WILMINGTON — After spotting Goshen 14 points, Wilmington rallied with 33 unanswered points to secure a 33-14 Homecoming win Friday night at Alumni Field.
Wilmington botched two kickoffs in the opening minutes of the game and trailed 14-0 with 8:59 to play in the first period.
“Sometimes we feel we can just roll over teams and that’s not who we are yet,” WHS head coach Ryan Evans said of another slow start.
Once headed in the right direction, though, the Hurricane rode the powerful offensive line to 340 rushing yards and Aiden Price scored three touchdowns on the ground while the defense was coming up with four interceptions in grounding the Warriors after a fast start.
Evans lamented 17 penalties and the early kick receive woes following the game, knowing teams that win from this point in the season and into the playoffs don’t generally make those kinds of mistakes.
“We had the (ball) in our hand … we don’t secure the ball in those situations, coached that a million times,” WHS head coach Ryan Evans Sr. said. “Part of the process, just keep building. Should have never really happened. Our kids didn’t panic, our coaches didn’t panic. Just kinda calmed down and kept playing. All you can do.
“Terrible…you typically don’t win games like that (17 penalties). Glad we were on that side.”
Caydn Denniston rushed for 204 yards on 29 attempts and Price had 100 yards on 14 rushes.
Wilmington interceptions were by Michael Brown Jr., Zane Smith, Eli Stewart and Jesse Keith. Jelani Hunter, the Homecoming King, blocked a Goshen punt.
Goshen ran the first nine plays from scrimmage on two different possessions, thanks to Wilmington’s mishandling of two onside kick attempts.
Those nine plays produced 88 yards and two touchdowns for the Warriors and a 14-0 deficit just 181 seconds into the game for Wilmington.
Undaunted, the Hurricane put together a 10-played drive that covered 70 yards. The run game was fearless, collecting 75 yards on nine rushes. Aiden Price went the final yard for the WHS score.
Goshen gained 65 yards on the first five plays on the next drive. It seemed the Hurricane defense, so incredibly staunch most of the season, was unraveling right in front of a massive Homecoming crowd. Afterall the Warriors had 153 yards on 14 plays to start the game.
The Goshen passing attack was on target early, hitting on 8 of its first 9 passes for 137 yards.
From there, though, the real Hurricane defense rose up, stifling Goshen for just 88 yards on the next 48 plays and four turnovers, all interceptions. The pass defense finshed the game allowing just three completions and coming up with four interceptions for 50 yards on the final 28 attempts.
Price reached paydirt on runs of 7 and 4 yards in the second quarter and Wilmington was on top 19-14 at the intermission.
The offense bogged down in the third with an interception and fumble and plenty of penalties but righted the ship when Homecoming King Jelani Hunter blocked a punt and set-up a one-play drive that was all Caydn Denniston from eight yards out.
Denniston capped another one-play, eight-yar drive in the fourth that came after Zane Smith’s interception.
Luke Johnson cleaned things up in the end, rushing for 31 yards on five attempts to help run out the clock
SUMMARY
Oct 6, 2023
@Alumni Field
Wilmington 33, Goshen 14
G^14^0^0^0^^14
W^7^12^8^6^^33
SCORING
First Quarter
G: Kash Keitz 48 yard pass from Logan Haley (Zane Jimison PAT) 11:47
G: Corbin Miller 6 yard pass from Logan Haley (Zane Jimison PAT) 8:59
W: Aiden Price 1 yard run (Jon Custis PAT) 4:47
Second Quarter
W: Aiden Price 7 yard run (PAT failed) 4:44
W: Aiden Price 4 yard run (Conversion failed) 1:22
Third Quarter
W: Caydn Denniston 8 yard run (Bryson Schutte run) 4:43
Fourth Quarter
W: Caydn Denniston 8 yard run (Conversion failed) 6:13
STATISTICS
First downs:
Rushing: G (25-54) River Gambrell 11-44 Camden Telinda 1-2 Logan Haley 10-11 Lucas Perkins 2-(-2); W (53-340) Caydn Denniston 29-204 Aiden Price 14-100 Luke Johnson 5-31 Josiah Puller 1-5 Payden Mowyer 1-0
Passing: G (Logan Haley 11-37-4, 187 yards); W (Aiden Price 11-15-1, 108)
Receiving: G (11-187) Kash Keitz 3-102 Camden Telinda 2-29 Corbin Miller 4-44 Ethan Richardson 2-17; W (11-108) Zane Smith 3-26 Alex Massie 1-11 Michael Brown Jr 5-38 Michael Streety 2-33
Penalties: G 7-65; W 17-160
Fumbles/Lost: G (0-0); W (3-3)
Tackles:
Interceptions: W-Jesse Keith, Michael Brown Jr., Eli Stewart, Zane Smith
Fumble Recoveries: G-Evan Harris
