’22 Season Preview: Wyomissing Spartans
Classification: Class 3A
League: Lancaster-Lebanon Section 4
Schedule: Click here
Last season: 6-0 Berks 2, 15-1 overall
Last District 3 playoff appearance: 2021
Head coach: Bob Wolfrum, 36th season, 337-86-1
Must replace: Berks 2 Linebacker of the Year Jack Miller, all-league RB and all-league second-team LB Tommy Grabowski, all-league TE & DE Aiden Mack, all-league LB Jack Miller, all-league CB Nevin Carter, all-league second-team RB & DB Amory Thompson, all-league second-team C & DT Julian DiMaio.
Top offensive players: Berks Offensive Lineman of the Year Jven Williams, QB Ben Zechman, FB Matt Kramer, HB Drew Eisenhower, HB Ryker Jones, HB Charlie McIntyre, HB Drew Forrey, FB Collin Niedrowski, TE Caleb Brewer, C Isaac Focht, all-league second-team G John Gartner, T Pacen Ziegler, T Cooper Young, all-league second-team PK Ian Levering.
| LL4 | Projected finish |
| 1 | Wyomissing |
| 2 | Lampeter-Strasburg |
| 3 | Berks Catholic |
| 4 | Cocalico |
| 5 | Donegal |
| 6 | Conrad Weiser |
| 7 | Octorara |
| 8 | Elco |
Top defensive players: E Jven Williams, T Pacen Ziegler, NG Caleb Brewer, LB Matt Kramer, LB Ryker Jones, LB Collin Niedrowski, LB Drew Forrey, S Drew Eisenhower, S Ethan Brower, S Logan Hyde, CB Charlie McIntyre, CB William Delp, CB Andrew Delp, P Ian Levering.
Did you know? This will be Bob Wolfrum’s 80th season of coaching when you combine football, baseball and basketball. With 337 football victories he ranks No. 9 all-time in Pennsylvania history and No. 2 among active coaches. He won 329 baseball games over 28 seasons as Spartans’ coach.
For the record: Wyomissing last year became the first Berks team to win three straight district championships and the first to play in back-to-back PIAA championship games.
Quotable: “We went through a period when we couldn’t win the big game (because) we made mistake after mistake. Now we don’t make those mistakes. They’ll all sharp (kids). I’ll take smarts over great talent all the time. Right now, we’re just blessed that we seem to have both.” — Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum.
Outlook: Wyomissing graduated seven All-State players from its 2020 state finalist, reloaded, and went 15-1 with a return trip to the PIAA Class 3A championship game. The Spartans graduated six All-State players from last year’s team; once again they’re positioned for another run at a state title.
They don’t have the experience at the skill positions they did coming into last season but they again have plenty of breakaway potential in the backfield and they’ll be playing with perhaps the biggest offensive line in program history — and maybe the biggest in the state among Class 3A programs.
Bob Wolfrum — coming off the best three-year record in program history (36-3) — expects little or no dropoff this year, and why should he? The Spartans appear to be loaded, big and deep.
Penn State recruit Jven Williams, at 6-5, 300 pounds, looks lean lined up next to 6-5, 285-pound Caleb Brewer and 6-4, 275-pound Pacen Ziegler, each of whom will go both ways up front. They’ll be part of a six-man offensive front wall that averages close to 252 pounds, and they’ll be blocking for 215-pound FB Matt Kramer.
“Why all of a sudden we’re getting all these big guys, I have no idea,” Wolfrum said. “But we’re happy about it.”
Kramer will be flanked in the backfield by Drew Eisenhower, who ran for 871 yards and scored 19 touchdowns as a junior, and a bevy of fast backs — Charlie McIntyre, Ryker Jones and Drew Forrey — each of whom averaged 7 yards or better per carry a year ago.
Return quarterback Ben Zechman is asked to manage games and he did that efficiently a year ago, completing nearly 59 percent of his passes with an 11-to-2 TDs-to-INTs ratio.
Only three starters return on defense but that’s not a major concern because Wolfrum and his defensive staff regularly work in so many subs. Plus, last year’s back-ups got a lot of valuable playing time against opposing starters because so many scores being lopsided by halftime.
The D-line will be huge, too, as Williams goes full-time on that side of the ball for first time, as will Brewer and Ziegler.
In case you were wondering the kicking game’s in fine shape, too, with the return of placekicker Ian Levering, Jones at punter and some superb return candidates, such as Jones, Eisenhower and McIntyre.
At the wire: Even with increased competition in Section 4 the Spartans figure to be out in front again. They’ll be favored to win a fourth straight District 3 Class 3A title and could again challenge for a state title. They open the season ranked No. 2 in the state.
