Spartans, Justice Hardy, catch Raiders with big plays to claim Round 1

By Mike Drago Last updated Oct 14, 2024

Wyomissing's Justice Hardy turns the corner on the way to 56-yard touchdown Friday at Twin Valley. (benschafferphotography)

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By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor

When he saw Twin Valley’s cornerback creep up on him at the line of scrimmage, Justice Hardy realized he had a chance to make a big play and called for an audible.

Section 4
Wyomissing	5-0	7-1
Lampeter	5-0	8-0
Twin Valley	4-1	7-1
Elco	3-3	3-5
Octorara	2-4	4-4
N. Lebanon	1-4	2-6
Boone	1-4	1-7
Donegal	0-5	1-7

Teddy White, Wyomissing’s sophomore quarterback, picked up the signal, knew exactly what Hardy wanted, and delivered.

“It was supposed to be an out route,” Hardy said, “but their corner was pretty close so we checked it to a ‘go ball’ and it worked out perfectly.”

Hardy pulled in the deep pass down the right sideline and took it to the 1, setting up a touchdown late in the third quarter that propelled the Spartans to a pulsating 34-24 win over the Raiders in a much-anticipated Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 showdown Twin Valley Stadium.

The Raiders (4-1, 7-1) were unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 4A but had no answer for Hardy, who had a huge night at their expense.

The flashy sophomore ran for a career-high 196 yards and two touchdowns and had a pair of back-breaking receptions to fuel the Spartans (5-0, 7-1), who will certainly move up in the Class 4A state rankings after spending the past few weeks at No. 4.

Hardy spent much of the game in the backfield and threatened to break long runs every time he touched the ball. He lined up occasionally at wide receiver and turned in a pair of back-breaking catches in the second half, the second a 48-yard catch-and-run that set up what turned out to be a clinching 31-yard field goal by Keegan Maher with 3:17 remaining.

White threw just three passes but made them count.

“Give that kid credit,” Twin Valley coach Brett Myers said of White. “It’s not easy (what he did). He’s a sophomore, big game, at critical moments he had two really big completions, that’s great for him.”

Twin Valley had allowed fewer points than any team in the league but had trouble stopping Wyomissing’s offense. The Spartans scored on six of their nine possessions, missed a field goal on one and ran out each half with the other two. They did not punt or turn the ball over. Twin Valley fumbled it away twice.

“(I thought) if we could come away with points every time we had the ball we had a chance to win,” said Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum. “We got a few stops (defensively), but the fact that we were able to keep putting points on the board and keep the ball away from them (was key).”

Raiders Evan Myers delivers in face of Andrew Bresnahan blitz. (benschafferphotography)

The Spartans had their way up front on both sides of the ball. They gave Hardy room to make plays and totaled 348 yards on the ground – this against a defense that was allowing a league-low 41 rushing yards per game.

“That’s Wyomissing football,” said senior guard Max Tipton. “We were running down the field every drive. That’s just how you want to play football.”

The Spartans cranked out 449 total yards and had 17 first downs. They kept the pressure on the Raiders by controlling the ball and driving into their territory almost every time they had the ball.

“They ran Buck Sweep, they ran Belly Iso, they ran some Jet,” said Myers. “They’ve been doing that for 40 years. Everybody can tell you they’re gonna do it. We’ve just gotta make the tackles, and we didn’t make the tackles.”

Hardy had runs of 18, 24, and 35 yards, in addition to his 56-yard touchdown run, but his receptions – both on third-and-long – that were the straws that broke the camel’s back.

“That was a little shock,” Myers said of getting stung by a quarterback who had attempted just 27 passes and thrown for just 210 yards through the first seven game.

“We don’t ask him to do a whole lot,” Wolfrum said of White, a first-year starter, “but when we do (throw) you’ve gotta complete ’em.”

Despite not being able to stop the Spartans the Raiders kept coming at them. Wyomissing contained 3,000-yard career rusher Evan Johnson rather well – he had just 43 rushing yards on 21 carries – but senior quarterback Evan Myers kept them moving forward.

He rushed for 124 yards on 12 carries, completed 10-of-16 passes and threw a pair of touchdowns.

The second, to Matt Knight on fourth-and-16 from the 22, had the Raiders knocking on the door, trailing just 31-24 with 6:54 left.

Hardy came up big a few minutes later, turning a short pass into a 48-yard gain to the 16, setting up Maher’s clinching field goal.

On the Raiders next possession linebacker Andrew Bresnahan forced an Evan Myers fumble, essentially ending the game.

“I give our kids credit because at any time they could’ve given up, and they didn’t,” Brett Myers said. “Until two minutes left in the game it was a competition.”

The Spartans basked in the victory, as you would expect after knocking off a top-ranked team, but they know they’re not done with the Raiders. There’s a strong possibility the teams meet again next month late in the District 3 playoffs.

“We knew we were the underdogs but we love that,” Hardy said. “We took all that for our fire and we used it against them.”

“That is a great team,” Tipton said of Twin Valley. “We played our best, they played pretty well, but they made some mistakes. If they clean those up it’ll be even tighter (next time). Can’t wait to see ’em again.”

Spartans’ Justice Hardy stiff-arms Raiders’ Evan Johnson. (benschafferphotography)

	1	2	3	4	Final
Wyomissing	7	7	10	10	34
Twin Valley	0	9	0	15	24

Scoring summary

1	Wyomissing	Hardy, 2 run (Maher kick)	0:12
2	Twin Valley	Shaffer, 25 FG	7:03
2	Wyomissing	C. Eisenhower, 33 run (Maher kick)	3:44
2	Twin Valley	L. Myers 2 run (kick failed)	1:01
3	Wyomissing	Maher, 34 FG	7:35
3	Wyomissing	Niedrowski, 1 run	1:14
4	Twin Valley	Grundy, 18 pass from E. Myers (L. Myers pass from E Myers)	11:43
4	Wyomissing	Hardy, 56 run (Maher kick)	9:24
4	Twin Valley	Knight, 22 pass from E. Myers (Shaffer kick)	6:54
4	Wyomissing	Maher, 31 FG	3:17

Team statistics

	Wyomissing	Twin Valley
First downs	17	18
Rushes-yards	47-348	34-169
Passing yards	101	129
Total yards	449	298
Passes	2-3-0	10-16-0
Fumbles-lost	0-0	2-2
Punts-average	0	2-20.0
Penalties-yards	12-105	6-46