By ANDREW FEEBACK
GASTON — The Southern Wells Raiders found big plays to be the bane of their existence in Friday night’s 51-6 loss to the Wes-Del Warriors.
Five of Wes-Del’s seven touchdowns came on plays of at least 40 yards, and it was another long night for the Raider defense.
Eli Wright did most of the damage for Wes-Del early on, with his 48-yard burst getting the home team on the board first. Minutes later, his 64-yard dash gave the Warriors a 12-0 lead.
On the opening play of the second quarter, with Wes-Del facing third and 13, the Warriors ran the same play that led to Wright’s previous touchdown, and this time he took it 82 yards for another score.
Southern Wells did itself no favors offensively in the first half with five straight possessions lasting less than two minutes.
The Raiders did put together a nice drive in which quarterback Trey Slusher completed four passes for double-digit gains, the last of which went to Bryson Williams for a 10-yard score, but the game got away from the Raiders very quickly after that.
Mason Davis found an opening and raced 58 yards for a touchdown, then Grayson Mealy scored from 87 yards on a third down play.
Wes-Del threw just one pass the entire game, a flea-flicker from receiver Carter Flynn to Tyler Summers for a 40-yard pickup. Owen Long’s touchdown run on the next play gave Wes-Del a 43-6 lead at halftime.
Southern Wells reached the red zone on its final first-half possession, but Slusher’s pass was intercepted near the goal line.
The only scoring play of the second half was a 37-yard run from Wes-Del’s Rhyker Mauck.
The Raiders finished with negative rushing yards once again, with 17 carries resulting in minus-23 yards.
The Warriors, on the flip side, finished with a staggering 505 yards on 30 attempts.
Southern Wells will travel to Woodlan next Friday night.
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WES-DEL 51, SOUTHERN WELLS 6
At Wes-Del
Score By Quarters
So. Wells 0 6 0 0 — 6
Wes-Del 12 31 0 8 — 51
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
WD—Eli Wright 48 run (run failed), 7:10.
WD—Wright 64 run (run failed), 2:36.
Second Quarter
WD—Wright 82 run (Flynn Carter pass from Noah Perdue), 11:48.
SW—Bryson Williams 10 pass from Trey Slusher (run failed), 10:04.
WD—Mason Davis 58 run (Brock Nauman run), 9:10.
WD—Grayson Mealy 87 run (Nauman run), 5:20.
WD—Owen Long 10 run (Flynn kick), 2:25.
Fourth Quarter
WD—Rhyker Mauck 37 run (Davis run), 9:17.
Team Statistics
SW WD
First Downs 7 7
Rushes-Yards 17-(-23) 30-505
Yards Passing 130 40
Passing (C-A-I) 9-21-2 1-1-0
Penalties-Yards 4-20 10-115
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 5-2
Punts-Average 6-35 0-0
Time of Possession 25:20 22:40
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Southern Wells, Trey Slusher 10-(minus 23), Levi Blake 6-(minus 2), Lyric Maddox 1-2. Wes-Del, Mason Davis 2-64, Owen Long 5-4, Brock Nauman 6-21, Grayson Mealy 4-104, Eli Wright 4-204, Carter Flynn 1-(minus 3), Zach Gillam 1-3, Colton Stanley 4-59, Rhyker Mauck 4-50.
Passing: Southern Wells, Slusher 9-21-2-130. Wes-Del, Flynn 1-1-0-40.
Receiving: Southern Wells, Maddox 1-3, Bryson Williams 1-10, Blake 2-47, Leeland Goodnight 1-22, Joshua Aulbach 4-48. Wes-Del, Tyler Summers 1-40.
