Though the score looks impressive – last week’s 56-24 win over Miami Trace – Wilmington head coach Scott Killen said it was a small step for his Hurricane in the right direction.
“We still need to work on our consistency in all phases,” he said. “We still have a long way to go.”
But it’s nice to be heading in the right direction after a 32-point win.
“We were a little more consistent and were able to make some big plays off their miscues,” Killen said.
Cam Coomer had an all-around strong night against the Panthers. The 6-3 senior was 6-for-11 passing for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He ran seven times for 100 yards and a score. And he caught a pass for an 85-yard touchdown. For good measure, he had an interception on defense.
“We were going in to the season having packages in place for him at quarterback,” Killen said of Coomer, who had one of the best receiving seasons in WHS history in 2018. “We just made the decision to rep him more (at QB) because we do have other players that can step up and play receiver.”
Coomer splits time as the Hurricane signal caller with Peyton Hibbard, who threw for 92 yards and two scores last week.
“We did plan on playing Peyton more at quarterback (last week) but we got on a pretty good roll with Cam and we wanted to keep the momentum,” Killen said. “Then when Peyton got in, he led the offense with two touchdown passes. So right now it’s probably more of a game by game (situation).”
After being ravaged by Valley View in the opener, the Hurricane defense made a solid turnaround against the Panthers.
“We still have our struggles, don’t get me wrong, but we focused more on team defense and everyone doing their job until the whistle,” said Killen. “Conner Mitchell did not play for us but Jordan Tackett stepped up and played middle linebacker and played very well. It comes down to our kids believing in each other and playing for each other and to forget about the finger pointing.”
Chris Custis had two sacks last week while Tyler Kramer had an interception. Malik Scott ran just five times but scored twice and totaled 120 yards. Carter Huffman caught two touchdown passes while Isaiah Rigling went 3-40 with a TD rushing and 2-88 with a TD receiving.
Butler will provide the opposition this week for WHS who makes its 2019 Alumni Field debut. Dating back to 2014, the Aviators have won three of five meetings. WHS wins came in 2017 (59-35) and 2014 (32-28).
“Butler is a young football team,” said Killen. “They started 10 sophomores last week against a good Troy team but they play hard every play. Their defense gets off the ball and are very aggressive.”
