Published Sunday, Nov. 17, 1996
'Hounds 19
Bulldogs 0
WPIAL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Wilmington lays the `Hammer' down
By Ed Farrell
Herald Sports Writer
BROOKVILLE, Pa. _ The Wilmington High School football team has taken its game to a new level. Now the Greyhounds are hoping to take it all the way to Altoona's Mansion Park.
Wilmington has made some very exceptional teams look very ordinary during the last four weeks, and the trend continued Saturday as the 'Hounds hammered District 9 champion Redbank Valley, 19-0, at Brookville High School in an opening-round PIAA Class AA contest.
By virtue of the victory, 3-time District 10 titlist Wilmington (12-0) will meet Tyrone next weekend at a site and time to be determined. A year ago, the Greyhounds, also undefeated at the time, were eliminated from the PIAA playoffs by Tyrone _ a 32-14 winner over Forest Hills Friday night _ by a 14-7 margin in Altoona.
Including its regular-season finale showdown with Sharon for the Mercer County Athletic Conference AA crown; its D-10 semifinal and finals wins over Eisenhower and Northwestern, and the state quarterfinal-round triumph over Redbank Valley, Wilmington has won four consecutive games over teams with a composite 37-5 mark by an aggregate margin of 108-21.
Illustrating that stifling span was the most recent performance, in which the Hounds Hammer limited Redbank Valley's run-and-shoot offense to 123 total yards on 37 plays, including only 16 yards rushing. Wilmington intercepted RV's prolific passer, R.J. Dick, a handful of times, sacked him twice and coerced him into a 13-for-28 aerial output that was inflated by a 9-for-14 performance after the Greyhounds had built that 19-0 edge.
Even veteran head coach Terry Ver\relli was at somewhat of a loss for superlatives in describing his club's dominating defense that registered its ninth shutout of the campaign, while the offense consumed the second-half clock and generated 278 total yards.
``I think, probably, (that was) the best they could do in this type of (field) condition, and I hate to see a playoff game played like this, but I guess you have no choice. ... These type of conditions are difficult, anything can happen. It's just difficult to run your offense. Probably, it was easier to pass in this type of (field condition) than it was to run the ball,'' Verrelli said, continuing, ``We had chances, but with these conditions, man, anything can happen, and it was difficult to get things going.''
Greyhounds' linebacker Kurt Latta set the tone by thwarting each of Redbank Valley's first pair of drives by pilfering Dick passes, then tackle Justin Koi forced the Bulldogs to go 3-and-out on their initial second-stanza series by sacking Dick for an 11-yard loss on a 3rd-and-4 play from the RV 26-yard line.
Wilmington immediately embarked on a 6-play, 72-yard scoring march that required only 3:06. Doug Dudash's 46- yard sprint on first down from the Greyhounds' 43 was one of two highlights. The other occurred on a 3rd- and-9 play from the 10, when quarterback Todd Smargiasso tossed a touchdown to Demetrious Rich at the 8:43 mark. Wyatt Campbell's lone conversion kick provided the 'Hounds with a 7-0 lead, where the score remained at the intermission.
Redbank Valley (11-1) averaged only two yards a play on 21 first-half snaps, and that did not improve appreciably during the second half.
The 'Hounds received the second half-opening kickoff and increased their advantage to 13-0 as Ben Garvin _ running in Sam Koi's stead _ scored on a 3-yard burst to culminate a 13-play, 57-yard, 7-minute, 13-second drive.
The Bulldogs' four second-half possessions ended in a punt and interceptions of Dick passes by Rich, Smargiasso and Tekac, respectively. Smargiasso _ on a 3rd-and-10 play _ returned his theft 37 yards for the final score and punctuating Wilmington's day-long dominance.
``We have a good defense because we have a great line as well as an excellent secondary,'' Verrelli praised. ``Passing teams, you know, we have to prepare for them, also. You're not gonna move on (in the playoffs) too far if you can't stop the pass, also.
``We knew that they were good at running the run-and-shoot offense and throwing the football,'' Verrelli said of RV, which entered the game averaging 258.7 yards/game. ``We really didn't think that they'd be able to run against us _ I mean we've been doing pretty well against the run _ so we prepared as hard as we could for the pass, and they do a good job with it and they completed some passes. But the only thing that really matters is the fact they don't get in the endzone.''
Redbank Valley veteran mentor Dave Moore refused to use the quagmire-like playing field as an alibi.
``We don't need any excuses. We didn't execute well, for whatever reason. (But) they're a great team and, hopefully, they'll win the state championship,'' he said of Wilmington, admitting, ``We had our opportunities. Offensively, we sputtered; the last three, four weeks we sputtered, so maybe we should've gone back to fundamentals, worked on the quarterback setting up. The biggest problem, (the 5-foot-9 Dick) couldn't see over their line, just couldn't see. So what am I gonna do? I can't put stilts on him. We tried to sprint him out a couple times, but we didn't block well on the perimeter, so the best team won.''
Regarding Tyrone, Verrelli concluded, ``We're really happy with the fact we get to play them again, that we've gotten this far and we have that opportunity. So we'll go home, regroup and get ready to go.''
Notes:Regarding Sammy Koi, who sustained a right-knee injury midway through the third quarter, Verrelli admitted, ``I really don't know what his situation is '' ... The victory improves Verrelli's career mark to 115-75-3, moving him past Sharon's Dave Stewart (114-64-7) into seventh place on the scholastic gridiron coaches' list among Herald coverage-area teams.
PIAA Class AA First Round
WILMINGTON 0 7 6 6 19
REDBANK VALLEY 0 0 0 0 0
Scoring plays W _ Rich 10 pass from Smargiasso (Campbell kick) W _ Garvin 3 run (kick failed) W _ Smargiasso 37 interception return (pass failed) Team stats
WILMINGTON REDBANK VALLEY
12 First downs 7
185 Rushing yards 16
93 Passing yards 128
15-8-1 Att-comp-int 28-13-5
0-0 Sacks-yards lost 2-21
278 Total yards 123
5-0 Fumbles-lost 0-0
9-82 Penalties-yards lost 3-25
Individual stats
Rushing: WILMINGTON _ Dudash 8-56, S. Koi 8-38, Smargiasso 7-38, Garvin 8-23, Rich 2-17, Tekac 5-13; REDBANK VALLEY _ Moore 7-16, E. Rupp 3-6, S. Rupp 1-1. Passing: _ WILMINGTON _ Smargiasso 14-8-1-93, Tekac 1-0-0-0; REDBANK VALLEY _ Dick 28-13-5-128. Receiving: WILMINGTON _ Mitcheltree 5-66, S. Koi 2-17, Rich 1-10; REDBANK VALLEY _ E. Rupp 5-39, Clouse 4-62, S. Rupp 3- 16, McElroy 1-11.
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Updated Nov. 17, 1996.