Wyomissing holds on to beat Danville in PIAA Class 3A football quarterfinal game
Nov. 26—DANVILLE — After handling its opponents with considerable ease heading into the PIAA football playoffs, Wyomissing found itself in an unfamiliar situation Friday night against Danville.
With a little under eight seconds left and the Ironman down two, Danville's Aaron Johnson lined up to kick a 32-yard field goal that could have ended the Spartans' quest for a coveted state title.
"You're standing there helpless in a situation like that," Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum said. "Whether it's your kid kicking or the other kid kicking, you have no control over it."
Johnson's kick had the distance but went left, and afterwards a jubilant Wyomissing squad lined up in victory formation with 3.3 seconds left to secure a 21-19 win in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals.
The Spartans, in the semifinals for the third straight season, will face the winner of Neumann Goretti and Northwestern Lehigh, who play on Saturday.
"We were super emotional," Spartans lineman J'ven Williams said. "We thought that could be our last play of the year. We were going to make sure that we try to at least block the kick like we did earlier in the game. And you know, by God's grace, they missed it."
The missed field goal was the culmination of a thrilling game that lived up to the billing.
Heading into the quarterfinal, the Spartans were averaging 44.4 points per game, the second-most in PIAA Class 3A, while allowing the second fewest at just 7.5 per game. On the other hand, the Ironmen (12-1) were averaging the most points at 49.8 per game, and allowed the fewest at 4.6.
Arguably the two best teams in Class 3A exchanged the momentum. The Spartans jumped to a 21-0 lead after scoring on all three of their first-half possessions before Danville got on the board with 45.1 seconds left in the second quarter.
Zach Gordon completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Carson Persing for the Ironmen's first score. Wyomissing fullback Matthew Kramer, who had a game-high 155 rushing yards and a touchdown, blocked the ensuing extra-point attempt, which proved to be a critical factor.
"I came over to the sideline after that and one of my coaches said, 'That could be the game, that could make the difference, and it did," Kramer said. "They could have been tied (at the end) and been able to get into overtime where they could have won it there. So I think that was a game changer."
The block proved pivotal for the Spartans, who were shut out in the second half and had to hold off a strong comeback effort.
Kramer came up big again on special teams as he helped bat down a two-point conversion pass after Gordon threw his second touchdown of the game, this one to Cameron Kiersch with 2:12 left in the third quarter. Wyomissing had failed to score on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on the previous drive before the Ironmen went 99 yards to make it 21-12.
"We did a great job on the two-point conversion, and we got a piece of the first extra point," Wolfrum said. "So, obviously, it was the difference in the ballgame."
The Ironmen made it 21-19 on a 3-yard run by Gordon that was set up by a 52-yard pass
With a two-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Spartans were attempting to put the game away before Kramer fumbled at the Danville 20.
Later in the fourth, Wyomissing quarterback Ben Zechmen fumbled on third-and-6 near midfield. The Spartans recovered, but had the ensuing punt blocked to give Danville the ball at its 46 with about a minute left.
"Any win is good, but when you win like that, you'll learn something," Wolfrum said. The kids learned that they can hang in there against a great team that was moving the ball pretty good against us the whole second half.
"They never quit, kept them out of the end zone on that last drive and made them kick a field goal."
Though the Spartans ended up having to hang in there, they looked to be headed to another comfortable win early on. Wyomissing racked up 218 yards in the first half (187 rushing, 31 passing) and completed scoring drives of 64, 51 and 65 yards.
Zechman threw a play-action pass to a wide-open Evan Blickey for a 23-yard touchdown to cap a nine-play, 64-yard drive with 5:40 left in the first.
Running back Drew Eisenhower extended Wyomissing's early lead when he capped a nine-play, 51-yard drive with a 12-yard run with less than a minute in the first.
Kramer finished off a 14-play, 65-yard drive with a 2-yard run with 2:42 to go in the second quarter. The drive lasted close to eight minutes and Danville's defense appeared to have no answer for Wyomissing's Wing-T offense.
"I'm not sure that they had played anybody quite like that; it took them a while to get used to it," Wolfrum said. "And that's probably what happened. Our defense really shut them down the first couple of times that they had the ball. So the combination of those things made it tough for them."
The Spartans finished with 323 rushing yards on 58 carries and Zechmen went 2-of-7 passing for 31 yards. The Ironmen rushed for 100 yards on 21 carries. Gordon completed 11-of-23 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson had a game-high 102 receiving yards on four receptions.
In what could be described as a game of two halves, Kramer was able to find negative and positive takeaways from the offensive production.
"You can't complain much," Kramer said. "We scored 21 points in a half against a really, really good football team and we just lost it in the second half. We were fumbling the ball, we were getting penalties. It was just sloppy football, so I think we got to be more careful with the football
"We kind of just stuck together, lifted each other's heads up and kept playing."
Heading into another PIAA semifinal, Williams and the Spartans know there is still plenty of work to be done if Wyomissing is to lift its first state championship trophy since 2012.
"We're confident; we're going to keep practicing and get better every week," Williams said. "This, we can all say, wasn't our best game, but we're gonna keep on pushing into the playoffs and get back to work on Monday."
