Saints, Owen Schalk, run wild in Section 5 showdown
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
Owen Schalk thought about not playing football this season.
His No. 1 sport is baseball; the hard-hitting outfielder helped lead Berks Catholic to a district championship and the PIAA Class 3A state semifinals in the spring. With no college offer in hand, he thought a fall baseball schedule might be in his best interests.
| Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 55 |
| Sch. Valley | 19 |
Saints football coach Dave Stahler convinced him otherwise. Schalk’s happy he did.
Berks Catholic’s opponents? Not so much. They’ve been taking the hit for the senior halfback’s return.
Schuylkill Valley was the latest, surrendering three Schalk touchdown runs and absorbing all sorts of other punishment in a 55-19 loss Friday in a matchup of Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 leaders at Leesport.
Schalk ran for scores of 6, 69, and 51 yards but his most devastating play of the night might’ve come on a block, on Aidan Curley’s 64-yard TD run down the right sideline late in the second quarter. Schalk squared up a Panthers defender and sent him flying out of bounds.
“That might’ve been the worst I’ve ever hit anybody,” Schalk said.
The Panthers (2-1, 3-3) felt the wrath of the Saints’ physicality all night. At least four starters were knocked out of the game, including All-State linebacker Logan Cammauf, who suffered a lower leg injury and was on crutches in the second half.
The Saints (3-0, 4-2) rolled up 575 rushing yards and had all kinds of big plays. They had seven runs of 35 or more yards, five of them for touchdowns.
“It takes everybody to be able to run the ball (like that),” Stahler said. “The backs carry out fakes and blocks and our line, they’re experienced guys and they’re physical and they do a good job of staying on blocks and moving people around.
“We’ve (mostly) been grinding (against) people,” said Stahler, who hadn’t seen this kind of explosion from his backs through the first five weeks. “We’re getting people healthy and that’s helping, too.”
Schalk missed the season-opening loss to Twin Valley because of injury but he’s been fully healthy in recent weeks and was at the top of his game Friday, when he rushed for 183 yards on eight carries.
The 6-1, 180-pound two-way starter ran over people on inside carries and ran away from them when he broke to the outside. He gained 35 pounds in the offseason with a rigorous conditioning program and gained all kinds of confidence because of it.
“He loves the physical part of the game,” Stahler said. “He’s a 1,000-pound guy (combined in the bench, squat and deadlift). He’s as strong as they get in high school. He’s the strongest guy on the team, right there with (lineman) Palmer (Reber). He’s explosive. He’s worked out with Dane (Miller at Garage Strength) for a long time. It shows up on Friday nights.”
Schalk was just part of a devastating attack.
Xavier Gerald had an 84-yard touchdown run, Coy Koller scored from 64 yards out and Curley had a 37-yard scoring run. Gerald finished with 140 yards on eight carries; Koller had 85 yards on five touches. Curley had 84 on four carries.
“All our running backs were running hard, being physical, doing all of that,” said defensive lineman Damoni Daglis, who had a couple of tackles for losses.
The Panthers executed their short passing game to perfection on their opening drive, going 80 yards in 11 plays to go up 6-0. Alex Aletras completed all six of his pass attempts, the last a 27-yard strike to Tristan Goda, who got free from the line of scrimmage on a superb play-action fake by Aletras.
Aletras completed his first nine attempts and 12-of-15 overall in the first half. A dropped pass ended Schuylkill Valley’s second drive, and it punted on its next two possessions.
Things seemed to be getting away from the Panthers before Aletras pulled one out of the fire on the final play of the first half. On fourth-and-4 from the 30 he lofted a pass into the right corner of the end zone where Ervin Ortiz, surrounded by three defenders, came down with it to make it 21-12.
Any momentum the Panthers might’ve taken into halftime with that big play quickly faded when Schalk took the first touch of the third quarter 69 yards for a TD. He plowed over two defenders on the way.
“We just played more physical than them,” Daglis said. “We out-physical-ed them. All of our guys executed really, really well and we got the job done, and that’s what happens. We all played together.”
“I thought we were really physical on both sides of the ball,” Stahler said. “Playing a very difficult schedule early prepares you to be physical.”
The Saints lost their opener 45-19 to Twin Valley, which is ranked No. 6 in the state in Class 4A and has been smashing people on a weekly basis. They ran out of time in their comeback effort against Bethlehem Catholic in Week 3, 48-41. Those two teams are a combined 10-1.
Those losses hurt but they seem to be paying dividends for the Saints now. They look like a team ready to run the table and claim their first Section 5 title.
“Seeing competition like that, right off the bat, it’s not easy,” Schalk said, “but I think it’s worth it. You get to see a lot of things you don’t see normally, and (play against) a lot of kids that know how to play football.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 14 | 20 | 14 | 55 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 6 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 19 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Goda, 20 pass from Aletras (kick failed) | 6:41 |
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Schalk, 6 run (Reali kick) | 5:32 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Gerald, 84 run (Reali kick) | 7:20 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Koller, 64 run (Reali kick) | 3:39 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Ortiz, 30 pass from Aletras (kick failed) | 0:00 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Schalk, 69 run (pass fails) | 11:43 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Curley, 37 run (Reali kick) | 8:17 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Pyle, 80 run (Wamsher kick) | 8:02 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Camara, 4 run (Reali kick) | 2:09 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Schalk, 51 run (Reali kick) | 11:11 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Burkman, 10 run (Tripathi kick) | 6:59 |
Team statistics
| BERKS CATHOLIC | SCH. VALLEY | |
| First downs | 18 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 42-575 | 31-150 |
| Passing yards | 12 | 120 |
| Total yards | 587 | 270 |
| Passes | 1-4-0 | 13-19-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-42.0 | 7-34.1 |
| Penalties-yards | 10-92 | 3-19 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks Catholic: Schalk 8-183, Gerald 8-140, Koller 5-85, Curley 4-84, Burkman 6-37, Camara 4-16, Mace 1-3, Brendlen 2-11, Guilavogui 1-5, Sauppee 1-3, Team 2-(-2).
Schuylkill Valley: Pyle 19-140, Aletras 5-19, Ortiz 1-7, Sarr 2-0, Cammauf 2-(-2), Wilhelm 2-(-14).
PASSING
Berks Catholic: Sauppee 1-4-0–12.
Schuylkill Valley: Aletras 13-19-0–120.
RECEIVING
Berks Catholic: Camara 1-12.
Schuylkill Valley: Ortiz 4-39, Batista 3-23, Klinikowski 2-19, Gehret 2-14, Goda 1-20, Urbaez 1-5.
