Fremd gets it white at Wheeling
The Fremd student body, all dressed in white, called it a "white-out" Friday night at Wheeling.
And the spirited fans got to watch a shutout from their football team which rolled past the Wildcats 42-0 before a near-capacity crowd.
After taking advantage of 4 turnovers in each of their first two games, the Vikings forced 6 this time, including 2 in the first eight minutes which resulted in a 14-0 lead.
Fremd's Michael Sahli, Alexander Vanduch, Kyle Broman, John Josif and James Szafranski all recovered fumbles and Vanduch added an interception as the Vikings improved to 3-0 while handing the Wildcats their first loss.
"They're big, powerful and keep coming at you," said Wheeling coach Dave Dunbar. "They just tried to seal us down inside and get to the outside and we didn't respond."
Getting to the outside was senior running back Evan Wright, who rushed for 167 yards in 21 carries. He ran behind blockers such as Brian Bobeck, Michael Metzen, Michael Rumps, Max Moss, Evan Schaeffer, Patrick Stitch and Notre Dame-bound Christian Lombard.
"I thought we definitely did a good job of capitalizing on their mistakes," Lombard said. "But the thing we have to improve on is that we had a lot of penalties (8-85). The scoreboard may tell a different story but we have a lot to work on."
Josif quickly went to work by recovering a fumble on Wheeling' first play from scrimmage at the Wildcats' 38-yard line. Five plays later - all carries by Wright - the Vikes were in the end zone on a 4-yard run with 10:06 left in the first quarter.
With 4:48 left in the period, linebacker Szafranski continued the turnover parade when he scooped up a fumble in the Wheeling backfield and proceeded 9 yards into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
"I picked up one last week at the 25-yard line (in the third quarter against Hersey) and made it to the 1-yard line," Szafranski said. "So it felt good to take it into the end zone this time. We were looking for them to run the option and hoping we could maybe scoop and score."
The Vikes scored twice more in the half on TD runs of 6 and 41 yards by Wright.
"It all starts with the guys up front," Wright said. "We tried to establish the run all week in practice. We're a run-first team. We'll keep running until the other team stops us. But without the line, there's no running game at all."
Szafranski also caught 3 passes from quarterback Richard Concialdi for 57 yards.
Backup QB Billy Payne engineered a 72-yard TD drive in the final quarter, including 3 completions to Josh Jyawook for 42 yards. Isaiah Coleman ended the drive with a 5-yard TD run with 7:15 left, forcing the running clock.
Kevin Schaeffer booted all 6 extra points.
Wheeling defensive back Matt Splon had 2 interceptions.
"Mike (Donatucci, Fremd coach) and his staff do a nice job," Dunbar added. "Our guys just need to respond better to situations like this."