It may only be August, but Saturday afternoon at Bob Wolfrum Field felt like a playoff atmosphere.
Wyomissing and The Haverford School, two heavyweight programs, went toe-to-toe from the opening whistle to the final buzzer in what turned out to be an instant classic.
After falling 20-3 to the Fords last season, the Spartans got their revenge with a 29-26 win in Saturday’s non-league showdown.
“We knew we didn’t do that great on offense last year, knew they were going to be big again and knew just how good they were,” senior Chase Eisenhower said. “But I think our coaches set us up perfectly. Every play they called was the perfect play. Everyone executed. I mean, God, I don’t even know what I could say about that offensive line. Everyone did great. So I’m thrilled to win.”
The Wyomissing Spartans (2-0) leaned on their dominance in the trenches, opening up lanes for their running backs to rack up a combined 287 rushing yards, despite facing a tough Haverford defensive front anchored by Syracuse commit Walt Frazier.
From the opening whistle, the Spartans established the run after forcing a punt defensively.
The Spartans came out swinging, running the ball on seven straight plays to reach the Haverford 37-yard line. The ground attack was fueled by carries from Eisenhower, Justice Hardy, and Danny Fleischood.
Facing a fourth-and-four, sophomore quarterback Brady Eisenhower rolled to his right and found Hardy in the flat to move the chains and keep the drive alive.
Six plays later, from the four-yard line, Eisenhower rolled to his left and connected with Fleischood for a touchdown, capping off a 16-play drive that chewed up seven and a half minutes and put Wyomissing on the board first.
“It’s great with our run-heavy offense. It allows sneaky passes like that to open up,” Brady Eisenhower said of the passing game.
After a quick defensive stop, the Spartans got right back to work—this time through the air.
Justice Hardy took a pitch, set his feet, and launched a halfback pass to Brady Focht for a 41-yard gain, catching the Haverford defense off guard.
With a first-and-10 from the 11-yard line, Wyomissing was in position to take full control early.
But on a pitch to the right side intended for Hardy, the ball was mishandled and hit the grass. Haverford’s Matthew Jones, a James Madison commit, scooped it up and raced 85 yards the other way for a touchdown.
“It definitely hurt, but it’s part of football,” Chase said of the turnover. “We knew stuff like that was going to happen, so we had to bounce back, and we did just that.”
The mistake didn’t halt the Wyomissing offense from getting right back at it. Once again, the Spartans took control, dominating both the ball and the time of possession. They marched down the field, picking up five first downs along the way to reach the 8-yard line.
Wolfrum kept the passing game rolling as Brady Eisenhower rolled right and found Tyler Niedrowski in the flat. Niedrowski turned upfield and dove for the pylon, getting knocked down as he crossed into the end zone to regain the lead for Wyomissing.
“We had to (pass the ball),” Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum said. “If we hadn’t loosened them up a little bit, that would have been hard and and it was hard even with the passing. But we had to do that; we would have given the ball back a bunch of times had we not completed a couple of passes.”
The drive chewed up over nine minutes of game clock, once again showcasing Wyomissing’s elite ability to control the tempo.
“Starting off a game like that against a team like this, you have to have the confidence, and you have to be able to play the game with energy and have fun doing it,” Chase Eisenhower said. “So I think we all came out and did that, and we executed perfectly with that.
That’s when the Fords’ offense finally found its rhythm.
Zach Faragalli connected with Marcus Jones on an 18-yard completion, setting the stage for Stephen Cobb, who bounced a run to the outside and sprinted past the Spartans’ secondary for a 30-yard touchdown.
However, Hardy came up big on special teams, blocking the extra point to preserve a 14-13 lead for Wyomissing.
Wyomissing couldn’t find an answer on its next drive and was forced into a quick three-and-out.
Haverford wasted no time capitalizing.
Faragalli dropped back, stepped up to his right in the pocket, and extended the play with a scramble. That’s when Matthew Jones found an open zone on the right sideline, and Faragalli hit him as he turned upfield. Jones took it 85 yards to the house as the Wyomissing defense looked like it could be in trouble.
Heading into halftime, the Fords led 19-14, seemingly draining a lot of momentum out of the Spartans.
“We had to keep scoring to win that game, and to their credit, the kids never gave up,” Wolfrum said. “Didn’t look so good there for a while. The whole first half, we worked our ass off to score two (touchdowns), but we gave them one on a fumble. So, it could have been a little easier at halftime.”
Coming out of halftime, Wyomissing stuck to their game plan: establish the run, control the clock, and sprinkle in passes to keep the Fords’ defense guessing, which seemed to frustrate their opponents.
“I feel like we definitely sense that frustration, a team like that, they don’t really play a lot of Wing-T offense, so a lot of our guys are coming from different angles, and you can tell it’s definitely frustrating,” Chase Eisenhower said.
On their opening possession, the Spartans found themselves facing a tough third-and-thirteen deep in their own territory.
That’s when they decided to take a shot downfield.
Eisenhower, who finished the game 9-of-12 for 126 yards, delivered a perfect strike to Andrew DiFabrizio on a wide-open corner route for a 56-yard touchdown, his third passing score of the game.
“I don’t even know what to say about it. I’m just so proud of him,” Chase Eisenhower said of how he felt about his younger brother Brady. “He did great for as young as he is. He came in and played like a senior, so he did extremely well, and I’m really happy for him.”
The Fords answered back, reclaiming the lead on an outstanding back-shoulder fade from Faragalli to Marcus Jones for a 19-yard touchdown.
Both teams then traded empty possessions before Wyomissing took control with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.
That’s when Brady made a costly mistake.
Heading into the fourth quarter, he threw an interception on a pass he had intended to just throw away.
The Spartans faced a tough challenge trying to slow down the Fords’ elite, Division I talent-filled offense in a short-field situation.
After an ineligible man downfield penalty stalled the drive, Wyomissing’s defense stood tall, forcing a turnover on downs and regaining possession with 10:29 left in the game.
That’s when the Spartans returned to their game plan, pounding the ball on the ground to chew up the clock.
Four different players carried the ball as Wyomissing moved down to the Haverford 35-yard line.
That’s when Hardy finally made his presence felt on offense after being held to just 35 yards rushing earlier in the game.
Hardy took the handoff on a sweep to the right, outran defenders to the edge, and turned upfield, breaking tackles along the way for a touchdown that put Wyomissing back in the lead with 6:49 remaining.
Wyomissing’s defense forced an incompletion, then held the Fords to a four-yard run, setting up a crucial third-and-medium situation.
Under pressure, Faragalli dropped back but was forced to hurry his throw as Justice Hardy came off the left edge like a bullet, leading to an incomplete pass.
Wyomissing took over with 5:35 remaining, needing to simply run out the clock. They picked up two first downs; one more would have sealed the game.
However, Brady Eisenhower fumbled the snap but fortunately recovered it, forcing a punt.
Punter Keegan Maher booted a rather short kick, forcing returner Marcus Jones to sprint up for a fair catch, but he misjudged it and muffed the ball.
Wyomissing’s Marcus Armistead recovered the ball, sealing a huge win for the Spartans and proving they can compete with the best of them.
Chase Eisenhower, who had just five carries for 66 yards in Week 1, stepped up with 24 carries for 112 yards and made numerous tackles on defense. Hardy finished with 88 rushing yards.
For the Fords, Faragalli completed 10 of 19 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Cobb added 10 carries for 67 yards.
The win may not count toward the PIAA playoffs since Haverford isn’t a member, but it lets opponents across Pennsylvania know that Wyomissing is back and better.
“Against a quality team, we can do what we do. That’s what we’re known for,” Wolfrum said. “So, you know, I think it reinforced to the kids that, if they had any questions, yeah, we are a real team.”
Source: Berkshire mont