WILMINGTON POP WARNER A TEAM DISMANTLES WAKEFIELD 32-0

The Wildcat defensive line getting ready to pounce!

WAKEFIELD – Over the past four seasons, the Wilmington Pop Warner A Team has thoroughly dominated the Middlesex League with a 24-0 record against league competition. Due to a scheduling quirk, Wilmington had not had a chance to play fellow Middlesex League opponent Wakefield during that stretch. On Sunday, Wakefield was given the opportunity to experience what the previous 24 opponents experienced as Wilmington crushed Wakefield 32-0 to run their season record to 4-0. Since giving up a touchdown Week 1 against Woburn, Wilmington has outscored their last three opponents by a combined score of 62-0.

Wilmington received the opening kickoff and started their first offensive series from their own 16 yard line. It was a quick series as Joey Dumoulin took the handoff up the left sidelines for an 84 yard touchdown run on the opening play of the game. Left tackle Michael Steen and wide receiver Frankie Irizarry made excellent blocks on the play to give Dumoulin a wide alley. This was the Wildcats longest play from scrimmage this season. The PAT by Adam Bishop was good and the Wildcats took a quick 8-0 lead.

After a booming kickoff by Bishop and a quick three-and-out, Wakefield punted back to Wilmington and the Wildcats began their second possession in great field position at the Wakefield 43 yard line. Sullivan went to work with a quick pass to Irizarry for 13 yards and followed it up with a bootleg pass to Peter Marino for seven yards. On 2nd and 3, Sullivan again found Marino in the flats and hit him in stride with a perfect pass for a 23 yard touchdown. It was Marino’s second touchdown catch in two weeks. Wide receiver Nick Kullman made a solid downfield block on the play to help get Marino to the endzone. The drive was another quick series for the Wildcats and Sullivan was three for three passing on the drive. The PAT was good and the Wildcats were up 16-0 less than halfway through the first quarter. The offensive line, anchored by Kyle Kenyon at center, Colin Rooney and Owen Steen at guard and Chris Medeiros and Michael Steen at tackle

The defense came out and again stopped Wakefield. The defensive line, anchored by defensive tackle Jake Timmons (two tackles), Medeiros (1.5 tackles), Owen Steen, Michael Steen ( a sack and a fumble recovery) and Irizarry (three tackles) continued to stuff the Wakefield running attack and put pressure on their quarterback and flush him out of the pocket all day. The linebacker play of Kenyon (3.5 tackles), Dumoulin (3.5 tackles) and Marino (2.5 tackles) was solid all day.

On their third possession of the day, the Wildcats went with their second offense. Will Ameral went to center while Max Caso and Omar Eldaly went to the right side of the offensive line and Ben Stafford and Michael Smolinsky went to the left side of the line. The Wildcats went with Bailey Smith at fullback, Sean Kelley at quarterback, Chris Stokes and Jason Marquard at tight end and Randall Vega and Kyle Munro at wingback. The drive started out well with Smith taking the handoff from Kelley and barreling 13 yards up the middle for a quick first down. Vega followed that up with a strong five yard run off tackle to the right side of the line setting up a 2nd and 5 situation. Unfortunately, there was a problem on the quarterback/running back exchange on the next play and Wilmington lost three yards. Three yards on a 3rd and 8 set up a 4th and 5 for Wilmington and they came up just a yard short.

The defense took the field and continued to shut down the Wakefield offense. The Wildcats were without corner Devin Clerico so Bishop moved into the starting corner spot opposite Munro with Sullivan at safety and they were able to lock down the Wakefield tight end and receivers.

After a solid defensive series, the same offensive group came out and managed to put together a solid and methodical 11 play drive that featured runs by Kelley, Vega and Smith and culminated with a 15 yard touchdown run by Munro. It was Munro’s first touchdown of the season. The PAT put Wilmington up 24-0 at halftime.

Just as the game started fast for the Wildcats, the second half started just as fast. Wilmington kicked off to Wakefield and the Wakefield returner fumbled the return and it was recovered by Michael Steen. On the first play from scrimmage, from the Wakefield seven yard line, quarterback Sean Kelley ran a sweep around the right side for a quick touchdown to give the Wildcats a 32-0 lead.

Pop Warner rules prevent teams from building leads of more than 32 points. Once a lead hits that margin, the clock becomes a running clock and the team with the lead has to do everything in their power to keep from scoring. For the remainder of the second half, Vega, Smith and Munro gave Wakefield a steady dose of hard inside power running. On the last offensive play of the game for Wilmington, Vega had a beautiful 37 yard run for a touchdown that was called back for “holding” (in other words, the phantom flag that gets thrown to keep the lead from exceeding 32 points). It was a great run for Vega, who was celebrating his 13th birthday on Sunday. In the end, he got to celebrate a 32-0 win with his teammates.

On the day, the Wildcats had 264 yards of total offense. Sullivan had 43 yards passing going 3/3 with a touchdown. Wilmington also racked up 221 yards rushing with Dumoulin (one carry, 84 yards), Smith (eight carries, 27 yards), Vega (nine carries, 72 yards), Kelley (five carries, 17 yards and a touchdown) and Munro (two carries, 21 yards and a touchdown).

For the season, the Wildcats are 4-0 and have outscored their opponents 80-6. Wilmington hopes to make it 5-0 when they take on Methuen this coming Sunday at Glen Road at 2:00 pm.