RallyNorth.net

Wildcats pounce on Amesbury

Wednesday, August, 22 By John Shimer
Staff writer

AMESBURY | Marion Wilder's 59-yard touchdown jaunt provided Amesbury with a strong opening statement on its first drive of the game at Landry Field, but Wilmington quickly silenced Wilder and knocked the rest of Amesbury's offensive unit off script as well as the Wildcats shredded Amesbury, 30-13.

The Indians did have success running the ball up the middle most of the night, but were never really able to make its ground game's effort pay off after the opening-drive score until very late in the game.

Wilmington, on the other hand, was able to roam fairly freely around the gridiron, even converting a couple of crucial fourth downs plays that kept scoring drives alive. Rich Barry carried the ball 26 yards for Wilmington's first score, which came with about five minutes left on the clock in the first quarter. Barry would get his second touchdown of the night on a three yard scamper into the end zone with three minutes left in the first half to give the Wildcats a 20-7 halftime lead.

Amesbury couldn't even enjoy its second score of the night, another Wilder TD, after a two point conversion attempt went awry. Josh Mayo intercepted Amesbury kicker, Jay Wheeler, and ran it back the length of the field (100 yards) to give the Wildcats two more points and a 30-13 lead.

The lone highlight on the night for Amesbury was Wilder, who finished with 15 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns. The loss dropped the Indians to 1-2 overall following last week's loss to Pentucket.

Amesbury looks to get back on message next week when it travels to Lynnfield on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kick off.