Saints overpowered by Pioneers, Jon Mellinger
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Berks Catholic returned two important pieces to its lineup on Friday night.
Senior William Hess started at quarterback for the first time since a Week 4 injury and head coach Rick Keeley returned to the sidelines after he missed last week’s win over Conrad Weiser due to illness.
They weren’t enough to help the Saints hold off Lampeter-Strasburg, which overpowered them with 378 yards on the ground on its way to a 49-17 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 victory at Forino Sports Complex.
The Pioneers (3-1, 6-1) scored 42 unanswered points after falling behind 10-7.
The Saints (2-2, 3-4) had no answer for bruising tailback Jon Mellinger, who ran for 219 yards on 23 carries. The Pioneers’ offensive line gave him plenty of room and often four or five Saints were required to bring him down.
“He does (run hard) and they played physical tonight,” Keeley said. “Their line played physical, they ran hard, their backs ran hard, their quarterback ran hard.”
Berks Catholic forced a three-and-out to start the game and with Hess back in control of the offense they marched down the field. Hess connected with Bryce Gumby on his first pass for 24 yards to convert a third down, then hooked up with Connor Pennington for a 15-yard touchdown that staked the Saints to a 7-0 lead.
The lead only lasted 25 seconds as Mellinger went to work. He ran for 31 yards on the first play of the drive and then finished it with a 22-yard touchdown run to tie it 7-7.
The Saints still had fight left in them and had another good drive late in the first quarter. Gumby was featured on the drive with a 19-yard run that would have gone for 35 had it not been for a penalty and then another dazzling 40-yard run that set up a first-and-goal.
Lampeter-Strasburg did not allow them to get closer and the Saints settled for a 25-yard Tyler Osorio field goal and 10-7 lead.
It was all Pioneers after that. Mellinger pounded the ball 11 times in the second quarter alone. He scored on a 3-yard touchdown to make it 14-10 after a key play by Lampeter-Strasburg quarterback Trent Wagner. Wagner passed for only 48 yards but he got 31 of them on a third-and-12 conversion to Drexton Frank.
The Saints allowed another backbreaking touchdown before the half when Mellinger took a toss sweep 9 yards on third-and-goal from the 11. The big gain allowed the Pioneers to go for it on fourth down and Wagner again made the most of it with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Dean Herr.
“I guess they had a little bit of a wakeup call when they saw us move the ball,” Keeley said. “They started playing a little better and we just couldn’t answer it tonight.”
The second half was more of the same as the Pioneers controlled the lines of scrimmage and the Berks Catholic offense stagnated.
“They got after us a lot on defense and we really had nothing we could call our own,” Keeley said. “My hats off to them. They are a good football team and they put it to the Saints tonight.”
Berks Catholic has Octorara at home next week before finishing with two teams headed to the playoffs, Cocalico and Elco. They will need to win two of those games to avoid a second straight losing season.
“It’s a lot harder to practice after a loss than it is after a win, but these kids will come to practice next week and we will get better,” Keeley said. “Hopefully, we can get back on the winning track again. Hey, we have three games to play. If we get better, let’s see if we can win a couple of those games.”
The Saints lost starting running back and middle linebacker Devin Garcia late in the first quarter with a leg injury.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Lampeter-Strasburg | 7 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 49 |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Pennington, 15 pass from Hess (Osorio kick) | 7:33 |
| 1 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Mellinger, 22 run (Fiorello kick) | 7:08 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Osorio, 25 field goal | 11:55 |
| 2 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Mellinger, 3 run (Fiorello kick) | 9:08 |
| 2 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Herr, 2 pass from Wagner (Fiorello kick) | 2:59 |
| 3 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Howse, 10 run (Fiorello kick) | 8:11 |
| 3 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Wagner, 54 run (Fiorello kick) | 2:57 |
| 4 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Howse, 7 run (Fiorello kick) | 11:12 |
| 4 | Lampeter-Strasburg | Malatesta, 7 run (Fiorello kick) | 7:57 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Bradley, 40 run (Osorio kick) | 4:56 |
Team statistics
| Lampeter-Strasburg | Berks Catholic | |
| First downs | 18 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 41-378 | 45-203 |
| Passing yards | 48 | 63 |
| Total yards | 426 | 266 |
| Passes | 5-9-0 | 5-13-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 1-39 | 4-35.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 8-45 | 4-35 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Lampeter Strasburg: Mellinger 23-219, Wagner 3-62, Malatesta 5-45, Brown 3-29, Howse 2-17, Swarr 3-8, Team 2-(-2).
Berks Catholic: Gumby 7-99, Bradley 13-87, Rose 12-33, Garcia 3-7, Hess 4-0, Pennington 4-(-1), Team 2-(-22).
PASSING
Lampeter Strasburg: Wagner 5-9-0–48.
Berks Catholic: Hess 5-13-1–63.
RECEIVING
Lampeter Strasburg: Weichler 2-11, Frank 1-31, Gray 1-4, Herr 1-2.
Berks Catholic: Pennington 2-33, Mace 2-6, Gumby 1-24.
INTERCEPTIONS
Lampeter Strasburg: Howse.
