WILMINGTON – The Wilmington Wildcats B team hit the midway mark of their regular season on Sunday with a 32-0 thrashing of Saugus. The Wildcats had 269 yards of offense paced by running backs John Kenney (seven carries, 100 yards, two touchdowns) and Braden Hiltz (12 carries, 102 yards, one touchdown). On the defensive side, nose tackle Pete Marino had another dominant game recording 7.5 tackles, two sacks and three additional tackles for loss. Quarterback/Defensive end Andrew Sullivan also recorded three tackles and a sack while quarterback/receiver/safety Timmy Rivers had an interception for the Wildcats. The Wildcats moved to 3-1 on the season while recording their eighteenth straight Middlesex League win.
The Wildcats won the coin toss and elected to receive. Although the offense had started slow in previous weeks, it could not have come out of the gate stronger than it did on Sunday. On the first play from Scrimmage, running back John Kenney lined up in the left slot, came back across the field in motion, took a handoff from Sullivan and took off on a 62 yard touchdown run, the Wildcats longest scoring play of the season. The PAT by Mikey Daley (4/4 on PAT kicks) was good and the Wildcats took a quick 8-0 lead.
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After a defensive stop led by Marino, linebackers Blake Hiltz (3.5 tackles) and Joey Dumoulin (3 tackles), the offense came back onto the field and orchestrated a ten play drive that culminated in a 10 yard touchdown run by Kenney, his second score of the day. The Wildcats went up 16-0 while still in the first quarter. On that drive, the Wildcats had eight carries split between Kenney and fullback Kyle Penney (two caries, 11 yards) and no running play on the drive netted less than five yards. This was due in part to the excellent blocking of Penney and great line blocking from Kyle Kenyon, Tommy Strow, Mark Companeschi, Michael Steen and Owen Steen as well as solid perimeter blocking from receivers Michael Ducharme, Drew Brandenburg and Blake Hiltz.
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The Wildcat defense took the field and again, stymied the Saugus offensive attack. Defensive tackle Frankie Irizarry (3.5 tackles, one tackle-for-loss) had a big tackle on the series while Brett Chisholm worked his way into the backfield and harassed the Saugus backs. The Wildcats also received solid contributions from defensive back Aaron Soto and defensive tackles Michael Smolinsky and Cameron Willis.
On their next offensive series, the Wildcats came out with 10 new offensive players. Only starting center Kyle Kenyon stayed in the game with this unit. Rivers came in at quarterback, Marino and Braden Hiltz came into the backfield, Ryan Brewer came in at receiver along with Sudarsham Swamy and Mikey Daley while the offensive line consisted of Colin Rooney and Pat McAndrew at tackle, Pat McAndrew and Nick Kullman at guard and Kyle Bolis at tight end. A false start penalty derailed the offensive series but after a defensive stop, the Wildcats had one more drive late in the half. The highlight of the drive was an eight yard completion to Ryan “RB Smooth” Brewer who hauled in a strike in traffic from Rivers. With time winding down, Wilmington attempted a 25 yard field goal that fell just short and the Wildcats went into the half with a 16-0 lead.
After a defensive stop to start the second half, the Wildcat offense came back on the field and the highlight of the drive was a 25 yard touchdown pass from Sullivan to Ducharme. Ducharme lined up wide to the left side of the formation and ran a slant. After catching the ball, Ducharme zigzagged his way through defenders, cut across the field before reversing course and heading back down the left sideline. A crushing (yet legal) block by Blake Hiltz allowed Ducharme to sprint untouched into the end zone. Wilmington took a 24-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
On their only offensive drive of the fourth quarter, Braden Hiltz led an eight play drive that included a 65 yard run where he was pushed out of bounds on the five yard line. Two plays later, Hiltz made it into the end zone to give the Wildcats a 32-0 lead and that would be the final score of the game.
The Wilmington B Team will be back in action on Sunday, when they travel to Reading for a game with the Reading Rockets. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30.
