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BERWICK — Long before the game even began, Teagan Wilk had a feeling something special was about to happen.
The way his career’s been going, the whole crowd at Crispin Field could have foreseen it, too.
Wilk tied a Berwick school record with his 15th career interception Friday, then returned it 21 yards for a touchdown to put the finishing touches on the Bulldogs’ 42-0 beating of battered Wyoming Valley West at Crispin Field.
“Like my grandfather said, it’s the cake,” Wilk said. “Now we need the icing on it.”
Had he attended Berwick for his entire high school career, Wilk may have already achieved sole possession of the school’s pick record. He began his varsity playing days with five interceptions as a freshman at Southern Columbia, giving Wilk 20 for his career between the two schools.
For the time being, he settled for matching the mark established by Berwick’s legendary little receiver/defensive back Lance Evina, who picked off 15 passes for the Bulldogs from 1985 to 1988.
“It comes down to watching film,” said Wilk, an East Carolina commit as a defensive back. “I’m going to have to give all the credit to my dad. I remember when I was 5 years old, watching film with my dad. Of course, you always have to think of touchdown. When I scored, my heart kind of dropped, because I knew it was going to happen.”
What happened before that third-quarter score was complete domination by 4-0 Berwick.
After Dallas Schecterly took a 12-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Laubach to put the Bulldogs up early, Wilk delivered another dazzler for his personal highlight reel by going way up to out-leap a Valley West defensive back for a 38-yard touchdown pass to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead and set the rout in motion near the end of the opening quarter.
“He’s a Division 1 (college) football player. That’s why,” Berwick coach Carm DeFrancesco said. “His drive for the ball, his vertical leap and he had to turn his body 180 degrees, so his concentration was amazing. They stand out, make plays. They always seem to be in the right place at the right time.”
Talk about timing.
After Schecterly made his third catch of the season his third touchdown for Berwick’s first points, he followed Wilk’s acrobatic leap on offense by scoring another one for the defense. Schecterly plucked away a Valley West pass and brought the pick back for six on a 14-yard return — giving him a touchdown each time he’s touched the ball through Berwick’s first four games.
“My God, he’s 4-for-4! He’s a touchdown machine,” DeFrancesco laughed. “His percentage is pretty good. He’s a student of the game, he’s a captain, the kids respect the heck out of him. He’s got to feel happy. I’m really happy for him.”
The Bulldogs couldn’t be happier with a defense that held Valley West to negative rushing yards until the fourth quarter, when the mercy rule went into effect, and an offense that featured Laubach throwing for 144 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 12 yards for another score. One of those was a 42-yard touchdown strike that hit receiver Shawn Sheptock in stride to open the scoring early in the second half and start a running clock under the 35-point-lead mercy rule.
“We have playmakers all over the place,” Wilk said.
And all this came without regular tailbacks Aiden Mason and Blake Maurer, who didn’t play because of illness.
“We were without two very important parts of our offense,” DeFrancesco said. “We came into the game saying we’ve got to somehow establish a passing game. If we want to be a contender, we’ve got to throw the ball.”
Whenever it’s in the air, Wilk seems to find a way to come down with it as Berwick keeps coming away with convincing victories.
“It wasn’t difficult to focus on this game,” Wilk said. “Coach Carm and (assistant) coach (Bo) Orlando emphasize to focus on the task at hand.”
Berwick 42, Valley West 0
Wyo. Valley West`0`0`0`0 — 0
Berwick`21`7`14`0 — 42
First quarter
B — Dallas Schecterly 12 pass from Ryan Laubach (Brendan Hinkle kick), 5:25
B — Teagan Wilk 38 pass from Laubach (Hinkle kick), 2:30
B — Schecterly 14 int. return (Hinkle kick)
Second quarter
B — Laubach 10 run (Hinkle kick), 1:22
Third quarter
B — Shawn Sheptock 42 pass from Laubach (Hinkle kick), 10:07
B — Wilk 21 int. return (Hinkle kick), 4:11
Team statistics`WVW`BER
First downs`7`13
Rushes-yards`38-41`22-99
Passing yards`29`171
Total yards`70`270
Passing`56-13-3`8-12-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-8`0-0
Punts-avg.`5-29`4-35.5
Fumbles-lost`3-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`5-30`5-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WVW, Darius Redguard 9-11, Zack McDaniels 7-10, Brendan Woods 5-7, Sadiq Ransome-Burke 3-6, Colin Rood 1-3, Dylan Nastanski 11-3, Zack Tomascik 1-2, TEAM 1- (minus 1). BER, Alejandro Lopez 10-32, Ryan Laubach 3-29, Blaine Cleaver 4-28, Stas Hughes 1-12, Bejnamin Moore 1-2, Brandan Spezialetti 2-1, TEAM 1- (minus 5).
PASSING — WVW, Nastanski 5-12-3-29, Jonathan Scarpelli 0-1. BER, Laubach 7-10-0-144, Cleaver 1-2-0-27.
RECEIVING — WVW, Nah-Syr Garner 3-1, Salem Diop 2-28. BER, Shawn Sheptock 2-47, Cleaver 2-32, Teagan Wilk 1-38, Preston Robbins 1-27, Dallas Schecterly 1-12, Eric Montes 1-15.
INTERCEPTIONS — BER, Wilk 1-21, Schecterly 1-14, , Robbins 1-0.
