Season preview: Daniel Boone Blazers
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Top Players To Watch in Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League
What to expect in Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League
(Chris Knight/LNP photo)
PIAA classification: 5A.
League: Lancaster-Lebanon Section 4.
Schedule: Click here.
Last season: 1-6 league, 1-9 overall.
Last District 3 playoff appearance: 2021.
Head coach: J.D. Okuniewski, third season, 2-18.
Key losses: RB/LB Anthony High, all-league WR Max Heffner, second-team all-league WR Harrison Delissaint, DT Jorge Pingarron, S Ryan Poore, CB Darius Cruz, CB Blake Elliot.
Top offensive players: QB/RB Haydn Moyer, QB/WR Dominic Stoudt, RB Jaelen McKenzie, FB Jayger Hrdlicka, FB/TE Jayden Salata, FB/TE Brad Floria, WR Malachi Rowe, WR Josh McIntyre, G Trent Lenker, G Timmy Kretzmen, G Jabrae Pratt, G Tiegan Rickard, T Maddox Roy, T Grant Pingitore, T Justin Hipszer.
Top defensive players: E Tiegan Rickard, E Grant Pingitore, E Joe Taglieber, T Jabrae Pratt, T Maddox Roy, T Jayden Crippen, ILB Brad Floria, ILB Chace Jardin, OLB Jayden Salata, OLB Dominic Stoudt, OLB Jayger Hrdlicka, S Haydn Moyer, S Jaelen McKenzie, CB Malachi Rowe, CB Josh McIntyre, CB Jesse Warden.
Did you know? The Blazers have had just three winning records in 13 seasons since Dave Bodolus stepped down as head coach in 2011. They had a winning record in each of Bodolus’ nine seasons, with three section titles.
For the record: The longest scoring play in program history is a 99-yard kickoff return by Dennis Iezzi in 1967, vs. Muhlenberg. Iezzi went on to a Hall of Fame coaching career and currently is an assistant coach at Twin Valley.
On schedule: Daniel Boone and Exeter play for the “Pig Iron Trophy” for the 60th time when they meet in a season-opener Aug. 22. The Eagles have won 12 straight in the series – the longest streak by either team — and lead the trophy series 40-18-1.
Quotable: “We’re not gonna be bigger or faster than many people, and that’s OK. There is a way to do this and have success in Birdsboro: We can be tougher: We can control that, physically and mentally. We can block and tackle better than the other team. That’s what it really comes down to.” – Blazers coach J.D. Okuniewski
Outlook: The Blazers lost nine times last year and the reason is not a mystery.
“We did not block very well,” said third-year coach J.D. Okuniewski. “We did not tackle very well. All nine of ’em.”
He painfully recounts a sequence against Schuylkill Valley when he counted 11 missed tackles – on one play.
“(Often times in football it comes down to) who did more to lose the game,” he said. “And we’ve done a lot to lose games, whether it’s a bad (play) call, a missed a coverage, or we didn’t block, or we missed a tackle. We can get better in all those things and that’s what needs to click.”
It’s been a while since the Blazers have won, but success is not a stranger to Birdsboro. Okuniewski knows that. He was part of the glory years from 2004-2011 when the Blazers won or shared three section championships, won 10 or more games three times, and made a name for themselves with some impressive play in the District 3 Tournament.
Getting back there will take time and the Blazers find themselves starting from scratch. They’re the only team in rugged Section 4 without a single all-league or second-team all-league pick returning.
Okuniewski is pleased with the offseason progress. He said strength across the board is up, as is commitment to the program. Those are starting points.
So is the offensive line, where four starters return. That should help improve a running game that ranked next-to-last in the 37-team league last year.
“They’re strong,” Okuniewski said of his linemen. “Now it’s getting them to use that strength effectively. “They’re getting better but we want to see continuous growth.”
Improved line play will help Haydn Moyer or whoever lines up at quarterback. Moyer converted from running back to QB last season and put up some big numbers, with 1,586 passing yards and a team-leading 370 rushing yards.
He’s a critical part of the offense, so much so that Okuniewski wants to move him around and utilize him at running back as well in order to make sure the ball ends up his hands and to give the defense some different looks. When that’s the case Dominic Stoudt will see time behind center.
The odds, no doubt, are stacked against the Blazers. The move last year from Section 3 to Section 4 only made their schedule more difficult. They get no breaks with a non-league schedule that begins with Section 2 favorite Exeter and follows with defending Section 5 champ Schuylkill Valley and an improving Muhlenberg team, which clipped them 40-29 last year.
There are winnable games within the section but also some monsters, including state-ranked Wyomissing and Lampeter-Strasburg, as well and Section 4 contender Twin Valley.
At the wire: Blazers in building mode coming off a one-win season.
