Special effort by Lampeter-Strasburg denies Wyomissing 6th straight title

By Sean McBryan Last updated Dec 4, 2024

Wyomissing's Derek Macrina breaks free for a touchdown Friday against Lampeter-Strasburg. (Chris Knight/LNP photo)

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Lampeter-Strasburg 30, Wyomissing 27 (OT)

By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

LITITZ — It was going to take a special team to defeat these Wyomissing Spartans, who were aiming to win their sixth consecutive district title.

Turns out Lampeter-Strasburg was able to defeat them twice in the same season.

The Pioneers defeated the Spartans 30-27 in overtime Friday night at Warwick’s cold, wet Grosh Stadium in a classic District 3 Class 4A championship.

Five weeks after convincingly ending the Spartans’ 36-game home winning streak, the top-seeded Pioneers (13-0) pried away the district trophy from second-seeded Wyomissing (10-3) in a battle between two programs seemingly on a collision course for the foreseeable future.

Wyomissing kicker Keegan Maher made a 28-yard field goal on the Spartans’ first possession in overtime but they accepted a roughing the kicker penalty for a first-and-goal from the 5.

“We thought we had a shot at scoring so we took (the penalty),” Wyomissing head coach Bob Wolfrum said. “I probably should have just left the points on the board to make (them) score (a touchdown). With 1st-and-goal from the 5 I thought we’d have a chance to put seven on the board.”

Three straight runs left the Spartans at Lampeter-Strasburg’s 2-yard-line, forcing a 20-yard field goal attempt that was blocked by Dominic Brown, who had already rushed 34 times for 145 yards.

“We almost blocked the previous kick from the right side,” Brown said. “On that one, Danny (Weichler) shot the gap and they chipped me. Danny ended up running into the kicker. This time we knew they were kicking from the left hash, so we decided to come from the left side. They were more worried about Danny and not me and that let me sneak around the edge.”

Peter Fiorello knocked through a 22-yard field goal — his third make of the night — on the Pioneers’ first offensive play of OT to secure their first district title since 2020 and fourth overall.

It’s the Pioneers’ third title in the last six seasons. They’ll face either WPIAL champ Thomas Jefferson or District 9 champ Clearfield, which play Saturday at 1:00, in the PIAA semifinals next week.

The loss marks the first time a Bob Wolfrum-coached team has been defeated by the same opponent twice in one season since Conrad Weiser did it in 1996.

Lampeter’s Dominic Brown blocks Keegan Maher’s overtime field goal attempt. (Chris Knight/LNP photo)

“They weren’t about to come down here and get pushed around just because they beat us soundly the first time,” Wolfrum said of his players. “We were going to give it our best shot. And we did.

“We had to do some different stuff. This is the third year we’ve been playing them (in the Lancaster-Lebanon League). We gave them a little trouble on their defensive side of the ball and made them work really hard. It was just a great game, very physical and competitive.”

The Spartans had much more success on the ground in the second go-around with the Pioneers, who defeated them 20-7 at Wolfrum Field on Oct. 26.

Wyomissing mustered only 148 rushing yards in that game and 3.7 yards per carry. It surpassed that by halftime Friday with 191 yards and finished with 394 at 6.9 yards per carry.

“Our coaches set us up for great success,” said Chase Eisenhower, who rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns. “They’re a great team. We played our hearts out. Of course we wanted to get our debt back, but I thought we executed pretty well. It’s going to motivate everyone to just get in the weight room this summer and keep putting the work in.”

The biggest run of the night for the Spartans came from Tyler Niedrowski, who ran 80 yards for a touchdown and 27-20 lead with 3:15 left.

Lampeter-Strasburg quarterback Calieb Howse made a wild play on the Pioneers’ next drive, scrambling backward, avoiding defenders, and lobbing a pass to the opposite side of the field to Mason Hostetter, who came down with an 18-yard grab to convert a fourth-and-13.

“It was like I was in a fog trying to see it all happen in front of me,” Lampeter-Strasburg head coach Victor Ridenour said. “I couldn’t tell if he caught it at first and then I saw the official signal he did.”

Howse then found Christian Nolt on third down for a 5-yard touchdown with 28 seconds left to tie the game.

Spartans’ Chase Eisenhower heads for the end zone against Pioneers. (Chris Knight/LNP photo)

Brown started the game with a 53-yard kickoff return and a 25-yard pass from Howse to Emory Fluhr set up a 1-yard TD run from Brown with 9:33 left in the first quarter.

Each team punted before Cole Lopez recovered a Wyomissing fumble at the L-S 48.

Fiorello hit a 34-yard field goal and the Pioneers led 10-0 with 3:34 left in the first quarter, giving vibes toward a potential similar result as the first outing.

But you don’t win five straight district championships by rolling over.

“They’ve been coaching together forever,” Ridenour said of the Wyomissing coaching staff. “They’re always going to find answers for whatever you did to them previously, and they were able to do it. I know their offense gets a lot of credit, and deservingly so, but their defense is also always very good, very strong.

“We needed to make enough plays and we were able to do that. Our kids just kept fighting. It was literally a battle until the end.”

Wyomissing started the next drive at its own 22 and after five runs from Eisenhower and two from Danny Fleischood, the Spartans were on the Lampeter 27 as time ran out in the first quarter.

Eisenhower darted for a 20-yard touchdown three plays into the second.

“Our mindset was just to be physical,” Brown said. “We knew they were a very physical team and were going to run it down our throats like they did. They had a few really good plays, it’s hard to get (Eisenhower) down.”

After five combined punts, Justice Hardy’s 32-yard run put Wyomissing on the Lampeter 33 and Derek Macrina took the next play to the house to give the Spartans a 14-10 lead with 2:05 before halftime, a score that held at the break.

The Pioneers forced a punt on the first possession of the second half and three plays later Howse hit Weichler for a 33-yard TD to give a 17-14 lead back to L-S with 8:41 left in the third.

The defenses held sturdy the rest of the third before chaos broke loose in the fourth.

Fiorello hit his second field goal, from 41 yards, to extend the Pioneers’ lead to 20-14 with 9:17 left and the momentum shift was palpably back to Lampeter.

Eisenhower broke for a 46-yard run on the first play of the next drive to give some good juju back to the Spartans, but Hardy was injured on the next play and never returned.

The Spartans kept churning and finished the 80-yard, eight-play drive on Eisenhower’s 3-yard score to tie the game 20-20 with 6:52 left before Niedrowski’s 80-yarder and Howse’s circusy.

Pioneers’ Dominic Brown avoids tackle by Spartans’ Marcus Armistead. (Chris Knight/LNP photo)

	1	2	3	4	OT	Final
Wyomissing	0	14	0	13	0	27
Lampeter-Strasburg	10	0	7	10	3	30

Scoring summary

1	Lampeter-Strasburg	Brown, 1 run (Fiorello kick)	9:33
1	Lampeter-Strasburg	Fiorello, 34 FG	3:34
2	Wyomissing	Eisenhower, 20 run (Maher kick)	10:47
2	Wyomissing	Macrina, 33 run (Maher kick)	2:05
3	Lampeter-Strasburg	Weichler, 33 pass from Howse (Fiorello kick)	8:41
4	Lampeter-Strasburg	Fiorello, 41 FG	9:17
4	Wyomissing	Eisenhower, 3 run (kick blocked)	6:52
4	Wyomissing	Niedrowski, 80 run (Maher kick)	3:15
4	Lampeter-Strasburg	Nolt, 5 pass from Howse (Fiorello kick)	0:28
OT	Lampeter-Strasburg	Fiorello, 22 FG	0:00

Team statistics

	Wyomissing	Lampeter-Strasburg
First downs	16	15
Rushes-yards	57-394	46-162
Passing yards	11	151
Total yards	405	313
Passes	1-4-0	11-21-0
Fumbles-lost	2-1	0-0
Punts-average	7-29.1	7-34
Penalties-yards	9-55	12-106