Wilmington Pop Warner A Team Crushes Lexington 22-0

Frankie Irizarry (#18), Kyle Kenyon (#77), Kyle Munro (#40) and Joey Dumoulin (#23) in pursuit of the Lexington running back

LEXINGTON – The Wilmington Pop Warner A Team moved to 6-0 on Sunday with a thorough dismantling of the Lexington Raiders by a score of 22-0. The Wildcats recorded their fourth shutout of the season as the defense stifled the Lexington offense all afternoon. The Wilmington defense was led by their trio of stellar linebackers Joey Dumoulin (3.5 tackles, two fumble recoveries), Kyle Kenyon (3.5 tackles), Peter Marino (3 tackles), defensive end Frankie Irizarry (3 tackles) and corner Devin Clerico (2.5 tackles). Clerico missed the last two games due to injury but came back with a solid game on Sunday shutting down the big and physical Lexington receivers.

Lexington won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, meaning Wilmington would receive the opening kick and head out on offense to start the game. The Wildcat offense got off to a slow start on their first drive and had to punt.

The defense took the field and from the first play, set a tone with physical play. The defensive line for Wilmington was led by Irizarry and Michael Steen (1.5 tackles) at defensive end as well as Owen Steen (2 tackles, 1 tackle-for-loss, forced fumble), Chris Medeiros and Jake Timmons at defensive tackle. The Wildcat line held up against a big and solid Lexington offensive line.

On their next series, the offense managed to sustain a 13 play drive that included two eight yard runs by Marino, a nine and a 20 yard run by quarterback Andrew Sullivan (three carries, 31 yards) and a nine yard run by Dumoulin. Unfortunately, the drive was marred with penalties; holding, illegal formation, illegal motion and a false start and the drive stalled.
The defense took the field and once again stopped the Lexington offense. Lexington tried throwing the ball but Clerico, Kyle Munro and Sullivan were solid in their defensive backfield duties for Wilmington. Once again, Lexington was forced to punt after a three-and-out.

On their next offensive series, the Wildcat offense struck quick. A four yard run by Marino set up a 15 yard run by Dumoulin for the touchdown. It was Dumoulin’s seventh rushing touchdown on the season. The PAT was blocked so Wilmington had to settle for a 6-0 lead. The touchdown went right up the right sideline behind solid blocks from wide receiver Nick Kullman, tight end Adam Bishop and right guard Colin Rooney. Rooney, like Devin Clerico, was coming off an injury but was able to step back into his spot at right guard and make a solid contribution for the Wildcat squad.

After a defensive stop, the Wildcats came back out on offense. It was near the end of the first half and Wilmington brought in a different offense. On the line, Will Ameral came in at center, Ben Stafford and Max Caso came in at guard, Michael Smolinsky and Omar Eldaly came in at tackle, Jason Marquard and Chris Stokes came in at tight end. Wilmington also brought in a different backfield with Sean Kelley at quarterback, Randall Vega and Kyle Munro at running back and Bailey Smith at fullback. With the offense starting deep in their own territory, Smith carried the ball on first and second down for short tough gains. Vega picked up six yards and 3rd and 8 and the Wildcats had to punt. Vega, who has never played running back before this season and only started running the ball the week before the opening game against Woburn, has been a pleasant surprise for Wilmington this season. He is second on the team in carries and rushing yards with 40 carries for 206 yards through six games.

The Wildcats went into half-time clinging to a 6-0 lead.

The second half began the same way the first half ended; with the offense struggling a bit and the defense continuing to shut down a potent Lexington offense that had averaged 21 points a game through the first five games of the season and were coming off a 39 point performance against Braintree. The offense failed to score on its first three possessions of the second half.

On their fourth possession of the second half, the offensive fortunes for the Wildcats changed drastically. On their first play from scrimmage, Dumoulin scored his second touchdown of the game on a 41 yard run. It was his eighth rushing touchdown of the season. The line held up and kicker Adam Bishop converted the PAT to give Wilmington a 14-0 lead.

After a quick three-and-out by Lexington, the Wildcat offense struck quickly again with Dumoulin scampering into the endzone on a 25 yard run, his third of the day and ninth of the season. The PAT by Bishop was good and that gave Wilmington a 22-0 lead as the game came to a close with Wilmington knocking off the defending Division 1 Middlesex League Champs.

Next week, Wilmington takes on Waltham at home in their final home contest of the season. For their captains; Joey Dumoulin, Frankie Irizarry, Kyle Kenyon, Peter Marino and Andrew Sullivan, it will be their final pop warner home games after seven years in the program and the last four with head coach Gerry Sullivan. It promises to be an emotional and exciting game for the Wildcats. Kickoff is set for 2:00 pm.