Bulldogs can’t hold off hard-charging Rams, fall on final play of game
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
In a matter of a few moments late Friday night Tommy Hunsicker ran a gamut of emotions.
There was frustration after the Wilson quarterback saw his overtime touchdown run nullified by penalty.
Then elation when he scored on a read-option to give the Bulldogs the lead.
And then finally dejection, after seeing Central Dauphin tight end Jett Franz pull in a two-point conversion pass that ended the game and lifted the Rams to a 36-35 non-league victory at Gurski Stadium.
“We had ’em right there,” Hunsicker said wistfully.
Indeed, the Bulldogs’ defense – young and beat up and physically over-matched by a giant-sized offensive line – registered several stops during this offensive free-for-all.
Defensive back Madyx Gruber made a leaping interception in the end zone to end a scoring threat with four seconds remaining in the first half, preserving Wilson’s 21-20 lead.
The Bulldogs forced a turnover on downs at their own 22 in the final minute of regulation, giving Hunsicker and the offense a chance to win it.
And finally, in OT, they forced the Rams to make a fourth-down play from the 3 to stay alive. And they did: Dual-threat quarterback Keyron Plummer, tough to pin down all night, rolled to his right and found Frantz in the back of the end zone to cut Wilson’s lead to 35-34.
Rams coach Glen McNamee wanted to end it there. He noticed some of the Bulldogs cramping up in the final quarter and thought he had the stronger team at that point.
“We felt like we were in a better place to finish the game right there,” he said.
Plummer went right back to Frantz to end it, the three-year starter grabbing the go-ahead score and sending the Bulldogs to a painful 0-2 start.
Those two late passes stung, but it was the game-long series of jabs that inflicted most of the damage on the Bulldogs. Plummer and running backs Miles Copper and Kyle McCullough ran behind a huge offensive line and moved the chains all night. They finished with a whopping 25 first downs and 288 rushing yards.
They ran the ball 61 times had had possession for over 30 minutes, nearly doubling Wilson’s total. No wonder the Bulldogs defenders were so spent.
“Hey, they beat us in the trenches,” said Wilson coach Doug Dahms, pulling no punches. “Their offensive line beat our defense. They were huge up front. We don’t have enough big guys.”
Wilson’s biggest guy, two-way tackle Jack Dendall, missed most of the second half with a leg injury. Even with him on the field the Bulldogs had trouble matching up CD’s O-line.
“They’re 285 across the board,” said Dahms. “That’s a lotta beef. They had tight splits and said: ‘Ok, we’re gonna move you.’ They did what they wanted.”
“They’re more than just big kids,” McNamee said of his line, “they’ve really worked at (getting stronger). Their numbers in the weight room are off the charts. (They were) tremendous (tonight), tremendous.”
The same could be said for Hunsicker, who kept the Bulldogs in it with his feet and arm. He threw three touchdown passes, completed 16-of-25 passes and threw for 262 yards.
He rushed for 57 yards and ran more than twice that far around the pocket, scrambling to buy time and avoid sacks. He must’ve run 25 yards on one first-quarter passing play as he zigged and zagged and escaped several would-be sacks.
He eventually rolled to his left and saw Jackson Wagner 20 yards behind the secondary. Hunsicker heaved the ball to him beyond midfield and Wagner took it into the end zone to complete the 77-yard scoring play for a 14-7 lead.
That was the first of three times the Bulldogs took the lead, but they never could hold it for long.
A few minutes after Hunsicker gave them their final lead at 35-28, following his 8-yard TD run in overtime, they fell behind for good.
“We blew the coverage on the tight end, plain and simple,” Dahms said of the winning two-point conversion. “They made the play. We stop either one of those (passes) it’s our game. We had the opportunity to win it. We had our opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Final | |
| Central Dauphin | 7 | 13 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 36 |
| Wilson | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Central Dauphin | Copper, 28 pass from Plummer (Temple kick) | 6:19 |
| 1 | Wilson | Kline, 11 pass from T. Hunsicker (Rada kick) | 4:16 |
| 1 | Wilson | Wagner, 77 pass from T. Hunsicker (Rada kick) | 0:32 |
| 2 | Central Dauphin | Plummer, 1 run (Temple kick) | 7:51 |
| 2 | Wilson | Kline, 17 pass from T. Hunsicker (Rada kick) | 5:22 |
| 2 | Central Dauphin | Plummer, 11 run (kick failed) | 2:34 |
| 4 | Central Dauphin | Copper, 11 run (Copper run) | 7:54 |
| 4 | Wilson | Fiorini, 2 run (Rada kick) | 4:28 |
| OT | Wilson | T. Hunsicker, 8 run (Rada kick) | |
| OT | Central Dauphin | Frantz, 4 yard pass from Plummer (Frantz, pass from Plummer) |
Team statistics
| Central Dauphin | Wilson | |
| First downs | 25 | 21 |
| Rushes-yards | 61-288 | 25-126 |
| Passing yards | 106 | 262 |
| Total yards | 394 | 388 |
| Passes | 7-12-1 | 16-25-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-38.0 | 1-36.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 9-74 | 9-61 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Central Dauphin: Copper 23-116, Plummer 18-77, McCullough 13-54, Crummel 3-23, Harris 2-10, Toland 2-8.
Wilson: T. Hunsicker 11-57, Akings 7-39, Wagner 2-25, Fiorini 2-6, Gruber 1-0, Welmaker 1-0, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING
Central Dauphin: Plummer 7-12-1–106.
Wilson: T. Hunsicker 16-25-0–262.
RECEIVING
Central Dauphin: Cummel 3-59, Copper 3-43, Franz 1-4.
Wilson: Akings 5-65, Woods 3-20, Wagner 2-90, Kline 2-28, Pertet 1-22, Valukevich 1-21, Gruber 1-9, Zullinger 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS
Wilson: Gruber.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Wilson: Rada 31, 36.
