Williamsport more than atones for its mistakes

September 24, 2005|by CURT HORNBECKER / Staff Correspondent

WILLIAMSPORT - Sometimes there are enough positives to make it easy for a coach to overlook the negatives.

So dominant was Williamsport's 33-6 thumping of Bishop Walsh on Friday that coach Adrian Custer was able to shrug off his team's 17 penalties for 169 yards and two blocked extra points.

It didn't hurt that the Wildcats rushed for 192 first-half yards, intercepted four passes -two of which went for touchdowns - and held the Spartans to minus-53 yards rushing.

In fact, the 169 yards in penalties was more than double Bishop Walsh's total offense.

The win also marks the first time a Williamsport team has recorded a 2-1 record since 2001.

"Two wins is great for the program," said Custer. "They practiced extra hard this week. Now they know they have to roll into the (MVAL) Antietam Conference schedule, and they'll have to work twice as hard."

Ian Hamilton wasted no time getting things started for the Wildcats, rushing for 59 yards in a six-play, 67-yard drive to hand Williamsport a 7-0 advantage with 7:12 left in the first period.

Brad Hewitt followed that with a 23-yard interception return less than three minutes later.

Early in the second quarter, Kyle Cunningham made it 21-0 on an 82-yard jaunt down the right sideline, to complete a 91-yard march in just two plays.

Hamilton's second TD of the game - a 59-yard interception return - made it 27-0 for the Wildcats.

"The quarterback overthrew his wide receiver, and I was right there," said Hamilton. "The guys did a great job blocking for me downfield and the rest was easy."

Kyle McDannell recorded the final score of the game for Williamsport on an 11-yard run with 1:33 left in the half.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats' defense completely bottled up the rushing attack of Bishop Walsh (0-5), holding the Spartans to minus-7 yards of total offense in the first half and forcing four turnovers.

"Coming in, we knew they were going to throw the ball," said Custer. "We also knew their quarterback was going to throw some passes off target. We just had to be ready to pick those off."

Bishop Walsh finally scored with just 82 seconds left in the game, on a Ryan Shewbridge-to-Adam Ashby TD pass from 2 yards out.

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