Wilmington rolls to Region 3 title
Wilmington (47) vs. Sharon (7)
Written: Oct 22, 2011
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
Wilmington High will return to the PIAA District 10 Class AA playoffs this year.
But the Greyhounds like the way they’re going into the postseason in 2011 a whole lot better than the way they did in 2010.
Once again, they are Region 3 champs.
Wilmington, which was an at-large playoff choice a year ago, clinched its league title and the automatic berth that goes with it last night by dismantling Sharon, 47-7.
“Last year, I guess we had kind of a down year, but we brought it back this year,” said Ryan Crawford, who rushed for 118 yards on seven carries while scoring touchdowns on a 24-yard run and a 32-yard fumble return.
“Most definitely,” added quarterback Josh Tekac, who scored on runs of 20 and 27 yards. “We have to keep working hard these last two games, we can’t just give up.
“We want to go for 9-1. We wanted to go undefeated, but we’ve got that one loss, but we put it behind us.”
Wilmington, which also got 110 yards rushing on seven carries from Gunnar Donati, finished 5-0 in the region and improved to 7-1 overall. The ’Hounds have only nonleague games with Warren (Ohio) John F. Kennedy and Northwestern remaining on their regular-season dance card.
But don’t look for Wilmington to take a breather in what are meaningless games as far as reaching the postseason is concerned.
“The next two games are important,” Crawford said. “You can’t go in the playoffs losing two games or even one game, or even winning and having a bad game.”
Head coach Terry Verrelli agrees. He’s not about to sit his starters to ensure that they go into the playoffs healthy.
“We’re not worried about that,” he said. “They’re games, and you have to play them as though they are as important as any other game.
“Those are always concerns (keeping starters healthy), but you can’t look at it that way. We have a game — league game, or nonleague game, if you start going half speed, it’s hard to break that habit, too. No, we’ll be as ready for the next couple of games as we were for tonight.”
The ’Hounds were ready for a depleted Sharon squad (1-3, 1-7) on both sides of the ball. While Wilmington’s starting offense went about building a 41-0 lead, its first-team defense held Sharon to just two first downs and 82 total yards.
Joining Crawford and Tekac in the scoring column were Anthony Derrick (2-yard run), Tyler Donati (27-yard run) and Josiah Bloise (13-yard run).
Verrelli was pleased to reclaim the region crown after a one-year hiatus, but conceded it’s not something he expected back in August.
“There are so many spots that every team has to fill,” he said. “You don’t really know what you have, there are so many different situations, different offenses that you face, passing teams, running — it really does take a while before you figure out whether you can defend all of those things.
“No, you never look at it that way.”
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
SHARON WILMINGTON
8 First downs 19
146 Yards Rushing 425
24 Yards Lost 0
122 Net Rushing 425
9 Passes Attempted 1
7 Passes Completed 0
0 Passes Intercepted 0
56 Yards Passing 0
178 Total Yards 425
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
4-27.5 Punts-Average 0-0
3-35 Penalties-Yards 5-40
SHARON 0 0 7 0 — 7
WILMINGTON 14 21 6 6 — 47
Scoring plays
WILMINGTON— Ryan Crawford, 24-yard run (Brandon Ryder kick).
WILMINGTON — Josh Tekac, 20-yard run (Harrison Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON — Anthony Derrick, 2-yard run (Slavi Pontius kick).
WILMINGTON — Crawford, 32-yard fumble return (Ryder kick)
WILMINGTON — Tekac, 27-yard run (Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON — Tyler Donati, 8-yard run (Kick failed).
SHARON — Jesse Rodgers, 7-yard run (Jason Sypolt kick).
WILMINGTON — Josiah Bloise, 13-yard run (Kick failed).
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