Working overtime hasn’t always paid well for some of Berks’ top teams
2026 Berks football coverage presented by
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Gary Helm’s two-point conversion pass to Brian Menet in 1983 made Berks football history.
Not only did it make Central Catholic the first Berks County team to win a District 3 championship but it also made the Cardinals the first to play, and win, an overtime game.
Before the introduction of the district playoffs in 1982 high school football games could end in a tie. With the start of tournament play, a tiebreaker was required.
In 1995 the PIAA adopted overtime for regular season games, as well.
In the years since, overtime games have been rare – there was just one played by a Berks team last season (Berks Catholic beating Annville-Cleona).
Some games that have gone to an extra period, or more, have been unforgettable.
In 1989 Wyomissing lost the District 3 Class A championship game to Littlestown in three overtimes. That cost the unbeaten Spartans their first district title. (They won the first of 12 the next year.)
Bob Wolfrum’s Spartans team suffered a championship heartbreaker again in 2024 when they fell to unbeaten Lampeter-Strasburg 30-27 in the District 3 Class 4A title game. The unbeaten Pioneers went on to play for a state championship.
Perhaps even more painful was Wilson’s triple-overtime loss to Bethel Park in a 2008 state semifinal. The Bulldogs were unbeaten before falling 38-35. Many believe they would have gone on to win their first PIAA championship had they survived that game.
The longest overtime game in Berks history came in 2020 when Hamburg outlasted Fleetwood 55-49 in four extra periods. The Hawks won it on Diohnny Ruiz’s 10-yard TD run, and by withstanding five touchdown passes from the Tigers’ Tanner Maddocks. (With 104 combined points, this remains the highest-scoring game ever involving two Berks teams.)
That game was short compared to the 2015 District 3 playoff game between Cumberland Valley and Central Dauphin, which lasted seven overtimes. The Eagles endured 62-61 by stopping a two-point conversion attempt. The longest game in Pennsylvania history was tied 13-13 at the end of regulation.
That game could someday be topped, but the record for best winning percentage by a Berks team in overtime won’t be. Rick Keeley’s Holy Name teams went to overtime three times and won each of them, beating Daniel Boone in 1999, Central Catholic in 2002 and Blue Mountain in 2010. The Blue Jays played their last game in 2010; the school merged with Central Catholic in 2011.
Only four other Berks programs have winning records in OT: Hamburg (4-2), Muhlenberg (4-2), Schuylkill Valley (2-1) and Exeter (3-2).
Wilson is just 3-5, Wyomissing 2-4.
Daniel Boone has played the most overtime games among Berks teams: 14.
No program has struggled in extended play like Reading High. The Red Knights are 0-10 in overtime. They lost a pair of extended games in 2023.
Now, back to 1983. The Cardinals were 11-1 when they faced the unbeaten Thunderbolts. The game was tied 7-7 at the end of regulation and 14-14 after the first overtime. Littlestown scored a touchdown and PAT on its first possession of the second OT. Helm, on crutches just a few days earlier because of a sprained ankle, answered with a touchdown pass to Menet.
Cards coach John Stopper elected to end the game there, going for two rather than try a game-tying PAT. He had David Gilmore, Berks’ all-time rushing leader, in his backfield.
“Everybody in the stadium will be expecting me (to get the ball),” Gilmore told Stopper during a timeout. “Use me as a decoy.”
They did, and the Cards made history.
