Wells beats Winthrop, 30-13, to earn first place in D South

WELLS – This time Wells High really had trouble in football against Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale.

But the Warriors showed they can gain big chunks of yardage with the passing game. Junior quarterback Cal Moody completed 11 of 15 passes for 224 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Riley Murphy as Wells won a battle of undefeated Class D South teams 30-13 in a well-attended regular season finale on Friday night.

“The passing game worked when we started, so we continued with that,” Moody said.

Wells (8-0) will be the No. 1 seed in the regional playoffs, and both teams will receive a bye to the semifinals. In their fourth season in Class D, the Warriors have never lost to a Class D opponent. They went 12-0 in both 2017 and 2018 and won a third state championship last season when they returned to the division despite losing three games in the regular season. for Class C teams.

Winthrop (7-1) will be the No. 2 seed, meaning if both teams win their semifinals, they will meet in the regional final for the second straight season.

“A few things didn’t go our way. We played well. We came out physical,” said Winthrop senior running back Carter Rivers (15 carries, 56 yards). “We knew we could stay with them. They are a good team. A very good team. I think we played well. We’re going to practice again and figure out what we need to fix, and we’ll get better and hopefully meet them again.

Last season, Wells defeated Winthrop 41-0 in the regular season and 35-6 in the regional final, rushing for 390 yards in the playoff game, with junior backs Dominic Buxton (167 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Eli Potter ( 121 yards) have big games after Winthrop supposedly – at least according to Buxton – made pregame comments about shutting down Wells’ run game.

On Friday, Winthrop completely bottled up Buxton. He was held to 28 yards on 18 carries, and his fumble led to a 40-yard return by Ross Fichthorn for Winthrop’s first touchdown, cutting Wells’ lead to 16-6 with 2:30 to play in the second quarter.

“We felt pretty good about our game plan. I thought the kids played well,” Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton said of his run defense.

Wells had just 44 yards rushing in the first half despite leading 23-6.

Wells coach Tim Roche said he ripped into them unusually ‘hard at half-time. I wasn’t happy with the way we played. I mean, give (Winthrop) a lot of credit. It is a physical, strong team. I can’t take that away from them, but I wasn’t happy with our performance.”

Potter, the fullback, got off track in the second half, finishing with 141 yards on 17 carries, including a 50-yard touchdown burst on a third-and-short play to push the lead to 30-6. The possession was established when Dominic Carbonneau Winthrop intercepted quarterback Braden Branagan (9 of 14, 94 yards).

Winthrop gave Wells the first two points when a punt for a safety sailed over Gabe Robinson’s head. Wells then converted the free-kick into a 42-yard drive, finished off by Buxton’s 1-yard run for a quick 9-0 lead.

Winthrop responded with a long drive, with Rivers’ runs to the outside, and it looked like Rivers had capped the drive with a sliding catch in the end zone on a fourth-and-8 throw by Branagan from the Wells 22. ruled incomplete, a call who contested the Winthrop branch line.

“I don’t know what the referee saw. I thought I took it. Maybe he saw something different,” Rivers said. “Reffing is hard. I do it sometimes for little kids’ basketball, and it’s hard.

Wells then went to his passing game and it paid off. Moody found Buxton open in the middle of the field, and he turned it into a 66-yard gain. Then it was Murphy who ran fast enough that he could reach out his left hand and haul in a 27-yard one-handed touchdown catch for a 16-0 lead after Sabin Piatek’s extra point.

“You can always reach out and grab it,” Murphy said. “Me and (Moody) are getting more and more in tune with each other. We are always getting better and better in the passing game.”

After Fichthorn’s fumble return, Wells advanced 75 yards in 2:26, with Moody completing five passes to four receivers, including a 12-yard touchdown to Murphy with five seconds to play in the half.

The second half was a relatively even affair, with Potter scoring for Wells and Rivers scoring late on a 1-yard run for Winthrop.