Sports
Pratt Propels St. Marys to Lopsided Win Over Wahama
< < Back toJeremy Pratt shortens his steps and comes to a stop in the end zone, pauses briefly before flipping the ball to the ref, and then heads to the sideline.
This series of events happened four times against Wahama.
No. 1 St. Marys, led by Pratt’s hard running, overcame a slow start to rout Wahama 40-20.
St. Marys took the heat to Wahama quarterback Kaileb Sheets early and often, forcing Sheets to scramble and create plays with his feet.
On a third and long midway through the first quarter, Sheets dodged four pass-rushers and flipped the ball to Demetrius Serevicz who ran a few more yards before being taken down a few yards short of the first down marker, but a facemask penalty kept the drive alive before it would eventually stall at the St. Marys 21.
Wahama stopped the St. Marys run game by stuffing the middle run lanes. On multiple occasions, the ball carrier didn’t have a chance to make a move before being swallowed up by a cast of White Falcon defending.
The Blue Devils solved this problem in the second quarter by swinging the ball outside. When doing so, they were almost guaranteed a five-yard gain.
Neither team reached the end zone until the beginning of the second quarter. St. Marys was the first to do this when Jason Allen punched it in from seven yards out to give his team a 6-0 lead.
Wahama’s defense struggled to contain the potent Blue Devil offense throughout the second quarter and half. Outside running wasn’t the only major adjustment on offense for St. Marys. Quarterback Evan Illar was firing on all cylinders. His accuracy jump-started drives and spread the White Falcon defense out. Once the Blue Devil’s reached the red zone, the middle of the field was open for them to plow through and get to the end zone.
Doing this most often was Pratt. The senior, who had over 1300 rushing yards in the regular season, pounded the ball all game. He had great success getting around the Wahama defense, which kept the Blue Devils rolling.
Wahama didn’t get on the board until the fourth quarter early in the fourth quarter. The White Falcons finished the game by scoring twice with 1:02 and 0:46 remaining in the game.
No.1 St. Marys will take on No.9 Moorefield next week in the quarterfinals of the A-Class playoffs.