Spartans can’t hold late lead, see season end against unbeaten Northwestern Lehigh
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
When Chase Eisenhower completed an arduous, sometimes harrowing, 16-play, 8 ½-minute drive with a touchdown dive that gave Wyomissing the lead late in the game, he and his Spartans teammates celebrated in the end zone.
They led by four points and were less than six minutes away from another trip to a state championship game.
Ryker Jones celebrated that go-ahead score, too, but not completely. Deep down the Spartans senior linebacker knew the battle was far from over.
“We were really happy about (the score) but we also knew there was more football to be played,” said Jones. “They’re a good football team. I knew they weren’t going to roll over, and they didn’t.”
Northwestern Lehigh didn’t stay down long. The unbeaten Tigers showed their mettle, answering the Spartans’ score with one of their own, then forced a turnover on downs the next time Wyomissing had the ball.
They earned their way to next week’s PIAA Class 3A championship game against Belle Vernon with a dominant second half, scoring on each of their final four possessions to run down the Spartans 33-24 in a hard-fought state semifinal Friday night at Kutztown University’s Andre Reed Field.
The Tigers (15-0) trailed 17-7 at halftime but looked like a different team in the second half as they overpowered the Spartans (12-2) with their line play and running game.
“We got pushed around,” said Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum. “They were stronger than we were.”
Wyomissing’s defense played brilliantly in the first half, sacking quarterback Shane Leh twice, forcing the Tigers to punt five times and holding them to 79 total yards.
“The size and the aggressiveness of their front six,” Northwestern coach Josh Snyder said of the Spartans, “it’s the real deal.”
At the game’s most critical moment Snyder used that aggressiveness against the Spartans. Facing third-and-7 from midfield, his team trailing 24-20 with four minutes left, he called a tunnel screen.
Leh caught the Spartans blitzing and found Devon Hildebrand over the middle. Hildebrand ran untouched to the Wyomissing 13.
Jones, who recorded a sack on the second play of the game and pressured the quarterback throughout with his blitzes, was in the Tigers’ backfield when Leh dumped off the decisive pass — his only completion of the second half.
“They knew that when they had nobody in the backfield we were gonna do that and the middle was going to be open,” Jones said. “It was a great play call by them.”
Four plays later, on fourth-and-3 from the 6, Hildebrand took a direct snap out of Wildcat formation and ran for a touchdown, giving Northwestern the lead for good with 2:57 remaining.
“That was something special,” Snyder of the screen pass that went for 39 yards. “That was just a game-changer. We thought it was going to be there, with how aggressive they were coming upfield. (We saw on film) they’re bringing six (pass-rushers) against our empty set. We hit it one time in the first half (for a touchdown).”
The Spartans, trailing 27-24 with 2:52 remaining and starting at their own 19, went to the air on four straight plays. A fourth-down incompletion gave Northwestern the ball at the 21 and the Tigers went right in for the icing score, taking a nine-point lead with 1:21 left.
“We had to (throw in that situation),” Wolfrum said. “We couldn’t get down the field like we normally do (on running plays), we had too much to make up. We want to mix throws in (throughout the game). When we had to start throwing full-time, that’s just not our game.”
The four-time District 3 champion Spartans saw their season end in the state semifinals for the second straight year.
Last year’s ending was even more painful: Neumann-Goretti scored on a long pass in the final seconds for a 20-17 victory.
Friday’s loss wasn’t easy to digest, either.
The Spartans outplayed the Tigers in the first half and could’ve gone into intermission with an even bigger lead.
When a bouncing punt ricocheted off Northwestern’s Landen Matson, Wyomissing’s Jeremiah Diaz alertly pounced on it at the Tigers’ 25. The short field looked inviting, and a TD there would’ve given the Spartans a 14-point – something Northwestern hadn’t faced this year.
A 15-yard penalty on second down put the Spartans in the hole and rather than score a touchdown they had to settle for a 39-yard field goal from Keegan Maher (his first of the season).
Things immediately went badly for the Spartans in the third quarter. Their first drive ended on an interception. They went three-and-out on their second.
“There was nothing we could hang our hat on, offensively,” Wolfrum lamented. “It was just a tough night.”
Wyomissing’s real problems came on the defensive side: It did not get a stop in a second half which saw Northwestern rush for 166 yards.
Northwestern was dominant throughout the season, never trailed at half and was in only one tight game, a 28-21 win over Blue Mountain. There was a question as to how the Tigers might react in a game that went down the wire.
Snyder had no doubts.
“In the games where we had to play four quarters, we got stronger as the game went on,” he said.
Northwestern went from trailing with three minutes to leading by nine 90 seconds later.
“They were just the better team, that’s what it came down to,” Jones said. “Our guys fought really hard, we did all we could, but they were just the better team and they deserved to win.”
Northwestern ended a run which saw Wyomissing’s seniors go 40-4 the last three seasons, the best three-year record ever compiled by a Berks football team.
“Since the playoffs started, it’s very tough because you always lose your last game unless you make it and win the state final,” Wolfrum said. “They all seem to end like this at one point or another. It hurts now. We’ll go back and realize it was a great year.”
“I’m not happy about losing,” said Jones, one of 16 Wyomissing seniors, “but I’m really thankful for being able to be part of this community, part of this program.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Northwestern Lehigh | 7 | 0 | 13 | 13 | 33 |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 24 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | Eisenhower, 23 run (Maher kick) | 3:57 |
| 1 | Northwestern | Clymer, 25 pass from Leh (Kern kick) | 0:57 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Jones, 3 pass from Hyde (Maher kick) | 5:09 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Maher, 39 FG | 0:50 |
| 3 | Northwestern | Leh, 30 run (Kern kick) | 5:42 |
| 3 | Northwestern | Clymer, 3 run (kick failed) | 2:09 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Eisenhower, 1 run (Maher kick) | 5:43 |
| 4 | Northwestern | Hildebrand, 26 run (Kern kick) | 2:57 |
| 4 | Northwestern | Clymer, 2 run | 1:21 |
Team statistics
| Northwestern Lehigh | Wyomissing | |
| First downs | 13 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 34-171 | 47-199 |
| Passing yards | 113 | 66 |
| Total yards | 284 | 265 |
| Passes | 7-14-0 | 7-18-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 5-29.0 | 7-50 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-46 | 4-34.0 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Northwestern Lehigh: Clymer 19-88, Leh 10-64, Hildebrand 2-10, Matson 1-5.
Wyomissing: Eisenhower 16-73, Jones 7-59, Hyde 6-33, Hardy 6-17, Macrina 6-16, Niedrowski 2-2, Marv. Armistead 1-1, Diaz 3-(-2).
PASSING
Northwestern Lehigh: Leh 7-14-0–113, Bollinger 0-1-0–0.
Wyomissing: Hyde 7-18-2–66.
RECEIVING
Northwestern Lehigh: Clymer 2-28, Matson 2-25, Hildebrand 1-39, Bollinger 1-18, Zimmerman 1-3.
Wyomissing: Eisenhower 2-19, Blickley 1-24, Neff 1-12, Brower 1-6, Jones 1-3, Hardy 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
Northwestern Lehigh: Zimmerman, Jenkins.
