Wildcats use big plays to advance! @homerwildcats @BluePiratesFB

Tagged under: District 6, Game Photos, Gameday Hub

Greg Ricupero | October 31, 2020

PIAA D6 1A Playoffs

#7 Williamsburg Blue Pirates (4-3) @ #2 Homer-Center Wildcats (4-1)

@BluePiratesFB @ homerwildcats

Friday October 30, 2020

By Greg Ricupero Twitter @GregoryRicupero

Football is a team sport. When I write my stories there are a cast of characters.

Friday night one player stole the show. Homer-Center senior Ben Schmidt. He’s listed as 6’0” 205 but he plays bigger. He was involved in all 35 Wildcat points. He threw four touchdowns and a two point conversion. He ran for a touchdown and kicked three extra points. He returned kickoffs, made several big plays on defense and had an interception. Schmidt had close to 400 total yards about half rushing and half passing. He did have help however. Senior receiver Drew Kochman is almost impossible to tackle in space.Let’s give Williamsburg credit they could have quit several times in this game and didn’t. I also have not seen a team hit harder this year than they did tonight.

HC won the toss and elected to receive. They went 70 yards in three plays. Ben Schmidt’s first touchdown pass of the night was a 25 yard pass right down the middle to senior Travis Mock. Fifty-five seconds into the game and it was 7-0. The one glaring issue for the Wildcats all night was their kickoff team. The Blue Pirates returned the kickoff to the Wildcat 40. Williamsburg started with two straight penalties for motion and ended up losing 4 yards on three plays. The snap went over the punters head on fourth down but he was able to run it down and get a punt away. HC had its own problems with fumbles and snaps. One of those fumbled snaps forced the Wildcats to punt on fourth and 17. Williamsburg would pick up a first down before punting. Homer-Center would pick up a first down before fumbling the ball back to the Blue Pirates. Williamsburg would be stopped on a fourth down deep in Wildcats territory at the start of the second quarter. I had thought coming into the game the HC would win 50-30. However both offenses were struggling.

Homer-Center would start the second quarter like the first quarter with a long touchdown pass. The Wildcats drove 81 yards, the last 60 coming on a Ben Schmidt to sophomore Michael Krejocic hookup. Krejocic is one of a few talented underclassmen that coach Greg Page has been able to blend in with his star quarterback. A big decision in the game occurred on the next Williamsburg drive. The Blue Pirates faced a fourth and one from their own 40 and elected to punt. HC responded by going 70 yards in eight plays with Schmidt scoring the touchdown on a short hard run. The extra point was blocked. The last four minutes of the half were a track meet. Williamsburg returned the kickoff to the Wildcat 13. They picked up a first down and lost a fumble at the HC 3. Another big decision occurred at this point facing a third and long from their own 12 , the Wildcats decided to pass the ball instead of running time off the clock and punting. Schmidt hit senior Drew Kochman on the sideline and he made a PLAY. You really need to check this one out on my Twitter. The 88 yard touchdown put the Wildcats up 28-0. It’s over right?

The Blue Pirates Jahmarea Wansley return the kickoff to the HC 3. Two plays later Wansley smashed into the end zone to get the Blue Pirates on the board.

The half ended 28-8 Wildcats.

Williamsburg took the second half kickoff and drove 38 yards to the HC 21 before turning it over on downs. The Wildcats then drove 56 yards to the Blue Pirate 23 before turning it over on downs. The Wildcats picked up two first downs on the drive using the hard count. After the media timeout, Ben Schmidt picked off a Williamsburg pass. Three plays later Schmidt hit Kochman on the left sideline he raced all the way across field picking up a huge block, weaving thru the entire Blue Pirates defense to score his second touchdown. This one was better then the first one. Game over? Williamsburg responded by going 53 yards in three plays. Junior quarterback Lambert Palmer finished the drive with a short touchdown run. The big play was a Palmer pass to junior Caymen Hughes that covered 36 yards. We went to the fourth quarter with HC leading 35-16.

Schmidt tried to go deep again to start the fourth quarter and was picked off.

The Blue Pirates would go 80 yards in just under three minutes to score again.

The big play was a 40 yard pass play to Hughes on a trick play. Palmer finished the drive with his second touchdown run. The Blue Pirates were now down just 11 points with a little over nine minutes to go. The Wildcats offense used just 56 seconds on a three plays and punt it back to Williamsburg. Two plays later senior nose tackle Caden Brown recovered a Blue Pirate fumble. The Wildcats were able to pickup a fourth and three and chew up over five minutes before giving the ball back to Williamsburg. The Blue Pirates last drive from the shadows of their own goal post ended with two sacks and two incompletions. HC took a knee inside the Williamsburg 10. The final score Homer-Center 35 Williamsburg 24.

Players of the Game

Williamsburg- Junior quarterback Lambert Palmer had over 175 yards passing, 2 rushing touchdowns and an interception.

Homer-Center- Senior quarterback Ben Schmidt over 225 yards passing, over 175 yards rushing, threw four touchdowns, ran for one, kicked three extra points and had an interception.

Game Notes

Thanks to Homer-Center and it’s staff, I always a great time there. I love the Wildcat “Train Song”. The band director really has his kids into the game.

Ben Schmidt went over 3000 career yards rushing in the second quarter. Schmidt also went over 5000 yards passing for his career on his second touchdown pass to Kochman. Williamsburg coach Ryan Hileman did a great job with a team that was 0-20 in it’s last two seasons. I was really impressed with their hitting and the fact they never gave up.

W -0 -8-8-8=24

HC-7-21-7-0=35

HC-Ben Schmidt 25 pass to Travis Mock xp Schmidt (0-7)

HC-Schmidt 60 pass to Michael Krejocic xp Schmidt (0-14)

HC-Schmidt 6 run xp blocked (0-20) (video my Twitter)

HC-Schmidt 88 pass to Drew Kochman 2pts Schmidt to Mock (0-28)(video my Twitter)

W- Jahmarea Wansley 4 run 2pts. Tyler Clark run (8-28) (video my Twitter)

HC-Schmidt 27 pass to Kochman xp Schmidt (8-35)

W- Lambert Palmer 1 run 2pts Palmer to Dallas Price (16-35)(video my Twitter)

W-Palmer 24 run 2pts Clark run (24-35)

Homer-Center will play winner of Juniata Valley @ Portage next weekend next Friday at home.

Scoreboard D6 Playoffs