WILMINGTON — Wilmington Charter’s defense continued its recent spectacular play, holding yet another opponent scoreless. This time, the Force shut down St. Elizabeth in an 18-0 gridiron victory on Oct. 14 at Abessinio Stadium.
It was the fourth consecutive shutout for Wilmington Charter, who improved to 5-1 on the season.
On a chilly, wet day at Abessinio, both the Force and the Vikings relied on the ground game for the bulk of their offense. But both defenses came to play, keeping the scoring to a minimum. The Vikings had the best chance in the first quarter when Jihad Brown caused a Charter fumble, and Daniel Konkle recovered the ball at the Force 20. St. E’s, however, ended up turning the ball over on downs.
The Force hurt themselves repeatedly in the early going with penalties, but a good punting game kept the field position tilted in their favor. Charter forced a St. Elizabeth punt from deep in Vikings territory late in the first, and Charter went to work from the St. Elizabeth 31 as the second quarter opened.
Facing a third and 8 from the 29, quarterback Roman Paoli found Brady Harach in the corner of the end zone. Harach outdueled a Vikings defender for possession and a 6-0 lead with 8:39 remaining in the half. The Force missed the two-point conversion.
Charter’s defense held the Vikings to a three and out, and the Force took over again at the St. Elizabeth 31. This time, they needed just one play to score. Harach went up the middle to double the lead.
The Vikings’ longest drive of the day came in the third as they moved from their own 4 to the Wilmington Charter 28. Brown opened that sequence with runs for 11 and 10 yards, and Gavin Andrews caught two third-down passes from his brother, Cole, to move the chains. That series, however, ended with a turnover on downs, with the Force taking over at their own 32 with 11:05 to go in the contest.
Harach was a workhorse on this sequence. He ran for 15 yards on first down, then for 11 on the next play to get the ball to the St. Elizabeth 42. A few plays later, he ran for 21 yards to the Vikings’ 5, and he finished the drive with a 3-yard burst off right tackle to complete the scoring.
Final statistics were not available on Saturday night. Wilmington Charter visits Delcastle next Friday for a 6 p.m. start. The Vikings (2-4) are at Christiana on Saturday at 11 a.m.
All photos by Jason Winchell.
