Wilmington defense shuts down Sandwich in second half

Wilmington 13, Sandwich 7 THE SKINNY: Sandwich led Wilmington 7-0 at halftime on a 39-yard touchdown run by running back Kody Randa before the Wildcats used two third quarter touchdown runs by junior quarterback Mason Southall to take a 13-7 lead. TURNING POINT: At halftime, Wilmington coach Jeff Reents had what he termed “a conversation” with his football team about their play in the first half. The Wildcats (2-0) responded with a 13-play, 89-yard scoring drive to open the third quarter capped by Southall’s 5-yard run to tie the score at 7-7 with 4:49 left in the period. THE STAR: In addition to his two touchdown runs, Southall completed 3-of-4 passes for 80 yards. The Wildcats’ Nick McWilliams rushed for 89 yards on 17 carries. BY THE NUMBERS: Wilmington’s defense held the Indians to one first down in the second half. The Wildcats outgained Sandwich (0-2) 246 yards to 135 yards in total offense. QUOTABLE: “We’re coming off of our rival game (against Coal City) and playing a team that got beat last week, and we were not playing as intense as we should have,” Reents said. “Sandwich is a playoff perennial and they gave us a great shot, and we responded in the second half. In the first half, we were on our heels. You have to give a lot of credit to Sandwich.”