WILMINGTON — On a night when Wilmington unveiled its “camo-look” jerseys, the Hurricane took down the visiting Chillicothe Cavaliers, 38-6 at Alumni Field Friday night.
“We wanted to have a different look and show our appreciation to our hometown heroes, calling this Military Appreciation night,” said WHS head coach Ryan Evans, en route to the jubilant Hurricane locker room.
Wilmington is now 3-2 overall, with back-to back wins. Chillicothe heads back to Ross County still searching for the first victory of the season.
Luke Johnson put the Hurricane on the scoreboard first with a six-yard rushing touchdown and Dylan Groves added the PAT at the 7:20 mark.
In their next series, the Hurricane mixed up a combination of running plays and a sideline catch by Michael Streety to put the home team first and goal at the 10. Quarterback Jake Stephens scored the second WHS touchdown at 1:17 and Groves’ PAT made it a 14-0 Hurricane lead at the first quarter break.
Phayden Mawyer picked off an errant Chillicothe pass on the next series, leading to Johnson’s second TD of the night from nine yards out as Wilmington extended the lead to 21-0.
The next Hurricane score was delivered in exciting fashion, as Elijah Stewart returned Chillicothe’s punt 65 yards, and Groves’ boot made it 28-0 with 4:32 to play in the half.
Chillicothe got on the board on a 35-yard pass from Andrew Hamman to Juan Miller. A botched snap for the extra point kept the score 28-6 with just over two-minutes remaining in the half.
Wilmington was not done, engineering a drive that ended with Groves connecting on a 21-yard field goal with 21 seconds to go, giving WHS a commanding 31-6 lead at the intermission.
Stevie Rickman intercepted Chillicothe’s pass at the 35 mid-way through the third quarter, setting up the next Hurricane score, a two-yard quarterback keeper by Stephens and Groves’ PAT closed out the scoring.
Once the margin reached 30-points, the teams played the remainder of the game with a running clock.
“I felt we played well in all three phases tonight,” Evans said. “And after a slow start (first series) we turned it up and played well the rest of the night.”
Wilmington travels to Clinton-Massie next Friday night, starting league action in the SBAAC American Division.
