BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity football team did not help its chances of reaching the state playoffs with a 39-7 loss to visiting Wicomico last Friday in the rain and mud, a loss which will likely leave the Seahawks needing a little help to reach the post-season in their first year in Class 3A.
Decatur hung around with heavily favored Wicomico for much of the game last Friday in Seahawk Stadium, but in the end, the Indians had just too much firepower for the Seahawks. Wicomico scored a touchdown with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter to take an early 6-0 lead.
The score remained 6-0 for much of the first half until Wicomico scored again on a 55-yard touchdown run, his second of the game, to expand the lead to 12-0. With 48 seconds remaining in the half, Brown scored again, this time from 48 yards, and the Indians led 18-0 at the half.
The never-say-die Seahawks came out with an impressive drive to start the second half going 78 yards to score on a Tim Donnelly touchdown pass to Chris Crocker. The drive consumed nine minutes, kept the Indians’ high powered offense off the field and cut the lead to 18-6 with plenty of time left.
Decatur recovered a fumble on Wicomico’s next possession but was forced to punt. The Seahawk defense responded, forcing the Indians into a fourth-and four situation, but a face mask penalty gave Wicomico a fresh set of downs and Brown rumbled in from 30 yards out to make it 25-7. Although they had played tough with the unbeaten Wicomico, the mistakes and missed opportunities in the mud deflated the Seahawks and the Indians added a couple of late touchdowns to round out the 39-7 win.
The loss put Decatur’s record at 5-3 with two games to play, which in any other year would look like a sure entry into the state playoffs, but the Seahawks moved up to Class 3A this year making the road to the states more difficult. Decatur entered last weekend in the fourth and final playoff spot in the Class 3A-East standings, ahead of Atholton by a mere three points. The Decatur loss to Wicomico coupled with an Atholton win on Monday over Oakland Mills in a rainout make-up flip-flopped the two schools in the standings. Decatur now has 46 total points in the standings while Atholton has 51.
The situation has the Seahawks in the unfamiliar territory of scoreboard watching of games played on the western shore. Decatur has two games remaining; a home game against North Caroline tonight and a road match-up against county rival Snow Hill next week. Atholton, meanwhile, has two games left against opponents with a combined record of 1-13. The Seahawks would likely need to win out and hope one or both of Atholton’s final two opponents upsets the Raiders in order to reach the playoffs.