LAURELDALE - Even when nothing else goes right all night, the losing team can often take some consolation from the fact that at least nobody got hurt. But the Boyertown football team doesn't even have that luxury after Friday's 43-0 season-opening, non-league setback at Muhlenberg.

 

The Bears were unable to stop the Muhls right from the start and picked up only a pair of first downs while falling behind by a 27-0 score at the half. On top of that, starting quarterback David Crognale injured his right ankle while playing defense late in the first half and watched the rest of the game from the sidelines.

 

Nate Daniels completed 16 of 24 pass attempts for 268 yards and three touchdowns for the Muhls, with two of the scoring strikes going to Vaughn Carraway. The winners ran for 233 yards and passed for 279 while the Bears accumulated only 78 total yards.

 

Boyertown coach Ron Zeiber understandably did not have much to say after the whitewash.

 

"We need to work on developing a little more heart," he said.

 

"We need to work on developing a little more desire. And we need to work on developing a little more attitude."

"I think we need to prepare more," said senior offensive and defensive lineman Tyler Sands. "We need to get our heads into the game. We need to play more physically."

 

The Muhls, who opened last season with a 35-17 win at Boyertown, marched 84 yards on nine plays on the first possession of the night, with Nate Rivera scoring on a two-yard run 3:11 into the contest. The Bears were forced to punt after three plays on their first try with the ball and the Muhls drove down the field again. Boyertown slowed the march briefly when Ty Showers nearly intercepted a pass and knocked it down, and Wes Mitchell and Ian Repko brought Daniels down for a three-yard loss.

 

But Muhlenberg eventually completed a 64-yard trip when Dan Vallejo recovered a fumble in the end zone for a 13-0 margin. Touchdown passes of 10 yards each from Daniels to Vallejo and Carraway in the second quarter produced the 27-0 halftime score.

 

At that point, the Muhls had accumulated 208 yards and 16 first downs to Boyertown's 33 and two.

"I told them they looked like they weren't interested in playing," Zeiber said in recounting the beginning of his halftime talk.

 

"Coach told us to come out firing and not give up," said Sands.

 

An 18-yard pass from Daniels to Carraway made it 34-0 early in the third quarter, and a 22-yard field goal by Ben Miller started the running clock with 8:15 left in the game.

 

Junior Jeff Zimmerman ran for two first downs for the Bears in the second half and wound up as the team's leading rusher for the night with 36 yards on 10 carries. Brian Rakowski was second in that department with 18 yards on eight tries, mostly in the first half.

 

The Bears will host Middletown in another non-league contest next week before opening the Pioneer Athletic Conference season in week three.

 

"I think we came out a little better in the second half," said Sands. "We've got to just smack heads and get after them. We definitely can't have a first half like that again."

Muhlenberg now leads the series, 15-8-1.