Wesleyan had won 21 team state championships in its short history, including five last year. But none of those were in football. Today that changed, as the football Wolves defeated Emanuel County Institute 33-21 to win the Class A state championship.
“Wesleyan football has arrived at an elite level. Hopefully this is the beginning of a whole lot of great things to come,” said head coach Franklin Pridgen.
ECI began the game with a 47-yard run by Dexter Moody.
“We always give up one big play like that. We can’t simulate their speed,” said Pridgen.
But the Wolves defense kept the Bulldogs’ offense out of the end zone on downs and continued to play strong throughout the contest, holding star running back Washaun Ealey to under 100 yards rushing.
“After the first hit we knew this wasn’t the team to beat us,” said senior lineman Andrew Patrick.
The Wolves began the scoring with 6:20 remaining in the first quarter with a 23-yard pass from junior quarterback Conor Welton to Anderson Porter. Welton threw for 127 yards on the day.
A successful extra point put the Wolves up 7-0, and that score stood until 10:03 remaining in the second quarter when Washaun Ealey rushed for a 3-yard touchdown. An extra point tied the game at 7-7, but the Wolves stormed back as sophomore running back Kyle Karempelis broke loose for a 41-yard touchdown run to put the Wolves up 14-7.
The Wolves’ defense held on ECI’s next possession and then Karempelis broke free off the right end of the line to block the Bulldogs’ punt.
“We felt like we had an advantage in special teams. We didn’t have many advantages out there because they’re an unbelievable football team, but we felt good about that one,” said Pridgen.
The Wolves were unable to take advantage of the short field as Spencer Short missed a field goal after a Moody sack.
The Bulldogs then attempted to run out the clock in the first half and avoid any more damage. They failed at both of those objectives, however, as the three-play drive ended with Ealey needing assistance off the field with an apparent knee injury and the Bulldogs were forced to punt with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half. After gaining little on the return, the Wolves took a knee.
Ealey returned in the second half but turnovers doomed any chance the Bulldogs had at a comeback.
ECI quarterback Michael Robertson fumbled the ball at the Bulldogs’ 40-yard line after a vicious hit by linebacker Merritt Hall. Carter Garrison then scooped up the ball and scored to put the Wolves up 20-7. The extra point was no good.
ECI fumbled away its next possession, as Tyrone Johnson coughed it up and senior Lee Ellis recovered at the Wolves 44-yard line. Three plays later, Karempelis found another big hole in the line and was off to the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown to put the Wolves up 26-7. The two-point attempt failed.
“We don’t have any superstars. We play as a family,” said Karempelis.
Ealey got back in the end zone to begin the fourth quarter, but the Wolves came right back as Welton connected with Karempelis for a 7-yard touchdown to put Wesleyan up 33-15 with 7:38 remaining in the game.
Karempelis finished with 139 yards rushing as the Wolves were able to control the line of scrimmage.
“I knew we were going to do things to them that they had never seen before. We found some things we could do with different alignments and techniques to try to neutralize their size and strength advantage,” said Pridgen.
Ealey reached the end zone again with just under two minutes remaining in the game, but the state record-holder’s final career touchdown meant very little as the Wolves recovered an onside kick and ran the clock out for the win.
The Wolves return a lot of talent next season. Coming back along with the sophomore Karempelis and junior Welton is junior linebacker Bobby Fulton, who led the defense with 18 tackles. Pridgen, however, is content to live in the moment for the time being: “We’re going to get excited about the future, but we need to celebrate the present.”
Wiley can be reached at dwiley@scoreatl.com.
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