H.S. Football: Wellington can't rebound from hot Western Reserve start

WELLINGTON — The Dukes saw Western Reserve score the first 26 points and Wellington never recovered Friday, losing 45-6 in the non-conference season opener. The Roughriders lost senior starting quarterback Hayden Keith in the first quarter and then leaned heavily on junior running back Landyn Wiegel, who punished Wellington with 185 yards on 27 carries and finished with five touchdowns. "Landyn ran awful hard, but the big thing was our offensive line," Roughriders coach Ty Stevenson said. "All those guys are back from last year and we were ready for when these types of things happen." Western Reserve scored on its first two drives, going 70 yards to start the season in just four plays. Keith hit senior Brexton Fraelich, who finished with 89 yards on five catches. A Wellington fumble set up Western Reserve at midfield and it was Wiegel who scored his first touchdown, plunging in from a yard after his 17-yard carry got the Roughriders into scoring position. After a Dukes interception on their next play, Wiegel had a 32-yard carry. After the whistle, Wellington's senior Mr. Everything, Alex Frenk, came up injured, did not return to the game and was on crutches on the sideline. The Roughriders pushed the lead to 20-0 on the first play of the second quarter when Wiegel went in from 11 yards. Western Reserve scored its last touchdown of the half when backup quarterback Colton Meagrow hit Fraelich from 11 yards, and the score sat at 26-0 after the missed extra point. The defense set up the Dukes' only score of the half when sophomore linebacker Brady Irwin grabbed a Meagrow pass and returned it 25 yards to the 9. It only took one play for Wellington to get its first score of the year, as Gaven Wacker hit Trey Moore at the front pylon to cut the lead to 26-6 at the half. Any momentum Wellington may have had going into the second half vanished quickly when the Dukes fumbled the opening kickoff and Western Reserve recovered it at the Wellington 35. It took nine plays, but Wiegel scored his third TD, pushing in from 3 yards to make it 32-6. The Dukes offense never got going, with just 80 total yards, 63 coming on a Moore pass to Conner Kinser late in the second quarter. Wiegel tacked on two more scores in the third quarter with a running clock to finish off the impressive opening win. "Kudos to them for having a good game plan and getting it done when their quarterback went down," Dukes coach Rob Howells said. "Despite what the scoreboard said, it's always a four-quarter battle when you play Wellington and I thought we played hard until the very end." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com.