Led by the big boys up front, the Berks Catholic Saints won their first Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 title since the merger in 2022.

That hardware was followed by a run to their first District 3 championship appearance since 2019. Unfortunately for the Saints, they fell 17-0 to Trinity in a tough loss.

“I was really proud of the kids. I thought we had a really good year,” Saints coach Dave Stahler said at the Lancaster-Lebanon League media day in early August. “Trinity, that’s a really good program. I thought we’d move the ball a little bit better, but we didn’t. We shot ourselves in the foot on offense a little bit … and we struggled to cover them.”

Even with coming up short at the end of the season, the Saints had a ton to hang their helmets on. In Stahler’s third season at the helm, he has turned Berks Catholic back into a team to be feared.

Berks Catholic averaged more than 300 yards per game on the ground and allowed just eight points per game in its wins defensively. Talk about a well-rounded football team.

This fall, the Saints will take what they learned last year and continue to build on it.

“Last year brought a lot of confidence to us, like we know we can do it again,” junior running back Coy Koller, who rushed for 609 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore, said. “We just have to preach to the upcoming sophomores and people that are now getting put in starting spots that we can do it.”

The Saints return all-state defensive end Faith Zudie for his senior campaign.

A lead-by-example player, Stahler said Zudie is a very hard worker, while his athleticism is through the roof, and he should take another leap this season.

Zudie led the defense with 90 tackles and will continue to be a staple on that side of the ball while also earning some carries out of the backfield.

However, that is one position where the Saints will suffer a lot of turnover.

Leading rusher Xavier Gerald, who ran for 887 yards and eight touchdowns, graduated, while their second-leading back, Jeremiah Camara, transferred for the second time in his high school career, this time to Penn Charter.

Camara, who previously played at Reading High, rushed for 736 yards and seven touchdowns, making him a crucial part of the Saints’ success.

Another player who played a big part in their success in the trenches was lineman Damoni Daglis, who transferred to Wilson.

But Stahler had a simple answer on how big those losses were moving forward.

“They’re not at Berks Catholic anymore.”

So, caring about who wants to be a Saint and compete, Stahler and his players are excited to replicate the same success as last season.

“We’re always competing with the team we were yesterday. We have to get better every day. I worry that we’re not deep enough, but that gives us an opportunity to develop younger guys, and that’s our job as coaches and their job as players is to develop.”

Berks Catholic

Coach: Dave Stahler, third season, 16-8.

Last Year’s Record: 7-0 Lancaster-Lebanon Section 5, 9-3. Won Section 5 title in 2025.

Key Players Lost: QB/LB Johnny Sauppee, RB/CB Jeremiah Camara, RB/LB Xavier Gerald, RB/LB Owen Schalk, OL/DL Palmer Reber, OT/DT Anthony Zatorski, OT/DL Damoni Daglis.

Key Players Returning: RB/LB Coy Koller, RB/S Ryan Spatz, RB/S Logan Gonzalez, RB/DE Faith Zudie, OG/DE Eric Bennethum, OG/LB Colton Drumheller, K Alex Reali, ATH Mason Mace.

3 Keys to Success

Games are won in the trenches: Rushing for more than 300 yards per game isn’t just a reflection of the running backs; it also shows how dominant the Saints’ offensive line was. Players such as Palmer Reber and Anthony Zatorski graduated, but there is still a plethora of talent in the building to get the job done.

Remain humble: The Saints’ captains said they were humbled by their loss to Trinity in the District 3 championship and felt they may have gotten too conceited after the way their regular season went. This season, the Saints need to prepare and focus on every opponent the same way, regardless of the team standing across from them.

Don’t lose hope if you have a slow start: Notre Dame-Green Pond and Bethlehem Catholic combined for 20 wins last season, and the Saints will face each of them within their first three weeks in non-league play. Both will be tough tests, but they should provide an early gauge of where the Saints’ talent level stands.

Schedule: Aug. 28, at Notre Dame-Green Pond; Sept. 3, Executive Education Academy; Sept. 11, Bethlehem Catholic; Sept. 18, at Hamburg; Sept. 25, Schuylkill Valley; Oct. 1, at Annville-Cleona; Oct. 8, Kutztown; Oct. 16, at Columbia; Oct. 23, at Pequea Valley; Oct. 30, at Lancaster Catholic.