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Northwestern cruises past Wilson

The Northwestern Tigers found some redemption and a bit of their old style of play in a 37-7 dismantling of Wilson Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

The win was a rebound from a disappointing loss to Palisades last week and moves the Tigers to 3-1 on the season.Northwestern came out sharp and didn't let up. After shutting down Wilson on a three-and-out on their first possession, the Tigers had a short field to work with and Deven Bollinger capped a 38-yard drive with a 19-yard TD pass to Trevor Cunningham.On the Tigers' second drive, Bollinger moved his team 70 yards on just six plays to go up 14-0.Sophomore Anthony Colucci, wasn't on coach Josh Snyder's best side after a tough week against Palisades where he was flagged for two personal foul calls. This week, Snyder held him out for the first quarter, but when Colucci was back in the game, he showed Snyder what the coach was looking to see."He had a rough game last week, and he responded in a big way," said Snyder. "He worked his way back in and did everything we asked him to and battled back. He's a very talented player and our team feeds off of hard-nosed play, and he's sort of a throwback kid. He's headed in the right direction."Colucci came up especially big on special teams, recovering a fumbled kick-off at the Wilson 20-yard line late in the first quarter and then picking up a bad snap on a Wilson punt attempt, recovering the ball at the Warriors' three-yard line. It took four plays, but Northwestern punched the ball in from there to move to a 37-0 lead just prior to the end of the second quarter."I just fly down the field and look for the ball," said Colucci. "I love playing football, whether it's offense, defense, special teams; just anywhere that I can help."Northwestern's coaching staff was admittedly tough on the team this week in practice, said Snyder, but the results showed. A team that at times seemed undisciplined through the first three weeks of the season looked much improved in week four. Penalties had been a major concern for Snyder, but his team committed just three penalties for a total of 15 yards, their lowest totals of the season.The Tigers finished the night with 291 yards of total offense, compared to just 97 for Wilson, most of which came in the second-half. At halftime, Northwestern's advantage in total offense stood at 227-7.EVERYBODY PLAYS ... Northwestern's regulars handled the first drive of the second-half before giving way to younger players, most of whom were getting their first playing time with the varsity team. Running back Jayden Allen, a freshman, carried the ball six times for 33 yards. Fellow freshman Nathan Goodolf carried the ball once as did sophomore Tyler Slifer. Sophomore QB Josh Gornicz took over for Bollinger at quarterback in the third quarter.WORRIED ABOUT WILSON ... Even though Wilson came in 0-3, Snyder felt they could be dangerous because they had played a couple teams tough in the early going. The Warriors held Palisades to just 14 points in week two while the Pirates scored 34 against Northwestern last week.LOOKING AHEAD ... "Next week is the biggest game of the season, because it's our next game," said Snyder, who has also been impressed with Pen Argyl, next week's opponent. "They're starting to turn the corner and have some guys who have been playing for a couple years now, so we're going to have to coach our guys up hard again this week to prepare."