Barrington thinks fast, sinks Wheeling
After three games that went down to the wire, Barrington coach Joe Sanchez was looking for his team to get some breathing room this week.
The Broncos obliged — in less than 30 seconds.
Before a half minute elapsed at Wheeling on Friday night, Barrington got into the end zone twice; once on defense and once on offense.
On the game’s first play from scrimmage at the Wildcats’ 12-yard line, Cody Adelizzi sacked Wheeling quarterback Tyler Brady in the end zone for a safety with 11:47 showing on the scoreboard.
After the ensuing kickoff, Barrington needed only one play to reach the Wildcats’ end zone.
Quarterback Mark Bennett fired a 59-yard pass to Sam Handler for a 9-0 cushion with 11:31 left.
The Broncos (3-1) added 28 more unanswered points before registering a 37-15 triumph on Wheeling’s new field turf.
“Oh no doubt, that was great to get the early lead,” said Sanchez, who along with his wife Wendy, a gymnast, were former standout athletes at Wheeling. “Obviously, we knew we were up against a tough opponent, so to be able to capatilize on things early was great.
“We got a little sloppy (9 penalties for 95 yards) but we got everyone into the game. (Wheeling head coach) Dave (Dunbar) and Brian (Hauck, assistant) do a great job and being a former Wildcat I respect everything they do.”
Adelizzi’s sack set the tone.
“We just executed well on defense,” said the senior outside linebacker. “Everyone blitzed and we had great coverage. It always helps to get an early lead and set the tone.”
The offense didn’t wait long to do its part, as Handler caught the pass with his back toward the end zone, then was able to shake free from his defender and run about 20 yards for the score.
“Coming into the game they were 1-2 — we knew they were the underdog,” Handler said. “We didn’t want to give them any feeling of hope so we wanted to step on them early.”
The offensive line kept stepping up, helping senior running back Chase Murdock gain 120 yards, including second-quarter TD runs of 4, 14 and 39 yards for the Broncos’ 30-0 lead at the break.
“That running back is good,” said Wheeling coach Dave Dunbar, whose team wore throwback uniforms as the school celebrated its new turf before the game and honored distinguished alumni at half. “We moved people into gaps and we still couldn’t bring him down.”
“The O-line did a great job,” said Sanchez, referring to senior Josh Watkins, junior Akeel Abdelhaldi, junior Jackson Keeler, senior Dan Voltz and junior Justin Cooper. “But we just have try and keep building. That’s all we want to do.”
Wheeling running back Ed Scanlon kept running for the Wildcats (0-4) and finished the game with 132 yards on 21 carries.
“Ed just keeps running hard whether it’s the first quarter or the fourth quarter,” Dunbar said. “He loves to play football. All our guys do.”
Barrington’s final TD was a 25-yard run midway through the third quarter by junior Justin Dragosz.
Junior Eric Dowdy had an interception for the Broncos early in the final period.
Wheeling scored twice in the final seven minutes on a 70-yard TD scamper by Brady and a 39-yard pass from Brady to Sam Yoshino with 15 seconds left.
“That’s a good team and Joe has a nice group of guys,” Dunbar said. “Our kids kept fighting and doing what they had to do. That safety at the start kind of put us in a hole but our kids kept battling.”