Seneca makes Week 1 statement, 27-21 over Wilmington

SENECA – It’s not very often that you get a playoff-like setting in Week 1 of the high school football season.

That’s what former Interstate 8 Conference foes Seneca and Wilmington provided Friday night in Seneca, a 27-21 Irish victory.

“Even though it was a tough loss for us, we played a really good team, and we can take some positives from it,” Wilmington head coach Jeff Reents said.

It was a back-and-forth game until the Fighting Irish went on a 15-play, 77-yard drive which included converting two crucial fourth-down plays. Then came a stop by the Irish defense including two sacks of Wildcats quarterback Cade McCubbin by Nick Grant, which helped the Irish run out the clock.

“That’s kind of what we do,” Seneca coach Terry Maxwell said of going for it on fourth down. “We believe that we have four downs to get a first with the situations on the field, and that is what we believe that our kids can do.”

Nathan Neal helped the Irish draw first blood, as he took a handoff from Nathan Grant up the middle for 76 yards with 3:32 left to go in the first quarter.

Wilmington’s Kyle Farrell had a long run of his own, as he scampered 70 yards to tie the game 7-7.

Seneca took a 14-7 lead into the intermission, but it was Wilmington (0-1) that came out on fire in the second half. The Wildcats outscored the Irish 14-7 in the third quarter.

Both teams were able to use the ground game effectively. The Fighting Irish rushed for 321 yards on 40 carries, with Nathan Grant leading the way with 113 yards on 17 carries. Neal added 109 yards on eight carries, while Hamby almost hit the 100-yard club with 97 yards on 11 carries.

The Wildcats’ Kyle Farrell led all rushers with 203 yards on 15 carries.