Wilson falls to Manheim Township, Hayden Johnson in high school football

Oct. 28—When asked what his team will work on as it prepares for the District 3 playoffs, Wilson football coach Doug Dahms didn't hesitate.

"Fundamentals," he said. "Fundamentals."

In a game in which the Bulldogs had to be nearly flawless, they missed too many tackles and made too many other mistakes Friday in a 49-34 Lancaster-Lebanon Section 1 loss to Manheim Township at Gurski Stadium.

The Blue Streaks (6-0, 10-0), ranked fourth in the state in Class 6A by pennlive.com, clinched the section title with another high-powered offensive showing.

Led by quarterback Hayden Johnson, who threw for five touchdowns and ran for one, Township rolled to 458 yards of offense.

It scored on its first two possessions on the way to a 21-0 lead.

Considering the Blue Streaks came in giving up just 5.9 points per game — including the last three by shutout — while scoring 47.3, it was just too deep of a hole for the Bulldogs (5-1, 7-3).

"In the first half we let things get out of hand," Dahms said. "We just gave them too many plays, made some mistakes that really hurt us. I think in the second half we played with a little bit more intensity, played a little better."

But on this night, even if Wilson had been able to make it a one-possession game, it's likely that Johnson — who has 40 TD passes and no interceptions this season — would have had an answer.

The 6-1, 195-pound senior and Lehigh commit completed 22-of-26 passes for 272 yards, while running seven times for 42 yards.

He scrambled out of trouble multiple times, completed passes on the run, and continuously frustrated the Bulldogs.

"He's the real deal," Dahms said. "He's really good. It's just not his accuracy throwing the ball. When he scrambles, he's fast. He finds things and breaks the tackles and he finds the open receivers."

On Township's second possession — after Declan Clancy capped the first drive with a 16-yard TD run and Wilson was stopped on a four-and-1 play — Johnson eluded a sack on a second-and-goal from the 14 and completed a throw to Landon Kennel for a touchdown to make it 14-0.

"We had a couple of opportunities to stop them and we missed tackles," Dahms said. "We had the quarterback in the backfield two or three times, long yardage, missed tackles. When you're gonna play against a team like that you have to play much better than we played."

Wilson tried a fake punt on its second possession, but didn't convert — Dahms said the play was there if not for some missed blocks — then got its only stop of the Blue Streaks offense. It looked as if the Bulldogs might get a blocked punt, but Johnson pulled the ball down and kept it to a 4-yard loss.

Still, Wilson appeared set to capitalize on the good field position when quarterback Tommy Hunsicker ran 22 yards on a third-and-5 from the Township 42, only to fumble at the end of the run. Asher Wolfe recovered for the Blue Streaks, who took over at their 11.

Six players later, it was 21-0 after Johnson completed a 20-yard pass to Kennel, who made a nice move inside the 10 to get into the end zone with 7:19 left in the first half.

The Bulldogs then went on their best drive to that point, a 72-yard that ended when Hunsicker completed a 9-yard pass to Madyx Gruber to make it 21-7 with a minute left in the half.

That was more than enough time for Johnson, however.

He led the Blue Streaks 80 yards in six plays in just 48 seconds, connecting with Clancy for a 13-yard score with 12 seconds left to make it 28-7.

"You really can't let that happen," Wilson senior safety/receiver Edison Case said. "That's just deflating."

In the second half, the Bulldogs scored on all four of their possessions. Of course, the only time the Blue Streaks didn't score was when they took a knee to run out the clock.

"You haven't seen a team put up that many points against them," Case said. "We played great on offense, probably one of our best offensive games. Our defense, we just got to hold it down a little bit better."

Hunsicker had an impressive night of his own, completing 22-of-29 passes for 169 yards and three TDs, and also running 20 times for a team-high 61 yards.

Gruber finished with eight catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns, and also connected with Case on a 40-yard touchdown on a halfback pass.

Clancy finished with 145 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, and four catches for 26 yards and a TD for Township.

The Bulldogs will have some time to regroup from Friday's loss. They will have a week off before playing their District 3 Class 6A opener, and will likely be either the fourth or fifth seed. If they earn the higher seed, they will have a home game.

"Hopefully we can move past this," Case said. "It's a good learning experience. I mean, we battled the whole game, but hey, just got to finish."

An opening-round win likely would set up a rematch with the Blue Streaks.

"That's a heck of a football team," Dahms said. "I don't know who's gonna beat them. We'll give it a shot if we get that far."