Football: Wilmington very solid both ways in a 28-0 win over Coal City

COAL CITY – On Wilmington’s first drive of Friday’s Illinois Central Eight Conference showdown with Coal City, the Wildcats drove to the hosts’ 10-yard line before a fumble turned the ball over.

However, the next four Wilmington drives turned into touchdowns, three by back Kyle Farrell, who finished with 164 yards on 24 carries, as the Wildcats improved to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in ICE play with a 28-0 triumph at Dzuris Athletic Complex.

The win secured a 27th consecutive playoff berth and was the fourth straight win in the schools’ rivalry.

Wilmington, which rushed for 345 yards on 57 carries and didn’t attempt a pass, also didn’t allow a Coal City first down throughout the contest and only 13 total yards. The Coalers went three-and-out on all eight possessions.

“I thought we played well in all three phases, but what I’m most proud of is that they really stayed on it in the second half and never let up.”

—  Jeff Reents, Wilmington football coach

“They didn’t have one hun? Wow, that’s pretty incredible. Only 13 total yards? Wow, that’s amazing,” Wilmington head coach Jeff Reents said. “First off, keeping any Coal City team off the field offensively is always huge. Defensively, the kids played very fast tonight and that was something we stressed that we needed to do. All of the coaches did an excellent job of getting the kids ready for tonight. The [Landin] Benson kid is a very good running back, and we knew we’d have to try and keep him in check as much as we could.

“In the last couple of weeks, we had given up some big plays, so it was nice to not allow that to happen this week. I thought we played well in all three phases, but what I’m most proud of is that they really stayed on it in the second half and never let up.”

Wilmington led 7-0 after one quarter on Farrell’s TD dash from the 3 midway through, Reid Juster adding the first of his four extra-point kicks.

Farrell’s plunge from the 1 at the 8:17 mark of the second made it 14-0, and a 46-yard run by Ryan Kettman (nine carries, 97 yards) with 3:28 remaining before halftime pushed it to 21-0.

Farrell’s third score of the night came at the 4:16 mark of the third quarter on a TD run from the 4.

Benson was the only player to record positive numbers for the hosts with 22 yards rushing on seven carries.

“It was ugly and just a really rough game for us, without a doubt,” said Coal City head coach Francis Loughran, his club falling to 5-2 and 4-1. “Wilmington had a great game plan on both sides of the ball. They just overwhelmed us on the line of scrimmage both ways. Offensively, we struggled to even get to the first level. Then on defense, their kids were explosive and their linemen were getting into the second level nearly every play.

“They executed better and were more physical than us. We had them in manageable third-down situations, but they were just getting the yards they needed to move the chains.”

Coal City is at Herscher for Week 8, while Wilmington hosts Manteno.