Too little, too late for Comets as Wilmington rolls, Another Coaler shutout
Wilmington' varsity football team scored 38 unanswered points over the first three quarters before Reed-Custer got on the board in a 38-13 routing of the Comets Friday night.
The loss eliminates the Comets' hopes of reaching the playoffs while the Wildcats improve to 4-3 overall and still have a chance.
Wilmington scored just 1:30 into the game after Sam Hafner intercepted a R-C pass and Trey Shaw turned it into a two-yard plunge for a 6-0 lead.. The 'Cats went up 12-0 in the second when Conner Dempsay ran one in from three yards out and then just before the half, Hafner scored a 3-yard TD run and a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Keaton Hopwood to Dempsay made it 18-0.
In the third it was all Wilmington, adding another 20 points with a pair of touchdown runs from Shaw (4 & 6 yards) and a 80-yard dash by Dempsay.
Reed-Custer never gave up though, scoring midway into the fourth quarter when Comet QB Josh Loomis found Blake Foster for an 11-yard touchdown strike, 38-7 8:25 left. Before the game was through, Rick Siegers take caught a short pass from Loomis and ran it 74 yards for the 38-13 finish.
The key was Wilmington took advantage of two Comet interceptions and a fumble while Reed-Custer recovered three Wildcat fumbles and failed to convert on them early on.
Nearly all of Reed-Custer's 260 yards were in the air as the Comets had only 10 yards rushing. Wilmington had 388 yards rushing and 59 yards passing.
The Wildcats host Streator Friday for Senior Night while Reed-Custer will have its Senior Night Friday against Coal City.
COALERS SHUTOUT MANTENO
The Interstate Eight (Large) champions cleaned up the Panthers 24-0 in their fourth shutout of the season. Coal City improves to 6-1 overall, 4-0 in conference while Manteno drops to 1-6 overall.
Coal City's Daniel Jezik lit up the scoreboard in the first quarter with a 23-yard field goal. He extended Coal City's lead to 10-0 before the half with a 3-yard dash. In the third period Cole Garcia ran a touchdown in while Jezik added a fourth quarter TD run to lead the Coalers in rushing with 134 yards.
Jezik was accurate with extra-point kicks, making all three attempts.
Coal City quarterback Payton Hutchings completed 6 of 13 passes , with one interception, for 62 yards. Credit the Big Green defense for limiting Manteno to just 25 yards rushing in 24 attempts, their longest being 7 yards. Manteno had to pass to move the ball, gaining 101 yards on 15-for-23 passing and one interception.