Governor Mifflin rolls West York, 48-13

SHILLINGTON>> Governor Mifflin wasn’t crazy about scheduling a Week Zero contest, truth be told. In hindsight, perhaps the Mustangs will be glad they did.

The defending Berks League Section 1 champs accepted West York’s offer to play during this misnomer of a week, in its second season, back when the 2017 schedules were being hammered out. The scheduled contest snapped a tradition of opening up against county neighbor and Lancaster-Lebanon behemoth Wilson, which Governor Mifflin has not be able to defeat in more than a half-dozen years.

Facing York-Adams entrant West York instead, the Mustangs were able to open a slate with win for the first time in ages, a 48-13 pounding of the Bulldogs Friday night that reached mercy clock status as the second half commenced with the hosts sitting on a 35-0 lead.

As a result, Mifflin clocked a win before dealing with Wilson, for a change. That annual challenge will come next week.

“Defensively, we contained (West York) like we had hoped to,” Mifflin head coach Mick Vecchio said. “Offensively, we did what we expected to do and it all worked out good.” Vecchio, in his 26th season as head coach, was making his return to sidelines Friday night after sitting out the 2016 campaign to deal with health issues.

Mifflin was also able to find out exactly what they had with senior quarterback Kam Wolfe, who takes under the role full-time after platooning as a third down quarterback, in tandem with the graduated Austin Baker, a season ago. What they have is a potent playmaker.

Wolfe was gunning darts in the first half, completing his first eight passes of the evening against West York, good for 141 yards and three touchdowns — all in the first half. Wolfe directed drives of 65, 60 and 50 yards, respectively, on Mifflin’s first three possessions. He ended the 60-yarder with a 39-yard strike to Brandon Allen and the third on a 50-yard fly hook-up with wideout burner Tyshaun Weaver, one play after an interception of West York quarterback Corey Wise at midfield.

Bryce Stubler had opened Mifflin’s account with a 28-yard dash off left end for the season’s first score, capping a quick five-play drive on the opening series.

“It was a little bit different,” Wolfe said, “not opening with Wilson. There’s usually a lot more people here. But football is football. We had fun and we did our thing. This gives us a lot of confidence and we’ll be ready to go week.”

Wolfe was humble about his performance, perhaps overly so.

“I did alright,” he said.”I missed a couple of reads running the option and a couple of passes that I should have checked down. But our wideouts did a an excellent job and Isaac (Ruoss) and Niles (Tanis) did an excellent job of running the ball.”

Mifflin once again unveiled a multi-pronged attack that many clubs will have difficulty containing this fall. That potent ground game should help take heat off Wolfe in the pocket. With a size advantage in the trenches over the Bulldogs, the Mustangs ground out 340 rushing yards on 34 attempts, paced by Rouss’s 87.

Tanis went for 35 on just three totes, but one of them was a 29-yard rumble that pushed his club out to a 28-0 advantage early in the second quarter. He also had a 2-point conversion run after the second score of the night, to counter a missed PAT off Stubler’s run.

“Kam did what we expected him to do,” Vecchio said. “Isaac did what we expected him to do. Going into the game, from looking at film from last year, we felt we could pass the ball and we wanted to do that. Everything worked out according to plan.”

Allen caught a second touchdown pass from Wolfe, a nine-yarder, in the dying moments of the first half. Ben Myers’ PAT gave the Mustangs the mercy clock-inducing 35-0 lead that ensured a tidy night’s work at the office.

 

Governor Mifflin 48, West York 13

West York –  0  0  7  6  — 13

Governor Mifflin –  21  14  7  6  — 48

 

First Quarter

GM – Bryce Stubler 28 run (kick failed), 9:49

GM – Brandon Allen 39 pass from Kam Wolfe (Niles Tanis run), 4:47

GM – Tyshaun Weaver 50 pass from Wolfe (Ben Myers kick), 3:57

Second Quarter

GM – Tanis 29 run (Myers kick), 8:44

GM – Allen 9 pass from Wolfe (Myers kick), :12

Third Quarter

GM – Isaac Ruoss 24 run (Myers kick), 5:06

WY – Nick Spadafora 15 run (Andrew Lamanna kick), 2:00

Fourth Quarter

WY – Lamamma 29 pass from Corey wise (kick failed), 7:12

GM – Connor Naugle 8 run (no attempt), :40