semifinals – Berks Sports Report

West Reading League Semifinals

Paul Roberts — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 01:51:46 +0000

Due to excessive heat, the West Reading Summer Basketball League semifinals were moved inside to Wyomissing on Wednesday evening. Exeter (Dulin’s Tire) came out on fire against Berks Catholic (Berks Packing). Exeter was in front 9-2 early and 12-6 after the first quarter. Michael Fisher knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 18-6. Aidan Dauble hit a triple from the right wing to expand the lead to 23-9 midway through the second quarter. Berks Catholic trailed 30-22 at halftime. Dylan Donate drilled a trey with 4:21 remaining in the third quarter to give Exeter a 37-27 advantage. However, Berks Catholic closed that period on a 10-to-4 run. Gavin Welker’s 3-pointer put Snip Esterly’s team on top 42-41 with 6:20 to go. Brady Altimar sank a pair of free throws to make it 48-46 with 3:12 left to play. Kingston McKoy, a two-time All-State pick, finished off two straight spin moves in the lane for a 52-48 cushion. Exeter wouldn’t go away quietly. Dauble, who connected four times from beyond the arc, splashed a 3-pointer from the right corner. After a Berks Catholic turnover, Dauble’s baseline layup put Exeter back in front 53-52 with 41 seconds on the clock. Welker responded with a triple from the left wing with 28 seconds remaining. Exeter had the final possession with a chance to tie or take the lead. Dauble drove down the left side of the lane and took a turnaround jumper with McKoy’s hand in his face. The shot was short and Berks Catholic held on for a hard-fought 55-53 victory. McKoy had a game-high 23 points and Welker added 15. Dauble and Donate led Exeter with 14 points apiece. Braylon Reinert chipped in with eight points. They were outscored by Berks Catholic 33-23 in the second half.

The nightcap in the Ron Krick Memorial League featured rivals Wilson (Apella Wealth) and Gov. Mifflin (Savage Auto Group). This semifinal was much more of a defensive struggle. In fact, Gov. Mifflin was shutout in the opening quarter. Wilson led 4-0 after the first period and 14-10 at halftime. Correll Akings, the lone returning starter for Wilson, started the third quarter with a 3-pointer. He ended up with a game-high 15 points. Gov. Mifflin was down 21-16 entering the last quarter. Ronaldo Gonzalez, a newcomer to Wilson’s program, nailed a 3-pointer with five minutes left to make it 24-18. A three-point play by Akings gave Wilson a little breathing room at 27-18 with 3:48 to go. Gov. Mifflin fell 37-27. Gonzalez contributed eight points and point guard NeChar Mercado added six. Nick Kalis scored a team-high eight points, including seven in the fourth quarter, for Gov. Mifflin. Ian Fleming provided six points. Wilson will take on Berks Catholic for the championship at 5:25pm on Thursday.

Berks Catholic’s Historic Season Ends

Paul Roberts — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:02:45 +0000

Berks Catholic was six outs away from reaching the state championship game. The Saints led Mount Carmel 3-1 in the bottom of the 6th before falling 4-3 in the PIAA-3A semifinals on Monday. Sophomore Gabe Yuskoski delivered a two-out, walk-off single to left-center in the 7th at Wenger Field in Fredericksburg. “Sometimes it’s easier to lose if you get blown out,” acknowledged Berks Catholic head coach Brandon Shurr. The (20-8) Saints and the (20-4) Red Tornadoes were both making their first appearance in the state semifinals. Each team had its ace on the mound. West Chester commit Trey Stricker entered the day with a (7-1) record and a eye-popping 0.64 ERA. Drew Yagodzinskie had allowed just one hit over his previous 21 innings. The Monmouth commit had piled up 88 strikeouts in 52.2 frames for the District 4 champions. Berks Catholic, however, got to Yagodzinskie early in the contest. Mikey Fidler singled and then scored on Dennys Rodriguez’s double to left-center in the top of the 1st. Mount Carmel tied it up in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out, RBI single to center by Lukas Carpenter. The junior outfielder came into the game with a .438 batting average. Carpenter provided two of his team’s four hits. The 3rd inning began with Brock Shrawder lofting a fly ball to right field that got lost in the sun for a double. After Stricker singled, Fidler hit a pop up to shallow right field. The ball dropped allowing Shrawder to score, but the Red Tornadoes did get a force out at second base. Rodriguez came through again with a RBI single to left to put the Saints in front 3-1. Rodriguez, a catcher who’s committed to Shepherd, accounted for two of Berks Catholic’s five hits. Yagodzinskie (7-1) found his groove after the 3rd and didn’t allow a hit over the final four innings. He retired 14 straight batters. “He got a bunch of our lefties out with changeups. It was a lot more of the secondary stuff. The off-speed stuff was what just kept you off-balance enough,” explained Shurr. Yagodzinskie went the distance with eleven strikeouts and no walks. He’s only given up 27 hits all season. Mount Carmel opened the bottom of the 6th with two walks and an infield single by Carpenter. Stricker struck out Clarke Cartwright with the bases full before reaching the pitch limit of 105. “Trey has been great all year. He’s gonna have a great baseball career at West Chester and hopefully beyond that. He’s been our #1 all year. Unfortunately, he just ran out of gas a little bit in the 6th,” replied Shurr. Fidler took over on the mound and threw a wild pitch that allowed Yagodzinskie to score and make it 3-2. Carpenter attempted to score all the way from second base on the play, but he was tagged out at the plate by Fidler. With two outs, the Saints committed an error on Walker McGinley’s grounder to shortstop which evened the score at 3-3. Fidler struck out Brody Brinkash to end the 6th. Brayden Brinkash was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 7th. Freshman Jason Klokis then hit a ground ball to third base that looked like a possible double play opportunity. However, Aidan Curley’s throw to second was low and Berks Catholic didn’t get an out. Yagodzinskie walked with one out to load the bases. Carpenter hit a pop up back to Fidler for the second out. Yuskoski, who entered the afternoon hitting .279, ripped a clean single to knock in the game-winning run. Fidler was charged with one unearned run on one hit in 1.1 innings. Stricker gave up three runs, two earned, on three hits over 5.1 innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and four walks. Both Stricker and Fidler hit one batter. The Saints committed three errors, while the Red Tornadoes had one. Berks Catholic had a very memorable season. The Saints reached the BCIAA Championship Game as a #7 seed and won the District 3-3A title this season. Shurr gave credit to his senior class which includes Stricker, Fidler, Rodriguez, and Shrawder. “This senior group really set the tone early. We grew every year. To finish in the final four [in the state playoffs] is a great achievement,” said Shurr.

Dylan Barrett-Gov. Mifflin

Paul Roberts — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 14:00:47 +0000

Being able to handle failure is a key for any successful baseball player. Gov. Mifflin designated hitter Dylan Barrett has the right mentality. “I was always taught if anything goes wrong, just move on. You can’t change the past,” he said. Barrett struck out with men on second and third base to end the top of the 1st inning. Two innings later, he responded in a big way with a two-run double to left-center that gave the Mustangs a 2-1 edge. They never trailed again in a 7-2 victory over District 4 champion Selinsgrove in the PIAA-5A semifinals. Bryce Detwiler held the (21-3) Seals to two runs on six hits over six innings. The UConn commit entered the game at Hershey with a (9-2) record and 1.58 ERA. “He’s always been that guy to go up and shove and do his job,” noted Barrett. Detwiler struck out eight, walked two, and hit three batters. The 6’2, 215-pound junior was able to get out of jams including the 5th inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Detwiler struck out Griffin Parker and Owen Santiago. Selinsgrove left eight men on base. The Seals were without senior shortstop Mason Richter. He led the team with a .455 average and 35 RBI. Gov. Mifflin was missing senior first baseman Dante Casantini due to a family vacation. Sophomore R.J. Weaver got the start and provided a two-out, opposite field RBI single to left in the third frame. That hit, one of ten for the (23-5) Mustangs, made it 3-1. Ethan Grim launched a two-out, RBI double to right-center that gave Gov. Mifflin a 4-2 advantage. Detwiler helped himself with a rocket off the wall in left-center that knocked in a pair of runs in the 5th inning. That double also came with two outs. Matt Koehler scored the Mustangs’ final run in the 7th after a throwing error at shortstop. Koehler, Detwiler, Grim, and Travis Jenkins had two hits apiece. Jenkins, an All-Berks catcher, threw out three runners. Grim fired a hitless 7th inning to close the door. Selinsgrove ace Josh Domaracki was charged with six runs, four earned, on nine hits in 5.1 innings. The senior southpaw had five strikeouts and two walks. The Seals committed four errors. Barrett is one of six juniors in Gov. Mifflin’s starting lineup. “We grew up playing together. We’ve always been on the same team so you have that chemistry with us,” he replied. The Mustangs advanced to the state championship game for the first time in program history. They will meet District 6 champ Hollidaysburg on Friday at 4:30pm at Penn State’s Medlar Field. “It feels amazing. We worked hard for this…to go play at Penn State is gonna be an honor,” said Barrett.

Bob Wolfrum-Wyomissing

Paul Roberts — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 22:28:00 +0000

Eight seconds. That’s what stood between Wyomissing and a third straight trip to the Class 3A state championship game. It looked like the (13-1) Spartans were on their way when Ben Zechman found Charlie McIntyre open in the left flat for a 10-yard touchdown pass that put Wyomissing on top of Neumann-Goretti 17-14. However, the District 12 champions still had 34 seconds to pull off a miracle comeback. Mehki Wharton lofted a deep pass to Qaasim Major who was all alone behind the defense for a 44-yard score down the left sideline with eight seconds left. The (11-3) Saints stunned the Spartans 20-17 at the Germantown Super Site. “We just blew a coverage. That happens. It’s a shame. Quite frankly, I don’t know that we deserved to win. They had much the better of the play most of the game,” said longtime Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum. Neumann-Goretti outgained the Spartans 386-257. Wyomissing was limited to 142 rushing yards and just 3.1 per carry. The Spartans’ Wing-T offense gashed the Saints a season ago in a 42-6 semifinal rout. This was a much different story. “You could tell that they studied it a little bit. They made it so we couldn’t run between our tackles. They were really physical. We couldn’t hold our blocks,” explained Wolfrum. Wyomissing was grinding out 326 yards per game on the ground entering Saturday. They were held 26 points below their season average. The Spartans dominated the field position battle in the first half. Drew Eisenhower capped a 46-yard drive with a 6-yard run late in the opening quarter. On their next possession, the Spartans reached the 2-yard line with five minutes to go in the second period. They opted to kick an 18-yard field goal on fourth down and Ian Levering made it 10-0. Boston College commit Shawn Battle gave Neumann-Goretti a spark with a 51-yard touchdown run just 30 seconds later. Battle ran for 124 yards and scored four times last week in the quarterfinals versus Northwestern Lehigh. The Saints handed off to Sam Hobbs for the 2-point conversion and he got them within 10-8 of Wyomissing. Hobbs is a 6’1, 192-pound senior linebacker with an offer from Syracuse. He had a team-high 62 tackles, 10 TFL, and four sacks going into Saturday. Neumann-Goretti hurt itself in the third quarter. With Battle on the sideline getting a rest, freshman running back Terrance Page fumbled and Collin Niedrowski recovered at the Spartans’ 28-yard line. On the Saints’ next series, Battle was ejected for throwing a punch after he was tackled with 20 seconds left in the period. The 5’11, 187-pound senior finished with 187 yards on 19 carries. That drive stalled at Wyomissing’s 21-yard line. The Saints forced a three-and-out and took over at the Spartans’ 48-yard line with 4:12 to play. Freshman Amahj Gowens broke off runs of 16 and 12 yards before 200-pound sophomore fullback Kyreese Bradley powered into the end zone from two yards away. The 2-point conversion pass was incomplete, but Neumann-Goretti had a 14-10 advantage with 2:01 on the clock. That’s when Ben Zechman went to work. The 6’2, 185-pound senior got things going with a short pass to Eisenhower that went for 22 yards. He connected with Eisenhower again on a 29-yard strike into tight coverage down the right seam. That set up Wyomissing at the 22-yard line with 59 seconds left. After a pass interference penalty, one of 14 flags against the Saints, Zechman flipped a pass to McIntyre for the go-ahead score. The Spartans were only averaging 64 passing yards per contest. On that possession, Zechman had four completions for 74 yards. “We can always count on him. He does a great job of calling the plays at the line when he has to, and running everything fast. He knows what every position does and he’s pretty sharp,” mentioned Wolfrum. Zechman ended up 8-of-17 for 115 yards. Wharton and Qaasim hooked up just 26 seconds later to end Wyomissing’s perfect season. Wharton, a 6’7, 227-pound junior, gave credit to head coach Albie Crosby. “The coach just drew it up during the timeout. It was just a thought in his head. It was wide open,” revealed Wharton. He was 13-of-20 for 110 yards. Neumann-Goretti piled up 276 rushing yards. The Saints will meet District 7 champ Belle Vernon next Saturday at 1pm in the PIAA-3A championship at Cumberland Valley. Matthew Kramer ran for a team-high 78 yards on 20 carries. Eisenhower chipped in with 37 yards on eleven touches. He added 65 yards on four receptions. McIntyre managed 20 yards on eleven carries. They’re three of the 17 seniors on the roster. The Spartans went (49-4) over the past four years with four District 3 titles. “That’s a pretty good resume for a kid. They had great careers, all of them,” noted Wolfrum.

Exeter-Penn-Trafford Preview

Paul Roberts — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 10:13:00 +0000

What a season it has been for the (10-3) Eagles and (11-2) Warriors. They square off tonight in the Class 5A state semifinals at Bald Eagle High School in Wingate. The winner will be making its first appearance in a PIAA championship game.

Exeter is coming off the biggest win in program history. The Eagles captured their first District 3 title with a thrilling 31-28 victory at Gov. Mifflin. The Mustangs had been undefeated and were ranked #1 in the state in Class 5A. Exeter can hurt you through the air and on the ground. Senior quarterback Colin Payne has thrown for a school record 2,184 yards this year (22TD-6INT). Payne has some big targets in 6’6 junior wide receiver Joey Schlaffer and 6’3, 210-pound tight end J.R. Strauss. Schlaffer is committed to PSU. He has a team-high 41 catches for 728 yards. His eight touchdown receptions are tied for second-most in Berks County. He reached the end zone twice last week against Gov. Mifflin. Strauss is headed to Villanova. He’s also a threat in the red zone with 7TD. Strauss has 27 catches for 455 yards. The Eagles proved that they can pound the rock as well last week. Eric Nangle finished with 40 carries for 225 yards! The 175-pound senior is second in rushing yards in Berks County with 1,769 (7.4/carry). Nangle has 21 touchdowns. The screen pass was a real weapon for Exeter in the District 3 Final. Holding the Mustangs to 28 points wasn’t an easy task. Ty Yocum leads the defense with 98 tackles and 3INT. The 220-pound linebacker is as tough as they come. He will play at Division I Merrimack. Strauss and Lucas Palange are also part of an outstanding LB corps. Palange has collected 82 tackles, 20 TFL, and seven sacks. Strauss adds 73 tackles to the mix.

The Eagles’ defense will be tested against a physical Penn-Trafford squad. The Warriors’ offensive line averages 277 pounds. Offensive tackle Zach Tomosovich is listed at 6’6 and 320 pounds. He’s only a sophomore. Joe Enick will be in the middle of all the action. The 6’3, 280-pound junior starts at center and nose tackle. He’s also on the wrestling team. Senior guard Luke Jollie is hard to miss at 6’7, 280. They pave the way for Wisconsin commit Cade Yacamelli who has 1,634 rushing yards and 21TD. The 205-pound senior went for 136 yards on 17 carries in the WPIAL Championship vs. Moon. Yacamelli opened a lot of eyes with a 92-yard TD catch and a 53-yard TD run. He erupted for 208 yards and 3TD in the WPIAL semifinals against Pine-Richland. Carter Green is a dual-threat quarterback for the Warriors. The 170-pound senior ran 17 times for 87 yards, including a go-ahead 29-yard score on 4th & 1 in the third quarter, in the 24-21 win over previously unbeaten Moon. Green averages nine pass attempts per game. He was 2-6 for 101 yards and a TD last week at Heinz Field. Green has 10TD passes this season. Penn-Trafford brings a 9-game winning streak into the state semifinals. The Warriors’ losses came back in September. They fell to Belle Vernon (27-7) and Peters Township (28-14). Moon missed a 33-yard FG in the final seconds to give Penn-Trafford its first WPIAL title. The Warriors pitched a shutout in the second half.

Both of these teams are riding high after historic wins last week. Exeter and Penn-Trafford are playing their best football at the right time. As usual, this semifinal matchup will probably come down to who controls the line of scrimmage. The Eagles’ ran seven and a-half minutes off the clock during their final drive at Gov. Mifflin. Exeter’s defense will need to limit the big plays from Yacamelli. Should be a good one with a trip to Hershey up for grabs!