WEST LAWN – Wilson’s Cam Jones did a little bit of everything Friday night as the Wilson Bulldogs drubbed the visiting Martin Luther King Cougars 37-0 Friday night at Gurski Stadium.
Jones ran for three first-half scores on rote to a 30-0 halftime lead, but according to Jones, two of those scores didn’t belong to him.
“One should have been Eddie Case’s,” said Jones, referring to Case being tackled at the 1-yard line after hauling in a 42-yard pass from Tom Hunsicker. “The other one should have been Amir Welmaker’s,” after Welmaker was also tackled at the one after his 31-yard run.
“The touchdowns are theirs; they did the dirty work for them,” added Jones.
There was plenty of dirty work to do Friday night for the Bulldogs.
Wilson’s offense got the job done but got off to a sluggish start. “They (Martin Luther King) looked at what happened last week and they blitzed from anywhere and everywhere,” said Wilson head coach Doug Dahms afterward. “So it took us a little while to start recognizing where the blitzes were coming from, but once we did we took advantage.”
Junior quarterback Tom Hunsicker found a way to guide the offense to 300 yards and five touchdown drives on the night, in addition to leading the team in rushing with 68 yards on eight carries, but it was the Bulldog defense, led by Jones, Isaiah Casseus, and Nick Crocona, that got the most dirt under their nails.
The Wilson defenders out-muscled and out-worked an overmatched Martin Luther King offense throughout the game, holding the Cougars to just three first downs, -18 yards rushing, and a paltry 17 total yards of offense. Jones and his defensive backfield mates gave MLK quarterback Abdal Bin-Habib nowhere to throw, while Casseus and his defensive line manhandled the Cougar running game.
“We stress: get better, get better, get better,” said Dahms after the game. “The one thing we did better tonight than we’ve been doing is physicality. There were some big hits out there.”
Jones also emphasized the importance of taking care of what they can control.
“As a team, we’re looking to minimize the turnovers and the penalties. We had three turnovers tonight, and if we do that at the end of the season, that’s going to cost us the game.”
Their willingness to do the dirty work week in and week out will determine how far the Bulldogs will go this year, but if Friday night is any indication, they are more than ready to get down to business.
