The Tamaqua football team has taken the sports cliché “records are made to be broken” to ridiculous heights this season.

The Raiders (11-2) have conquered numerous school records in 2019 and look to continue that trend this week as they take on Wyomissing in the quarterfinals of the PIAA 3A state tournament on Friday.

Tamaqua won its first district game, first district championship and first state playoff contest all within the last three weeks, and has done so with a special group of players who will go down in the Raiders’ history books. The team accomplishments have been well documented over the past few weeks, but the Raiders have also had some individuals who have put their names at the top of the record books this season.

It’s safe to say that the Tamaqua offense goes as all-purpose running back Nate Boyle goes, and the numbers certainly reflect that. Boyle has had an impressive career to date, but the senior has raised his play to another level this season and has continued to build on that in the postseason.

Boyle has established new school records for career rushing yards (3,826); career rushing touchdowns (67); career total touchdowns (77); career total points (566); single-season rushing yards (1,634); single-season touchdowns (28); and single-game rushing yards (391).

Boyle has saved his best football for the postseason, rushing for a combined 722 yards and 11 touchdowns in his last three games, including the 391 yard effort in Tamaqua’s District 11 semifinal win against Notre Dame.

“It really is impressive what he’s been able to do, mostly because he doesn’t come off the field. He plays offense, defense, kicks for us, it’s not like he’s just waiting around to run the ball and gets a rest,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “He’s the kind-of guy that gets stronger as the game goes o. The more he touches the ball, the stronger he gets. He keeps himself strong all season, I think he came in squatting 500 pounds, and he’s still squatting that. He’s just one of those players who thrives late in games.”

But Boyle isn’t alone when it comes to putting up record numbers this season. The key to the Raiders’ success in 2019 has been its offensive versatility. When teams have tried to stack the box against the Raiders to shut down Boyle, Tamaqua veteran quarterback Brayden Knoblauch has made them pay.

Knoblauch is now the Raiders’ record holder in career passing yards (4,261), career passing touchdowns (41), single-season passing yards (1,773), single-season passing touchdowns (17) and single-game passing yards (337). In addition, his 110 completions this season are just three away from setting a new single-season completion record.

For a quarterback to be as successful as Knoblauch has been, he usually needs a talented wide receiver to throw the ball to, and Tamaqua has that in Matt Kistler. Kistler has been a nightmare for opposing defensive backs — not only this season — but in his career. The numbers don’t lie as Kistler holds Tamaqua records in career receptions (99); career receiving yards (1,669); single-season receiving yards (831); and single-game receiving yards (180).

The Knobluach, Boyle, Kistler combination has given the Tamaqua offense an added dimension of a tremendous play-action passing attack that is effective at both moving the sticks and coming up with explosive plays.

“Brayden and Matt definitely have a special connection and have made some big plays for us. I think people are finally starting to realize how good Matt is, but he’s been consistent for us now over the past few years, and he’s definitely Brayden’s go-to-guy,” said Bonner. “And Brayden, he’s just so efficient and smart, and he makes plays.

“When you factor in the threat of Nate running the ball, that really makes our play-action passing game dangerous, which has been big for us.”