Charlie McIntyre, Spartans, have precious little to worry about these days
Charlie McIntyre averages more than a first down every time he gets his hands on the football, but that doesn’t happen very often.
He happens to play in a Wing-T system designed to spread the wealth and on a Wyomissing team that’s had an embarrassment of riches at the running back spot in recent seasons.
McIntyre shared backfield time with all-league picks Tommy Grabowski and Amory Thompson last season and now spends time there with Matt Kramer, Drew Eisenhower and Ryker Jones, each a lead-caliber back.
McIntyre’s the fastest guy on the team — that was evident Saturday on his 80-yard touchdown run early in a 35-14 non-league victory over Trinity — but that doesn’t earn him any extra carries from the boss.
On another team he could be a 1,000-yard rusher and an all-league pick but he’s still a relative unknown despite playing a key role on the Spartans’ district championship team a year ago.
It’s safe to say any lack of notoriety hasn’t been damaging to his psyche.
“We’re not worried about stats,” McIntyre said after scoring a pair of touchdowns and running for a career-best 154 yards as the Spartans built a 35-0 lead in less than three quarters. “We’re just worried about doing our job, blocking for the other back, and hopefully (the play’s) going (the distance).”
With the way things are churning right now McIntyre and the Spartans don’t have too many worries. They’re 3-0, ranked ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A, and opened the season by scoring 133 unanswered points.
The Shamrocks (1-2) tacked on a couple of late scores at the A-Field Saturday but that was long after Bob Wolfrum had pulled his No. 1’s, and probably after some of the No. 2’s were on the sideline, as well.
When it counted Trinity couldn’t stop Wyomissing: The Spartans reached the end zone on each of their first five possessions before Wolfrum pulled the plug.
The ‘Rocks couldn’t dent the Wyo defense, either. They didn’t run a play inside the Spartans’ 35 all day until a late fumble gave them possession at the Spartans’ 4 in the final minutes.
They got three first downs in the first half but half of those came when quarterback Caleb Wray was flushed out of the pocket and had to make a play with his feet.
And that was with the Spartans playing without starting linebackers Matt Kramer and Colin Niedrowski, who were held out due to injuries.
“I think we looked sharp,” said McIntyre, a starting cornerback, “and I think we’ll be good for every other week.”
The Spartans are cruising at high altitude these days. Even the boss seems pretty pleased.
“It was a good day,” said Wolfrum. “For the most part we all played pretty well.”
Kramer, a senior, is the starting fullback — to go-to guy in the Wing-T, if there is such a thing — and Wyomissing’s best linebacker. It you weren’t paying close attention you wouldn’t have noticed he was missing.
The Spartans plugged in underclassmen and continued to dominate, tuning up for the “Backyard Brawl” and their Section 4 opener next week against Berks Catholic.
One of those youngsters, freshman Chase Eisenhower, continued to impress. He started at Kramer’s linebacker spot and was as good as anybody on that unit, making open-field tackles and crashing the pocket.
He looked just as dominant when he got some shots at fullback, rushing for 46 yards on seven carries. He ran for 12 and 13 yards on his first two touches and got in the end zone on his last.
The Spartans might’ve been short-handed on defense but no one on that side of the ball spent much time this week fretting about it.
“We have that next-man-up mentality,” McIntyre said, “and Chase and Thomas (Weller, who started in Niedrowski’s spot) stepped up. Everyone did a good job just doing what they were supposed to do.”
McIntyre, who is averaging nearly 15 yards on his 18 carries this season, went the distance on a Jet Sweep on Wyomissing’s first series.
“Right when I got around the corner, (guard) Jack Gartner made an amazing block on the corner,” he said.
A defender clipped McIntyre’s heel near midfield, and he was momentarily thrown off-balance. He regained it, then sprinted the rest of the way untouched.
“I was trying not to get caught from behind, so I was trying to give it all I got,” he said. “I was trying to refrain from looking behind me. It’s just an amazing feeling (when you break free like that) with green grass all ahead .”
Wolfrum doesn’t call specific plays to suit individual players. He calls what he thinks will work best against a given defense. He loves guys such as McIntyre who can go the distance when the play is executed correctly.
“He’s not the most physical guy we have, but he can be successful because he has that speed,” Wolfrum said, “and he’s very smart. He doesn’t make mistakes, and he can go (the distance).”
Drew Eisenhower capped a 10-play, 70-yard scoring dive with a 12-yard TD early in the second quarter to make it 14-0. The Spartans converted a pair of third-and-longs to extend the drive, with quarterback Ben Zechman completing first-down throws of 13 and 8 yards.
Zechman doesn’t throw much but he was efficient against the Shamrocks, completing each of his four first-half attempts, including a 13-yard completion to Evan Blickley on second-and-17. He threaded a pass between three defenders; six plays later McIntyre scored his second TD.
McIntyre scored just before halftime, pushing Wyomissing’s lead to 21-0. He took a sweep around the right side and followed the path carved out by Penn State recruit Jven Williams, who gets out in front of plays about as well as any 300-pound high school guard in the nation.
“He’s so fun to run behind,” said McIntyre. “I could just walk behind him. He’s putting people on the ground, sometimes two or three. He makes my job easy.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Trinity | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 35 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | McIntyre, 80 run (Levering kick) | 6:00 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | D. Eisenhower, 12 run (Levering kick) | 10:20 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | McIntyre, 14 run (Levering kick) | 2:35 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | D. Eisenhower, 2 run (Levering kick) | 10:41 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | C. Eisenhower, 1 run (Levering kick) | 4:29 |
| 4 | Trinity | Young, 58 run (Paukovits kick) | 4:48 |
| 4 | Trinity | Mickens, 4 run (Paukovits kick) | 3:07 |
Team statistics
| Trinity | Wyomissing | |
| First downs | 8 | 20 |
| Rushes-yards | 23-181 | 39-328 |
| Passing yards | 17 | 43 |
| Total yards | 198 | 371 |
| Passes | 6-13-1 | 5-8-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 4-35.7 | 1-30.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-40 | 3-25 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Trinity: Mickens 8-58, Young 2-55, Wray 5-34, Schlager 3-14, Ness 4-11, Rogers 1-9.
Wyomissing: McIntyre 6-154, D. Eisenhower 8-71, C. Eisenhower 7-46, Forrey 5-34, Jones 2-20, W. Delp 3-10, Macrina 3-2, Diaz 3-(-1), Zechman 2-(-7).
PASSING
Trinity: Wray 4-10-1–16, Rogers 2-3-0-1.
Wyomissing: Zechman 5-8-0–43.
RECEIVING
Trinity: Young 2-(-1), Cooper 1-11, Weiand 1-8, Palmer 1-1, Mickens 1-(-2).
Wyomissing: W. Delp 2-27, Forrey 1-13, D. Eisenhower 1-8, Jones 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS
Wyomissing: D. Eisenhower.
