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Football: Wesley Chapel 48, Anclote 13

 
Published Oct. 15, 2016

WESLEY CHAPEL — The storybook season for Wesley Chapel continued under first year coach Tony Egan. The Wildcats improved to 7-0, 5-0 in Class 5A District 8 after thumping visiting Anclote 48-13. The Wildcats played disciplined, hard-nosed football with everyone from receivers to tackles picking up blocks. The Wildcats typically line up three backs and rotate as many as six players and every one of them knows how to put a hat on someone. Guard Tyler Wittish originally wanted to play tight and resisted the move to guard at first but has become one of the many ways in which the Wildcats grind down opponents.

Key drives: On the fifth drive for Anclote (3-3, 2-3), quarterback Tim Dallaire got the Sharks to the Wildcat 10, trailing 21-0 with under four minutes in the half. After both teams called timeouts Dallaire hit Thomas Boon for a TD. Chapel's first drive of the second half went 45 yards in 10 plays, capped by a 1-yard plunge by Malik Melvin to make it 35-7.

Stars of the game: Wesley Chapel's Christian Austin had a sack to snuff Anclote's first drive and sniffed out a fake punt that set up a 9-yard Wildcat TD which made it 41-7. Dexter Leverett ran for 134 yards on 15 carries and unselfishly blocked for five other backs that carried the ball. Dallaire was 17-for-18 for 239 yards, two TDs and a pick.

Stats of the game: In five of Wesley Chapel's wins, it has scored at least 39 points. That's a lot for a team that averages fewer than seven passes per game.

Final word: "I think we've had about 15 plays this season where we went back and looked at the tape and decided those were pretty much perfectly-run plays. These guys are like a well-oiled machine and they have it in them to be very, very good. … We try to coach as close to perfection as we can, we talk about how to win the right way." — Egan