Several Berks teams gear up for the next round of the District 3 football playoffs
Another round of District 3 football playoffs is on tap this weekend as several teams from Berks County are playing in quarterfinal as well as semifinal action.
In a rematch of a regular season matchup, second-seeded Wilson will host seventh-seeded Cedar Crest in a District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal Friday at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs (9-1), also Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 champions, defeated the Falcons 14-7 on Sept. 20 and have won seven in a row since a 35-31 loss to Nazareth in Week 3 on Sept. 6.
"It gives them added incentives since we won 14-7 and had a goal line stand to preserve the win," Wilson coach Doug Dahms said. "And our kids psychologically, no matter how you deal with it, high school kids are high school kids, and they'll think, 'Oh we beat them before.' So we're trying to avoid that pitfall and make our kids realize how easily we could have lost that game and play the way we know we can play."
Cedar Crest (8-3) is coming off a 49-29 win against tenth-seeded Hempfield, while Wilson had a bye. In the regular season finale, The Bulldogs defeated Manheim Township 34-16 to secure the section title.
Senior quarterback Madyx Gruber was 11-for-18 in the regular season finale and threw for 207 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. The rushing core of Correll Akings, Monty Greer and Gruber combined for 169 yards and Akings and Gruber each scored a rushing touchdown.
Wilson is striving to advance to the district title game for the first time since 2021 when the Bulldogs fell to Harrisburg and is looking for its first District 3 championship since defeating Cumberland Valley 28-14 in the 2016 Class 6A final. Overall, Wilson is 42-24 in the District 3 playoffs and has seven championships overall.
In order to add to their successful history in the district playoffs, the Bulldogs will need their promising offense to continue to surpass expectations against top competition.
On the year, Gruber is 111-for-169 passing with five interceptions and has thrown 21 touchdowns and 1,581 yards. He has also rushed for 559 yards and seven touchdowns.
Akings, a junior, leads the team with 851 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns.
"Everything starts with the quarterback and Madyx has had a great year for us; certainly one that I don't know that we anticipated," Dahms said. "We were very young to start the year with seven starters on both sides that are underclassmen. So we managed to get through some early games, and they matured quite a bit. So hopefully they keep maturing and keep getting better."
In a marquee Class 5A quarterfinal matchup, third-seeded and undefeated Conrad Weiser (10-0) hosts sixth-seeded Bishop McDevitt (9-2) at Robesonia Friday at 7 p.m.
Though the Scouts come in as the higher-seeded team, coach Alan Moyer and Conrad Weiser are not taking the Crusaders lightly. Bishop McDevitt defeated No. 11 Lower Dauphin 42-7 in a first round matchup a week ago.
In addition, the Crusaders are 66-9 all-time in the District 3 playoffs and have won the last three District 3 Class 4A titles, including a 23-17 win over Manheim Central in last year's 4A final.
"We're huge underdogs but I can guarantee you on Friday night we'll be prepared," Moyer said. "It's a tall, tall task here against a very good football team. The competition they play is good and I don't see many weaknesses with a team like Bishop McDevitt. They have size, they have speed, obviously, one heck of a quarterback. So they're very even with the throw versus run, about 50-50. So they can kind of score in a lot of different ways and are just a very talented football team."
The Scouts, winners of Section 3 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, are making their first appearance in the District 3 playoffs since falling to Big Spring 49-35 in a District 3 Class 4A first round contest in 2021.
Conrad Weiser closed out the regular season with a 28-27 win over Unionville. In that game, senior quarterback Donovan Gingrich was 9-for-14 passing for 118 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 68 yards and a touchdown.
Furthermore, the Scouts have outscored opponents 319 to 120 on the way to their perfect regular season.
"It's funny to call yourselves underdogs when you're undefeated and section champions," Moyer said, "but we certainly are when you're up against a team like that made up of so many Division I recruits. We use it as motivation.
"I think a team like us going into it, we got nothing to lose. The pressure is on Bishop McDevitt. There's not going to be too many people, other than people in our organization, that believe we can win."
Bishop McDevitt is led by Kentucky commit Stone Saunders who has thrown for over 12,000 passing yards and has 189 passing touchdowns in his career. In last week's win, Saunders was 11-for-14 for 117 yards and two touchdown passes. Junior running back Nazir Jones-Davis had 154 rushing yards and two touchdowns for the Crusaders.
"I think the motivating factor for us is the guys gotta believe, Moyer said. "It (Believe) is the first thing I had on the board Sunday morning when it was official. I always put up keys to the week and the very first thing was, you got to believe. If you don't believe, go home, you don't belong here. So no one got up and left. At practice we went hard last week, instead of taking the time off. We're gonna go give it all we got."
In Class 4A, both Wyomissing and Twin Valley earned bye weeks for the first round and are set to make a strong run. The second-seeded Spartans will host seventh-seeded East Pennsboro (8-3) on Saturday in a quarterfinal at 1 p.m. at Wyomissing, while the fifth-seeded Raiders travel to fourth-seeded Susquehanna Township (8-2) Friday at 7 p.m. for another 4A quarterfinal.
The Spartans (8-2) won the last five District 3 Class 3A championships and look to keep their winning tradition in the district playoffs alive and well. Prior to the bye week, Wyomissing fell at home to Lampeter-Strasburg 20-7 with the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 title on the line.
"We had a week off and that's tough," Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum said. "It's hard to keep everybody's concentration up when there's not a game at the end of the week. So last week was rough, and this week, we're just trying to get in the right frame of mind to play. Every team is different, but the last number of teams we've had have always risen to the occasion in the playoffs.
"So nothing's guaranteed. Every game could be your last. So hopefully we're motivated and ready to go."
Wyomissing boasts 12 District 3 championships all-time and has a 42-18 record in the district playoffs. The Spartans also had a 36 home game winning streak up until the loss in the regular season finale.
"They say winning begets winning and our kids want to do the same thing," Wolfrum said. "For the last number of years, they've been watching our teams do it even when they're back in junior high. And it really helps you to have a tradition like we have."
More fresh to the district playoff scene and looking to shake off a rocky end of the regular season are the Raiders (8-2).
Having made their first appearance in the 2021 playoffs, Twin Valley has a 2-3 record and last year made it to the 4A semifinals where it fell to Manheim Central 65-28. The Raiders finished off their regular season with a 42-6 win over Daniel Boone after falling to Wyomissing 34-24 in Week 8 and then 62-14 against Lampeter-Strasburg in Week 9.
Twin Valley is 2-0 in the quarterfinal round of the District 3 playoffs.
Fresh off wins in the first round of their respectful brackets are Exeter, Schuylkill Valley and Berks Catholic.
The eighth-seeded Eagles (10-1) defeated ninth-seeded South Western 56-3 in last week's and will travel to take on undefeated and top-seeded New Oxford Friday night at 7 p.m. in a Class 5A quarterfinal. In the game against the Mustangs, senior running back Jayden Zandier became Exeter's all-time leading rusher after recording 206 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns.
With a win over the Colonials (10-0), Eagles coach Matt Bauer will become the winningest coach in Exeter's history and Zandier needs 136 yards to top Eric Nangle's single-season rushing record of 1,814 with the Eagles.
"I don't know much about them but I know they (the Colonials) were here watching us tonight," Exeter senior running back Jayden Zandier said after last Friday's game. "So I hope they see how we disrespected this team (South Western) and how we're going to come to their house and destroy them."
Rounding out the district matchups including Berks teams, the third-seeded Panthers (9-2) will travel to take on second-seeded Trinity (8-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. in a 3A semifinal, while the fifth-seeded Saints (7-4) travel to face top-seeded Bermudian Springs (9-1), also in the other 3A semifinal.
In Berks Catholic's 48-7 win over fourth-seeded Biglersville a week ago, senior quarterback Zach Suski was a perfect 8-for-8 passing for 238 yards and two touchdown passes, and senior wide receiver Scott Duffy caught two passes for two touchdowns and 126 receiving yards. A dynamic Saints' offense also gained 257 rushing yards and the Berks Catholic defense limited Biglerville to 75 passing yards and 177 rushing yards, as well as forced two turnovers off fumbles.
In Schuylkill Valley's 55-13 win over sixth-seeded Littlestown in the first round, senior quarterback Logan Nawrocki threw for 280 yards, four touchdown passes and was 12-for-15 passing. Luke Spotts (90 receiving yards), John Kowalski (85 receiving yards), Dillon Lackner (11 receiving yards), and Cooper Hohenadel (26 receiving yards) all caught touchdown passes in the game for the Panthers.
Spotts leads all Berks receivers with 936 receiving yards on 56 receptions with nine touchdowns, and Gerner is second with 696 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on 39 receptions.
