Spartans score in final seconds to beat Shamrocks, extend record streak
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Logan Moyer — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
CAMP HILL – Winning seems to be inevitable for the Wyomissing Spartans.
Down by 20 points with 18 minutes left, Wyomissing rallied for a spirited 35-34 comeback win, defeating Trinity in a non-league contest at COBO Field on a rainy Friday night on the West Shore.
It was a 1-yard touchdown reception by freshman Justice Hardy that tied the game with 14 seconds left to play. Placekicker Keegan Maher drilled the extra point, extending Wyomissing’s Berks-record streak of regular season wins to 38.
“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” said longtime Wyomissing head coach Bob Wolfrum. “Now, at halftime, I wasn’t too happy. It was a tale of two halves.”
Special teams were the story of the night. The Shamrocks blocked two punts, both of which resulted in scores on the recovery.
The first came in the first quarter when Payton Schaffner blocked a punt which was recovered in the end zone by Hayden Johnson. The latter came in the third quarter when Jacob Ness blocked a punt and took it to the house himself for a 23-yard return.
“We’ve got a number of things to fix on our punt team,” Wolfrum said. “Whenever you get punts blocked, everybody points to one person. There’s usually more than one person.”
A couple of long touchdown runs by Chase Eisenhower (57) and Derek Macrina (44) helped the Spartans reduce the early deficit. The Shamrocks led 27-14 at the half after Michael Johnson shed off three Spartan defenders on his way to a 22-yard TD reception with 30 seconds left in the half.
The Shamrocks are also left regretting a special teams error. After sophomore Messiah Mickens broke right through the middle of the Spartan defense, running for an 85-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter, kicker Kieran Finnegan missed the PAT attempt. That point proved to be crucial.
At the time, however, the bigger concern was Mickens. The four-star Penn State commit suffered a lower-body injury on his TD trot, sending him to the locker room for further evaluation.
Mickens reappeared on the Trinity sideline midway through the second quarter but didn’t see action until the final play of the third quarter. Right after his return, lightning struck – literally.
A lightning delay gave the two sides 50 minutes to deliberate before the final quarter. At the time of the delay, the Spartans had trimmed the Shamrock advantage to 34-21 following an 8-yard TD run by Collin Niedrowski. Mickens felt that the delay gave Wyomissing an advantage.
“I would say for sure (that the delay helped Wyomissing),” Mickens said. “They definitely got some extra time to think of a game plan.”
Eisenhower had different thoughts about the weather delay.
“We knew we were gonna have to play even harder after (Trinity) got a break,” he said. “But we were excited. We knew we had the momentum. We just came out and played hard.”
The Spartans did indeed have the momentum. Eisenhower ran for a touchdown on Wyomissing’s first drive of the fourth quarter, then the defense forced a stop after the Shamrocks drained a few minutes off the clock.
Wyomissing regained possession at its 42, down by six with 3:27 left to play. The Spartans were able to work their way all the way all the way to the goal line, converting on a couple third downs in the process. Following Hardy’s TD and a couple penalties the Spartans sacked Trinity quarterback Caleb Wray as time expired to secure the non-league victory.
Wolfrum felt that his team, ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A) will benefit greatly from the close game experience against a championship-caliber opponent; Trinity was ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 2A.
“These kinds of games are invaluable to you,” he said. “That’s why we schedule teams like this. Really, we can’t get enough teams like this. We’d like to have a tough game in all our non-league games.”
Nine different Spartans combined for a total of 410 rushing yards. Eisenhower led the way with 172 yards on 19 attempts.
“I call the plays, but I don’t even know who’s carrying the ball,” Wolfrum said. “(Our coordinator, Frank Ferrandino) subs the backs in and out. I know that we use a lot, being that we have a Wing-T offense.”
The Spartans open Lancaster-Lebanon Section 4 play next week against “Backyard Brawl” rival Berks Catholic.
“That’s just the kind of game that usually is contested all the way through,” Wolfrum said. “It’s always been a rivalry, no matter which team is favored.”
The Saints are the last team to knock off the Spartans in regular season play, defeating them 28-7 in the 2018 regular season finale.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| Trinity | 20 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 34 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Trinity | Mickens, 85 run (kick failed) | 6:47 |
| 1 | Trinity | Johnson, blocked punt recovered in end zone (Finnegan kick) | 5:22 |
| 1 | Wyomissing | Macrina, 44 run (Maher kick) | 3:37 |
| 1 | Trinity | Mallard, 22 pass from Wray (Finnegan kick) | 1:18 |
| 2 | Wyomissing | Eisenhower, 57 run (Maher kick) | 6:03 |
| 2 | Trinity | Johnson, 38 pass from Wray (Finnegan kick) | 0:34 |
| 3 | Trinity | Ness, 23 blocked punt return (Finnegan kick) | 6:06 |
| 3 | Wyomissing | Niedrowski, 8 run (Maher kick) | 1:35 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Eisenhower, 1 run (Maher kick) | 7:05 |
| 4 | Wyomissing | Hardy, 1 pass from Hyde (Maher kick) | 0:14 |
Team statistics
| Wyomissing | Trinity | |
| First downs | 19 | 8 |
| Rushes-yards | 56-410 | 28-204 |
| Passing yards | 66 | 90 |
| Total yards | 476 | 294 |
| Passes | 5-10-0 | 6-12-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 1-32 | 2-36.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-65 | 9-90 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wyomissing: Eisenhower 19-172, Macrina 7-72, Niedrowski 8-67, Forrey 7-49, Diaz 4-43, Hyde 2-12, Armstead 4-6, Hardy 3-3, Team 1-(-1), Maher 1-(-13).
Trinity: Mickens 11-145, Joy 12-71, Dent 2-8, Wray 3-(-20).
PASSING
Wyomissing: Hyde 5-10-0–66.
Trinity: Wray 6-12-0–90.
RECEIVING
Wyomissing: Brower 1-44, Macrina 1-8, Armstead 1-7, Neff 1-6, Hardy 1-1.
Trinity: Johnson 2-39, Mallard 2-26, Joy 1-13, Mickens 1-12.
MISSED FIELD GOALSTrinity: Finnegan 40.
