WADSWORTH: It was a wet and rainy evening for the matchup between Green and Wadsworth Friday, and running back Seth Wieland again led the way offensively by scoring two touchdowns for the Bulldogs in the 21-9 win at Art Wright Stadium.
Green (5-2, 3-1) controlled the game through much of the first half as the visiting Bulldogs put a damper on homecoming for the Grizzlies (4-3, 2-2).
“It was a physical battle,” Green coach Ed Cybak said. “We told them when you get in this league that every game is a battle and they rose to the challenge tonight.”
Just like much of the season so far, Green has relied on and successfully executed big plays in timely situations. This night was no different.
Cybak was particularly impressed with his team’s ability to make those plays, even when the offense seemed to struggle at times.
With under a minute to play in the first half, quarterback Darryl Corrin III found Seth Wieland for a 40-yard touchdown to increase the Bulldog lead.
“ [Wieland] is just continuing to show why he’s such a great player,” Cybak said.
The Bulldogs maintained momentum much of the night as they controlled the defensive tempo and stifled the Wadsworth offense not allowing any touchdowns the game.
Wadsworth coach Greg Dennison said moving the ball against the Green defense was tough because of the physicality the Bulldogs possess on the defensive line.
“They just have a lot of guys who make plays,” Dennison said.
However, on this night, the defense played by the Grizzlies was not to be overlooked either.
Cybak said the offense made adjustments at halftime because the Wadsworth defense was able to stop a lot of the Bulldogs screen plays and contained well.
“We came back to what we normally do running between the tackles, and we started to have some success,” Cybak said.
The Grizzlies fought to limit the long drives of the Bulldogs, and an interception by Austin White set up a drive that allowed Wadsworth to cut into the lead late in the third quarter.
Luis Escudero converted his third field goal of the game to make the score 14-9 just as the fourth quarter began for Wadsworth.
But the Green offense proved to be too much for the Grizzlies to contain.
Following the field goal with 11:51 to play in the game, the Bulldogs orchestrated an 8:11 drive completed by a Wieland 1-yard run to complete the final score of the game.
Dennison said the Grizzlies need to eliminate mistakes as well as make adjustments to the defense before going into next week.
“Offensively we need to finish some drives, and defensively we have to sure up our pass defense,” he said.
For the Bulldogs, Cybak stressed the importance of the team’s final three games and the desire to finish strong.
“We still have three quality opponents left, and we are trying to make our way to a league title,” Cybak said.
