With Friday’s 49-0 win over Cuthbertson, the Weddington Warriors have achieved their first ever perfect regular season. The Warriors are 11-0 on the year as they move into the playoffs with the number one seed for the 3AA bracket. They will face 16 seed South Iredell at home on Friday, November 15. Weddington faced South Iredell in round two of last year’s playoffs and won 33-6. The Warriors were last year’s 3AA state champions, and ended their season with a 15-1 record. Their only loss came early in the season against Charlotte Catholic, a team that has put a stop to many Weddington win streaks. Last year’s championship win against Southeast Guilford came by a score of 27-14.
Cuthbertson is the fifth team to be left scoreless by Weddington this year. only 63 points have been scored against the Warriors this season, and they have racked up 481 points of their own in what has truly been a year of domination. No team has so much as threatened a winning performance against them; they have only allowed 23 points in their last seven games.
The tone of Friday’s game was set early, and in typical Weddington fashion, at the hands of all-purpose back Will Shipley. Shipley was in possession of the ball for many of the team’s touchdowns on Friday, and a majority of the team’s touchdowns this year. With just three minutes gone from the game clock, Shipley ran the ball in for a 15 yard touchdown, making the score 7-0. With five minutes left in the first, Shipley scored again from 25 yards out, making the score 14-0. To end the first, Shipley scored a third touchdown on a screen pass from quarterback Dante Casciola. The PAT was good, and the quarter ended 21-0.
A Cuthbertson punt on their first drive of the second, led to an early second quarter Weddington score. Casciola aired the ball out for a 27 yard touchdown to receiver Kambridge Tuttle, and the score was 28-0. Turnovers on both sides seemed to predict a low-scoring quarter until Will Shipley received a snap and earned a passing touchdown of his own to senior Dusty Mercer from four yards out. With under a minute left in the half, Casciola connected with Shipley in the end zone for a 25 yard touchdown pass. The halftime score was 42-0. The final score of the night came in the third quarter on the heels of a three yard run. the game ended at 49-0. The first round of the state playoffs will feature Weddington on their home turf against South Iredell on November 15.
