Wilmington football coach Scott Killen said his senior leadership has helped pull the Hurricane through a difficult 2020 season.
That was never more evident than after last week’s playoff game with St. Francis DeSales was cancelled last Thursday.
“The senior leadership has been absolutely amazing,” said Killen. “They could have easily folded and called it a season last Thursday. We had kids who wanted to practice on Thursday and even on Friday. They want to compete. These kids just keep swinging and because of their leadership and positive attitude, I know that they will be successful throughout their lives. As a coach, that makes me extremely proud of the men they are becoming.”
Wilmington (3-4 on the year) is scheduled to host Batavia 7 p.m. Friday night at Alumni Field. Wilmington’s last game was a 56-14 win over Marietta in the first week of playoffs.
Batavia (2-4 on the year) has shown improvement since its two-week layoff for COVID19. One of those game postponed was the Wilmington game.
The Bulldogs lost to Clinton-Massie and Goshen immediately after returning but have scored 20, 28 and 54 points in the next three games. With a win in each of its last two games, Batavia can reach .500 for the season, a worthy goal after a 1-4 start.
Quarterback Mick Heckard was 29-50 passing for 369 and a whopping 7 touchdowns in the win over Clermont Northeastern last week. Luke Scaggs caught three touchdowns while Max Applegate caught two.
Heckard has thrown 14 touchdowns in three games since taking over as the starting quarterback for BHS.
Containing Heckard is a challenge for WHS, just another one in a season of challenges for high school athletes.
“This season has been a challenge of the ‘not knowing’ and has led to many difficult discussions with the players,” said Killen. “They have handled the unknown with a tremendous amount of maturity and they are always wanting to know what is next. The players have handled it better than most adults, including myself, and that makes me very proud as a coach to know that they understand the times we are living in.
“We have talked about not taking anything for granted and tomorrow is not promised the entire year. Remember, we started preseason with the uncertainty that we may not be allowed to play a single game. The message has never changed and we are trying to make the most out of every day we are together.”
