Unfazed by slow start, Exeter rallies to dominate, scores first win over Wilson
Wilson drove the field on Exeter the first time it had the ball Friday night and took an early lead..
A turnover two plays later turned into a defensive touchdown for the Bulldogs and just like that the Eagles trailed by 14.
Ty Yocum and his teammates were unfazed.
“We were just feeling like, ‘This isn’t us,’ ” said the senior linebacker. “We knew we were the better team, and that we needed to come out there and show ’em what we were made of.”
The Eagles showed a lot after that. They scored three touchdowns before halftime to take the lead for good. Cranked it up a notch on defense. Then poured it on in the second half, spanking the Bulldogs 42-14 in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week.
It will go down as one of the biggest wins in program history.
“We weren’t (just) hoping to win,” said Exeter coach Matt Bauer, “we were confident we were going to try to win with everything we had; we were going to throw everything we could at ’em. These kids tonight, they came out, they were excited; we got down two scores and they dug in. They wouldn’t be denied.”
The Eagles (2-1) got a huge game from running back Eric Nangle — three touchdowns and 209 rushing yards — a dominant game from their defense — they allowed just 46 yards in the first half, and 145 overall — and were able to dig out of a big hole.
It was their first win over Wilson in seven tries in a series that dates back to the 1950s.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Bauer, who was drenched by his players with a tub of water as the final seconds ticked off the clock. “It’s such a huge win for our program. These kids are so special, that’s why I put so much pressure on myself and these coaches. A team like this doesn’t come along very often, and I just want things to work out in their favor, because they deserve it.”
Exeter is loaded with top-shelf talent — Yocum, J.R. Strauss and Joey Schlaffer each have Division I offers — but Friday they got an all-around effort, especially up front where they had their way on both sides of the line.
They inflicted yet more pain on a Bulldogs team that was already hurting. Wilson was not only mercy-ruled a week ago at Gov. Mifflin but lost some key players because of the physical nature of that game. Quarterback Brad Hoffman and two-way starter T.J. Flite weren’t dressed for the game Friday, and by the end of the night they were part of a Wilson sideline that looked like a M*A*S*H unit.
Two-way player Josh Drake was on crutches and linebacker/running back Gavin Lenart had his arm in a sling. By game’s end they were down seven to eight starting positions.
“We’re beat up, no doubt about it,” said Wilson coach Doug Dahms, “and we got more beat up (tonight).”
Dahms isn’t sure if Hoffman or any of the others will be ready in time for next week’s game against Martin Luther King.
He does know he won’t have his lead running back, Jadyn Jones, who was ejected early in the fourth quarter; he’ll have to sit out a week, by PIAA rules.
“We’re missing a lot,” Dahms said.
The Eagles weren’t missing much Friday, at least not after they shook off some anxious opening minutes.
Jacobe Wolfe ignited the comeback with a 61-yard kickoff return to the 20 late in the first period. Three plays later the Eagles were on the board when the 6-7 Schlaffer, with cornerback Cam Jones draped all over him, pulled down the first of his two TD receptions from 15 yards out.
Wilson’s offense began to self-destruct after that. The Bulldogs put the ball on the ground four times in the first half on a series of poor pitches or sloppy handoff connections. They recovered each of them but found themselves in constant long-yardage situations.
“Every time we got the ball it became first-and-45,” Dahms said. “We don’t have the team to recover from that.”
Nangle, who sat out last week with a sore shoulder, gave Exeter the lead for good with a double-cutback run that covered 82 yards and made it 21-14 1:38 before halftime.
Wilson’s final five possessions of the first half ended three times on punts, on a fourth-down stop at the Exeter 30 and finally on an interception by Yocum.
“Everyone on the starting defense was like, ‘We’ve gotta fix this, we’ve gotta do better,’ ” Yocum said after the Eagles allowed Wilson to score on its first drive, “and we all did better.”
“I had amazing blocking, the hole was huge,” he said. “I was getting chased down a little bit, made a move (at around the 20) – touchdown.”
It was no contest in the second half. Nangle made it a two-touchdown lead when he capped a nine-play drive with an 11-yard TD run.
Wilson’s last gasp ended in the final minute of the third quarter, when it was stopped on downs after picking up a first down at the Exeter 20.
Not long after the celebration began.
“This game means everything to us,” Yocum said. “It’s what we’ve been working for since February. Since we were kids, we always wanted to play Wilson High School and beat ’em. It means a lot to us.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Exeter | 7 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 42 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Wilson | McMillan | 7 pass | Brubaker | Rada | kick |
| Wilson | McMillan | 26 fumble return | Rada | kick | |
| Exeter | Schlaffer | 15 pass | Payne | Moser | kick |
| Exeter | Yocum | 5 run | Moser | kick | |
| Exeter | Nangle | 82 run | Moser | kick | |
| Exeter | Nangle | 11 run | Moser | kick | |
| Exeter | Nangle | 6 run | Moser | kick | |
| Exeter | Schlaffer | 38 pass | Payne | Moser | kick |
Team statistics
| Wilson | Exeter | |
| First downs | 10 | 17 |
| Rushes-yards | 39-98 | 35-271 |
| Passing yards | 47 | 134 |
| Total yards | 145 | 405 |
| Passes | 5-16-1 | 11-18-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 5-1 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 4-39.2 | 2-27.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 10-65 | 7-61 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wilson: J. Jones 16-68, Welmaker 6-28, Beckford 5-17, Brubaker 7-12, Lenart 1-10, C. Jones 2-(-5), Team 2-(-32).
Exeter: Nangle 22-209, Yocum 6-46, Payne 2-8, Woody 3-5, Robinson 1-3, Strauss 1-0.
PASSING
Wilson: Brubaker 5-16-1–47.
Exeter: Payne 11-18-1–134.
RECEIVING
Wilson: Kline 2-41, McMillan 1-7, C. Jones 1-1, J. Jones 1-(-4).
Exeter: Schlaffer 5-78, Strauss 3-16, Schmidt 2-37, Nangle 1-3.
Interceptions
Wilson: J. Jones.
Exeter: Yocum.