COLLEGE SIGNING: Daniel Boone’s Howiszak making way to Mansfield

Kelly Howiszak has signed a letter of intent to continue her soccer career at Mansfield University in the fall. (JRC file photo)

By Dennis Weller
sports@pottsmerc.com

Kelly Howiszak thought that she wanted to go to a college in the city. Then the Daniel Boone senior visited and fell in love with Mansfield University, located in a scenic town of 3,600 in the north central part of the state, and she decided that’s where she wanted to continue her studies and soccer career.

Howiszak plans to major in chemistry and minor in forensic science and hopes to make an immediate contribution to the NCAA Division II and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference member Mountaineers following four varied and successful years of sports at Daniel Boone.

(For complete story, click here ... )

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Daniel Boone’s Ryan Owens and Spring-Ford’s Sammy Stipa

Sammy Stipa

Ryan Owens

By Mercury Staff
sports@pottsmerc.com

BOYS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Ryan Owens
Daniel Boone
Swimming

What he has done
Sophomore, who came in seeded 10th in the event, captured the District 3-AAA gold medal in the 200-yard freestyle with a blistering 1:42.07 opening day, then added the bronze medal in the in the 500 free, where he come in the 12th seed, with a 4:40.08. Both times move Owens to the top of The Mercury area swimming leaders in those events. Since Daniel Boone does not have a full swim team, Owens trains at the Boyertown YMCA under the guidance of Boyertown veteran head coach Linda Jones.

What he says
“I thought I had a chance, but there were a lot of fast swimmers. Then getting the gold, it was kind of a relief because I knew how hard I had worked all years just for districts. I can’t even put into words what that gold meant, it was just amazing. You don’t really see the 10th seed winning districts a lot. It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders and really got me excited going into the following day for the 500 free. And that 500 bronze was kind of the bonus.”

(For complete story, click here ... )

SWIMMING: State qualifiers finalized

By Steve Moore
smoore@pottsmerc.com

The PIAA unveiled the state swimming psych sheets today. Some area swimmers already knew they were Bucknell-bound by finishing in the top 5 (AAA) or first place (AA) in their event at the District 1 Championships. Others had to wait for today to see if they earned a wild card berth.

Full entries can be seen on the PIAA website by clicking here.

See below for a rundown all the local qualifiers.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Daniel Boone’s Kenny Worthington and Upper Perkiomen’s Stacey Auckland

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

BOYS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Kenny Worthington
Daniel Boone
Boys Basketball

What he has done
Worthington provided solid all-round play for the Blazers during a week that saw them earn a spot in the Berks Conference playoffs. The Boone junior scored a combined 25 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, dished off three assists and blocked four shots to help the team edge Wilson, 42-41, and qualify for the playoffs.

What he says
“Earlier in the season, we were trying to come from behind. We’re a strong team. We feel we can really play with anybody.”

 (For complete story, click here ... )

BOYS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Daniel Boone bounces back from down year

Leading scorer Kenny Worthington and the Daniel Boone
boys basketball team rallied down the stretch to qualify
for the Berks Conference playoffs, but saw their season
come to an end Saturday in a loss to Wyomissing.
(File Photo by Tom Kelly III)

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

Its season may be ending earlier than some may have hoped.

But it probably ran longer – and was marked by a higher level of success – than others may have figured.

The Daniel Boone boys basketball team made its first season under head coach Ian Gendreau a memorable one this winter. A largely underclassmen unit that had slipped to a 6-11 record as recently as two weeks ago, the Blazers proved resilient in their season’s stretch run, winning three of four league games to qualify for the Berks Conference’s eight-team playoff bracket.

Surprising? Maybe to some, but certainly not to Gendreau.

“This is where I thought we’d be,” said Gendreau, a longtime assistant to former Boone head coach John Butkus. “We had a few little dips along the way. We didn’t lack for talent or speed, but we didn’t have the consistency we needed.”

Still, the Blazers rose to the occasion with the Berks playoffs’ lineup still being formulated. Their 4-1 run in a 12-day span at the end — a non-league contest with Manheim Central in the mix ­— got them the sixth seed on the strength of a 5-5 league record and stronger power rating than Muhlenberg. 

( To read the complete story, click here ... )

BOYS BASKETBALL: Wyomissing ends Daniel Boone’s season

Photo by Aimee Herbert/JRC Pop Lacey scored 14 points for Daniel Boone in Saturday’s Berks quarterfinal loss to Wyomissing.

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

SHILLINGTON — When you play an up-tempo style of basketball, you sometimes have to take the bad with the good … and there was way too much of the bad for the Daniel Boone boys in Saturday night’s Berks County quarterfinal contest against Wyomissing.
The Blazers came out pounding the boards and running at every opportunity, but too many hurried shots and too many turnovers resulted in a season-ending 64-51 loss at Governor Mifflin Intermediate.
Daquan Williams scored 16, Emmanuel ‘Pop’ Lacey 14, and Kenny Worthington 10 for Boone (10-13), which did not shoot its first free throw of the night until just 1:28 remained in the game after the Spartans (17-6) had already gone to the line for 22 tries. Joe Cacchione scored 24 for Wyomissing, which advances to a semifinal against Reading High, a 71-43 winner over Oley Valley.

(For complete story, click here ...)

BOYS BASKETBALL: Daniel Boone edges Wilson to clinch Berks playoff spot

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

WEST LAWN — The last minute seemed like an eternity, during which the Daniel Boone boys were repeatedly unable to put the game away. But the Blazers somehow survived a turnover-filled ending and hung on for a 42-41 Berks County basketball win at Wilson in their regular season finale on Tuesday night, and in the process, clinched a spot in the eight-team league playoffs that begin on Saturday night.
Kenny Worthington led Boone (5-5, 10-12) with 15 points and 8 rebounds, Emmanuel Lacey scored 10, and Stephon Williams added eight points – including what proved to be the winning free throw with a minute and a half remaining. Wilson (7-3, 17-4), which would have wrapped up the Division I title with a win, was led by 13 points by Steven Rodriguez.
As a result, the Blazers – who lost to and defeated each of the other teams in Division I – wrapped up the second playoff wild card spot determined by Power Ratings and will most likely face Wyomissing in a quarterfinal at a time and place to be determined.

(For complete story, click here ... )

GIRLS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Daniel Boone great Lutz to enter Berks Basketball Hall of Fame

By Darryl Grumling
dgrumling@pottsmerc.com

During a stellar career at Daniel Boone that concluded in the 1979-80 season, Page Lutz established herself as one of the best girls basketball players in Berks Conference history.

Though its been more than three decades since Lutz graduated, her legacy has pretty much stood the test of time.

In area girls history, only Daniel Boone’s Wendy Davis has scored more career points.

Lutz will be inducted into the Berks County Basketball Hall of Fame next month as part of the seven-member 2013 class.

At Boone, Lutz scored a school and area-record 1,899 points, a mark that stood until Davis broke it eight years later on the way to a 2,504-point career. 

Lutz went on to play collegiately at Elizabethtown, and helped the Blue Jays compiled a 105-11 record over four years — highlighted by a national championship her sophomore year and two other runner-up finishes.

A three-time All-American selection who was named Division III Player of the Year in 1984, Lutz scored 1,757 career points at Elizabethtown, and holds school career records for points, free throws (453)and field goals (651). She was the MVP of the national tournament in 1983 and 1984, and in 206 was named to the NCAA Division III 25th Anniversary Women’s Basketball team.

( To read the complete girls basketball notebook, click here )

WRESTLING: Complete Saturday Roundup

By Mercury Staff

KENNETT SQUARE ­— Pottstown is thriving on hefty workloads.
The Trojans competed in another “duals” wrestling tournament Saturday, traveling to the Kennett Duals along with Daniel Boone. It was the fourth time this season the Trojans competed in a duals-format tourney; and as was the case previously, they made a strong showing — a sweep of their five matches to come away in first place.
With three wrestlers sweeping the competition, and a fourth also perfect, Pottstown (19-7) went one better than its previous “duals” outings, where it was a combined 10-3. Its team victories came against Glen Mills (57-21), Ridley (38-28), Academy Park 52-24), Kennett (54-19) and Boone (48-14).
The Blazers, for their part, went 3-2 and placed second on the strength of a head-to-head tiebreaker with Ridley. Alongside the verdicts against Pottstown and Ridley (34-33), they prevailed over Kennett (44-30) and Academy Park (32-27) but lost to Glen Mills (41-27).
Logan Pennypacker, Jasheel Brown and Darien Hain all went 5-0 to head Pottstown’s showing, which included a 4-0 run by Bryant Wise. Bubba Gephart, Sebastian Shiffler and Josh Slody chipped in with 4-1 records on the day, with Pat Bohn adding a 3-1.
T.J. Richard headed Boone’s outing with a 5-0 mark. Christian Fernandez and Shayne Bookwalter followed at 4-1.
Escape the Rock: Owen J. Roberts’ Kyle Shronk (160), Tyler Rogers (170) and Brad Trego (285) all advanced into into this morning’s semifinals of the Escape the Rock Invitational at Council Rock South, while 10 teammates remained alive in the consolations. The impressive effort helped the Wildcats finish the opening day of wrestling in second place (108.5 points) behind Parkland (123.5).
The Hill School also advanced 285-pound Kostya Golobokov into the semifinals, while two others — Chad Saunders (132) and Nick Flanigan (145) — were dropped into the consolations following losses in the quarterfinals.
Shronk had two pins and a 3-2 decision; Rogers took a bye and back-to-back 5-4 and 5-1 decisions; and Trego also followed a bye with a 10-1 major and 3-0 shutout. The Wildcats had six others in the quarterfinals who came up short, including returning state medalist Derek Gulotta, who fell 3-0 to state-ranked Tanner Shoap of Chambersburg. Gulotta, along with Aston White (106), Colby Frank (126), Dominick Petrucelli (132), Demetri D’Orsaneo (138), Adam Moser (145), Peter Fratantoni (152), Gordon Bolig (182), Evan Boaman (195) and Nick D’Angelo (220) will return to the mats in this morning’s consolations.
Golobokov had a bye, first-period pin and 3-2 decision for the Blues, who were 29th in the 32-team field.
Ultimate Duals: Boyertown got perfect showings from Eddie Kriczky, Cody Richmond, Jordan Wertz and Jordan Wood to take four of five bouts in the Ultimate Duals at Brookville High School.
The Bears, who improved to 12-5 overall, defeated Hanover (56-18), Mifflinburg (46-18), Saegertown (31-20) and Reynolds (33-25), with a narrow 34-31 setback to host Brookville spoiling an otherwise perfect day. Kriczky (126), Richmond (160), Wertz (195) and Wood (220) were all 5-0. Teammates Lucas Miller (106) and Gregg Harvey (160) were both 4-1, while Garrett Mauger (113) added three wins.
Garden Spot Duals: Luke DiElsi’s sweep of his opponents headed Perkiomen Valley’s showing in the duals competition at Garden Spot. The Vikings (9-6) went 3-2 as a team, wins against Pennridge (39-33), Avon Grove (51-16) and North Penn (48-31) balanced against losses to Central Dauphin (68-6) and Garden Spot (46-22).
The DiElsi’s 5-0 run was the best for PV, which also got a 4-1 outing from Nick Giangiulio — who dropped his first bout of the season.
Spartan Clash: Kirk Cherneskie (183) was the lone winner for Pope John Paul II, going undefeated at 3-0 to captured first place at the Springfield-Montco Clash.
Cherneskie was trailing Ian Kennedy from Central Bucks West 5-4 in the first place bout but got a takedown with two seconds left in the bout to win 6-5
Pope John Paul’s Vinnie Togno (138) finished with three wins and two losses for third place. Josh Bildstein (220) also took third with three wins and one loss. Jared Sahakian (145) finished 2-3, while Aaron Cusatis (160) was 3-2.
Jersey Shore Duals: Phoenixville’s Garrett Serwatka, Trey Romance and Jordan Valenteen all won four of their five individual bouts, but the Phantoms went 1-4 on the day at the Jersey Shore Duals.
The Phantoms defeated Clarion (41-27), but fell to Warrior Run (60-9), Wallenpaupack (58-14), Cedar Cliff (57-17), and Canton (45-26).
Mark Cermanski picked up two wins for the Phantoms, and teammates Henry Hancock, Tim Labik and Dave Rosati added one apiece.
Upper Perkiomen 43, C.B. East 30: Kyle Fellman stalled a Patriots’ drive to erase the Indians’ early lead, and the locals won three of the five final bouts in the non-league victory.
Fellman’s third-period pin at 152 prevented East from continuing a roll that saw it close to 28-24 with help from two pins and a forfeit. Ray Young (160) and Dylan Steffenino (106) kicked in with a decision and pin, respectively, to offset the Pats’ two decisions down the stretch.
Casey Cook (182) and Wolfgang McStravick (145) scored early pins to help the Indians (12-4) build a 28-6 lead through the first six weights. Dante Steffenino (120) kicked in with a major decision, and the locals also cashed in on two forfeits by East.
Spring-Ford 33, Manheim Central 32: Jimmy Frank’s decision at 106 proved big for the Rams, giving them enough points to secure a close non-league victory over the Barons.
Frank’s 10-3 verdict over MC’s Caleb Enck staked Spring-Ford (14-2) to a 33-27 lead that survived a technical fall in the final bout. The Rams were paced by four pins on the night — successive match-opening falls from Ryan hayes (120 and Sean Hennessey (126), and back-to-back drops by Mason Romano (220) and Josh Boyer (285) preceding Frank’s match clincher.
Valley Forge Invitational: Zach Coffey and Austin Mortimer scored medals for West-Mont Christian during the Cadet Invitational at Valley Forge Military Academy.Coffey won the 126-pound title, going 2-0 on the day. Mortimer was second at 120, going 2-1.

MEN’S WRESTLING
Mount St. Vincent: The Ursinus wrestling team competed in its final regular-season tournament at the College of Mount Saint Vincent Invitational in Riverdale, N.Y., just outside of New York City.
Christopher Donaldson continued his strong start as he won the 125-pound bracket with a pin and two major decisions. Kevin Hoogheem finished second at 125. Donaldson defeated Chase Andrew of AIC by fall in 4:28, then ran up a 17-8 major on Janik Santana-Quintana of NYU. In the title bout, he defeated teammate Keven Hoogheem, 16-5.
The Bears had five third-place finishes in Christian Hoogheem (126), John Morrison (133), Curtis Watkins (149), Gnoleba Seri (165) and Gabriel Gordon (174).

BOYS BASKETBALL: Boone's late rally falls short

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

UNION — When a 13-point run in the fourth quarter isn’t enough to catch up, you know you gave up way too many points in the first three quarters.
That’s what happened to Daniel Boone in Thursday night’s non-league boys basketball contest as visiting Wyomissing scored layup after layup on cuts and drives to the basket through the first three periods, and the Blazers could not quite overcome a 14-point deficit during the frenzied fourth quarter of a 59-55 setback.
Emmanuel Lacey scored 16 and Ken Worthington and Stevie Sievers added 12 each for Daniel Boone (6-9). Brock Kovach led the Spartans (9-5) with 14 points off the bench and Joe Cacchione followed with 13.
“We came out with no intensity,” said Boone coach Ian Gendreau. “The last three games against Reading, (Conrad) Weiser and Wilson, we came out and played really hard defense against all three. We didn’t have anywhere near as much intensity in the first half tonight. A good team like that will chew up half-hearted defense.”
The Blazers were able to keep up with, even stay ahead of, the Spartans for a while as Lacey knocked down three of four shots from the floor early for seven points, and a basket off a drive by Worthington late in the opening quarter gave Boone its largest lead of the night at 15-9.
But Wyomissing went on a 17-4 splurge from there until midway through the second quarter, and led by as many as eight until Lacey dropped in a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to cut Boone’s deficit to 34-29.
“To go in at halftime down after scoring more than you usually score is not the way you want to be playing,” said Gendreau.
Things got worse before they got better for the Blazers after Stephon Williams hit a jumper to start the second half to slice the difference to just three, and Sievers scored on a short shot in the lane to make it 36-33. The Spartans went on a nine-point run from there, opened the lead to 12 by the end of the third quarter, and led by a 54-40 score after Kovach scored off a fast break with 5-1/2 minutes to go.
But Boone started to pressure the visitors all over the court and roared back. Worthington made two from the line, Sievers drilled a three-pointer from the left corner, and Xavier Smith popped in a short baseline jumper to cut the deficit in half.
Then Williams scored on the break and was fouled and made the free throw and Sievers hit a three-pointer from the right wing off a pass from Worthington to narrow the gap to 54-53 with 2:30 to go.
But Gerald Burns hit both ends of a one-and-one for the Spartans, the Blazers turned the ball over, and Burns scored a basket on a strange play when his shot was deflected, but banked in off his own shoulder for a 58-53 margin with 1:10 left.
Lacey got Boone to within range on a jumper with 16 seconds remaining, but Cacchione made the second of two from the line with eight ticks to go to boost the lead to four.
By the end, it appeared the Blazers’ determined rally had taken its physical toll on the Spartans, who shot just 3-for-10 from the line down the stretch and turned the ball over five times.
“That was part of the game plan,” said Gendreau. “It wasn’t supposed to take quite that long. Our intensity definitely went up and we finally started sharing the ball a little more. But once you dig yourself a 14-point hole, it’s tough to come back.”
While the Blazers’ chances of making the District 3-AAA playoffs were already slim before the loss, they still can make it to the Berks County playoffs with a good finish.
“Right now our focus is on (county playoffs),” said Gendreau. “We’ve got to get (tonight’s) game against Muhlenberg. We feel if we can win a few of our games and finish in the top four in the division, there’s a real possibility four teams can come out of Division I.”

NOTES
Lacey scored 14 of his points in the first half on 6-for-9 shooting. … Lacey and Dan Downs each grabbed six boards as the Blazers held a 32-27 rebounding advantage. … Wyomissing shot 54 percent from the floor through the first three quarters and wound up at an even 50 percent (24-for-48), while the Blazers shot 44 percent (23-for-52).

BOYS BASKETBALL: Daniel Boone falls to unbeaten Exeter

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

UNION — When you’re up against a basketball team that has a good and experienced big man, players who can shoot three-pointers, and is almost perfect from the free throw line, you’d better be able to score some points of your own.
That was the task facing Daniel Boone in Friday night’s Berks County Division I contest against undefeated Exeter, but the Blazers couldn’t keep pace due to too many turnovers early and too many rushed shots late in the 61-50 loss.
Joe Beddall led the Eagles (2-0, 7-0 overall) – who made their first 16 free throws of the night and wound up at 23-for-26 – with 22 points. Teammate Justin Trojanowski scored 11 and pulled in 13 rebounds. Emmanuel Lacey led Boone (1-1, 4-3) with 11 points and Ken Worthington followed with 10.

(For complete story, click here ... )

WRESTLING: Blazers no match for Wilson

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

UNION — There was no doubt about it.
Daniel Boone was going to be in for a tough night in Wednesday night’s Berks County match against defending Division I and Berks County champion Wilson. The Blazers were going to forfeit the first four bouts, then be up against pretty much an all-star lineup the rest of the way.
Under those circumstances, there wasn’t much Boone could do except to individually wrestle hard for six minutes and take something out of the matches for future use as the Blazers fell to the powerful Bulldogs, 51-15.

(For complete story, click here ... )

WRESTLING: Exeter downs Daniel Boone

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

REIFFTON — Daniel Boone’s team won-loss record after the first week of the wrestling season does not look good, and neither did the scoreboard after Thursday night’s 48-18 Berks County Division I loss at Exeter.

But the Blazers are getting better day by day, according to fourth-year head coach Matt Shutt, who is more concerned with individual efforts than he is with team scores at this time of the year as his squad gains experience during a rugged early-season schedule.

Christian Fernandez and Jeff Yohn won by pins for Boone (1-1, 2-5), Nick Limone and Cody Barrows earned decisions for the Blazers, and several other bouts went right down to the final minute. Exeter (2-0, 2-0) jumped to a 27-0 lead with the help of a pair of forfeits before the Blazers won three of the next four bouts and then broke the match open with back-to-back pins and another forfeit in the upper weights.

“I’m not looking at the team scores,” said Shutt. “I’m looking at how we wrestle. It hurts having holes in the lineup, but we’re not giving up and we’re not getting put on our backs.”

(For the complete story, click here...)

Exeter 35, Daniel Boone 7

Quarterback Kyle Yocum, right, led Exeter to a 35-7 win over Daniel Boone Friday. (JRC file photo)

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com
 

UNION — It had occupied a spot in the Daniel Boone High School trophy case for the past eight years.

But after Friday evening’s game with Exeter, the “Pig Iron” Trophy — symbol of the longtime rivalry between the Blazers and their neighbors to their north — will be taking up a new home in the Reading area school. And to a degree, the trophy’s change of venue characterizes the different directions in which the Berks County grid programs were heading this fall.

The schools closed out their Berks Football League (Section One) regular seasons with the Eagles rolling up a 35-7 victory in the “Pig Iron Bowl.” That ended Boone’s eight-year domination of a series in its 55th matchup, not to mention giving Exeter a decided head of steam heading into the postseason phase of its 2012 campaign.

And as for the trophy ...
“I think we have a spot for it,” Matt Connelly, the star of the Eagles’ offense with close to 150 yards’ total offense, said afterward. Connelly rushed for a game-high 138 yards on 24 carries, scoring Exeter’s first two touchdowns in addition to catching one Kyle Yocum pass for another nine.

Muhlenberg 52, Daniel Boone 19

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

UNION — Muhlenberg rang up 270 yards rushing on 39 carries, with one player topping the 100-yard mark and another within reach of triple digits.

And that was just what Muhlenberg did in the first half of Friday’s game with Daniel Boone. But it was enough for the Muhls to establish a dominating tone, and eventual 52-19 victory, in the Berks Football League Section One matchup.

Muhlenberg’s backfield tandem of Frank German and Ben Ortiz combined to account for 313 of the visitors’ 369 yards, and all but two of its seven touchdowns, as it pursues a berth in the postseason playoffs. The Mules (3-3, 5-4 overall) went on to amass 369 of their 431 on the ground, Ortiz finishing with a game-high 190 and German 123.

“We’re a two-back system,” Muhlenberg head coach Rich Kolka said after seeing his team rebound from last week’s loss to Reading in a big way. “We play at a high tempo, and we’re fortunate to have two good backs who do something.”

 (For complete story, click here...)

Reading 31, Daniel Boone 6

By Dennis Weeler
Special to The Mercury

READING — Nothing went right for Daniel Boone at the beginning of the second half of its Berks Football League Section I contest following a lightning and tornado warning delay of well over an hour.

Reading broke a halftime tie with three touchdowns in a span of just 4-1/2 minutes as the Red Knights intercepted a pass and recovered an onside kick and rolled on to a 31-6 win at Albright College’s Shirk Stadium.

It took the Red Knights (3-2, 4-4 overall) just three plays to cover 68 yards following the long delay, with Jolan Branford’s 13-yard touchdown run giving Reading a 12-6 lead just 61 seconds into the third quarter. Things quickly got even worse for the Blazers (2-3, 2-6) when Branford intercepted a pass, setting up a 39-yard touchdown drive. Then the Red Knights recovered an onside kick and scored again for a 24-6 advantage with 7:28 still remaining in the third quarter.

(For complete story, click here...)

Daniel Boone 26, Pottsville 8

By Jeff Stover
jstover@pottsmerc.com

UNION — There was plenty to celebrate at Daniel Boone.

On the occasion of Friday’s football game with Pottsville, the school held its annual Homecoming ceremonies. It also enshrined the two newest members to its sports Wall of Fame at halftime.

As for the football game ... well, a 26-8 romp over the Crimson Tide was the cherry on the chocolate cake of a festive night for anyone partial to Blazer blue.

“The kids deserved this,” Boone head coach Bill Parks said after a raucous postgame huddle celebrating the team’s second straight Berks Football League Section One win. “They worked hard all week.”

Big-strike scoring plays were key to Boone (2-2, 2-5 overall) effectively negating a running game that got Pottsville (0-4, 1-6) an early lead. Kyle Myers figured in on three touchdown plays covering almost 140 yards, before Xavier Smith — a hero of the Blazer defense with timely fumble recoveries — scored once to cap his own 130 yards’ rushing and receiving.

(For complete story click here...)

Commitment finally pays off for Daniel Boone’s new crew

Daniel Boone and first-year head coach Bill Parks finally got their first win over the weekend in a rout of Twin Valley. (File photo by Tom Kelly III)

By Don Seeley
dseeley@pottsmerc.com

UNION TWP. — Bill Parks felt it would likely take some time to get everyone on the same page, perhaps even get into the win column, when he was named Daniel Boone’s head football coach back last April.
Introducing an entirely new system to a team that had been gutted by graduation was one thing. Kicking off a new season against three opponents who were projected to be among their respective league’s contenders was another. And if that wasn’t anywhere near enough of a challenge, trying to mend a long, long list of injuries to two-way starters along the way sure was.
So when Parks and the Blazers secured that elusive first win last Friday night at Twin Valley, rest assured there was reason (or reasons) indeed to celebrate.

(For complete story, click here ... )

Daniel Boone 26, Twin Valley 0

By Darryl Grumling
dgrumling@pottsmerc.com

It certainly wasn’t a September to remember for the Daniel Boone Blazers.
With a first-year coach in Bill Parks, Boone opened the season with five straight losses by a combined margin of 172-32.
Friday night, however, the visiting Blazers washed away the memories of that frustrating start with a second-half offensive torrent fueled by Kyle Myers that keyed a 26-0 Berks Football League Section One victory over Twin Valley.
Highlighted by three carries of 50 or more yards, Myers rushed for 187 yards and one TD on just nine carries and the Rhett Glaser-led defense stonewalled the Raiders as Parks picked up his first win.

(For complete story, click here ... )

Video from Daniel Boone-Twin Valley

Darryl Grumling filing video tonight from Daniel Boone at Twin Valley:

Interview with Daniel Boone's Devyn Haring:

Darryl's post-game report: