Walton holds on for Hoover's 298th win
The Daily StarThe Daily StarSat Oct 19, 2013, 07:00 AM EDT
Staff Report
Austin Kilmer scored three touchdowns Friday to give Walton football coach Jim Hoover his 298th victory as the Warriors downed host Bainbridge-Guilford, 27-22, in a Section Four Football Conference Division V game.
Colin Adam opened the scoring with a 9-yard run and Robert Merrill followed with the extra point to give Walton a 7-0 lead.
B-G countered with a 34-yard TD run by Mike Carlin and an extra point by Lucas Butcher to tie the score at 7.
Kilmer then put the Warriors ahead to stay, scoring on a 40-yard run. Dylan Wood’s two-point conversion run gave Walton a 15-7 advantage.
Although Cole Webb’s 30-yard TD run brought B-G back to 15-13, the Bobcats missed on the extra point. Kilmer then scored from 1 yard out and, after Butcher hit a 35-yard field goal, caught a 24-yard pass from Blake Hitt with 4 seconds left in the opening half.
“Giving up that TD with 4 seconds to go, that hurt,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly, whose team faced a 27-16 deficit at the break but shut out the Warriors in the second half.
Walton’s defense stepped up as well, however, limiting the Bobcats to one more scoring play as Mike Carlin caught a 20-yard TD pass from : Cole Webb in the fourth quarter.
Mattingly said B-G had three chances to score in the last 7:33, but Walton denied each drive. The game essentially ended when Walton stopped B-G on a fourth-and-long from the Warriors’ 20-yard line (incomplete pass).
Kilmer finished with 83 rushing yards on 17 carried for the Warriors, who received 89 rushing yards on 14 touches from Derek Mead.
Mike Carlin finished with a game-high 105 yards on 17 carries in his first varsity game at fullback for the Bobcats.
“He just had an outstanding game,” Mattingly said of Carlin, a tight end who finished with a varsity-best in rushing yards Friday. “The line blocked really well.”
Carlin also caught four passes for 68 yards, helping Webb to 74 passing yards in a 5-for-18 performance.
B-G (1-6, 1-4) will play an opponent to be determined in a Section Four crossover game next weekend.
Walton 27, B-G 22
Walton 15 12 0 0 - 27
B-G 13 3 0 6 - 22
W - Colin Adam 9 run (Robert Merrill kick)
B - Mike Carlin 34 run (Lucas Butcher kick)
W - Austin Kilmer 40 run (Dylan Wood run)
B - Cole Webb 30 run (kick failed)
W - Austin Kilmer 1 run (run failed)
B - Lucas Butcher 35 FG
W - Austin Kilmer 24 pass from Blake Hitt (run failed)
B - Mike Carlin 20 pass from Cole Webb (run failed)
Walton rushing: Derek Mead 14-89, Colin Adam 5-35, Austin Kilmer 17-83, Blake Hitt 2-(minus-3).
Bainbridge-Guilford rushing: Lucas Butcher 6-2, Spencer Stevens 8-38, Mike Carlin 17-105, Cole Webb 9-16, Chris Appledorn 1-4.
Walton passing: Blake Hitt 1-for-4, 24 yards.
Bainbridge-Guilford passing: Cole Webb 5-for-18, 74 yards.
Walton receiving: Austin Kilmer 1-24.
Bainbridge-Guilford receiving: Mike Carlin 4-68, Lucas Butcher 1-6.
REPORTER
The Walton football Warriors will return to the Section IV Class D playoffs as the result of last weekend's action. After holding on for a 27-22 win over host Bainbridge-Guilford on Friday, the Warriors secured second place in Division V of the Section IV Football Conference.
Delhi's Saturday win over Deposit/Hancock (see separate story) left those two teams and Walton all with 3-2 records in the division. The Warriors had the edge from defeating a Class C opponent, Whitney Point in the season opener, and when the Golden Eagles beat Greene (which beat Delhi in the second week), they maintained it.
Walton has the sixth seed, out of eight teams in the tourney, and will travel on Friday night to meet third-seeded Elmira Notre Dame. Undefeated Tioga is the top seed, with Unatego ranked second, Harpursville fourth, Spencer-VanEtten fifth, Moravia (by a coin flip) seventh and Sidney eighth.
The Warriors got on the board first in the game at B-G, taking a 7-0 lead on a nine-yard touchdown run by Colin Adam and Robert Merrill's conversion kick. The Bobcats came back to tie the score, when Mike Carlin raced 34 yards for a touchdown and Luke Butcher converted the extra point.
Still in the first 12 minutes, Walton regained the lead, on a 40-yard scoring run by Austin Kilmer, and made it 15-7 on Dylan Wood's conversion run. B-G responded with a 30-yard run to paydirt by Cole Webb, but the conversion attempt failed, and the visitors held on to the lead.
In the second stanza, the Warriors took a 21-13 lead on a one-yard plunge by Kilmer. Butcher booted a 35-yard field goal to cut the margin to five points, but Kilmer again got into the scoring column, as he received a 24-yard pass from Blake Hitt, on the quarterback's only completion of the night. The 27-16 score stayed on the board until the fourth quarter.
The later stages of the game provided to be hectic for the Warriors, but the defense prevailed, despite a 20-yard scoring pass from Webb to Carlin in the final frame, which made the score 27-22. Walton Head Coach Jim Hoover noted, "We only ran six plays in the fourth quarter, and we fumbled the ball over to them (the Bobcats) twice. We fumbled five times in the game, and lost three of them.
"The defense kept us in the game," he added, "They were down inside the 30 for most of the quarter, but the defense stepped up and threw their runners for losses. Our guys really stepped up to keep us ahead."
Regular running backs Quinn Harby and Christian Rutherford were held out of Friday's game, with Harby being ill and Rutherford nursing an injury. Derek Mead's 89 rushing yards on 14 carries and Kilmer's 83 on 17 totes, led the way, and Adam had five carries for 35 yards.
Carlin led the B-G rushing attack with 105 yards on 17 rushes. Webb completed just five of 18 passes for a total of 74 yards, giving the Bobcats a narrow overall yardage advantage of 239-228.
Hoover said that END has two excellent pass receivers, one of whom is a big running back, and the offense shows a lot of motion. "We will have to play well for all four quarters to stay in the game," he concluded.
