MILLTOWN — It was Friday the 13th at the Graveyard, but that wasn’t enough to disturb the Appoquinimink football team on its visit to Saint Mark’s. The Jaguars shook off an early deficit and went on to a 40-15 win over the Spartans.
Both teams played the game shorthanded, with both starting quarterbacks and No. 1 running backs out with injuries. But that didn’t seem to faze either the Spartans or Jaguars.
The Spartans went right to work after getting the ball for the first time 94 seconds into the first quarter. On fourth and 2 from the Appo 38, Jacob Ebaugh took a handoff from Aidan Lehane, broke a tackle and ran 62 yards to the end zone to give Saint Mark’s the early lead.
Noah Hoff returned the ensuing kickoff to the Spartans’ 46, and the Jaguars got their offense going. Blake Caccamo started throwing passes to his talented receiver corps, completing three of four on the drive, including the last one, a 32-yard pass over the middle to Dillon Griffith that tied the score, 7-7, with 6:07 left in the first.
Appoquinimink’s defense set the offense up in great field position for the next drive, as Omari Cofield blocked a Spartans punt, giving the Jags the ball at the Saint Mark’s 29. After a run lost two yards, Caccamo hit Griffith for a 10-yard gain, followed by a 5-yard run by Ja’den Glover. Next, Caccamo lofted a ball toward the front of the end zone, and Hoff went way up and grabbed the ball before a Spartans defender could smack it to the ground. After the extra point, Appo had a 14-7 lead with 1:51 to go in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars’ defensive line was making life difficult for the Spartans’ offense. Saint Mark’s drove into Appo territory on its first drive of the second quarter but eventually punted. The Jaguars held the Spartans to a three and out on their next drive, and after a punt, Appoquinimink took over on its own 36 midway through the quarter.
On the first play of the drive, Caccamo found Hoff for a 30-yard completion to the Saint Mark’s 34. He connected with Hoff again on fourth and 5 to keep the drive going, but the next two plays were incompletions. A pass interference penalty negated a Saint Mark’s interception return and score and gave the Jaguars first and goal at the 10. Glover got to the 1 on first down, and two plays later, Caccamo faked a handoff and hit Hoff in the back of the end zone. The two-point conversion was no good, but the lead was 20-7 with 2:20 to go in the half.
The Jaguars defense delivered once more before the half, forcing a quick Spartans punt. Griffith fielded the ball at the Appo 45 and raced 55 yards for another touchdown to make the halftime score 26-7.
Neither team scored in the third, but the offenses got going again in the fourth. Lehane completed three passes in a 53-yard drive, including a 19-yarder to Logan Klein on first down at the Jaguars’ 20, and Ebaugh took it the final yard as Saint Mark’s cut the Appo lead to 26-15 with 9:57 to go.
The Jaguars would respond, however, with two more touchdowns. Griffith picked up his third on a 26-yard reception, and Glover ran in another for the final points.
Final statistics were not available early Saturday morning. Appoquinimink (4-2) hosts Salesianum on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m., while the Spartans (3-3) play the final of four straight home games against Hodgson, also on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.
Screen shots by Mike Lang.
