Wyomissing downs Southern Columbia in opener 35-21

Tagged under: District 3, District 4, Gameday Hub, News

Billy Splain | August 25, 2024

Photo Tom Kwiatkowski

Southern Columbia’s youthful bunch learned a valuable lesson that seems obvious but is crucial. Take care of the football.

Although the Tigers only officially lost one fumble, it was the eight fumbles that they had in the game that allowed Wyomissing to take command in the season-opener.

By the end of the first half, the Spartans led by four touchdowns and went on to win the season-opener 35-21.

“If you want to be a bull fighter, you gotta fight the bulls. Southern Columbia is obviously on top with their success over the years so this was going to be a valuable game for our program regardless of who won,” Spartans head coach Bob Wolfrum said.

The Spartans took advantage early on as they were granted optimal field position.

Wyomissing’s Justice Hardy scored the first of his four touchdowns on an 11-yard outside carry after breaking a tackle near the line of scrimmage.

“I think our experience shocked them early on. We have a lot more starters back than they do and with them being a younger team, I think we were able to take advantage of that early on,” said Hardy who finished with 119 rushing yards.

By the time the first half clock struck zero, Southern head coach Jim Roth’s 500th victory was unlikely. Wyomissing went into their home locker room leading 28-0.

“All of our preseason, I said that we’ll find out what happens when we step on the field in the first game,” said Roth. “Coming in, we replaced a lot of players that graduated. I don’t think we responded well. We didn’t start well, and we never got to the point where we picked up any kind of significant momentum that we could really get back into the game and make it close.”

Wolfrum, who has his home field named in his honor, picked up his 358th victory on Saturday,

“Who knows what happens if Southern doesn’t make all those mistakes in the first half. I felt like it was a pretty even matchup but we were able to use some short field possessions to capitalize early after their mistakes,” said Wolfrum. “This is a nice win, but with it being just the first game both of our schools still have to see a lot more on the field to gauge where everyone is at.”

After Hardy’s 11-yard score early on, he duplicated that result with another score on the same play from 11 yards out with 4:22 left in the first quarter.

“I have to give credit to my linemen. They are the guys that do the work to allow for us to score touchdowns,” Hardy said.

In the second quarter, Tyler Niedrowski scored from a yard out on the play following a high snap on a Tiger punt attempt. With less than a minute to go before intermission, Hardy scored for a third time in the half on a three-yard scamper.

The Tigers outscored the Spartans 21-7 in the second half, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Blaise Kissinger was the recipient of a 23-yard strike from Ayden Hockenbroch with 6:43 left in the third to cut SCA’s deficit to 28-7.

Eliminating any chance of a comeback, Hardy scored on a 46-yard run on the next possession after it appeared as Wyomissing was going to need to punt. He broke a pair of tackles attempts in the backfield before finding a seam to score.

“We had him dead to rights, but he made a heck of a play out of it. That kinda eliminated any comeback chance that we had,” said Roth. “Sometimes it simply comes down to the basics. What team is able to block and tackle. We weren’t that team in this game. Wyomissing deserved to win because they executed a lot more often than we did.”

Southern’s Brayden Andrews ran in a 13-yard carry to make the score 35-14 heading into the fourth. The lone score in the final quarter was a 34-yard touchdown pass from Hockenbroch to Travis Wegrzynowicz.

The Spartans will travel to Haverford next week in a non-PIAA matchup and the Tigers will host Loyalsock.

“This is a nice start to the season, but there is still a lot ahead. We can enjoy this for now, but we can’t be content. Hopefully this is some early momentum to carry us into a good season,” Wolfrum said.

Southern 0 0 14 7 – 21

Wyomissing 14 14 7 0 – 35

First Quarter

W-Justice Hardy 11 run (Keeghan Maher kick) 8:48

W-Hardy 11 run (Maher kick) 4:22

Second Quarter

W-Tyler Niedrowski 1 run (Maher kick) 9:22

W-Hardy 3 run (Nicholas Plaggenborg kick):27

Third Quarter

SC-Blaise Kissinger 23 pass from Ayden Hockenbroch (Preston Shadle kick) 6:43

W-Hardy 46 run (Maher kick) 3:26

SC-Brayden Andrews 13 run (Shadle kick) 2:13

Fourth Quarter

SC-Travis Wegrzynowicz 34 pass from Hockenbroch (Shadle kick) 2:38

SC W

First downs 8 13

Rushing-yds. 24-(-42) 50-228

Passing 9-19-0 2-3-0

Passing yds. 141 15

Total yds. 99 243

Fumbles-lost 8-1 3-2

Penalties-yds. 7-25 7-55

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — Southern Columbia: Brayden Andrews 6-15; Nathan Gallagher 4-6; Joey Williams 3-5; Ayden Hockenbroch 6-(-8); Anthony Martino 2-(-11); Team 3-(-51). Wyomissing: Justice Hardy 12-119, 4 TDs; Daniel Fleischood 3-65; Tyler Niedrowski 7-39, TD; Derek Macrina 6-24; Chase Eisenhower 9-21; Aidan Sierra 1-2; Team 2-(-2); Marcus Armistead 4-(-3); Teddy White 5-(-44).

PASSING — Southern Columbia: Hockenbroch 8-15-0, 133 yds., 2 TDs; Martino 1-3-0, 10 yds. Wyomissing: White 2-3-0, 16 yds.

RECEIVING — Southern Columbia: Andrews 2-58; Travis Wegrzynowicz 2-45, TD; Blaise Kissinger 1-23, TD; Gallagher 1-11; Jace Malakoski 1-4; Williams 2-2. Wyomissing: Macrina 1-14; Hardy 1-2.

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