Wilson runs wild in GW's comeback victory

CHESTERFIELD — David Wilson took a handoff late in the fourth quarter and ran to the left side, broke a would-be tackler and looked up.

All the senior running back saw in front of him was green and a new school record.

Wilson, who has committed to play at Virginia Tech, scored his seventh touchdown of the night, finishing up with 331 yards on 29 carries and George Washington overcame a 21-0 deficit to defeat Matoaca 48-34 on Friday.

Wilson broke the three-year-old school record of 325 yards rushing that Haylen Murphy set in 2005 against Page. In a game where most of the Eagles were cramping up, Wilson still had the energy to outrun Warriors defenders.

“When Haylen Murphy did it at Page … I watched it and he broke the record with a touchdown, so I said, ‘That’s going to be me when I’m a senior.’ Dreams come true,” Wilson said.

The 5-foot-11 back scored six of his touchdowns on the ground, varying from every spot on the field. Wilson churned out scoring runs of 69, 3, 10, 56, 34 and 16 yards.

His seventh touchdown came in unconventional fashion and gave the Eagles (1-2) their first lead of the day.

With a little more than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Matoaca tailback Jermaine Edwards ran the ball around the right end, but was met immediately by the duo of Deuntae Motley and Rashawn Morrison, causing a fumble that Wilson scooped up and ran — with the protection of a cavalry — 25 yards to the end zone, giving GW a 26-21 lead.

“We just played hard,” said Motley. “Things have gotten a lot better and we still got some errors that we need to correct, but we got a lot better.”

The Eagles needed every bit of that hard play after falling behind three touchdowns with 11:50 left in the first half when Stephen Cheeks rumbled 32 yards for a Matoaca (1-2) touchdown.

“We relaxed and, of course, Mr. Wilson made the plays he needed to make and that’s why he’s the player he is,” Matoaca coach Pat Manuel said.

It was not only Wilson, but the entire Eagles running game that was in sync this night. GW pounded out 474 yards on the ground as a team, including 52 from sophomore quarterback Tim Moore and 55 from senior fullback Tahron Goods.

The game was not sealed for the Eagles, as Matoaca found new life following Wilson’s fourth rushing touchdown of the night.

As Wilson crossed the goal line, he did a sunset flip, drawing a 15-yard unsportsman-like penalty and another penalty was thrown against GW, forcing the Eagles to kick off from their own 12-yard line.

William Giles took the kickoff and eluded several tacklers, scampering down the left sideline 75 yards to cut the deficit to 33-28. Following two Eagle fumbles, quarterback Dustin Clark snuck through on a quarterback keeper to give Matoaca the lead back at 34-33 with 7:58 left in the fourth quarter.

Needless to say, for the fans in attendance, it was pretty obvious who was going to carry the football for GW. But with a weary Matoaca defense, Wilson accounted for 117 yards on the final two drives, essentially killing any chances of a Warriors comeback and sending the kids from Danville back home winners for the first time this season.

“He is the real deal. I told David, ‘When you break the record son, it won’t be because I let you do it, it will be because we had to have it to win,’” George Washington coach Dan Newell said. “David Wilson was absolutely spectacular.”