WILMINGTON – Folks associated with the St. Elizabeth football program expected growing pains under new coach Marvin Dooley. For the first two weeks of this regular season, things largely had gone the Vikings’ way, but on a crisp first night of fall Sept. 22 at Baynard Stadium, that was not the case.
Delmar made the long trip to Wilmington from lower Sussex County, and the defending Division II champions put on an offensive display. The Wildcats scored seven times and returned home with a 48-0 win.
After A.J. Angello hit Trey Parsons with a 40-yard touchdown pass five minutes into the game, the Wildcats turned to Te’Shawn Dennard. The speedy senior had three TDs. His first, late in the first quarter, came on his longest run of the evening. Dennard went for 61 yards, eluding several would-be tacklers along the way.
The Vikings crossed into Delmar territory on all three of their first-half possessions, but their drives stalled. After Dennard’s first score, St. Elizabeth got to the Delmar 48, but a chop-block penalty pushed them back 15 yards, and they eventually punted.
The Wildcats embarked on an 80-yard drive, picking up two long runs from Dennard along the way. The second of those was a 21-yard touchdown.
They added two more scores before the half. Angello ran for the first, and he hit Zach Covington with a 10-yard strike as time expired in the first half. The final extra-point attempt was botched, making it 34-0 at intermission.
Dennard ran in from a yard out early in the third quarter, and Donte Hardy wrapped up the scoring, going 29 yards up the middle with 10:18 to go in the game.
St. Elizabeth had some success running the ball with Ray Jones and Dashaun Brooks, but a variety of factors contributed to their drives stalling.
The Vikings (2-1) have a home date against Delaware Military Academy next Friday at 7 p.m. Delmar (3-0) is home on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Indian River.
