{"id":279252,"date":"2026-09-04T21:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/279252\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T21:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:54:16","slug":"high-school-football-muhlenberg-blows-out-reading-high-in-game-marred-by-fight-in-the-stands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/279252\/","title":{"rendered":"High school football: Muhlenberg blows out Reading High in game marred by fight in the stands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever Muhlenberg and Reading High meet, whether it\u2019s football, basketball or any sport for that matter, emotions run high, and that was displayed on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Muhlenberg won its second consecutive Battle of the Border Trophy over Reading High, 50-14, at Gene L. Shirk Stadium on a toasty night at Albright College.<\/p>\n

It was a game that lasted nearly three and a half hours, which consisted of 25 total penalties between the teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just too much, man,\u201d Muhls coach Rob Flowers said of the penalties. \u201cOn both sides of the football. It\u2019s not good football to watch when that\u2019s taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the game was delayed at halftime because of a fight in the stands. Police arrived at the scene, and the teams were sent back to the locker rooms during their warmups.<\/p>\n

That marks the second week in a row where a police presence was needed at a Berks County football game because of events off the field. Last week, there was an issue at Gov. Mifflin.<\/p>\n

\"MuhlenbergMuhlenberg quarterback Adriel Baez loses his helmet as he is sacked for a safety against Reading High at Shirk Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

However, on the field, it was a hard-nosed bout that was tied at 14 apiece midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n

But behind Adriel Baez\u2019s arm, the Muhls (1-1) ran away with the game, scoring 36 points in the second half to take the victory.<\/p>\n

Baez threw for 252 yards and four touchdowns, and added another with his legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot, man. Obviously, the Battle of the Border is always a game we circle on the schedule,\u201d Baez said of beating Reading for the second straight time. \u201cWe faced a lot of adversity, but we stayed strong, and I\u2019m glad we came out with the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Reading (0-2), the Red Knights battled early on, erasing their own mistakes on turnovers and penalties to tie the game early in the second half.<\/p>\n

Sophomore defensive tackle Ja\u2019Sian Welmaker was all over the field, making his presence felt.<\/p>\n

No. 99 had three sacks, a fumble recovery and even a blocked punt that resulted in a touchdown from the Red Knights offense one play later.<\/p>\n

It was hard to miss the big fella dominating the trenches down after down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a solid football player,\u201d Flowers said of Welmaker. \u201cNice-sized kid. Plays hard and plays fast. Super important that he continues to make the growth that he\u2019s making. He\u2019s a good football player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ReadingReading High\u2019s Tyrice Bradley turns upfield against Muhlenberg at Shirk Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

To begin the game, the Red Knights turned the ball over as Ian Rodriguez recovered the fumble. Three plays later, he scored up the middle on a 7-yard carry.<\/p>\n

On the Muhls\u2019 next possession, Baez ran a QB draw to take a 14-0 lead within the opening seven minutes of the game.<\/p>\n

But this is what Reading High is seeing change in front of their eyes from a cultural standpoint: There is no quit in them.<\/p>\n

In past seasons, players have said once they go down early, there is a sense of complacency about where the game is headed, but Thursday night displayed that this Red Knights team will not roll over.<\/p>\n

Their next offensive series resulted in a turnover on downs in Muhls\u2019 territory that led to points in a nonorthodox way.<\/p>\n

Baez dropped back to pass in his own end zone and was sacked by Jefferson Suero for a safety, resulting in two points.<\/p>\n

With great field position, Tyrice Bradley had a 20-yard run that set up a 6-yard score from Daron Wilkins that made it a one-score ball game at 14-8.<\/p>\n

\"ReadingReading High\u2019s Nasiah Molena catches a pass and is wrapped up against Muhlenberg at Shirk Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

Neither team could get anything going the rest of the half before the events in the stands happened. The teams trotted back onto the field, but immediately ran back into the locker rooms when they saw the commotion in the stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a plan if there was any type of nonsense, we were just going to go to the locker room,\u201d Flowers said. \u201cI\u2019ve been around this game for a while, so I can see when I can see when some things are not in alignment with safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

After about a 40-minute extended halftime, the teams took the field again.<\/p>\n

At the 7:51 mark, Welmaker came up huge, busting through the punt protection with the numbers on the Red Knights\u2019 side, blocking the punt as it bounced all the way to the end zone, but the sophomore could not come up with the touchdown as players scrambled for the ball.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Elijah Fleming finished the job with a 2-yard score on the ground to tie this game up.<\/p>\n

But that would be the last time Reading would party in the end zone.<\/p>\n

The Muhls took the reins the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

First, Manny Oforgaram Edochie, who finished with a game-high 106 yards, and Ian Rodriguez combined for rushes of 5, 8, 21, 8 and 8 yards before Rodriguez punched in his second touchdown of the night from three yards out.<\/p>\n

\"Muhlenberg'sMuhlenberg\u2019s Ian Rodriguez scores the Muhls\u2019 third touchdown against Reading High at Shirk Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

Reading High began to put a drive together, but Fleming was intercepted by Chase Zona, who was sitting in the flat for an easy takeaway.<\/p>\n

That is when Baez displayed to the Reading fans how much his arm has improved over the course of a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just grown so much and it\u2019s just so impressive to watch his growth,\u201d Flowers said of Baez, who now has thrown for 496 yards and 7 touchdowns in two weeks. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy to see him be able to throw it. Coming in tonight we knew we wanted to throw the rock, so it was just good to see him get it done, and happy to see our guys catching and guys blocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The junior Baez connected with Noel Irizarry down the seam for a 56-yard score, with safety help nowhere to be found, to take a 28-14 lead with 1:20 remaining in the third.<\/p>\n

One possession later, Muhlenberg struck again. This time, Baez connected with Julian Rolon over the middle, breaking tackles en route to a 30-yard score.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel excited about this team,\u201d Baez said. \u201cWe\u2019re explosive and we can put up a lot of points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading 35-14 with under 10 minutes left, the game was all but decided. However, the Muhls kept their foot on the gas, showing the Red Knights they are the top dogs in the rivalry.<\/p>\n

Baez threw two more touchdowns, another to Irizarry for a 16-yard score, then to Kalib Perez for a 71-yarder with 3:31 left in the game.<\/p>\n

Safe to say, no love lost when it comes to the gridiron for these two teams.<\/p>\n

For Reading, Fleming finished 5-for-16 with 69 yards and one interception. Jahleer Nunn ran for a team-high 45 yards.<\/p>\n

Next week, Reading will look for its first win of the season on the road against Lebanon, while Muhlenberg hosts the Section 1 powerhouse Wilson Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going into a game where we know that they\u2019re a really good football team,\u201d Flowers said of Wilson. \u201cWe\u2019re going to game plan. We\u2019re going to prepare. We\u2019re going to make sure that our young men are confident and feel ready to play a football game, and those are the types of things that we can control. So, that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whenever Muhlenberg and Reading High meet, whether it\u2019s football, basketball or any sport for that matter, emotions run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[349,153,155,154,305,28,726,706],"class_list":["post-279252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-berks-county","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-high-school-sports","tag-pennsylvania","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}