Upstart Daniel Boone drops 3-2 decision to Governor Mifflin in Berks first-place battle

SHILLINGTON >> Daniel Boone volleyball played it biggest match in years Thursday night against defending Berks League Section 1 co-champion Governor Mifflin. The Blazers and Mustangs entered the showdown as equals – both sporting unbeaten league marks, first place on the line.

In an intense five-game match, the Blazers showed they are close, but not quite all the way there yet. Governor Mifflin coughed up a late lead in Game 4 but recovered to close out the match as 3-2 victors, with a 15-6 triumph in the deciding game.

It was a promising display by coach Tom Heffner’s Blazers (5-1, 3-1 Section 1), one that just lacked a finishing punch against a county power that was 17-3 last season.

“For our team, it’s a mental game,” Heffner, in his sixth season as head coach, said. “We have the volleyball acumen to compete with anyone in our league. We need to be confident on the court, and when we’re confident, we’re successful. We played a really good Governor Mifflin team and they were able to neutralize us offensively in some situations where we had been more successful earlier in the season. It was hard-fought match.”

Boone was down 2 games to 1 and trailed 19-18 in Game 4 before ripping off a 7-1 run from seemingly nowhere to force a decisive fifth set. Just six points from being ushered out in four games, the growth of this year’s contending contingent – already battle-hardened — shone on a rival court.

“I’m proud of the fight our guys showed in Game 4,” Heffner said, “to force it a fifth game. This is our third fifth—game match of the season, so I thought we were gonna make 3-0 in fifth games. But it wasn’t to be. I was proud of the way we fought, though.

“As a program, we’ve never been in this spot. For us, this has been our best start, and just to be in this situation is a great thing.”

The final set was tied at 5-all before the host Mustangs ended the match with a 10-1 run.

“It’s a really fun year to be coaching in the Berks League because there’s so many good teams and we’re all really competitive with each other,” Mifflin head coach Matt Davis said. “So we talked about that coming into this match. This is a team, Daniel Boone, that won two big Game 5’s against Wilson and Exeter. So this was not going to be team that was going to come out and just roll over for us.”

Boone jumped the Mustangs (6-0, 5-0) with a 25-19 victory in the first set. Mifflin fell in a nearly 6-1 hole before rallying to move ahead 15-14, but the Blazers announced they intended to stick around with an 8-2 closing flourish.

The Mustangs’ sluggish start dissipated with dominance in the second and third games. Never trailing in either set, Mifflin took Game 2 by a 25-16 count and the third game 25-12 to move in front 2-1. The form continued deep into Game 4 until Boone’s resolve revealed itself with that closing 7-1 run.

“We talked about that before the fourth game,” Davis said, “that they were going to come out firing and we have to be ready. And they did that. They’re a solid team and they have a lot of good players.”

Ian Rathgeb had a solid match for Boone, recording 10 kills, two blocks and seven digs for the Blazers. Danny Dry had 33 assists. Alex Kutz had eight kills and three digs.

Jon Demeter led Mifflin with 12 kills and three aces. McClain Miller had eight blocks, while teammate Ryan Lawes racked up 31 helpers.

Governor Mifflin 3, Daniel Boone 2

Daniel Boone –  25  16  12  25  6 — 2

Governor Mifflin –  19  25  25  20  15 — 3