BERWICK — Carl Majer looked into the camera and said he was glad Friday night’s high school football game between Berwick and his one-loss Danville team was over.
This game which his Ironmen won, 49-6, has been circled on the calendar for everyone but himself since he was hired as Danville’s coach earlier this year. The former Berwick player under the tutelage of the legendary George Curry has numerous times been an applicant for open head coaching positions at Berwick, and back in 2019 he was a finalist before the school board eventually selected Carmen DeFrancesco to run the program.
In the afterglow of such a lopsided win by his veteran Danville team, Majer didn’t gloat. He didn’t play the coulda, shoulda, woulda card. Instead, he gave compliments to a young Berwick program which gave the Ironmen’s defense some headaches for the first 24 minutes.
But in the end, the Ironmen’s plethora of offensive weapons was one point shy of its fifth 50-point performance of the season. The Ironmen ran just 34 offensive plays Friday, but still totaled more than 400 yards of offense, averaging more than 12 yards per snap.
It led to Danville’s second win over Berwick in as many years, the first time since the 1961-62 seasons that the Ironmen have beaten the Bulldogs in back to back years.
“I’m just glad it’s over with. I’m tired of the hype,” Majer said. “Any time you get to come and beat a Berwick team is refreshing.”
Danville picked on an inexperienced Berwick defense which allowed more than 40 points for the second consecutive week and has held just two opponents to fewer than 30 points this season. On the Ironmen’s first offense snap quarterback Madden Patrick found Aaron Johnson for a 45-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Later in the quarter, a 67-yard run by former Berwick player Bo Sheptock led to a Patrick touchdown run.
Patrick later found Cole Duffy for a 64-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Patrick’s third touchdown toss came on a 20-yard completion to Johnson following a Berwick fumble. And a rocket screen to Duffy closed the first-half scoring on an 11-yard pass play.
And Johnson invoked the mercy rule on the first play of the third quarter when he got behind the Berwick defense for a 63-yard touchdown pass. Patrick surpassed 300 passing yards for the third time this season, and his five touchdown passes were the third-most he’s thrown in a came this year.
“You don’t have many quarterbacks that can throw the ball like (Patrick),” interim Berwick coach Bo Orlando said. “And he’s got a lot of athletes around him. He’s got three or four or five guys he can go to. They’re good athletes and they’re tough to stop.
“I call (Patrick) my X-factor,” Majer said. “You see how he gets the ball and can score in one play. The game has slowed down for him. It’s a great advantage having a quarterback like Madden.”
Berwick had multiple opportunities to answer in the first half. They chipped away at yards with the running game, as quarterback Ethan Lear deftly ran their read-option offense. The Bulldogs had six first downs in the first quarter alone. The problem was, none of those possessions resulted in points.
One drive ended when a field goal attempt saw the snap sail high and cause a 10-yard loss on fourth down. Another drive which got as far as the Danville 10 ended in a turnover on downs when a jump ball to the end zone fell incomplete. Another turnover on downs came in the second quarter when a fourth-down pass to the end zone was knocked down.
There were chances for the Bulldogs to at least keep the game competitive. Berwick racked up 246 yards of offense in the first half on 41 snaps. But its only points were a beautifully thrown ball on the seam to Braylon Hawkins for a 49-yard touchdown.
“I think offensively we played pretty well,” Orlando said. “We shot ourselves in the foot with some of the mistakes we made. I thought we did better running at them. And I thought Ethan did a really good job running the option, but we just didn’t finish those.”
“We changed up a couple things in the red zone, and that’s just smart football,” Majer said. “You have to give them a different look when things are going right, and we gave them a different look. The guys really sucked it up in the red zone.”
Danville 49, Berwick 6
Danville 14 21 7 7 – 49
Berwick 0 6 0 0 – 6
First quarter
D—Aaron Johnson 45 pass from Madden Patrick (Aaron Johnson kick), 10:02
D—Patrick 1 run (Garrett Hoffman kick), 4:21
Second quarter
D—Cole Duffy 64 from Patrick (Hoffman kick), 8:08
D—Johnson 20 pass from Patrick (Johnson kick), 7:10
B—Braylon Hawkins 49 pass from Ethan Lear (kick blocked), 2:38\
D—Duffy 11 pass from Patrick (Hoffman kick), 1:47
Third quarter
D—Johnson 63 pass from Patrick (Hoffman kick), 11:42
Fourth quarter
D—Bo Sheptock 15 run (Hoffman kick), 4:33
Dan Ber
First downs 13 14
Rushes-yds 17-110 35-118
Com-att-int 12-17-0 12-25-1
Pass yards 303 198
Total yards 413 316
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 9-66 4-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Danville, Bo Sheptock, 10-102, TD; Aaron Johnson, 1-10; Madden Patrick, 3-5, TD; Aidon Bingaman, 1-(-3); Lliam Hagerman, 2-(-4). Berwick, Tyler Winter, 18-69; Ethan Lear, 11-38; Braylon Hawkins, 1-21; Gavin Galutia, 4-0; Team, 1-(-10).
Passing: Danville, Madden Patrick, 12-17-0, 303 yds., 5 TDs. Berwick, Ethan Lear, 12-25-1, 198 yds., TD.
Receiving: Danville, Aaron Johnson, 3-128, 3 TDs; Cole Duffy, 3-82, 2 TDs; Carter Raup, 3-80; Bo Sheptock, 2-5; Cameron Kiersch, 1-8. Berwick, Braylon Hawkins, 5-130, TD; Harrison Snyder, 2-37; Josh Kishbaugh, 2-18; Tyler Winter, 2-5; Ty Wilkerson, 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS: Danville, Cole Duffy.
RECORDS: Berwick (2-6); Danville (7-1).
