FOOTBALL: Wilson routs Manheim Township, 48-27

NEFFSVILLE - Any defensive coordinator knows it's hard enough stopping the opposing team's quarterback. For Manheim Township, the problem was stopping all three.

Starting quarterback Collin Powers threw four touchdown passes while wide receivers Jake Gehman and Jon Fox combined for six touchdowns, including three from the wildcat formation, as the Wilson Bulldogs routed Manheim Township 48-27 Friday night in Neffsville.

The win puts to rest the talk of the Blue Streaks (4-1 L-L, 6-2 overall) ending Wilson's 54-game league winning streak and gives the Bulldogs (5-0, 7-1) the inside track to the Section One title with two weeks left in the regular season.

"I thought we pretty much dominated both sides of the ball, all but the last bit of the game," said Wilson head coach Doug Dahms. "Our kids came to play. They wanted to show that they were the best and I thought they did that tonight."

Utilizing a jumbo package as well as a tried and true wildcat, Fox tallied a 9-yard touchdown early in the second quarter before Powers' 22-yard strike to Gehman helped give Wilson a 27-13 lead at halftime.

"We have a lot of weapons, obviously," Gehman said. "We go with as many packages as we can. We have smart players, we have a great line, (and) we have a great quarterback so everything we do seems to work. From now on, we're looking good."

After intermission, Mason McElroy's 38-yard kickoff return set-up Gehman's opportunity with the Ferrari, his 24-yard run up the middle and 8-yard score essentially producing the clinching score.

"I think we just outmanned them because we put six offensive linemen in there," Dahms began, "which meant they had to move a linebacker up or a safety up and (give us) a little bit of a mismatch."

After Fox's second touchdown run, Powers threw his final touchdown on a slant to Gehman, the senior taking it 51-yards to the house with 8 minutes remaining to invoke the mercy rule.

"(Powers) stood in the pocket, waited for things to open," Dahms said of his sophomore starter. "The little dump-route for that last touchdown was a beautiful little slant pattern right on the money."

Township scored on a 2-yard Erik Benjamin run and a 17-yard run by Matt Van Gorden in the final five minutes to narrow the final margin. Overall, however, the Wilson defense held Township's talented quarterback Erik Benjamin to 130 yards passing as well as Township's leading receiver, John Stutz, to just one catch.

"Really the main thing is just the experience," Gehman said of the success in the secondary. "Me, Jon, and Tommy (O'Brien), we're all two-year starters and with Adam Close we're doing good."

Things started quickly for the Bulldogs after Township's opening drive sputtered, giving Wilson the ball at their own 26-yard line. But two first-down runs by Shane Dantzler (15 carries, 133 yards) set-up play action from Powers to Alex Twiford for a 40-yard score.

After a botched fake-punt gave Wilson the ball at the Township 21-yard line, Powers hit Fox for a 12-0 lead as the Streaks' Alex Wade blocked both extra points.

Township responded with an 11-play, 63 yard drive that culminated with a blocked 21-yard field goal attempt. Dantzler would fumble on the ensuing Wilson drive, however, allowing Hogan Glick's 40-yard return that trimmed Township's deficit to 12-7.

Benjamin's touchdown to Kade Kubicki (4 catches, 71 yards) narrowed the halftime deficit before Township utilized a triple-option attack with Grayson Sallade (7 rushes, 82 yards) at quarterback. But it was Fox (8 rushes, 65 yards) and Gehman (4 carries, 43 yards; 5 catches, 81 yards) who were top-dogs Friday night.

"It shows a lot," said Gehman. "We pushed through all the adversity throughout the season, all the injuries we had, and we just came out big and won a big game."

WILSON MT

FIRST DOWNS 16 18

RUSHES / YARDS 32-243 39-220

PASSING YARDS 169 130

TOTAL YARDS 405 337

COMP / ATT / INT 9-14-0 9-24-0

SACKED / YDS LOST 1-7 1-13

FUMBLES / LOST 1-1 1-0

PUNTS / AVG 1-38 3-30

PENALTIES / YARDS 3-30 4-30

SCORE BY QUARTER:

|Q1| |Q2| |Q3| |Q4| --- FINAL

WL 12 15 14 07 --- 48

MT 07 06 00 14 --- 27

SCORING SUMMARY:

Q1 - WL - 8:20 A. Twiford 40-yd pass from C. Powers (kick failed) 6-0

Q1 - WL - 6:43 J. Fox 21-yd pass from C. Powers (kick failed) 12-0

Q1 - MT - 1:03 H. Glick 40-yd fumble return (J. Rodenberger kick) 12-7

Q2 - WL - 10:23 J. Fox 9-yd run (N. Hart kick) 19-7

Q2 - WL - 3:33 J. Gehman 22-yd pass from C. Powers (J. Gehman pass from C. Powers) 27-7

Q2 - MT - 0:42 K. Kubicki 10-yd pass from E. Benjamin (kick failed) 27-13

Q3 - WL - 11:23 J. Gehman 8-yd run (N. Hart kick) 34-13

Q3 - WL - 7:07 J. Fox 4-yd run (N. Hart kick) 41-13

Q4 - WL - 8:20 J. Gehman 50-yd pass from C. Powers (N. Hart kick) 48-13

Q4 - MT - 5:00 E. Benjamin 2-yd run (J. Rodenberger kick) 48-20

Q4 - MT - 0:33 M. Van Gorden 17-yd run (J. Rodenberger kick) 48-27

INDIVIDUAL STATS:

PASSING: WL - C. Powers 9-13-0-169, J. Fox 0-0-0-0, J. Gehman 0-0-0-0

MT - E. Benjamin 9-24-0-130, G. Sallade 0-0-0-0

RECEIVING: WL - J. Gehman 5-81, A. Close 2-27, A. Twiford 1-40, J. Fox 1-21

MT - K. Kubicki 4-71, D. O'Connor 2-13, R. Macdonald 1-30, J. Stutz 1-10, M. Van Gorden 1-6

RUSHING: WL - S. Dantzler 15-133, J. Fox 8-65, J. Gehman 4-43, T. O'Brien 1-0, M. Clore 3-1, B. Wright 1-1

MT - E. Benjamin 16-63, M. Van Gorden 9-46, G. Sallade 7-82, N. Seprinski 5-21, P. Rivera 2-8