Spotlight Game: Gov. Mifflin vs. Exeter
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Gov. Mifflin (2-1) vs. Exeter (3-0)
Kick: Friday, 7, at Don Thomas.
Lancaster-Lebanon League records: Section 2 opener for both.
Series: Mustangs lead 21-7.
Last meeting: Eagles won 36-6 last season as Mason Rotelli ran for two scores and threw a touchdown to Joey Schlaffer.
Fast fact: Exeter has won back-to-back games in the series for the first time since they began playing in 1978.
Mustangs update: Have bounced back with wins over Carlisle and Boyertown after opening season with 49-14 loss at Spring-Ford, which is 3-0 and one of the top teams in District 1 Class 6A. . . Junior FB Grady Garner broke out with 185 rushing yards and three TDs last week in 35-16 win over Boyertown. . . Garner leads team with 351 rushing yards. . . Javien Pletz, a first-year starter at QB, has scored team-best 4 TDs and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry; he has attempted just 11 passes in 3 games. . . DT Stewie Janowski recovered a blocked punt for a TD and recovered a fumble last week, helping his team take 35-0 first-half lead. .. LB Brandon Jones leads team with 24 tackles; he blocked punt last week to set up score. . . DE Kabine Toure has 4 QB pressures. . . Daylen Morey leads team with 4 tackles for loss. . . Reese Hohl returned a kickoff 96 yards for a TD against Spring-Ford, the longest kickoff return in Berks this season. . . Returned a dozen starters from team that finished 3-7 and missed the postseason for the first time in 18 years.
Eagles update: Ranked No. 6 in the state in Class 5A. . . Defending Section 2 champs head into league play with 15 consecutive regular season wins, the latest a 49-14 rout at West York last week. . . Jayden Zandier scored on a pair of touchdown runs and soph QB Riley Martinez completed 10-of-13 passes for 126 yards vs. West York. . . Soph LB Aidan Dauble led team with 8 tackles, including two for loss. . . Alex Pineiro, Jayden Ware and Kevin Oswalt had INTs. . . Pharrell Caceres and Zaymar Paschall have combined for 464 rushing yards and 6 TDs; they are each averaging over 9 yards per carry. . . TE Zach Zandier, a Coastal Carolina recruit, is averaging 21 yards on 6 receptions. . . Nathan Pashley is averaging 20 yards on 6 receptions, with 2 TDs. . . . Graduated 10 first-team all-league picks from team that Exwent 12-1 and set a program record for victories.
Did you know? This is Gov. Mifflin’s 70th season of football. Mifflin, formed by the jointure of Shillington and Mohnton high schools, played its first game in 1954 and finished 1-8. By their third season, and first under Ray Linn, the Mustangs had a winning record. In Linn’s fourth season the Mustangs won their first of seven Tri-County League championships. They have won 14 league or section titles since, including one in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League in 1996.
Fast fact: Exeter coach Matt Bauer, a former Mifflin assistant coach, had gone 1-12 against the Mustangs before beating them 31-28 in the 2021 District 3 Class 5A championship game.
For the record: About the only Mifflin program rushing or scoring record Nick Singleton doesn’t own is the one for rushing yards in a game: 352, by Dustin Manz in a 2006 district playoff game against Conestoga Valley. Singleton’s top game was 330 yards, against Warwick in 2021.
Quotable: “They’re big, strong, and physical. They’ve got some solid kids across the board there.” – Mustangs coach Jeff Lang, on Exeter.
