Spartans get early push from Indians before pulling away to reach 6-0
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
Wyomissing played some pretty strong competition earlier in the season but no one had been able to move the ball against its defense the way upstart Donegal did Saturday at Wolfrum Field.
The undermanned Indians scored on their first possession, then took the lead by converting a two-point conversion.
| Final | |
| Wyomissing | 48 |
| Donegal | 22 |
Next time they had the ball they drove the field again; only a red zone interception by Danny Fleischood stopped them.
“We didn’t have any answers (defensively),” Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum said of those early drives.
Things quickly sorted themselves out and Wyomissing’s starters were out, as usual, by the middle of the third quarter of what ended up as a 48-22 win in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 game at Wolfrum Field.
Still, Wolfrum was bothered by the fact that his guys let the Indians (1-2, 2-4) enjoy so much early success.
“(This group) doesn’t practice well and it really showed up against an option team like this,” Wolfrum said. “When you play against option teams you’ve got to be disciplined, and we were anything but disciplined.”
The Spartans (3-0, 6-0) had trailed in just one game this season, a back-and-forth slobber knocker in Week 2 against The Haverford School.
To see them trailing 8-7 in the first quarter, after Donegal’s Nysaiah DeJesus, laying on the ground, collected a deflected two-point conversion pass, was eye-opening.
“It was a little bit of a wake-up call,” said Wyomissing senior Chase Eisenhower. “ (We said) ‘We’ve gotta pick it up, we’ve gotta get things going.’ (And) we did just that.”
Eisenhower did. He ran for 137 first-half yards and a pair of scores, his last touch an 80-yard run that will make it to the top of his lengthy highlight reel. He took an inside handoff, found a seam in the line, niftily sidestepped a linebacker a few yards down the field, then took off. The 6-foot, 220-pound fullback twice effectively stiff-armed defenders on the Donegal half of the field.
He shook off credit for that run just as smoothly as he did those would-be tacklers.
“We’ve got the right guys in there for that play,” he said. “(Halfback) Tyler (Niedrowski) had a big block on that, (halfback) Justice (Hardy) had a big block, (halfback) Danny (Fleischood) probably did, I don’t know, and the line just blocked good. So, all around it was a just a great play.”
It was one of several gems for the Spartans who, even at less than their crispest, reached the end zone on each of their first seven possessions before Wolfrum sent in the second units.
Quickly developing sophomore quarterback Brady Eisenhower set up the go-ahead touchdown with a well-executed pass on second-and-9. He rolled right, waited patiently for Hardy to flash open on the near sideline, then dropped a ball over a defender and into Hardy’s hands for a 29-yard gain to the 5. Hardy scored on the next play for a 14-8 lead.
“Those two have a great connection,” Chase Eisenhower said of his brother and Hardy. “Seeing that happen on the field wasn’t surprising.”
Late in the opening half Brady Eisenhower made another nice play, rolling left and throwing across his body to wide-open running back Dom Arguelles, who pulled it in for a 28-yard score that made it 28-8.
‘We’re a much better passing team (than a year ago),” Wolfrum said. “We (know) when we need something we’ve got a pretty good shot at getting it.”
Even though the Spartans put the game away quickly in the second half with a pair of early touchdowns they knew they were in a ballgame – at least for a while. The Indians held nothing back.
Donegal won the coin toss but opted to kick off, then opened the game with an onsides kick.
Later the Indians passed out of punt formation. They went for two points every time they scored a touchdown, including after their first possession, when they took the lead against the state-ranked Spartans.
“We were coming down here to win,” said Donegal senior Leelan Baughman, “we weren’t coming here to back down. We didn’t give up an inch of ground. We didn’t make it easy for them once.”
Turns out most of those chancy ploys didn’t turn out well. They didn’t recover either of the onside kicks and their fake punt, late in the first half, failed, giving Wyomissing possession at the Donegal 33. The Spartans were in the end zone in four plays.
Still, Wolfrum appreciated the spirited effort.
“(Donegal coach) Anthony (Sottasante) did a nice job with what they did within the option game,” Wolfrum said. “These guys took it to (us) for a while. Their fullback and their quarterback gave us a hard time. I don’t think our kids expected that. They got a little bit of a punch in the nose.”
The Indians got a 43-yard touchdown run from Baughman on their first possession in taking an 8-7 lead. They moved from their own 20 to the Wyomissing 22 early in the second quarter but were stopped on fourth down when Andrew Bresnahan stormed the pocket and forced Marshall to throw an interception.
Donegal rushed for 138 first-half yards against Wyomissing’s first-string defense; Baughman finished with 104 yards on 10 carries, with a pair of TDs.
Chase Eisenhower, an inside linebacker, said it took the Spartans time to mentally adjust to the option attack.
“We were just not getting to the ball quick enough,” he said. “We were getting beat to the line. We made some adjustments and got things going in the right way. It was all mental. We were thinking too much, weren’t doing what we were supposed to do. As soon as we got settled down we started playing well.”
Wyomissing has had thing easy since that 29-26 win over The Haverford School. None of its last three opponents scored in the first half.
“We definitely needed that,” Chase Eisenhower said of the early challenge. “It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve had some hard competition, so a game like that is definitely needed.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Donegal | 8 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 22 |
| Wyomissing | 14 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 48 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | C. Eisenhower, 2 run (Maher kick) | 5:56 |
| 1 | Donegal | Baughman, 43 run (Mendez, pass from Marshall) | 4:18 |
| 1 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 5 run (Maher kick) | 1:56 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | C. Eisenhower, 80 run (Maher kick) | 6:04 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Arguelles, 28 pass from B. Eisenhower (Maher kick) | 1:31 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Armistead, 24 run (Maher kick) | 8:36 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Arguelles, 5 run (Maher kick) | 5:13 |
| 3 | Donegal | Baughman, 12 run (pass failed) | 2:53 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Betances, 52 run (kick failed) | 11:04 |
| 4 | Donegal | Houck, 20 run (Marshall run) | 1:12 |
Team statistics
| DONEGAL | WYOMISSING | |
| First downs | 15 | 14 |
| Rushes-yards | 34-236 | 39-420 |
| Passing yards | 70 | 81 |
| Total yards | 306 | 501 |
| Passes | 4-9-1 | 4-5-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 6-2 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 1-40.0 | 0 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-25 | 9-67 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Donegal: Baughman 10-104, Smith 11-74, Marshall 8-38, Houck 1-20, Mendez 1-5, DeJesus 2-(-2), Jal. Johnson 1-(-3).
Wyomissing: C. Eisenhower 7-137, Armistead 4-66, Hardy 6-60, Betances 1-52, Nye 6-36, Westwood 5-30, Fleischood 4-16, Arguelles 4-14, Cirulli 1-5, Niedrowski 1-4.
PASSING
Donegal: Marshall 4-8-1–70, Sumpman 0-1-0–0.
Wyomissing: B. Eisenhower 4-4-0–81, Delp 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Donegal: Baughman 2-37, Jac. Johnson 2-33.
Wyomissing: Hardy 3-53, Arguelles 1-28.
INTERCEPTIONS
Wyomissing: Fleischood.
