WYOMISSING – In the 77 years that Wyomissing has been playing high school football at its current home field, it took until Saturday for the Spartans to host a state playoff game.
And though it could be just as long until Wyomissing or anyone else hosts a PIAA football playoff game again, Wyomissing gave its loyal fans something to remember in its inaugural home state playoff game as the Spartans topped Danville 44-14 to advance to the PIAA 3A championship game in Hershey next week.
Wyomissing will take on Central Valley in the title game next Friday afternoon and will look to continue the trend of topping Danville in the PIAA playoffs and then winning a state title. The program’s lone state championship win in 2012 followed a victory over Danville, which occurred in the state quarterfinal that year.
“We’re a veteran team, we’ve got some size, which we haven’t had in recent years and we’ve got backs that can convert,” said Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum. “We’ve got a really poised quarterback who’s a great leader. We don’t throw a lot but if we have to, we can.”
Wyomissing’s running game behind its Wing T attack, along with its size on the offensive line, precise blocking and array of running backs proved to be too much for the Ironmen as Wyomissing scored on its first seven possessions of the game, including all six in the first half. The Spartans hurt the Ironmen early with the running game, and then later went to the passing game to extend their lead late in the first half.
“We showed we belong in certain phases but not all phases,” said Danville coach Mike Brennan. “I think the biggest thing we took from today is we have to get physically stronger and bigger so we can establish the run game. To win games like this, you have to be able to defend and run the football, and we struggled in those areas today. But it wasn’t due to lack of effort or preparation.”
The first two possessions of the game were almost a microcosm of how the day went for the Ironmen. Wyomissing pooch-kicked the opening kickoff, and it was fair-caught by Danville at their own 34. On the first play from scrimmage, KJ Riley found Persing up the middle on a seam for a 50-yard pickup down to the Wyomissing 16. But Danville’s drive stalled as Riley was stopped on fourth-and-1 from the 7-yard line, and the Spartans took over.
From there, Wyomissing’s efficient Wing T attack produced a 93-yard, 14-play drive that took over half the quarter – 6:45 in all – and featured all rushing plays by four different individuals, the last of which was a six-yard touchdown by Jordan Auman.
The Spartans racked up six first downs on that initial drive, converting both a third and fourth down. For the game, Wyomissing was 4-of-9 on third down conversions, but on five of those third downs that they didn’t convert, Wyomissing converted on fourth down three times, and kicked a field goal on another, as the Spartans’ ability to sustain drives contrasted with two Danville turnovers and the fourth down stop inside the 10 on its first drive.
Not a single Wyomissing back went for more than 59 rushing yards, but the Spartans still managed to put up 262 yards on the ground as six different backs combined for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Fullback Evan Niedrowski, a 240-pound senior, ran for 36 yards on 11 carries but converted a big third down and a big fourth down play in the first half. Auman led the way with 59 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown while Jason Gartner had 42 yards on six carries with two touchdowns.
“It all starts with their fullback, they had success with their fullback, he’s a very good football player, they have a lot of very good football players. That’s a very talented football team, well-schooled, very disciplined. It’s a team they’ve been building for. They’re physically strong, they have weapons all over the field. It’s going to take a really good football team to beat this team next week,” said Brennan.
Riley threw for 287 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 15-of-22 passing in his final game for the Ironmen, while Carson Persing closed out his remarkable sophomore season with five catches for 229 yards and a score. The Ironmen still managed to amass over 300 yards of offense, but their near-misses were just as important to the outcome of the game as Wyomissing’s 441 yards of total offense.
“We didn’t think they were going to hurt us running the ball so we had an extra defensive back in the game most of the day,” said Wolfrum. “That altered the way we pressure but we still got enough to move him a little bit. We didn’t get too many sacks but for the most part, we were able to keep their receivers in front of us and tackle them as soon as they caught it.”
Following the Spartans’ initial touchdown, Danville went three-and-out and Wyomissing responded with another long drive, this one 74 yards on 11 plays, of which nine were rushes, and Jason Gartner capped it with a four-yard touchdown run.
The Ironmen answered in a big way as on the first play of their ensuing drive, Riley again found Persing, this time for a 79-yard touchdown reception on another seam route up the middle to cut the Wyomissing lead in half to 14-7 a little less than halfway through the second quarter.
“Our kids don’t get rattled when there’s a big play against them,” said Wolfrum. “They hit that big one early, and we kept them out of the end zone. When they did score, it didn’t phase us and we just kept playing. We blew some coverages and they’re good enough if you blow the coverage they’re going to find it.”
Danville managed to hold the Spartans to a field goal on their next drive, as they withstood a 65-yard kickoff return and limited Wyomissing to a 27-yard field goal by Aidan Cirulli.
But instead of shifting momentum, that field goal proved to be just the beginning of a Spartan onslaught that turned a seven-point game into a 37-7 halftime lead in just over seven minutes.
After a three-and-out and punt on Danville’s next drive, a 32-yard punt return by Amory Thompson set up Wyomissing on the Danville 43, and two plays later, the Spartans went to the air as Zach Zechman found Darren Brunner for a 46-yard touchdown down the left sideline to put the Spartans up 23-7.
Riley had the ball punched out and lost the fumble on the second play of Danville’s next drive, and the Spartans needed just three plays to take a 30-7 lead when Zechman found Auman for a 30-yard touchdown with just over two minutes to play in the half.
The last sequence of the first half proved to be a killer for Danville as the Ironmen looked to be knocking on the door of at least cutting into the Wyomissing lead before the half as they advanced the ball to the Spartan 27 with under a minute to play. On a first down play, Riley tried to loft a pass to his intended receiver in the flat, but linebacker Jack Feightner made a very athletic leap to pick off the pass and give the Spartans the ball at their own 30 with :46 remaining.
From there, Wyomissing picked up three consecutive first downs, then had a touchdown wiped off the board due to a holding penalty, before Thompson hauled in a Zechman pass in the back left corner of the end zone with one-handed catch against good coverage with :09 left to give Wyomissing a 30-point halftime lead.
The Spartans then put together a five-minute drive to open the second half, which took 10 plays and was capped by Gartner’s second touchdown of the game, a five-yard run, to put the game into the mercy rule.
Late in the fourth quarter, Riley would find Jagger Dressler for a six-yard touchdown pass to cap the scoring.
Wyomissing 44, Danville 14
Danville (9-2) 0 7 0 7 – 14
Wyomissing (9-0) 7 30 7 0 – 44
First quarter
2:50 – (W) Jordan Auman 6-yard run (Cirulli kick), 14-93, 6:45
Second quarter
8:05 – (W) Jason Gartner 4-yard run (Cirulli kick), 11-74, 4:18
7:47 – (D) Carson Persing 79-yard pass from KJ Riley (Riley kick), 1-79, :18
5:18 – (W) Aidan Cirulli 27-yard field goal, 6-19, 2:29
3:51 – (W) Darren Brunner 46-yard pass from Zach Zechman (kick failed), 2-43, :48
2:06 – (W) Jordan Auman 30-yard pass from Zach Zechman (Cirulli kick), 3-32, :49
:09 – (W) Amory Thompson 20-yard pass from Zach Zechman (Cirulli kick), 5-70, :37
Third quarter
7:00 – (W) Jason Gartner 5-yard run (Cirulli kick), 10-57, 5:00
Fourth quarter
4:20 – (D) Jagger Dressler 6-yard pass from KJ Riley (Riley kick), 7-70, 4:41
Statistics
D W
First downs 11 26
Rushes-net yards 14-21 49-262
Passing yardage 287 179
Passing 15-22-2-1 10-12-3-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-15 5-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Danville: Ty Stauffer (7-24), KJ Riley (7-(-3)); Wyomissing: Jordan Auman (11-59-1), Evan Niedrowski (11-36), Amory Thompson (8-30), Jason Gartner (6-42-2), Thomas Grabowski (2-39), Andrew Eisenhower (2-23), John Huber (2-3), Charlie McIntyre (1-9), Benjamin Zachman (1-8), Andrew Delp (1-7), Alijah Smith (1-5), Nevin Carter (1-2), Jack Miller (1-0), TEAM (1-(-1))
PASSING: Danville: KJ Riley (15-22-287-2-1); Wyomissing: Zach Zechman (10-12-179-3-0)
RECEIVING: Danville: Carson Persing (5-229-1), Jagger Dressler (4-34-1), Ian Persing (3-20), Aaron Johnson (1-4), Zach Gordon (1-3), Mason Raup (1-(-3)); Wyomissing: Amory Thompson (4-41-1), Darren Brunner (3-73-1), Jordan Auman (2-57-1), Thomas Grabowski (1-8)
