Relentless Spartans hold off Haverford to score major victory
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
Chase Eisenhower has run for a lot of first downs over four seasons at Wyomissing but never did he seem so excited to move the sticks as he did late Saturday afternoon.
As soon as his rugged 220-pound frame hit the ground inside Haverford School’s 10-yard line he raised his right arm in triumph.
| Final | |
| Wyomissing | 29 |
| Haverford School | 26 |
“It was all the energy built up from the entire game that came through me,” he said of the display of emotion following the pounding run that sealed the deal in a pulsating 29-26 non-league victory at Wolfrum Field.
The Spartans (2-0) trailed at halftime and for much of the fourth quarter before Justice Hardy’s 35-yard touchdown sprint around right end with 6:49 left gave them the lead.
The Fords (0-1) had plenty of time to respond, as they had three times earlier after falling behind; with an array of dangerous open-field weapons they seemed entirely capable of it.
Their only turnover of the game cost them that chance when Marcus Jones fumbled a punt inside his 30 with 2:08 remaining; Wyomissing’s Marcus Armistead covered it and the Spartans ran out the clock. After Eisenhower’s 11-yard, first-down run to the 7 they went into Victory Formation, signaling the completion of a major victory.
A season ago they could barely move the ball in a 21-3 loss to their Inter-Ac foe; this time they seemingly couldn’t be stopped.
Their relentless running game, led by Eisenhower’s 25 thrusts, eventually wore down the Fords’ bigger linemen, many of whom played both ways. Wyomissing ran the ball 35 times and churned out 16 first downs in the first half; it finished with 59 rushing attempts.
“That’s a lot,” said Haverford School coach Brian Martin, who admitted his bigs were gassed in the final quarter. “We just got worn down. They’re a well-coached team, and we knew what they were going to do, but we didn’t elevate to meet that. Give them credit; they played a helluva game.”
There were times in the second quarter when it looked like the Spartans were going to get run off the field by a team with a fleet of college-level skills prospects. James Madison recruit Matt Jones picked up a fumble and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown. Later in the first half tailback Stephen Cobb, who ran a 4.4 during a Lehigh prospect camp, sprinted 31 yards for a TD. Matt Jones sent the Fords into halftime leading when he took a short pass, then cut back across the field for an 85-yard score 57 seconds before intermission.
“They had some talent,” allowed Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum. “They spread the field. We weren’t real happy with our defense a couple times.”
The Spartans made adjustments in the second half, mostly by dialing up their blitz packages. Once they started pressuring the pocket from all directions quarterback Zach Faragalli started missing his targets.
“We at least made him get rid of it,” Wolfrum said. “You could see he knew it was coming. That’s half the battle sometimes.”
That pressure helped the Spartans’ back four make better open-field plays against the passing game, none bigger than Marcus Armistead’s fourth-down pass breakup against Marcus Jones around the Wyomissing 10 in the final minute of the third quarter.
The Spartans got another fourth-down stop on the next possession after the Fords had reached Wyomissing’s 32.
On what turned out to be their final possession the Fords went three-and-out with six minutes remaining. Faragalli threw a third-down incompletion with Hardy, a safety, and linebacker Diamante Strong in his grill.
“We noticed that they were getting a little tired,” Eisenhower said, “so we thought we’d get a little more pressure on them and I think we did a great job.”
The back-and-forth battle tipped in Wyomissing’s favor in the final quarter, one that saw it out-gain Haverford 126-14.
“They were frustrated,” Hady said. “They’re not used to getting hit (on blocks) from multiple directions; they’re not used to all the motion (of our offense). And that’s exactly what the Wing-T’s for: We played a bigger opponent but we hit ’em low and we ran plus-2 football today. Every time we got hit we ran for 2 more yards.”
No one exemplified that better than Eisenhower, who rushed for a game-high 113 yards on 25 carries – a big chunk of Wyomissing’s 276-yard rushing total.
The run game was aided by a passing threat the Spartans haven’t featured in a while. Sophomore quarterback Brady Eisenhower completed 9-of-12 throws with three TDs, as well as a two-point conversion to Hardy.
“I don’t even know what to say about (Brady),” Chase Eisenhower said of his brother. “He did great. For as young as he is he came out and played like a senior. I’m really happy for him.”
The Fords couldn’t totally sell out on the running game after Hardy burned them with a rare flea-flicker that netted 41 yards.
Just like in the age-old fable the tortoise once again beat the hare. Haverford had two scoring drives that lasted less than a minute and got a TD off a turnover. Wyomissing had a pair of 16-play drives, possessed the ball for 20 of 24 minutes in the first half, and ran 72 plays from scrimmage.
“The thing I was really impressed with was when they went ahead, we answered every time,” Wolfrum said. “Every time they scored, we would score. We didn’t put our heads down. Things didn’t go as well for our running game in the second half but we were able to score. (This) just reinforces to the kids that they can play with really good teams.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Haverford School | 7 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 26 |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 29 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | Fleischood, 4 pass from B. Eisenhower (Maher kick) | 2:31 |
| 1 | Haverford School | M. Jones, 80 fumble return (Camp kick) | 11:47 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Niedrowski, 8 pass from B. Eisenhower (Maher kick) | 2:24 |
| 2 | Haverford School | Cobb, 31 run (kick failed) | 1:42 |
| 2 | Haverford School | M Jones, 85 pass from Faragalli (kick failed) | 0:57 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | DiFabrizio, 55 pass from B. Eisenhower (Hardy, pass from B. Eisenhower) | 8:28 |
| 3 | Haverford School | M. Jones, 19 pass from Faragalli (Camp kick) | 6:12 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 35 run (Maher kick) | 6:49 |
Team statistics
| HAVERFORD SCHOOL | WYOMISSING | |
| First downs | 9 | 25 |
| Rushes-yards | 11-66 | 59-276 |
| Passing yards | 184 | 156 |
| Total yards | 250 | 432 |
| Passes | 10-19-0 | 9-13-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 3-1 |
| Punts-average | 3-50.1 | 3-25.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-55 | 4-25 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Haverford School: Cobb 9-57, Faragalli 2-9.
Wyomissing: C. Eisenhower 25-113, Hardy 14-84, Fleischood 7-48, Niedrowski 6-25, Arguelles 2-13, Team 1-(-1), B. Eisenhower 4-(-6).
PASSING
Haverford School: Faragalli 10-19-0–184.
Wyomissing: B. Eisenhower 9-12-1–115, Hardy 1-1-0–41.
RECEIVING
Haverford School: M. Jones 6-89, M. Jones 3-89, Rischitelli 1-6.
Wyomissing: Niedrowski 3-22, DiFabrizio 1-55, B. Focht 1-41, Arguelles 1-24, Hardy 1-6, C. Eisenhower 1-4, Fleischood 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS
Haverford School: Jodz.
