Week 1 Delaware high school football roundup: St. Georges rallies past Saint Mark's
MILLTOWN – Cameron Montgomery missed the 2022 season with a knee injury.
The running back’s St. Georges offense still seemed absent in the first half of the Hawks’ football opener Friday night.
That changed quickly in the second half, however, as Montgomery sparked St. Georges’ rally for a 20-9 win at Saint Mark’s.
The Hawks managed just 51 first-half yards. They then marched 80 yards on nine plays to open the third quarter. Montgomery had 77 of those yards, including a 1-yard TD.
St. Georges then moved ahead on a 63-yard TD pass from Francis McCarthy to Jayson Askins-Brooks in the third quarter, and added Montgomery’s 26-yard tackle-breaking TD gallop with 3:38 left.
The senior rushed for 144 yards on 22 carries. A torn meniscus had sidelined Montgomery in 2022.
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“I worked day in and day out to try to come back and it feels good to be back home,” he said. “O line did their job. Feels good to be back with my brothers.”
Saint Mark’s, playing its first game after moving up from DIAA Class to 2A to 3A, led 9-0 at halftime after Mateo Bracalenti’s 30-yard field goal and Jude Campbell’s 32-yard TD pass to Logan Klein. Massimo Paoli’s interception set up the field goal.
But the Spartans couldn’t muster much offense in the second half. Jayden Dmeza and Emory Womack had second-half interceptions for Saint Georges after Rai’Ayre Raiford’s first-half pick. Womack’s came in the end zone with 2:23 to go.
“I just feel like there was a lot of nerves on our side with the first half,” St. Georges coach John Wilson said. “We had a couple young players but guys stepped up really big, especially our seniors, our front line and Cam Montgomery.”
Wilson returned to coach at and against the school where he was head coach from 2005 through 2017, steering the Spartans to the 2010 Division I state title. He was welcomed back in a pregame public-address announcement.
“When you go against a team where you’ve coached five of the [coaches] and coached with another three of the guys, it is tough,” Wilson said. “But I'm proud of them. They're doing such a great job. Joe Wright [Saint Mark’s coach], I love him like a little brother. He's done a great job with this program. But this is a new program for us and I really love being at St. Georges.”
Appoquinimink 33, Odessa 7
ODESSA - Daniel McConomy rushed for three touchdowns and Gregory Nielsen threw for two more as the Jaguars won the first installment of the state’s newest rivalry.
McConomy had rushing touchdowns of 8, 7 and 5 yards in the first, second and third quarters en route to finishing with 108 yards on 13 carries.
Nielsen went 8-of-15 for 208 yards through the air and completed two long touchdown passes to Noah Hoff. The first came late in the second quarter for 67 yards, and the second went for 50 yards in the fourth quarter.
Middletown 41, Sussex Central 7
MIDDLETOWN – Big plays on special teams led to touchdowns in the opening minute of each half as the Cavaliers (2-0) took down the Golden Knights (1-1).
Sy’Mir Queen pounced on a Sussex Central fumble on the opening kickoff, and Austin Troyer threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Matt Priestley three plays later for a 7-0 Middletown lead just 49 seconds into the game.
Makai Walker bulled in from the 10-yard line, 6-foot-4 Aviyon Matthews made a leaping, juggling catch on Troyer’s 48-yard throw and Amare Glover ran it in from the 2 to push the Cavaliers’ margin to 26-0 at halftime.
Then Glover went a little longer for his next score, returning the second-half kickoff 94 yards.
Central got on the board on Gabe Cannon’s 58-yard bomb to Isaiah Ro late in the third quarter. Troyer and Priestley connected again for the final touchdown, a 5-yard toss with 3:22 to play.
Troyer completed 19 of 31 passes for 295 yards and three TDs, with Priestley catching eight for 103 yards and Matthews bringing in four for 99. Walker rushed for 58 yards on nine carries.
Sam Pucci led the Golden Knights’ ground game with 49 yards on 13 carries.
Laurel 44, Brandywine 19
BRANDYWINE HUNDRED – Koby Shockley passed for two touchdowns as the Bulldogs from the south (1-1) took the lengthy bus ride and topped the Bulldogs from the north (0-1).
Shockley’s TD throws covered 20 and 8 yards, both to Elijah Niblett.
Xavier Limehouse returned a kickoff 82 yards for a Laurel TD, Patrick Belle scored on runs of 1 and 45 yards and Royce Scotton added a 1-yard scoring plunge. Bradley Lopez Vasquez kicked a 27-yard field goal for Laurel.
All three Brandywine touchdowns came on passes from Crisdon Wright to Anthony Drummond, covering 10, 35 and 3 yards.
Conrad 40, McKean 6
MILLTOWN – Gabe Welsh passed for 246 yards and four touchdowns as the Red Wolves dominated the Highlanders in the opener for both teams.
Two of Welsh’s scoring passes went to Jay Wells-Huff, who finished with four catches for 121 yards. Charlie Shute also caught a TD pass and added a 9-yard scoring run, and Cael Mellon had a touchdown reception.
Lucca Smit rushed 10 times for 56 yards for Conrad. Thomas Moyer had seven tackles, including three for losses, and forced and recovered a fumble.
Red Lion Christian 44, Glasgow 0
RED LION – Evan Budinger’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Jahsiear Rogers highlighted the Lions’ (1-1) win over the Dragons (0-2).
Jac Wilson rushed for 145 yards – including TDs of 15, 2 and 3 yards – for Red Lion Christian. Mekhi Corbin added rushing TDs of 30 and 11 yards.
Judah Barber made a tackle for a safety, and Jamarion Ramsey, Wayne Robinson and Chris Benson intercepted passes for the Lions.
Wilmington Friends 22, Tatnall 8
GREENVILLE – Andrew McKenzie rushed for two short touchdowns and Kato Connor kicked three field goals as the defending Class 2A champion Quakers opened their season with a win over the Class 1A Hornets.
McKenzie scored from the 1 and the 2 and Connor split the posts from 26, 35 and 24 yards for Friends.
Rahshan LaMons scored Tatnall’s TD in the fourth quarter on a 57-yard run.
Ryan Tattersall rushed 22 times for 74 yards and completed 10 of 18 passes for 114 yards for the Quakers. McKenzie finished with 94 yards on 18 carries and 64 yards on four catches.
Tower Hill 42, St. Andrew’s 12
WILMINGTON – Jamar Taylor and Shane Pierce scored two touchdowns each as the Hillers romped in the opener for both teams.
Taylor found the end zone on runs of 1 and 6 yards. Pierce’s TDs came on defense, on an interception return and fumble return.
Tower Hill also scored on an 11-yard pass from Michael Waesco to Aiden Pratt and a 1-yard run by Christian Martin.
Frank Nasta scored on a 1-yard run and threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Yasir Felton for St. Andrew’s.
Thursday’s games
Caravel 28, Hodgson 13
BEAR – Vandrick Hamlin III ripped off punt-return touchdowns of 70 and 50 yards as the Class 2A Buccaneers (1-0) won a physical battle against the Class 3A Silver Eagles (1-1).
Hamlin’s first runback came just 1:16 into the game. Hodgson answered with a punt return of its own, as Brysheem Davis went 85 yards to tie it at 7 early in the second quarter.
But Craig Miller (15 carries, 107 yards) bruised his way to an 11-yard touchdown run and Hamlin skirted the sideline for his second big special-teams play to push Caravel ahead 21-7 at halftime.
Hodgson pulled within 21-13 on a 2-yard run by Maki Beach midway through the third quarter, but the Bucs regained a two-touchdown cushion on Jordan Miller’s 4-yard run with 6:44 remaining.
Xavier Brown completed 23 of 39 passes for 216 yards for the Silver Eagles, with Davis catching nine for 69 yards and Marlon Sparks grabbing seven for 82 yards.
Woodbridge 52, Colonel Richardson (Md.) 12
GREENWOOD – Ji’Kare Banks scored on a 99-yard interception return and a 98-yard kickoff return as the Blue Raiders (2-0) rolled past the visitors from Maryland.
Traci Johnson found the end zone on runs of 1 and 66 yards for Woodbridge. Quincy Risper scored on a 27-yard run, and both Tyler Eley and Malachi Hayes had 15-yard TD runs for the Blue Raiders.
Saturday’s games
Archmere 42, St. Elizabeth 8
CLAYMONT – Phil Blessington ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns as the Class 2A Auks overpowered the Class 1A Vikings in the opener for both teams.
St. Elizabeth took an early 8-0 lead on freshman Cole Andrews’ 4-yard pass to Gavin Andrews.
It was all Archmere from there. Blessington ripped off a 73-yard TD run, Jack Bradley scored from the 11 and Matthew Victoria’s sack scored a safety for a 16-8 halftime lead.
In the second half, Blessington scored from the 13, Bradley hit the end zone again from 33 yards out, backup QB Mike Donovan threw a 16-yard scoring pass to Drew Duncan and Jack Melvin scored from the 10 for the Auks.
Charter of Wilmington 16, First State Military Academy 13 (2OT)
WILMINGTON – John Foley’s 25-yard field goal in the second overtime won it as the Force (1-0) outlasted the Bulldogs (1-1).
Foley opened the scoring with a 6-yard run in the first quarter. FSMA tied it on Damier Bryan’s 8-yard touchdown catch from Phillip Price in the third quarter.
The game went to overtime tied at 7. The Bulldogs went up 13-7 on Price’s 5-yard strike to Christian Mullin, and the Force tied it again on Roman Paoli’s 10-yard pass to Juan Aldas.
Newark 35, Christiana 0
NEWARK – Makeevis Rodgers and Shaun Whyte each scored two touchdowns as the Yellowjackets shut out the Vikings in the opener for both teams.
Both of Rogers’ TDs came on 4-yard runs. Whyte’s scoring runs covered 31 and 27 yards, and Sa’Mier Coleman opened the scoring for Newark with an 8-yard run.
Other scores
Salesianum 36, Bonner and Prendergast (Pa.) 0
Dover 44, Curtis (N.Y.) 19
Delaware Military Academy 28, Delmar 14
William Penn 21, Penn Wood (Pa.) 7
Perkiomen Valley (Pa.) 46, Smyrna 38
Sussex Tech 36, Delcastle 25
Lake Forest 38, Caesar Rodney 13
Concord 19, Mount Pleasant 13
Indian River at A.I. du Pont, NA
Kevin Phillips 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: Week 1 roundup of details, scores
