Golden Knights grind out a win in home opener

Sussex Central quarterback Troy Morris rolls out of the pocket, Photo by Ben Fulton

Georgetown – The Sussex Central Golden Knights locked into a defensive battle with Salesianum in their home opener on a night where they paid tribute to the Armed Forces.

Andrew Long went around the left end for a 45 yard touchdown with six minutes to go in the first half. The score would stand for the next 30 minutes as the Golden Knights defeated Salesianum 7-0 in front of a large home crowd.

Long rushed for 59 of Sussex Central’s 215 total yards. Salesianum outgained the Knights with 227 total yards with 167 passing yards. Salesianum also had 14 first downs to Sussex Central’s 10.

“Our defense bent tonight, but it didn’t break,” Sussex Central head coach John Wells said. “I give a lot of credit to my coaches for coming up with the right schemes and our players for making the correct calls at the right time.”

The two teams traded punts in the first quarter as Salesianum appeared to have an edge in field position. Sussex Central drove to the Salesianum twenty yard line early in the second quarter. On fourth and six the Knights set up for a 37 yard field goal, but the low snap was mishandled and Salesianum took over on downs at the 32 yard line.

Sussex Central took a 7-0 lead into halftime, but Salesianum emerged in the third quarter moving the ball down to the Knights 12 yard line. The drive stalled when Ryan Stoehr’s fourth down pass fell incomplete, halting Salesianum’s drive.

Stoehr completed 18 of 31 passes for 167 yards with an interception which came on the last play of the game. Salesianum drove inside the twenty yard line three times in the second half, but did not score.

“I give them kudos, to lose nine seniors on both sides of the ball and to come out with a productive offense like they did tonight,” Wells said.

The Golden Knights defense stiffened again in the fourth quarter as Salesianum drove deep into Sussex Central territory, Kevon Moore-Briddell came up with a pair of sacks to thwart the Salesianum offense.

“Kevon played a great game, our whole defense came to play tonight,” Wells said.

Salesianum falls to 1-1 on the season and will travel to St. Georges next Saturday for a noon kickoff. Sussex Central improves to 2-0 and will host Hodgson at 7:00pm on Saturday.

Benny Mitchell