Wrightstown holds off Denmark

DENMARK – It looked like an early-round knockout was going to be delivered Friday night.

That ended up being far from the case.

Wrightstown picked up an 18-7 victory to improve to 2-0 by holding off a Denmark squad that simply wouldn’t stay down in a North Eastern Conference game.

“They gave us a battle,” Wrightstown coach Steve Klister said.

“They have kids that battle. They don’t give up, and their scheme is good. They get after it and it showed tonight because they definitely didn’t give up.”

The defending NEC champion scored touchdowns on its first two drives of the game. The first saw the Tigers go 59 yards in 10 plays – all runs – with senior Andrew Pelishek punching it into the end zone from a yard out.

Junior Ben Jaeger capped the second drive with another 1-yard touchdown run.

Real estate became much harder to gain after that.

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Wrightstown went up 18-0 with 3 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the first half with a Jaeger 3-yard scoring scamper. However, the Tigers didn’t have far to go on the possession, which started off at the Denmark 20 following a blocked punt by senior Evans Guns.

The Vikings went on to limit the normally draining ground-and-pound attack of Wrightstown to less than 100 yards of offense in the second half.

After falling 14-7 to Luxemburg-Casco in the season opener, it was the second straight week Denmark stalled the offense of one of the heavy hitters in the NEC.

“We are so close,” Denmark coach Tom Neuman said. “I really thought we had a better chance. We just came out a little flat in the first half to be honest with you. I thought our defense was a little shocked if you will, and our offense was a little flat.”

Denmark scored its lone touchdown of the game on an 18-yard scramble by senior Jack Satori on third-and-16 with 7:45 left in the game.

Following a quick stop by their defense, the Vikings had the opportunity to pull within a score but was stopped on downs at the Wrightstown 38 with 5 minutes remaining.

For as impressive as Denmark was in the outing, the Tigers’ size and depth of their line proved to be the difference. It could ultimately prove to be the key to whether Wrightstown can repeat as NEC champion this year.

“We have good depth on the line,” Klister said. “We’re able to go seven or eight guys on both sides of the ball on the line, which really helps to keep us fresh. Obviously, we have to work on some things and clean some things up, but overall I’m pleased with our depth.”

After seeing the last two NEC champions in its first two games of the season, Denmark will try to pick up its first win of the year at Clintonville next week.

“We got more to give,” Neuman said. “We’ve got to get off the schneid.”