Wyoming East wins sixth straight
Wyoming East (25) vs. Independence (0)
Written: Oct 31, 2014
NEW RICHMOND — When Class AA No. 16 Wyoming East started the season 0-3, with loses to Mingo Central, Westside and Nicholas County, the Warrior faithful may have begun to lose hope for the season.
Well, the fans may have, but the team sure didn’t.
Wyoming East used a balanced offensive attack on a cold Thursday night in New Richmond to beat the visiting Independence Patriots 25-0, increasing their winning streak to six straight games.
The return to form for the guys in green was a total team effort, according to Wyoming East coach Gary Poindexter.
“Our assistant coaches Kevin Hedinger, Luke Stevens and Donald Jewel did a great job of keeping our guys pumped up and confident that in the next game they were going to get it done,” Poindexter said.
“We kept preaching it and they bought in. We have a lot of great seniors that have won a lot of ball games here.”
Those seniors were on full display in what was likely their final game played in New Richmond. And it was the one who wasn’t sure he would be there that came up big.
Jonathan Culicerto, who missed part of last season after tearing just about every ligament in his knee against the Patriots in Coal City, returned Thursday night after being injured two weeks ago.
Culicerto said that his injury, suffered against Shady Spring, was similar to the one that ended his season a year ago, but he was saved by the protective brace he’s been wearing.
The Warriors were lucky to have him.
The multi-generational football standout tallied 10 total tackles and two sacks on defense, and came up with a fumble recovery inside the red zone early in the second quarter.
He got the job done offensively, as well, scoring a touchdown on a 52-yard run from scrimmage to give the Warriors a little more breathing room in the third quarter, putting them up 17-0.
“That’s all on the offensive line,” Culicerto said. “They blocked them off, and I followed the lead blocker then burst out. I give all the credit to the blockers.”
Culicerto wasn’t the only Warrior to get it done on the ground. Hunter Simmons broke a 30-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, after being set up by an impressive passing game from Aaron Griffith.
Griffith added a touchdown of his own late in the game when he found Casey Saunders from two yards out to put the game out of reach.
The balanced attack was just what the doctor ordered — and that doctor was head coach Gary Poindexter.
“We’ve strived since day one to be balanced,” Poindexter said. “Our guys have not been selfish. One guy’s going to be the guy one week, and the next game another guy will be the guy. That’s what’s made (the winning streak) so beautiful.”
Griffith knew that Independence’s defense — while being tough on the run — had struggled with the passing game all season, and looked to exploit it.
“We knew from studying from what they did against Liberty in the film that they struggled with stopping the pass,” Griffith said. “We knew they were going to do a good job stopping the run, and they did. But we never let up. They did a good job, and we gave a good effort on both sides.”
Independence did manage to stop the run successfully, holding the Warriors to only 133 yards on the ground.
It was most evident when Wyoming East had the ball within the two-yard line for first-and-goal and eventually turned the ball over on downs.
However, Independence wasn’t able to capitalize on its own red zone chances, coughing the ball up two times in the first half, ruining opportunities to cut into Wyoming East’s 9-0 halftime lead.
“It was deflating,” Independence coach Chris Vicars said. “You can’t do that against a good team. Turnovers are hard to overcome, and when you have three or foor it hurts. You can’t make those kind of mistakes and expect to overcome them against a good football team.”
The Patriots will end their season next week on the road when they take on Class A Fayetteville.
The Warriors, however, will face one of their toughest opponents to date in another team trying to hold on for a playoff spot in Liberty.
But one thing’s for sure, based on what they’ve learned earlier this season, the Warriors won’t be backing down.
“We wear these jerseys proud,” Griffith said. “They say Warriors on them. We don’t quit. We started out 0-3, but that’s just three games. That’s not and entire season. We knew we had to keep our heads up and keep moving and that’s what we did.”
— E-mail: jrollins
@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter at @JDanielRollins.
I (5-4): 0 0 0 0 — 0
WE (6-3): 9 0 8 8 — 25
First Quarter
WE — Hunter Simmons 30 run (Tristan Jones kick fail), 6:46
WE — Jones 39 kick, 3:21
Third Quarter
WE — Jon Jon Culicerto 52 run (Aaron Griffith run), 6:46
Fourth Quarter
WE — Casey Saunders 2 pass from Griffith (Saunders run), 9:04
INDVIDUAL STATISTICS:
RUSHING — I, Dustin Justice 9-19, Chris Mills 22-69, Andrue Hughart 4-34, Brandon Treadway 1-1 Ryan Brandstetter 11-37. WE, Hunter SImmons 6-25, Jacon Dulcie 1-1, Jon-Jon Culicerto 3-54, Nik Walker 19-52, Uriah Adkins 1-1.
PASSING — I, Ryan Brandstetter 1-6-1-28. WE, Aaron Griffith 5-13-1-83
RECEIVING — I, Brandon Treadway 1-28. WE, Casey Saunders 4-54, Jacob Dulcie 2-29.
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