WELLS — It was a regular practice for the Wells football team.
The rain on Thursday afternoon moved the practice from Warrior Memorial Field into the gym, where the Warriors’ defense was making final preparations for its second encounter with rival York in two weeks.
Off in the corner, in full practice gear, was quarterback Paul McDonough.
There was only one problem. His ailing foot was in a bucket of ice water.
The injury is nothing new, as McDonough, one of Wells’ top players, has missed the past two weeks with the injury. But the Wariors (8-0) have carried on, beating Lake Region 34-6 and then defeating York 26-21 last week.
Whether McDonough plays in tonight’s Western Class B quarterfinal contest against the Wildcats is still up in the air, but there is no lack of confidence for the No. 1 seed heading into the game.
“We’ve been nicked up a little bit, but we still have great players, and this is what they’ve worked for,” Wells head coach Tim Roche said. “They know injuries happen, it’s a part of football. Tom Brady sometimes goes down for the Patriots, you’ve got to find someone to put in his place. I don’t think (Bill) Belichick waves the white flag when Brady goes down, and we don’t either. For two weeks in row, Paulie hasn’t been able to play, and we’ve won the games.”
Stepping in for McDonough has been Gavin Snapp. A junior, Snapp has performed well, tossing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Tim Leblanc in the win over Lake Region.
“Gavin’s done a great job,” Roche said. “I just think we’re fine. Whether (McDonough) plays tomorrow night or not, we’re still a good football team.”
The Warriors have also had increased production from their other top player, Louis DiTomasso. In the past two games, DiTomasso has scored five touchdowns, and leads the team with 15 touchdowns on the season, along with 872 rushing yards.
DiTomasso gave all of the credit of his recent production to his teammates.
“The line just did really good all the time,” DiTomasso said. “That’s probably the best part of our offense is the O-Line. They make huge holes, and I just went through them.”
If that’s not enough, there’s always the defense. Wells has allowed just 59 points of offense to the opposition this season, an average of around seven points per game. DiTomasso has also led the squad in that category, racking up 89 tackles.
The Warriors have the rare opportunity to play the same team two weeks in a row. Even with the win last week, the Warriors had their struggles.
“We came out a little flat, we weren’t playing our type of football,” DiTomasso said. “They were playing their best football. They were throwing on us a little bit. In the second half, we came out and kind of fixed things. We got after it a little bit more. We’ll do some things this week that have helped us out in the past.”
Roche credited the Wildcats with being a better team than their 3-5 record might suggest.
“They’re good,” Roche said. “They’re physical. They’re better than 3-5, probably. They had some injuries early on, then had to recover. They have a quarterback in there that can throw, he did some stuff against us.”
York scored more points on Wells than any other opponent the Warriors played this season, including perennial Class B powerhouse Mountain Valley.
Buy the Warriors don’t plan to change up their philosophy altogether when playing the Wildcats tonight.
“Play hard, but don’t lose yourself in such a big game,” DiTomasso said in reference to the key to beating York. “Read your key, and play fundamental football, and take care of it.”
Wells may be entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, but Roche said he has made it a point to not let his team think beyond the task at hand.
“The only thing I tell them is that they’re 8-0 and they’re a good football team,” Roche said. “I don’t tell them they’re No. 1 or No. 8. We took Chip Kelly’s mantra from Oregon, ”˜Win the day.’ If we won today’s practice, we’re better. If we win tomorrow, great, we’ll move on. We don’t talk about anything else, we talk about winning now.”
— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318 or follow on Twitter @Dave_Dyer.
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