High school football preview: Wilson gets another test in Cedar Crest

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Week 6 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League season is highlighted by another intriguing Section 1 matchup in West Lawn.

The Wilson Bulldogs (2-0, 4-1) host Cedar Crest (1-1, 4-1) Friday night at John Gurski Stadium.

Four teams sit at 4-1, including Manheim Township and Penn Manor, in the league’s biggest section, which means the second half of the regular season will get interesting.

Not only will the squads be fighting for a section title, but District 3 implications will be on the line too.

Wilson, ranked ninth in the state in Class 6A according to Eric Epler of Pennlive.com, defeated Manheim Township 17-0 in Week 4 and faces Penn Manor on the road in Week 7.

“There’s some coaches that have established programs and they’re playing good football. Any given week,” Bulldogs head coach Doug Dahms said. “Obviously, us and Township are still at the top of the pile, but Cedar Crest has a really nice football team and Penn Manor is making a move in the right direction.”

As for this week’s matchup, the Bulldogs have not fallen to Cedar Crest since 2001.

Safe to say, history has been on their side, as it’s been against many teams in their storied history.

But nothing in the past quite matters when the teams take the field on October’s first Friday night. Dahms knows his team needs to bring it.

The Falcons are coming off their first loss of the season, 45-12, at the hands of Manheim Township, and eager to bounce back with an underdog victory.

Nearly averaging 40 points per game, the offense is led by running back and Army commit Isaiah Zimmerman.

The senior has already rushed for 11 touchdowns while putting up a 112-yard performance in last week’s loss.

What makes Zimmerman an even bigger threat is the Falcons’ offensive line, which, to say the least, is big and can move defenders back into the second level.

Along with Zimmerman, quarterback Steven Reyes has gotten off to an exceptional start in 2026 after taking over for Kai Speaks, who is now his No. 1 target on the outside.

“Speaks in there at wide receiver, he’s a dude,” Dahms said of the Falcons’ playmaker, who has 280 receiving yards on the season. “He’s big, strong, fast and has great hands and positions himself quite well. Then the quarterback (Reyes) is very elusive. We’ll have our hands full.”

Reyes has completed 50-of-86 passes for 949 yards and 11 touchdowns, four to Speaks, and four interceptions.

But to counteract any elite offense, it takes an elite defense, which the Bulldogs luckily have in 2026.

Allowing under 10 points and 121 yards per game is the kind of defense that wins championships. Wilson hopes.

Leading the way at linebacker is All-State senior E.J. Brownback.

Elite at the point of attack and seeing plays develop to disrupt them in a blink of an eye, the senior has a team-high 27.5 tackles and seven tackles for loss.

“He knows the game. He’s smart. He has a great nose for football,” Dahms said of Brownback.

Braydon Farrell is second on the team with six tackles for loss, while Damoni Daglis has two sacks in just three games.

Like most teams on every level, the Bulldogs are dealing with some injuries on the back end.

“I think we have a nice defense. It’d be nice if we would ever get fully healthy, but that all comes with time,” Dahms said. “We have good speed, good size, and we have a lot of experience.”

Star running back and defensive back Justice Hardy has had a lingering shoulder injury that knocked him out of the Bulldogs’ lone loss against Central Bucks West, 35-23, in Week 2.

According to Dahms, Hardy is day-to-day.

Not quite the start the Bulldogs would have liked from the January transfer from Wyomissing, but even with his health issues, Hardy has gotten into the end zone three times, rushing for 137 yards and one breakup in the secondary.

With Hardy’s absence in the backfield, Monty Greer has benefited.

The senior leads the team with seven touchdowns, five on the ground along with 257 yards, but remains a threat in the passing game with 140 yards on 11 receptions.

Just like the Bulldogs’ defense will have their hands full, so will the Falcons.

Which offense will win the day?

Elsewhere in Berks County, Fleetwood (1-1, 3-2), coming off a huge 13-6 win over Manheim Central, travels to Elverson to take on undefeated Twin Valley (2-0, 5-0) in a Section 3 matchup.

The Tigers went down 6-0 in the first quarter following a blocked punt, but two explosive touchdown runs from senior Beau Fegely, 43 and 41 yards, propelled them to victory.

Defensively, the Tigers held the Barons to just 32 total yards.

It is Fleetwood’s first time since 2023 that the Tigers have held a .500 or better record past Week 5.

But heading into Week 6, first-year head coach Mel Fegely will be heading into an absolute buzzsaw.

The Raiders, week after week, remind everyone that they are one of the best teams in the state, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Ranked fifth in the state in Class 5A according to Epler of PennLive.com, Twin Valley is racking up over 360 yards per game while holding teams to just 6.6 points per game.

Dominant on both sides of the football.

Four players, Lucas Myers (442), Maverik Foster (241), Grant Moser (183) and Alain Bazile (177), all have rushed for over 100 yards through the first five games of the season.

Myers and Foster each have punched it into the end zone six times.

Fleetwood obviously faces a tough test, trying to move the ball on offense while also trying to slow down an offense that is rolling on all cylinders.

While the Raiders continue to make their mark in their first year in Section 3, they’ll face undefeated Solanco next week on the road, which has all the makings of a game of the year and potentially will decide who earns the section title.

Thursday

Berks Catholic at Annville-Cleona, 7 p.m.

Friday

Cedar Crest at Wilson, 7 p.m.

Fleetwood at Twin Valley, 7 p.m.

Reading at JP McCaskey, 7 p.m.

Exeter at Elizabethtown, 7 p.m.

Muhlenberg at Ephrata, 7 p.m.

Gov. Mifflin at Lebanon, 7 p.m.

Conrad Weiser at Northern Lebanon, 7 p.m.

Wyomissing at Donegal, 7 p.m.

ELCO at Daniel Boone, 7 p.m.

Schuylkill Valley at Pequea Valley, 7 p.m.

Hamburg at Lancaster Catholic, 7 p.m.

Columbia at Kutztown, 7 p.m.

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