Wilmington’s defense smothers Eureka in 3A

WILMINGTON – When visiting Eureka lined up for a fourth down-and-1 situation deep in its own territory against Wilmington on its opening drive, it may have been a nod to the uphill climb the guests knew they were facing.

It also may have been an attempt at aggression against the powerful Wildcats on their home turf.

Whatever it was, it didn’t work as Eureka’s pass was batted down, Wilmington took over possession, scored quickly and put down the first building block in rolling to a 36-0 Class 3A second-round playoff victory.

The win puts Wilmington (11-0) in Saturday’s 2 p.m. quarterfinal matchup at Durand-Pecatonica (10-1). Durand-Pecatonica defeated Paxton-Buckley-Loda 33-6 in its second-round game.

Wilmington scored on just five plays after taking over on the 31-yard line, then quickly forced a three-and-out on Eureka before embarking on a very long drive that squeezed out all the clock on the first quarter and then finished off a 13-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run for Kyle Farrell. Farrell also tacked on a 2-point conversion run to put Wilmington in front 15-0.

Yet another three-and-out followed for Eureka, which finished 9-2 on the season, and Wilmington scored much more swiftly with its next possession as Ryan Kettman broke away for a 45-yard touchdown run. Kettman scored again just before the half to stretch Wilmington’s lead to 29-0.

Eureka completed an 8-yard pass just before the halftime break. It wasn’t notable other than the fact that it was the largest gain the Hornets managed in the first half as Wilmington outgained Eureka 240-14 in total yardage and Eureka had no first downs.

“I thought defensively we did really well,” Wilmington coach Jeff Reents said. “They played assignment football the way they were supposed to. They have a lot of weapons on that team and it was great that we were able to shut that down.”

That total lockdown stayed in place until late in the third quarter when Eureka finally gained that elusive first down and a 26-yard scramble by Austin Gerber, which was easily the most productive offensive play of the game, was neutralized by a personal foul penalty that backed Eureka out of the territory that might have allowed them to break up the shutout bid.

All in all, Eureka had 78 yards of total offense, just two first downs and crossed the midfield stripe just once all game.

“I think we flew around the field with physicality,” Farrell said. “But I think our coaches put in a great game plan for us and everybody just did a great job tonight and that led us to victory.”

Farrell was a big part of Wilmington’s vaunted running attack, finishing with 110 yards on 16 carries, while Kettman added 133 yards on 14 carries and Hunter Osipavicius also piled up 78 yards. In total, Wilmington stacked up 399 yards of offense, all on the ground.

“We’re just doing our thing,” Reents said. “It’s what we believe in. Now we are in the quarterfinals and another challenge awaits us. How can we get our offense to meet that challenge? How can we get our defense to meet that challenge? But we have got a team that understands who we are and what we want to do.”