Middletown North Routs Howell Behind Wilkerson's Career Night

Photos above courtesy of Tom Smith: Wilkerson and quarterback Donald Glenn

MIDDLETOWN – When starting running back Connor Welch was injured in last week’s loss to Red Bank Catholic and declared out of Friday’s game against Howell, Middletown North head coach Steve Bush made the decision to slide standout senior wide receiver/free safety Dwight Wilkerson into Welch’s spot in the backfield.

The move paid off big-time for Bush and his team as Wilkerson torched the Howell defense for 280 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just 21 carries (13.3 yards per carry average) leading the Lions (2-1) to an impressive 38-7 bounce-back win over Howell (2-1) Friday night in Middletown.

“He’s a really good football player and he does a lot of things for us,” said Bush of Wilkerson’s huge night. “We knew he would run the football well; we just had to move a few people around in the process. He did a great job on both sides of the ball and we’re glad to have him. He’s had some touches behind Connor but we also gave him the ball from the slot and we can throw him the ball too. So we kind of just mix things up and take advantage of what all the guys can do best.”

“Coming into the game my attitude was just be the next man up,” Wilkerson said. “Connor Welch goes down but we’re definitely a next man up team. We just play our hearts out every single game, every single practice and every single time we step on the field.”

Wilkerson’s no stranger to running the football already carrying the ball 19 times for 104 yards and a touchdown out of the slot position in North’s first two games, but Friday night as the featured back he took his game to an elevated level.

His 19-yard touchdown run in the second quarter capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive that tied the score at 7-7 and answered Howells first possession 15-play, 85-yard touchdown drive that ate up over six minutes on the clock. That would be the Rebels only real sustained drive of the night as the Lions defense rebounded magnificently from a subpar effort in their loss to Red Bank Catholic a week earlier where they surrendered 300-plus yard of offense and 30 points.

Howell came into the game averaging 350 yards per game with junior quarterback Eddie Morales passing for 250 yards per game and five touchdown passes. Friday night, the Lions held Morales to 118- yards passing and one touchdown while forcing him into two interceptions. Forty seven of his 118-yards passing came on Howell’s first possession of the game. The Lions defense limited Howell to 178-total yards including just 60-yards rushing on 24 attempts.

“Brantley (junior wide receiver Naseim Brantley) is a very, very good football player and he can change a game on you,” Bush said. “We wanted to take him away and our defense did a great job doing that. Our cornerback, Sam Santiago, did a great job in the game against him and we got some good pass rush to put some pressure on the quarterback.”

A nine-yard combined sack by North defensive ends Austin Dewise and Thomas Anderson led to a three-and-out on Howells ensuing possession following Wilkerson’s first touchdown. On the punt, Howell got a good roll, and a penalty on the play backed the Lions up all the way to their own two-yard line.

Two plays later, Wilkerson took a handoff from Glenn around right end, eluded a couple of would-be tacklers and simply out-ran the rest of the Howell defense down the right sidelines for a captivating 93-yard touchdown run that put the Lions ahead for good, 14-7.

“I definitely saw a lot of green grass,” Wilkerson said of his 93-yard run. “I saw Jake Goldfarb pulling and he got the corner and I took off. I was like ‘oh man’ this is definitely going to be a long run. I was a little tired after that though.

“Jake is definitely one of the premier lineman in the Shore. A lot of people don’t talk about him but he and those other four guys on the line, like I said, they do it all for us every single time. We ask a lot from them and they always step up to the challenge.”

Those other four guys Wilkerson is referring to are: Tim McCann, Austin Bazuk, Anthony Canova and Justin Miller.

On the Lions next possession on first-and-10 from the Howell 39-yard line, senior quarterback Donald Glenn stepped up into the pocket avoiding a potential sack and found Marc Cerbo all alone downfield around the five-yard line for a 39-yard touchdown strike with 1:11 remaining in the half to finish off a six play, 75-yard drive.

The two teams traded downs to open the second half then on Howell’s second possession of the half they drove from their own 41-yard line to the North 13 before senior linebacker Nick Kish's tackle for a loss and a bad snap brought up fourth-and-long from the 34-yard line. Morales’ fourth down pass over the middle was then picked off by Kish at the 18-yard line and returned to the 35.

Kish, who came into the game averaging 16 tackles per game, again recorded double-digit tackles, to go along with his interception, fumble recovery, three tackles for losses and sack.

“Looking back at last week (a 30-27 home loss to Red Bank Catholic), we needed to get more turnovers and that was a focus of mine this week,” Kish said. “Coming in here tonight I was really focusing on that, so getting the turnovers and interceptions was good, it led to scores.”

Middletown North essentially put the game away following Kish’s interception driving 65 yards in just over a minute on five plays with Wilkerson running it in for the final eight yards for a commanding 28-7 lead.

“I feel like that’s the one that turned the tide,” Wilkerson said. “Coming out here in the third the way we did, that was the one that sealed the game up. We had the victory right then and there.”

Kish’s fumble recovery led to a four-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Connor Robbins pushing the lead to 35-7 and Wilkerson’s interception of a Morales pass at the 45-yard line set up a 33-yard field goal by Joey Cavanagh, who was also 5-for-5 on the night on extra points.

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