Keegan Maher looms as an even bigger weapon for Wyomissing this season
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Bob Wolfrum and his special teams coach, John Zima, are at odds.
Wyomissing’s head coach took a look at the way rising senior kicker Keegan Maher transformed his body in the offseason and wants to turn him into a guard.
No way, said Zima. His prize kicker is too valuable to use as a field player. Maher’s booming kickoffs and punts will be far more valuable to the Spartans this season than any blocks he might throw for running backs Justice Hardy or Chase Eisenhower.
Maher put his powerful leg on display Sunday, winning the punting and kickoff portions of the Chris Nunn Memorial Football Combine and taking the overall kicking prize at Conrad Weiser. He also won the event last year.
Twin Valley’s Nate Shaffer was second overall Sunday; Gov. Mifflin’s Lance Koenig was third.
The event was postponed from May 29, due to wet conditions.
Maher was one of the top kickers in the Lancaster-Lebanon League as a junior, when he shared the Berks County Specialist of the Year award with Conrad Weiser’s Alex Malone.
Now he’s 20 pounds heavier and an even bigger weapon for the Spartans.
“I’ve been working as hard as I can in the strength room,” said the 5-11 Maher. “I’m gonna get a lot bigger through the summer.”
Maher led Berks with four fields and in touchback percentage last year, and averaged 46.1 yards per punt; he earned Section 4 all-league honors as a punter and was second-team placekicker behind Lampeter-Strasburg’s Peter Fiorello, an All-State pick.
His goals for this season are much higher. He wants to put half his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks; that would please Wolfrum to no end.
“He would be very happy,” Maher said. “He doesn’t want ’em running them back at all.”
“Touchbacks are very important,” said Zima. “We put the ball (consistently) on the 20, how are (they) gonna go 80 yards (for a touchdown)? In high school that’s huge.”
During Sunday’s competition Maher put four of his five kickoffs into the end zone.
In the punting competition he had kicks of 46 and 47 yards, the last with a hang time of 4.33 seconds, highest during the event.
In the field goal portion, Maher nailed a 49-yarder, as did Preston Oxenreider, a rising freshman at Wilson. The event was for high school athletes so Oxenreider was technically not eligible for a top prize, though he showed he belonged with the big boys. He had the highest score in the extra point and field goal portions of the contest.
Maher is a relative newcomer to football. He played soccer through his freshman year at Wyomissing but was lured to football by some friends on the team. He handled kickoffs and made some key kicks as a sophomore, which sparked his interest and confidence.
“After the end of my sophomore year, I was gearing toward getting bigger and stronger, and really fell in love with the game,” he said. “Mostly because of Coach Zima; he’s given me so many opportunities.”
Maher was 135 pounds as a freshman. Now he’s among the strongest players on the football team, squatting 365 pounds, and is looking at landing a college scholarship. He has earned a four-star rating from Kohl’s Kicking in both punting and kicking.
He said he’s now comfortable on field goals from 45 yards and will be from 50 “soon.”
His added strength is showing up on his kickoffs.
“I’m putting way more into the end zone,” he said. “Last year I was barely touching 60 (yards per kick). Now I’m pretty confident in touchbacks.”
Still, accuracy remains his No. 1 goal. He’s aiming for a 90-percent success rate on PATs and 80 percent on field goals for a Wyomissing team that will be a top threat to win the Section 4 and District 3 Class 4A championships.
“Technique is everything,” he said. “(Working hard in the) weight room will give you more power but a snappy leg is really what matters.”
