One week after losing on a goal line stand to St. Paul, the Wilby football team found redemption, and its first win of the season, against city rival Kennedy.
The Wildcats rallied from a 10-point deficit to stun the Eagles, 24-18, on Friday night at Municipal Stadium’s Ray Snyder Sr. Field. The win was the first of the season for Wilby (1-5), and the first for Preston Soeprasetyo as head coach of the Wildcats. Kennedy fell to 1-4.
Trailing 18-8 in the fourth quarter, Wilby got a pair of huge plays from Aaron James. The first was a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown. When Jamare Hall ran in the two-point conversion, the Wildcats trailed the Eagles, 18-16. The second was James’ 20-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Coleman. James Richards’ two-point run made the score, 24-18. Wilby held off a late Kennedy try at the tying touchdown for the victory. Demaury Downing had the other Wildcat touchdown on a five-yard run, and Hall ran in the two-point conversion. Richards ran for 120 yards while James accounted for 50. James threw for 97 yards.
Kennedy led, 12-0, after one quarter on short touchdown runs by Dereck Ledee (two yards) and Matt Velasquez (three yards). Downing’s touchdown and Hall’s two-point run made the score 12-8 in favor of the Eagles after three quarters. Ledee ran for 66 yards and threw for 82. Velasquez ran for 46 yards while Damar Byrd tallied 34 yards.
Here’s the story from Mark Jaffee of The Red Zone.
Here’s what else happened in Week 6:
THURSDAY
WCA 20, Crosby 13
Juan Garcia intercepted a Tanner Leo passed and returned it 34 yards for the go-ahead touchdown for the Spartans (3-2) in their victory over the Bulldogs (1-3) at Ray Snyder Sr. Field.
Kavaughn Canady also had an interception for WCA. Jio Vargas and Dasani Yates each had eight total tackles while Garcia and Brandon Kelly tallied seven total tackles apiece. On offense, Vargas had a one-yard touchdown run while D’vonte Lane added a nine-yard scoring run. Lane led the Spartans with 56 yards rushing. Carlos Calle ran for 34 yards while Carmelo Mojica and Zyaire Ettson each tallied 31 yards on the ground. (WCA stats from MaxPreps.)
Leo completed 20 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns for Crosby. Jashua Sanabria hauled in four passes for 124 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown. Jonathan Herrington had five receptions for 41 yards, Taji Blizzard caught four passes for 65 yards and Jeffery Burke had four receptions for 54 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown. (Crosby stats from Hudl.)
FRIDAY
Wolcott 38, Derby 6
The Eagles used a strong defensive effort to snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 2-3.
SATURDAY
Cheney Tech 23, Wilcox/Kaynor 6
The co-op played some tough defense, but that couldn’t stop them from falling to 0-5 on the season.
