Tigers attack Chargers by land and air in 52-14 rout

As Wilson Prep works toward a second straight 1-A Tar-Roanoke Athletic Conference varsity football crown, the Tigers keep working on what they think can help bring them a greater reward later this fall.

Friday night at home against Weldon, the Tigers diversified their offense to go with another dominant, if not airtight, defensive performance in a 52-14 victory that left them 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the Tar-Roanoke. Wilson Prep, which usually stays somewhat grounded in its wing-T formation, took to the sky Friday as junior quarterback Travon Usher completed 14-of-20 passes for 272 yards and touchdowns to Manny Dickens.

“One thing coming into this season I wanted to be able to do, I wanted to balance the offense and we’re definitely doing it right now,” said WPA head coach Phillip Dickens, whose team ran for 256 yards as well. “I’m excited. When you have a team that has seven or eight weapons that can score at any time, it makes you a dangerous team. And we’re blessed to have that, that kind of talent on the offensive side of the ball.”

The Tigers broke away from an early 8-8 deadlock to take a 30-8 lead at the half over the Chargers (3-2, 3-1 TRAC). Usher ran in the first of his two TDs and added the two-point run to give the Tigers the early lead. Weldon then did what three other TRAC teams have not been able to do this season — score on Wilson Prep, which had stated its goal at the outset of conference season to not allow any points.

“We executed,” said dynamic sophomore defensive end Jordan Hamm. “We took it personally because they’ve been talking junk all week. We wanted that goose egg but we didn’t get it. It’s all right though.”

The Chargers didn’t stop talking junk and were joined by the Tigers at times with numerous unsportsmanlike flags being thrown as the frustration built for the visitors.

“We are maturing a little bit more,” Dickens said. “And I told them, you know, guys try to get in their heads. And we became subject to a few of them, but overall, I’m happy with what I got out of our guys. A lot of them restrained themselves in a lot of situations.”

Ethan Nelson, who ran for 92 yards and a pair of TDs, gave the Tigers the lead for keeps late in the first half. It was a busy night for the rugged junior who racked up 116 yards in receptions while being the last Wilson Prep defender to emerge from the bottom of the pile most of the night. He even moved back to his former position at QB when Usher had to exit the game for a possession in the first half, completing a pass for 12 yards.

“Hey, I’m everywhere. When one guy goes down, I’m always up for my team,” Nelson said.

Nazir Vines got into the scoring act with a 72-yard run to push the lead to 22-8. Meanwhile the Tigers defense had the Chargers offense moving backward.

“Well, one thing about it, and we run our guys a lot, we’re gonna always be the better-conditioned team,” Dickens said. “At halftime, we saw them putting their hands on the hips, and our guys got excited, because now they done bought into the conditioning side of things. So we knew that coming out of the second half that we had them and, and like I said, the guys bought in. They got excited and we went right at it.”

Usher hit Manny Dickens with a TD toss just before halftime and connected with Hamm on the two-point play for a 30-8 halftime lead.

Usher and Nelson each ran in second-half TDs while Vines had a nice interception and return to set up Usher’s.

After Weldon, helped by Wilson Prep penalties, pushed the ball into the end zone again. Usher zipped a pass to Manny Dickens and the junior speedster turned that into a 57-yard TD. Junior 6-foot-4, 367-pound tackle Reggie Holmes barreled into the end zone with his second two-point run to cap the win.

Wilson Prep will play its third straight home game next Friday, Oct. 11, as KIPP Pride visits.

Manny Dickens said the Tigers approach each game as a chance to improve, regardless of the score.

“As long as we hold each other accountable and nail our assignments, we better ourselves as a team,” he said. “As long as we keep everybody in the game and in their heads, whether we go down, up and winning or we got the lead at halftime and need a booster even more, we keep our heads together and still roll as a team.”

The post Tigers attack Chargers by land and air in 52-14 rout first appeared on Restoration NewsMedia .