Walkersville Moves to 4 and 0 with a 28-0 Shutout of Blake
by Joey Thompson for Walkersville High School Lion’s Pride
Despite some early troubles controlling the ball, the Lions came away Friday with an easy 28-0 win against Blake behind a great defensive performance.
The first quarter was very sloppy for the Lions. Twice they had the ball inside the Blake 20-yard line, but two fumbles that looked almost identical ended those drives. Despite the sloppiness on offense, however, the defense held firm and forced nothing but punts in the first quarter.
Of the three first half fumbles, junior Blake Winter said, “I think we could have scored plenty of touchdowns in the first half, but those fumbles really cost us.”
The second quarter was much better for the offense, as they were able to run the ball right through the heart of the Blake defense, with senior Chad Gleason and juniors Ty Littleton, Jacob Wetzel, Christian Policelli and Tyler Gleason all proving difficult to bring down. Littleton capped off a scoring drive with a rushing touchdown midway through the second quarter, but suffered a game ending-injury to his shoulder on a run late in the 2nd quarter. Junior Kevin Donegan said, “I think Ty can overcome his injury, and I think this team is strong enough to get over the loss of a player, even if that player is T.”
The second half was great for the Lions on both sides of the ball. The offense committed no turnovers and ran a steady stream of runs up the middle. They were able to slow the pace of the game down to their speed and consistently move the ball for the whole second half. Wetzel scored another touchdown five minutes into the third quarter to go up 14-0. Wetzel then returned the next Blake punt to the 10 yard line and scored a touchdown again shortly thereafter. Chad Gleason finished off the scoring with a touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Junior Kamryn Dudley said, “It was a little rough in the beginning, but they really straightened out and went to work by the end of the game.”
While the offense was consistently solid, the defense was again suffocating. Blake ran a balanced spread offense, but they could get absolutely nothing done against the front 7 of Walkersville. Littleton, Policelli, Tyler Gleason, junior Jerimiah Sweet and senior Jake Parson played particularly well on defense. When they tried to pass, they mostly threw quick screens or checkdown passes. The secondary would mostly stay back and allow Blake’s receivers to make the catch, but would stop them well short of the first down. Whenever they tried to throw long, the secondary would be right there in coverage, forcing incomplete passes. Gleason, Wetzel and juniors Josh Polce and Aaron Jahnke spent the whole game breaking up passes, with Polce coming down with an interception.
Whatever momentum Blake could build on offense came to a halt in the 3rd quarter, when starting quarterback Tacoma Kingrea got hurt and did not return to the game. They were even more limited with the backup quarterback, and the game eventually slipped away.
The win came with a familiar strategy from the Lions. Walkersville spent the game avoiding cornerback Dearage Mason, who is committed to Temple. As a result, they shied away from the passing game even more than usual, attempting only three passes. On this day, however, that did not matter. There was no real need to attempt to be balanced with the running game working so well. Junior offensive lineman Ethan Parrish said, “Ground and pound, that’s what we do. We just continuously run the ball and eventually they break down, which they did.”
With this win Walkersville moves to 4-0 on the season, having allowed only 8 points all season. Next week they play Linganore, who is probably the toughest opponent they’ve faced yet. While it will be a tough game, there is no doubt that Walkersville can avenge the loss to Linganore from last year.
