By SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer
CNHI
10-20-10 — The Wayne County Cardinals met district rival Somerset, last Friday
night at Clark Field, in an important match up for both teams. The
Cards entered with a 2-1 district mark and 3-4 record overall, while
the Jumpers, the #1 ranked team in Class 3A, could clinch the
district with a win. Somerset owned a perfect 8-0 record, coming off
a 49-16 win at Garrard County while the Cards were fresh off a 55-6
home win over Jackson County. The contest marked the 30th meeting
between the two schools with Somerset owning a 23-6 series advantage,
including a 9-0 win at Jewell Field in 2009.
Junior running back Alex Lange rushed 11 times for 158 yards with 2 touchdowns, as Somerset totaled 455 yards of offense, en route to a 62-10 win. Lange scored on runs of 15 and 29 yards, while Eric Manning totaled 251 yards of offense with 3 scores.
Manning, a 5-10 175 lb. senior quarterback, completed 7 of 18 passes
for 159 yards with scoring passes of 28 and 10 yards, plus added 92 rushing yards on 10 attempts. The All-State candidate scored on a 17
yard run and senior back Zach Bastin tallied touchdown runs of 8 and 2 yards, as the Jumpers broke the game open with 27 unanswered points in the second half.
"Somerset has a good football team and just so many weapons on offense. We knew they were so dangerous with the big play and make things so tough on the defense. If you don't have speed your chasing
it and we never quit, but we chased their athletes all night," said
Cards head coach Shawn Thompson. Wayne County also struggled on the
offensive side of the ball, as the squad used 61 total plays to net a
season low 90 yards. The squad rushed the ball 41 times for 0 yards
and Shawn Dishman completed 9 of 20 passes for 90 yards with one
touchdown, against one interception.
The junior quarterback was under pressure all night and was sacked 8
times, which left the Cards rushing totals skewed.
"We are a pretty banged-up football team. In the second half we
struggled to have enough healthy backs to run the offense. The
numbers are ugly, but anytime a team has minus 80 yards on just
sacks, that's tough to overcome, Somerset is very good up-front and
quick all over the field. We just have to go back to work and try to
heal up before Taylor County," said Thompson.
Sophomore wide receiver Kyle Gehring grabbed a game high 4
receptions for 41 yards and junior back Dustin Dodd paced the ground
attack with 37 yards on 9 attempts.
"We ran sixty-one plays, so we tried a little bit of everything, it
was just one of those nights. I don't fault my kids at all I thought
we played hard with good effort. Kyle Gehring did have a good night
on both sides of the ball and had some good catches, plus an
interception," said Thompson.
The Cards opened the game with the football and used 8 plays to move
the ball to the Somerset 20 yard line, before the drive stalled short
of the first down marker at the 16 yard line.
"We came out and moved the ball pretty well early, but just couldn't
break a big play," said Thompson.
The Somerset offense scored on their first five possessions of the
game, including three touchdowns in the first quarter. The Jumpers
used 8 plays to march 80 yards and scored on an Eric Manning 17 yard
touchdown run. The Colby Hall extra-point pushed the lead to 7-0 with
6:45 left in the quarter.
A Storm Wilson 35 yard punt return gave the host great field-
position on their second series, at the Wayne County 17 yard line.
Zach Bastin scored 3 plays later on an 8 yard touchdown run with 4:26
left in the period.
Somerset pushed the lead to 21-0, just 4 minutes later on an Alex
Lange 15 yard touchdown run, as the Jumpers totaled 155 yards of
offense in the opening 12 minutes.
The Cards fumbled away the football on their next possession, on
their own 29 yard line. The Jumpers used two Manning passes of 19 and
9 yards, to set-up a Derrick Jackson 1 yard scoring plunge. The Colby
Hall point-after moved the score to 28-0, with 11:56 left in the
first half.
Wayne County battled back with their best drive of the night, aided
by two Somerset penalties of 15 and 5 yards. The Cards used 14 plays
to travel 67 yards and score on a Shawn Dishman 6 yard pass to Dagan
Shelton. The Filip Hillhammer extra-point closed the gap to 28-7,
with 5:24 left in the second period.
The Somerset offense continued their fireworks, as an Eric Manning
58 yard pass to Zach Bastin, setup a Manning 10 yard pass to Taylor
Sears. The extra point pushed the lead to 35-7, with 3:56 left in the
half.
"Just an offensive buzzsaw, that's all you can say," said Thompson.
Wayne County added a 26 yard Filip Hillhammer field goal, as time
expired, which left the halftime score at 35-10. The field goal was
setup by a Jr. Ruiz fumble recovery on the Somerset 9 yard line.
"I thought we competed pretty hard in the second quarter and made a
couple of plays on both sides of the ball," said Thompson.
Somerset dominated the second half with two touchdowns each in both
the third and fourth quarters.
Zach Bastin added his second score of the game, on a 2 yard run,
which pushed the lead to 42-10, at the 6:53 mark of the third
quarter. The Jumpers scored again less than two minutes later, on an
Alex Lange 29 yard touchdown run.
Wayne County struggled with injuries in the second half and couldn't
muster any offense, as six possessions produced 6 punts and 0 first
downs.
Somerset continued to pad the stats in the final 12-minutes, as Eric
Manning connected with J.P. Henderlight on a 28 yard touchdown pass
and then reserve will Lange added a 33 yard touchdown run, which left
the final score 62-10.
"We have to go back to work and its a short week with the game on
Thursday, so we don't have a lot of time to heal up. This was a very
physical game and hopefully everyone will be back healthy soon, I
know a lot of our guys missed snaps with injuries," said Thompson.
For a preview of the Wayne County and Taylor County game see related
article in this weeks Outlook.