By Eugenio Torrens
Freedom football coach Tchecoy Blount warned his team about Wharton’s Darius Page.
“I told the kids all week, ‘He’s a big, bruising back and he has speed. He’s not going to go down on the first hit or second hit,’” Blount said.
The Patriots (1-6) couldn’t heed their coaches warning, and the Wildcats (2-4) rode Page to a 28-7 win at home on Oct. 14.
Page, a senior, rushed 26 times for 148 yards and one touchdown. He also made life easier for Wildcat quarterback Chase Litton, who ran for a score and threw another to Vernon Hargraves.
“We came out kind of slow (on) offense, but we picked it up and we played pretty good,” Page said. “Defense played excellent. They didn’t give up too many big plays.”
Wharton started sloppy with two fumbles in its first three drives, one of which was lost.
But the Wildcats picked up momentum to close the half, including a 50-yard pass from Litton to Hargraves to the Freedom 2-yard line. A holding call and botched snap pushed Wharton back, but Litton eventually ran it into the end zone from 10 yards out. Page ran in for a two-point conversion to go up 8-0 at halftime.
Hargraves picked off Patriot quarterback Taylor King to give the Wildcats prime field position. Page ran it in for his second score.
“Darius Page is a guy, he’s in another zone right now,” said Wharton coach David Mitchell. “He’s a hard worker, he’s a quiet leader — he just does all his work on the field. … He puts the wind in the sails and the ship starts and the ship goes.”
For their third touchdown, the Wildcats drove down 73 yards in just 2:32. Litton found Deon Samson on a key third-and-eight conversion to keep the drive alive. Consecutive 19- and 3-yard runs by Page led Wharton into the fourth quarter, and on the first play in the final period Litton found Hargraves to make it 21-0.
The Patriots’ offense found a pulse in the fourth quarter when a defensive pass interference call on Wharton negated an interception and gave Freedom new life at its own 42-yard line. Tyrel Nunn ripped off a 58-yard scoring run with 5:08 remaining to prevent the shutout.
“That was important to show the kids that they can if everybody does their part,” Blount said. “It hurts these guys so bad, because that play happened towards the end.”
Freedom failed on its onside kick, but the defense held and forced a three and out. The Patriots muffed the ensuing punt, and Wharton recovered at the Freedom 20. Four plays later the Wildcats scored on a 3-yard run by Samson.
“We got a lot of things to work on, so we can’t just be happy with what went on tonight,” Mitchell said. But he added, “A W is a W, and we’ll take it any day of the week.”
Wharton hosts Bloomingdale, and Freedom travels to Gaither on Thursday, Oct. 20. Both district games start at 7:30 p.m.
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