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Wheeling Park Perfect In The Second Half in Victory Against Brooke

Patriots score seven TDs after half to blow out Brooke

Photo by Alex Kozlowski Wheeling Park’s Matt Reinacher (79) grabs onto Brooke running back Max Camilletti for a loss during Friday night’s game at Wheeling Island Stadium. The Patriots opened with a 55-12 victory against the rival Bruins.

WHEELING — Wheeling Park coach Chris Daugherty had a simple message for his team at halftime: Settle down.

First-game jitters are always a thing and Daugherty felt his team was trying to do too much in Friday’s season-opener against Brooke at Wheeling Island Stadium.

What the coach got in the second half was just about what any coach could ask for. The Patriots scored touchdowns on all seven second-half possessions and turned a 7-6 halftime lead into a 55-12 blowout victory.

“We pressed and did everything to hurt ourselves in the first half, even to the point where we got an interception and fumbled it right back to them,” Daugherty said. “We were excited and pressed. We wanted everything to be a big play instead of settling down and playing football.

“I thought Brooke did a nice job of blitzing us and doing nice things early. We had to adjust. We worried about trying to do too much. So at halftime, we talked, told them to calm down. We are pretty athletic when we don’t hurt ourselves and we are pretty good. Little by little we started to make plays and get more comfortable in the second half.”

Wheeling Park led by one point going into the break, with its first-half possessions going fumble, punt, touchdown (Alex Dunlevy 18-yard pass to Sincere Sinclair), punt, punt, missed field goal.

The Patriots got the ball first after halftime and marched down the field in 10 plays to stretch their lead.

Dunlevy rolled to his right and connected with Xavier Morris in the back of the end zone to go up two scores with 9:01 left in the third quarter. This came three plays after a touchdown was nullified for an illegal man downfield penalty.

Brooke shot itself in the foot on its next possession, having a snap go over the punter’s head. Park tackled him and took over at the Bruins 13.

Two plays later, Dunlevy hit Stevie Mitchell with a pop pass to increase the lead.

Brooke was able to gain some momentum as the Bruins marched down the field on its next possession and quarterback Joshua Shorts hit Kurtis Leonard for a 21-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 20-12.

But the Bruins’ momentum was short-lived.

Sinclair took the ensuing kickoff to the Brooke 8-yard line and Rapheal Bradley punched it in two plays later.

Wheeling Park wrapped up the third quarter as Dunlevy faked a pitch and ran 23 yards to the pylon with seven seconds to go to enter the fourth quarter up 34-12.

It also ended the night for Dunlevy and many of the starters.

Still, that didn’t stop the Patriots scoring. Shaheed Jackson (14 yards, on a lateral), Dakota Scott (26 yards) and backup quarterback Beau Heller (21 yards) added rushing touchdowns in the final 12 minutes to invoke the running clock.

“Once we made some plays, everyone started to loosen up,” Daugherty said. “The defense played well. At the end of the night, they had 12 point and we probably handed them six of them.

“It always helps to have a spark when things aren’t going perfect and Sincere provided us that (with his kickoff return). That gave us a little lift and we rode it from there. I would have liked to look a lot better, but at the same time, it is Game 1, but we are going to have to get better.”

For Brooke, it is the 11th straight loss following last season’s 0-10 season. Still, Bruins coach Mac McLean sees a lot of good things from his squad and expects a much better season, despite the lopsided score.

“We just ran out of gas,” he said. “The team in red, white and blue beat us, but it was a pretty even matchup in the first half. We just don’t have the platoon to hang in the second half and that has been our story. Nobody comes off the field for me. That is not a conditioning issue, it is a reality issue.

“That is the toughest team on our schedule and we got it behind us and now it is time to go to win. We felt good where we were at halftime, but then 10 guys get cramps roll down their legs and you knew it was coming. Max Camilletti, Aaron Scipio, Camden Bates, those guys will be lucky to get out of bed in the morning, probably have IVs in them at the end of (Friday night) and I can’t ask anymore out of them. They gave me everything they had.

“Now bad snap on the punt, long kickoff returns, that is on us. We have to make plays and we can’t afford mistakes like that when you play teams as good as this one.”

Both teams hit the road next week as Wheeling Park travels to St. Clairsville and Brooke will visit Hedgesville.

Wheeling Park 55, Brooke 12

Brooke 6 0 6 0 — 12

Wheeling Park 0 7 27 21 — 55

B — Bates 11 pass from Shorts (kick failed), 7:41

W — Sinclair 18 pass from Dunlevy (Glass kick), 11:55

W — Morris 9 pass from Dunlevy (Glass kick), 9:01

W — Mitchell 13 pass from Dunlevy (kick failed), 7:24

B — Leonard 21 pass from Shorts (run failed), 4:12

W — Bradley 1 run (Glass kick), 3:37

W — Dunlevy 23 run (Glass kick), :7.6

W — Jackson 14 run (Glass kick), 10:29

W — Scott 26 run (Glass kick), 7:52

W — Heller 21 run (Glass kick), 3:17

Rushing: Brooke 36-67 (Gabbert 6-31, Keener 3-19, Camilletti 8-17, Shorts 6-13, Hartley 5-13, Hukill 4-(-3), Gaschler 1-(-5), Scipio 3-(-18)); Wheeling Park 34- (Dunlevy 9-108-td; Robinson 11-47; Bradley 8-43-td, Scott 2-32-td, Heller 3-20-td, Jackson 1-14-td)

Passing: Brooke 7-18-90-2td-x (all by Shorts); Wheeling Park 14-24-180-3td (Dunlevy 13-23-174-3td, Heller 1-1-6)

Receiving: Brooke 7-90 (Scipio 2-33, Bates 2-24-td, Leonard 1-21-td, Camilletti 1-13, Fuscardo 1-1); Wheeling Park 14-180-3td (Morris 4-55-td, Mitchell 4-49-td, Namack 2-27, Jackson 2-15, Sinclair 1-11-td, Shelek 1-6).

First Downs: Brooke 10, Wheeling Park 15

Penalties: Brooke 5-50, Wheeling Park 10-100

Fumbles-Lost: Brooke 3-4, Wheeling Park 1-1.

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