Week 3 Glance: It’s not too early to think about playoffs for Mustangs, Black Knights
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Football coaches demand that their players focus solely on the game directly ahead; there’s no reason to talk or even think about playoffs while it’s still officially summer.
That said, Hempfield coach George Eager knows his team squeezed into the district tournament by a razor’s edge a year ago and it could be that close again. Every game is critical, even a Week 3 trip to Shillington.
“Deep down we all know (this game) has major implications for the postseason,” Eager said of Friday’s non-league match-up against Governor Mifflin, which also has little margin for error in bid for a playoff berth.
The Mustangs (1-1) and Black Knights (1-1) are each coming off a loss, and each has plenty of big hurdles ahead on the schedule. Mifflin faces tough Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 challenges from Exeter, Conestoga Valley, Ephrata, and Muhlenberg, as well as a midseason non-league at Wilson. The Mustangs have the highest strength-of-schedule rating of any team in District 3.
Hempfield faces Section 1 heavyweights Wilson and Manheim Township, as well as Section 2 favorite Exeter.
Neither team had much margin for error a year ago. Hempfield qualified as the No. 10 seed in the 10-team Class 6A Tournament; Mifflin was No. 9.
Mifflin coach Nick Morrissey isn’t looking at power ratings this early but understands the importance of this game.
“This is a massive game for playoff implications,” he said.
Eager knows his defense will have to do a better job of stopping the Mustangs than it did in last year’s 28-23 loss. Grady Garner ran all over the Black Knights, scoring four touchdowns and rushing for 207 yards on 32 carries.
The Mustangs are built differently this year; they don’t have that prototypical fullback but they have more balance and a dual threat quarterback in Lebron Leaf who could, on a given night, lead the team in rushing.
(Chris Knight/LNP photo)
“I see a lot of new pieces (but) they still play the same brand of hard-nosed ball,” Eager said of Mifflin. “They just seem to have different pieces, but they’re still effective: (Patrick Steuer’s) a good runner, (Leaf) is a good quarterback, (Anjay Rodriguez) runs hard, (Nick Kalis) runs hard.”
“We don’t have that typical fullback kid (this year),” Morrisey allowed. “Within our offense we’ve gotta find different ways to get kids the ball. We can’t just line up and hand the ball to one kid, it’s not gonna work.”
The Mustangs reached the end zone just once last week in a 45-13 loss to a strong Perkiomen Valley team. Leaf was limited to 104 passing yards and 7 rushing yards on nine carries but Eager remains wary.
“I’m was impressed with his arm against Perk Valley,” he said. “He was very effective. There were a lot of completions in there. His size, his athletic ability . . . you certainly have to account for him.”
Most teams head into league play next week. Before they get there several interesting non-league match-ups loom, among them:
- Wilson is one of six Berks teams without a loss but the only one of them playing an undefeated team this week. Nazareth and highly rated quarterback Peyton Falzone have bombed their first two opponents, beating Hazleton and Whitehall by a combined 68 points. The Bulldogs have had a few closer calls and are expecting another one this week. They came inches away from winning at Nazareth last year before fumbling inside the 5 in the final minute of a 35-31 loss. No doubt they’ve been thinking about this rematch for months.
- Berks Catholic had trouble stopping quarterback Cayden Vassa and the Bethlehem Catholic offense a year ago and figure to again this time around. Vassa, who ran for three TDs in a 28-10 win over the Saints last year, is back, as is most of the Golden Hawks’ starting lineup. They’ve won by 18 and 21 points the first two weeks and have their sights set on a return appearance in the District 11 Class 4A championship game. The Saints (1-1) rebounded from a lopsided loss in the opener to state-ranked Twin Valley with a 45-20 win over Executive Education last week. Vassa rushed for 97 yards and completed 10-of-14 passes last year against the Saints.
- Fleetwood surprised Schuylkill Valley last year, using a punt return touchdown to spark a 22-10 upset. That loss must’ve ignited a fire under the Panthers, who didn’t lose again the rest of the regular season. The Tigers (1) have won four straight in the series and badly need a win here after a 35-7 loss to Upper Perkiomen last week. The Panthers (1-1) got a big bounce-back win last week as Alex Aletras threw five touchdown passes in a 35-0 rout of Daniel Boone. Schuylkill Valley hasn’t won in this series since 2018 yet still leads it 13-7.
- Muhlenberg ended a long slide against Daniel Boone last year with a 49-29 win and enter this as a considerable favorite for the first time in more than a decade in long-running series. The Muhls have opened the season with one-sided victories over Schuylkill Valley and Reading High and are trying to reach 3-0 for the first time since 2013, when they opened the season with five straight wins and ended it in the district semifinals. The Blazers (0-2) saw their top weapon, Haydn Moyer, return last week after missing the opener due to illness but still weren’t able to get on the board in a 35-0 loss to Schuylkill Valley.
- Wyomissing (2-0), ranked No. 5 in the state in Class 4A, is home again Saturday to face Academy of the New Church, a team it took apart 46-19 last year. Chase Eisenhower and Justice Hardy each scored a pair of TDs in that game, which saw the Spartans build a 32-7 halftime lead on the road. The Spartans are coming off an impressive home opener that saw them come back to beat The Haverford School 29-26. ACN, a private school in Bryn Athyn which plays an independent schedule, opened with a 33-13 loss at Holy Cross of Delran, N.J., last week. ACN is a Class 1A school; Wyomissing is the largest school on its schedule, which includes Jenkintown, Morrisville, and Bristol. The Lions finished 3-4-1 last year.
Hempfield appeared to be headed for a 2-0 start before letting things slip away in a 22-16 overtime loss to York High. The Black Knights allowed a 94-yard punt return with 28 seconds left, then saw the Bearcats convert a two-point conversion that sent the game to overtime.
Earlier in the game the Black Knights saw a PAT get blocked.
“It was devastating, to say the least,” Eager said of seeing so many things go awry.
The Black Knights are a dangerous team, with the return of quarterback Derek Katch, who passed for over 2,000 yards and led the team in rushing last year, and wide receiver Orion Abrams, who caught 12 balls last week and leads the Lancaster-Lebanon League with 18 receptions.
Katch completed 18-of-25 passes for 223 yards and a TD last week; he’s completing 71 percent of his passes so far.
“Whenever you’re in an offense for multiple years you know it really well, and that’s how he is,” Eager said of Katch. “He’s able to get us out of things if the call isn’t conducive to the situation. His rapport with the receivers, his leadership ability, his film study . . . he has taken it to another level.”
“They have a really nice receiver, they have a quarterback who can get it to him and their running back (Ethan Caldwell) is a big, tough physical kid who we’ve gotta be able to tackle. We had a problem with that last week.”
