Wolverines’ get quick start against Trojans

Nate Richardson returned the opening kick off for a touchdown and East Mills got off to the fast start it needed in a 36-6 victory over Essex in Eight-man, District 7 football on a rainy and wet night in Essex Friday.

Richardson snagged the opening kickoff and raced 73 yards for the Wolverines first score.

On the Trojans’ opening offensive possession they fumbled the ball into their own endzone. Essex recovered the fumble but the safety gave east Mills a 10-0 lead less than a minute into the game.

“We got off to a really good start and I think that helped our confidence,” said East Mills coach Kevin Schafer. “We were extremely conservative with our play calling. We went back to our power offense to limit turnovers. I think they (Essex) stayed in what they had been doing and I think the weather affected them more than it did us.”

East Mills added touchdowns from Trevor Glockel and two more from Chris Darnold to take a 30-0 lead into halftime on a muddy, sloppy field. The second half opened with another Wolverine touchdown, a one-yard Glockel run to make it 36-0.

The Wolverines finished with 236 total yards, 133 coming on the ground in sloppy, muddy conditions that got worse as the game went on. Darnold finished with a game-high 73 yards and two TDs.

“They got five inches rain the day before the game so the field wasn’t bad when we started but by the end, the field was pretty tore up the longer we played,” Schafer said. “We were able to play power football. With most of the teams we played we weren’t able to do that. Our blocking was good and our backs ran hard and our kids blocked as well as they have all season.”