Wilmington grinds out win over Durand-Pecatonica

PECATONICA – The result of the first play of the Class 3A quarterfinal game between Wilmington and Durand-Pecatonica, a 28-yard gain by Wildcat running back Ryan Kettman, should have been cause for celebration for Wilmington.

But the aftermath of the play was an injury to the Wildcats’ other dangerous running back and key defensive cog Kyle Farrell.

The extent of Farrell’s injury isn’t currently known but he wouldn’t return for the remainder of the contest. The rest of the Wildcats reacted to this news by soldiering up and going just as hard as they could to ensure that the loss of Farrell wouldn’t deter them from their goal.

As such Wilmington’s ground game amassed nearly 300 yards rushing while its defense frustrated DuPec’s standout quarterback Cooper Hoffman into one of his least productive stat lines in recent memory as Wilmington claimed a 22-13 win and advanced to the semifinals for the third time in four seasons.

Wilmington (12-0) will travel to Montini (10-2) for the semifinal round next weekend. Montini defeated its quarterfinal opponent, Princeton, 24-7.

“We were really hoping he would come back, we thought it might have been a little stinger or something,” Kettman said. “We just realized that no matter what, comes back or doesn’t come back we are going to have to play for each other and play for him especially. That’s a big guy, a big player for us.”

Wilmington performed as if it wasn’t without one of its key cogs. After Kettman’s big run started the drive, he and newly inserted running back Shawn James alternated ball carry duties on a 10-play drive that James cashed in with a 3-yard touchdown score. Wilmington’s extra point attempt was missed and the Wildcats led 6-0.

James turned in a heroic performance for Wilmington as the reserve running back contributed 92 yards on 17 carries and more importantly was productive enough filling in for Farrell that the Wildcats could still attack the Rivermen in the way that they preferred to.

“I call that a program game almost,” Wilmington coach Jeff Reents said. “Because there’s a kid who has been through your program and then all of a sudden he gets his spot to shine a little bit. He knows what he’s doing. And that’s a great message I can send to the rest of the team. Look, he got his shot and he made the most of that shot and helped us win.”

Then Wilmington had to deal with switching over to defense and trying to rein in Hoffman, a player who has put up immense offensive numbers for the Rivermen (10-2) over his entire high school career, without the services of their defensive captain to engineer things.

They were once again up to the task forcing a pair of three and outs that set up yet another massive Wilmington touchdown drive of 13 plays this time with Kettman finishing it up with a two-yard plunge. He also added on a 2-point conversion run to put Wilmington ahead 14-0.

Although the drive ate up most of the second quarter it didn’t chew it all up and the Rivermen were finally able to get something going. Hoffman completed an 18-yard pass to get the Rivermen across the 50-yard line for the first time and achieve a first down for the first time but the drive looked to flame out shortly thereafter.

Facing a fourth and 1, Hoffman slipped through a small seam and burst into the secondary outrunning Wilmington to the endzone to slice the Wilmington advantage down to 14-7, which is how the game went into halftime.

Despite having been overwhelmed by Wilmington in the first half, DuPec was in striking distance and came out in the second half apparently nonplussed by the deficit needing just over 30 seconds in the third quarter to find the endzone after Hoffman broke off a long run and then threw a 18-yard touchdown pass to pull the Rivermen to within 14-13 when Wilmington blocked the extra point try.

The two teams jostled for control at the end of the third quarter but Wilmington put together another solid drive, this time leaning heavily on Kettman, who finished with 151 yards on 22 carries, and eventually he plowed in from 13 yards for a touchdown and perhaps almost importantly added on the two-point conversion run to put Wilmington up nine with a 22-13 lead.

Far from secure with the dangerous Hoffman trying to engineer a rally, Wilmington’s defense was relentless in causing the quarterback all kinds of problems.

Although he did make a few big plays he ended up with just 102 passing yards to go along with 36 rushing yards. Wilmington also recorded four sacks on the day.

“The Hoffman kid is legit,” Wilmington coach Jeff Reents said. “But defensively I thought we hung in there and did a nice job.”