A battle of two of the top rushing attacks in Berks County produced an offensive showcase Friday night at Reiffton, as Exeter defeated Muhlenberg 56-28 in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 matchup.
Jayden Zandier, a senior running back for the Eagles (4-0, 7-0), rushed for a team-high 305 yards and had a game-high four rushing touchdowns.
“He stepped up and answered the call in so many ways,” Exeter coach Matt Bauer said. “We had some key injuries and he just kept going and running hard. We were behind the sticks a lot, and these kids never wavered. They rallied behind Jaden and I couldn’t be more proud of the way all of our kids stepped up and responded to all this adversity.”
Cameron Small, a junior running back for the Muhls (1-3, 3-4), had a team-high three touchdowns and a game-high 351 rushing yards. The total also broke a program rushing record according to Muhlenberg coach Rob Flowers. Despite the strength of both ground games, Exeter’s offense proved to be too much to handle.
“I was very proud offensive line played,” Flowers said. “They have been doing a phenomenal job. We had a kid break our school rushing record tonight and we had him run for over 300 yards. We lost the game, but there’s things that we’re going to fix around, and we just got to get our kids to continue to believe. Continue to believe in what we’re doing, and believe in how we’re doing it.
“We’re going to be okay. It’s a process, and it’s a journey, and we’re gonna be okay.”
The Eagles established a 41-22 lead at the half and outscored the Muhls 20-16 in the second quarter.
Zandier opened up the scoring with a 51-yard touchdown run by Zandier on the first play of the game. Exeter went for two and the pass attempt failed.
Zandier added to the lead after the Eagles forced a three-and-out on Muhlenberg’s first possession. This time, on third and 13, Zandier cut to the outside and shook off a few tacklers on his way to a 30-yard score.
Senior quarterback Riley Martinez completed a two-point conversion pass to Zandier to make it 14-0.
“I definitely expressed my confidence (tonight),” Zandier said. “I love running with the ball in my hands and in clutch time because I always think I can make the play.”
Small got his game going moments later, however, and he found space up the middle and picked up an 80-yard touchdown run. The extra point attempt was blocked making it 14-6 with 7:06 left in the opening quarter.
Senior Justin Prizer finished his night with two touchdown runs for Exeter, and he scored his first with 3:21 left in the first from the 5-yard line. The run completed a 6-play, 47-yard touchdown drive for the Eagles.
Penalties hurt Exeter throughout the game and on the Muhls first possession of the second quarter, the Eagles committed two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Small scored a 32-yard touchdown run on the drive to make it 21-14 following a two-point conversion with 9:59 left in the opening half.
“We made some adjustments and hats off to them because they had a great game plan,” Bauer said. “Their back is very good, and he runs low to the ground with a forward lead, he’s hard to tackle. They executed their game plan. They controlled the clock, but our kids weren’t going to be denied tonight.”
Prizer scored his second touchdown with 5:53 left in the first half. He came up with a 4-yard touchdown run to complete an 11-play, 48-yard drive. Exeter picked up three first downs on the drive, including a 7-yard run on 4th and 5 by Jayden Zandier.
“He’s definitely stepping up this year,” Zandier said of Prizer. “He wasn’t really a big key guy last year, but he’s finding his way into this offense.”
Muhlenberg responded in kind a minute later after a 70-yard run by Small set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Mike Miller Jr. The Muhls completed the ensuing two-point conversion pass and Small’s big run put him over 200 rushing yards in the first half.
With 1:42 left in the half and after several penalties continued to push the Eagles back, Zandier scored a 35-yard rushing touchdown on fourth and 10 and the two-point conversion run by Zandier was good, making it 35-22.
After stopping the Muhlenberg and getting the ball back quickly at the Muhls’ 49, it took Exeter just three plays to find the end zone once more.
With 7.6 seconds left in the first half Aidan Dauble, a key piece on the Eagles’ basketball team, showed off his height Randy Moss style, as the junior leaped over two defenders in the end zone to bring down a 27-yard touchdown pass from Martinez.
“That was definitely a huge momentum swing for us,” Bauer said.
Small had 244 rushing yards in the first half and Zandier had 221 rushing yards in the first half.
Muhlenberg controlled the clock on the opening drive of the second half.
The Muhls took close to 10 minutes off the clock on the opening drive of the first half before Small scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown on 4th and goal to complete an 18-play, 85-yard scoring drive.
A pass interference penalty on a deep pass to the end zone on fourth and 14 from the Exeter 38 helped Muhlenberg advance for the score.
Zandier would not let the Muhls keep their momentum. Answering quickly, Zandier scored a 17-yard rushing touchdown, his fourth of the night, to complete a quick 5-play, 53-yard drive on the final play of the third quarter.
Refusing to go down quietly, Muhlenberg advanced to Eagles‘ 1 before a penalty moved them back five On third and goal a pass to the corner of the end zone by Adriel Baez was intercepted by Jayden Ware with a little over six minutes left, effectively ending any hope at a comeback by the Muhls.
“We challenged our young men and we’ve been challenging them to just be a little more physical,” Flowers said. “We have not been a very physical football team, especially on the defensive side of the ball, so we really challenged them to do that. We had a very difficult week, especially coming off of that loss that we should not have took last week because we weren’t locked in mentally. So getting our guys be locked in mentally, to be to be a little more physical, was a big, big challenge for our guys.”
Prior to Ware’s interception, he had two kick returns for touchdowns get called back due to penalties earlier in the game.
“I knew it was coming,” Zandier said of Ware’s momentum-shifting interception. “He had two kick return touchdowns get called back, and I knew he’s gonna make a play soon. He was hungry.”
Exeter was able to run out most of the clock on the ensuing drive. Casey Gerhart scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown to close out the scoring with 1:29 left.
Source: Berkshire mont