Donati propels Wilmington easy win over Saegertown
Wilmington (49) vs. Saegertown (6)
Written: Sep 29, 2012
 By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
Tyler Donati is leading the Wilmington High football team’s push toward a region championship.
Donati rolled up 152 rushing yards and four touchdowns for the Greyhounds in a 49-6 District 10, Region 3-AA home win over Saegertown last night.
A 5-foot-10 senior fullback/inside linebacker, Donati paces the county with 768 rushing yards on 73 attempts. That’s just a shade better than 10.5 yards a carry.
“Tyler is our key running back. We expect big things from him every game,” Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said. “He obviously had a great game.
“He’s the leader in the backfield and we expect him to do well, and he has in every game.”
Donati scored on runs of 31, 1, 47 and 85 yards. All of his offensive production came on eight first-half carries.
“They were long runs, but our line did a great job getting movement and opening up holes all night,” Donati said. “We just capitalized on what the line did up front.
“I had to make one or two moves in the open field, and then it was just all open space from there on those big runs.”
Wilmington (3-1 region, 4-1 overall) is ranked ninth in the state in Class AA by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg. The Greyhounds are locked in a four-way tie for the top spot in the region standings with Hickory (3-1, 4-1), Grove City (3-1, 4-1) and Reynolds (3-1, 4-1).
“If you don’t keep winning, you’re not going to be in the playoffs anyhow,” Verrelli said of the current playoff chase. “We don’t talk about the playoffs around here. You have to keep winning.
“I’m sure the playoffs will take care of itself. Those teams still have to play each other and it will all come out in the wash in the end.”
Wilmington opened the season with grueling tests against West Middlesex (last year’s D-10, Class A runner-up), Grove City (last year’s D-10, Class AAA champion) and Hickory (last season’s D-10, Class AA champ). The Eagles, now a region rival, handed the Greyhounds their only loss in that stretch.
“You don’t like to start the year, especially when you have just two guys back on offense, with three games like that,” Verrelli said. “We’re very fortunate and the kids came through and learned a lot in those games.”
Said Donati, “After the three tough games, it’s kind of good that we had this game because we were all beat up. We knew what we had to do each game to get it done. We knew if we didn’t come out hard, we could lose.”
The Panthers (0-4, 0-5), who made the District 10, Class A playoffs last year before climbing to double-A this year, only had 20 players dressed last night.
“Saegertown has their problems,” Verrelli said. “They have very few players and some injuries, but they played well.
“I tried to prepare my team with you have to respect everybody and go out there and get better as a player. We’re happy with their performance.”
Wilmington rolled up 370 yards of offense, including 335 on the ground.
“The line is one of our key places,” Verrelli said. “We have some big boys in there, most of them are seniors. Not all of them, but most of them. They play very well and work very hard. They’re obviously the key to our running game.”
Alex Patton opened the scoring on a 54-yard run in the first quarter for Wilmington. Donnie Watson hauled in a 29-yard pass from Cody Llewellyn in the second quarter and Joel Phillips accounted for the other Greyhounds score when he ran in from six yards out in the third period.
The Greyhounds’ defense delivered again. Wilmington allowed just 132 yards of total offense — 122 of which came in the second half under the “mercy rule.” Wilmington is surrendering just 11.6 points a game this season.
Wilmington hits the road for two straight road matchups, starting at 7 p.m. Friday at Reynolds.
“Reynolds is a good football team. That’s going to be a major game for us,” Verrelli said.
(Email: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
SAEGERTOWN WILMINGTON
7 First downs 10
101 Yards Rushing 345
34 Yards Lost 10
67 Net Rushing 335
12 Passes Attempted 3
5 Passes Completed 2
0 Passes Intercepted 0
65 Yards Passing 35
132 Total Yards 370
2-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
39.8 Punts-Average 1-33
0-0 Penalties-Yards 0-0
SAEGERTOWN 0 0 0 6 — 6
WILMINGTON 14 28 7 0 —49
Scoring plays
WILMINGTON — Alex Patton, 54-yard run (Brandon Ryder kick).
WILMINGTON — Tyler Donati, 31-yard run (Ryder kick).
WILMINGTON — Donati, 1-yard run (Ryder kick).
WILMINGTON — Donnie Watson, 29-yard pass from Cody Llewellyn (Slavi Pontius kick).
WILMINGTON — Donati, 47-yard run (Pontius kick).
WILMINGTON — Donati, 85-yard run (Kyler Lum kick).
WILMINGTON — Joel Phillips, 6-yard run (Lum kick).
SAEGERTOWN — Anthony Taylor, 17-yard pass from Ryan Kirdahy (kick blocked).
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