For the week of Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2002

Runners go wild in record 62-8 win

Hailey piles up 627 yards

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Finishing its season with a record-setting exclamation point, the Wood River High School football team set a single-game school record of 62 points in Friday’s 62-8 league victory over Gooding at Phil Homer Field.

Brandon Silvia, Wood River junior quarterback, runs to daylight during Friday’s 62-8 victory over Gooding at Phil Homer Field. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Wood River (3-5 overall, 2-3 league) amassed 627 total yards that included 462 rushing yards on 46 carries. Senior running back Kellen Chatterton scored four touchdowns and kicked six extra points to finish as Hailey’s top scorer with 68 points.

"Our running game has come a long way," said John Blackman (35-67), who would not immediately address persistent rumors that he plans to step down as Wolverine head coach after 12 years at the helm.

With a season-high 462 rushing yards against winless Gooding (0-8, 0-5 league), 451 against Kimberly and 381 against Filer, Wood River ended up with 2,310 rushing yards in eight games (288.8 per game).

Remarkably, the Wolverines for the second straight week had three 100-yard rushers in a single game—senior Dylan Welcome (a game-high 148 yards on 11 carries, 2 TD); junior Joe Paisley (132 yards, 3 TD); and Chatterton (101 yards on 6 carries).

Although Gooding’s team was perhaps the weakest in the long, strong history of Senator football, Wood River was also able to pass the ball effectively for the first time all season. Junior QB Brandon Silvia completed six passes for 73 yards.

Credit the Wood River offensive line that was intact all season long—featuring seniors Kenny Kelb, David Wood and Dan Fierman, and juniors Scott Sanders and Mark Neville.

The team battled adversity and, by winning its final two games, did all it could to secure one of three state playoff berths from the six-team Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference.

But Kimberly’s 26-14 home win over Filer on Friday gave Kimberly (3-5, 3-2 league) the third berth, joining SCIC king Declo (7-1, 5-0) and Buhl (6-2, 4-1). Kimberly beat Wood River 34-33 in Hailey Sept. 28, two weeks after visiting Jerome nipped the Wolverines 27-26 in OT.

"We were two points away from a winning season," said Blackman about the two one-point losses. "It was a good group. They sure as heck impressed me with their character."

Among the more notable accomplishments this fall: Chatterton’s team-high 106 tackles, making him the all-time leading Hailey tackler with 227 tackles over three years; and Wood River for the first time having three 500-yard rushers—Welcome 587, Chatterton 557 and Paisley 505.

Chatterton, making virtually every tackle, had a huge all-around game against Gooding with 18 tackles, two interceptions and 101 yards rushing.

"Kellen had a great game, in fact it was good to see all the seniors play well, and all of them got to play," said Blackman, whose son, co-captain Christian Blackman, played his final game in a Wood River uniform.

Check B-27 and this week’s Express Web Site for final Wolverine season stats.

 

WOLVERINE NOTES—The previous single-game high was 56 points set in Wood River’s 56-28 victory at Kimberly Oct. 2, 1991. That game featured 752 total yards for Wood River including 389 rushing yards….The cold weather might have prompted three lost fumbles. Wood River lost only eight fumbles all year—on 369 rushes…An amazing burst of speed caused Welcome to race 60 yards to paydirt late in the fourth quarter, his second TD, and thus claim the team’s rushing title.

Chatterton’s four TDs equalled a single-game school record set most recently by Max Paisley twice in 2000, and Cory Goicoechea in 1999. The young man was so prolific that the scoreboard automatically rang up a successful Chatterton extra point kick after his fourth and final TD, although Kellen missed the kick. So the final score read 63-8 on the scoreboard, although in reality it was only 62-8.

 

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