Season preview: Wyomissing Spartans
Classification: Class 3A
League: Berks Section 2
Last season: 4-0 league, 9-1 overall
Schedule: Click here
Last District 3 playoff appearance: 2020
Head coach: Bob Wolfrum, 35th season, 322-85-1 (.790)
Key losses: Linebacker of the Year and all-league WR Darren Brunner, Defensive Back of the Year and all-league QB Zach Zechman, all-league FB and LB Evan Niedrowski, all-league G Jack Feightner, all-league T Seamus Filoon, all-league RB Jordan Auman, all-league DT Steve Olexy, all-league DT Isiah Fernandez, all-league PK/P Aidan Cirulli.
Top offensive players: QB Ben Zechman, FB Tommy Grabowski, HB Drew Eisenhower, HB Amory Thompson, HB Charlie McIntyre, all-league TE Aiden Mack, C Julian DiMaio, G Jack Miller, G Pacen Ziegler, T J’Ven Williams.
Top defensive players: E Aiden Mack, T J’Ven Williams, OLB Matt Kramer, OLB Rory Filoon, ILB Tommy Grabowski, ILB Jack Miller, CB Nevin Carter, CB Amory Thompson, S Drew Eisenhower, S Charlie McIntyre.
Notable: This is Bob Wolfrum’s 50th season coaching football. With 322 victories he ranks No. 11 all-time in Pennsylvania history, and No. 2 among active coaches. He also won 329 games over 28 seasons as the Spartans’ baseball coach.
Fast fact: Wyomissing has won nine District 3 championships but has never won three in a row. The Spartans won the Class 3A title in 2019 and 2020.
Quotable: “I think we’re going to be very good (on the offensive line). Aiden Mack’s just a good blocker. J’ven Williams, he’s 300 pounds and can move. And Pacen (Ziegler). Those three, we put them on one side of the line, they’re huge and they all can move. We (believe) we can move some people around.” — Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum.
Outlook: If you haven’t been paying close attention you might assume the Spartans are due for a drop-off after back-to-back dominant seasons and a pair of District 3 championships. Think again. Even after graduating 13 all-league players and 48 of their 62 TDs they are loaded again.
They return a solid corps of top-shelf talent, starting with TE Aiden Mack, a Richmond recruit, and three-year cornerbacks Amory Thompson and Nevin Carter. Those names you probably know.
Other outstanding, younger players are ready to step into more prominent roles after waiting their turns behind a tremendous senior class. Drew Eisenhower, Charlie McIntyre and Tommy Grabowski were making big runs and scoring touchdowns late in games last season; now they’ll do it as front-line guys.
Zechman is back at QB. It’s Ben Zechman, who replaces his brother Zach. Ben threw just one pass last year — and it went for a touchdown. He’ll throw a few more this season. The junior has strong command of the offense and is compared favorably to his brother.
Eisenhower is ready for a breakout season after waiting in the wings; he averaged 10.4 yards per game in late-game action as a sophomore. The same goes for McIntyre, who averaged 13.0 yards on a handful of carries. They’ll team with Grabowski at FB and Thompson, who started at HB last season, to form another dynamic backfield.
Granted, they’ve got to break in a new quarterback, replace three-fifths of their offensive line, three-fourths of their outstanding linebacking crew and the league’s best kicker. No problem.
They figure to have some holes to run through, too. The 6-4, 220-pound Mack’s best attribute is as a blocker, and with the 6-4, 310-pound Williams and the 6-3, 255-pound Ziegler he’ll help form one of Wyo’s larger front walls.
Most of those same guys will be keys on defense, where Thompson, Carter and Grabowski are each three-year starters.
The Spartans are ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 3A to start the year, right behind Central Valley, which beat them in the PIAA championship game, and Schuylkill Haven, the defending District 11 champ (District 11 teams opted not to participate in the state playoffs.) They’ll get their best test of the season Oct. 1 when they head to Southern Columbia to face the defending PIAA Class 2A champs, and they’ll be pushed by Section 2 rival Conrad Weiser in the regular season finale.
At the wire: Positioned for a 20th league title and a district three-peat.