The top Berks boys program of 2021-22? You probably won’t be surprised
During my years with the Reading Eagle sports department I pitched a lot of ideas.
Some were met with approval and put into action, such as the football-only preseason preview tab, a special section for the All-Berks teams and the Athlete of the Year awards.
Other ideas were rejected. (Lots and lots of them).
Years ago I wanted to create a “Sears Trophy” type award, to rank the most successful Berks sports programs, as many college conferences do. The idea was shot down (more than once).
The NACDA Directors’ Cup — which replaced the Sears Trophy when that once-popular department store chain went in the tank — ranks the top college programs based on league standings, championships and national rankings. Heading into the spring season Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Stanford were the national leaders.
So what would a Directors’ Cup-style breakdown of Berks boys programs look like for the now-completed 2021-22 school year?
| Berks boys champs* | |
| Baseball | Muhlenberg |
| Basketball | Reading High |
| Bowling | Wilson |
| Cross country | Exeter |
| Golf | Wilson |
| Football | Gov. Mifflin |
| Wyomissing | |
| Wilson | |
| Lacrosse | Wilson |
| Soccer | Fleetwood |
| Swimming | Wilson |
| Tennis | Twin Valley |
| Track & Field | Twin Valley |
| Volleyball | Gov. Mifflin |
| Wrestling | Wilson |
Overall, it was not a banner year for Berks boys teams. Only Wyomissing, in track and field, won a PIAA championship. The only other Berks boys team to reach a state championship game was Wyomissing, in football.
There weren’t a lot of District 3 team championships, either. Wyomissing was the only multiple winner, in football and track. Reading High and Berks Catholic won basketball championships. Exeter won a district title in football and Wilson won in boys swimming.
For this “Berks Cup” competition teams were awarded points for division championships (three points), making the Berks playoffs (one additional point) and reaching or winning a league championship game (five or 10 points, respectively).
For district competition the points were doubled: 10 for reaching a district final, 20 for winning a title. Also, two points were awarded for each victory in district competition up to the finals (but not including play-back or consolation rounds).
For the PIAA Tournament the points were increased again: four points for qualifying, four points for winning a game (up to the championship). Fifteen points were awarded for reaching a state final, 30 for winning one.
Not every sport fits into a cookie-cutter style playoff system. In football and swimming, for example, there are no league tournament, just regular season champs. For football, Gov. Mifflin (Berks 1), Wyomissing (Berks 2) and Wilson (Lancaster-Lebanon 1) are considered league champs.
In bowling there are no district or state team tournaments. For track and field additional points were awarded for a Top 5 or Top 10 finish at the district and state meets. (Water polo was not included, because only five Berks schools compete.)
Individual winners, in sports such as golf, tennis, swimming and diving, wrestling, and track and field, were not factored in; only team events were used.
Finally, the schools were split into size classifications: The nine largest Berks schools fall into the Big School category, the nine smallest into the Small School.
OK, enough of the preliminaries. You want to know which schools came out on top, right?
If you follow these sort of things even casually you won’t be surprised: Wilson is the Big School champ, Wyomissing the Small School champ.
The bigger surprise might be how close it was between the two. Wilson, which won six of the possible 15 league championships, scored 179 points. Wyomissing won just one league championship, in football, but did so well at the district and state level in football and track that it piled up 152 points.
Wilson nearly doubled the next-closest Big School, Exeter, which finished with 92 points. It was a little closer among the Small Schools, where Berks Catholic was second with 85 points — fourth-most overall.
Wilson scored points in 12 of the possible 13 sports; it missed only in soccer following an unusual down season. The Bulldogs sent 10 of 12 teams to districts (there is no bowling in districts). Wilson’s highest-scoring team came in swimming and diving, where it won league and district titles and` finished fourth at the PIAA Meet.
Berks Catholic and Exeter each scored in 10 of 13 sports. The Saints reached league finals in basketball and wrestling; they missed out only in soccer and bowling (and in swimming, where they don’t have their own team). The Eagles won a league title in cross country and reached league championships in soccer, bowling and lacrosse; they didn’t score in golf, swimming or tennis.
Wyomissing and Gov. Mifflin each scored in eight of 13 sports.
The Mustangs’ top-scoring sports were football, where they won a league championship and reached a district final, and volleyball, where they won division and league titles and advanced in districts.
Reading High, the Berks and district champ, was the highest-scoring basketball team, and third-highest single team overall, behind Wyomissing track and football.
Wilson swimming was the fourth-highest scorer overall, Berks Catholic basketball fifth and Exeter football and Fleetwood soccer tied for sixth.
Every school sent at least one team to a district tournament and 12 of 18 Berks schools sent teams on to state competition. Wilson had the most teams qualify for districts, with 10; Berks Catholic was next, with eight.
Exeter had the most teams qualify for PIAA competition, with three: Football, basketball and baseball. Oley Valley (soccer and track and field) and Tulpehocken (soccer and basketball) joined Berks Catholic, Wilson and Wyomissing with two teams scoring at the PIAA level.
| Big School | Small School | |||
| Wilson | 179 | Wyomissing | 152 | |
| Exeter | 92 | Berks Catholic | 85 | |
| Gov. Mifflin | 72 | Tulpehocken | 44 | |
| Twin Valley | 56 | Oley Valley | 39 | |
| Reading High | 50 | Antietam | 26 | |
| Fleetwood | 44 | Brandywine Hts. | 21 | |
| Conrad Weiser | 34 | Kutztown | 16 | |
| Muhlenberg | 24 | Hamburg | 12 | |
| Daniel Boone | 7 | Schuylkill Valley | 11 |
A similar breakdown, focusing on Berks girls sports, will appear next week.
