It’s another championship, another perfect finish for Wyomissing
The first thing you notice about the Wyomissing football team is the size. Linemen Jven Williams, Pacen Zeigler and Caleb Brewer all have a couple X’s in front of their shirt size. They’re imposing, physical, and coveted by Division I college programs.
They’re the icing of the defense.
It’s the raw materials — the fundamental soundness, the mental acuity, the discipline — that sets this Spartans ‘D’ apart from others. They always seems to be in the right place at the right time.
| Section 4 | League | Overall |
| Wyomissing | 7-0 | 10-0 |
| Lampeter-Strasburg | 6-1 | 8-2 |
| Cocalico | 5-2 | 6-4 |
| Berks Catholic | 4-3 | 4-6 |
| Donegal | 3-4 | 4-6 |
| Conrad Weiser | 2-5 | 3-7 |
| Elco | 1-6 | 4-6 |
| Octorara | 0-7 | 1-9 |
Bob Wolfrum graduated a pair of all-league caliber, three-year starting cornerbacks after last year’s district champiohship — guys who made it nearly impossible to throw on the Spartans — and plugged in two new guys.
Seniors Charlie McIntyre and William Delp haven’t missed a beat. They’ve fit seamlessly into a rebuilt defensive unit that has allowed fewer points than any team in District 3.
They went against one of the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s top offenses and best receivers Saturday afternoon and pitched another shutout, the cornerbacks anchoring a near-perfect effort that sent Wyomissing to a 21-0 victory over Lampeter-Strasburg and clinched the Section 4 title and a fourth straight unbeaten regular season.
“Our defense is really getting better,” Wolfrum said after watching the Spartans (7-0, 10-0) become the first team to shut out the Pioneers (6-1, 8-2) in a regular season game since 2008. “They were great today.”
Wolfrum, the winningest coach in Berks football history, throws superlatives around like manhole covers. He almost never uses the word “great” in connection with one of his players or one of his teams but Saturday it was a appropriate.
A team that had been averaging 40.1 points per game didn’t sniff the end zone; didn’t even cross midfield. The Pioneers, who were averaging 370 yards per game, left the A-Field with 81. They had five first downs, punted on seven of their eight possessions and were intercepted on the other.
Their running game netted 65 yards on 20 carries. Fifteen of that came on their first play, a Jet Sweep that saw speedy Hunter Hildenbrand race around right end. Not much came after that.
“Being disciplined was our goal,” said McIntyre. “Being gap sound, that was the biggest thing. (We felt) if we could fill the gaps we could stop their run game and I thought we did that pretty well.”
“The goal,” said senior linebacker Matt Kramer, “was (to get) all gaps clogged up, and we did a nice job with that. They weren’t doing much at all.”
The physical part — the big guys slugging it out in the trenches — was important. Just as vital was having the 11 guys on defense all on the same page, and the Spartans did.
They’re No. 1 in the 37-team Lancaster-Lebanon League in total defense, passing defense and scoring defense. They have allowed 69 points over 10 games, more than half of those in the fourth quarter, when guys such Kramer, McIntyre, Brewer and Williams are on the sidelines cheering on their younger teammates.
The first-string guys have allowed four TDs. Total.
“They tackle extremely well,” said Lampeter-Strasburg coach Victor Ridenour. “It’s hard to make those guys miss in space.”
The only chance the Pioneers had to score was to get the ball to Hildenbrand, and they got him open on a deep streak late in the first half. He got a step on McIntyre, one of the fastest guys on the team and a PIAA medal-winner as part of the Spartans’ 4×100 relay team. The pass was overthrown and the Pioneers didn’t threaten again.
“We lucked out, they didn’t get it,” Wolfrum said, “but other than that we gave up not really much of anything.”
Hildenbrand finished without a catch. The Pioneers completed four passes. Two of them went for negative yards.
“They did a good job taking Hunter away from us,” Ridenour said.
McIntyre, in his first year on the corner after playing safety, was largely responsible for that.
“Before this game we really haven’t been tested in the pass game,” McIntyre said. “Being able to have that test helped us a lot.”
The Spartans will get some better tests in the postseason, which opens next weekend. They will go into the District 3 Class 3A playoffs as the top seed and three-time defending champion. No Berks team has ever won four consecutive district titles.
Wyomissing will get a first-round bye and open Nov. 12 at the A-Field. It will face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 game, Hamburg or Upper Dauphin.
Power ratings and brackets will not be official until Sunday.
For now the Spartans can relax and celebrate a little. They’ve won a Berks-record 35 straight regular season games. Their seniors are 46-3 and have never lost a home game.
“We’ve been dreaming for this year since we were kids, planning this out,” said Kramer, who scored two of the three TDs. “It’s really nice to know that we just posted four undefeated seasons in a row, which is a big deal for us.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Lampeter-Strasburg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | Kramer, 4 run (Levering kick) | 2:21 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Jones, 4 run (Levering kick) | 5:01 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Kramer, 16 run (Levering kick) | 0:34 |
Team statistics
| Lampeter-Strasburg | Wyomissing | |
| First downs | 5 | 19 |
| Rushes-yards | 20-65 | 59-244 |
| Passing yards | 16 | 68 |
| Total yards | 81 | 312 |
| Passes | 4-13-1 | 4-6-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 7-29.1 | 3-39.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 1-5 | 2-25 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Lampeter-Strasburg: Coleman 11-42, Hildenbrand 3-16, Mellinger 2-9, Wagner 2-8, Lopez 1-(-1), Howse 1-(-9).
Wyomissing: Kramer 18-87, McIntyre 10-61, Jones 7-36, D. Eisenhower 9-33, W. Delp 6-17, Niedrowski 1-7, C. Eisenhower 5-7, Zechman 2-(-2), Team 2(-2).
PASSING
Lampeter-Strasburg: Wagner 1-7-1–(-2), Howse 2-4-0–5, Hildenbrand 1-2-0-13.
Wyomissing: Zechman 4-6-0–68.
RECEIVING
Lampeter-Strasburg: Herr 1-13, Coleman 1-7, Gray 1-(-2), Frank 1-(-2).
Wyomissing: Brower 2-20, W. Delp 1-32, Brewer 1-16.
INTERCEPTIONS
Wyomissing: D. Eisenhower
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Wyomissing: Levering 40.
