Photo Courtesy of Rick Martin
SHILLINGTON – The District 3 Champion Wyomissing Area Spartans took care of business on Saturday afternoon, defeating the District 2 Champion Scranton Prep Cavaliers 35-14 in a PIAA 3A Quarterfinal matchup at Governor Mifflin stadium.
The Cavaliers (11-1) had a rough start to the game, losing 2,000 yard back London Montgomery to an upper body injury. He would not return to action following x-rays at a local hospital.
Even with Montgomery, the Cavaliers would have been hard pressed to stop Wyomissing (14-0), who scored on their first three possessions of the game to take a 21-7 halftime lead.
Wyomissing’s offense was methodical throughout the game, churning out yards and first downs on each possession, patiently moving the ball downfield, but their most dominant performance came in the third quarter.
The Spartans received the second-half kickoff and marched 66 yards on 12 plays, while chewing up 6 minutes and 32 seconds of clock. The drive was capped by a two-yard Tommy Grabowski touchdown.
After holding the Cavaliers to a three-and-out totaling -8 yards, Wyomissing retook possession with 4:26 left in the third quarter. Again, the Spartans were on the march, this time for 71 yards in 10 plays, culminating in an 18 yard Amory Thompson touchdown run with 11:41 to go in the fourth.
Third-quarter statistics like 137 yards to -8, 9 first downs to zero, and a 14-0 advantage are not numbers fans are used to seeing in PIAA Quarterfinal games, but those moments are seemingly what Wyomissing lives for.
“We expected to be able to come out today and run our offense,” said junior running back Drew Eisenhower following the game. “Jet sweeps, blasts, we were able to run our full playbook.”
Eisenhower carried the ball 13 times for 133 yards and two scores on the afternoon. Senior Tommy Grabowski added two touchdowns of his own and fellow senior Amory Thompson finished the scoring with an 18 yard, fourth-quarter run.
Wyomissing quarterback Ben Zechman attempted only one pass on the afternoon, a two-point conversion caught by Thompson.
Scranton Prep set up their first-half touchdown when punter Rob Rossi took a fake punt 40 yards to the Wyomissing 8. Liam Barrett would score four plays later to make it a 14-7 game, but that is as close as the Cavaliers would get.
Wyomissing heads back to the PIAA Semifinals for the third time in the last three years, a fact not lost on Eisenhower.
“Oh, it’s big! I remember two years ago when we lost to Tamaqua, and that loss hurt. Going to the state championship last year felt great, but losing did not. We’re looking to get back to where we were last year.”
The Spartans will play District 12 Champions Neumann-Goretti, a 28-0 winner over Danville, in the PIAA Semifinal next weekend at a site and time to be determined.
Scoring Summary
1 8:19 Wyo Grabowski 3 yard run (Levering kick) 7-0
1 6:09 Wyo Eisenhower 7 yard run (Levering kick) 14-0
2 11:14 SP Barrett 1 yard run (Rinaldi kick) 14-7
2 8:43 Wyo Eisenhower 9 yard run (kick failed) 20-7
3 5:34 Wyo Grabowski 2 yard run (Thompson from Zechman) 28-7
4 11:41 Wyo Thompson 18 yard run (Levering kick) 35-7
4 2:09 SP Rossi, 7 yard pass from Monahan (Rinaldi kick) 35-14
Score by Quarters
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Scranton Prep | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| Wyomissing | 14 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 35 |
