The Seymour Wildcats fell 33 – 21 to Wilby High School Friday, despite a spirited second-half effort led by senior Jim Farrell.
Farrell had two interceptions, a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a reception for a touchdown, giving Seymour (0 – 6) hope after a difficult first half.
“I’m proud of the way we battled back, especially [because] we had some injuries in the second half, but we still stepped it up,” Seymour head coach Tom Lennon said.
With 1:52 left in the third quarter, and Seymour down 27 – 0, Farrell blocked a Wilby punt, returning it 36 yards for a touchdown. He then recovered Seymour’s onside kick, which set up sophomore Mike Conlan’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Farrell, cutting the lead to 27 – 14.
“I don’t know that I have seen [successive] plays by anybody that good,” Lennon said. “That’s a pretty good three-play stretch. It’s a great job by him.”
Seymour recovered the next onside kick, but was unable to convert on the next drive.
Wilby opened the scoring in the first quarter, when quarterback Robert Williams took a keeper play the distance, running 73 yards for the touchdown, with 5:49 remaining.
With 11:19 left in the second quarter, Wilby struck again, this time Tyrell Lane powered through three tackles down the left sideline for the score, making it 14 – 0.
Senior James Ward added another score for Wilby, as he ran into the end zone on a one-yard run with 2:16 left in the first half.
After getting the ball back, Wilby were able to score on a trick play right at the stroke of halftime. As Wilby set up for a field goal, Jay’len Mahan flipped the ball behind his head to Williams who ran the ball into the end zone for a six-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good.
“We just came out flat,” Lennon said. “I really don’t know what it is. We will have to work on it.”
The play was identical to a trick play completed in a college football game by Louisiana State University against the University of Florida October 9.
Wilby put the game out of reach with 8:27 left in the game. Ward ran for a 20-yard touchdown, breaking multiple tackles to reach paydirt.
Conlon was able to get another score back for Seymour, as he scored on a one-yard keeper with 5:25 remaining.
“I hope that we learned something in the second half. I was real proud of the way we played in the second half,” Lennon said. “I told [the team] that if we played four quarters of that football, we could be a winning football team. If we play four quarters like the way we did in the first half, we’re gonna have a lot of problems.”
Seymour starting quarterback Luke Grabowski was injured before halftime with an apparent shoulder injury. He was sent to the hospital as a precaution. Lennon did not have an injury update but thought he would be okay and hopes he will be ready for next week’s game.
Lennon praised Conlon for stepping up in Grabowski’s absence.
“[Conlon’s] a competitor. He’s got some savvy and some smarts. He’s a gamer out there. I’m proud of him,” Lennon said. “He filled in tremendously.”
Seymour will head to Crosby High School for next week’s game.
