A River Valley Conference rivalry renewed last Friday with Wilton and West Liberty getting together for the second straight season.
Unfortunately for the home team, not much changed on the scoreboard. While the Comets held a 7-6 lead in the second quarter, the Beavers bulldozed them 28-0 the rest of the way en route to a 36-7 victory.
Wilton opened up the scoring with just under four minutes to go in the first quarter. Here, senior running back Owen Hassell punched the ball in from one yard out to draw first blood.
The drive lasted over eight minutes and ended with six points after a missed point after attempt.
West Liberty showed great resilience and responded with its best drive of the nigiht on its first drive of the game.
Senior Seth Axsom returned the kickoff to the Comets’ 40-yard-line and put his offense in business early.
On a quarterback keeper, senior Ryker Dengler pushed the ball over midfield for a first down at Wilton’s 48 yard line.
The biggest play of the night occurred a few plays later as Dengler, under pressure, escaped a collapsing pocket and uncorked a bomb downfield to a wide-open junior Owen Daufeldt for a 43-yard gain.
On the first play of the second quarter, West Liberty opted for some trickery. With Dengler back in the shotgun, the Comets hiked a direct snap to Axsom in the backfield.
With the help of his teammates pushing the pile, Axsom got across the white line for a six-point score.
Junior Uriel Andrade put the ball through the uprights to add on the extra point for a 7-6 West Liberty lead.
Hassell scored his second touchdown of the half, this time on a 25-yard corner route to the far side endzone pylon, to put his team back on top.
Wilton succeeded on the two-point conversion to lead 14-7 heading into halftime.
The Beavers dominated the second half, shutting out the Comets and scoring 20 points of their own.
Overall, Wilton posted 456 yards of total offense while the Comets had just 207, including four yards rushing.
West Liberty rushed 18 times for negative four yards, according to statistics on Varsity Bound.
Dengler completed 16 of his 21 pass attempts for 203 yards with one interception. His favorite targets were Axsom (five receptions for 72 yards) and sophomore Tully Griffith (five receptions for 39 yards).
Defensively, the Comets were led by Axsom, who recorded six solo tackles, and senior Tytan Griffith who had five total tackles.
Additionally, Axsom recovered one fumble and returned two kicks for 36 yards.
West Liberty will go on the road for the first time this season as non-district play wraps up on Friday against West Burlington.
The Falcons are 2-0 on the young season with victories over Class ‘A’ Wapello (48-6) and Class 3A Mount Pleasant (31-10).