A little ‘Nitro’ ignites Spartans in blowout of Blazers
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
As the field side linebacker Tyler Niedrowski is a vital piece to Wyomissing’s defense. He’s a hybrid type player, strong enough to fend off offensive linemen and make tackles in the run game, swift enough to cover backs and receivers in the flats on pass plays.
| Final | |
| Wyomissing | 55 |
| Daniel Boone | 6 |
He was so valuable as a junior he was named Berks Defensive Player of the Year.
Niedrowski didn’t expect to come out of Thursday’s expected romp over Daniel Boone with a career highlight but when the situation presented itself he took advantage.
The 6-foot, 190-pound senior stepped in front of a middle screen and took it back 48 yards for a touchdown, one of several big plays the Spartans used in a 55-6 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 rout of the Blazers at Brazinsky Field.
“It’s so amazing, my first-ever pick,” said Niedrowski. “I did my assignment and it put me in the spot to make that play; I’ve gotta thank my coaches for that one.”
The Spartans (4-0, 7-0) shook off a slow start and still led 35-0 at the half, getting the Pick-Six and a 43-yard scoring run from Niedrowski and an 81-yard TD run and a blocked punt from Justice Hardy.
The Spartans share first place with Twin Valley (3-0, 6-0), which plays at Donegal Friday, and Lampeter-Strasburg (4-0, 6-1), which clobbered Northern Lebanon Thursday.
Wyomissing hosts Twin Valley Saturday, Oct. 11, in a match-up of state-ranked teams that could well determine the Section 4 title and key seeding in the district tournament.
Making big plays against the Blazers (0-4, 0-7) is nothing new for Niedrowski. A year ago, at Wolfrum Field, he had seven first-half tackles (on 21 Blazers snaps), five of them for loss. He was in on three of Wyomissing’s four sacks, one of which resulted in a safety. He also caught a touchdown pass and scored on a touchdown run.
“Every time we play Boone, our coaches set our outside ’backers up for success,” Niedrowski said. “We changed our defense a little bit (for this game); that adjustment put me in position to make plays.”
Niedrowski made plays all over the field Thursday. He had two tackles for loss, including a sack.
Hardy was right there with him: He broke up a fourth-down pass in the red zone, recovered a fumble, and blocked a punt that gave Wyomissing possession at the Boone 15 early in the second quarter. Hardy ran it in from there on the next play. He finished with 120 yards on four carries.
Overall, Wyomissing’s defense came up with four takeaways, a pair of sacks and recorded nine tackles for loss.
Still, Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum was concerned with the way Boone controlled the line of scrimmage for large chunks of the game. Most of the Blazers’ 263 total yards came in the second half, with Niedrowski, Hardy and the other starters on the bench.
Still, the Blazers got a good push up front, enough so that quarterback Dominic Stoudt could run for 142 yards. His 46-yard touchdown run in the third quarter – against Wyo’s second defensive unit — gave the Blazers their first points at home this season. They had been shut out by Schuylkill Valley, Muhlenberg, and Lampeter-Strasburg in their first three games at Brazinsky Field.
Stoudt also completed 18 passes but almost all were on shovel passes behind the line of scrimmage that the Spartans quickly shut down. Stoudt accounted for just 68 passing yards on 25 attempts.
“We were somewhat undisciplined (on defense),” Wolfrum said, “and I’ve got to tell you: They kicked our butts, physically, up front. Their linemen kicked us around for a good portion of the game.
“If we didn’t have the kind of backs we do – when we get ’em a seam they can go the distance – that’s a really a rough game for us. Some teams (we play, we get) 15-play drives. . . we couldn’t do that (against this team). Almost all our scores were long ones.”
With the Twin Valley showdown looming Wolfrum knew focus would be an issue, and it may have been in the first quarter. The Spartans fumbled the ball away on their second play and went three-and-out on their second series.
“It was sloppy mistakes that we shouldn’t have made,” Hardy said.
“I don’t think we were focused on playing,” Niedrowski said. “I think some of us thought: ‘Oh, it’s Daniel Boone.’ I don’t think we took it as seriously (as we should).”
The Spartans are ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 4A and vastly superior to most of the teams on their schedule. They haven’t been challenged since August, when they opened against Southern Columbia, then slugged it out against The Haverford School. They have outscored their last five opponents 222-35.
“I’m gonna be honest: It’s been a struggle for us to maintain our focus,” Niedrowski said. “Every year we have this span. We have two really hard games (at the beginning) and then we kind of fade out until later in the season.
“It’s been really hard this season to stay focused, but we’ve really done a great job at getting our intensity back, especially this week. We had our mistakes today but we still got the job done.”
The Spartans have beaten the Blazers 22 straight times and there hasn’t been a close game in years.
“Kids know they’re not gonna have any trouble winning (a game like this),” Wolfrum said. “It’s hard to put out the same effort we did when we played The Haverford School.”
Wyomissing’s players are confident they’ll be laser-focused as they prepare for Twin Valley.
“I’m hoping that (we don’t get) the same effort next week, but it is concerning,” said Wolfrum. “We can’t go in and play that way next week.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 28 | 14 | 6 | 55 |
| Daniel Boone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | Niedrowski, 43 run (Maher kick) | 2:33 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | C. Eisenhower, 2 run (Maher kick) | 11:55 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 15 run (Maher kick) | 10:19 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 81 run (Maher kick) | 1:18 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Niedrowski, 48 interception return (Maher kick) | 0:57 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Armistead, 11 run (Maher kick) | 5:50 |
| 4 | Daniel Boone | Stoudt, 46 run (pass failed) | 11:39 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Nye, 50 run (Maher kick) | 11:09 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Queenan-Coleman, 94 interception return (kick failed) | 3:04 |
Team statistics
| WYOMISSING | DANIEL BOONE | |
| First downs | 9 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 15-277 | 33-180 |
| Passing yards | 0 | 83 |
| Total yards | 277 | 263 |
| Passes | 0-1-0–0 | 19-26-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 2-2 |
| Punts-average | 1-45.0 | 3-17.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 0 | 4-20 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wyomissing: Hardy 4-120, Niedrowski 2-51, Nye 1-50, Westwood 2-37, C. Eisenhower 2-12, Armistead 1-11, B. Eisenhower 2-0, Fleischood 1-(-4).
Daniel Boone: Stoudt 21-142, Moyer 10-30, McKenzie 2-8.
PASSING
Wyomissing: B. Eisenhower 0-1-0–0.
Daniel Boone: Stoudt 18-25-2–68, Moyer 1-1-0–15.
RECEIVING
Daniel Boone: Floria 10-59, Roy 5-6, Stoudt 1-15, Moyer 2-4, Rowe 1-(-1).
INTERCEPTIONS
Wyomissing: Niedrowski, Queenan-Coleman.
