Three-peat an ‘amazing feeling’ for Spartans
Not that long ago it seemed impossible. Wyomissing couldn’t touch Middletown in district play. The Blue Raiders manhandled the Spartans three straight seasons, twice in championship games.
Middletown won three District 3 Class 3A championships in a row and the gap between it and the rest of the field looked cavernous.
Three years later the gap between the district champ and the contenders still resembles the Grand Canyon but now it’s the Spartans who are on top.
They completed their district three-peat Saturday, scoring touchdowns on six straight possessions at one point to wipe out visiting Boiling Springs 55-14 in the 3A championship.
It was fitting that seniors Tommy Grabowski, Aiden Mack and Amory Thompson, all starters as sophomores on the 2019 team that started this run, each found the end zone.
“It’s great to close it out like that, district-wise, with a three-peat,” said Mack, an all-league tight end who scored on a 24-yard reception late in the third quarter to start the running clock. “To close out my district play with a touchdown in a district championship, that’s unmatchable.”
The top-seeded Spartans (13-0) became just the second Berks team to win three straight district titles, and the first to win three in a row in the same classification. Berks Catholic won the Class AA title in 2015 and the 3A title in 2016 and 2017.
Wyomissing advances to the PIAA quarterfinals and will host District 2 champ Scranton Prep (11-0), a 28-0 winner over Wyoming Area, next Saturday.
The district title was the 10th for the Spartans but it was a special one because they realized a milestone past teams weren’t able to achieve.
“It feels amazing,” said Grabowski, who rushed for 184 yards and scored on runs of 1, 6 and 69 yards. “It means everything for us to win this today. We made history for Wyomissing. That means so much to us as seniors. We worked hard for this day to come. Everyone feels amazing today.”
It started slowly for the Spartans. For the second straight week they failed to score in the first quarter. They had a rare turnover on the game-opening series and punted on their second possession.
Mack’s 43-yard catch-and-run on the next series put them in scoring position, at the Bubblers’ 15.
“That was a good call,” Mack said. “Coach Wolfrum saw that the safeties were playing over and the corner was playing down, and the fly pattern would be open there.”
Grabowski took it from there, carrying four straight times, the last from the 1 as he dove over the pile for a 7-0 lead a minute into the second quarter.
The all-league fullback carried six times on the nine-play, 68-yard drive, mostly all fullback dives.
“Once we decided we needed to go straight ahead at ’em, we had a nice drive,” said Bob Wolfrum, the Spartans’ head coach for all 10 championships. “After that it seemed that anything went. I don’t know if we broke ’em or what, but after that we pretty much scored every time we had the ball the rest of the game.”
The second-seeded Bubblers (11-2) were well-prepared the Spartans’ Wing-T arsenal of traps, counters and reverses, but they couldn’t stop Grabowski’s pounding runs up the middle. Once that was established it opened up the wings and Thompson took advantage. His 25-yard run to the 17 set up Charlie McIntyre’s 22-yard run that made it 14-0.
“It was greatly blocked,” Thompson said of his run. “If the linemen do their job, I have to do my job and make a guy miss, and that’s what happened. They did a great job (up front) today, and we got it done.”
The Spartans rushed for 428 yards and maintained control throughout with their clock-eating drives. They ran 55 plays — to 27 for Boiling Springs — over the first three quarters.
Berks’ top-ranked defense — so brilliant in the shutout of Middletown in the semifinals — had a couple of hiccups. Joey Menke busted off a 55-yard scoring run that featured a sweet cutback inside the 15 to cut Wyo’s lead to 14-7 midway through the second quarter. Menke broke an 82-yard TD on the opening play of the second half to make it 28-14.
They were mere dents. Other than those scoring plays the Bubbler managed just 107 total yards. They had just one first down at the half and two through three quarters. Jack Miller, the Berks 2 Linebacker of the Year, was all over them. He had a pair of sacks and two other tackles for loss that accounted for minus-26 yards.
Safety Charlie McIntyre forced a fumble. Grabowski batted down a pass on a blitz. Mack and the others regularly flushed quarterback Colin Lunde out of the pocket.
For the second straight week the Spartans didn’t allow a completion. That’s quite a feat at this point of the season.
When it was over the Spartans celebrated a championship on their home field for the second time in three years. They took pictures in front of the scoreboard and reveled in their accomplishment.
“We’ve been playing with each other forever,” said Grabowski. “This is a group we’ve been with since little league, second or third grade. The bond that we have in unbreakable. All of us care for each other; that’s the biggest thing.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Boiling Springs | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Wyomissing | 0 | 28 | 21 | 6 | 55 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Wyomissing | Grabowski, 1 run (Levering kick) | 11:04 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | McIntyre, 22 run (Levering kick) | 7:37 |
| 2 | Boiling Springs | Menke, 55 run (Laing kick) | 6:42 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Thompson, 20 run (Levering kick) | 3:04 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Thompson, 7 pass from Zechman (Levering kick) | 0:47 |
| 3 | Boiling Springs | Menke, 82 run (Laing kick) | 11:42 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Grabowski, 6 run (Levering kick) | 7:35 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Grabowski, 69 run (Levering kick) | 5:36 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Mack, 24 pass from Zechman (Levering kick) | 1:59 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Jones, 65 run (kick failed) | 7:05 |
Team statistics
| Boiling Springs | Wyomissing | |
| First downs | 7 | 22 |
| Rushes-yards | 39-244 | 52-428 |
| Passing yards | 0 | 91 |
| Total yards | 244 | 519 |
| Passes | 0-5-0 | 4-6-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 5-20.4 | 2-25.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-25 | 4-25 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Boiling Springs: Menke 13-192, Metzger 9-44, Laing 9-26, Boyle 1-3, Lunde 4-(-9), Garvey 1-9-10).
Wyomissing: Grabowski 19-184, Thompson 9-64, Jones 1-65, Eisenhower 12-54, McIntyre 5-31, Kramer 3-15, Forrey 1-10, Zechman 1-(-2).
PASSING
Boiling Springs: Lunde 0-5-0–0.
Wyomissing: Zechman 4-6-1–91.
RECEIVING
Wyomissing: Mack 2-67, Thompson 2-24.
INTERCEPTIONS
Boiling Springs: Garvey.