Wesley Shuts Out Apprentice 39-0
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A sack by defensive end Chris Mayes (Waldorf, Md./Westlake) on the game's final play put an exclamation point on fifth-ranked Wesley's 39-0 win over Apprentice in ACFC play. The play was Mayes' third sack of the afternoon.
In what has become a weekly trend for the Wolverines, Ellis Krout (Dallas, Texas/Roosevelt) caught a pair of touchdown passes, hauling in scores of 21 and 41 yards on his way to 103 yards receiving. The junior wideout has 12 touchdowns in six games this season.
The Wesley (6-0, 2-0 ACFC) defense scored twice as well, as Marcus Wilson (Pennsauken, N.J./Camden Catholic) and Aaron Benson (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven) each returned interceptions for touchdowns.
The Wolverines started the scoring on their first possession after the defense forced a three and out. Wesley took over at its own 45 and in two plays moved to the Apprentice 23. The Builder defense forced a fourth and eight, but Shane McSweeny (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) found Krout for a 21-yard score and a 7-0 lead with 11:21 left in the first period.
Wesley had a pair of potential scoring drives in the second quarter halted by turnovers, the second of which set up a field goal try for Apprentice (1-6, 0-2 ACFC). The 34-yard kick sailed wide right, however, and the Wolverines took over at their own 20. On the first play of the possession, DeAndre Fowlkes (Paulsboro, N.J./Paulsboro) got behind the defense and McSweeny hit him for an 80-yard touchdown and 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Just as on the first scoring drive of the day for the Wolverines, after a three and out by Apprentice, Wesley took over near midfield and McSweeny connected with Krout on a long touchdown. This time Krout made a finger tip grab on a 41-yard score that gave the Wolverines a 20-0 lead with 3:33 left in the half.
The Wolverines took the opening kick of the second half and went on an 11-play, 72 yard drive for another touchdown. McSweeny went 5-for-5 on the drive and picked up the final three yards for the score on a fumbled snap for a 27-0 lead with 8:59 left in the third quarter.
On third and 11 on the next Apprentice possession, Wilson picked off a pass and ran it back 36 yards for a 33-0 lead.
In the fourth quarter, it was Benson intercepting a pass and taking it 62 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring.
The Builders finally put some offense together on their final possession, tallying 75 of their 154 yards of total offense on the drive. But facing third and goal from the six, Mayes crashed the backfield with six seconds left for his third sack of the game to end the threat.
McSweeny completed 18-of-30 passes in the game for 298 yards and three scores. Krout caught six passes in his second straight 100-yard game. Fowlkes caught three passes for 96 yards.
Defensively, Wesley put up its second shutout of the season. Despite allowing 91 rushing yards, it took Apprentice 48 attempts to get to that number, an average of just 1.9 yards per carry. The Wolverines combined for 17 tackles for loss in the game.
Mike Asiedu (Yonkers, N.Y./Groton) and Mike Ward (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) tied for the team lead with nine tackles apiece. Asiedu brought down a pair pair of ball carriers for loss, while Ward had three tackles for loss and half a sack.
Mayes and Jeff Morgan (Vineland, N.J./Vineland) also had three tackles for loss, while Eric Adams (Ocean, N.J./Ocean Township) chipped in with a sack.
Apprentice quarterbacks Phil Caralla and Bryan Shahlamain combined to go just 8-of-23 for 61 yards.
Wesley will now prepare for Webber International on October 24 at 1:00 PM in the start of a four game homestand for the Wolverines to close the regular season.
Quotes:
Head Coach Mike Drass on the team's performance: "I thought we did a good job. Certainly we had some execution issues in the first half. We made mistakes in the first half when we had opportunities to score. But we did score twice before half after our opening touchdown. We did commit some penalties and missed a couple extra points. If you're want to be a good team, that's fine. But great teams don't do those things."
Head Coach Mike Drass on where the team needs to be: "Our goal is to go 10-0 and see where that takes us. We need to do some serious work to prepare for Webber (International)."
Notes:
- With two more touchdown catches, Ellis Krout has 12 on the season, just one from 10th place on Wesley's career list and four short of the school's single season mark.
- DeAndre Fowlkes touchdown catch was the first of his career.
- Shane McSweeny tossed for three more touchdowns, giving him 19 on the season, one more than his total from the entire 2008 season.
- He has 37 career touchdown passes, one short of Rick Renshaw's 38 and fourth place in the school's record book.
- He also moved into the top five all-time at Wesley with 3,468 passing yards.
- Mike Asiedu has had at least a share of the team lead in tackles three times in six games this season.
- Mayes had three sacks in the game, after just 1.5 in the opening five games.
- Mike Ward moved into ninth place on the Wesley career chart with 28 tackles for loss.
- Aaron Benson's interception return for a touchdown was his second of the season and he now has three interceptions for 136 yards.
- Wesley has shut out both Newport News schools this year by a combined score of 73-0 after a 34-0 win over Christopher Newport on September 5.
- The win lowered Wesley's scoring defense to just 7.0 points/game.
- Wesley has allowed three points in the first half and just 10 in the first three quarters all season.
- The defense has 12 interceptions this season after just 10 all of last season.
- Aaron Jackson passed Mike Pennewell for third all-time with 2,777 career rushing yards.
