Mike Costello heads towards the sidelines on his way to a 72-yard punt return during Widdifield's 34-0 victory over Northern on Saturday afternoon.
The Widdifield Wildcats will be playing host to their second straight NDA Senior Football finals next Saturday, after they posted a 34-0 victory over the Northern Braves on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Wildcats will be facing the West Ferris Trojans for the second straight season for the title. West Ferris defeated the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears 23-0 on Saturday to earn their berth into the title game.
“The offensive line set the tone early and opened some great holes for us,” Wildcats head coach Sean Mullan said following the game about his offense, which put the Wildcats in front 28-0 at halftime.
“We’ve been working on our systems all year long, and we knew it would take some to improve as we went forward and today it all just came together.”
“Our defense did what they needed to do, it was just that conditions of the field were a factor at points for our offense,” Braves head coach Richard Lachance said after the loss.
“For some reason we were slipping and we just couldn’t capitalize on the chances when we had them. Also when you throw interceptions, good teams like Widdifield will capitalize every time.”
Wildcats running back Blaine Leblond started the game off with a bang as he ran for a 67-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. That would set up a four-yard touchdown run by Ryan Purkhart to put Widdifield in front 7-0, only a minute and a half into the game.
Northern would drive on their first possession, picking up a big first down with a 25-yard pickup on a fake punt by Matt Charbonneau. However, on the following play, quarterback Tyler Cameron’s pass was intercepted by Purkhart ending the drive.
Leblond would then make the Braves pay soon after with a highlight reel 56-yard touchdown run where he went through the Northern defensive line, ran out to the near sideline, then cut back across the middle, juking past two defensive backs for the score, and a 14-0 lead for the Wildcats after the first quarter.
A minute into the second quarter, the Wildcats special teams would get on the board, as Mike Costello returned a punt down the sidelines for a 72-yard touchdown, increasing the lead to 21-0.
Leblond looked to have scored a 60-yard touchdown on the next Wildcats drive, only to have it called back due to a holding penalty.
Following an interception by Ben Johnson, the Wildcats would take advantage once again of good field position as quarterback Tieler Gravelle hooked up with a wide-open Purkhart for a 30-yard touchdown reception, giving Widdifield a 28-0 lead at halftime. Kicker Dan Cobbledick would kick two field goals in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring for the Wildcats.
Despite going into the finals with home field advantage for the second year in a row, and holding a 13-3 regular season win over the Trojans, Mullan expects a different contest from the one that took place way back in the first week of the regular season.
“We’re going to need all five practices this week to get ready,” Mullan explained.
“Ferris is a great team and they’ve improved a great deal since we played them in week one. They’re not to be taken lightly and we’re excited to play them again, but we know that it will be a really strong team that we’re facing. They have a great defense, a strong special teams unit and that offense has improved a ton over the season.”
