’Hounds rout Titusville
Wilmington (54) vs. Titusville (6)
Written: Oct 16, 2010
By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
Wilmington had every reason not to play well last night.
The Greyhounds were coming off a second straight tough defeat.
A week ahead sat a game against league-leading — and arch rival — Sharon, which likely will decide whether Wilmington advances to the District 10 playoffs.
And standing between the two was winless Titusville.
The ’Hounds, though, shook off the doldrums of the past, refused to get caught up in the what-ifs of the future and paid close attention to the business at hand, laying a 54-6 pounding on the Rockets in Region 3-AA action.
Wilmington (3-1 region, 5-2 overall) now will travel to Sharon (4-0, 6-1) on Friday, hoping to claim a share of the conference crown.
Titusville dropped to 0-5 and 0-7.
“We were just hungry to get back rolling and get back on the winning side, so we had a good week of practice,” said Sutton Whiting, who rushed for 175 yards on just seven carries. “It showed.
“Our superpower game, we worked on that all week in practice and it paid off.”
Whiting scored five TDs, on runs of 1, 21, 5 and 77 yards, as well on a 56-yard pass from Nick Vasko.
Senior two-way lineman Tom Bober helped blow open many of the holes that Whiting and a cadre of Wilmington backs used to amass 428 yards rushing. He also anchored a defensive unit that surrounded just one first down and limited the Rockets to minus-11 yards total offense in the six series that all of its starters were on the field.
Bober’s not buying any talk that the team’s youth or its back-to-back losses may be indications that this season will be shorter than the last couple.
“Nothing’s out of reach for us,” he said. “We’re looking big. We’re looking to go far this year. People say we’re not going to make it that far, but we’re looking big.”
He added that although it was tough not to look past Titusville to Sharon, the ’Hounds needed last night to focus simply on getting a victory.
“We got real excited for this game, to get back out there and get in our flow,” he said. “We just really needed a good win here.”
Actually, head coach Terry Verrelli noted, getting such a victory can be even tougher when your opponent is struggling.
“I think the big thing is that you’re playing a team that doesn’t have any wins and all of a sudden you’re not thinking like you should,” Verrelli said. “We worked hard this week preparing them.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, you play the game. We prepared hard for them and that’s really what I want out of them. We try to improve every week, and I think that they did. Next week that’s the game; that’s the season, so we’ll see.”
The ’Hounds have not had their backs against the wall too many times in the past when it’s come to making the playoffs. However, Whiting noted, the losses that preceded last night’s romp may actually pay off in the long run.
“We’re a young team, we were in both of those game, it was just stupid mistakes and stuff,” he said.
“We’d like to win them all, but (losing) keeps your head small, keeps you humble — it keeps you hungry.”
TITUSVILLE WILMINGTON
10 First downs 18
181 Yards Rushing 434
47 Yards Lost 6
134 Net Rushing 428
7 Passes Attempted 3
3 Passes Completed 1
0 Passes Intercepted 0
32 Yards Passing 56
166 Total Yards 484
2-2Fumbles-Lost 2-2
5-26.6 Punts-Average 0-0
0-0 Penalties-Yards 1-10
TITUSVILLE 0 0 0 6 — 6
WILMINGTON 28 19 0 7 — 54
Scoring plays
WILMINGTON — Tyler Donati 35-yard fumble return (Harrison Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON — Sutton Whiting 1-yard run (Brandon Ryder kick).
WILMINGTON — Anthony Derrick 1-yard run (Slavi Pontius kick).
WILMINGTON — Whiting 56-yard pass from Nick Vasko (Sturm kick).
WILMINGTON – Whiting 21-yard run (Ryder kick).
WILMINGTON — Whiting 5-yard run (Kick fails).
WILMINGTON — Whiting 77-yard run (Run fails).
TITUSVILLE — Ehrin Lee 17-yard run (Kick fails).
WILMINGTON — Gunnar Donati 20-yard run (Ryder kick).
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