The players, coaches and fans have high expectations this year. A dominant win to begin the season is just what this team needed to gain momentum for the rest of the season.

Not only did the Eagles earn their first win of the season, but Bauer earned career-win No. 114 as the team’s head coach. He now sits nine away from tying Don Thomas for most wins in Exeter football history. The 16-year head coach has a chance to make history in eight less seasons than Thomas, but that will require the Eagles to have a special season.

The Eagles now lead the all-time series 43-22-1 over the Blazers. The Blazers take on Schuylkill Valley Thursday while the Eagles battle Boyertown Friday.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Exeter	13	23	0	0	36
Daniel Boone	0	0	0	0	0

Scoring summary

1	Exeter	Stutzman, 25 pass from Martinez (Gaston kick)	10:41
1	Exeter	Redding, 66 pass from Martinez (kick failed)	3:20
2	Exeter	J. Zandier, 37 run (Zandier, pass from Martinez)	6:49
2	Exeter	J. Zandier, 46 run (Redding run)	3:32
2	Exeter	Ware, 73 pass from Martinez (Gaston kick)	2:16

Team statistics

	Exeter	Daniel Boone
First downs	12	5
Rushes-yards	28-220	23-(-36)
Passing yards	176	97
Total yards	396	61
Passes	5-7-0	9-22-1
Fumbles-lost	2-2	1-1
Punts-average	2-31.5	7-29.6
Penalties-yards	12-130	9-55

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Exeter: J. Zandier 9-138, Martinez 5-31, Brown 5-25, Caceres 3-11, Alvarez 3-11, Redding 1-3, Jackson 2-1.

Daniel Boone: High 3-10, Heffner 4-7, Moyer 11-3, Salata 1-(-11), Team 4-(-45).

PASSING

Exeter: Martinez 4-6-0–173, Fuller 1-1-0–3.

Daniel Boone: Moyer 9-22-1–97.

RECEIVING

Exeter: Stutzman 1-25, Redding 1-66, Flander 1-3, Ware 1-73, Dauble 1-9.

Daniel Boone: Delissaint 6-87, Heffner 1-5, Elliott 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS

Exeter: Rhoades.