Friday night the Paw Paw Red Wolves Varsity Football team returned to their patriotic Red White and Blue home crowd after two weeks on the road to take on the Vicksburg Bulldogs. The dynamic student body, many arriving as the team began warmups, fueled the team all night with their energy and enthusiasm.
Paw Paw’s defense also came to play, stuffing the Vicksburg running game from the outset and putting constant pressure on the Bulldog’s quarterback. It didn’t take long for the Red Wolves to force their first turnover when Dom Hernandez intercepted a pass and took it deep into Vicksburg territory. PJ Deyoung made the most of his first carry on the night, and took the ball 19 yards for a touchdown. After Troy Vandenberg booted the extra point Paw Paw led 7-0.
On the Red Wolves' next possession, Gunnar Goodell connected with Nathan LaMere on a 21 yard touchdown pass extending the Paw Paw lead to 14-0, and Paw Paw continued to light up the scoreboard with second quarter touchdown runs by Bryson Newell and Ben Miller, building a 27-3 lead at halftime.
On their opening possession of the second half the Red Wolves kept their foot on the gas with a nice scoring drive capped off by Bryson Newell’s second touchdown of the night, extending the Paw Paw lead to 34-3. Early in the fourth quarter, Ben Miller turned on the jets, breaking out in the open cruising to a 65 yard touchdown run and the Red Wolves went on to win 40-17.
On the night Paw Paw rushed for over 400 yards. Leading the way on offense for the night were PJ Deyoung with 70 yards on 13 carries, Bryson Newell with 108 yards on 14 carries, and Ben Miller who led all rushers with 181 yards on 16 carries. Dom Hernandez led the defense with an interception and a forced fumble, and Gavin Turk had 6 solo tackles and a fumble recovery.