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On Friday night, stadium lights, student sections and shoulder pads return to Berks.

All 15 Berks football teams will be in action this weekend in Week 1 of the high school football season, with 14 teams kicking off their seasons with non-league games on Friday at 7 p.m. Wyomissing will host Kennard-Dale in a non-leaguer on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

The 2022 season will mark the first of a new home for the large majority of Berks teams, as 13 squads from the former Berks Football League have joined Wilson to help form a 37-team Lancaster-Lebanon League. The league is made up of five sections, with at least two Berks team in each.

The formation of the new league also caused some changes to the schedule. Exeter and Daniel Boone will kick off the season at Birdsboro with the latest installment of the Pig Iron Bowl. The rivalry is being played at the beginning of the season, as the Eagles and Blazers are in different sections of the revamped L-L League.

“I think everyone is very excited,” Exeter coach Matt Bauer said. “It’s definitely different because we’re used to ending (the season) with them.”

The two teams last met on Oct. 30, 2020, with the Eagles winning 49-16. The 2021 edition of the rivalry was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns surrounding the Daniel Boone program.

Exeter, the defending District 3 Class 5A champion, has won nine straight Pig Iron Bowls. The Blazers have not beaten the Eagles since 2011, which is something they will look to change this weekend.

Daniel Boone returns a group of 17 seniors and are anchored by key returnees on both sides of the ball. Junior Ethan Kryman is slated to be the Blazers’ starting running back following the graduation of A.J. Hofer, who ran for 951 yards last season.

“It’s a great test for us to see how much our program continues to grow,” Daniel Boone coach Rob Flowers said. “This senior group just wants to be different. They want to create their own lane. They want to create their own story.”

The Blazers will try to slow the Exeter offense, which will be led by new starting quarterback Mason Rotelli. A senior, Rotelli takes over following the graduation of Colin Payne.

“Mason has come through our program,” Bauer said. “He’s definitely paid his dues and waited his turn.”

Rotelli never has thrown a pass for the Eagles in a varsity game, but did record 36 rushing yards and a touchdown last season. Rotelli won the starting quarterback competition over versatile senior and Penn State commit Joey Schlaffer, but Bauer did not rule out the possibility of both players taking snaps in Friday’s game. Schlaffer is expected to play tight end in college.

“It comes back to getting your best 11 on the field in the right positions,” Bauer said. “Joey is such a versatile athlete. Having the option of lining up at different positions definitely plays to our advantage.”

No matter who is under center, Bauer said he expects the 2022 edition of the Pig Iron Bowl to feature plenty of excitement.

“I think we’re going to get great efforts from both teams, so it should be a really competitive, spirited contest,” Bauer said. “The team that makes the least amount of mistakes is going to have the best chance of winning.”

Elsewhere in the county, District 3 Class 5A runner-up Gov. Mifflin welcomes Spring-Ford to Shillington. The Mustangs will be trying to replace the production of 2021 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year and current Penn State running back Nick Singleton, who ran for 2,059 yards and scored 42 total touchdowns last season.

According to Gov. Mifflin coach Jeff Lang, the Mustangs will look to seniors Brayden Reis, Ayden Martin and Tynan Harter, and junior Brandon Jones to pick up the workload in the running game. Martin recorded 14 carries for 119 yards last season and had four total touchdowns.

Delsin McNeil will start at quarterback for the Mustangs following the graduation of Eden Johnson, who is now at Kutztown University. McNeil completed 6-of-7 passes, ran for 188 yards and scored three total touchdowns last season.

Spring-Ford went 6-5 last season and finished second in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division. The Rams lost in the first round of the District 1 Class 6A playoffs.

At Gurski Stadium in West Lawn, Wilson will host Roman Catholic. The Bulldogs will turn to a lot of young players in Week 1, as they are tasked with replacing their entire offensive line and standout quarterback Brad Hoffman from last season.

The young Bulldogs will be up against a stout Cahillites’ defense led by senior defensive end Jameial Lyons and senior linebacker Jordan Montgomery. Lyons is a Penn State commit, while Montgomery has offers from Maryland, Syracuse and Temple.

At Leesport, Schuylkill Valley will host Twin Valley. The Raiders made the District 3 playoffs for the first time last season, and will try to have another successful year under new head coach Brett Myers.

The Raiders have won the last seven meetings with the Panthers, a former foe in Section 2 of the Berks Football League. Schuylkill Valley’s last win in the series came in 2014.

Also Friday, four other head coaches will make their debuts. Troy Godinet, a Reading High grad, will lead the Red Knights when they travel to Central Dauphin East.

Matt Hoffert, who previously had been a head coach at Kutztown, will be in charge at Hamburg, his alma mater, when the Hawks travel to Halifax.

Steve Pangburn will make his head coaching debut for Fleetwood at Kutztown. And at Boyertown, Justin Konnick, a 1997 Boyertown grad and the head coach of the Legion baseball team, has his first game at home against Upper Perkiomen.

In the only Saturday game involving a Berks team, Wyomissing will host Kennard-Dale in a clash of two teams that made deep runs in last year’s playoffs. The Spartans advanced to the PIAA Class 3A championship game before falling to Central Valley, while the Rams advanced to the District 3 Class 4A semifinals before falling to Lampeter-Strasburg.

Wyomissing, which has won three straight district titles, lost 12 players to graduation, including All-Berks selections Tommy Grabowski and Aiden Mack, the team’s leading rusher and receiver, respectively. The Spartans are expected to rely heavily on senior running back Andrew Eisenhower, who ran for 871 yards last season.

Garden Spot at Conrad Weiser

Twin Valley at Schuylkill Valley

Reading High at Central Dauphin East

Kennard-Dale at Wyomissing, 1:30 p.m.

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