Wissahickon can’t finish off Central

Philadelphia >> After enduring a rough couple of seasons the last two years Wissahickon looked to keep momentum going in 2016.
The Trojans did a lot of things right in Friday’s non-league matchup with Central but too many missed opportunities killed Wissahickon as it lost late to the Lancers, 27-21.
“We were going up and down the field and we got in the red zone a couple times and didn’t convert,” Wissahickon coach Randy Cuthbert said. “There were just some crazy plays. They had two defensive touchdowns which is tough.”
Wissahickon almost did everything right on its first possession of the game. The Trojans had a 19-play drive that took nearly 10 minutes of game play and covered 75 yards however the Trojans would come away scoreless. A sign of things to come.
By the end of the first half Wissahickon ran 41 offensive plays to only 17 plays for Central, amazingly the Trojans found themselves trailing 7-0 at halftime.
“We had a couple long drives to get down there and we stalled out,” Cuthbert said. “We talked about finishing blocks and executing and not committing penalties. I don’t know, I think maybe we were just flat in the first half.”
The Trojans weren’t going to nor did they lose the game in the first half as squandered opportunities left Wissahickon with no room for error. A pair of defensive second-half touchdowns including a dagger fumble return with 42 seconds left in the game was the kiss of death for the Trojans.
Wissahickon found the end zone on its first possession of the third quarter, a 10-play drive capped by a three-yard touchdown run by Darryl Baldwin.
Baldwin did his best to try to put the Trojans on his back as the shifty running back scored all three of the Trojan touchdowns while rushing for 203 yards on 32 carries.
“Darryl ran real tough,” Cuthbert said. “In the second half I thought we were wearing (Central) out and we were having long drives and big plays running the ball. He’s going to have a real good year we just as a group have to keep getting better.”
The loss was one that got away from Wissahickon but its hoping this team can learn from it and find a way to finish ball games.
“The bottom line is we need to learn how to win,” Cuthbert said. “We had a lot of opportunities to put that game away and we didn’t get it done.”