Riley Martinez throws three TDs as Exeter gains Pig Iron Bowl victory
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Mike Hennelly — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Exeter secured the 59th Pig Iron Bowl Friday in a blowout fashion.
The final score was 36-0 and the game was never close, the Eagles holding Daniel Boone to negative rushing yards and to 61 total yards.
Exeter, meanwhile, rushed for 220 yards and totaled 396 yards.
The Eagles started fast, with a 25-yard touchdown from Riley Martinez to Genuine Stutzman on the opening drive.
Martinez went on to toss two more touchdowns, of 66 yards and 73 yards. He threw the ball only six times but completed four, to four different receivers, and for 173 yards.
“We have a lot of explosive playmakers,” said Eagles coach Matt Bauer. “Each of them answered the call at a different time.”
All-State running back Jayden Zandier ran all over the Blazers’ defense, finishing with 138 yards on nine carries. 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. “He’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten faster, he’s gotten stronger, but it’s going to be a little different (for him this season). He’s not going to sneak up on people this year. Their No. 1 objective is going to be to stop No. 2.”
The Eagles won eight games last year but ended the season on a losing streak that left a bitter taste.
“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, by far; they committed a whopping 12 penalties for 130 yards.
“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.”
Boone’s Haydn Moyer, in his first start at quarterback, completed 9-of-22 passes for 97 yards; Harrison Delissaint caught six balls, for 87 yards.
The Eagles have won 12 straight in the series and lead it 43-22-1.
The teams have met every season since 1960 with the exception of 2021, when the game was cancelled due to COVID-19 issues.
| 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.
