WHEELING — Lorenza Ferrera ran for 206 yards and did not even account for half of his team’s rushing yards as Wheeling Central stormed to a 62-21 win over Tuscarawas Central at Bishop Schmitt Field.

Ferrera rushed 10 times for 206 yards on the back of long runs of 36, 26, 20, 33 and 56 yards. He found the endzone on four of his final five carries on the night.

“He’s just all over the field and he makes plays,” Central coach Mike Young said of his senior playmaker. “He’s a very focused kid and he plays his heart out. The line did a super job up front and I was proud and pleased with how well our kids did.”

The majority of Ferrera’s long gains were on sweep plays where he followed a blocker or two to the outside. When the blockers engaged defenders, Ferrera had more than enough speed to either burst through the hole or cut back across the field.

“It was just my linemen getting down there and getting good blocks to set me up,” Ferrera said. “I cut right off of them and it was a wide open field for a touchdown.”

Ferrera was far from the only Knight to find success on the ground, however, as Wheeling Central (2-0) ran for 416 total yards with seven touchdowns. Riley Watkins ran five times for 24 yards and a score, Isaac Martin had eight carries for 112 yards and a touchdown and Braden McWreath gained 66 yards and scored a touchdown on three totes.

“It could’ve been me, Riley, Braden, Parker (Watkins), any of us could’ve had those touchdowns,” Ferrera said.

“I’m very pleased with how we’re blocking,” Young added. “I’m very pleased with what our offensive line is doing.”

McWreath scored on a 59-yard jaunt while Martin, a freshman, had runs of 24 and 32 yards.

For as lopsided as the game ended, it was Tuscarawas (1-1) that looked to be in control early. Quarterback Jordan Cherry scrambled for 40 yards on the first play of the night and later ran for 29 more yards to set TCC up inside of Central’s five-yard line.

That was when Central’s starting defense tightened up, however. From first and goal, the Knights recorded back-to-back tackles for loss, then Parker Watkins sacked Cherry on third down to set up fourth and goal. Going for it, Cherry completed a pass but TCC was stopped just short of the goal line.

“That was a huge momentum-builder,” Young said. “We saw that (Cherry) was coming and just had some breakdowns in tackling. You’re going to have those early-game jitters, but I think we settled in real good.”

Central’s first offensive play was a play-action pass from quarterback Payton Hildebrand standing in his own endzone 40 yards to McWreath. A few plates later Riley Watkins scored from 11 yards out and the Knights were off and running.

“When we stopped them, it pumped us up really good,” Young said. “And then we took it right down the field and scored, which says a lot about our resilience.”

Wheeling Central scored touchdowns on each of its first five possessions. The defense, meanwhile, forced two turnovers on downs and freshman Joey Hall intercepted a pass.

“I think (the defense succeeded) because they settled in and started reading their keys and knew what they could do,” Young said. “It was a battle, I’m just proud of our kids that they stayed in there and kept fighting.”

Hildebrand would throw a 19-yard touchdown to Riley Watkins in the second quarter and finished a tidy 4-of-6 passing for 88 yards and a score.

Cherry scored on a 46-yard run to start the second quarter for TCC and would later add touchdowns of eight and 11 yards.

Following Cherry’s 11-yard score in the fourth quarter the ensuing kickoff went to Ferrera, who ran to the outside and looked to have a 70-yard return touchdown. That was until he pitched it back to Paxton Marling at the five-yard line and let his fellow senior walk in for the score.

“It’s senior night, I love my seniors, we’re all friends,” Ferrera said. “He called my name and I had to give it to him, I couldn’t be selfish.”

Central’s defense had sacks by Parker Watkins, Grant McCabe and Marling and got interceptions from Hall, Eli Sandcomb and Eli Tucker.

Tucker, who started at both outside linebacker and place kicker, was a perfect 7-for-7 on PATs.

Wheeling Central will ride Friday’s win into a matchup against Bellaire at home next week.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of momentum for the rest of the season off of this game,” Ferrera said. “We all played well so we’ll keep the momentum up and hopefully go 13-0 with a state championship.”

Wheeling Central 62, Tuscarawas Central 21

TCC 0 0 14 7 — 21

WC 14 21 14 13 — 62

WC — Watkins run 11 (Tucker kick)

WC — Ferrera run 4 (Tucker kick)

WC — Ferrera run 20 (Tucker kick)

WC — Watkins pass 19 from Hildebrand (Tucker kick)

WC — Ferrera run 33 (Tucker kick)

TCC — Cherry run 46 (Ferrell kick)

WC — Ferrera run 56 (Tucker kick)

WC — McWreath run 59 (Tucker kick)

TCC — Cherry run 8 (Ferrell kick)

TCC — Cherry run 11 (Ferrell kick)

WC — Marling kickoff return 70 (West kick)

WC — Martin run 32 (kick failed)

RUSHING: Tuscarawas Central 37-238-3td (Cherry 24-187-3td; Mahaffey 12-53; Renicker 1-(-2)). Wheeling Central 30-416-7td (Ferrera 10-206-4td; Watkins 5-24-td; Martins 8-112-td; White 2-(-1); Hildebrand 2-9; McWreath 3-66-td).

PASSING: Tuscarawas Central 10-25 133-3int (all Cherry). Wheeling Central 4-6 88-td (all Hildebrand).

RECEIVING: Tuscarawas Central 10-133 (Mahaffey 5-26; Norris 1-28; Renicker 2-45; McCollins 1-28; Seigler 1-6). Wheeling Central 4-88-td (McWreath 1-40; Watkins 2-32-td; Ferrera 1-16).

FIRST DOWNS: Tuscarawas Central 17. Wheeling Central 18.

FUMBLES/LOST: Tuscarawas Central 2/0. Wheeling Central 1/0.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Tuscarawas Central 4-20. Wheeling Central 7-64.