Season preview: Fleetwood Tigers
2024 Berks football coverage
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Classification: Class 5A.
League: Lancaster-Lebanon Section 3.
Schedule: Click here.
Last season: 2-4 Section 3, 6-5 overall.
Last District 3 playoff appearance: 2019.
(Chris Knight/LNP photo)
Head coach: Steve Pangburn, third season, 8-13.
Key losses: QB Jack Riffle, all-league RB Czion Brickle, all-league WR Mason Musitano, RB/LB Dakota Thomas, T Hunter Svoboda, G/DT Hunter Leister, all-league PK Will Maurek.
Top offensive players: QB/WR Tristin McFarland, QB/WR Chase Domenech, RB Jason Petion, H-B Landen Hare, RB Trey Killian, WR Davyan Moore, WR Brody Nowotarski, WR Chase Adams, TE Bryce Ryan, T Brandon Delgrosso, OL Cody Harders, OL Noah Rothermel, OL Ryan Shay.
Top defensive players: All-League second-team E Landen Hare, E Shane Pekuri, E Bryce Ryan, T Cody Harders, second-team all-league LB Tristin McFarland, LB Jason Petion, LB Trey Killian, LB Trey Wamsher, S Chase Domenech, CB Brody Nowotarski, CB Davyan Moore, CB Chase Adams, CB Josyah Medina.
Did you know? The Tigers have finished with a winning record three times in the last five years, each time with a different head coach (Sean Gaul in 2019, Steve Beatty in 2021, and Steve Pangburn in 2023). Previously they had just two winning records in their first 18 seasons.
For the record: Mason Musitano caught a program-record 15 passes in his final game, against Shamokin in an Eastern Conference Class 4A championship win last season. He set program records for receptions in a season (59) and career (115) and receiving yards in a game (206); he tied a record with three TD catches in a game.
On schedule: After a two-year absence Schuylkill Valley has returned to the schedule, in Week 3. The teams played every season from 2006-21 with the Panthers winning 10-of-16 meetings. The Tigers have taken the last three games.
Quotable: “We’ve put together two winnings seasons in the last three years, and we don’t intend to stop. We had to come in, change the culture, get it right, and I think that’s where we’re at now.” — Tigers coach Steve Pangburn.
Outlook: Considering they graduated perhaps the most productive trio of skills players in program history – QB Jack Riffle, RB Czion Brickle, and WR Mason Musitano – the Tigers return plenty of punch.
They’ll look much different on offense with a pair of moving targets at quarterback, not a stationary pocket passer like Riffle. Tristin McFarland and Chase Domenech bring a different element to the offense, QBs who are as dangerous – if not more so – with their feet than with their arms.
“They both bring a lot of athleticism to the position,” said Tigers coach Steve Pangburn, who plans to play both of them, altering by series or situation.
The 6-3, 210-pound McFarland is as athletic as anyone in Section 3 and will sprint out of the pocket on a moment’s notice. Domenech, who goes 6-0, 185, is considered the better passer but is also a threat to run – or catch the ball when he’s not under center. Same goes for McFarland; if he’s not taking snaps he could be running in space. They’ll both be on the field at all times.
The key, Pangburn says, will be getting a massive O-line to work together and control the line of scrimmage. That line averages 6-1, 265 and is anchored by 6-8, 345-pound senior T Brandon Delgrosso, who is getting college looks, and 250-pound Cody Harders, a three-year starter. Converted T Landen Hare, a three-year starter, will contribute to the blocking scheme as an H-back.
“The plan is to snowplow,” Pangburn said. “Move people. Get downhill. I think we’re going to be able to effectively run the ball.”
The beneficiary of that big front wall will be Jason Petion, who had a big offseason and is ready to take up the slack with Brickle now gone.
No matter how many yards the Tigers pile up they won’t make a return to the postseason unless they play better defense. That’s been an Achilles heel in the program for . . . well, forever. Last year they allowed more than 30 points and 350 yards per game. No Fleetwood team has ever allowed fewer than 22 points per game.
“Defensively, we have to get better,” Pangburn pleaded. “We’ve got to hold our own and get stops.”
They’ll try to do that with their big linemen and with their athletic back seven, starting with McFarland, a second-team all-league LB as a junior who flies around to the ball. He’s a fierce tackler and will set the tone on defense.
Big things are expected of sophomore Davyan Moore, who cracked the defensive lineup as a freshman and came up with a spectacular one-handed interception in the final seconds to secure a late-season 44-41win over Solanco. That triggered a season-ending three-game winning streak that culminated with the Tigers’ second Eastern Conference championship in three years.
At the wire: Section 3 coaches don’t have much respect for the Tigers – most picked them to finish last – but if things break right they could surprise.
