DeMedal leads Wilmington past Grove City
Wilmington (34) vs. Grove City (14)
Written: Sep 21, 2009
 By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
Grove City High’s roadblock couldn’t have been more effective.
The Eagles, though, were unable to establish a no-fly zone as well.
Wilmington, which saw its rushing output slashed severely by a Grove City defense that stacked the line of scrimmage, turned Saturday night to the arm of quarterback Jake DeMedal to take up the slack. The senior southpaw, who had tossed only one touchdown pass in the Greyhounds’ two previous games, served up three of them against the Eagles to spark a 34-14 come-from-behind win.
The Eagles (2-1) sold out to stopping Wilmington’s ground attack, which had been producing 316.5 yards per game. Derrick Burns, who was averaging 149.5 per outing, managed just 16 and the defending PIAA Class AA champions eked out a mere 117 overall.
Enter DeMedal, who completed 12 of 14 attempts for 174 yards, seven of which were directed into the hands of split end Chad Palladino, who had 80 yards and two touchdowns.
All but one of Wilmington’s touchdowns came within the final 12 minutes and 35 seconds of the contest. DeMedal’s 6-yard pass touchdown pass to Palladino in the second quarter had put the ’Hounds up 7-0, but Grove City scored on a 6-yard Jamarr Patterson run just 10 seconds before halftime to knot the score.
The Eagles even went up, 14-7, when they took the third-quarter kickoff and marched 74 yards in 14 plays, scoring on a 2-yard Patterson run. The drive ate up nearly 7 1⁄2 minutes.
“Second half, they came out, drove it down, used the clock,” Wilmington head coach Terry Verrelli noted. “You want to stop a good offensive team, use the clock, run the clock down.”
Another way, of course, is to put about eight defenders near line of scrimmage. That strategy caused the Greyhounds (3-0) to rethink their offensive game plan at halftime.
“I don’t know about any major adjustments other than we tried to spread them out a little bit,” Verrelli said. “They were just coming up in there with everybody, but I give them credit, they did a great job. They were blitzing the whole time, stopping our running game. It was just tough getting things going.”
When things finally did get going, though, Wilmington was unstoppable, scoring four times over a span of 8 1⁄2 minutes.
Burns provided a 3-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds remaining in the third quarter, finishing a drive that had been ignited by back-to-back 17 yard passes from DeMedal to Sutton Whiting and Palladino. Whiting also contributed a 24-yard run along the way.
Grove City went three-and-out on its ensuing possession, and DeMedal countered by hitting Burns on a 46-yard scoring strike.
The Eagles then fumbled away the kickoff, and DeMedal was at it again, finding Palladino for a 21-yard touchdown on a one-play drive.
Palladino, meanwhile, didn’t limit his catches to offense. His first-down pick on the Eagles’ next possession put Wilmington back in business, and DeMedal capped the ’Hounds’ scoring frenzy on a 5-yard run with 4:16 left in the game.
“They were pretty geared up to stop our run,” DeMedal said. “We have three good running backs, so I think they were pretty geared up for that. So we decided to spread them out in the second half, and my line gave me a lot of time to pass, and we got the passing game going.
“It’s good to get a close one under your belt (Wilmington’s first two wins were by a combined 79-15 count). It helps a lot down the road. We’ll have a lot of close ones from here on out.”
GROVE CITY WILMINGTON
14 First downs 15
167 Yards Rushing 141
11 Yards Lost 24
156 Net Rushing 117
9 Passes Attempted 14
6 Passes Completed 12
2 Passes Intercepted 0
120 Yards Passing 174
276 Total Yards 291
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
3-34.3 Punts-Average 3-40.7
3-30 Penalties-Yards 4-40
GROVE CITY 0 7 7 0 — 14
WILMINGTON 0 7 6 21 — 34
Scoring plays
WILMINGTON — Chad Palladino, 16-yard pass from Jake DeMedal (Bryce Wilson kick)
GROVE CITY — Jamarr Patterson, 6-yard run (Jeff Hershberger kick).
GROVE CITY — Patterson, 2-yard run (Hershberger kick).
WILMINGTON — Derrick Burns, 3-yard run (Kick failed).
WILMINGTON — Burns, 46-yard pass from DeMedal (Run failed)
WILMINGTON — Palladino, 21-yard pass from DeMedal (Sutton Whitting pass from DeMedal).
WILMINGTON — DeMedal, 5-yard run (Wilson kick)
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