After win, Mustangs ready for primetime

by Mike Drago, Reading Eagle

Gov. Mifflin follows its season-opening victory over rival Wilson with a televised Saturday night game against Manheim Township and highly touted quarterback Pat Bostick.

It's obvious that the Gov. Mifflin Mustangs have long craved a seat in the Berks football spotlight that has warmed Wilson for years.

Now that the Mustangs have beaten the Bulldogs, they'll get a chance to enjoy the glow of that spotlight - at least until they get knocked from center stage.

One week after opening the season with a surprising 14-12 victory at Wilson, the Mustangs will find themselves playing on television (TV-WTVE 51) for a state-wide audience when they head to Manheim Township Saturday night at 6:30.

The timing is just a coincidence, of course; the game was picked for broadcast months ago, not because Mifflin beat Wilson.

And the Mustangs, head coach Mick Vecchio is quick to remind his guys, are merely the guests at this dinner party - they're not considered the main course.

“We're playing (on television) Saturday night,” Vecchio said, “and its not because of us.”

True. The feature attraction is Blue Streaks quarterback Pat Bostick, one of the top high school passers in the state and the target of a big recruiting battle that saw the Pittsburgh Panthers come out on top earlier this summer.

Bostick, a 6-4, 220-pound pocket passer, was a second-team all-state pick a year ago when he threw 34 TDs and for 2,813 yards. A three-year starter, he has thrown for 5,164 yards and is in position to top Chad Henne's Lancaster-Lebanon League career passing record of 7,071 yards.

Bostick is the carrot on the stick. And the Mustangs will be the ones chasing it.

“He is everything they build him up to be,” Vecchio said of Bostick, who has drawn comparisons to Wilson's Henne, Cedar Crest's Brandon Kirsch and Manheim Central's Jeff Smoker, other highly recruited quarterbacks to come out of the Lancaster-Lebanon League in recent seasons. “He's a big-time quarterback.

“Throwing the ball, he's every bit as good as all those guys. You have to cover people all over the field tight or he's gonna get the ball to them. That's what concerns me the most.”

Elsewhere, Reading High braces for a visit from highly ranked Pottsville; Boyertown meets Lansdale Catholic in an early, and always key; Pioneer Athletic Conference battle and Wilson, upset by Mifflin last week, tries to rebound against Dallastown.

“We just made a lot of mental mistakes (last week),” Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms said of his team's struggles moving the ball, “and they always seemed to be at the point of attack. It was just a comedy of mental mistakes. We hope to correct some of them (this week).”

While the Mustangs are past the Wilson part of their schedule, they may not totally be past the Bulldogs. Big victories such as that tend to linger.

“I'm concerned,” Vecchio said of a possible Wilson hangover, “I'm very concerned. I'll just keep telling these guys, ‘OK we beat Wilson but that's in the past, and you've got to move on.' ”

Contact Mike Drago at 610-371-5067 or mdrago@readingeagle.com.

[ return to previous page ]