PENINUSLA: A steady offensive attack by St. Vincent-St. Mary, led by quarterback Clayon Uecker, was too much for Woodridge to overcome at home Friday night.
The senior led the Irish offense while the defense left the Bulldogs scoreless in the 48-0 victory at Woodridge Stadium.
The Irish did most of their damage early, leading 28-0 after the first quarter.
St. Vincent-St. Mary’s offense was highlighted in that first quarter by a pair of touchdown passes by Uecker along with an 83-yard touchdown run by Parris Campbell Jr.
One of Uecker’s touchdown passes included a school-record tying 95-yard touchdown completion to senior wide receiver Bickley. The pass tied the longest scoring reception in school history, when Dan Gillooly caught a pass from Dick Hamlin in 1948.
“We executed what our game plan was,” St.V-M head coach Dan Boarman said. “We wanted to go after their corners. I think we had a little more speed than they did.”
The Irish exhibited a dominant effort on the defensive side of the ball as well, by stifling the Bulldog offense all night long and never allowing them to sustain a scoring drive.
“We know that we can run on defense, but we aren’t very big,” Boarman said. “I was proud that we shut that team out because that team can score some points.”
Woodridge (2-1) made its best attempt to stop the St.V-M offensive barrage when Devonte Fellows intercepted a pass by Uecker in the second quarter in hopes of sparking a Bulldog comeback.
However, the Irish quickly regained possession, and Uecker continued to have his way with the defense by completing a 71-yard pass to Jordan Hargrove in stride for his third touchdown pass of the first half.
“We did start to double out on those guys and try to mix up the coverages, but they just out ran us,” Woodridge coach Eric Ervin said.
St. V-M took a 41-0 lead into halftime, which the offense generated 456 total yards through the first two quarters of play.
The second half looked a lot like the first for both teams. Campbell ran for a 14-yard touchdown to cap a long scoring drive and increase the lead to what would be the final score of 48-0.
Uecker completed 12 of 18 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Campbell added two rushing touchdowns to go along with 170 yards rushing.
“Uecker has really gotten into the flow with all of our receivers,” Boarman said. “He’s a first year starter and he’s learning.”
Ervin said the only positive coming out of the game is that it’s a sign the team needs to get better.
“Your either going to rise to the challenge next week against a big opponent for us or your not,” Ervin said. “Some guys will rise to that challenge and some guys will not.
Woodridge will look to rebound against Mogadore next week.
