Week 6 Glance: Well-grounded Mustangs hoping to give Bulldogs a run for it
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
The annual battle for the Gurski/Linn Trophy comes down to this:
Can Wilson find a way to slow down Gov. Mifflin’s rampaging Grady Garner?
If the Bulldogs can contain the rumbling senior fullback and limit his visits to the end zone they can lug that big showcase of a trophy back to West Lawn for the third straight year.
“Much easier said than done,” offered Wilson coach Doug Dahms.
Indeed, no one has stopped the 5-10, 200-pound Garner from collecting touchdowns. Perkiomen Valley was the only team to hold him under 100 yards but he still managed a pair of scores in that 31-14 loss.
Exeter turned the Mustangs back but Garner still bulled his way for 146 yards on 31 hard-fought carries and scored twice.
He went for 207 yards and four TDs in a Week 3 win over Hempfield; he also scored four times in the season-opener against Pleasant Valley. He’s topped 100 yards four times, has scored 14 of Mifflin’s 19 touchdowns, and leads the Lancaster-Lebanon League in scoring.
“He’s a player,” Dahms said. “He’s big, he’s fast, runs tough, doesn’t go down. He is their offense. You shut him down you shut them down.”
Garner is not doing all of this damage alone. The Mustangs (3-2) have a big offensive line, led by 305-pound guard Presley Rinker and 250-pound center and captain Gavin Kelly. The Mustangs average 265 pounds across the front.
That’s bigger than most teams at this level. They’ll look downright huge when lined up against the Bulldogs (4-1) Friday at Mifflin Stadium in the 67th meeting of these long-time rivals.
Wilson’s defense has been good this season, especially against the run. It stoned Cedar Crest with a monumental goal-line stand last week in a 14-7 win. It held both Plymouth-Whitemarsh and Reading High to a single score, both coming in the second half after the outcome had essentially been decided.
The Bulldogs haven’t faced a back or a line this big and Dahms knows it will be a challenge. His defensive line averages about 225 pounds. His inside linebackers, EJ Brownback and Brady Kline, go 195 and 235 pounds, respectively.
That’s on the small side for a Class 6A program such as Wilson’s.
“They’re big up front, they come off the ball, run their Wing-T and their Mid-Line (Option),” Dahms said of Mifflin. “We’re a very fast team (on defense), but not very big. They’re gonna try to muscle (us around). We have to see if our kids can adjust.”
In other key games this weekend:
- Unbeaten Exeter (2-0, 5-0) looks to stay on top in Section 2 when it hosts Ephrata (1-1, 3-2). The Mounts opened 2-0 with a breakthrough victory over Manheim Central but were turned back by Garden Spot in Week 3 and hammered in Week 4 Conestoga Valley 42-7. The Eagles have allowed three TDs in five games, two of them by Garner.
- Unbeaten Conrad Weiser (2-0, 5-0) faces a “sandwich” game against Solanco (0-2, 2-3). The Scouts are coming off a tremendous performance in a 38-3 win over Manheim Central. Next week they play at Garden Spot in a game that will loom large in the Section 3 race. The Mules are coming off a 57-50 scrape against unbeaten Eastern York. They could pull off an upset if the Scouts are looking too far down the road.
- Twin Valley (2-0, 5-0) plays for the first time as the top-ranked team in the state in Class 4A when it heads to Northern Lebanon (1-1, 2-3) for a Section 4 game. The Vikings don’t figure to offer much resistance; they lost to state-ranked Wyomissing 42-0 two weeks ago and scraped past Donegal 14-12 last week. The Raiders are ranked No. 1 in the league in scoring (50.2 points per game) and winning margin (42.2).
- Schuylkill Valley (2-0, 3-2) visits Berks Catholic (1-1, 2-3) in a critical Section 5 game. Both teams have given up a lot of ground on defense. This could develop into a shootout and both sides have the weapons to make it happen.
- Hamburg (2-0, 4-1) plays at Lancaster Catholic (2-0, 3-2) in a first-place battle in Section 5. The Crusaders barely hung on last week against Berks Catholic, forcing a red zone turnover in the final minute to escape with a win. The Hawks have won four straight; they also dodged a few bullets last week in holding off Kutztown 34-25. This figures to turn into a shootout, too. Last year the Crusaders dropped 61 on the Hawks; the year before they held Hamburg off 38-35.
Gov. Mifflin will be challenged to stop Wilson the way Madyx Gruber is leading the offense from his spot at quarterback. He’s become a Brett Favre-like play-maker, keeping plays alive with his feet and delivering the ball in creative ways when flushed from the pocket.
His running backs, Correll Akings and Monty Greer, are among the best in the league and sophomore tight end Michael Glover has emerged as a weapon in the passing game.
The Mustangs have had a short week to prepare. They were forced to play Sunday when Muhlenberg postponed its game from Friday, due to threats of violence at the game.
“It affects everything, from a game-planning standpoint to getting guys healthy,” first-year Mifflin coach Nick Morrisey said of the short week after the 41-6 win over Muhlenberg. “It’s gonna be a tough week, there’s no doubt about it.
“I know (Wilson’s) big and they’re strong at the skill positions. I’m hoping we can compete up front, hang onto the football, churn it out and be there in the fourth quarter.”
For the fourth straight year the game won’t be played as a season-opener, as it was from 2006-16. Prior to that they met annually in the season finale. Those Week 1 and Week 10 windows gave the always-heated game an even larger stage.
Now, with Wilson in Section 1 and Gov. Mifflin in Section 2, they meet as a non-league game at midseason. That’s not likely to change unless Mifflin, now in its first year in Class 6A, is moved up to Section 1. Such a move could see the game played as a season finale.
Such a scenario is not likely in the near future.
“It’s still Mifflin/Wilson,” said Dahms, who has been part of this battle for five decades. “These kids have known each other all their lives. They grow up together, they play in all the youth leagues together.”
