GERMANTOWN – Wilmington opened its 2019 football campaign with a 41-7 loss at Germantown Valley View’s Barker Field.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Hurricane head coach Scott Killen said. “It’s still the little things. We’ve been harping on the little things. Hopefully when we watch film, when we sit down to get better tomorrow, they see the little things do matter.”
One of the things Killen specifically pointed out was players freelancing when things got tough.
“Instead of doing what they’re coached to do, they branch out and do what they want to do instead of sticking with the game plan,” Killen said.
Killen added next week will be spent on trying to find a team identity.
“We had some guys step up. We have some guys who are in the process of figuring it out,” he said. “We have to be intentional and purposeful in how we practice.
“We have to work on, as a team, being more consistent. We’ll have a great drive, and then someone will take a play off. We talk about being relentlessly active. We weren’t relentless tonight.”
Peyton Hibbard started at quarterback for Wilmington. He engineered an 11-play, 41-yard drive that sputtered at the Valley View 47.
On the ensuing drive the Spartans rolled to the Hurricane 22 before Isaiah Rigling picked off Spartan quarterback Cole Cradlebaugh at the 13.
It was mostly downhill from there for Wilmington.
The Cane punted on the next four possessions and had the ball as time expired in the half. Valley View scored on three of the next four drives to take a 21-0 advantage into the intermission.
Valley View opened the second half with a three-play, 78-yard drive that took 40 seconds, but missed the PAT.
The Hurricane got untracked and responded with a touchdown of its own on its first drive of the second half. Rigling started the drive ripping off a 33-yard run, with a 15-yard Valley View penalty tacked on to the end of the play. Two plays later, Cameron Coomer, who entered the game at quarterback on Wilmington’s second offensive drive of the game, made chicken salad out of a broken play to scamper 14 yards to the Spartan 8. He did it again three plays later with a 10-yard romp to paydirt.
“Peyton Hibbard did some good things. Cameron is an athlete playing quarterback. He’s out there trying to make things happen. He needs to let the game come to him,” Killen said.
The Spartans ended up scoring on their first three drives of the second half to build their 41-7 cushion. The game went to a running clock with 1:01 left in the third quarter.
SUMMARY
Aug 30, 2019
@Barker Field
Valley View 41 Wilmington 7
W^0^0^7^0^7
V^0^21^20^0^41
First Quarter
No scoring
Second Quarter
VV – Musgrove 32 run (Combs kick), 11:52.
VV – Coulter 55 pass from Cradlebaugh (Combs kick), 8:01.
VV – Cradlebaugh 11 run (Combs kick), 1:04.
Third Quarter
VV – Branham 58 run (Kick failed), 10:46.
WHS – Coomer 10 run (Bell kick), 7:55.
VV – Musgrove 40 run (Smith kick), 5:01.
VV – Gentry 3 run (Phillips kick), 1:01.
Fourth Quarter
No scoring.
