Weston Ruins Wildcats' Homecoming

After a storm delayed kickoff for close to 45 minutes, the Weston High football team poured in it on against the Bethel Wildcats. Led by a dominant ground attack, the Trojans (3-2) took a 16-0 lead into the half and pulled away with a 30-7 victory, spoiling the Wildcats’ (3-2) homecoming.

“They’re a good football team,” Bethel coach Jason Gill said. “Their fullback’s a good runner, their quarterback’s a good runner, their running backs are good runners. They’re a good football team, and we made some mistakes, they capitalized on our mistakes. I tip my hat to them, they played a hell of a game.”

The Trojans forced Bethel to go three-and-out on their opening possession and then chewed up nearly seven minutes of game time before settling for a 25 yard field goal from J.D Simons.

A 40-yard run by Brian Birdsell put the Wildcats into Trojan territory on their next possession, but the drive stalled and ultimately came to an end when the Wildcats failed to convert on a 4^th and long.

Weston scored the first touchdown of the game with just under four minutes left on a broken play. After dropping the snap, Weston’s Daniel Rogers picked up the loose ball and then scrambled 41-yards to the end zone, putting the Trojans up 10.

Just over a minute later, the Trojans were in prime position again when a low snap on a punt gave Weston a first down at Bethel’s 35-yard line. The Wildcats nearly held the Trojans to a field goal attempt, but an offsides call on 4^th-and-3 allowed the drive to continue. Justin Schaffer ran it in from 8-yards out on the very next play.

“We made some mistakes at the worst times, both on offense and on defense,” Gill said. “Our mistakes kept their drives going and our mistakes stopped our drives, so it was bad all around.”

The second half played out much like the first, with the Trojans controlling the ball and chewing up the clock while the Wildcats’ offense was unable to sustain drives.

“Anytime our offense isn’t on the field is definitely going to mess with our rhythm,” Gill said. “We’re a ball control offense, and it’s also a key part of our defense is keeping our defense off the field. Them being able to move the ball, keep our defense on the field, definitely hurt.”

Bethel finally got on the board with less than two minutes left when Brandon Schmidt scored from 15-yards out.

Schmidt finished with 82 yards on 15 carries, Birdsell finished with 126 yards on13 carries.

Defensively the Wildcats were led by Peter Serencsics who was involved with 13 tackles. Birdsell finished with 12 while Phil Daluz had 10.

Bethel’s next game is Friday at Joel Barlow with kickoff at 7 p.m.