Bulldogs’ ‘D’ bends but doesn’t break as they extend winning streak against Falcons

By Mike Drago Last updated Sep 26, 2023

Wilson players celebrate Correll Akings' touchdown last year at Cedar Crest. (Joe Mays photo)

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By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor

SOUTH LEBANON — Edison Case made the last of several big stops for Wilson’s defense Friday night but don’t ask him how he did it.

The senior defensive back wasn’t sure how he managed to come down with a late interception in the end zone to preserve the Bulldogs’ 21-13 victory over Cedar Crest in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 victory at Earl Boltz Stadium.

“I had one contact (lens) in, one contact out,” he said. “I couldn’t see the ball. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t really know how I caught that.”

A few plays earlier Case took the brunt of it as he and his teammates brought down Falcons tight end Aiden Schomp, a Division I prospect who goes 6-6, 235.

“I went to ground,” Case said of the tackle. “I got a face full of turf and my contacts fell out (of place).”

On a night when the Bulldogs (2-0, 3-2) were outgained, turned it over three times in the second half and were seemingly on their heels most of the way, backed up against their own end zone, the small details didn’t matter.

It was a win, the Bulldogs’ third straight after a rough start. No one was about to quibble.

“Bend but don’t break, that’s what it came down to,” said Wilson linebacker Ryan McMillan with a smile.

Cedar Crest (1-1, 4-1), which hasn’t beaten Wilson since the ashes of the Twin Towers were still smoldering, was in position to end its long losing streak in the series. It has its best team in years and drove the field in the final minutes.

Quarterback Jackson Custer converted a fourth-and-8 with a 9-yard pass to Jack Waranavage to the Wilson 20.

Custer faced another fourth-and-long a couple minutes later and fired into the end zone with 2:40 left. The 6-3 Case came out of a cluster of players – some in blue, some in white – with the ball.

Brady Kline pulls in a touchdown catch. (Joe Mays photo)

“I knew there was a (Cedar Crest) guy in front of me, and a (Cedar Crest) guy behind me,” he said, “so if I batted it down he had a chance of catching it in front of me; if I hit it up, he had a chance of catching it behind me. I had to make a play.”

The Bulldogs defense, which couldn’t stop Central Dauphin twice in overtime, and which had trouble slowing Cheltenham down the following week, made a lot of plays Friday.

The Falcons (1-1, 4-1) had a first down at the Wilson 6 late in the first quarter but were turned back by big defensive plays by Logan Kurzweg and Madyx Gruber. On fourth down Ethan Bowman pulled a 24-yard field goal wide left and the Bulldogs held onto their 7-0 lead.

Later in the half defensive back Jonah Pertet jumped a route and intercepted a pass after Cedar Crest had moved to the 13.

On Cedar Crest’s final series Pertet broke up a second down pass and Cam Zullinger pressured Custer out of the pocket and into an incompletion on third down.

“There comes a time, if you want to win a championship, you’ve gotta make a play,” said Wilson coach Doug Dahms. “You need somebody to step up and make a play.”

Case stepped up on the final play. McMillan, a senior linebacker, made some big plays and had six tackles. Gruber, a junior corner, played strong pass coverage and had a team-high eight tackles, including several solos in space to prevent big gains.

“The kids dug in when they had to,” Dahms said.

“We knew we needed that big stop at the end of the game,” McMillan said. “We knew if we got a stop there we could run out the clock and win the game. We all came together, we got ‘hype’ and it just came down to us making that stop, and we did.”

Case made a big play on offense in the first half, taking a punt back 59 yards to the 6 set the Bulldogs up with a key touchdown late in the first half that helped them take a 21-6 lead into intermission.

A few minutes earlier sophomore Correll Akings took a short swing pass, slipped a tackle at the Cedar Crest 30 and went the rest of the way for a 35-yard score and 14-6 lead.

The Falcons used a 46-yard pass from Custer to Waranavage to set up Fernando Marquez’s short TD run late in the first half. Bowman missed the PAT and the chance to tie the game at 7-7.

Cedar Crest piled up 18 first downs and 315 total yards. Custer hurt them with pulls on the read option and rushed for 78 yards. Owen Chernich had eight catches for 49 yards.

The Bulldogs defense is still far from a dominating unit but it’s getting closer. Case, who dislocated his elbow in the preseason and missed the first two games, played extensively on defense for the first time. Linebacker Jackson Wagner and safety Adam Case returned from injuries.

“I don’t think we’re where we need to be yet,” McMillan said. “We still have some stuff to work on; we made some mistakes letting them get some of those big plays. But we’re starting to come together. We’re starting to get really healthy; we’re getting guys back. We’re getting where we need to be but we’re (not) there yet.”

Edison Case breaks free on a punt return against Cedar Crest. (Joe Mays photo)

	1	2	3	4	Final
Wilson	7	14	0	0	21
Cedar Crest	0	6	7	0	13

Scoring summary

1	Wilson	Akings, 5 run (Rada kick)	5:18
2	Cedar Crest	Marquez, 3 run (kick failed)	4:30
2	Wilson	Aikings, 35 pass from T. Hunsicker (Rada kick)	1:09
2	Wilson	Kline, 1 pass from T. Hunsicker (Rada kick)	0:16
3	Cedar Crest	Custer, 14 run (Bowman kick)	3:41

Team statistics

	Wilson	Cedar Crest
First downs	12	18
Rushes-yards	31-148	30-177
Passing yards	162	138
Total yards	310	315
Passes	10-13-1	13-22-2
Fumbles-lost	2-2	0-0
Punts-average	2-35.5	3-34.0
Penalties-yards	6-45	9-56