By Bob McCool
For MediaNews Group
Good teams hope to win. Great teams expect to win.
Playing in front of a Homecoming crowd on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Wyomissing is a scenario in which the Spartans expect to win. In the end, Wyomissing proved to be too much for a scrappy Hamburg team in a 47-7 win in a Berks Football League Section 2 matchup.
The Spartans’ (1-0, 4-0) first possession looked like so many that have come before. A 10 play, 79-yard drive ended with a 4-yard Drew Eisenhower touchdown run and a 7-0 Wyomissing lead.
A partially blocked punt on Hamburg’s final possession of the first quarter gave Wyomissing the ball at the Hawks 22. On the next play Tommy Grabowski took a ful back dive to the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
Hamburg (0-1, 3-1) coach Jeff Chillot knew his team would be tested.
“You know you are going to face adversity at some point against Wyomissing,” Chillot said. “But I hoped we would respond well.”
Diohnny Ruiz returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and suddenly the Hawks had life.
The Hawks’ offense finally crossed midfield with under four minutes left in the first half, but Wyomissing’s defense came up with a big stop on fourth-and-3 from the Spartan 48 yard line.
Grabowski scored his second touchdown on a 15-yard run to finish off a six-play drive and the Spartans lead was 20-7.
Again Hamburg responded. Hawks junior quarterback Xander Menapace engineered a drive down to the Spartan 15 yard line, but a 30 yard field goal attempt by Nicholas Hix was just short.
The Spartans ground game got bogged down through most of the second quarter.
“Our offensive line has the potential to be pretty good” said Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum, “but we have to get some things straightened out because there were times when Hamburg handled us up front.”
So the Spartans went to the more unexpected passing attack early in the third quarter. Ben Zechman found Eisenhower on a wheel route out of the backfield for a 50 yard touchdown. Grabowski ran in the two-point conversion and a 28-7 Wyomissing lead.
Special teams set up the next two Wyomissing scores. Ryker Jones dropped a punt out of bounds at the Hamburg 2.
The Spartan defense forced the Hawks to punt from their own end zone and set the offense up for a short field.
Amory Thompson’s 13 yard touchdown run stretched the Spartan lead to 35-7 and then he recovered an onside kick that led to another touchdown.
Hamburg was held to 84 total yards and seven first downs. Linebackers Matt Kramer, Jackson Miller and Rory Filoon applied a lot of pressure off the edge and made life difficult for the Hawks.
Grabowski led the way for a host of Spartans who saw time with 106 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
With the win Wyomissing head coach Bob Wolfrum picked up his 326th career victory. That ties him for ninth all-time in the state with former Central Bucks West coach Mike Pettine Sr.
Source: Berkshire mont
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