Justice Hardy, Spartans run wild against Southern Columbia
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Dave Fegley — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
CATAWISSA — Just like iconic singer Taylor Swift, a former Wyomissing student, labeled one of her award-winning songs: “Shake It Off”.
| Final | |
| Wyomissing | 49 |
| Southern Columbia | 27 |
That was exactly what Southern Columbia’s objective was on Friday night, hoping to kick-start its season against the Spartans. Once again, turnovers derailed the Tigers, who fell to the District 3 Class 4A powerhouse Spartans for the second straight season and third time overall.
Wyomissing defeated Southern 49-27 in a game in which Southern stole the momentum heading into halftime.
“I thought they had us dead to rights,” said Wyomissing head coach Bob Wolfrum. “They scored just before the half to cut our lead to just 14-7 and they got the ball to start the third quarter.”
With just 2.6 seconds remaining in the second quarter, and no timeouts left, Tigers senior Caden Hopper scored from 1 yard out to send the Southern crowd into a standing ovation to head to the locker room.
Southern got the ball to start the third quarter and was driving to tie the game before Wyomissing defensive back Marcus Armistead made the play of the game.
The senior picked off Southern junior Ayden Hockenbroch and took it 55 yards the other way to make the score 21-7.
“It makes it easier if the other 10 players on the field are doing their job,” said Armistead, who finished the game with two interceptions, and a fumble recovery that he also forced. “I just made a play and that’s about it. Playing as a cornerback and having stud linebackers (Tyler Niedrowski and Chase Eisenhower) in front of me makes my job easy.”
Southern’s Grady Garcia made it a one-score game again when the sophomore scored from 5 yards out with 9:22 left in the third quarter, after junior Jace Malakoski caught a pass and took it 59 yards, but from there the Spartans simply ran through the Southern defense.
Wyomissing junior running back Justice Hardy, who has a Division 1 offer from Liberty and plenty more to come, ran wild in the second half.
He was held 35 yards on five carries in the first half but added 162on just three attempts after the break to finish the win with 197 yards and three TDs. His final two trips to went 62 and 91 yards.
“It was disappointing to say the least,” said Southern coach Jim Roth, who entered his 42nd season as the state’s all-time winningest coach with 506 wins. “Way too many mistakes. Four turnovers on offense, and I thought we would do a much better job against their run game.”
Wolfrum, on the other hand, picked up his 373rd win, which is second actively in Pennsylvania behind Roth.
His Spartans rushed for 407 yards on just 26 carries. Averaging nearly 16 yards per carry is outstanding in itself but even more doing so with a completely brand-new line.
“I was really worried about that coming in,” said Wolfrum who is in his 39th season. “All summer long we tried, and we would get it right once and then screw it up the next time. Last week in the scrimmage though, everybody decided to do everything right and that continued tonight. We have the backs that can do damage if the line gives them a chance.”
In a game that was nearing a tie early in the third quarter, Tyler Niedrowski’s 58-yard scoring jaunt just 40 seconds into the fourth quarter put the game into the Mercy Rule at 49-14.
“We have a bunch of younger guys on the team and locked it in for the second half,” Hardy said. “Even though we were beating Southern at half, they outplayed us and seemed to want it more. In the second half though their players started cramping and our offensive line played nearly perfect after halftime.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 7 | 28 | 7 | 49 |
| Southern Columbia | 0 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 27 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wyomissing | Fleischood, 57 run (Maher kick) | 7:202 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 9 run (Maher kick) | 10:40 |
| 2 | Southern | Hopper, 1 run (Shadle kick) | 2.6 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Armistead, 55 interception return (Maher kick) | 10:52 |
| 3 | Southern | Garcia, 5 run (Schadle kick) | 9:22 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 62 run (Maher kick) | 7:18 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 91 run (Maher kick) | 3:25 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | DiFabrizio, 25 pass from B. Eisenhower (Maher kick) | :35 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Niedrowski, 58 run (Maher kick) | 11:20 |
| 4 | Southern | Brown, 3 run (run failed) | 5:06 |
| 4 | Southern | Pesarchick, 2 run (Schadle kick) | 0:20 |
Team statistics
| WYOMISSING | SOUTHERN COLUMBIA | |
| First downs | 10 | 19 |
| Rushes-yards | 26-407 | 55-276 |
| Passing yards | 27 | 74 |
| Total yards | 434 | 350 |
| Passes | 2-2-0 | 7-15-3 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-39 | 2-20 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wyomissing: Hardy 8-197, Niedrowski 4-71, C. Eisenhower 5-66, Fleischood 4-58, Arguelles 2-9, Nye 1-3, Betances 1-2, Westwood 1-1.
Southern: Andrews 14-89, Williams 15-73, Hockenbroch 5-29, Hopper 6-27, Garcia 5-20, Brown 4-19, Pesarchick 5-18, Piatt 1-1.
PASSING
Wyomissing: B. Eisenhower 2-2-0–27.
Southern: Hockenbroch 7-15-3–74.
RECEIVING
Wyomissing: DiFabrizio 1-25, Hardy 1-2.Southern: Malakoski 3-70, Kissinger 1-5, Andrews 3-(-1).
INTERCEPTIONS
Wyomissing: Armistead 2, Hardy.
