Pottsville head coach Tom McGeoy said he saw much to like from his team’s opening game Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
But McGeoy and the Crimson Tide also saw one player to dislike, and he became the difference as Pottsville fell to Wyomissing 35-7 in the non-league battle.
The Spartans’ Christian Martir scored four touchdowns, while accumulating 209 all-purpose yards, in sending the Crimson Tide to their 12th consecutive defeat since the 2013 season.
“We were going in trying to stop 26, (Brandon) Workman, and I think we did a good job against the big kid,” McGeoy said. “And they countered us with 6 (Martir) around the edge. That’s why Wyomissing is Wyomissing. That’s why they were in the Eastern finals last year and won states three years ago. They have talent.”
That talent produced touchdowns on Wyomissing’s first three possessions of the game, but the scoring spree then stalled.
The Spartans only got to a 35-point lead to force a running clock for part of the fourth period because Pottsville scored a touchdown on a 67-yard drive, capped by Darion Jacoby’s 3-yard touchdown run, with 4:15 remaining.
“I thought the game was much more hard-fought than the score really showed,” McGeoy said.
His counterpart, Wyomissing’s Bob Wolfrum, agreed.
“I’ve got to give them credit. You get down 21-0 and it’s easy to quit,” Wolfrum said. “And they kept coming, and they kept playing hard. For a while there, the only thing we could do was pass the ball. That was a little upsetting, and they physically came after us a little bit in the second and third quarters.”
But the Crimson Tide were battling from behind from the start.
On its first drive, Wyomissing drove 71 yards to score on Martir’s 27-yard run with 8:57 left in the opening period.
After the Tide’s Kolby Kleckner punted 55 yards to the end zone after Pottsville’s first possession, the Spartans answered with an 80-yard drive, capped by quarterback Charlie Tonneslan’s 14-yard, play-action pass to Martir for a touchdown with 3:46 left in the period.
After another punt by Kleckner, the lead grew to 21-0 in the second period. Sent back to its 13-yard line by an illegal-procedure penalty to begin the drive, Wyomissing marched 87 yards on eight plays, including a 35-yard touchdown run by Brandon Westwood on his lone carry of the game.
Pottsville responded with its best drive to that point, but an interception at Wyomissing’s 3-yard line ended the effort. It was the first of three picks tossed by Pottsville quarterback Eric Wapinsky, who otherwise went 14-for-21 for 148 yards.
“We have two first-year starters at big positions, safety and quarterback,” McGeoy said. “Some of the mistakes we made were first-time varsity game mistakes.”
The other interceptions set up Wyomissing’s two other scores — a 30-yard pass from Tonneslan to Martir and then Martir’s 66-yard scoring scamper on the final play from scrimmage in the third period. Martir finished with 134 yards rushing.
The last score set up the mercy-rule clock, but Pottsville ground out a 13-play scoring drive anyway. Wapinsky completed four passes and Jacoby, who rushed for 72 yards in the game, carried five times before his touchdown run.
It offered hope for McGeoy, whose Crimson Tide host another state power, Berwick, next Friday.
“We don’t have an easy game on the schedule, so it’s not like a shock that we’ve got Berwick,” he said, adding, “I think we can build off this game.”
Wyo (1-0) 14 7 14 0 — 35
Potts (0-1) 0 0 0 7 — 7
W — Martir 27 run (Mendel kick)
W — Martir 14 pass from Tonneslan (Mendel kick)
W — Westwood 35 run (Mendel kick)
W — Martir 30 pass from Tonneslan (Mendel kick)
W — Martir 66 run (Mendel kick)
P — Jacoby 3 run (Kol. Kleckner kick)
Wyo Potts
First Downs 16 16
Rushes-Yards 30-281 35-68
Passes 7-9-0 14-21-3
Passing Yards 113 148
Total Yards 394 216
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties 4-30 3-14
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Wyomissing — Martir 9-134, Smith 5-50, Workman 8-38, Westwood 1-35, Babb 2-12, Naylor 2-7, Gonzalez 1-2, Kohl 1-2, A. Caraballo 1-1. Pottsville — Jacoby 22-72, Alisauckas 1-5, Wapinsky 12-(-9).
PASSING: Wyomissing — Tonneslan 7-9-0, 113. Pottsville — Wapinsky 14-21-3, 148.
RECEIVING: Wyomissing — Martir 4-75, Workman 2-30, Mastrangelo 1-8. Pottsville — Renninger 3-53, Kor. Kleckner 3-26, Angelichio 3-20, Heckler 2-9, Jacoby 1-15, Varano 1-13, Murhon 1-12.
INTERCEPTIONS: Wyomissing — J. Caraballo, Workman, Mastrangelo.