After 38 years in coaching, Jim Wilson can tell when it’s going to be a long night.
When his East Literature Eagles were unable to take advantage of an interception that created their first offensive possession of the game and a muffed punt that prolonged it, he had a pretty good idea that Friday’s District 10-AA matchup with Pearl-Cohn would qualify.
“It was one of those nights when you look at the play sheet and nothing looks good,” Wilson said after the eventual 21-7 loss.
East Lit went three-and-out after Dominique Grimes intercepted a Jawaun Wilson pass, but retained possession when Pearl-Cohn muffed the ensuing punt. With first-and-10 from the Firebirds’ 25-yard line, though, the offense ran for no gain, was called for illegal procedure, was sacked, had a 30-yard touchdown pass called back for holding and threw incomplete on third-and-32 before punting.
Things didn’t get much better from there. After another three-and-out, East Lit got the ball back trailing 14-0. On fourth-and-inches from his 34, Wilson went for it and converted on a Grimes 4-yard run. The next five snaps resulted in minus-13 rushing yards and 10 penalty yards before a fourth-and-33 punt.
“This was the first time we’d played somebody whose physical strength was much greater than ours and was as quick as we were,” Wilson said. “That’s not a good matchup.
“They whipped us at the line of scrimmage. We couldn’t get to the outside, and they whipped us inside.”
It was an abrupt end to a 3-0 start for the Eagles, evening their district record at 1-1 as well. Wilson thinks his junior-laden squad will show some resiliency, though.
“We’ve got to go back and regroup, and see if we can play better,” he said after his offensive unit accounted for just 65 total yards and three first downs. “I think our kids will come back. We didn’t practice well the last couple of weeks. Hopefully this will be a call to them.”
