By Bill Albright

Matt Wagner recovered a fumble, intercepted a pass and caught a TD pass in a 42-7 win over Sharon.

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — Going into Friday night’s meeting, the Sharon Tigers had never defeated the Greyhounds at Wilmington Stadium.

Combining a solid offense with a suffocating defense and a number of big plays on special teams, the Greyhounds made sure the Tigers winless streak continued at the stadium as Wilmington defeated the Tigers, 42-7, in a District 10 showdown between two previously unbeaten teams.

“I am really happy with the outcome of tonight’s game and the way the kids played,” said Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli. “They are a good football team and there is no way I would have expected this.”

As for the well-balanced effort of his team, Verrelli was proud of the way his team performed.

“Special teams are a big part of the game and we work hard on that area,” he said. “That set the stage for us tonight, but defensively we are getting better each week and they did a great job for us tonight. We have some good people on that D-line and I think that is where it all starts. And offensively, we were able to move the football so I guess we did pretty well in all three areas.”

Coming up big for the ’Hounds (6-0, 3-0) in all three areas was 6-foot-6 senior Matt Wagner, as he recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, intercepted a pass and also caught a touchdown pass covering 32 yards from his cousin, Wilmington quarterback Shane Wagner.

Wagner’s fumble recovery set up Wilmington’s first score, a 3-yard run by Derrick Burns, while his interception of Todd Rearick set up the ’Hounds second score, a 7-yard burst by Burns.

“I felt I had to step up because it was a big game for us,” said Wagner. “This game was between two undefeated teams and the winner coming out would be number one [in the region].

“All week long, Coach [Verrelli] was stressing that we had to get to the blast and as it turned out, we did a good job of that with two or three interceptions so we accomplished our goals.”

Sharon coach Bob Fromm was almost at a loss for words.

“I had trouble putting down on my little note card all the mistakes we made in the first half,” said Fromm. “There was just an abundance of mistakes and that all started with the first play of the game.

“Our first offensive play, we didn’t run right and on the second play, we had two players go in motion. Maybe our nerves got the best of us in the first half, but sooner or later you have to come out of that and you have to play some football.”

So dominating was the Wilmington defense that the Tigers (5-1, 2-1) didn’t pick up a first down rushing until the final minutes of the game. Sharon had nine three-and-outs.

Sharon scored its only points of the game on the final play of the first half when Dustin Norcross caught a 2-yard pass from quarterback Todd Rearick, Terry Flaugher adding the PAT.