Instead, he squeezed through a hole and found daylight. The senior sprinted down his team’s sideline for a 61-yard touchdown, untouched until a trio of joyous teammates took him down in the end zone.
Blessing’s game-sealing score was the final highlight in a 22-7 statement win for the Wildcats in Bethesda on Thursday night. The victory over Paint Brach, a perennial contender in Montgomery County, provided further evidence that the Wildcats (4-0) have ascended to a point in which they’re at home among the area’s heavyweights.
“People have this thing about WJ, saying we’re not a football school,” Blessing said. “I say play us next week. We’ll have fun.”
The Wildcats began this latest push in 2019, when they posted a winning record for just the fifth time since 1974. In the years since, Walter Johnson has garnered more respect around the county. But a convincing win over Paint Branch (2-2) represents a new level of success. Under Coach Michael Nesmith, the Panthers posted a winning record in 13 of the past 15 seasons.
“We thought this would be a great early season test,” said Wildcats Coach Aaron Fiddler, in his first year at the helm. “We knew they had great players. Huge players. So we worked really hard at it and tried to find some ways to make plays.”
Fiddler took over the Wildcats after Larry Hurd Jr., the architect of the program’s recent rise, was elevated to athletic director. Fiddler knew he was inheriting a capable group, and said before the season that he hoped to “keep this thing going.”
A physical, composed performance against the Panthers kept the wins coming. The offense struggled in the first quarter as Blessing threw two interceptions and Paint Branch jumped out to a 7-0 lead. But the Wildcats settled in, tying the score before halftime on a short run from sophomore running back Dylan Byrd.
The Wildcats stuck with the ground game after the break, punishing a sizable Panthers front with an array of run-pass option (RPO) plays from Blessing and Byrd. They took the lead with a quick drive late in the third, with Blessing plunging through the line for a touchdown. The Wildcats’ defense, strong all night, provided two more stops before Blessing ran away with the victory.
“We’ve had good opponents, but we knew this would be a better one,” Wildcats senior lineman Joe Flynn said. “We felt really good about our energy all night, and we took another step in the right direction.”