Bulldogs roll past McCaskey, set up Week 10 showdown with Township
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
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By Logan Moyer — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
LANCASTER — With rain coming down and the ball slippery, Wilson’s Correll Akings knew he needed to step up.
The sophomore running back tallied 143 all-purpose yards and accounted for three touchdowns, two receiving and one running, in a 47-20 win over McCaskey Friday night at Barney Ewell Complex in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 matchup.
“We’re usually passing the ball a lot and also having a good mix of runs, but we showed that we can do both,” Akings said.
With the victory, Wilson (5-0, 7-2) recorded win No. 600 in program history, becoming the fifth District 3 team to do so. The Bulldogs join some elite company: Steelton-Highspire, Bishop McDevitt, Middletown and Manheim Central.
“It’s a feather in the Wilson Bulldogs community’s hat,” said head coach Doug Dahms. “It’s just the longevity of the staff and players.”
The win also sets up a de-facto Section 1 title game with Manheim Township next Friday at Gurski Stadium. The undefeated Blue Streaks have steamrolled through their opponents, winning each game by at least four scores.
“They’re the No. 1 offense in the league and the No. 2 two defense in the league, maybe even No. 1,” Dahms said. “But that doesn’t mean anything. It’s a championship game; (what matters is) who comes to play.”
“We’re just going to go deep into our game plan, execute as much as we can and come out with a W,” Akings said.
The Bulldogs started the season with two non-conference losses to Roman Catholic and Central Dauphin. Since then they’ve rallied to win seven consecutive games and have put themselves in position to retake the Section 1 crown for the first time since 2021.
“Everybody starts second-guessing, I mean, we had a couple of players out early,” Dahms said. “You got all those guys some experience and now that the stars are all back and playing and clicking, you just hope you can click on all cylinders.”
Akings opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run. It was the only score of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs scored three times in the second quarter, all on passes by Tommy Hunsicker. Edison Case caught two touchdown passes (63 and 23 yards) while Akings found the end zone on an 11-yard reception.
“He’s getting better,” Dahms said of Akings, who nearly doubled his season touchdown total. “He ran a lot more physical tonight. You know, he’s still young. He’s still learning but you know he’s getting better.”
Hunsicker is rapidly approaching the 2,000-yard passing mark for the season; he currently sits at 1,900. The single-season program record is 2,326, set by Zach Zwezig in 2009.
“Tommy’s a big part of our offense, running and throwing the ball,” Dahms said. “I mean, if he has a good game next week, you’re going to see a hell of a football game.”
McCaskey (1-4, 2-7) scored once in the first half on a 12-yard pass from Jalen Cintron to DeAndre Jones. They found the end zone twice more in the second half on an 86-yard run by Luis Santiago and a 70-yard kickoff return by Victor Rodriguez in the final minutes of the contest.
Wilson kept chugging in the second half, first scoring on a 50-yard pick-six by Madyx Gruber. The Bulldogs defense as a whole recorded 12 tackles for losses, including two sacks. In last week’s 24-6 win over Penn Manor Dahms stressed that the team needed to increase their physicality.
“I think we were a lot more physical tonight, and we did a pretty good job against the run,” he said.
Akings added a 6-yard touchdown run in the third quarter before Ahmir Welmaker scored his first career touchdown on a 1-yard run with just under four minutes remaining in the game.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 7 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 47 |
| McCaskey | 0 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Wilson | Akings, 3 run (C. Hunsicker kick) | 2:23 |
| 2 | Wilson | Case, 23 pass from T. Hunsicker (C. Hunsicker kick) | 11:15 |
| 2 | McCaskey | Jones, 12 pass from Cintron (kick failed) | 8:21 |
| 2 | Wilson | Akings, 11 pass from T. Hunsicker (C. Hunsicker kick) | 5:21 |
| 2 | Wilson | Case, 63 pass from T. Hunsicker (kick failed) | 2:00 |
| 3 | Wilson | Gruber, 50 interception return (C. Hunsicker kick) | 9:45 |
| 3 | Wilson | Akings, 6 run (C. Hunsicker kick) | 7:06 |
| 3 | McCaskey | Santiago, 86 run (pass failed) | 5:14 |
| 4 | Wilson | Welmaker, 1 run (run failed) | 3:54 |
| 4 | McCaskey | V. Rodriguez, 70 kick return (pass) | 3:42 |
Team statistics
| Wilson | McCaskey | |
| First downs | 23 | 8 |
| Rushes-yards | 37-210 | 28-76 |
| Passing yards | 198 | 77 |
| Total yards | 408 | 153 |
| Passes | 15-21-0 | 7-16-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 0-0 | 3-28.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-76 | 8-83 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wilson: Akings 15-113, Welmaker 11-45, T. Hunsicker 2-37, Wagner 3-18, Greer 4-13, Peterson 1-(-3), Team 1-(-13).
McCaskey: Santiago 2-85, Lavender-Gray 10-23, Myers 1-2, Chaparro 2-(-2), Morales-Monzon 7-(-4), Jones 1-(-5), Montanez 2-(-11), Cintron 3-(-12).
PASSING
Wilson: T. Hunsicker 11-16-0–173, Peterson 4-5-0–25.
McCaskey: Cintron 5-11-0–42, Montanez 2-5-1–35.
RECEIVING
Wilson: Case 2-86, Akings 2-40, Kline 3-26, Gruber 3-16, Carpenter 2-15, Welmaker 1-6, Zullinger 1-5, Pichardo 1-4.
McCaskey: Jones 2-45, Talton 3-27, Morales 1-3, Myers 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
Wilson: Gruber.
