Wilmington holds on for thrilling win over Hickory
Wilmington (28) vs. Hickory (27)
Written: Oct 01, 2011
By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
Four quarters of a hard-fought football game came down to one good push last night.
And what a push it was for the Wilmington High football team.
The interior of the Greyhounds’ line shoved Hickory back and forced a blocked extra point with 55 seconds remaining in the contest. That block preserved a one-point Wilmington lead and it closed out the remainder of the clock for a 28-27 District 10, Region 3-AA win over the Hornets.
“Just determination in there,” Greyhounds coach Terry Verrelli said of the clutch block. “This game was everything we expected it to be. I think it was certainly everything everyone wanted to see.
“It was a great game; it was a big game. But it was just another one.”
Wilmington (3-0 region, 5-0 overall) is alone in first place in the region standings by a game over Hickory (2-1, 4-1), with just two region games left for each school.
The Hornets trailed 28-14 in the fourth quarter after leading 14-0 in the first quarter. But they drove 80 yards in nine plays to draw within 28-21 with 5:04 to play on a 19-yard scoring pass from Mike Nardone to Andrew Smith.
The Greyhounds had a chance to put the game away if they could have recorded at least three first downs. But Hickory was able to burn its final two timeouts and get the ball back on a fourth-down stop at its own 22 with 1:24 left.
The Hornets quickly marched 70 yards in just four plays, culminating with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Nardone to DeShawn Coleman with 55 ticks remaining. Coleman took the aerial and just reached the left corner of the end zone for the score.
“We knew they could throw the ball,” Verrelli said. “I was just hoping we could pick one of them off. Nardone is a big quarterback and he’s a good athlete.”
Nardone was 10 of 17 through the air for 164 yards passing with two touchdowns and an interception. He was 9 of 11 in the fourth frame for 139 yards.
“We do two-minute drills and run great routes,” Hornets coach Bill Brest said of his team’s passing attack. “I thought the kids did a great job; I’m proud of them.”
Jordan Wombacker was perfect on extra points leading up to the final attempt, but the kick never had a chance to clear the crossbar. A host of ’Hounds broke through the line and slammed the ball back toward the other goal line, holding on to a one-point cushion.
“We just bobbled the snap,” Brest said.
Wilmington got off to a poor start. Coleman ripped off touchdown runs of 60 and 86 yards, giving Hickory a 14-0 lead with 2:24 remaining in the opening quarter. Coleman finished the first 12 minutes with three carries for 155 yards.
He recorded 207 rushing yards on 14 jaunts for the game.
“When you get him around the corner, he’s gone. He’s quite a back,” Verrelli said of Coleman.
Hickory had a chance to take command, but penalties proved costly. The Hornets finished with 11 penalties for 100 yards, including a holding infraction that called back a 31-yard scoring run by Coleman in the second quarter that would have pushed the lead to 21-0.
“I’m just disappointed in the penalties. We had complete dominance in the first half,” Brest said. “We thought we were doing a good job of executing in the first half, but penalties hurt us.
“Instead of 14-0, it’s 28-0 (without the penalties). I’m not saying they were bad calls because they’re not. But they hurt.”
Two plays later, Coleman was stuffed on fourth-and-inches from the Greyhounds’ 31 with 9:28 left in the opening half. Wilmington took that momentum and mounted a six-play, 70 yard scoring drive. Tight end Donnie Watson capped the drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Josh Tekac to close to 14-7.
Watson snared his second touchdown pass of the game on a 35-yard aerial with 34 seconds left in the half to knot the count at 14 at the break.
“I just saw the ball up in the air and put my arms up and caught them,” Watson said. “They were nerve-racking. Neither one was easy.
“Josh knows where I’ll be and I know where the ball is going.”
Wilmington returns to action Friday when it hosts Grove City at 7 p.m. The Eagles, a District 10, Class AAA school, improved to 5-0 last night with a 56-7 rout of Meadville.
(E-mail: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
HICKORY WILMINGTON
14 First downs 15
263 Yards Rushing 328
15 Yards Lost 26
248 Net Rushing 302
17 Passes Attempted 5
10 Passes Completed 2
1 Passes Intercepted 1
164 Yards Passing 68
412 Total Yards 370
5-2 Fumbles-Lost 2-0
3-23.3 Punts-Average 3-30.6
11-100 Penalties-Yards 4-40
HICKORY 14 0 0 13 — 27
WILMINGTON 0 14 14 0 — 28
Scoring plays
HICKORY — DeShawn Coleman, 60-yard run (Jordan Wombacker kick).
HICKORY — Coleman, 86-yard run (Wombacker kick).
WILMINGTON — Donnie Watson, 33-yard pass from Josh Tekac (Harrison Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON — Watson, 35-yard pass from Tekac (Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON — Tekac, 6-yard run ( Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON — Tyler Donati, fumble recovery in end zone (Sturm kick).
HICKORY — Andrew Smith, 19-yard pass from Mike Nardone (Wombacker kick).
HICKORY — Coleman, 10-yard pass from Nardone (kick blocked).
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