Spartans have been well-schooled when it comes to playing defense
Jack Miller, Mattt Kramer and Rory Filoon didn’t have a chance to get on the field for Wyomissing as much as they might have liked last season; there were just too many talented seniors ahead of them, including five All-State picks on the defensive side.
They watched, they waited and they learned their lessons well.
“Those guys taught us everything that we know,” said Miller, a senior who backed up All-State linebacker Evan Niedrowski last year. “Those guys were always mentoring us, telling us how to get better.”
Judging by Saturday’s 47-7 Homecoming win over Hamburg the torch has been passed effectively.
The state-ranked Spartans (4-0) allowed just 84 total yards, took away all of the Hawks’ dangerous weapons and held a team that averaging 38 points to one score.
Hamburg quarterback Xander Menapace rarely had a chance to set up and throw and was running for his life at times. At one point he adroitly switched hands and threw the ball away left-handed to avoid a safety.
“We did a tremendous job stopping him today,” said senior linebacker Tommy Grabowski, one of just four return starters on the defensive side.
Kramer, a junior outside linebacker, had a sack, three tackles for loss and nearly tackled Menapace in the end zone for a safety before the quarterback reached the ball ahead and over the goal line.
Miller, who teams with Grabowski inside, was all over the field, and had three tackles for loss.
Filoon, a senior linebacker, had three hurries and played a part in Menapace connecting on just half his 12 pass attempts.
Senior nose guard Julian DiMaio also had a hurry and a fourth-down tackle for loss.
All told, the Hawks managed just six first downs.
“They all played a lot last year,” said Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum, who always substitutes liberally to get younger players exposure, and had ample opportunities to do that last year with his powerhouse team often so comfortably ahead. “On many teams, a lot of these guys would’ve been starters last year, but they had seniors in front of them.
“They were ready to play last year. We have a few positions where we’re breaking people in, but a lot of them are really veteran players.”
The Spartans’ D features veteran corners Amory Thompson and Nevin Carter who are so good few teams even both to challenge them.
The Hawks (3-1) wanted to but the Spartans’ front line wouldn’t allow it.
“We wanted to try to throw it, and throw it a bunch,” said Hamburg coach Jeff Chillot. “We’ve got to look at the protection and see what’s going on there.”
“We called a few blitzes,” Grabowski said, “but the D-line was just a monster today.”
The Hawks played a competitive first half and trailed 14-7 deep into the first half. The only offense they could generate came on Diohnny Ruiz’s 89-yard kickoff return in the opening minute of the second quarter.
They just didn’t have the depth, especially up front, to compete with a Wyomissing team that’s ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 3A and has enough quality linemen so that very few have to go both ways — a key factor on a muggy late-summer afternoon at the A-Field.
Eventually all of that took its toll on the Hawks, and the Spartans quickly put the game away in the second half. Wyomissing benefited from a 15-yard personal foul on the first play of the half, then went up 28-7 when Drew Eisenhower slipped out of the backfield and pulled in a pass that went for a 50-yard TD.
That was the second of Eisenhower’s two scores.
Grabowski, the starting fullback, also scored twice, on runs of 25 and 15 yards in the second quarter; he finished with 108 of Wyo’s 283 rushing yards.
That wasn’t good enough for Wolfrum, who is still unhappy with his offensive line play and an at-times sluggish offense.
He had no complaints about the defense, however.
“They played pretty well,” he allowed. “That’s the first Wing-T we went against. We play a different style of defense when we play the Wing-Ts, and I felt we did a pretty nice job. We’ll see that in two weeks (at Southern Columbia). It was a good tune-up.”
The Spartans have allowed six TDs in four games — two in the fourth quarter, after the issue was decided — but Miller thinks they can do better.
“I think we’re at a B, maybe a B-minus,” he said when asked to grade the defensive unit. “We’ve still got so much work to do. We could (potentially) not give teams a yard, I think. We have so much work to do, but we’re working at it every day in practice.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Hamburg | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 47 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Wyomissing | Eisenhower | 4 run | Levering | kick | |
| Wyomissing | Grabowski | 23 run | Levering | kick | |
| Hamburg | D. Ruiz | 89 kickoff return | Hix | kick | |
| Wyomissing | Grabowski | 15 run | Kick failed | ||
| Wyomissing | Eisenhower | 50 pass | From Zechman | Grabowski | run |
| Wyomissing | Thompson | 13 run | Levering | kick | |
| Wyomissing | W. Delp | 1 run | Kick failed | ||
| Wyomissing | Jones | 30 run | Kick failed | ||
Team statistics
| HAMBURG | WYOMISSING | |
| First downs | 6 | 17 |
| Rushes-yards | 26-26 | 43-283 |
| Passing yards | 58 | 89 |
| Total yards | 84 | 372 |
| Passes | 6-12-0 | 7-9-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 6-26.7 | 4-34.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-49 | 9-72 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Hamburg: Baer 5-21, Di. Ruiz 3-20, Watt 4-6, Readinger 2-2, Parra 1-0, Werley 1-(-1), Correll 1-(-6), Menapace 9-(-16).
Wyomissing: Grabowski 9-108, Thompson 6-35, Jones 2-37, McIntyre 5-20, Niedrowski 3-20, Eisenhower 6-18, A. Delp 1-18, Jackson 3-12, Kramer 3-9, W. Delp 2-7, Zechman 2-0.
PASSING
Hamburg: Menapace 6-12-0–58.
Wyomissing: Zechman 5-7-0–81, Hyde 1-1-0–6, Ambarian 1-1-0–2.
RECEIVING
Hamburg: McFarland 2-41, Harris 1-10, Watt 1-3, De. Ruiz 1-2, Reading 1-2.
Wyomissing: Carter 3-24, Eisenhower 1-50, Thompson 1-7, Hoffman 1-6, Neff 1-2.