Win or lose, it would be easy for the Wilmington High School football team to rest on its laurels from a 29-28 loss to Clinton-Massie last week.
After all, it’s been a rare occurrence that a team played the Falcons so close, especially a South Central Ohio League team.
But Hurricane head coach Scott Killen says he’s not using last week’s game as a teaching point as his squad prepares for Chillicothe.
“Move on and focus on Chillicothe,” said Killen. “We have an opportunity to finish 8-2 and a chance at the playoffs so there is no reason to look back, just to move forward.”
Wilmington will make the hour trek to Chillicothe for Friday night’s 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
The winner of this game has a chance at extending its season. The loser can begin preparing for 2016 … or basketball or wrestling or swimming.
The Hurricane comes into the game at 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the league. Chillicothe is 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the league. The winner has a firm hold on second place in the SCOL and a slim hope that it could share the league title with leader Clinton-Massie. The Falcons travel to East Clinton this week.
Both Wilmington and Chillicothe are Div. III teams. The Hurricane is 11th in Region 10 while the Cavaliers are ninth in Region 9. The top eight teams in their respective regions advance to the playoffs.
The Hurricane wrapped up an 8-2 season in Killen’s first year as head coach in 2014 with a 7-3 win over the Cavaliers at Wilmington College.
This time around, Killen said the Hurricane “must stop their big plays and make them make mistakes.”
“Chillicothe has very good skill players and they play extremely hard,” said Killen. “Their running back, Nate Rosenbauer, is very dangerous and can score anytime he touches the ball on offense. Defensively, they are very sound and physical up front.”
Wilmington, according to Killen, must win the line of scrimmage and make each possession end in points.
Matt Creditt, the WHS quarterback, had passed for 1,060 yards and 11 touchdowns while rushing for 841 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Last week, Marlyn Frisco had a big game with 142 yards rushing against the vaunted Clinton-Massie defense. Creditt completed just one pass but it was a 50-yard TD to Brady McCune.
On defense, Zane Stevens led WHS with eight solo tackles, including a sack. TraLee Joiner and Brett Bell had seven tackles each and Austin Thompson had six solos and an assist.
Dylan Beaugard was an offensive juggernaut early in the season for WHS and while his numbers on that side of the ball were not impressive last week, he does lead Wilmington in tackles this season with 45. McCune is second with 43.
