McSHERRYSTOWN -- Wyomissing High sophomore quarterback Grayson Helm wanted to go deep. He saw a white-clad receiver, his teammate Joseph Cacchione, running down to the Delone Catholic 41-yard-line.

Helm didn't see Delone's Matt Haines.

Haines jumped in front of Cacchione just as Helm's pass got there and the Squire junior returned the interception deep into Wyomissing's territory. As soon as Haines had the football in his hands, he knew he had just delivered the knockout blow in Delone's 49-28 win over the Spartans Friday night.

The interception early in the fourth period was Haines' second on the night.

"It was good. I felt it secured the game pretty well," Haines said. "I thought the defense just played great. We started slow

Delone Catholic s Wes Smith runs 90 yards for a touchdown on the first play of Delone s second possession in the Squires game against Wyomissing Friday night. (Evening Sun - Eric Drummond)
in the first half, but made some adjustments in the locker room at halftime and came out and played good in the second half."

At halftime, the scoreboard at Delone's J.T. Flaherty Field read 21-21. Wyomissing had generated three scoring drives of 11, 13 and nine plays while Delone needed just eight offensive plays to get to the 21-point mark.

After the Spartans took a 7-0 lead on a clock-grinding drive in the first quarter, Delone running back Wes Smith made quick work of the Spartan defense. Smith took an inside handoff from Delone quarterback Austin Brady and ran untouched 90 yards to the delight of the Squire faithful.

The Squire offensive line continued to open holes despite the larger Wyomissing defensive linemen across from them. Delone running back Dusty Reed added touchdown runs of 23 and 53 yards to end the first half.

"(Numbers) 90 and 75 were two big boys and we just ran away from them a lot during the game," Delone head coach Steve Wiles said of Wyomissing's defensive linemen. "They kept going to our strengths. We kept coming back weak side. I've got to give credit to our offensive line. To open holes like that and put that many rushing yards up is a credit to them. They did a heck of a job."

Coming into the game, Wiles was concerned with his squad being able to run around Spartan defender John Sawyer, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 280 pounds and Skyler Lash, who is 6-6 and 240.

Wiles utilized pitches to his running backs to neutralize the behemoth Wyomissing defenders.

The Squires racked up 362 rushing yards on the night.

"The offensive line stepped it up," Smith said. "We knew number 90 was big and they have a nose tackle right over our guard, so we were going to run a couple of traps, try to get it up the middle. I wasn't expecting a whole lot. Coaches said any kind of gain was good. I didn't expect huge gains like that."

Haines started the scoring for Delone in the third quarter when he made a sliding touchdown grab of Brady's 5-yard pass. Smith would add to the Squire lead six minutes later with a 3-yard touchdown plunge.

When it looked like the Spartans would pack it in, junior wide receiver Corey Bryan redeemed himself for dropping an earlier touchdown pass by taking a kickoff 89 yards for a score.

Delone quickly retaliated.

The Squires needed just two plays to get into the end zone and they got their sixth touchdown on an impressive 74-yard zigzagging run by Smith.

After Haines' interception of Helm, Brady scored on a quarterback keeper to end the scoring.

On the Spartans' final drive, Smith finished them off on the defensive side of the ball. Helm tried to roll left, but was flushed backward into the pocket. Smith fought off two defenders and dragged Helm down for his 14th sack of the season.

Delone will have a rematch against Littlestown in the second round. With Delone being the higher seed, the Bolts will have to make the short trip to J.T. Flaherty Field.

"We've earned that, getting that two seed, so we'll be here again," Wiles said. "Obviously we're cheering for local teams at this point of the year when you get into the playoffs. So, if Littlestown's back, that'd be a great rematch, great local rivalry, and one of us will be going to Hershey. Hopefully, it's us."

tjohnson@eveningsun.com

 

Wyomissing  7  14    7    0 -- 28
Delone Catholic  0  21  14  14 -- 49

First Quarter
   Wyo -- Tyler Rank 4 run (Patrick Johnson kick), 7:45
Second Quarter
   DC -- Wes Smith 90 run (Porter Strickler kick), 11:37
   Wyo -- Joseph Cacchione 10 pass from Grayson Helm (Johnson kick), 5:45
   DC -- Dusty Reed 23 run (Strickler kick), 5:02
   DC --D. Reed 53 run (Strickler kick), 4:44
   Wyo -- Rank 2 run (Johnson kick), 1:43
Third Quarter
   DC -- Matt Haines 5 pass from Austin Brady (Strickler kick), 6:34
   DC --Smith 3 run (Strickler kick), :12
   Wyo -- Corey Bryan 89 kick return (Johnson kick), :00
Fourth Quarter
   DC -- Smith 74 run (Strickler kick), 11:04
   DC -- Brady 2 run (Strickler kick), 8:38
 
-- Wyo -- DC
First downs -- 19 -- 18
Rushes-yards -- 51-198 -- 39-436
Passing -- 7-15-2 -- 5-9-0
Passing yards -- 150 -- 86
Total yards -- 348 -- 522
Punts -- 1-25.0 -- 1-34.0
Fumbles-lost -- 0-0 -- 0-0
Penalties-yards -- 4-40 -- 2-30

 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
   Rushing -- Delone Catholic, Wes Smith 10-189, Dusty Reed 19-183, Kodi Reed 6-41, Austin Brady 3-14, Sam Comly 1-9; Wyomissing, Tyler Rank 18-71, Matt Brice 12-62, Rohan Gordon, Jr. 12-53, Grayson Helm 7-13, Derek Nally 1-2, Team 1-(-3).
   Passing -- Wyomissing, Grayson Helm 7-15-2-150; Delone Catholic, Austin Brady 5-9-0-86.
   Receiving -- Wyomissing, Rohan Gordon, Jr. 3-64, Corey Bryan 1-33, Matt Brice 1-23, Jacob Gonzalez 1-20, Joseph Cacchione 1-10; Delone Catholic, Dusty Reed 2-56, Sam Comly 1-13, Jake Robinson 1-12, Matt Haines 1-5.


Also of interest

· A journey from Delone Catholic to the Super Bowl.