Season preview: Muhlenberg Muhls
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
Classification: Class 5A.
League: Lancaster-Lebanon Section 2.
Schedule: Click here.
Last season: 1-5 Section 2, 1-9 overall.
Last District 3 playoff appearance: 2013.
Head coach: Rob Flowers, first season.
Key losses: QBs Anthony Cipolla, QB Aaden Lopez, all-league WR Isaiah Dodson, DL Tucker Bellanca, LB Wes Clemison, DB Kyle Archie.
Top offensive players: QB Christian Coley, QB/RB Fred Lacey, QB/RB Adriel Baez, RB Cameron Small, RB Jeffrie Collado, WR Michael Miller, WR Ariel Cruz, TE Dequan Small, C Conner Kantner, G Zavier Otero, G Jack Carmona, G Jadin Perez, T Samson Evans, T Tony Ferreria, T Trent Stoyer.
Top defensive players: E Jediah Quinones, E Dequan Small, E Romeo Grullon, T Jack Carmona, T Justin Jacquez, T Emilio Alvarez, LB Michael Miller, LB Ryan Rosenberry, LB Jeffrie Collado, LB Cooper Burr, LB Alexis Cantres, S Cameron Small, S Josiah Urbaez, S Bryan Stadalman, CB Freddy Lacey, CB Julion Rolon, CB Javiehn Ortiz.
Did you know? This is Muhlenberg’s 80th season. The Muhls debuted in 1945 under future Hall of Fame coach Scoop Clemens and went 2-4-1. They had a winning record and a Berks League championship by their third season. The Muhls have also won championships in the Tri-County League, the Inter-County League and Section 1 of the Berks Football League.
For the record: The Muhls have enjoyed 42 winning seasons – 20 of them with John Yocum as head coach, from 1989-2008. Each of Yocum’s 20 teams finished with a winning record; two of them finished with a perfect regular season record (1992 and 1998).
On schedule: The Muhls open their season against Schuylkill Valley, an old I-C rival they haven’t played since 2003. The Muhls lead the series 15-3.
Outlook: The glory days Rob Flowers enjoyed as quarterback at Muhlenberg in the late 1990’s are long gone. The program he inherited is a mere shell of the one that once dominated the Inter-County League.
The former Reading High and Daniel Boone head coach has a major rebuilding task on hand, bigger than any he’s ever faced. He’s excited by the challenge of resurrecting the program at his alma mater.
Priority No. 1 has been creating a positive energy and establishing a consistent, sustainable base; that’s the only way he’ll be able to rebuild a program that has gone 5-52 over the past six seasons.
The Muhls’ only league wins since returning to the Lancaster-Lebanon League two years ago have come against Lebanon, which has experienced three straight winless season.
Priority No. 2 for Flowers has been in building strength throughout the program so that the Muhls have a chance of to be competitive each Friday night. He called this the weakest team physically he has ever coached. The newly renovated weight room at the school needs to get used more often.
Junior Christian Coley won the QB job this summer. He saw only backup time last season. Flowers likes his leadership and communication skills.
“We need to put him in spaces (where) he’s going to utilize his strength and his skill set,” Flowers said.
Coley will have some established weapons to work with. Cameron Small, a transfer from Reading High, averaged 7.3 yards per carry last season in a limited role; he’ll take over as the lead back. Jeffrie Collado brings physicality to the backfield.
The top offensive threat will be junior WR Michael Miller, who’s effectiveness last season was limited by a midseason knee injury. He still managed to catch 36 passes. He’ll be Cooley’s top target and will also line up in the backfield.
Zavier Otero was a second-team all-league pick at G as a sophomore. He’ll anchor the O-Line along with Samson Evans, a 6-1, 250-pound senior who caught Flowers’ eye during offseason workouts. Tony Ferreira, a 6-5, 265-pound junior, also has shown upside.
“We know the challenge that we’re facing,” Flowers said, “and we’re confident in ourselves and what we’re doing to make sure that it’s done at a high level. We’re ready to go. We’re going to do everything we possibly can to make this program as elite as possible.”
At the wire: Muhls starting from the ground up in their quest to return to the top.
