WIZARDS SHUTOUT FDR 26-0

The Wizards varsity football team finally earned their first win in a league showdown against FDR. The Wizards had a feeling that this game would finally be there first win of the season. Senior captain Brian Salka comment before the game “All we have to do is play like we can and we’ll earn the win.” In the game three touchdowns and two field goals brought the Wizards a 26-0 victory.

The boys started off the game big receiving the ball and turning it for over 70 yards. Good field position early in the game=2 0gave the Wizards the momentum they needed to bring the game to a 3-0 lead less then five minutes into the first quarter. Aggressive playing by senior middle linebacker Eric Kawolski helped to continuously stop FDR. In the first half the Wizards defense repetitively pummeled FDR’s offense forcing numerous stops in their own territory. Big Blue’s defense gained good field position for the offense to do their job. Senior captains Kevin Reilly and Bobby Tansey helped the Wizards recover from a fourth down fumble. B.T brought the Wizards to the FDR thirty yard line where Reilly had two big gains which included an 18 yard touchdown run making the score 9-0.

At the start of the second half the Wizards kicked the ball off leading to an unsuccessful drive by FDR. Chris Fernandez had a big sac and Eric Kawolski made keys tackles on FDR’s first drive helping to recover the ball. When the Wizards received FDR’s punt on the 44 yard line Kevin Reilly and Bobby Tansey continued to abuse the defense. On the first big drive Kevin Reilly broke out into a 45 yards run crippling FDR’s chance at a win. Finishing the drive, Bobby Tansey had a 1 yard touchdown run bringing the score to 16-0. FDR fought back and brought the ball into Wizard territory, but defensive players, Eric Kawolski, Brian Hlavac and Keenan Bailey helped to stop the opposing offense. Eric Kawolski went on to break the line untouched forcing and recovering a fumble. Although the drive ended in a punt the Wizards knew they had the game.

Later in the third quarter FDR put in a new quarterback to switch things up a bit. From a crushing blow by Brian Hlavac, FDR’s pass was intercepted by senior defensive back Nick Martucci. Because of the interception the Wizards entered the fourth quarter with a 41 yards field goal bringing the score to 19-0. FDR poorly attempted to take control of the field. With a little over ten minutes left senior Jimmy Reynolds intercepted the ball and returned 21 yards for a touchdown, running the score up to 26-0. The crowd and the team were overwhelmed knowing the boys locked in their first win.

At the close of the game Senior Captain Jake Butler said “The o-line and the offense did what had to be done, and coach Bucco and staff prepared us for FDR. Defense also stepped up and now we’re going after Valley Central!” Bobby Tansey and Kevin Reilly both ended the game with over 100 rushing yards each. BT had 128 yards on 20 attempts with a touchdown and Reilly had 105 yards on 9 attempts with a touchdown. Defensive players Eric Kawolski and Brian Hlavac ended up with 6 tackles each, Chris Fernandez had 4 tackles with a sac and defensive substitute Jon Paul Baum had three tackles at linebacker. After being asked at the end of the game “What do you think led your team to victory?” Head Coach Tim Johnson responded “All in all, we had a very strong week of practice, the o-line played the way we knew they could, defense did an outstanding job by pitching a shutout and special teams welded everything into a whole to clench the victory.” By Jackie Fowler and John Gregory