No. 3 Wesley Rolls on Senior Day
Courtesy of Wesley Athletics
DOVER, Del. - No. 3 Wesley scored 24 points in the second quarter to pull away from Kean for a 48-10 win on Senior Day at Scott D. Miller Stadium.
The Wolverines honored 17 student-athletes playing their final regular season game and the high fives continued throughout the day. The Wolverines shut down Division III's third ranked rusher, Jay Gwaltney, while Justin Sottilare (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns to direct the offense to its sixth game of at least 40 points this season.
Wesley's two senior receivers, Leonard Stevenson (Nanjemoy, Md./Lackey) and Ellis Krout (Dallas, Texas/Roosevelt) each caught five passes and combined for 189 yards and three touchdowns.
The Wolverines started slow, turning the ball over on their first two possessions, but Kean could not capitalize on either with just a missed 45-yard field goal to show for the two generated turnovers.
After that missed field goal, Wesley went 72 yards on six plays, capped by a 10-yard strike from Sottilare to Krout for a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars punted on their next possession and the ensuing Wesley series resulted in a 41-yard pass from Sottilare to Stevenson for a 14-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter. Kean moved into Wesley territory, but the Wolverines held on fourth and six to take over at their own 37. Sottilare connected with Stevenson for 28 yards and later hit Hassan Alston (Randallstown, Md./New Town) for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.
The defense forced a three and out by Kean and a 38-yard punt return by Sean Hopkins (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central) set up a 34-yard field goal by Dan Tryon (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) for a 24-0 lead with 6:51 to go in the half.
The Cougars used some trickery to get on the scoreboard on their next drive. Jahmal Williams returned the kick to midfield. On fourth down, Kean called a fake punt and Billy Daniels hit Will Evans for 33 yards. Those were the only yards the Cougars gained on the possession, however, and a 32-yard field goal by Daniels cut it to 24-3.
Kean had not given up a point all year in the second quarter and had not surrendered 30 points in a game all season, but Sottilare hit Stevenson to cap an eight-play, 60-yard drive to make it 31-3 and gave the Wolverines 24 points in the period.
The Cougars opened the second half by forcing a third Wesley turnover and Tom D'Ambrisi hit Gwaltney for a 15-yard touchdown that made it a two possession game, 24-10.
Wesley's next two drives, however, combined to eat over eight minutes of clock and 10 points as the Wolverines put the game out of reach. The Wolverines took over on at their 37 on the first drive and Brandon Wright (Clayton, N.J./Clayton) caught passes of 40 and 25 yards on the series before Wesley settled for a 27-yard field goal by Tryon. After three and out by Kean, DeAndre Fowlkes (Paulsboro, N.J./Paulsboro) took an end around 28 yards to start the next drive. Eight plays later, Sean Scanlon (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic) scored on a one-yard plunge to make it 41-10 with 1:30 left in the third period.
Williams returned Tryon's kick 34 yards into Wesley territory, but Marcus Wilson (Pennsauken, N.J./Camden Catholic) intercepted a pass to end the threat.
Wesley was forced to punt for the first time all afternoon on their first possession of the fourth quarter, but the defense forced a punt of its own that set up the only touchdown of the final period for either team. On the first play of the series, back up quarterback Chris Cummings (Newark, Del./Newark) hit Fowlkes for 74 yards to make it 48-10. The play was the longest pass of the year for the Wolverines.
Sottilare completed 15-of-24 passes on the day for 301 yards and had his fourth game with at least four touchdown passes on the year. Stevenson topped the century mark with 107 receiving yards on the afternoon.
Fowlkes carried the ball three times, but tallied 60 yards to match Wright for the team high. Fowlkes added 82 yards receiving, as did Krout.
Gwaltney entered the day averaging over 130 yards per game and needed just 21 to set the school's single season record. While he got his record, it wasn't by much. Wesley held him to just 27 yards on a dozen carries and just nine yards in the second half.
Eric Adams (Ocean, N.J./Ocean Township) led the Wesley defense with eight tackles and the only sack of the day by the Wolverines. In addition to Wilson's interception, Scanlon also picked off as pass on the day as Wesley limited D'Ambrisi to just 12-of-31 for 98 yards.
Wesley's offense piled up 587 total yards, nearly 400 more than the defense allowed. The Wolverines total of 204 rushing yards was actually 10 more than Kean's total offense of 194.
Williams had 11 tackles for the Cougars, while Brett Yajcaji added 10.
With the win, Wesley ends the season undefeated for the second straight season and the Wolverines have now won 36 consecutive regular season games.
Wesley awaits word on a Pool B bid to the NCAA Division III Football Championships on Sunday, November 14. The selection show will air live on ESPNews at 3:00 PM.
