WYOMISSING – Wyomissing Senior Marcus Armistead has been on the forefront of some of the biggest moments on defense in the Spartans first two weeks of the season. Against Southern Columbia in the season opener, he kickstarted a Spartans second half onslaught with a 55-yard pick-6 in the third quarter. Against The Haverford School on Saturday afternoon, he came through once again when the Spartans needed him the most.
Armistead delivered a key pass break-up on 4th down in the 4th quarter and recovered a fumble late in the game to help seal a statement 29-26 win over the Fords at Bob Wolfrum Field.
“I think I was just in perfect position for the play,” Armistead said. “The coaches called a great play, he (Jones) is a very good and very tall receiver.”
The Spartans struggled with the athleticism on the Fords offense through two and a half quarters and found themselves down 26-22 late in the third quarter. The Fords had a 4th and 17 from the Spartans 34-yard line and quarterback Zach Faragalli lofted a pass to wide receiver Marcus Jones, who had already beat Wyomissing for a touchdown minutes earlier. Armistead went 1-on-1 with the 6’3 190 receiver and knocked the ball out of Jones hands at the 1-yard line to turn the Fords over on downs.
“We made a bunch of big plays throughout the game but that was one that ended up meaning a lot in the moment,” Wyomissing head coach Bob Wolfrum said. “Towards the end of the game I thought we played really well on defense.”
Armistead found himself at the right place at the right time once again by recovering a muffed punt by Marcus Jones at the Fords 27-yard line with 2:08 left in regulation to seal the Spartans win.
“We trained all summer for moments like this,” Armistead said. “After losing to them last year everyone came focused and prepared today after watching a lot of film to get the job done today.”
The Spartans made the trip to The Haverford School of the Inter-AC last season one year ago today and lost 20-3 in a game that could be argued seemed worse than the final score.
“Our kids took this as a big time game,” Wolfrum said. “We were embarrassed last year and did not do a thing. They would have scored 60 today if we played offense like last year. This year we kept the ball and last year we could not.”
Wyomissing got a stop on the Fords opening drive of the game and turned its patented Wing-T offense loose that chewed up clock and more importantly kept the Fords defense on the field. They put together a methodical 16-play 80-yard drive that went 7:29 long which ended with quarterback Brady Eisenhower finding Danny Fleischood for a 4-yard touchdown pass.
The Spartans forced a three-and-out and continued to grind down the Fords defense as they advanced to the Haverford 11-yard line to start the second quarter. However, running back Justice Hardy fumbled a handoff on a reverse that bounced right to Matt Jones, who rumbled 80 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at seven.
“The fumble definitely hurt but it’s a part of football,” Wyomissing running back Chase Eisenhower said. “Stuff like that happens but we knew we had to bounce back, and we did just that.”
Wyomissing’s response was a 16-play 90-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Brady Eisenhower to Tyler Niedrowski to put the Spartans back on top at 14-7. The Spartans offense out-possessed the Fords by over 15 minutes at halftime.
“The amount of plays they ran wore us down,” Fords head coach Brian Martin said. “We have a young linebacking core that got the taste of varsity football for the first time. They will learn from this.”
Despite the amount of time the Spartans offense was on the field in the first half, they ended up finding themselves trailing 19-14 at halftime. Fords running back Stephen Cobb scored on a 30-yard touchdown run two plays after a long kick return and Matt Jones put Haverford School in front with an 85-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass on the first play of the next drive.
Wyomissing reclaimed the lead at 22-19 after starting with the ball in the second half as Brady Eisenhower tossed his third touchdown pass of the game, this time a 55-yard strike to Andrew DiFabrizio.
“We answered every time they took the lead,” Wolfrum said. “Our passes kept drives alive and we were able to run the ball effectively with a line that’s brand new from last year. 40 and 29 points against two great teams with a young line is something.”
The Spartans needed one last response after Marcus Jones put the Fords back in front 26-22 midway through the third quarter with a spectacular 19-yard touchdown reception over a Spartan defender. Armistead delivered his break-up and Wyomissing turned away the Fords on downs a second time following an interception from Brady Eisenhower.
They got just that halfway through the fourth quarter when Hardy got around the right side and raced 35 yards for his first and only touchdown of the game with 6:29 remaining in regulation.
Wyomissing’s defense that was getting shredded earlier suddenly turned the heat up on Faragalli and the Fords could not find the success they had in the first three quarters.
“We noticed that they were getting a little tired,” Chase Eisenhower said, “so we thought we’d get a little more pressure on them and I think we did a great job.”
The Spartans rushed for 284 yards as a team on a whopping 59 carries. Chase Eisenhower led the way with 115 yards on 25 carries. Chase also delivered the first down run that put the finishing touches on the victory. Hardy added 89 with 14 carries with a touchdown with his most effective runs coming in the second half. Hardy even added a 41-yard halfback pass to Brady Focht in the first quarter.
Wyomissing (2-0) welcomes Academy of the New Church next Saturday at Wolfrum Field while Haverford School (0-1) heads down to Baltimore to take on the Gilman School.
“This win reinforces they can play with really good teams,” Wolfrum said. “Our team has seen a lot of talent on the field these first two weeks and it is going to give them confidence the rest of the season.”
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Haverford School | 0 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 26 |
| Wyomissing | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 29 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | WYO | Fleischood, 4 pass from B. Eisenhower (Maher Kick) | 2:31 |
| 2 | THS | Matt Jones 80 fumble return (Camp kick) | 11:47 |
| 2 | WYO | Niedrowski, 8 pass from B.Eisenhower (Maher kick) | 2:24 |
| 2 | THS | Cobb, 30 run (Kick Blocked) | 1:42 |
| 2 | THS | Matthew Jones 85 pass from Faragalli (Kick failed) | 0:57 |
| 3 | WYO | DiFabrizio, 55 pass from B. Eisenhower (Hardy Pass from B. Eisenhower) | 8:28 |
| 3 | THS | Marcus Jones, 19 pass from Faragalli (Camp Kick) | 6:12 |
| 4 | WYO | Hardy, 35 run (Maher Kick) | 6:49 |
Team statistics
| Haverford School | Wyomissing | |
| First downs | 9 | 24 |
| Rushes-yards | 12-77 | 59-284 |
| Passing yards | 186 | 167 |
| Total yards | 372 | 346 |
| Passes COMP-ATT-INT | 10-20-0 | 10-14-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 3-1 |
| Punts-average | 3-50.3 | 3-24.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-50 | 5-27 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Haverford School: Cobb 10-66, Faragalli 2-11
Wyomissing: C. Eisenhower 25-115, Hardy 14-89, Fleischood 7-50, Niedrowski 6-26, Arguelles 2-12, TEAM 1-(-1), B. Eisenhower 4-(-7)
PASSING
Haverford School: Faragalli 10-20-0–186
Wyomissing: B. Eisenhower 9-13-1—126, Hardy 1-1-0–41
RECEIVING
Haverford School: Marcus Jones 6-92, Matthew Jones 3-89, Rischitelli 1-5
Wyomissing: Niedrowski 3-20, Fleischood 2-18, DiFabrizio 1-55, Focht 1-41, Arguelles 1-23, Hardy 1-6, C. Eisenhower 1-4
INTERCEPTIONS
Haverford School: Jodz
Wyomissing: None
3 Responses
Also, I hope that Marcus Jones is going to PSU- 6’5” and good hands
I was there- two strong teams – I went because the fords are plying at home vs my high school – give 5 with the fords. Also my boy was captain of Wyo in 2014 ( disclaimer).
Strong game story with stats wrap that no one else has published. Nice work!