WILMINGTON — There were no fantistic finishes on this night.
The Wilmington College football team suffered its first defeat of the season Friday night to unbeaten Heidelberg 38-16 at Townsend Field.
Wilmington is 2-1 on the year. Heidelberg goes to 2-0.
The Quakers again had a statistical advantage on offense, 96 plays for 405 yards, while the Student Princes had 59 plays for 358 yards.
Neither team ran the ball well – WC 38 for 37 yards and HU 27 for 69 yards.
The Student Princes scored on their opening drive of the game, an 8-play, 66-yard possession. Drew Sims passed to Dimitri Penick for eight yards for the first score.
Tre’Quez Parks intercepted a Sims’ pass and the result was a 39 yard field goal by Gabe Dolen, 7-3.
The teams punted on the next four possessions before Heidelberg’s big-play offense pushed the difference to 14-3. The scoring play was a 71-yard pass from Sims to Maceo Matthews.
Heidelberg took advantage of a short field to go up 21-3 when Sims and Matthews hooked up on a 28-yard touchdown pass.
Faced with a huge deficit, the Wilmington offense responded with a 75-yard scoring drive. Aided by a defensive pass interference, WC scored with 1:16 to go in the half on a 19-yard pass from Kyle Barrett to Itika Wynn Jr. With Dolen’s kick, it was 21-10 Heidelberg.
After forcing a Heidelberg 20-second drive, WC made a last-ditch attempt for more first half points.
But a 6-play, 63-yard drive was two yards short on a 20-yard pass from Barrett to Wynn as time expired in the half.
Neither team had much good fortune on offense as the second half unfolded. WC’s first two possessions ended with an interception and blocked punt, which was returned for a touchdown to put ‘Berg up 28-10.
Jarod Lee came up with an interception for the WC defense but the offense was stymied once again.
Matthews caught six passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
Barrett threw 58 times, completing 36 for 368 yards. Wynn caught nine passes for 153 yards and two scores.
Lee was in on seven tackles with an interception. Parks had two tackles for loss among six tackles. He also had an interception.
