Did a blown call cost Wyomissing last year’s PIAA football championship?

Wyomissing played a near-perfect first half last year against top-ranked Central Valley. The Spartans put together several long drives. They blocked a punt. Got a pair of long field goals from Aidan Cirulli. Went into halftime leading 14-7 and feeling good about their chances in the PIAA Class 3A championship.

The bubble burst immediately after that.

Central Valley’s Jayvin Thompson signaled for a fair catch on the opening kickoff of the second half, then took off with the ball as the stunned Spartans coverage team watched in disbelief at the blown call.

One play later the Warriors were in the end zone, the game was tied, and the emotional edge was tilted sharply in Central Valley’s direction. It pointed that way for the rest of the afternoon in its 35-21 victory.

“That’s what started it,” said Julian DiMaio, a senior two-way lineman for Wyomissing. “We saw that happen and it was like: ‘Oooh, here we go.’ From there on, slowly but surely, it was going down for us.”

Central Valley went on to dominate the second half. It out-gained Wyomissing 247-68 after intermission. Warriors coach Mark Lyons and his defensive staff made adjustments to defend the Wing-T and the Spartans’ offense spun in circles the rest of the way. Central Valley All-State lineman Sean FitzSimmons took over up front and disrupted plays in the backfield before they could get started.

There was no debate that Thompson signaled for a fair catch, and that the officials missed it. One of them came over to Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum moments later and admitted as much. That did the Spartans no good. They were stunned by the quick turn of events and never recovered.

“That obviously was a big (momentum) killer,” said Wyomissing senior Aiden Mack, who started at tight end in that game. “We can’t let one bad call stop us. We needed to get right up there. We didn’t. We let it kill us.”

Central Valley went on to score three straight touchdowns and opened a 28-14 lead.

The Spartans didn’t make any excuses afterward. Still, you had to wonder how that game might have played out without such a momentum-changing play.

“They were clearly the better team last year,” said former Spartans and NFL lineman Ross Tucker, talking about Central Valley on the Mike Drago Sports Podcast. “I would love to had seen how the game would play out if that fair catch mistake by the officials hadn’t happened. I still think Central Valley wins the game, but you never know; it might’ve been closer.”

If anything that turn of events, and the loss to Central Valley, fueled the Spartans for the past 12 months. They were determined to get back to the PIAA title game, knowing if they did Central Valley would be waiting for them.

They have been pointing toward Saturday’s noon kickoff at Hersheypark Stadium for nearly 12 months.

Along the way they recorded one of the greatest seasons in Berks football history, winning their first 15 games by an average of 36 points. They have scored more points than any team in Berks history.

Now they have to figure out a way to keep that going against a Central Valley defense that held 10 of its 14 opponents to one score or less.

FitzSimmons might be the best lineman in the state — he was just named recipient of the Bill Fralic Award, as the best lineman in the WPIAL. Lyons calls this is the best defensive front he’s ever coached.

“He has elevated everybody’s game around him,” Lyons said of FitzSimmons.

The Warriors are averaging 13 tackles for loss per game and have 66 sacks.

“We couldn’t sustain anything against them last year,” Wolfrum said. “We did everything we could, but we didn’t have much left for the second half. That was a team that didn’t let you get big plays. In the first half, we had the point of attack blocked well but their secondary and ‘backers ran so well we never got the big play.”

Central Valley didn’t face any Wing-T offenses this season — it didn’t last year, either, until seeing Wyomissing — but it adjusted pretty quickly and physically overpowered the Spartans.

Wyomissing may be better equipped to deal with Fitzsimmons and that big defensive front this season. It has more size on its offensive line, led by Berks Offensive Lineman of the Year Jven Williams, a 6-4, 300-pound junior.

“We’re going to be challenged, obviously, because that’s a tough offense to prepare for when you don’t see it,” Lyons said.