Delaware high school football roundup: Salesianum wins big in new coach's first game

WILMINGTON – B.J. Alleyne rushed for three second-half touchdowns as Salesianum defeated Delaware Military Academy 44-21 on Thursday night at Abessinio Stadium in Gene Delle Donne’s debut as head coach at his alma mater.

Alleyne carried 16 times for 205 yards. The Sals’ senior running back, who transferred after playing the previous two years at DMA, gained 155 of those yards in the second half to break open a game that was just a 16-14 Salesianum lead with 4:10 left in the third quarter.

His longest run came with 3:43 remaining in the third when he went 78 yards. He followed with a 22-yard touchdown on the next drive.

“They say, ‘Feed the horse,’ and B.J. is a horse,” Delle Donne said. “It showed tonight.”

Ryan Stoehr completed 16 of 20 passes for 117 yards for Sallies. The sophomore started the scoring with a 10-yard pass to Ben Anton with 3:21 left in the first quarter.

Stoehr then led a 70-yard drive in the final 2:20 of the half, completing five straight passes for 56 yards. The final toss was a 6-yard touchdown to William Neumann.

Andrew Ransome also scored a rushing touchdown and finished with 45 yards on eight carries. Colin Maradik added a 36-yard field goal for Salesianum.

Delle Donne admitted he felt some nerves before kickoff.

“There was a lot of pressure, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I actually thought back to the days when I was a freshman quarterback here. It felt very similar to that. I’m more happy for the boys. They did the work, not us. It was all them.”

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Edward Emmens led DMA with a rushing touchdown and 82 yards on 12 carries, while Joshua Roy recorded 86 rushing yards.

The Seahawks threw for a pair of touchdowns – 13 yards from Odell Teel to Saalem Frink in the second quarter and 6 yards from Nicholas Driscoll to Christopher Trumbull late in the fourth.

Hodgson 43, Howard 12

WILMINGTON – All three of Brysheem Davis’ receptions went for long touchdowns as the Silver Eagles romped past the Wildcats in the first game of the Delaware high school football season at Abessinio Stadium.

Davis had touchdown catches of 73 and 43 yards in the second quarter and added a 59-yard score in the fourth quarter – all from quarterback Xavier Brown.

The Hodgson defense stepped up in the first half, forcing a pair of turnovers inside its own 5, including a Davis interception, and a turnover on downs inside the 10.

Brown threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Howard quarterback R.J. Matthews passed for 300 yards and two touchdowns.

Cape Henlopen 21, Red Lion Christian 14

LEWES – Defensive lineman Salvatore Sartori pounced on a fumble at the 1-yard line with 27 seconds left as the Vikings’ defense held for a season-opening victory.

Cape Henlopen jumped to a 14-0 halftime lead, as freshman Jameson Tingle threw touchdown passes of 16 yards to Lextyn Wescott and 22 yards to Maurki James.

The Vikings made it 21-0 on Brenn Scott’s 1-yard run midway through the fourth quarter, but Red Lion Christian rallied behind the arm of Evan Budinger.

The sophomore fired scoring strikes of 47 yards to Monte Polack and 45 yards to Jahsiear Rogers to pull the Lions within 21-14 with 8:42 to play.

Red Lion Christian’s final drive started at its own 13 with 5:52 remaining. Four Budinger completions and two pass-interference penalties pushed the Lions to first-and-goal at the 5. But the Cape defense held on three straight runs, then stopped a fourth run a yard short and Sartori came away with the ball.

Budinger completed 18 of 33 passes for 259 yards, with Rogers catching eight for 134 yards and Polack snagging four for 69. Jac Wilson rushed eight times for 45 yards.

Tingle completed 12 of 20 for 91 yards for the Vikings. James carried 22 times for 108 yards.

William Penn 34, Caesar Rodney 27

NEW CASTLE – Rayan White-Taylor scored touchdowns in three different ways as the Colonials built a big early lead, then held off the Riders for a season-opening victory.

White-Taylor broke a 70-yard TD run, freshman Josiah Everett threw a 21-yard scoring pass to Mark Moore and Mason Lowman ran it in from the 10 as William Penn jumped to a 22-0 lead in the second quarter.

Caesar Rodney pulled within 22-14 on Typhen Bowe-Walker’s 1-yard run and Julius Timmons’ 57-yard pass to Maxwell Viddy, only to see White-Taylor answer with an 87-yard kickoff return.

The Riders again got within one score on Timmons’ 28-yard strike to Viddy, but Everett and White-Taylor hooked up for a 56-yard TD. CR got the final touchdown in the fourth quarter on Timmons’ 10-yard pass to Aiden Cain.

Lake Forest 30, Odessa 14

FELTON – Jaymeire Snell caught a touchdown pass and threw for another as the Spartans topped the Ducks in a season opener.

Snell finished with two catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, and went 2-for-2 passing for 85 yards and a score.

Lake Forest QB Jonathan Tyndall completed 3 of 4 passes for 49 yards and a TD and rushed four times for 40 yards. Jack Parsons came on to complete 4 of 7 for 60 yards for the Spartans.

Darius Miller had four catches for 122 yards and a touchdown, while Demarion Russ (six carries, 35 yards) and A.J. White (four carries, 17 yards) also scored for Lake Forest. Nakai Cooper added nine carries for 45 yards.

Woodbridge 26, Seaford 20

SEAFORD – The Blue Raiders scored the winning points on a 4-yard pass from Zach Plummer to Je’Kare Banks in the fourth quarter for a season-opening win over the Blue Jays.

Woodbridge earned a 14-0 halftime lead on scoring runs of 16 and 5 yards by Traci Johnson.

Jakob Keglovits got Seaford on the board with a 5-yard run, only to see Johnson push the Raiders up 20-7 on a 2-yard score.

The Blue Jays tied it at 20 on a 43-yard pass from James McNeill to Alex Jean and a 5-yard run by Jazonte Levan, but Woodbridge drove for the winning score.

Sussex Central 36, Laurel 21

GEORGETOWN – Malik Bell rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown, and the Golden Knights got the final two scores of the fourth quarter to pull away from the Bulldogs in a season opener.

Koby Shockley’s 1-yard run gave Laurel an early lead, but Sussex Central answered with a 78-yard kickoff return TD by Sam Pucci and a 20-yard scoring pass from Gabe Cannon to Joaquin Rodriguez-Costa.

Shockley’s 4-yard score pulled the Bulldogs within 14-13 at halftime.

Bell ran for a 32-yard TD in the third quarter, only to see Shockley’s 1-yard plunge keep Laurel within 22-21.

But Cannon scored on a 1-yard run, and Central’s Jajuan Sturgis struck the decisive blow with a 52-yard interception return for the final touchdown.

Friday’s games

Manheim Central (Pa.) 37, Smyrna 36

WILMINGTON – On his first snap of the game, backup quarterback Ray Lewis lofted a 39-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Enterline with 18 seconds remaining as the Barons (2-0) rallied to spoil the Eagles’ season opener at Abessinio Stadium.

Smyrna, the defending DIAA Class 3A champion and preseason top-ranked team in 3A, fell behind 21-0 early in the second quarter.

Freshman Drew Marks got the Eagles on the board with a 74-yard pass to Dior Mackey, and Andre Ashley’s 62-yard kickoff return set up another 14-yard Marks-to-Mackey connection to pull Smyrna within 24-14 at halftime.

The Eagles kept it rolling, as Jacob Tiberi found Phoenix Henriquez for a 65-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the third quarter.

The Barons pushed their lead back to 31-22 on Brycen Armold’s 10-yard run. But Mackey bulled in from the 1 and Henriquez turned a short pass from Tiberi into a 45-yard touchdown to push Smyrna ahead for the first time, 36-31, with 3:06 to play.

Manheim Central quarterback Zac Hahn left the game due to injury, with the Barons facing fourth-and-11 from the Eagles 39. Lewis came in and threw to the 6-foot-3 Enterline, who won a three-way battle with two Smyrna defenders to make the winning catch.

“We played really, really well from the second quarter on,” Eagles coach Mike Judy said. “Early season rust, had to shake that off in the first quarter. Hats off to Manheim, they were great. Coming in on their second game, they were a little less rusty than us.”

Middletown 41, Urbana (Md.) 14

URBANA, Maryland – Austin Troyer passed for five touchdowns as the Cavaliers opened their season with a road win over the Hawks.

Middletown took a 13-0 lead on Troyer passes of 3 yards to Tyler Bolden and 14 yards to Matt Priestley.

The Cavaliers stretched it to 27-6 in the third quarter, as Troyer hit Jacobi Rodgers for a 49-yard score and William Garrett for an 85-yard TD.

Ronnell Davis scored Middletown’s final two touchdowns, on an 8-yard pass from Troyer and another 8-yard toss from Derian Cunningham.

First State Military 55, A.I. du Pont 0

GREENVILLE – Mark Lawrence ran for four touchdowns as the Bulldogs blanked the Tigers in the opener for both.

Lawrence went 21, 49, 17 and 23 yards to score for the Bulldogs.

Jameer Floyd scored on 17- and 6-yard runs, Phillip Price passed 34 yards to De’Jere Johnson and Christian Mullin returned an interception 30 yards for the other FSMA touchdowns.

The Bulldogs were playing their first game under coach Jeff Braxton, who had coached college football the last 34 years, including stints on the Delaware State and Wesley staffs.

A.I. du Pont played its first game since Oct. 22, 2021. Due to a player shortage, the Tigers had to forfeit their final three games that year and didn’t field a team in 2022 before bringing football back this season.

Other scores

Milford 42, Mount Pleasant 0

Sussex Tech 37, Glasgow 6

Dover 41, West Philadelphia (Pa.) 6

Delmar 49, Dickinson 12

Polytech 58, James Bennett (Md.) 42

Tim Mastro, Kevin Phillips and Kevin Tresolini contributed to this article.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on X (a.k.a. Twitter): @BradMyersTNJ

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware high school football: Big roundup of Week 0 games