WILDCATS STUN HURRICANE, 38-12
Publication:
Published: 09/07/2002
Page: 1B
Headline: WILDCATS STUN HURRICANE, 38-12
Byline: JIM TOCCO
FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Last week, Hurricane
swirled through Capital High with power and destructive force. But the storm
that raged a week ago slowed to a whisper when it reached Nitro's Underwood
Field.
On a warm and dry Friday night, the Redskins handled the ball like it was
covered in grease, fumbling it eight times and turning it over nine times in
the Wildcats' 38-12 victory.
Nitro's defense hungered for the ball, scoring two touchdowns itself and
setting up the offense for three more.
"I don't know if I've got enough fingers to count the number of fumbles we
had tonight," said Hurricane Coach Gary Eggleton.
"They're a daggone good football team anyway,
and it's hard enough to beat them because they're so explosive."
Typically, the Wildcats are a high-powered offensive threat. Friday
night, though, Nitro did its exploding on defense, including a pair of
third-quarter fumble returns for touchdowns - a 28-yarder by senior Ryan
Meadows and a 26-yard return by sophomore Holden Eads.
Their normally high-octane offense was relegated largely to the role of
opportunist, scoring only one touchdown that didn't come from a turnover.
"I think we scored a lot, but our defense had a lot to do with that,"
said Nitro Coach Steve Tinsley. "Our defense really played aggressively. .
. We've been talking about getting 11 guys swarming to the football, and you
saw it tonight on those fumbles."
Still, all of the offensive weapons were there, and Nitro proved early on that
it would use them to take advantage of any miscues.
After defensive back Joe Farry picked off a Michael
Williams pass in the first quarter, Nitro put together an 80-yard touchdown
drive in just five plays, capped off by a 48-yard rumble by senior running back
Chris McGhee.
When the Redskins fumbled on their very next drive, the Wildcats needed
only one play, a 42-yard touchdown hookup from Derek Midkiff
to junior Lance Ervin.
Midkiff hurled that touchdown ball at least 40 yards
downfield, an impressive toss. It was one of two touchdown passes on the night
for the senior, but the normally prolific passer tallied only 156 yards. His
receivers dropped two sure touchdown passes and one two-point conversion, and
at one point, he missed on nine straight passes.
Still, Tinsley praised his performance, which came on the heels of 274 yards
passing in last week's 39-36 win at Herbert Hoover.
"To me, Derek had a much better game than he had against last week,"
Tinsley said.
Despite Nitro's two big first-quarter plays, Hurricane was otherwise able to
hold the Wildcats' offense in check in the first half.
"We did not hit on all cylinders offensively," Tinsley said.
"That's a credit to Coach Eggleton, who I have
always said is great on defense. . . he took away our
screen passes and that tripped us up a little bit."
Few teams have been able to trip up McGhee, who carried the ball 29 times for
163 yards and two touchdowns. The senior (who "wants the ball all the
time," according to Tinsley) was in the backfield until the last series of
the game but says he never tired.
"Once you get on top, you kind of forget about being tired," he said.
Nitro was on top the whole way, and Hurricane scored only twice, once in the
first quarter when Anthony Johnson returned a kick 74 yards for the score.
The Redskins put together their only scoring drive as time ran down in the
fourth quarter. It was an impressive 90-yard scoring push led by freshman
runner Joseph LaManca, who ran five times for 74
yards on the drive, including a 19-yard sweep for the score with less than a
minute to go in the game.
McGhee, who single-handedly out-gained Hurricane's backfield-by-committee
offense which featured eight different ball carriers, heaped praise on Nitro's
defense.
"We had a great week of defensive practice, and it showed out there
tonight," he said.
Wildcats players and coaches were all conscious of the fact that
although they put together a good win, starting the season 2-0, they'll need to
be even better to hang with seventh-ranked George Washington next week.
"We're going to have to play better," Tinsley said. "GW is going
to score points."
"We have to eliminate the turnovers," McGhee said.
Eggleton, impressed by what he saw, had praise left
over for Nitro's offense and still couldn't get over those turnovers.
"They've got a great offensive team," he said.
"Scott's got a great offensive mind. He does a great job; he always has.
He's got so many weapons, and he does a great job with it, so they're hard to
stop.
"But again, we're not going to beat anyone turning over the ball as many
times as we did. We couldn't beat a middle school team playing like that."