Schuylkill Valley scores first win, downs Susquenita >>
SCHUYLKILL VALLEY 31, SUSQUENITA 13 >> Friday at Duncannon, Dominic Giuffre ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns to help Schuylkill Valley defeat Susquenita in a non-league football game and earn its first win of the season.
The Panthers (1-2) ran for 250 yards and had 384 yards of total offense. Giuffre, who had 18 carries, also caught four passes for 69 yards.
Giuffre ran 8 yards for a touchdown and Noah Wamsher kicked a 24-yard field goal in the first quarter to put the Panthers (1-2) up 10-0.
Derek Gibney scored on a 15-yard pass from Blaise Swancer to cut Schuylkill Valley’s lead to 10-7.
The Panthers scored the next two touchdowns to take a 24-7 halftime lead. Cooper Hohenadel had a 22-yard TD run and Colby Crills caught a 22-yard pass from Michael Goad for a score.
Gibney scored on a 5-yard run for Susquenita (1-2) to make it 24-13 before Giuffre ran for a 2-yard touchdown for Schuylkill Valley.
Goad completed 6-of-14 passes for 134 yards and one TD with one interception.
Hohenadel ran for 55 yards on seven carries.
FLEETWOOD 35, UPPER PERKIOMEN 3 >> Friday at Fleetwood, David Ramsey scored three touchdowns and Fleetwood held Upper Perkiomen to 153 yards of total offense in a nonleague victory.
The Tigers (2-1) had 426 yards of total offense (244 rushing on 48 carries and 182 passing on 14 completions).
Ramsey scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter to make it 7-0 and a 3-yard run in the second quarter to make it 14-3.
A 6-yard run by Trey Killian gave Tigers a 21-3 halftime lead.
Ty Wamsher’s 6-yard run made it 28-3 in the third quarter before Ramsey capped the scoring with a 1-yard run in the fourth.
Ramsey finished with 82 yards on 21 carries and one catch for 26 yards. Killian had 49 yards on nine carries and Czion Brickle 44 yards on six carries.
Fleetwood quarterback Jack Riffle completed 14of-22 passes for 182 yards. Mason Musitano had six catches for 68 yards.
The Indians (1-2) were coming off a 31-14 win over Schuylkill Valley.
KUTZTOWN 26, NATIVITY 20
Friday at Kutztown, Jacob Lafferty ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries and Ethan Lafferty returned a fumble 93 yards for a score as Kutztown defeated Nativity in a non-league game.
The Cougars (1-2) scored the game’s first 19 points and led 19-7 at halftime.
Jacob Lafferty scored on a 28-yard run, Dakota Thomas on a 3-yard run and Ethan Lafferty on his fumble return in the second quarter for Kutztown.
Noah Dolbin’s second touchdown of the game pulled Nativity (1-2) within 19-14 with 11:50 left, but Kutztown came right back to score on a 25-yard run by Jacob Lafferty with nine minutes left.
The Green Wave cut it to 26-20 with 5:54 left.
The Cougars forced three turnovers, including an interception by Jacob Lafferty.
Kutztown, which lost to Nativity 46-24 last season, finished with 308 yards of total offense, 296 on the ground.
Jayden Swoyer had 49 yards on six carries and Thomas 43 yards on six carries.
READING 42, RED LION 35
Reading High rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter to defeat Red Lion 42-35 in a non-league football game Friday at Shirk Stadium.
The game was the first at home for the Red Knights under coach Troy Godinet, and it ended up being their second straight win.
Reading was just 1-7 last season after going 0-5 in the spring of 2021.
Quarterback Amier Burdine ran for 113 yards and passed for 147 Friday in his second straight strong game.
He had 137 yards rushing in last week’s 33-20 win over Muhlenberg.
Ruben Rodriguez had three touchdown receptions for the Red Knights.
Reading High trailed 14-0 before Burdine threw to Rodriguez for a 15-yard touchdown. After Red Lion went up 21-6, Rodriguez caught a 21-yard pass from Burdine to cut it to 21-12.
The Red Knights cut it to 21-20 at halftime as Karim Martinez returned a recovered fumble 44 yards and Burdine hit Rodriguez on a pass for the two-point conversion.
The Lions (2-1) scored on a 25-yard run by Ladainian Strausbaugh, but missed the extra to go up just 27-20.
Reading took the lead for good on a 25-yard pass from Burdine to Rodriguez and a two-point conversion run by Orlando Alvarado.
The Red Knights forced and recovered a fumble on the Lions’ ensuing possession, converting that into a 7-yard run by Alvarado, who also ran in the twopoint conversion to make it 36-27.
Alvarado capped Reading’s scoring with a 4-yard run by Alvarado with about four minutes left to make it 42-27.
WILSON 37, MARTIN LUTHER KING 0 >>
Friday at Gurski Stadium, Cameron Jones scored four rushing touchdowns and Wilson allowed just 17 yards of offense to defeat Martin Luther King in a nonleague game.
The Bulldogs (2-1) put up 300 yards (193 rushing, 107 passing) of offense.
For Wilson, quarterback Tom Hunsicker had a game-high 68 rushing yards on eight carries and Edison Case had a game-high 80 receiving yards on five catches.
Hunsicker completed 11of-18 passes for 107 yards and one touchdown pass.
Jones opened the scoring by capping a 10-play 65 yard drive with a 5-yard rushing touchdown.
Hunsicker threw his lone score on Wilson’s next drive as he found Austin Valukevich for a 5-yard touchdown.
Leading 14-0 after one quarter, Jones continued the Bulldogs’ momentum as he scored on a 1-yard run with 9:50 remaining in the first half. A safety with the 7:06 left in the half gave Wilson a 23-0 lead.
Jones recorded his third touchdown by scoring from the Crusaders’ 1 with 3:00 remaining in the half. Wilson led 30-0 at halftime.
Jones scored his final touchdown from the 1 with 11:26 remaining. He finished with 47 rushing yards on nine carries and had one catch for 16 yards.
Martin Luther King was 0-of-11 on third down conversions. The Crusaders (1-2) had only three first downs.
Isaiah Casseus and Brendan Hopp each had a sack for Wilson.
The Bulldogs will open league play in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League next week when they travel to take on Reading High (2-1) at Shirk Stadium.
DANIEL BOONE 39, MUHLENBERG 15 >>
Daniel Boone’s Ethan Kryman stole the show at Muhlenberg’s Senior Night as the junior rushed for 171 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Blazers to a 3915 victory over the Muhls in a non-league football matchup Friday.
Overall, the Blazers (12) rushed five touchdowns and 266 yards.
“Everyone really pulled together and brought the energy, the intensity and the aggressiveness,” said Kryman, who had 32 carries. “And these are the results that we get when we come together and we click.”
Daniel Boone was indeed clicking as the offense and the defense stepped up after being outscored 77-7 in its first two games. The Blazers held the Muhls (1-2) to 85 yards of total offense (39 rushing, 46 passing) and recorded two safeties.
“I’m so proud of these young men and the way they came out and played today,” Daniel Boone coach Rob Flowers said. “It’s been an emotional couple of weeks for us, so I’m super excited about what they were able to do.
“They (the defense) were determined to change the 77 points that they’ve given us, and we reminded them about that. They played assignment football today. They played a little more physical and with a whole lot more energy. So that changes the game.”
GOV. MIFFLIN 17, BOYERTOWN 14 >> After 47½ minutes of back-and-forth play, including drive-crippling penalties, long touchdown runs and a couple costly turnovers, Friday night’s football game at Memorial Stadium came down to a 33-yard field goal attempt by Gov. Mifflin’s Jackson Schools.
And the Mustang senior split the uprights with plenty of distance to spare for the deciding points in a 17-14 non-league win over Boyertown.
“Definitely one of the biggest field goals I’ve had,” said Schools. “But the line and the staff all came into it. Coach (Jeff) Lang set a tempo during the week and during the game. We didn’t want to lose. We were tired of it.”
Brayden Reis ran for 89 yards and Brandon Jones for 70 for Mifflin (1-2). Cole Yesavage led the Bears (12) with 140 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
Boyertown tied it at 1414 with 7:48 remaining on a 54-yard run by Yesavage. But Mifflin controlled the ball for over seven minutes, methodically advancing from its 43-yard line to a 4th-and-3 at the Bears’ 16, setting up the field goal attempt with 31 seconds to go.
“When it came down to it, they were punching the ball down our throat and we didn’t stop it in time,” said Bears coach Justin Konnick. “That’s what Pottsgrove will try to do to us next week. We’ll fix it up front.”
Mifflin had dropped its first two outings to Spring-Ford (21-10) and Carlisle (48-14).
“The first couple games were pretty tough … a couple of tough teams,” Lang said. “We were in the games at halftime. Tonight we just came out and executed in the second half. We picked it up and made some defensive adjustments to stop what they were doing.”
EXETER 35, WEST YORK 0 >>
Stifling defense lifted Exeter to its second shutout win of the season on Friday night.
The Eagles held West York to just 111 yards of offense and no points on their way to a dominant 35-0 victory in a nonleague game at Reiffton.
“We were very sound (in) controlling the line of scrimmage,” Exeter coach Matt Bauer said. “I thought our secondary played very well.”
The Eagles held the Bulldogs to minus-56 rushing yards on 22 attempts and just seven first downs. Exeter recorded 10 tackles for loss. The Eagles shut out Daniel Boone 35-0 in Week 1.
On offense side, the Eagles were held scoreless in the first quarter before finding the end zone three times in the second. Exeter got on the board with a 14-yard run from running back Pharrell Caceres midway through the second quarter.
The Eagles doubled the lead to 14-0 on their next possession, as quarterback Mason Rotelli found tight end Joey Schlaffer for a 35yard touchdown. Schlaffer, a Penn State commit, finished with three receptions for 107 yards and two carries for 26 yards.
“We just kept giving it everything we had every offensive and defensive drive,” Schlaffer said about his team’s second-quarter scoring burst. “It started clicking, and we just got it going after that.”
Rotelli finished 8-for-14 passing with 172 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The 172 yards marked a career-high for the senior, who is in his first season as Exeter’s starting quarterback.
“He made some nice throws,” Bauer said. “He kept firing.”
The Eagles’ final touchdown of the first half was courtesy of running back Richie Karstien, who bowled his way into the end zone from 7 yards to make it 21-0 following the extra point.
Karstien scored again early in the third quarter. The senior finished with 108 yards and the pair of touchdowns, the second consecutive game in which he recorded more than 80 yards on the ground and two scores.
“He’s getting better from week to week,” Bauer said. “He runs so hard in between the tackles and it’s such a pleasure to watch.”
Exeter’s final touchdown came late in the third quarter, when the Bulldogs muffed a punt a few yards shy of their goal line. The ball bounced into the end zone, where it was recovered by Nate Pashley for an Eagles’ touchdown.