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Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils dominate Independence 40-6
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
Friday night at Wickliffe Memorial Stadium the Wickliffe Blue Devils welcomed visiting Independence. Both teams entered the game 3-0 in the  
opening week of conference play in the Chagrin Valley Conference, Valley Division. The game belonged to the home Blue Devils as they dispatched Independence in convincing fashion 40-6.

The rout began early when Blue Devils Senior Isaac Pettway ran back the opening kick off 75 yards to give Wickliffe a 7-0 lead just 12 seconds into the game after Senior Brad Dieterich converted the extra-point.

After Independence turned the ball over Wickliffe Sophomore Chase Fortkamp rumbled 86 untouched for the touchdown with 8:01 left on the clock in the first quarter. After Dieterich converted his second extra-point of the game Wickliffe led 14-0.

Wickliffe continued to add to their lead with three more touchdowns in the second quarter.
The first score of the second quarter for Wickliffe came with 9:08 left when Pettway ran the ball in from seven yards out giving the Blue Devils a 20-0 advantage after Dieterich could not convert the extra-point attempt.

Fortkamp, having to keep pace with Pettway then scored his second TD of the game on an 18-yard run with 2:44 left in the first half.

The final score of the first half came with just :21 left on the clock when Dieterich completed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Senior Jaylen Bowers. The score was now 34-0 after Dieterich’s XP conversion.

The Blue Devils began the second half with the 34-0 lead and put in the second team. Even with the second team in the game the Blue Devils scored twice, once in the third quarter with 6:03 left on the clock when Dieterich booted a 22-yard field goal through the uprights extending the lead to 37-0.

The Devils final three points came with 9:22 left in the game when Dieterich used his leg to knock the 34-yard attempt through the uprights to give Wickliffe the blow out lead at 40-0.

Independence finally got on the scoreboard with 2:23 left on the game clock. The score came when Freshman Michael Tommer completed a 23-yard pass to Sophomore Matt Richards for the touchdown. The two-point conversion failed making the score, which would be the final 40-6.
The Blue Devils dominated in every phase of the contest as offensively they out-gained Independence 313-182. The offensive onslaught by Wickliffe was once again led by Pettway who had 297 total yards. Rushing he was 15 for 118 yards and had the 79 yard kick off return that began the pummeling for the Blue Devils.

 Fortkamp also had another big night as the Blue Devils two headed monster running game reared its ugly head once again as Fortkamp had 183 total yards. The sophomore multi-talented Fortkamp had three rushes for 106 yards, caught two passes for 31 yards and finished off with two punt returns for 46 yards.

Blue Devils coach Marce Porcello commented after the game about his running game, “Chase had a great night, Isaac had a great night. I thought Jaylen got better tonight on offense.” He went on to say, “I like that because were kind of spreading it around tonight and using our weapons.”

The Blue Devils will be in action next week on Friday when they travel to Cardinal to take on the Huskies at Richard A. Moss Field at 7:00 p.m. Independence will travel to Fairport Harding to take on the Skippers at 7:00 p.m. at Greig Field in Fairport Harbor. 
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com  Follow us on Twitter
@SportsSentinel POSTED 09/14/2018 22:46