Like clockwork: Purple reign

Wilmington's Colin Webb (15) is unable elude the pursuit of two Peotone defenders during the Wildcats' 41-0 victory over the Blue Devils on Friday night. Webb completed 5-of-8 passes for 98 yards and one touchdown.
(Larry Kane/Special to The Herald News)

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WILMINGTON -- The lights were on. The bleachers were nearly full. It was Friday night. The cannon boomed and the fireworks exploded.

And then the game started.

Yes, football season officially has arrived in Wilmington. And the Wildcats (2-0) kept their rabid fans happy the whole night with a convincing 41-0 victory over Interstate Eight rival Peotone (1-1) in a conference crossover game.

The win was even more impressive for coach Jeff Reents and his Wildcats in that it came against a Blue Devils squad that just one week ago knocked off two-time defending state champion Plano.

"Quite frankly, I am really surprised with the final score," said Reents, who watched his team utilize big plays to take a 34-0 lead by halftime. "This is a quality Peotone team and they showed it last week. I don't think they had a full boat tonight. I believe they were missing some guys. But this team will bounce back and will be a big factor in the I-8 before it is all said and done."

Wilmington struggled a little in the early going. The Wildcats fumbled a punt after stopping Peotone on the Blue Devils' opening possession and then were stopped after getting just a single first down on their first drive.

But it all seemed to kick into gear after running back Cort Scheel broke loose for a 50-yard touchdown run with 2:50 left in the opening quarter.

"Cort and John (Van Duyne) really had good nights carrying the ball," added Reents. "But it all starts up front for us and tonight was no exception. Our offensive line opened some nice holes and that helped our guys break open the big plays.

"I'm really happy with our defensive effort tonight, too," said Reents. "That quarterback (Nik Romanchik) can really throw the ball and is especially dangerous. We did a great job of containing him tonight (6-of-15, 58 yards, 1 interception) and that was a big plus for us."

In addition to Scheel's 50-yard scamper, Wilmington got big scoring plays from Zach McWilliams, Rich Heintz, Van Duyne and Jake Hazelton all before halftime. McWilliams authored the long play of the night with a 73-yard run on a quick opener that made the score 13-0. Heintz caught a 17-yard TD pass from Colin Webb to make it 20-0 and VanDuyne ran 59 yards to push the lead to 27-0. Hazelton closed out the first-half scoring with a 12-yard run.

Jeremy Bailey scored the second half's only touchdown on a 1-yard dive and that play started the running clock which quickly put the issue to rest as Wilmington had amassed a 41-0 lead.

For the game, the Wildcats rushed for 303 yards on 31 carries, giving them just under 10 yards per attempt. Scheel led the team with 96 yards on the ground in 8 carries and Van Duyne finished with 79 on 3 rushes.

Webb completed 5-of-8 passes for 98 yards and one score.

Peotone managed just 6 net rushing yards on 19 attempts. The Blue Devils did accumulate 114 passing yards. A missed 44-yard field goal on their opening drive and a failed fourth down at the Wilmington 13 on their next-to-last possession of the game marked the Blue Devils' only real threats to score.