Week 2 Glance: Wyomissing has another big challenge on its hands
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Even after scoring five touchdowns and beating Southern Columbia last year Bob Wolfrum grumbled. The legendary Wyomissing wasn’t happy with the play of his offense, particularly his O-line.
“We didn’t block a thing,” he groused.
That wasn’t the case last week when the Spartans, with a totally rebuilt offensive line that caused concern for the venerable coach throughout the offseason, broke one big play after another.
“We were right on,” Wolfrum said of his offensive line following the latest win over Southern, 49-27.
Wyomissing’s line play comes into question again Saturday in the Spartans home-opener against The Haverford School, a private school that plays in the Inter-Ac League and combs throught the Philadelphia suburbs in search of the biggest linemen it can find.
Last year the Fords featured a pair of Division I senior linemen. They’re gone but more of the same have replaced them. Walt Frazier goes 6-3, 285; he’s committed to Syracuse. The Bernard twins, Owen and Preston, each go 6-3, 290.
Wyomissing has produced guys like that but they won’t be of much help Saturday – they’re playing at Penn State these days. The Spartans’ current offensive line averages about 206 pounds; only one starter is bigger than 210.
“Their line is really big, as they were last year,” Wolfrum allowed. “They’re extremely talented; it’ll be a test for us.”
He’s counting on the fact that the Spartans will be able to neutralize Haverford’s size with their Wing-T blocking schemes, which rely on angle-blocking, deception and catching the opponent off guard. When it works well smaller teams can make bigger foes look bad with traps, counters, and reverses.
“Hopefully we’re successful enough to at least slow ’em down and get our backs through a seam,” he said.
When they did that last week Justice Hardy and his backfield mates were off to the races. Hardy scored three TDs, the last two on runs of 62 and 91 yards. Danny Fleischood broke off a 37-yard scoring run. Tyler Niedrowski busted a 58-yard TD.
Wolfrum’s also hoping that what he learned about facing the Fords and their system last year will help him and his players be better prepared.
“I don’t think I did a great job calling plays (against Haverford),” Wolfrum said. “Now that we’ve played ’em once I have a better handle on what they do. I (have) to be smarter with formations, to give us the best possible outcome.”
Wyomissing vs. Haverford School shapes up as an elite match-up, easily the best on the card for Berks teams in Week 2. Also of interest:
- Wilson built a 21-point lead last week en route to a 35-24 win over Cheltenham. Quarterback Mason Young, in his first start, finished 17-of-22 for 190 yards with three TD passes. The Bulldogs head to Plymouth-Whitemarsh, which gave up a late touchdown in a 40-35 loss to West Chester Henderson. Colonials QB Cole Reilly rans for 102 yards and passed for 162 in his first start.
- Reading and Muhlenberg renew the Battle of the Border Friday at Laureldale. The Red Knights have taken three straight in the series but head into this one as serious underdogs after opening with a 28-6 loss at Phoenixville. The Muhls, meanwhile, had a banner opening night as Adriel Baez threw for a career-high 233 yards and Michael Miller Jr. caught a pair of scoring passes in a 45-14 win at Schuylkill Valley. Muhlenberg has an 8-6 lead since the trophy series was renewed in 2010. The teams first met for the trophy in 1974 but the series was abandoned after the 1980 season.
- Conrad Weiser looks to extend its regular season winning streak to 12 games with its annual rematch of Elco Thursday in Robesonia. The Scouts, despite heavy graduation losses from their Section 4 championship team, opened with a 29-22 win at Abington that saw them pound the ground for 284 yards. Brayden Sweitzer went for 133 yards and a pair of TDs. The Raiders, meanwhile, were bogged down by eight sacks and four turnovers in a 42-7 loss to West York. The Scouts have controlled the backyard series against the Raiders, winning 25-of-36 overall and four of the last five.
- Fleetwood is hoping to snap a two-game losing streak to Upper Perkiomen when they meet Friday but the Tigers will have to find a way to get better on defense. They opened with a 54-34 win over Kutztown but yielded 478 total yards; they were triumphant only because they recovered five fumbles. The Indians lost only a handful of starters from a team that improved by five wins a year ago and reached the district playoffs for the first time since 2017. Logan O’Donnell is back to direct the offense and he’ll be playing behind an offensive line that returns all five starters. The Indians fell to Boyertown 20-17 in overtime last week when they allowed quarterback Tilman Henley to run for a 10-yard TD on the Bears first OT snap.
- Twin Valley heads to Selinsgrove Friday after a resounding 45-19 win over Berks Catholic in its season-opener. Drew Engle, who missed most of last year with a broken collarbone, showed he’s as good as ever, rushing for 164 yards on just seven carries. Lucas Myers ran for three TDs as the Raiders rolled up a 45-3 lead over three quarters. The Seals got off to a rough start, losing 18-7 to Juniata, a team they hadn’t lost to since 1972. Selinsgrove was limited to 202 total yards. The Raiders won last year’s game 40-10 as Evan Myers ran for four TDs.
Wyomissing has had trouble scheduling non-league games in recent years. Few teams in their classification can hang with them and larger PIAA teams don’t want to schedule the Spartans for fear of losing to them and hurting their playoff power rating.
That’s why Wyomissing had little choice but to add The Haverford School and Academy of the New Church to the front of their schedule.
“I have no problem scheduling them,” Wolfrum said Haverford School. “This kind of team is great for us to test ourselves. No matter what happens, it’s gonna help us the rest of the year.”
He feels last year’s game against Haverford helped his team when it came to playing state-ranked foes such as Twin Valley and Lampeter-Strasburg. The learning lessons were painful, however, as the Spartans managed just 101 total yards in the 20-3 loss. It was the only game all season in which they did not reach the end zone.
“We just had mistake after mistake,” Wolfrum said after the loss. “Against a team like that, you can’t make any.”
Matt Jones, a wide receiver committed to James Madison, scored a pair of touchdowns for Haverford in last year’s game. The Fords’ other top receiving threat is 6-5 tight end Quinn Gallagher, who is committed to Columbia.
Quarterback Zach Faragalli did not play against Wyomissing last season but he moved into the lineup because of an injury in that game and threw for 636 yards and six TDs.
