Butler football ‘shell-shocked’ as Wheeling Park offense dominates in Tornado’s out-of-state game
WHEELING — It was fireworks from the opening snap Friday for Wheeling Park football, which rode a series of big plays in the first half to a 47-20 win by the night’s end against visiting Butler.
Junior running back Brennan Wack took the first play of the game 70 yards for a score on a delayed handoff — making for no delay before Park got on the board for the first of six Patriot touchdowns and went ahead 44-6 at halftime
“They came out and hit us quick, scored on the first play of the game,” Butler coach Eric Christy said. “We got kind of shell-shocked on that play — the defense has played really well all year, they’ve been great, so it was just kind of one of those things. Then we try and come back and answer, didn’t quite get back what we needed to early on. They had a great team, a great game plan for us. We kept fighting, kept battling, but they had a good answer for us tonight.”
Wack finished with three touchdowns, turning seven handoffs into 145 yards. The Patriots star also had three catches for 64 yards, doing all his damage in the first half before sitting the whole second half along with most of Park’s starters.
Wack’s immediate explosion set the tone for the night.
“We’ve kind of been slow-starters all year long,” Wheeling Park coach Chris Daugherty said. “We’d been talking about starting fast — we definitely did that tonight, and we reaped the benefit of it. We got a little mojo early, and we were able to ride that emotion a little bit.”
Wheeling Park blocked an extra point and blocked a punt deep in Butler’s own territory in a banner day for the Patriots’ special teams.
“We work on that stuff,” Daugherty said. “That doesn’t mean it’s always going to happen, but you keep working on those things. It was nice to see kids who had worked all year long, and our coaches who put time into coaching special teams, to see that pay off.
“We played hard, and we were able to make some plays on that side. I think all year long our special teams have done really well, and it helped kick-start our offense and our defense too.”
The Golden Tornado battled their way on to the board with 7:37 to play in the second quarter, Marcus Vicari hauling in a back-shoulder reception for a 19-yard touchdown. Vicari had two catches for 24 yards Friday. His yardage total was second to Evan Reinsel, who had a 27-yard reception in the fourth quarter. After the blocked extra point, Park led 21-6.
Butler’s long snapper sent a snap over the punter’s head for a safety with five minutes to go in the second quarter, the Patriots scoring on a 36-yard touchdown play on the ensuing possession to give Park a 38-point halftime lead.
Park played almost exclusively second-string in the second half — Bordas stayed on the field to hand off to Nate Hodge in the third quarter before bowing out for freshman QB Jonah Hardaway.
Butler’s Mark Klemz ran in a 33-yard score in the third quarter, and the Golden Tornado’s Jacob Kollinger scored from 1 yard out in the fourth. Klemz finished with 76 yards rushing while Kollinger had 79 yards on the ground.
Butler (4-5) returns home for its season finale against Central Clarion (8-0).
