Four Downs: 4 big takes from Week 5
Four biggest takeaways from Week 4 of the 2022 high school football season:
1ST DOWN
Five days from now Wyomissing figures to break the Berks record for consecutive regular season wins.
The Spartans have won 30 straight over the past four seasons, tying the mark Wilson established in 2015.
Wyomissing hasn’t lost a regular game since Chase Eisenhower, who scored a touchdown in Friday’s 42-0 win at Elco, was a fifth-grader.
There’s no telling when this streak is going to come to an end. The Spartans are talented across the board and their lineup includes a bunch of top-shelf juniors — Ryker Jones, Caleb Brewer, Collin Niedrowski, Andrew Forrey — who, along with Eisenhower, will keep them on top next season, too.
The biggest remaining challenge this season won’t come until Week 10, with a home game against Lampeter-Strasburg. The winning streak should be 34 by then. It could extend well into the 40’s.
Some people thought the move to Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League would be a big step up for Wyo, and it has and will continue to be, but the Spartans are still a cut above right now.
Wyomissing is 41-3 since the start of the 2019 season; that includes a win at Southern Columbia last season, where it ended the nation’s longest winning streak at 65.
2ND DOWN
It’s pretty remarkable what Brett Myers has done in such a short time at Twin Valley.
He wasn’t officially hired until early July. Friday, the Raiders — with a roster that includes just eight seniors — were within a bad bounce and a couple of plays of knocking off unbeaten Elizabethtown.
Myers is using a lot of players — only a handful of guys go both ways — and a lot of young players. Several sophomores and a freshman — among them quarterback Evan Myers, running backs Evan Johnson and Drew Engle and receiver Justin Pinciotti — made big plays in that 47-42 loss.
Myers, who won three straight District 3 championships at Middletown not that long ago, has a unique abilitiy to get high school players to play their hardest and the know-how to put them in the right places to succceed.
It won’t be long before Twin Valley becomes the dominant force in Section 3 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
3RD DOWN
Two weeks ago Manheim Township went to Harrisburg and knocked off the Cougars — the defending champion and presumptive preseason Class 6A favorite in District 3 — with a last-second touchdown pass.
Friday the Blue Streaks were taken down by Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 rival Hempfield, 17-14, the Black Knights winning in large part because of a touchdown on a Hail Mary that ended the first half.
You can bet Doug Dahms and his Wilson coaching staff celebrated that one Friday as much as they did their 36-13 win over Cedar Crest. It may well have given the Bulldogs the upper hand in their quest to win a third straight Section 1 title.
A year ago the Bulldogs used Hempfield’s win over Township — also by 17-14 — and their season-ending 21-14 win over the Blue Streaks to win the section title outright.
The path is clear for them to do the same this year. They get both of them at home, Hempfield in Week 7 and Township in Week 10.
4TH DOWN
Hamburg hasn’t won a football title of any kind in 37 years. It can take a big step in ending that drought Friday with a win at Lancaster Catholic.
The Hawks and Crusaders were considered the teams to beat before the season and so far nobody has: They’re each 5-0, and with few close calls.
The Hawks are averaging 51.6 points, second-highest in the state, and winning their games by nearly 33 points per game.
The Crusaders are winning by an average three touchdowns per game.
If the Hawks get past this one unscathed they’ll have a clear path toward an unbeaten season. Their final five opponents are a combined 7-13.
Touchdown-maker Pierce Mason, who scored his 17th and 18th TDs in a 42-7 win over Kutztown Friday, is expected to be back on the field soon. He came out of Friday’s game with a leg injury.
