Wolves devour ASD, 47-0 in their first win

From: Daily Home Online - Sep 29, 2012

by MARK LEDBETTER

With an explosive offense and an inspired defense Coach John Limbaugh’s Fayetteville Wolves devoured visiting Alabaman School for the Deaf 47-0.

“It was a great win for the kids and the community,” Limbaugh said. “I’m glad I had a small part of it.”

The win was significant not only as the first win of the season for the Wolves, but it was Limbaugh’s first win as a head coach. Limbaugh served as assistant coach at Childersburg and Calera before taking on the program at Fayetteville.

“This was a great win for our program,” Limbaugh said. “The kids deserved it. They worked hard, and the coaches worked hard.”

The win was impressive on both sides of the line. The Wolves offense ran up over 380 yards rushing and added 74 yards passing.

“They were well prepared,” Silent Warrior Coach Paul Kulick said. “I tip my hat to them.”

Kulic said the Wolves did a good job shutting down ASD’s offense.

The Silent Warriors received the opening kick off and managed to open the game with a drive from their 23 to their own 45 before the Wolf defense took over. They were given an extra set of downs after a roughing the kicker penalty but went backwards losing yards before punting to the Wolves.

The Wolves then mounted a 54-yard scoring drive that featured a 23-yard strike from senior quarterback Zach McGrady to sophomore receiver Jacob Skinner. McGrady kept the ball on a quarterback keeper running 17 yards around left end to the 1-yard line. McGrady scored the next play on a quarterback sneak. The point after was good and the Wolves took a 7-0 lead.

The Silent Warriors began a drive from their own 28 after the kick off, but when freshman quarterback Joshua Edwards dropped back to pass, he lost the ball and Fayetteville recovered the ball at ASD’s 13. A holding penalty against the Wolves placed the ball on the Silent Warriors’ 28. McGrady then passed to junior receiver Tyrie Powell for a 28-yard passing touchdown and with the PAT the score was 14-0.

The second quarter proved disastrous for the visiting Silent Warriors. In just over one minute and with just four plays, Fayetteville scored 21 points on running plays of 48, 32, and 84 yards.

After a failed fourth down attempt, the Silent Warriors turned the ball over to the Wolves at their own 48. Wolves quarterback McGrady ran left on an option play and deciding to keep the ball McGrady cut back across the field for a 48-yard run to the end zone. With the extra point, the Wolves led 21-0.

ASD was unable to move the ball and a short punt put the ball on their own 32. Twelve seconds later, freshman running back Dustin Ingram took the ball on a sweep around right end and scored on a 32-yard run. The PAT made the score 28-0.

The next series of downs led to another a punt by ASD to the Wolves 16-yard line. Senior running back Damian Harris took the ball off-tackle, broke to the side line and outrunning the ASD secondary scored on an 84-yard touchdown run. The missed extra point made the score 34-0 and both teams headed to the locker room at half.

The Wolves received the second-half kickoff of a shortened quarter. An official said Silent Warrior coach Kulick was approached by the officials and asked if he would agree to shorten the quarter to 8 minutes. The official said Kulic agreed and Coach Limbaugh agreed to the proposal. Both the third and fourth quarters were shortened.

Limbaugh started his reserves in the second half but the offense did not let up. Taking almost 6 minutes off the clock, the Wolves drove down the field on the running of junior Jonathan Harbin, freshman Darious Cook, and senior Damian Harris. Driving from their own 38, it was Cook that scored on a 1-yard run and with a missed PAT, Fayetteville led 40-0.

ASD possessed the ball only 3 minutes in the second half and in the fourth quarter they managed 5 yards running and for the half their rushing yards was a minus 2 yards.

In the fourth quarter, Fayetteville took the ball at the ASD 45 and scored again on a run by reserve quarterback Tyrie Powell. The game ended with the Wolves winning 47-0.

After the game Limbaugh said it felt great to get his first win as head coach. But de was especially proud that he was able to get everyone in the game.

Limbaugh said his offensive line was outstanding opening holes for his runners. On defense, Grayson Shaw had his number called often as he led the defense in holding the Warriors to less than 100 yards total offense.

Even though the Wolves had few penalties and no turnovers, Limbaugh said, “There are still some things we need to improve on,” The Wolves travel to Verbena next week.

Kulick said his Silent Warriors would be working on tackling next week as he anticipated playing the Florida School for the Deaf. He said he would have all his players back and would make some adjustments on offense in preparation for their homecoming game.

Contact Mark Ledbetter at mledbetter@dailyhome.com

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