Township prepares for Wilson ground assault in GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week
Whenever it’s been circle-the-wagons time in West Lawn the Wilson Bulldogs have gone back to basics. Back to the days of John Gurski, the patriarch of Wilson football who believed in smash mouth football decades before that became a trendy term.
With a losing record at midseason for the first time in decades the Bulldogs went back to their ground-and-pound roots; they haven’t lost since.
“You have to take advantage of your strongest attribute,” said Wilson coach Doug Dahms on the eve of his team’s most critical game of the season, against Manheim Township in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week Friday at 7 at Gurski Stadium.
“With Jadyn (Jones), we knew he was good,” Dahms said. “We didn’t realize how tough a runner (quarterback) Brad (Hoffman) would be. He’s like having another running back in there. It’s like a two-headed monster.”
| Lancaster-Lebanon Section 1 | League | Overall |
| Wilson | 4-0 | 6-3 |
| Manheim Township | 3-1 | 6-3 |
| Hempfield | 2-2 | 5-4 |
| Cedar Crest | 2-2 | 4-4 |
| Penn Manor | 1-3 | 5-4 |
| McCaskey | 0-4 | 2-7 |
If the Blue Streaks (3-1, 6-3) can find a way to contain that monster they’ll share the the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 title — and put the Bulldogs’ hopes for a District 3 Class 6A playoff berth in jeopardy.
If Jones and Hoffman can control things on the ground, as they did a week ago in a key 28-21 win over Hempfield, when they combined for 270 yards, the Bulldogs (4-0, 6-3) will claim the Section 1 title outright for the second straight season.
“They’re good at it,” Township coach Mark Evans said of Wilson’s rushing attack. “They’re real good at it. It’s their strength. The key to this game is stopping their running game. If we can hang in there and weather that storm, it gives us a chance.”
Wilson’s offense has been fairly balanced in recent years but the passing game never really clicked this season. Once they got into league play the Bulldogs turned to their ground assault and Jones, a bullish 215-pound senior getting Division I looks, and Hoffman, a hard-running, determined senior, have delivered.
Wilson has run on 71 percent of its play from scrimmage this season, its highest percentage in a decade.
“You’ve gotta ride the horses that you’ve got,” Dahms said. “There will come a time (this season) when you’ve gotta be able to throw. (But) if people aren’t gonna stop us running the ball, then we’re gonna run the ball.”
Hempfield couldn’t. It’s not like the Black Knights didn’t know what was coming. Wilson faced 20 first-and-10 situations last week and ran on every one.
The Blue Streaks know all about Jones. He wrecked them last season, carrying a career-high 29 times for 237 yards to bail out a short-handed Wilson team that was down six starting positions due to injuries. Wilson prevailed 31-28.
Jones has rushed for 771 yards in seven games and is averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
Hoffman has picked up the majority of his yards in recent games. In Week 8 he went for a career-high 195 yards against Cedar Crest, scoring on runs of 60 and 44 yards.
“Being an old Defensive Coordinator, I know if a team’s running the ball down your throat, there’s not a whole lot you can do,” Dahms said. “If they’re passing against you, there are other things you can try to slow them down, but if they’re running the ball down your throats its a helpless feeling. I hope everybody has that hopeless feeling.”
Expect the Blue Streaks to take a different path. They’ve got a hot young quarterback in Hayden Johnson and one of the best receivers in the state in Penn State recruit Anthony Ivy.
Ivy had a breakout game as a sophomore against Wilson, setting a Lancaster-Lebanon League record with 292 receiving yards. He’s had over 100 career catches and is closing in on 2,000 career receiving yards.
Wilson vs. Manheim Township preview capsule
“He’s legit,” Dahms said of Ivey, “and they always seem to find a couple other guys that are pretty darned good, too.”
Ivy leads the team with 47 receptions but Johnson, a promising sophomore, spreads the ball around. Michael Heckman has 27 catches and Landon Kennel has 25.
Johnson appears to be the next in a long line of standout Township quarterbacks. Evan Clark was an all-league pick at quarterback last season. Harry Kirk, Erik Benjamin and Brennan Scott were all-league picks before him. And don’t forget Luke Emge, who led the Blue Streaks to a District 3 title in 2017 and was an All-State pick.
Evans compares Johnson to them favorably.
“Of all the quarterbacks I’ve had in 24 years, he ranks right up there,” Evans said of Johnson, who is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes and has thrown for over 1,800 yards. “At this stage of his game, he’s very composed and he (always) wants to do better. That’s cool when you have a kid that’s that motivated.”