WILLITS — Hey, the Middletown Mustangs love playing in Willits now.
Led by quarterback Matt Outen, who was nearly perfect, and fullback Eric Tomko, the Mustangs crushed the host Wolverines 35-0 on Friday night at Maize Field.
Two years removed from a penalty-filled 20-13 win at Willits, a game that sparked all kinds of controversy, the Mustangs didn”t have to worry about the zebras this time around as they rolled to an easy win in the North Central League I North varsity football opener for both teams.
“We just played well tonight, everything we did worked,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said as the Mustangs (1-0, 3-3) won their second straight game with their best effort of the season.
“We scored on our first three possessions, all long drives,” Foltmer said. “All of our scores came off long drives, we never had a short field.”
Outen completed 8 of 9 passes for 177 yards, including touchdown strikes of 57 yards and 19 yards to Dylan Galusha and 46 yards to Tony Zagajowski.
“Outen put the ball right on the money,” Foltmer said. “The kids weren”t even breaking stride.”
Tomko anchored the running game with 134 yards on 30 carries, including TD runs of 1 yard in the second quarter and 4 yards in the fourth.
“He was running people over,” Foltmer said.
Middletown built a 16-0 halftime lead on Outen”s 57-yard pass to Galusha, Tomko”s 1-yard run and a 27-yard field goal by Travis Taylor.
Outen scoring passes to Zagajowski and Galusha in the third quarter made it 29-0.
Middletown finished with 376 yards of total offense and did not turn the ball over.
Willits (0-1, 3-3) gained just 93 yards on offense, only 20 on the ground.
“We bent a little bit, but we never broke,” Foltmer said. “We played a great game and I”m proud of the kids.”
