Burlington’s second game cancelled after COVID-19 idles scheduled opponent
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
Since former Delavan-Darien football head coach Steve Tenhagen left the Comets in 2014 to coach his hometown Demons, the Comets have usually played the Demons tight in their reunions.
Often, Burlington has needed late-game heroics to pull off a close victory by a few points.
But on Sept. 25 in the 2020 opening game for both teams at Don Dalton Stadium at Burlington High School, Burlington wasn’t messing around.
The Demons dominated in all three phases, built a 30-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 43-8 victory over Delavan-Darien.
“It was great to get out on the field and play on Friday,” Tenhagen said. “A few months ago we didn’t know if that was going to happen. Our staff was pleased with the progress that our team made last week. We put in a tough week of practice and the results showed up on Friday night. We like the way our team played together.
“Our defense as a whole played very well. We held Delavan to -34 yards rushing. We put in a new scheme this year and the guys are really buying into it. The group was fun to coach on Friday night creating big plays all over the field.”
On the field, it was a massive struggle for the Comets, who couldn’t stop the freight train known as Burlington senior running back Zach Wallace.
Wallace carried tacklers and ran away from defenders on his way to 224 yards rushing on only 16 carries.
“Zach had a great night,” Tenhagen said. “He has worked hard his entire high school career. We expect all of our players to improve on a year-to-year basis. Zach has done that. He is off to a great start to his senior year.”
Wallace scored two touchdowns, one on the ground and one in the air, and the Burlington offense put up 480 total yards.
Burlington is off Friday because Wilmot, which was the original scheduled opponent, had multiple cases of COVID-19 at school, so the game is cancelled.
The Demons return to action Thursday, Oct. 8 at Waterford.
To read the entire story, including more individual statistics, see the Oct. 1 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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