Reading Eagle Has the Bulldogs Covered

Two-a-days have been underway for just three days but the Reading Eagles has Berks County high school football covered. Featuring prominently in articles over the first few days this week are none other than your Wilson Bulldogs.

Up first was 10 Things to Watch in Berks Football in 2011. Written by the venerable Mike Drago, the list mentions the Bulldogs twice.

2. Dog days
The Lancaster-Lebanon League's 40th season figures to be much like its first 39, with the Wilson Bulldogs out in front in Section 1.

The Bulldogs have won a record 19 Section 1 titles, more than twice won by any other team. They own a Section 1-record 23-game league winning streak and have gone through the league unbeaten three straight years. No team had ever done that.

They haven't lost in Section 1 play since 2007; in Doug Dahms' five seasons as head coach, the Bulldogs are 33-2 in the league.

Dahms has only a handful of returning starters back, but tailback Rodney Gillin is one of them, and that gives the Bulldogs a dynamic weapon no other team has. Gillin raced for a school-record 1,829 yards and scored 28 touchdowns as a junior.

Point #7 also brings up Wilson & again focuses on returning senior RB/DB Gillin.

7. Grand return
After setting Wilson's single-season rushing record, Rodney Gillin is within 1,610 yards of Jake Stopper's career mark (3,510). 

After a Wilson football story hiatus on Tuesday, Drago came back to the presses about the Bulldogs on Wednesday. The topic this time around? Why Gillin, of course! Bulldogs Count on Gillin to Lead the Way to Title goes into detail about the terrific season Rodney had in 2010 & recounts how special it really was.

Gillin scored a touchdown in every game until the District 3-AAAA quarterfinal loss to Cumberland Valley, averaged a school-record 10.1 yards per carry and raced past big numbers produced by star Wilson tailbacks such as Pete Gilmore, Jeff Niedrowski, Zacc Groff and Jami Sands.

It's a great read & really hammers home how special a talent Gillin is at this level. Definitely give it a look.

Rodney Gillin, who set the single-season Wilson record for rushing as a junior in 2010, returns to the Bulldogs this fall for his final high school season. (Photo: Reading Eagle)

Also published by the Reading Eagle on Wednesday was a list of the Top 10 Season Rushing Leaders in Wilson history. They beat me to the punch! I will have that & many more statistics published to this site in the coming weeks. Check the pages up above, just below the Bulldog banner. The list reemphasizes Gillin's outstanding 2010, where he rushed for 1,829 yards, besting Pete Gilmore's old record of 1,810 set in the magical 1999 season, as mentioned here last year.

So the Reading Eagle is off to an awfully good start when it comes to Bulldogs football coverage. Let's hope that keeps up well into the fall!