Ever since Jeff Reents stepped in as the head football coach at Wilmington, the Wildcats’ philosophy has been quite simple – eat up clock and yardage out of the double-wing offense and give a stout, physical defensive effort.

The Wildcats were textbook defensively in Saturday night’s IHSA Class 2A home quarterfinal against Tri-Valley while the offense was anything but, trading in their ground-and-pound style for a handful of electric, big-play touchdowns on their way to a commanding 49-7 win that has the Wildcats in the semifinals for the ninth time in program history and third time in the last three years.

“We thought it was going to be a good game,” said senior RB/DB Ryan Kettman, who had a hat trick of touchdowns. “We knew we needed to come out and if we played our best ball, we’d get the job done that we needed to do.”

The Wildcats (12-1) forced a Tri-Valley punt to open the game, and two plays later found the end zone for their first of five touchdown drives that took two plays or less when Kettman took the second Wilmington play from scrimmage 56 yards to the house untouched.

Following a Vikings three-and-out, the Wildcats needed just one play to double their lead to 14-0 when quarterback Billy Moore went undetected up the middle and showed his state track speed for a 77-yard touchdown five minutes into the game.

“With Billy back there it’s like another running back,” Kettman said of his speedy signal-caller. “We’ve already got the three backs and adding Billy, being able to run with the quarterback, it just adds more plays.”

For Moore, earning the trust of Reents and longtime offensive coordinator Barry Southall brings about a humble smile.

“It makes me feel really good that two of the best coaches believe in me,” Moore said.

The Wildcats (11-1) found the end zone once more in the first frame, a 24-yard scoring scamper with 2:26 left in the quarter. Hunter Kaitschuck busted a 47-yarder with 4:11 left in the half to make it 28-0, which appeared would be the halftime score after the Wildcats stopped the Vikings on a fourth-and-1 at the Wilmington 24-yard line with 10 seconds left in the second.

But after Moore picked up seven yards and ran out of bounds with three seconds left, Kettman followed a pulling Zach Ohlund and busted loose for a 69-yard score as the first half ended with the Wildcats up 35-0.

“Zach Ohlund pulled, I saw the hole and came right off him, then I saw another guy who came off my leg and it was green grass from there,” Kettman said. “I just knew I couldn’t get caught.”

Kaitschuck brought out the running clock when he dashed in for a 60-yard touchdown on the first play of the third quarter, and after the Vikings (9-3) got their lone score on a Kix Yaklich 12-yard run three minutes later, Travis Van Duyne cashed in a 6-yard touchdown run a minute into the fourth.

The Wildcats didn’t throw a pass, picking up all 505 of their offensive yards on 37 carries. Kettman needed just six of those carries to tally 184 yards and his three scores. Kaitshuck had 119 yards and two scores on three carries while Moore’s final line read five rushes for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Those numbers came behind an offensive line that features three-year starters in Ohlund, Logan Van Duyne and Jack Cutter – as well as Declan Moran at tight end.

“It’s definitely very helpful,” Logan Van Duyne said of the unit’s experience. “We’ve been in these situations before, being in the postseason where it really matters. It’s great keeping the guys together. ... Definitely a huge difference from last year to this year. The whole line returning, the difference is crazy with us growing.”

While the offense made headlines with its gaudy stats, the defense was as dependable as ever. Against a Tri-Valley offense that came in averaging 33.5 points per game, the Wildcats held the Vikings to a lone touchdown and 167 yards of offense.

“Defensively I was happy with the way we held Tri-Valley pretty good there and kept getting our offense the ball,” Reents said. “I thought that was the key tonight, but overall a really good game in all aspects. We beat a really good team tonight.”

The Wildcats will return home next weekend to face 12-0 El Paso-Gridley in the semifinals. It’s the last possible weekend the Wildcat seniors will have to make their signature entrance through the woods south of the field, the tunnel of motorcylces and fans and take the field in front of a sellout crowd of Wilmington faithful.

“That’ll mean everything,” Van Duyne said. “To run downhill, the motorcycles, the fireworks, that’ll be a dream come true.”