Spartans excited to take a swing at Southern Columbia’s historic winning streak in GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week

Aiden Mack realizes it was an unusual scene. He and his Wyomissing teammates were gathered on a Friday night a few weeks ago, rooting for Southern Columbia to pull out a miracle victory.

The motivation was purely selfish, the Spartans tight end admits.

“We want to be the team that ends that streak,” Mack said.

The nation’s longest high school football winning streak was in jeopardy Sept. 17 when Wyoming Area, with a one-point lead in the final minutes, intercepted a Southern Columbia pass and drove to the 1.

A couple more feet and the Tigers’ amazing, four-year unbeaten streak would’ve been history.

Champions don’t go down easily, however. The Tigers came up with a fourth-down stop, then drove the length of the field in the final minutes to secure a 37-30 comeback.

Their winning streak is alive and well at 65 games as they prepare for a much-anticipated game against Wyomissing Friday at 7 at Catawissa in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week.

“That’s the kind of stuff that happens when you just expect to win and refuse to lose,” Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum said of the Tigers’ comeback. “(Wyoming Area) scores there the game’s over. (Southern) just wasn’t gonna let that happen. It’s gonna take somebody who can out-will them to beat ’em.”

Are the Spartans that team?

They’re 5-0, ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 3A and have a tradition about as good as there is in the state (though, like everyone else’s, it pales in comparison to Southern’s).

Wyomissing is the only Berks team that owns a state title, and it played for a second one a year ago, falling to Central Valley in the 3A title game.

It’s players are talented, well-schooled and grew up with a winning mindset. But will that be enough to go into the Tigers’ lair and make history?

“We take this game really seriously, because we want to break that streak,” said junior tackle Jven Williams. “We want to show all of Pennsylvania that Wyomissing’s where it’s at.”

“We’re up for a challenge,” insists senior nose guard Julian DiMao. “That’s why I love that we scheduled them. We always want a challenge; we don’t want to schedule teams that we know we’re gonna blow by.”

It has the makings of a classic, pitting two of the state’s top small-school programs and two of the state’s legendary coaches in a midseason, inter-sectional showdown that has been creating buzz for two years, since word got out that Wyomissing had added it to the schedule.

The teams were supposed to play at the A-Field a year ago but COVID got in the way and the game was canceled. Maybe the Spartans would’ve had a better chance then. They were a much more experienced bunch, and of course they would’ve had a home-field edge, with a big Saturday afternoon crowd urging them on.

“It was a bummer,” DiMao said. “We really wanted to play them, see what the big talk was. I mean, they’re a great team.”

Indeed, Southern Columbia (5-0) is the gold standard in Pennsylvania football. It has won a record 11 PIAA titles — nearly twice as many as any other program — including the last four Class 2A titles.

Jim Roth, their legendary coach, has won more games than any other coach in PA football history — 130 more than Wolfrum, in the same amount of time, hard as that is to believe.

Players and fans are excited, naturally, but you know its a really big game when veteran coaches such as this are just as enthused.

“We’re all excited,” Wolfrum said. “You don’t often get to play a big game like this during the season. Most of the really big games come at playoff time. This is pretty neat.

“I tell the kids: ‘A lot of guys never get to play in game like this in their life. You guys can do it more than most, so enjoy it.’ “

“This game feels more like a playoff game,” Roth said earlier in the week. “(Wyomissing) has a strong tradition and they are a perennial state playoff team, so it kind of gives you that that feeling.”

The programs are run and the teams are constructed in much the same manner. In fact, they each run the same offense, though Southern’s approach to the Wing-T is more power-oriented than Wyomissing’s, which beats teams with its deception and execution.

“They appear to play with a lot of discipline,” Roth said of the Spartans. “Their players on defense don’t get out of position, and just their overall execution is also very strong. They’re a good football team on both sides of the ball.

“They have some outstanding people up front, some guys that are being recruited at the scholarship level. It will be a challenge.”

Wolfrum isn’t amazed by much — he’s been there, done that — but he is, like most, impressed by Southern’s execution and consistency.

“I don’t even know what to say about it,” he said of Southern’s success story. “They’ve got a great program going. They’re obviously very solid with the X’s and O’s, but to be that successful your kids have to expect to win every time they go out. They’ve got that mindset. To win that many state titles, I don’t even know what to say about that, except it’s unbelievable.”

Southern Columbia has won 93 consecutive regular season games; it hasn’t dropped one since 2011.

The Spartans are happy that streak remains alive. They know if they win Friday it’ll be national news.

“We were going crazy (when they pulled that game out),” Williams said. “We want to be the guys to beat them first.”