Turnovers spell doom for Wilmington in D-10 title game
Wilmington (7) vs. Hickory (39)
Written: Nov 26, 2012
 
By Andrew Petyak
New Castle News
SLIPPERY ROCK — The Wilmington High football team broke one of football’s golden rules.
Don't turn the ball over.
Five fumbles plagued the Greyhounds in the District 10, Class AA championship game, falling 39-7 to Hickory 39-7 at Slippery Rock University on Saturday.
“You can’t fumble the ball,” Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said. “It was just one of those games.”
The Greyhounds, who knocked off Hickory earlier in the year, conclude the season at 9-3.
The Hornets (11-1) clinched their second consecutive D-10 title and will be back at Slippery Rock University when they play Richland in the PIAA quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday. Richland advanced with a 27-0 win over Forest Hills in the District 6 championship game.
The District 10 championship game couldn’t have started out worse for the Greyhounds on a snowy, windy night at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. As the wind chill dropped to 18 degrees, Wilmington dropped fumbles on its first two possessions.
Greyhounds running back Alex Patton coughed up the first ball, which led to a 25-yard touchdown grab by Hickory running back DeShawn Coleman from Matt Voytik. The extra point was missed.
Coleman, a senior, is a West Virginia University recruit.
The schools exchanged touchdowns at the end of the first quarter, with senior running back Tyler Donati running in Wilmington’s lone score from two yards out. The county’s leading rusher finished his high school career with 104 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown and two fumbles on the night.
Despite dominating in time of possession in the first half by a margin of 18:18 to 5:19, Wilmington found itself in a 12-7 hole heading into halftime.
“That's the beauty of the beast,” Verrelli said. “The kids expect more, but they played hard. You make those kind of mistakes you’re not going to win, I don’t care who you are. We are primarily a running team, and to fall behind like we did hurt us.”
The Greyhounds’ defense couldn’t stop Voytik in the second half. The Hornets quarterback showed off his legs in Hickory’s first possession of the third quarter, exploding for a 46-yard touchdown after making defenders miss and sprinting down the sideline. Voytik finished with 74 yards on seven carries in the game and added 91 on six attempts through the air.
“They’ve been running Voytik the last couple games on an option and hurting people with it,” Verrelli said. “We were as prepared as we could be to stop him. You just can’t make those kind of mistakes and be in a game with a team like that.”
“We had to make a few adjustments at halftime and Matt played within our system,” Hickory coach Bill Brest said of his quarterback. “He did a great job with throwing the ball and play action.”
Coleman added a 17-yard run to make it 25-7 to end the third quarter.
“We didn’t win the line of scrimmage in the first game. Tonight, I thought we were the more physical team on the football field,” Brest said. “We knew our offensive and defensive lines could do it, they did tonight.”
The fourth quarter started with two quick scores from the Hornets. An eight-yard run from fullback Mike Palumbo put the game out of reach. The problems compounded for the Greyhounds on the ensuing kickoff as a Jake McGhee fumble was recovered for a 30-yard scamper to the end zone by Hickory defensive back DeQuan Lewis.
“I think we won in all three facets of the game: special teams, offense and defense,” Brest said. “That’s a total team effort tonight.”
The loss ends a memorable season for Verrelli as he became the all-time winningest coach in District 10 history, taking his 271st triumph last week against Greenville. Wilmington also reached the championship matchup for the first time since 2009.
“When we started, our linemen were the key in building around Donati,” Verrelli said. “Our young quarterback, Cody Llewellyn, did a great job stepping in there. I’m proud of these guys. To get this far is a great honor on their part. I thought it was a great season.”
*****
HICKORY WILMINGTON
11 First downs 18
184 Yards Rushing 228
22 Yards Lost 5
162 Net Rushing 223
6 Passes Attempted 5
4 Passes Completed 2
0 Passes Intercepted 0
91 Yards Passing 15
253 Total Yards 238
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 5-5
2-39.5 Punts-Average 3-19.3
5-35 Penalties-Yards 6-58
HICKORY 6 6 13 14 — 39
WILMINGTON 0 7 0 0 — 7
Scoring plays
HICKORY — DeShawn Coleman, 25-yard pass from Matt Voytik (kick failed).
WILMINGTON — Tyler Donati, 2-yard run (Slavi Pontius kick).
HICKORY — Voytik, 1-yard run (pass failed).
HICKORY — Voytik, 46-yard run (run failed).
HICKORY — Coleman, 17-yard run (Jordan Wombacher kick).
HICKORY — Mike Palumbo, 8-yard run (Wombacher kick).
HICKORY — DeQuan Lewis, 30-yard fumble recovery (Wombacher kick).
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