Renewed Wilson faces York High in GoBigRecruiting.com Game of Week

Fans all around them might have been losing their minds, and their faith, after back-to-back losses to Gov. Mifflin and Exeter in the early weeks of the season. The guys in the Wilson huddle never wavered.

They have been born and raised in a Wilson football culture that produces nothing but winners. That’s what they saw when they looked in the mirror, winners — not the losing record they lugged around the first half of the season.

“We’re Bulldogs,” assured senior cornerback Erick Jackson. “We know where we stand.”

Wilson was 2-3 at midseason after a loss to Manheim Central and ranked 13th out of 17 Class 6A teams in District 3. Their playoff chances were not promising.

“I saw our record,” said senior linebacker T.J. Flite. “People were saying, ‘They’re not gonna make the playoffs.’ I trust every one of these guys, (I knew) that’s not gonna happen. We knew we were gonna win out — in our hearts.”

With a margin for error bordering on zero the Bulldogs (7-3) indeed did win out, taking their final five games and the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 title that came with.

They enter district play Friday as a No. 5 seed — their lowest in a decade. They face No. 4 York High (7-2) in the GoBigRecruiting.com Game of the Week. They open the playoffs on the road for the first time since 2007.

That’s a different landscape for the Bulldogs, but then this whole season has been different. A loss to Exeter? Back-to-back 42-14 defeats? A losing record at mid-season? All unfamiliar territory for one of the most successful programs in state history.

They were badly wounded in September, and not just their pride. They went into Don Thomas Stadium in Week 3 without their starting quarterback, Brad Hoffman, and several other injured players. By the end of that game, which saw leading rusher Jadyn Jones ejected, they were down at least eight starting positions.

With Jones on the field they probably don’t lose to Manheim, 24-21, and things don’t look quite so bad. But he wasn’t, and it did.

Jones returned in time for the league opener against Penn Manor, his teammates eventually got healthy and slowly the Bulldogs began to develop an identity. They knocked off league rivals Hempfield and Manheim Township the final two weeks of the regular season with a Gurski-style, line-slamming running attack.

Hoffman developed into a capable runner, went for 195 yards in a win at Cedar Crest and for 474 over the final three weeks of the season. Jones has responded in kind, with 177 yards against Township, 139 vs. Hempfield and 162 vs. Cedar Crest. They averaged nearly 40 points in their run through Section 1.

“After we cleaned everything up, we were good,” Jackson said. “After we got all our starters back, I feel like we bounced back in a big way.”

Everything seems better now, back to near-normal in West Lawn, but it’ll take a win Friday over York High to keep the naysayers at bay. To do that they’ll need to get a handle on one of the best running backs in the state, junior Jahiem White.

Wilson coach Doug Dahms compares him favorably to Mifflin’s Nick Singleton, and while some of the guys on his defense weren’t ready to go that far they do know it’ll take a big effort to slow him down.

White was an All-State pick as a sophomore and has taken his game to a different level this season. He went for 415 yards and seven TDs in a 70-24 win over South Western in Week 8 and for 261 yards and four TDs in 36-20 win at Dallastown in Week 5.

“He can run fast, he’s elusive, he can break tackles,” Jackson said. “We’ve gotta be ready for all that.

“If he had a better team (around him) he would be right next to Nicky, if not better. The only difference between them is Nicky knows how to run over kids. (This guy) is shifty. We have to be prepared.”

White runs a 4.4 and has offers from Bowling Green and Old Dominion; he’s on Penn State’s radar, too.

“This kid stops on a dime and changes directions,” Dahms said. “He’s powerful and he’s fast. He puts his foot in the ground and goes the other direction before you can blink. (If) he breaks the line, he’s gone; we’re not gonna touch him.”