WILMINGTON — Aiden Lego scored four touchdowns, and the Salesianum defense repeatedly stifled a potent Sussex Central offense, as the Sals earned a 39-13 victory in the DIAA Class 3A semifinal round and an opportunity to defend their football state championship. The Sals, seeded first, will meet No. 3 Middletown on Nov. 29.
The Golden Knights entered the game with a record of 9-2 and were scoring about 37 points per contest. The Sals defense, however, had allowed fewer than nine points per contest.
With a light rain falling, Central fumbled the opening kickoff, and Salesianum capitalized immediately. On first down from the Golden Knights’ 20, Odell Teel went up the gut, carrying several defenders with him for the second half of the run, which ended with a Salesianum touchdown just 15 seconds in. The extra point was no good.
The Golden Knights featured a steady diet of Malik Bell in their first series, along with William Harmon, but the drive stalled when the Sals stuffed Bell on fourth down
Starting at their own 41, the Sals used the legs of Lego, Teel and quarterback Brady McBride, to march downfield. On the eighth play of the drive, McBride took a keeper 31 yards up the middle for the second touchdown.
The Sals got the ball back late in the first at their own 40. They again went to Teel and Lego, with McBride running once as well, to move the ball to the Central 9. Three plays later, early in the second quarter, the team faced a fourth down at the 1, and Lego (St. John the Beloved Parish) powered his way in for his first touchdown. For the third straight time, however, the Sals could not convert the extra point, and the lead was 18-0.
Turnovers again hurt the Golden Knights after they got the ball back. Sussex Central moved the ball inside Salesianum territory, but on a fourth and 7, the Sals’ Mitch Cummings (St. John the Beloved, St. Anthony of Padua parishes) scooped up a fumbled pass reception and ran it back more than 50 yards to the Golden Knights’ 10. Lego finished that drive with a 4-yard run, and the extra point made it 25-0.
A bad snap on a Salesianum fourth down late in the half set Sussex Central up for their first touchdown. Quarterback Bradley Chavez found Bell down the left side for a 31-yard score with 2:20 left.
Lego scored for the third tie with four minutes to go in the third when quarterback Brady McBride (St. John the Beloved Parish) tossed a screen pass to him, and he covered 31 yards to the end zone. That drive was made possible by another fourth-down stuff by the Salesianum defensive line, including Justin McGill and R.J. Johnson.
The teams traded fourth-quarter touchdowns. Chavez hit William Harmon with a 24-yard strike, and Lego capped off his night with a 15-yard rushing score.
Lego finished with 259 total yards, 228 of those on the ground. The Sals (11-1) had 408 yards of offense. The championship game will be played on Nov. 29 at Delaware State University in Dover at 7 p.m. Tickets will be on sale at gofan.co/app/school/DIAA.
Sussex Central finished the season 9-3.
