Starting Lineup: Joel Ummarino has grown into his job as Exeter’s line leader
To recognize the top players in Berks County football MikeDragoSports.com has selected the “Starting Lineup,” a preseason All-Berks team that includes the top linemen, backs, receivers, linebackers, and specialists.
Players are selected based on past performance, expected performance this season and college potential. Two-way players were given special consideration.
One player will be introduced each day throughout the preseason, in random order (the players are not ranked). This is the 10th installment of the series.
Joel Ummarino, Exeter
| 6-2 | 270 | Senior | C/DT/DE |
Joel Ummarino was not exactly chump change when he was a freshman. He was 200 pounds when he cracked Exeter’s starting lineup as a linebacker late in the 2022 season.
Still, going against junior and senior linemen such as Anthony Caccese, Kyle Lash and the McConnell twins, Ryan and Matt, he felt overdrawn.
“I thought they were the biggest dudes ever when I first saw them,” he recalls. “I thought: ‘Holy cow, I don’t know how I’ll ever get as big as them.’ I was a little scared, because I didn’t want them to lay me out and embarrass me. I’d go to practice each day just hoping I didn’t get killed.”
It was a season-ending loss to Cocalico in the District 3 Class 5A championship game that year that really opened Ummarino’s eyes.
“We were (physically) out-played in that game,” he said. “I realized that if I want to get off these blocks I’ve got to get bigger.”
Now the 6-2 senior tips the scales at 270 pounds, up a whopping 23 from last year when he was an all-league pick at defensive end and a second-team all-league pick at center. He proudly wears a practice shirt that reads: “Fat Guys Win Games.”
Ummarino lined up mostly at defensive end last season for a defense that was No. 7 in the entire Lancaster-Lebanon League in total defense and No. 2 in points allowed. With the added bulk he’ll likely be working inside more, where he can really throw his weight around.
“I’ll be able to work some different pass-rush moves, be able to bull rush more,” Ummarino said of his added strength. “I’m facing bigger dudes but I feel the more weight I put on the more I’m able to move them around, like Logan (Wegman) did. He was able to move dudes around, so I think I’ll be able to do the same thing, if not better.”
Wegman was the Outstanding Lineman in Section 2 last year and a District 3 champ in the shot put. He’s now a lineman at the U.S. Naval Academy. When he was a senior he set the school record in the squat at 510 pounds.
Ummarino went past that mark in the spring. He now owns the record at 550 pounds. How do you think Exeter’s freshmen and sophomores feel about going against him each day?
Ummarino recorded 15 tackles for loss in 14 games last year with 55 tackles, two sacks, and 22 hurries.
“Joel wreaked havoc on every offense we faced (last year),” said Eagles coach Matt Bauer. “He is a game-wrecker.”
He’s just as good on the offensive side where his job is to make sure his quarterback, Riley Martinez, stays upright. He had never played center until his junior season.
“They didn’t have a center after Matt graduated,” he said. “They asked me if I could do it. I said, ‘Sure why not, I’ll try it. Anything to get on the field.’ Found out I was pretty good at it.”
His first year on the job he earned a 96 percent blocking grade, the highest on the team, and was credited with more than 50 pancakes blocks (for putting an opponent on the ground).
Playing center requires brains along with brawn. Part of his job is to direct pass protection and call out blocking changes at the line of scrimmage.
“(It’s up to me) to make sure Riley doesn’t get killed,” he said.
Ummarino doesn’t just walk the walk, he talks the talk. When Bauer urged his seniors to take ownership of the program the two-time captain formed a linemen study group. They meet during the offseason and after practices to go over game tape. Ummarino grades their efforts. No easy A’s in his room.
(Purdon Photography/Brad Drey)
“There’s always something you can improve upon,” he said. “I grade them and tell them what we can do better. I grade pretty hard. If it’s not perfect, they’re getting’ a minus.”
Ummarino combines his high football IQ and physical might with a mean streak. Off the field studious, light-hearted, engaging. Turn up the lights on a Friday night and he’s not the guy you want to line up against.
“He likes finishing people,” Bauer said.
“When I get mad, I can get a little nasty,” he admits. “I normally try to stay as calm as I can. There’s a certain level of anger you can have (on the field) but I feel if you get too angry you start making dumb mistakes, like holding. So I try to keep it a little nasty.”
Ummarino was always the biggest kid in class; he remembers being more than a foot taller than all the other boys when he was first grade.
“I don’t want to say (football) was easy for me, but it was definitely easier (for me) than the other kids because I was so much bigger,” he said. “It was fun; I was able to move people around. That’s what really got me into it. I just liked to hit people.”
2025 Starting Lineup
| Logan Cammauf | Schuylkill Valley | RB/LB | Senior |
| Chase Eisenhower | Wyomissing | FB/ILB | Senior |
| Drew Engle | Twin Valley | RB/S/KR | Senior |
| Justice Hardy | Wyomissing | RB/WR/S/CB/KR | Junior |
| Chase Herb | Wilson | WR/S | Senior |
| Lebron Leaf | Governor Mifflin | QB/LB | Senior |
| Riley Martinez | Exeter | QB | Senior |
| Lucas Myers | Twin Valley | RB/LB | Junior |
| Cameron Small | Muhlenberg | RB/S | Senior |
| Joel Ummarino | Exeter | C/DT/DE | Senior |
