Wrightstown finds footing to top Denmark
WRIGHTSTOWN – Run the football and stop the run.
It’s a pretty simple formula.
The math still adds up for the Wrightstown football team.
The Tigers improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 24-13 victory over Denmark Friday in a North Eastern Conference game.
Wrightstown racked up 290 yards on the ground and held the Vikings to just 26 rushing yards to pull away in a game that was 10-7 at the half.
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“We had a few too many penalties the first half, but I think the second half we cleaned things up,” Wrightstown football coach Steve Klister said. “It helped getting that stop right away and then scoring right away. I think we got the momentum rolling then and built on that.”
Ben Jaeger led the way for the Tigers, rushing for 116 yards and a pair of scores in the second half.
Each of Jaeger’s touchdowns came on drives set up by big defensive stops.
Denmark opted to run a fake punt at the start of the second half on fourth-and-4 from its own 28, but was stopped. Five plays later Jaeger was in the end zone to extend the lead to 17-7.
The Vikings drove the field on the following possession and had second-and-goal and third-and-goal opportunities from the Wrightstown 1, but were stopped short each time.
A field-goal attempt on fourth down failed, and the Tigers answered by driving 80 yards in 10 plays and scoring with a scoring scamper by Jaeger.
“This one is completely on me,” said Denmark coach Tom Neuman, who said he should have gone for it on fourth down at the goal line. “These kids played their hearts out. They played a fantastic game. I can’t say enough about their toughness. They didn’t get tired, so they proved we can go two ways against teams that two platoon.”
Despite not having the same amount of depth, Denmark didn’t go away in the end as Seth Alexander caught a 68-yard touchdown from Reece Piontek.
Piontek completed 12 of 18 passes for 182 yards and the score, while Alexander caught seven passes for 140 yards with the TD.
The ground game from Wrightstown was just too much to handle. In addition to Jaeger’s big night, Jeremy Van Zeeland rushed for 87 yards and scored the game’s first touchdown, while Luke Renard added 64 rushing yards.
The Tigers are aiming to win their second NEC title in three years.
Meanwhile, the Vikings will try to make it to the WIAA playoffs again following an 0-2 start.
“Denmark is a good team,” Klister said. “They’re going to win some games, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make the playoffs.
“We have a lot of experience. A lot of these guys played last year, so I would expect in a tight game that they’re going to focus and come back the way they did in the second half tonight.”