Wilmington opened its 2018 season with one of the better teams on its schedule, the Valley View Spartans.
Valley View ran away from the Hurricane 50-26.
And while the mood of the WHS squad may have been somber in the wake of defeat, head coach Scott Killen isn’t going to allow it to be a cloud over the heads of his young football team.
“Doesn’t matter, get better,” Killen said. “We know what we have to do to get better so we have to learn from Friday and keep choppin’ wood.”
This week, Wilmington will meet up with former South Central Ohio League rival Miami Trace. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Alumni Field.
Miami Trace kicked off the Jerry Williams era with a 30-15 triumph over Circleville on the new turf field at the Eber high school.
“Trace is a spread (offense) team and is going to run some (run-pass options) at us and a multiple front defense that is physical,” Killen said in a brief scouting report on the Fayette County squad.
In his post-game comments in the Record-Herald newspaper, Williams said his “inexperienced squad” showed some early-season jitters.
But once his Panthers settled down, gained momentum, they were able to handle the Tigers.
“I definitely think we were better conditioned,” Williams said. “We got after it.”
Wilmington is young up front on both sides of the ball, a factor Killen and coaches knew going in to last week’s game.
“We knew that we were young on the offensive and defensive lines and it held true Friday night,” he said. “We have to improve on being consistent in doing the job.”
Wilmington had just 250 yards on offense, including 67 yards rushing on 20 attempts. Brady Evans did throw three touchdown passes but was harassed much of the night.
TJ Rockhold led the Hurricane with eight tackles on defense against the Spartans.
