Wildcats Whip Wayland to Keep Conference Lead

The football team maintained its perfect Midwest Classic Conference North record by whipping Wayland Academy 50-23 on a hot Saturday afternoon in Beaver Dam.

The win set up a showdown for first place in the conference next Friday night at USM when Lake Country Lutheran, which is presently in second place, comes to play.

After Wayland opened Saturday's scoring with a touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Michael Vaubel to Nick Fortune and a two point conversion on a run by Fortune, USM scored 50 unanswered points in the first half. The first eight occurred on the kickoff following Wayland's TD. Sophomore Djdade Denson returned the kickoff for 87 yards and a touchdown. USM faked a point after kick, and senior quarterback Tommy Pennington threw a pass to his freshman brother Joey Pennington to tie the game with 8:48 left in the first quarter.

The USM defense held the Big Red scoreless for the remainder of the first half.  Meanwhile the Wildcats added 42 points to their total.

USM scored its second touchdown on a three-play drive at the end of the first quarter. Senior Cameron Niazi ran the ball for 26 yards for the Wildcats touchdown.  The Pennington brothers completed the same extra point play for two more points, and USM led 16-8 with 0:48 left in the quarter.

USM senior Lane Stanford intercepted a pass to quickly quell Wayland's next offensive series, but the Wildcats were not able to capitalize on the opportunity.

The Wildcats did make good use of the ball the next time their offense gained possession of it. A Wayland punt gave USM the ball on the USM 31-yard line. Senior Kenny Servis began the drive with two runs for a total of 16 yards. He then took a pass from Tommy Pennington for another 16 yard gain. Sophomore Toran Marks ran for 20 more yards. After Tommy Pennington made a short 3-yard run, he handed the ball off to Marks on the next play, and Marks ran it over Wayland's goal line from 14 yards out. Tommy Pennington kicked the extra point to give USM a 23-8 lead at 8:06 in the second quarter.

The Wildcats' defense forced the Big Red to punt again after three offensive plays, and USM had the ball once more. 

This time it took USM only three plays to go 58 yards. Servis covered the final 46 of those yards on a touchdown run. Another extra point kick by Tommy Pennington made the score 30-8 with 5:53 left in the half. 

Soon thereafter USM scored again. The defense forced another Wayland punt, and USM scored another touchdown when Marks completed a four-play drive with a 63-yard run. Tommy Pennington kicked his third straight extra point with two minutes left.

The Wildcat defensive players should have given Wayland a two-minute warning as they decided to get in on the scoring fun on Wayland's next two possessions. On the first, Djdade Denson intercepted a pass and ran the ball in from 33 yards away for a touchdown at 1:42. USM's following two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful.

The USM defense scored again just two plays into Wayland's ensuing drive. Senior Marsalis McGhee picked up the ball after a Wayland fumble, and raced 37 yards untouched into the end zone. Tommy Pennington kicked another extra point and USM had a 50-8 lead at halftime.

USM's lopsided lead put the clock on running time. Consequently, Wayland only had two offensive series and USM had only one in the third quarter. Neither team scored in the twelve minute span. 

In the final quarter USM gave its substitutes a chance to play. The Big Red scored two touchdowns with the experiential advantage. Fortune scored the first at 3:30 on a 26-yard run. Vaubel's PAT pass to Zach Shubert was successful. Then, with just 22 seconds left, Wayland's Devin Denson scored on a 13-yard run and Vaubel kicked the extra point to make the final score 50-23.

USM compiled 393 total yards, 44 on passing and 349 on the ground. Wayland had 65 yards passing and 161 yards rushing for a game total of 226.

Fortune led Wayland with 84 yards rushing and Denson gained 60 yards. Vaubel completed five of 15 passes for 65 yards; he also had three passes intercepted.

Marks was the USM leader in running with 149 yards. Servis gained 101 yards; Niazi ran for 48 yards; and Tommy Pennington ran for 39 yards. Pennington also completed five of 11 passes for 44 yards. Chris Cooper threw one incomplete pass. Stanford was USM's leading receiver with two catches for 16 yards. Servis also had one reception for 16 yards. Djdade Denson caught one for 12 yards and Michael Tucker caught one for zero yards gained.

USM is now 5-3 overall and 5-0 in conference play. The Wildcats hope to win the conference title in Friday's game against Lake Country Lutheran at 7 p.m. at USM.