Spartans Justice Hardy Rushes for Four Touchdowns in 35-21 Win

Written by: David Mika on Sunday, August 25th, 2024. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Rick Martin

WYOMISSING-The first-half performance by Southern Columbia was a forgettable one against state power Wyomissing. A fumble on the opening play was the start of an uphill battle the Tigers couldn’t afford to be in, given the amount of new faces that are trying to find their way. Throw in two dropped punt snaps, and another errant one that resulted in a 35-yard loss, and it added up to Southern facing a 28-0 halftime deficit. Although the second half did produce some more beneficial results, enough early damage was done to give Wyomissing plenty of cushion, and earn the Spartans a 35-21 win.

“I said all preseason, we’ll find out what happens when we step on the field,” Southern coach Jim Roth said. “Coming in, we replaced a lot of players that we lost with quality players that were younger, didn’t have the experience, and I just don’t think we responded well. We didn’t start well, and we never got to the point where we picked up any kind of significant momentum that we could really get back into the game and make it close.”

Wyomissing (1-0) landed the first blow in the matchup of heavyweights. Sophomore Justice Hardy scored the first of his four touchdowns on an 11-yard jet sweep around right end. Following the first of two botched punt snaps, Hardy capped off the short four-play drive with another 11-yard touchdown run, giving his a team a 14-0 lead with 4:22 left in the opening quarter. Special teams snafus put the Tigers’ defense in several difficult positions, and the Spartans were happy to take advantage.

“A couple of snaps went over their head, so we had short fields,” Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum said. “We didn’t have to go too far to score.”

Wolfrum, who earned career win No. 358 on Saturday, saw his defense limit Southern to just two first downs in the opening half. A snap that sailed over the head of punter Preston Shadle resulted in Wyomissing needing just a single yard to extend the lead. Tyler Niedrowski did just that with his 1-yard run, and in the waning seconds before halftime, Daniel Flieschood broke loose on a 45-yard scamper. Three plays later, Hardy crossed the goal line from three yards out to complete his first-half hat trick.

“That’s important,” Wolfrum said. “The fourth touchdown, we were running a third down play, and we’re thinking well, if we don’t make it, do we kick a field goal, and we scored, so we didn’t have to worry about that. But those kind of things are important, you know. If we only had 24 (points), we’d have been really nervous.”

In the second half, things did go much better for Southern. Quarterback Ayden Hockenbroch connected with Blaise Kissinger on a 23-yard touchdown pass to get the Tigers on the board. Unfortunately for Southern, that momentum didn’t last long. Hardy put an exclamation point on his 120-yard afternoon by breaking a couple of tackles before sprinting down the right sideline for a 46-yard touchdown

“Well, he’s a special athlete,” Wolfrum said of Hardy. “He can go the distance any play, and defensively, he’s a real playmaker also. He was suffering from the heat as the game wore on. But, on that play where he scored, we didn’t have anybody blocked. I’m over there, and I’m (ticked) off, because we didn’t block anybody, but then I’m thinking, I’m glad he’s on our team.”

Southern (0-1) pulled to within 35-14, courtesy of some nice work from Brayden Andrews. The junior caught a 46-yard pass, then scored on the very next play thanks to a 13-yard run. The late-game surge continued when Travis Wegrzynowicz hauled in a 34-yard scoring strike from Hockenbroch with 2:38 left to play. Things almost went from respectable to downright interesting, after Adam Barnes recovered a fumble to give Southern the ball back, but a penalty and two sacks quickly extinguished any hope of a miracle comeback.

“A lot of things to work on, a lot of concerns about effort and execution,” Roth said. “And like I told the players, the one positive we take away is, we played better in the second half. We were much more competitive in the second half. That’s something we’ve got to build on, and the bottom line is, the most important thing is how you finish. Not a good way to start, but we’ve got a couple guys banged up. We may have to make some adjustments with personnel, but you know, we look at next week (against Loyalsock) as a real big game for us right now.”

In addition to denying Roth his 500th career victory, Wyomissing knocked off Southern for the second time in four seasons. The 41-21 win three years ago ended a 65-game winning streak, and helped the Spartans make it all way to the Class 3A state final. Wolfrum wasn’t shy about crediting Roth for making the trip down to Berks County.

“It’s great,” Wolfrum said. “I think Coach would tell you the same thing. It’s like when a lot of the colleges have a big intersectional game to open up. I think it makes our kids work harder in the offseason. I always say, if you want to be a bullfighter, you’ve got the fight the bulls, and there’s a lot of schools that won’t play anybody. Jim’s not like that. I’m not like that. I’m not afraid to lose and have this experience. No matter how the game turns out, you’re going to be better for it at the end of the year.”

Southern Columbia 0 0 14 7-21
Wyomissing 14 14 7 0-35

Individual Scoring
First Quarter
W-Justice Hardy 11 run (Keeghan Maher kick) 8:48
W-Hardy 11 run (Maher kick) 4:22

Second Quarter
W-Tyler Niedrowski 1 run (Maher kick) 9:22
W-Hardy 3 run (Nicholas Plaggenborg kick) :27

Third Quarter
SC-Blaise Kissinger 23 pass from Ayden Hockenbroch (Preston Shadle kick) 6:43
W-Hardy 46 run (Maher kick) 3:26
SC-Brayden Andrews 13 run (Shadle kick) 2:13

Fourth Quarter
SC-Travis Wegrzynowicz 34 pass from Hockenbroch (Shadle kick) 2:38

Team Statistics
………………………..SC………………W
1st downs………..8…………………13
rush-yds……….24-(-42)……….50-228
comp-att-int….9-19-0…………..2-3-0
pass yds……….141………………15
total yds…………99……………….243
fumb-lost……..8-1………………3-2
pen-yds…………7-25…………..7-55

Individual Statistics
Rushing-Southern Columbia: Brayden Andrews 5-15, TD; Nathan Gallagher 4-5; Joey Williams 3-4; Ayden Hockenbroch 7-(-6); Anthony Martino 3-(-12); Preston Shadle 1-(-13); Team 1-(-35). Wyomissing: Justice Hardy 12-120, 4 TDs; Daniel Fleischood 3-65; Chase Eisenhower 10-38; Derek Macrina 6-22; Tyler Niedrwoski 6-19, TD; Marcus Armisttead 5-8; Aidan Sierra 1-2; Team 2-(-2); Theo White 5-(-44).

Passing-Southern Columbia: Hockenbroch 8-15-0, 131 yds., 2 TDs; Martino 1-4-0, 10 yds. Wyomissing: White 2-3-0, 15 yds.

Receiving-Southern Columbia: Andrews 2-56; Travis Wegrzynowicz 2-48, TD; Blaise Kissinger 1-23, TD; Nathan Gallagher 1-11; Jace Malakoski 1-4; Williams 2-2. Wyomissing: Macrina 1-13; Hardy 1-2.

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