Willard snaps 20-game losing streak

WILLARD — The streak is no more. The Willard High School football team ended the regular season — and the second-longest losing streak in program history — with a victory on Friday night over visiting Vermilion at Flashes Field. Leading 6-0 at halftime of the SBC Bay Division game, the Flashes outscored the Sailors (1-9, 0-5) by a 35-6 margin in the second half of the 41-6 victory. With the win, Willard ended a 20-game losing streak that dated back to a 26-14 win — also in Week 10 vs. Vermilion — on Nov. 1, 2019. The Flashes closed with a 1-9 record overall and 1-4 in the Bay. Willard opened the scoring on the final play of the first quarter, as Cole Weiss scored from a yard out. The kick failed, but the Flashes had a 6-0 lead that stood through the second quarter and halftime. It was all Willard in the second half, right from the opening kickoff of the third quarter. Standout running back Dario Lopez returned the kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown, then caught the conversion pass from quarterback Isaac Robinson for a 14-0 lead at the 11:47 mark of the third quarter. The Flashes then got a 58-yard TD pass from Robinson to Carson Cinninger, and the extra point by Luke Stein extended the lead to 21-0 with 5:24 left in the third. Willard removed all doubt in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns in a seven-minute span. Weiss scored on a 6-yard run and Stein's kick made it 28-0 with 10:59 left in the game. Lopez caught a 44-yard TD from Robinson and a 45-yard TD at the 8:13 and 4:42 marks, respectively. Stein had the first kick blocked and made the second to extend the lead to 41-0. The Sailors then scored with just 25 seconds left on a 53-yard TD pass from Ben Rini to Ayden Bath. Robinson and Lopez finished with huge performances to pace Willard. Robinson was 22-of-26 passing for 334 yards and 3 TDs, with Lopez catching four passes for 127 yards and 2 TDs. Lopez also ran 16 times for 51 yards, and his kick return pushed his total offense to 255 yards for the night. Also for Willard, Trey Paxton caught seven passes for 74 yards, and Carson Wiers had three catches for 58 yards. On defense, Carson Hamons added two sacks and an interception. Vermilion 0 0 0 6 — 6 Willard 6 0 15 20 — 41 Scoring WIL — Cole Weiss 1 run (kick failed) WIL — Dario Lopez 77 kickoff return (Lopez pass from Isaac Robinson) WIL — Carson Cinniger 58 pass from Robinson (Luke Stein kick) WIL — Weiss 6 run (Stein kick) WIL — Lopez 44 pass from Robinson (kick blocked) WIL — Lopez 45 pass from Robinson (Stein kick) VER — Ayden Bath 53 pass from Ben Rini (pass failed)