New London linemen help defeat Winfield-Mount Union football

NEW LONDON — New London scored on the third play from scrimmage and its defense put the clamps on University of Iowa recruit Cam Buffington Friday in a 71-18 New London victory over Winfield-Mount Union in an 8-Man District 6 football game on Military Night.

Eighth-ranked New London had two weeks to prepare tor the Wolves. The Tigers did their homework well.

“One of our linemen transferred from (WMU)," said New London junior Boden Pickle, who rushed for 99 yards and scored three touchdowns. "You have to thank your linemen. Linemen are everything. Linemen control the game.”

The game was decided in the trenches where the Tigers wore down the much-bigger Wolves. Carter Allen, Trent Wilkerson, Drew Benz and a host of others wreaked havoc up front, giving WMU’s quarterback no time to set up and throw.

As a result, Buffington was just 9-of-22 for 73 yards with touchdown runs of 36 and 29 yards. Only five other WMU offensive plays covered more than 10 yards until late in the game when the reserves for both teams were in the game.

“We’ve been preparing (the linemen) for this game and games moving forward that they are the heartbeat of this team," New London head coach Mark McSorley said. "They are the ones who make this team successful. Without those guys our skill kids don’t get the yards they get. There is not enough praise for those guys in the papers and in the stats, but they are the ones who make this team go.”

"It’s truly a game of inches," W-MU head coach Scott McCarty said. “We had some guys who were running free, but the ball comes out low or hits a shoulder pad. A split second here or there. We didn’t execute as well as we could.”

“We made some (defensive) adjustments," said New London senior Joel Lacy. ”I moved around to a few different positions."

“When a quarterback panics, they can’t execute and that’s what happened," Allen said. ”They have a giant line. What won it was our footwork."

Allen caused a fumble early that set the tone. "When I jumped down to get on the ball, I got up and looked at the crowd. It was an insane feeling. It was amazing.”

New London had 11 different players carry the ball. Quarterbacks Dom Lopez and Ethan Streeter combined for three touchdown passes, all of them to Bowen Glaha.

The Wolves simply had no idea where the Tigers were going to strike next.

“We worked on a game plan and all the kids executed that plan," McSorley said.

Friday’s games have New London (2-0, 1-0) at English Valleys (2-1, 0-1) and WMU (2-1, 0-1) hosts HLV (1-2, 0-1).