WILMINGTON – St. Elizabeth’s football team unleashed multiple weapons on offense, and the defense repeatedly came up with big stops in a 34-0 win over Glasgow on Sept. 28 at Abessinio Stadium. The Vikings evened their record at 2-2.
The Vikings and Dragons traded turnovers and punts on the first two possessions for each team before St. Elizabeth began to take control. A short punt by Glasgow set the Vikings up at the Glasgow 29-yard line halfway through the first quarter. A holding penalty cost the Vikings 10 yards, but that was no impediment.
Quarterback Cole Andrews hit Terrence Williams across the middle for 9 yards on first down, and Jose Maldonado ran for 6 more on second down. Facing a third and 5, Maldonado rumbled over the left tackle into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown.
The Vikings went to work again in the second quarter after a 5-minute Glasgow drive ended with a turnover on downs. It took St. E’s seven plays to march 70 yards to double their lead. Maldonado had one of the big plays on the drive, rushing for 17 yards on a third and 4 to get the Vikings into Dragons territory. After an 8-yard run for Ryan McCormac, Maldonado danced down the left sideline for 23 more before being knocked out of bounds. From the Glasgow 16, McCormac rushed for 7, then for the final 9 and a score with 3:53 left in the half.
A quick three-and-out gave the Vikings the ball at midfield with 2:58 to go in the half, which proved to be plenty of time to strike again. Andrews found Jamel Hammond for 24 yards on the second of the six-play drive, and four different Vikings advanced the ball after that, including Maldonado, who burst through the middle for a 3-yard score in the final minute of the half.
Glasgow moved the ball into Vikings territory to open the second half, crossing midfield on a scramble by quarterback Nazheer Gardner. Two penalties led to a long fourth down, and the Vikings defense, which pressured Gardner all afternoon, ended the drive with a sack.
Six rushes later – by five different players – the Vikings were knocking on the door again at the Glasgow 19. A holding penalty cost them 10 yards, but Andrews made that irrelevant when he hit a wide-open Williams for a 29-yard score.
Ne’Hemiah Hamilton scored on a 7-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter for the final points of the game. The big lead allowed the St. Elizabeth coaching staff to rest several starters and get game experience for everyone on the roster.
St. Elizabeth, a Class 1A team, will move up in class next week for the second time this season when they visit 2A Milford on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. Glasgow (0-5) will host Wilmington Charter on Oct. 5 at 11 a.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
