Wright’s big night helps Redcats capture City crown
Jeff Wallack allowed himself a few seconds to revel in the accomplishment.
“To be where we were, we’d lost five years in a row and to go from 0-38 to the last two years (12) wins and to now win the City, it’s remarkable,” the Milwaukee Bay View coach said Friday night. “It’s something these kids will never forget.”
One week after winning the Richardson Division title, the school’s first since 2005, the Redcats defeated Milwaukee Marshall, 55-20, at South Stadium to win the City Conference championship.
And Bay View (7-2, 5-0 Richardson) did it in a fashion that those who have watched the team this season have become familiar.
The Redcats pounded the ball, got big plays from senior quarterback Isiah Wright and defensively contained the Blackbourn Division champion.
Wright had a 23-carry outing that produced a season-high 341 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
FAST START: The Redcats pride themselves on setting the tone, not only with their up-tempo offense but with how they begin games. They put Marshall (6-3, 5-1 Blackbourn) on its heels from the start with an 11-play touchdown drive that ended with a 2-yard run by Wright with 7 minutes 49 seconds left.
The drive set the stage for a 34-point first half that produced a 20-point lead.
Over and over in the first half Wright broke big plays on misdirection on which he would fake the ball to a back for a jet sweep and then would keep the ball and run up the middle. That play produced a 79-yard touchdown in the first quarter and an 84-yard score in the second.
“They see a jet sweep and then they see my other wing back coming the opposite way, so it’s a bunch of misdirection,” Wright explained. “We were killing them with a bunch of flies, which is basically handing the ball off to the wing back, and I was like, ‘Alright, they’re keying on that. They’re sitting two, three (line) backers over there, it’s time for me to take it and make a play.' ”
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN: It probably wouldn’t have made a difference given the trouble Marshall had slowing down Bay View’s running game, but the Eagles did nearly reach the end zone immediately after Wright’s opening drive score.
They took over on the Redcats 30 after a personal-foul
penalty was marked off and two plays later nearly tied the game. Senior Dennis Brown hit Sheldon Cruickshank for a 33-yard pass, but 2 yards before reaching the end zone the junior fumbled the wet ball out of the end zone. Touchback Bay View. Three plays later Wright scored his 79-yard run.
SAFETY FIRST: In a move that showed an awareness of personnel on the field and the risks of head injuries, one of the officials stopped play late in the first half when he noticed Marshall sophomore running back Amarion Allen on the field.
Earlier in the drive Allen was taken down to the turf hard and had to be helped off the field. When the official saw him back in the backfield, he stopped play and sent him to the trainer to be officially cleared to return to the game.
Allen was eventually allowed to return and Marshall, in his absence, scored a 3-yard touchdown by Brown to make it a 2714 game with 5:56 left in the half.
CLOSE CALL: The coaching move of the night came at halftime when Wallack got an ejection on senior defensive lineman Greg Lehman. Lehman, the team’s top defensive player, was initially ejected with 3:14 left in the in the second quarter after receiving his second personal foul.
Wallack disputed the ejection when it happened and when he received further explanation at the half was able to get the officials to reverse their decision. That was huge because an ejection would have made Lehman unavailable for next week’s playoff game.
“That was an error on their part,” Wallack said. “Early in the game we had a guy who got a personal foul on a kickoff and they accidentally called No. 6 on that. We went out and talked about where those personal fouls came from and the fact that Gregory isn’t a part of our kickoff or kick return teams.”
UP NEXT: Bay View makes its third straight playoff appearance next week. City teams sometimes have a hard time getting respect when it comes to seeding, so Wallack will have to convince the coaches in the room of his team’s worth.
“I hoping we at least get a home game,” he said. “We’re 7-2. I don’t know what more we have to do. We play the guys who are in front of us on our schedule.”