It’s been nearly 20 years since Wilmington defeated Ross in varsity football.
Friday night, the Hurricane looks to rebound from last week’s defeat to get a road win at Ross. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
“Ross is another good opponent,” Hurricane head coach Ryan Evans said. “They run what they run and they do it well. They fly around to the ball and they make plays when plays need to be made.”
Evans believes the game will be decided in the trenches.
“Who can play the line the toughest?” said Evans. “Coach (Kenyon) Cummins is a great coach and they will come prepared and ready to get themselves .500. We have to play disciplined football and tackle.”
The Hurricane has wins over Northwest (28-7) and Miami Trace (24-21) prior to last week’s 22-7 loss to Mt. Healthy.
Ross is in its first season as a member of the Southwestern Buckeye League. The Rams lost to 3-0 Wyoming (16-12) and 3-0 Mt. Healthy (40-14) before defeating Northwest (48-3) last week.
Wilmington and Ross were members of the Southwest Ohio Conference in 2012 and 2013. The last time a Wilmington varsity football team defeated Ross was in 2005, 40-14.
The Hurricane will make the long trip to Ross Friday. Evans said his squad won’t do anything different to prepare for the trip. Ross last won at home over WHS 48-31 in 2021. The Rams won last year’s game at Alumni Field 27-7.
Last week, after trailing just 8-7 at halftime, Wilmington was outscored 14-0 in the second half by the unbeaten Owls.
“We must finish until the scoreboard says 0:00,” Evans said. “We didn’t do that last week. One bad play doesn’t affect the game. I have to get them better prepared for those styles of games.”
The Rams through three weeks are one of the most run-heavy teams on offense. They have 139 rushing attempts compared to 10 passing attempts.
Emory Severance is the quarterback and had 334 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Riley Caldwell is the leading rusher with 405 yards and 6 scores. He had 190 yards and a touchdown against Mt. Healthy and 180 yards and 5 scores against Northwest. Caldwell also is the top tackler on the Rams defense.
